"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

-Aristotle

CHAPTER 11

BETWEEN THE LINES

"My master is waiting for you here, young lady," Nishida said in a respectful manner. The old man had brought her to one of the most famous restaurant in Tokyo. It was only where the richest went to dine. However, Naruto felt odd and uncomfortable, noticing that the place was empty. It looked as if the whole place had been arranged for some special event.

"Mister…why is this place so empty?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.

He didn't answer, and instead steered her over to an ornately decorated table, with a certain man seated around it. "Master, Uzumaki-san is here now," Nishida informed.

Naruto was shocked. She never expected to meet…Sasuke's father once more. And now, her whole body trembled under the all too familiar look the older Uchiha gave her. The look of pure loathing and disgust. The only glare that she could never stand; the look of disdain.

Fugaku Uchiha looked at her with intimidating eyes. "Sit down, Uzumaki-san," he ordered. Like a robot, Naruto automatically obeyed his orders and stiffly sat down across from his direction. Her hands clutched her skirt and she flinched as the man spoke again. "I hope you still remember me, Uzumaki-san."

She felt her chill run up her spine by the way he said her name. How could she not remember him? He was the one who had forced her to choose the option of running away with little Kaoru, abandoning her own mother in the process.

"Y-yes, sir," Naruto answered, still aware that the older Uchiha was shooting her a look that she would not be able to handle.

"Well then, I hope you also remember that I am against you. I was against you being together with Itachi and now I am against you with Sasuke. You're living with my son and you're daughter together under the same roof when you're not even married. That's despicable," he coldly proclaimed.

"My daughter is Sasuke's-" Naruto tried to explain.

"Don't think I'm as dumb as you are to believe your lies. You're a disgrace!" he snarled.

"Sir, why are you even doing this?" she cried, insulted and humiliated.

Instead of answering, he called for his assistant. "Come here." The dutiful manservant automatically zoomed into the scene, placing a silver attaché case in front of the girl.

Naruto's sapphire eyes widened considerably. The case was filled to the brim, almost overflowing with stacks of fresh new, green $100 paper bills. "I'm giving you a million in exchange for your isolation from Sasuke and Itachi along with your child. You're not allowed to come back here ever again. If that's not enough, I will double the price for two million. All this money will be in your grasp if you sign this document, promising that you'll disappear forever from my sons' lives."

"What's wrong with you? You've been avoiding me since last night," Sasuke asked in a calm, but dangerous tone. He hated being ignored. And although it pained him to do so, he need to confront Naruto once and for all about her strange behavior.

She spared him a glance before going back to her worksheets. "I'm not avoiding you."

"Don't play dumb; I know that you're avoiding me. Why? What happened?" He caught her wrist and held it to his chest. "Was it something I did?"

Naruto turned to look at him emotionlessly. "I'm fine...okay? I'm just tired." She tugged her hand away and adjusted a few items on her table. Then she slung her book bag over her shoulder and began walking towards the door.

"What are you doing?"

She turned around and eyed him coldly. "I'm going to school now..."

Kaoru bounded across the floor from the kitchen and tip-toed all the way up to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Mom, you're going now?"

Her mother nodded. "I really should go. Bye."

"I'll drive you there," Sasuke said, picking up his keys from the counter.

She shook her head. "No! You don't need to, I-I'm going there with my friend."

The truth was, she was obviously lying, but she needed some time away from her family. There were too many things troubling her mind.

FLASH BACK

"Sir, why are you even doing this?" she cried, insulted and humiliated.

Instead of answering, he called for his assistant. "Come here." The dutiful manservant automatically zoomed into the scene, placing a silver attaché case in front of the girl.

Naruto's hazel eyes widened considerably. The case was filled to the brim, almost overflowing with stacks of fresh new, green $100 paper bills. "I'm giving you a million in exchange for your isolation from Sasuke and Itachi along with your child. You're not allowed to come back here ever again. If that's not enough, I will double the price for two million. All this money will be in your grasp if you sign this document, promising that you'll disappear forever from my sons' lives."

"Sir, please stop trying to win me over with money! I-!"

"If you don't do what I want, I will kick Sasuke out of the house. I will disinherit him and cast him out on the streets to survive for himself. Don't you remember the promise I made years ago, Uzumaki? Or do you want me to make you remember?"

Naruto's eyes widened. How can he take this threat so far?

"I can do anything to destroy the lives of your loved ones, including your family. Especiallyyour flesh and blood-your daughter. I can take her away from you if I want to. After all, you don't have much money to possibly supply her with anything she needs..." Takeshi continued.

My family...friends...and Kaoru too?

"Don't you DARE lay your hands on my family!" Naruto proclaimed angrily, trying to stop herself from breaking down and sobbing in front of the older Uchiha. She failed to do so though, and several salty tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"If you don't stay away from my son, I will have to sink to those matters."

AT THE BUS STATION

"Hey, you okay? Hey!"

That voice sent Naruto back to reality. She turned to look at the direction of the voice, revealing the boy she had seen a few weeks back on the day of her induction to Tokyo U.

"Are you alright? Good thing you snapped out of your thoughts," the blue-haired guy said while rubbing his star tattoo on the left side of his face. Naruto looked at him, noticing that he was at least a year older than her.

She smiled, remembering the little bumping into each other incident a few weeks back. Naruto turned to look at her wrist watch abruptly and cried in dismay as she found she was late for her first class. She stood up hastily.

"Sorry, but I need to go now!" she excused herself and started to panic, looking on both sides for the bus.

"I can give you a ride if you want," he offered. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Uh, don't worry. I won't harass you or anything; I'm a student of Tokyo U, just like you."

It's raining and the bus seems like it'll never stop by here. Naruto thought, considering his offer. She finally nodded. "Okay, but remember this-if you do something to me I won't hesitate to beat you up."

"By the way, I want to introduce myself. Hikaru, and you?" he grinned and held out his hand to his kouhai.

Naruto smiled brightly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." She accepted his handshake and stepped out into the rain.

"Sasuke, meet me at your mom's Restaurant. I want you to meet someone," Fugaku Uchiha said sternly over the other line. Authority practically resonated in his voice.

"Dad, I can't! I'm currently in the middle of an important meeting," he whispered furiously. Truthfully, he just didn't want to go, enjoying his time alone playing with Kaoru.

"Busy? Your lifestyle is far from busy, Sasuke. Just come over here. I'll be waiting." Sasuke growled in frustration at the dial tone and tossed his phone over his shoulder.

"Ah shit, this trouble," he muttered under his breath. Inside, something churned inside of him, making him believe that something bad was to happen. Kaoru blinked at the use of profanity and gave her father a reproachful look. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Sasuke shook his head and smiled. "Say, do you want to go out for a while, Kaoru?"

When Sasuke arrived at the Restaurant it seemed eerily designed for a party-without people. Only his father and an awfully familiar girl were sitting down at one of the extravagantly decorated tables. He snorted mentally before approaching the group. Sasuke had had to leave Kaoru inside the car after promising her that he would come back immediately after buying things for their picnic plans.

"Father-" But he stopped as he took one good look at the girl. His eyes narrowed.

"YOU!" Sasuke growled. The strawberry blonde haired girl smiled at him in return.

"Sasuke, watch your mouth in front of a lady," the older Uchiha reprimanded his son. "Come sit down."

"Just tell me why you called me. I canceled all of my meetings for this 'something important'," Sasuke lied to escape his father's scrutiny.

The older Uchiha glared right back at his son. "I just contacted your secretary Sasuke, so there's no need to lie."

Karin smiled and laid a perfectly manicured hand onto his father's. "So this is your son Uchiha-san! You're right...he is so handsome," she smiled flirtatiously at Sasuke, making him sick.

He scoffed and took a seat beside his dad. "Tell me what you want Father."

"I want you to meet Karin, your fiancée."

At that exact moment, Karin flashed him a crocodile smile.

Sasuke harshly stood up and slapped his palms on the table, making it rock violently with his harsh movements. "I am not consenting to this! You know my decision father!" Sasuke snarled angrily.

"Sit down," the older Uchiha commanded.

"NO."

Fugaku stared at his son with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Father, why the hell are you doing this? I already have my own family-a wife and daughter! For crying out loud, stop this already. You're acting like a desperate old geezer," Sasuke shouted.

"I am you father, so I will do anything for you. This is for the best, as Karin is a beautiful specimen of a wife," Fugaku raised his voice.

Sasuke glared at his father. "I'm not following through with your plans. If you want, you can marry her dad." He began to walk away.

"So this is what she's teaching you?"

Silence.

"That damn filthy girl is teaching you to disobey your own father!"

Sasuke whirled around and pounded his fist on the wall. His onyx eyes glowed while glaring at his father. "Don't call her that again," he whispered menacingly. "I respect you father, but if you insult her again...I don't know what'll happen to you." With those words, he withdrew his hand from the wall, leaving blood stains and a six inch deep hole in the beige printed plaster.

"Sasuke, if you go out of this place without accepting your fiancée-" the older Uchiha threatened.

"Take your damn money, Father! I don't need it. I don't need you for all I care, as long as I have Naruto."

Kankurou laughed, clutching his stomach, eyes watering while Sasuke scowled. "It's not funny," he growled, taking a seat beside Kiba who's openly making out with Sakura who's also clearly drunk. They're both clearly drunk for that matter.

Shinno settled down with his coffee before turning his attention to his friend. "You're right, this is bad."

Hinata hugged her fiancée's shoulders from the back and rested her deep, lavender eyes onto onyx once. "You need to tell Naru-chan about this, Sasuke-kun," she worried openly, wondering what might happen to her newly made friend if she was to find out about this awful 'fiancée' of Sasuke's.

"I know, but Naruto's went through a lot of hardships already and I don't want her to worry about my dad's interference. As the man of the family, I have to do everything to protect them."

"How about Itachi-kun? Tell your older brother about this," Tenten piped in to the conversation. Sasuke frowned. "I've tried to contact him ever since he left for the States, but the calls won't go through."

"That's so weird! Why can't you contact him while I can contact my daddy?" Sakura hiccupped, breaking away from her boyfriend's face. Her face was flushed pink from their little session. Everyone stared at her, believing the pink haired head to be drunk. "My daddy's in New York dummies," she giggled and went back to cuddling Kiba.

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened in realization. "Father...of course he would have figure that out. Sakura, contact your dad for me," he ordered his former love interest, turning his serious gaze to the still disoriented girl.

"Hmm? Why?"

"Because he's the only person who can contact Itachi for me," Sasuke explained, not even bothering to snap at the girl in irritation of her drunken state. A ring of hope had begun rising in his chest. If he could contact Itachi, maybe his older brother could help him to escape the situation.

Indeed, he was the golden boy.

Sorry for the late Update!

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