Sakura didn't necessarily kill him, she couldn't because she would miss him too much but his right ear did still ache from her pulling him inside. The glare being sent his way from across the room could almost rival Sasuke except Sakura's packed more heat and hatred and less gloom and doom but he was still in one piece so he called that a win. They had arrived short of being two hours late but with liquor in hand and a large plate of homemade nachos, they tried to pacify the beast. Although that didn't quite satisfy her, the moment she laid eyes on Sasuke his ear had been released in favor of his companion.

Hinata, on the other hand, was ecstatic to see the blond and turned beet red when he hugged her hello.

"Hey! Everyone's here!"

Cheers erupted from the living room as Naruto yelled out. Friends, new and old, were scattered around but seemed to migrate towards him, something Sasuke always found fascinating to watch. As he stayed a few feet back with Sakura by his side, he watched as Kiba wrapped an arm around the blonds neck and Lee grab his other arm, rapid words being shot at him in all his excitement. Naruto patted Gaara's shoulder and somehow gave everyone around him a little bit of attention.

Hinata stood in front of him while looking at him like he hung the moon and it didn't help that he continuously made her feel included, whether it was a graze of his fingers on her pale arms or laughing at whatever she said that he found worthy of his laughter.

"I know how you feel about these social gatherings but please try not to look like you just got a whiff of dog shit."

He turned to his side and stared at the pink haired woman next to him. She held a fruity green colored drink in her hand and a simple salmon colored dress with a green belt around her waist. Sakura had grown considerably throughout the time they had known each other.

She had gone from endlessly following after him in the playground and mooning over him to becoming head of her family's pharmaceutical company while working in getting her Doctorate's in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics. Her adoration for him had reduced considerably and even though he could sometimes see the glint in her eyes every now and then, she had moved on to look at Naruto with more adoration and care and he was completely fine with that.

Naruto deserved all the love he could get and Sasuke didn't mind stepping back and allowing him to receive all of it.

"I'm fine, it's just interesting to watch how no matter where he goes, people flock to him as if he was some magical being."

Sakura hummed in agreement and took a sip from her glass, eyes never moving from the commotion just a couple of feet away from them. Naruto was waving his arms around his head, too into his story to really pay attention to the amused smiles of their friends.

"Uchiha, you finally made it."

On his other side, Hinata's cousin seemed to almost materialize out of thin air. Neji Hyuuga stood about his height, with waist long brown hair that seemed to have just been washed and a lean built from years of kendo. A silent rivalry had hung above them for years, a healthy one really, seeing as they pushed each other to be the best they could be. It also caused them to become good business partners, which has benefited both companies.

"There were some minor complications on the way here."

His eerie pearl colored eyes looked at him for a moment, assessing his words, and turned back to Naruto who was boisterously laughing at Kiba trying to mimic something that looked close to dancing but he wasn't quite sure.

"Hope everything was resolved with efficiency."

There was something in Neji's smirk that he didn't like and it made him want to raise his hackles if he had any. The man had keen eyes and could read people in a way that would make anyone's nerves quiver.

"Is that not how I handle any obstacle?"

Neji tilted his head, a gesture of confirmation and continued looking at the small group before clicking his tongue and patting Sasuke in the back.

"Come on, let's get a beer or two in you."

That he could agree with. The night went on with chatter and drinks and stories. Sai talked about his latest painting that had caught the eye of a professor of his whom had begun talking prices. Ino, gorgeous as always, talked about her floral arrangements for a wedding happening soon. Kiba boasted about his family's animal shelter and how many of the dogs were getting adopted thanks to Naruto's pictures and his advertising.

Sasuke sat on the edge of the couch and swirled the beer in it's bottle, the moisture of it wetting his hand and the salt around the mouth of the bottle made the liquid fizz even more against his lips. Naruto looked at each and every one of his friends with a smile but it somehow didn't reach his eyes. He nodded when expected and responded when talked to but his whole body wasn't in it and it bothered Sasuke for some reason.

"Dinners ready!"

Hinata's voice rang from the kitchen where some of the girls and Lee had been helping out. He stretched his arm out and held the blond next to him at his seat which earned him a confused expression. Everyone piled out of the living room, excitement in the air knowing they were finally going to be able to put food in their stomachs. Once they all left, Sasuke placed his beer on the coaster on the glass table and looked over to Naruto who was still looking at him weird.

"What's wrong?"

If possible, his brow furrowed even more.

"What are you talking about?"

"You looked like someone slaughtered your dog in front of you and made you watch it."

Naruto waved his hand in the air, as if waving those words away but one look from Sasuke had him sighing and bowing his head.

"What am I doing with my life Sasuke? Sai got acknowledged, which I'm happy for him, I really am because he totally deserves it, but I haven't gotten anywhere with my sketches or my photos. I'm working at Kiba's rescue to make rent for fucks sake."

He ran a hand through his hair, the already unruly strands looking more disheveled then before. Sasuke took a good look at him, really good before allowing a small breath to escape through his nose and closed his eyes. In the years they had known each other, Sasuke could not think of one instance when Naruto held any malice towards someone. He wasn't angry that his friends were advancing with their lives; what was truly bothering him was the fact that he himself wasn't catching up to them. Naruto looked up suddenly when he felt long fingers on the back of his head to see Sasuke looking at him with cool dexterity that only the Uchiha could pull off.

"Are you happy?"

Naruto's face almost seemed to take offense at the question.

"Of course I'm happy you bastard. I'm just saying that at twenty-four, I was hoping I would be doing something more than where I am right now."

He got to his feet, Sasuke's hand sliding off of him. Naruto rubbed the back of his head in his frustration, agitated now by the thoughts in his head. He had always known that photography was his passion, sure he dabbled in drawing and he had a couple of notebooks filled with some sketches but he preferred the weight of a camera in his hand rather than one of a pencil. In the world of photography, it didn't exactly pay rent and any other necessities unless there was a big name behind that camera so he was having just a bit of trouble finding a job that catered to his interests.

"Hey you two, hurry up, we're all waiting for you."

The two turned their eyes over to Sakura who stood by the arch that led to the dining room. Naruto put up his front for her, a sweet smile and an apologetic expression as he made his way towards her.

"Sorry Sakura, we were just talking about something."

Sasuke followed close behind, never leaving the blonds side as they took their places at the table. Throughout the dinner, there was something Sasuke seemed to realize in the midst of calmly eating the pork roast in front of him and hearing Naruto talk about what he did to convince people to adopt more and stop by the shelter. Listening in to the conversation, he made note to call his brother whenever he had a moment alone.

"The meeting with the board is in ten minutes, Mr. Uchiha."

Sasuke lowered his cell phone from his ear to nod at his secretary. He waited for her to close the door behind her before he placed his phone back to his ear only to hear a deep, throaty chuckle.

"I still can't get over the whole Mr. Uchiha thing."

He rolled his eyes as he connected his Bluetooth and pocketed the phone so that his hands were free to grab the files on his desk.

"I despise it. It makes me feel as if I was my father."

There was loud barking on the other end and Naruto yelling to Kiba about a dog that had escaped from its pen and was now running around the pool area.

"I think it's hilarious. What if I started calling you that? 'Oh Mr. Uchiha! Harder, harder!'"

Sasuke almost choked on the coffee he had begun to drink as Naruto started making moaning noises. While Naruto laughed loudly, Sasuke could feel his face heating up and he knew it had nothing to do with the steam rising from his cup.

"Damn you, you idiot. Don't ever do that again or I will see to your death personally."

His laughter didn't ebb, if possible, it rose higher and he began to wheeze due to the lack of air. Sasuke could hear Kiba questioning what was going on with him and there was some scuffle before Naruto seemed to be gathering himself.

"Oh God. I just imagined your face and I couldn't hold it in anymore. How red are you right now?"

Opening the wooden door, he motioned for Megumi to go first as they moved through the hallways towards the meeting room.

"I'm hanging up on you now."

Sasuke pressed the button to end the call, not bothering with goodbyes because the idiot deserved it, and upon entering the room was met with six similar pair of eyes. Near and distant relatives sat around the rectangular wooden table, his father at the head of it, flanked by two of Sasuke's older cousins. The board for Uchiha Corporation was made of only those of the Uchiha family beginning with Shisui and Obito at the very beginning of the table at the table with Inabi, Yashiro and Tekka. Fugaku oversaw the meeting and then would relay what was said to Madara, the founder of the company.

"Thank you for joining us Sasuke, wouldn't want a repeat of last time now would we?"

His father's voice was cold as always. It wasn't anything new to him, he was all too used to it but without his brother there to give him understanding looks, Sasuke felt like he had been thrown into a shark infested tank. Shisui was the only friendly face amongst them, a smile of encouragement was aimed towards him as Sasuke walked towards Fugaku.

He placed the files and his cup where his father had been occupying and took the seat at the head at the table. All attention was centered on him until the large screen of the television flickered on to show a presentation titled "Uchiha Corp. Expands to Europe."

"With my brother unable to attend todays meeting, I will be the one to lead you all into our latest project."

Directing their attention to the next slide, Sasuke went into the speech he had gone over with Itachi the past week. He spoke about the pros and cons about what this would bring for them, words and movements practiced a million times and ingrained in his mind. It hadn't taken him long to finish, no more than ten minutes, but he had felt better when he had seen some heads nodding to what he said.

"Overall gentlemen, expanding ourselves would not only increase our value tenfold but it gets us closer in making our presence known in the West."

They murmured amongst themselves, about whether it was time to take the next step or the financial costs that it would bring. It had been something that Sasuke had been well prepared for and had the confidence to take any questions sent his way.

"When will you be taking this plan into action?"

Taking a seat at the head of the table, he moved his attention over to Obito whom sat to his right.

"As soon as my niece is born, Itachi will be taking a couple of personal days to tend to his wife and child and then we'll begin with making a few calls with a couple of connections we have over in Switzerland."

"Has this gone through accounting? Have they checked out how much this is going to cost us?"

Sasuke motioned for his secretary to bring the files she had in hand and passed them out to each member of the board.

"Inside you will find written testimonies of each department and the data we have collected shows with a 95% contiguity on how we'll do the first two years. We are a company that specialize in advanced weaponry and defense technologies, money is of no problem."

They chuckled and nodded and Sasuke knew he had won them over the second coal colored eyes scanned through the pages and looked smug at the numbers.

"How will we be promoting this? Last I heard, Fujioma was sent over to Brazil for some oiling company."

Fujioma Miyamoto had been brought in to Uchiha Corp. about ten years ago due to his outstanding reputation for working as a Public Relations and having worked with some big names. It hadn't taken long to get him to sign over to them and handle everything that dealt with getting their name out there and bringing in shareholders like flies on honey. Once his contract had been over, however, he had respectfully declined in renewing his contract and had moved to another company in South America.

"I'm working on it. I was speaking to a close acquaintance about his work the other day and he happened to mention that he had just gotten out of a project and was ready to take on a new one. I'll have him set up his portfolio and his resume and I will be messaging you all as soon as possible to see whether you all agree having him work for us."

Waiting for any other question and seeing none come, he thanked them all for their time and passed his things over to his secretary.

"Good job Sasuke. You did very well."

Obito patted his back and shook his hand. As most left the room, the only ones who stayed behind were Shisui and his father.

"Our little Sasuke is all grown up!"

Placing his arm around Sasuke's neck, Shisui brought the taller man down just to his stature. Even though he was annoyed at the manhandling, he was used to such things when it came to his older cousin.

"Let him go Shisui, you two are no longer children so act like it."

Fugaku looked at the two of them with disapproving eyes. He made no comment on his son's presentation nor went to offer any criticism. All he did was stare at him with cold, unyielding eyes.

"You and your brother never mentioned this person for the PR slot. Why didn't you mention it to me before hand?"

Sasuke righted himself and adjusted his tie.

"It was a last minute thing. I had spoken to Itachi about it just yesterday after I had left from a dinner I was attending. He agreed when I mentioned it to him so I thought I might as well tell you at the meeting."

Fugaku seemed less hostile now knowing his eldest son had had a say in it.

"I hope you know what you are doing Sasuke. Think twice before making any decision, lest it be too demanding."

He took one more look at the two before taking his leave. The second he stepped out of the room, Shisui released a long, belated breath and adjusted his collar.

"Jeez, you'd think the guy would have loosened up after retiring early."

Sasuke gave a shallow chuckle and grabbed his phone that was currently vibrating in his pocket.

"Maybe he would have if Itachi had not decided to give me 40% of the company the moment he stepped in has CEO."

He skimmed quickly through the text messages, most of them from Naruto and a couple of them from Itachi asking how the meeting went and a picture asking which crib he liked more. That brought a true smile to his face and made quick of responding back to his brother first.

"Hey, ask Itachi if he wants to meet us later for lunch, say around 2? Let me know."

Shisui motioned to his phone as he took the opposite direction from where Sasuke was heading. Making his way back to his office, he thumbed through the ramblings that Naruto had messaged him about having to do with a professor this semester and how unfair the man was when it came to grading his photos.

'Are you busy?'

'I just got out of class, heading out to

lunch with Sai and Kiba. Want to join?'

Pressing the call button, he sat at his chair and didn't have to wait no longer than two rings before the blonds voice greeted him.

"I have a proposition for you so listen up."

At eight years old, Sasuke had received his first kiss. It had happened when it had been lunchtime and he and Naruto had been arguing about their lunches. Sasuke's mom always prepared him a bento along with a juice box and cookies for dessert while Naruto had to get the school lunches, which never seemed to fill him up. Naruto was trying to convince Sasuke that trading him the soup for the cookies would be a great trade because Sasuke hardly ever ate the cookies. Before Sasuke could bring their verbal fight into a physical one he saw from over Naruto's shoulders Sakura making her way towards them with a bunch of their classmates behind her.

Sakura had her head bowed and her hands intertwined with each other. She appeared nervous but determined and she came to stop right in front of Sasuke. Next to him, Naruto had a blush that rivaled Sakura's own flushed face and he seemed excited to be even near her. He had acquired a huge crush on her ever since he had laid eyes on her but she tried to avoid him as much as possible, something that never bothered him and made him try harder for her to notice him.

"Uh… h-hi Sasuke. I-I just wanted to, um," She took a huge intake of breath and looked around her, to all their classmates peering and snickering and waiting to see what was going to happen. Taking in a deep breath again, she released it slowly and balled her hands into fists and with a new found determination locked eyes with the confused Uchiha and said, "I really, really like you Sasuke!"

With that, she leaned in and pecked him on the lips. All the kids around cheered and made noises while some laughed or made throwing up noises. Sakura seemed proud of herself and grinned at Sasuke who still looked confused until he finally realized what had happened.

"Well I don't like you and I especially don't like girls who do things to show off in front of their friends."

The noises their classmates had been doing suddenly halted into a silence after Sasuke's malicious words. For just a moment, the air around them was still as Sasuke's gaze was unrelenting and stared her down until Sakura's green eyes looked away, tears falling at the sides. Ino stepped up and wrapped her arms around Sakura and began to turn her away but not before glaring at Sasuke.

"Geez, what's your problem Sasuke? She was just confessing to you!"

Ino took Sakura away after that, all the other kids following after them when the playful atmosphere was no longer there. Sasuke looked after their retreating forms before turning back to his lunch.

"No way."

Turning to Naruto who looked awestruck and with an uncaring tone, Sasuke asked him what he was mumbling on about.

"You just got kissed by Sakura. I wish I had gotten kissed by her."

Sasuke wasn't sure what was the big deal about a stupid kiss but upon seeing the crestfallen expression on the blonds face Sasuke didn't think twice about it before planting his own lips on Naruto's.

Naruto released hot air from his nose out of surprise and his eyes widen when Sasuke leaned back and wiped his mouth.

"There, now you kissed her too."