Shelly's Note: I started on chapter 26 finally...this isn't one of my favorite chapters....
As usual, I own nothing, enjoy and please review
Chapter 23: Fugaku's Plan
Sasuke POV:
I woke up to find my mother and father in the kitchen, waiting for me. "You shouldn't get up so later," my father said as I looked at the clock, which read eight thirty.
"Sorry father," I mumbled.
"Your brother has been up since six," he said.
I just frowned and nodded as I made myself a bowl of cereal. I wondered why the both of them had to be there to "check up on me."
"I have something planned for today," he said.
I looked at him and just grunted, "Hn?"
"We'll be spending the entire day together," he announced. "You need to understand what it means to be an Uchiha man."
I wanted to smash my head into something, hard. If I had the means, I probably would have killed myself at the moment rather than having to listen to an entire day of them preaching, "don't be gay" to me.
All I could do was let out a sigh as I ate my breakfast and my mother said, "We're starting with family counseling."
"What?" My eyes widened.
"Now that there are no distractions, I've asked Kakashi back for another try," she said, happily.
I just frowned; I knew that it was going to be an extremely long day. When the doorbell rang, my mother excitedly answered and let the man in.
He suggested, "Why don't you all sit on the couch."
"Why doesn't Itachi have to participate?" I asked with a slight growl.
"He's busy with his studies," my father said.
I wanted to roll my eyes, but I restrained myself and just said, "Right."
"Do you have an issue with your brother?" Kakashi asked as he sat down.
"Excuse me," I glared.
"You seem to have an issue with him," he said.
"I don't have an issue with Itachi; I just don't understand why he doesn't have to participate in so called family counseling," I glared at the silver haired man.
"I see," he said as he wrote something down. "Well let's get started."
"How does it make you feel when your parents go away on business?" he asked.
"This is stupid," I said.
"Answer the question Sasuke," my father said as he looked at me.
"When I was younger I didn't like it, now I don't care as much," I shrugged, knowing that with my father there it'd be stupid of me to run away.
"Would you not want attention from guys if you had it from us?" my mother asked.
"Mom, I'd still be gay," I said.
"Well, it's not allowed," my father said.
"So what, I'm just supposed to pretend?" I asked.
I looked toward Kakashi for some help. He looked as if he wanted to say something; however, everyone knew better than to speak out against my father.
"Mr. Uchiha, you can't force kids to do anything," he said, calmly.
"You don't know me very well then," my father said.
"It's just probably not a very good idea," he said.
"Where did you find this man? I want him out, now!" my father yelled as he pulled me out of the room. "Come Sasuke, we're going to show you why you will do as I say."
My wrist was starting to hurt as he dragged me along and I asked, "Can you let go, please?"
"No," he said as he pulled me out to the car that was waiting out front, only stopping so that I could get my shoes on.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll see," he said before demanding his driver to drive.
It was only a little while before we pulled up to a familiar building, my father's office building. "Father why are we here?" I asked.
"I have something to show you," he said.
I followed him, somewhat nervously as we walked into the building. He owned the entire thing and everyone knew his name. When we got up to the top floor, it was his office and he sat behind the desk and told me to sit down across from him.
"You see Sasuke; part of this could all be yours. Itachi will own most of the company but you will be his right hand man. You will be the second in command, if you don't mess it up now. This is all a sure thing, but a relationship is not. Marry a nice girl, who won't give the family bad press," he tried to convince me.
"But I won't be happy," I frowned.
"Sasuke, you'll have more money than you'll know what to do with, of course you'll be happy. However, say you take a chance with this boy, and you lose it all, you could be poor and heartbroken," his father said.
I let his words sink in as I looked around, knowing one day this would be Itachi's office when my father retired.
"Do you know what happens if you choose love?" he asked.
I looked down, "I get disowned?"
"That's right; you would hardly be worth calling an Uchiha. You wouldn't have a trust fund, a car, no family; you would no longer be set for life, and all because of a gamble," he said as he looked at me with serious eyes.
I let out a shaky breath, unsure if I was ready to lose all of that. Our relationship was so new, how could I be sure that it would last? Then he said, "Come take a walk with me, I have something else I want to show you."
We went down a few floors. When the elevator doors opened, I saw a well-lit hallway in front of me. "This displays all of the great Uchiha men," he announced. "Don't you want to be on this wall one day?" he asked.
I knew that it must wrap around the entire floor, with empty space or with portraits, as Uchihas usually thought very highly of other Uchihas. I just looked at the people's pictures hanging on the wall, a frown on my face as I thought of the decision that I had to make. I had thought that it was going to be easy before, but now I wasn't so sure. When everything was laid out in front of me and I was going to lose it, I wasn't sure I was ready to give it away for something so unsure.
TBC...
