Song Mentioned: Turn it off - Paramore (acoustic version)

Chapter 3 – Stress related Uchiha's and new Co-Workers

"And where have you been?" Came the all to familiar voice of someone Sakura really didn't want to deal with right now. Shit! Was the only word circling her mind at that moment as she slowly turned around.

Itachi Uchiha sat at the opposite side of the room, his hand slowly retreating from where it turned on the lamp. His coal coloured eyes studied Sakura's frozen form in the shadows and waited for a reply.

"Well?" He asked again, letting some ice fill his voice as he spoke. Sakura felt a cold sweat on her skin as she blinked in disbelief. She absently wondered how long he's been there; she'd been gone for quite awhile and had wondered why he hadn't gotten bored yet. He's an Uchiha you idiot, Sakura thought, thinking that was the obvious answer.

"Why are you here?" Sakura questioned, being sure to stay out of the dull light, incase he saw the blood her jumper couldn't clean. Itachi's frown deepened at the question, he was loosing his patience with this woman.

"My mother's been worried sick, do you even know how long are staff were out looking for you? Four hours Sakura! Four! Are you a drug addict or something? Is that it?" He growled. Itachi stood up and walked over to were Sakura was still standing next to the window. Sakura, seeing his advance, jumped out of his way. She needed to make up an excuse, and fast. Then she remembered that he'd practically already made one up for her, then again, he probably wouldn't believe her if she jus admitted it, it would sound too fake, and Itachi was a smart man, that much she knew, so she just had to act defensive.

"It's none of your business Itachi! Leave me alone!" Sakura shouted. Moving completely out of arms reach when he tried to grab her.

"It is my business. You're working for my Company now and I don't want anything bad to come back and trouble Sasuke!" He growled. Sakura noticed how he took the bait, so now all she had to do was milk it for what it was worth and get him out of the room so she can clean the blood off her clothes and body.

"I wont do it again, alright? You can't control my life!" She yelled again, throwing her arms in the air for affect. Itachi watched her through cold eyes and spoke in a low growl that even Sakura couldn't manage. She took an involuntary step back and gulped.

"Just remember that I'll be watching." Itachi simply stated before marching out the door, the menacing aura that had once filled the room following him out.

Sakura stood there frozen for so long that her muscles actually began to ache from standing still for so long. She blinked when her mind finally began to process what had happened. And the first word that came to mind was Fuck! Sakura was truly screwed right now, having an Uchiha follow her every move when it came to dinnertime was not the way to go. In fact, it would probably be best if she left in the morning. Yeah, that's what she was going to do; there was no way in hell that she could stay with Itachi watching her like a hawk. Plus she gathered that since she was the first to get up that morning then it would be easy to sneak away unnoticed.

With her mind settled Sakura moved into the large bathroom and began to clean herself off.

…!...

Sasuke sat in one of the many living rooms possessed by his family and waited for his brother to return from his 'interrogation' with his newest employee. It was half one in the fecking morning and Sasuke wanted to sleep! He'd been waiting in there since half eleven when everyone had returned from there search and he was bored out of his mind!

Then the big dark oak double doors were swung open to reveal a very pissed off looking Itachi. Sasuke examined his brother's state and gathered that it hadn't gone according to plan.

"You look stressed" Sasuke commented, noticing the way his brother was slightly hunched over. He was only able to notice because he saw so much of the man.

"You could say that." Itachi replied before sitting down on the fluffy sofa across from the armchair Sasuke was occupying. Sasuke lent forward, resting his chin on his entwined fingers and looked at Itachi straight in the eye.

"And your verdict is?" Sasuke prodded. He wanted to keep this short, Sasuke wanted to go home and sleep.

"I think she's doing drug's. When I mentioned it before she got very defensive. Overly defensive if you ask me." Itachi admitted. Sasuke let out a long sigh; it dragged out of his parted lips in irritation.

"We'll keep tabs on her. Follow her around and see where that leads us. We can't have some druggy working under the companies name." Sasuke suggested. He knew that he couldn't just fire her after she signed the contract, so the only thing he could do was find her dealer and turn then into the police. The only thing he could do was making sure she stayed clean.

"That wont work, we can't just go and follow her off the bat." Itachi added. A frown was very clearly stretched across his brow.

"And why not?" Sasuke growled.

"Don't be a fool. She'd be expecting that, I don't think she's as dumb as she'd like us to think. We'll just keep watch of the CCTV at the gate and see what times she enters and leaves for now, we'll make are move when she least expects it." Sasuke nodded his head in silent agreement. They'd make their move when she least expects it.

…!...

Sakura ran around her room early the next morning picking up essentials and trying her hardest not to wake up the entire building. The pockets of her trench coat were filled to the brim with food and money that she'd found lying around. Her guitar was lying on the messed up bed when she frantically turned around to look for it. What Itachi had said to her yesterday was properly stressing the half-breed out. Sakura was expecting him to be around every corner when she'd finally exited her room.

She marched through the halls with deadly silent movements and was actually proud that she'd managed to avoid everyone in the house, even though they were still asleep. Sakura turned the last corner and was met with the marble floored staircase that she'd come to admire. With careful feet she walked down the stairs and frantically looked around for any maids that might already be up, she highly doubted it mind you, it wasn't even six am yet.

As she marched towards the door and looked around the room checking for any witnesses to her great escape. As her gaze washed over the room until she caught the sight of almost black indigo blue and whipped her head around to face Sasuke.

He was leaning against the doorframe that led into one of the hallways with a triumphant smirk on his arrogant face. He'd caught her red handed, her eyes were wide and they were threatening to fall out.

Sasuke watched Sakura panic with amusement, he'd seen this coming last night and decided to get up really early and wait. Good thing he did other wise he'd be screwed. Sakura was looking between him and the gate at the bottom of the driveway; he guessed that she was about to make a run for it.

"Don't even bother Haruno, my family have been on very good terms with the police for years and I'm sure they wouldn't mind chasing you up." He stated. The smirk never left his lips but when he spoke there was no emotion at all in his voice. Sakura visibly gulped, not liking the idea of being chased down by the police. She stepped back inside and closed the front door, turning fully to Sasuke.

"Itachi told you about are run in last night I'm gathering?" Sakura said. Putting two and two together.

"Yeah, he did." Sasuke simply stated. Not missing the fact that Sakura was becoming more fidgety the longer they stayed in the awkward situation, well awkward for Sakura at least.

"…Right…" Sakura didn't know what to do; she'd been caught with her hand deep in the cookie jar and had no explanation. It was clear as day what she was planning. Eventually after a long silence it was Sasuke who broke it.

"Haruno, what the hell where you thinking. Last night everyone was worried and my mother was convinced you'd been murdered and now you try and runaway?" Sasuke's voice had dropped to a dangerous level, making the room appear a few degrees lower than it actually was. Sakura looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with the Uchiha. Once again she had no explanation, it wasn't like she could just go ahead and tell them that she hid around street corners ripping peoples throats out. She'd just let him make his own conclusion.

"My brother seems to think its drugs, is that true?" He questioned, his eyes never once leaving her stressed out form. Sakura said nothing; instead she looked down nervously, trying to fool him like she fooled Itachi last night. And it worked! Sasuke let out another irritated huff that sounded a bit like a groan and pinched the top of his nose with his finger and thumb.

"My god Haruno, could you be any more idiotic?" He huffed out, speaking more to himself than the girl in front of him. Sakura puffed out her chest, not liking being called an idiot in the least. She didn't say anything, but instead settled for a glare. Sasuke didn't even look at her as he crossed the room, heading for the front door.

As he passed her he stopped on the steps and turned back to her.

"Meet me here at nine, I'm taking you into the office to meet someone. I trust that you won't pull anymore of your little escapee stunts until then?" He raised one perfectly formed eyebrow at her. Sakura just nodded her head, without looking at him and walked away to where she'd come from.

…!...

The car ride to the Uchiha building was silent, neither Sasuke nor Sakura dared say anything, their conversation that morning was still hanging low over their heads.

Sasuke had changed into a black business suit; he had the air of professionalism follow him like there was some sort of magnetic pull. Sakura on the other hand simply wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a sailor stripped T–shirt. Her short hair was held back with a black hair band and she only let her bangs free to frame her face. Both of them looked completely different from the plain black business shoes to the army boots on their feet.

Sakura couldn't remember the last time she was in a car; it must have been years ago. It was something she wasn't very happy about nonetheless, she felt motion sickness from not being used to it and wanted out. As they passed into the centre of Konoha Sakura opted to look out the window. The buildings turned into skyscrapers in no time and to her amazement they seemed to never end and just kept climbing until she was sure they'd passed the clouds.

As the car slowed down to a stop Sakura practically dived out onto the busy pavement, not even waiting for the driver to open the door for her and gazing up at the huge skyscraper that had the Uchiha family crest over the revolving doors.

Sasuke ignored the look Sakura had on her face walked past her into the revolving doors, expecting her to follow, which she did. He saw her out of the corner of his eye following him like he was the mother duck and she was the duckling. Sasuke walked past the main desk and straight to the lift, all the while Sakura never left his side.

She watched with interest as he pushed one of the buttons and stood back with his hands behind his back. Sakura couldn't help but feel out of place, here she was, a girl who was homeless until two days ago, standing in some posh looking lift with one of the richest men in Japan!

"Remind me why we're here again?" Sakura whispered. She for some reason didn't want to break the silence; it seemed so thick that she could feel it around her skin. So at least she could thin it out a bit, plus the Uchiha had never given her the details.

"You'll find out soon enough." He simply stated. He didn't even turn to look at her! Sakura frowned, she would admit that she didn't know much about manners, but she knew that was definitely rude!

"You're being unfair. You're the one that hired me and keeping me here against my will, and you have the cheek to act like you've got a three foot barge pole stuck up your ass!" She growled. Crossing her arms and attempting to look menacing, which wasn't working seeing as he was a good few inches taller than her. Sasuke finally turned around to face her. His eyes stared down at her green irises with a steady glare, staring her out. They were both as stubborn as each other and both refused to give in. Even when people got on and off the lift, they still glared daggers at each other, even when they'd reached their floor they still glared at each other, but this time they were walking along the corridor.

"Mr. Uchiha! Thank god you're here! I need you to sign this!" His sectary asked. Sasuke hadn't even noticed that he'd reached his office but he had. His gaze was forced away from Sakura's now triumphant eyes and turned to the desk that was placed outside his office.

"Haruno, wait for me in there. I wont be long." He said in a toneless voice. Sakura grinned and practically skipped inside. Once in her mouth actually dropped open. The office was huge! It had dark blue walls and a window wall behind his huge desk. There was a sofa in the corner of the room with the biggest TV Sakura had ever seen in her life sitting on the wall.

With a skip still in her step Sakura walked over to Sasuke's office chair and sat down, not caring in the least that he might want it back. She swirled around to face the window and looked down the street that the building was across from. She watched the ant-sized people making their way around the busy streets.

Sakura was once again pulled out of her thoughts when Sasuke entered the room; the sound of the door opening alerted her of his presents as she swung around in her chair to face him.

"We meet again Mr. Uchiha…" She said playfully while stroking an invisible fluffy cat. Sasuke merely raised a brow at her antics and dug some files out of one of the folders that were sat in some mahogany cupboard.

"Haruno, get out of the chair." He ordered. Sakura eyed him through narrow eyes. Did she smell a challenge?

"And why should I?" She answered. Wriggling around to get comfy just to rub it in his face.

"Because it's my damn chair." He snapped after one of his irritated huffs.

"Doesn't mean I can't sit in it." She shot back at him with a big cheesy grin. Sasuke growled under his breath, he refused to sit on the other chair on the opposite side of the desk, it was smaller and meant to intimidate, he refused to be put through that.

"Haruno… You have five seconds to get off that chair before I physically pull you off it." He growled. Sakura took no notice of his threat, she just grinned.

"You know that-"

"Five."

"Could be classified-"

"Four."

"As assault."

"Three."

"Two…" Something in Sasuke's voice must have convinced her to move because as soon as he growled out the two she was practically on the other side of the room cowering in fear. Sasuke on the other hand sat in his chair with a triumphant smirk on his face as he watched Sakura sit on the smaller, not so comfortable chair opposite him.

The next ten minutes to Sakura's despair was filled with him going over rules and regulations that she already knew. Her mind was a complete blank as she stared out the window behind Sasuke in a dream like state, thinking of all the things she could be doing right now instead of being stuck in here, with nothing but the four walls and a boring Uchiha for company.

"-And as for your Manager I'm… Haruno." Sasuke had looked up from the paper he was looking at and noticed the vacant look in those green eyes of hers. Sasuke took a slow intake of breath to calm himself down, to be honest he didn't even know why he bothered. She clearly wasn't interested.

Sakura was pulled back into the room when she heard her name being called, when she turned her head she saw Sasuke with his eyes closed taking in controlled breaths. Wow he's in a pissy mood, must be PMSing or something, Sakura thought.

"Have you been listening to a single word I've been saying?" He questioned. Sakura put on an innocent look and tried to fight back the urge to run when she caught sight of his glare.

"Yes. You were talking about rules and Managers and crap." She answered. Sasuke just let out an irritated huff before continuing with his little 'debrief' before he got interrupted.

"Well anyway, I've got someone I'd like to be your Manager. He's a good friend of mine actually and has been looking for a job for a while." Sasuke finished off. He looked over at Sakura who nodded to show she was paying attention this time.

"Okay well that was all I had to say. Come back here tomorrow at the same time and I'll introduce you to your Manager." He said as Sakura stood up. She was about leave when something hit her; she had no way to get back.

"Hey doofus, I've got no way to get home. It was your driver person that brought us here." She questioned, Sasuke looked up at her and raised a brow, couldn't she figure it out herself?

"Take a bus." He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No money genius." She shot back. Slapping her pockets for effect.

"You can walk back, didn't you live on the street's for god sake?" He asked in a bored tone.

"Yeah but then a had proper shoes on that I'd broken into." Sakura stated, pointing down at her boots. Sasuke sighed, giving up and reached into his back pocket of his trousers, pulling out his wallet.

"This should be enough to get you there. Good bye Haruno." He handed her the money and made sure to add emphasis to the last part.

…!...

Sakura found herself inside Sasuke's office the very next morning on the verge of passing out. She ended up going out to hunt at half one last night and hadn't gotten in until four in the morning, then she was up at seven so she could here at the right time… Yeah, so she felt like a walking zombie that morning.

Sakura and Sasuke sat in silence, just the way he wanted it, as they waited for Sakura's new co-worker. Sasuke glanced over at Sakura again, noticing the dark bags that hung under her eyelids and how she was slumped and yawned every now and then.

For once Sasuke was actually glad that he'd taken his Brothers advice. His brother had said to him earlier that he'd gotten some footage of Sakura's movement's last night so he was glad that everything was going to plan. It was just then that his self proclaimed 'best-friend' came bouncing through the door.

"Teme! Where's my newest co-worker!" He all but boomed. Sakura cringed and turned around to see whom the loud voice belonged to. She was met with a man who had the biggest smile on his face she'd ever seen. As he walked over to the desk and sat down she noticed how his spiky blond hair moved with every shift in direction and how his blue eyes looked like the ocean. His tanned skin stretched over his face as he grinned with all his pearly white teeth.

"Is this her?" He asked. Looking over at the pink haired woman next to her and flashed her a grin before holding out his hand for Sakura to shake. She happily took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze, showing that she was in no way weak. This only caused the grin on the blonds face to widen.

"My names Sakura Haruno. It will be a pleasure working with you I'm sure." She said, mimicking Sasuke's choice of speech.

"Ah, I'm sure it will be. I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way, and just call me Naruto, I hate formality's." He replied, the grin never once leaving his naturally happy face. Naruto turned to his best friend and let out a chuckle while scratching the back of his head. Sasuke wished Sakura luck with this one; it was only by a miracle that Sasuke hadn't strangled the blond yet.

"Well I don't know about you but I like her already!" Naruto laughed. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and lent back in his chair.

"You haven't even heard her play yet dope." Sasuke commented casually. Naruto gave him one of those blank expressions he's oh-so-good at before he realized what Sasuke was taking about.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" He then turned to Sakura. "Would you please play for me?" He asked with an embarrassed smile in place. Sakura merely rolled her eyes before reaching down for the guitar that was resting on the floor by her feet.

"Okay, this song is called 'turn it off'" She stated before resting her guitar secularly on her lap and began to strum out the notes. Eventually she began to sing and the whole room was filled with her music. The notes were more upbeat than the last time she played for the Uchiha and he noticed. The last time the song's notes were smoother. Sakura sang every word to perfection, lowering her voice and raising it when needed, she dragged and shortened her words to add affect. She closed her eyes and let the sounds come out of her by itself.

As the song came to a close Sakura began to repeat the last line for effect, stretching out the notes with her guitar and coming to an abrupt end. She looked over to Naruto and saw his thoughtful expression, when she looked over at Sasuke; he just looked bored, as usual.

Naruto liked this girl, she had a good voice and a skill for lyric's, which was rare, most of the time Naruto got stuck with people who couldn't even tell the difference between their left and right foot. There was only one small thing that Naruto thought she was lacking…

"I like your style, but-" Sakura's face fell as soon as the 'but' was spoken. She didn't like buts.

" But?" She prodded.

"Your music could use more depth." Sakura gave her new manager a weird look. She had no clue what he was talking about, depth? Did that even come into music? Naruto spotted the weirded out looks he was getting and decided to explain, he should have seen that coming. She was untrained after all, in his opinion that just made her even more brilliant.

"You know, um… Your music's too simple right now, there's not enough variation, if we maybe added another guitarist and a drummer then I'm sure the problem would dissolve!" Naruto beamed, showing every one of his shiny white teeth. Sakura nodded along in understanding, completely forgetting the Uchiha's existence across the table.

"Ah, I see." She agreed. The guy probably knew what he was talking about, otherwise Sasuke wouldn't have hired him… or be friends with him (that fact seemed pretty dim to Sakura considering the two completely different personality traits). Naruto was so bright and bubbly, nothing like Mr. Doom and Gloom who was sitting across from her. She rather have Naruto find her in the street than Sasuke, he'd be easier to fool at night anyway… Probably…

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Sasuke suddenly said, reminding the two other people in the room of his existence once again. Naruto scratched his head in deep thought as both she and Sasuke looked at him waiting for his answer.

"Ah, now that I think about it! There are some people who are looking to start up a band; they're looking for a guitarist, vocalist and a Manager I think. I saw their names turn up the other day in some files… What was it again? uh… I'll check it later. The files are on my desk." Naruto all but chirped happily, grinning all the while, shutting his eyes at the end and making the grin more intense.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blond ball of energy, trust him to find a flaw in an, what he thought, perfect performance. Then again, that was what Sasuke paid him for. Although he was hoping to just throw her out on her own and not with a band, it was less paper work that way.

"Okay then, Naruto, take Sakura with you and show her were Music room Twenty-one is. That's the one I'm assigning you too and contact those people you were speaking of, I want to get this done and dusted." Sasuke ordered. He Pulled out some files and beginning to write on them, completely blanking the other two in the room. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sakura and made her giggle, they both knew when they were unwanted and made way to leave the office, Sakura's tiredness all but forgotten.

…!...

Naruto sat in the upscale Music room munching on some Cafeteria bought Ramen and Sakura ate a simple sandwich while writing down some music. They were both waiting for the their possible new band mates. Naruto had managed to chaise them down that morning and had arranged for an audition that afternoon, apparently the two were more than happy to come along. Now all Sakura had to do was write some music that fitted into the song that she sung for Naruto that morning. Music which to Sakura's annoyance was harder to fit in than she thought, it was so much easier to write music from scratch than trying to change it half way through.

"Oh my god! I can't do this!" Sakura yelled. Standing up and grabbing her hair in fists. Naruto just glanced at her before turning back to his ramen from the sofa.

"Sure you can, you've already got half the song done, why not the other half?" Naruto pushed while still slurping on his noodles. Sakura turned to him and felt the urge to rip his throat out. He'd been saying that for the past half hour! She'd like to see him try this! But Sakura knowing she'd just get it from Sasuke later if she objected further, sat back down at the small desk and pulled her thinking cap on.

The entire recording Room was silent, minus the scratching of paper and the slurping of ramen. Sakura was nearly done when the door was slammed open. She jumped so far in the air that Sakura was surprised her head wasn't stuck in the ceiling like in the cartoons she used to watch. Sakura's head whipped around and the biggest scowl since Sasuke was plastered on her face when she faced the culprit.

There standing at the door was a man and a woman. The man who stood with his hand on the door, the one who slammed the door she guessed, was rather wolfish in appearance, he had wild brown hair and two red triangles on his cheeks, he was dressed in a simple worn out leather jacket and jeans. The woman who was behind him had two identical brown buns on either side of her head and a blunt cut fringe. Her clothes consisted of a red Chinese styled Top and a pair of black skinny jeans. There was an enthusiastic smile on both their faces and Sakura couldn't help but let the scowl melt away as she sat back down and hurried on with her music, trusting Naruto to handle the situation, she already guessed that they were probably the ones here for the audition.

"Hey Naruto! We here on time yeah?" The man said. Naruto nodded and swallowed the last of his Ramen before standing up to great the two before him.

"Kiba, Tenten, nice to see you. Sakura's still finishing off the song so just sit down for now." He pointed at the black leather chair and practically dived on it, he had his own preferred seat on the sofa! Kiba and Tenten slowly followed, looking around the room with keen interest.

"Is this were we'll be working if we get chosen?" Tenten asked in a polite manner, completely different from her male companion who talked more like a school boy than anything else even though he was well into his early twenty's.

"Yeah, basically. We've been assigned this room so we can do with it as we please." A sort of gleam came into the two male's eyes at that comment, the thought of having there own room to do as they please with was something they really liked the sound of. Of course with two girls in the room at the same time it did sort of ruin the affect but they still wanted to dream.

"Is she the one we're going to be working with as well Mr. Uzumaki?" Tenten continued nodding at the pink haired girl scribbling over the desk.

"Yeah, she is. And just call me Naruto." He waved off. It was at that moment that Sakura stood up, a grin stretched over her face with the two song sheets in hand. The three looked at her with curiosity until they saw what was in her hand. Sakura walked over with purpose and firmly placed the sheets on the coffee table in front of them, grin still clearly on her face. Sakura then held out her hand for one of them to take, Tenten took it and shook her hand with an equally firm grasp.

"Sakura Haruno, I look forward to working with you." She beamed.

"Tenten Kumo. And we haven't even played yet, so you don't know if we'll be working together or not." Tenten replied, a small laugh in her voice. Sakura just looked over to Kiba while introducing herself to him and the other way around before she answered.

"I can just tell, you look like you really want this, your eyes light up every time you look over at the recording room." She said pointing over at the glass room in the back. Tenten just wanted to know how or when she saw that when she was writing.

Sakura sat on the coffee table and waited while the other two read over the music. She could see the concentration on their faces and even Kiba was bobbing his head along to the beat.

"This sounds pretty good. Let's get on with it yeah?" Kiba stated as he stood up and walked over to where he saw some acoustic guitars sitting in the corner. Tenten nodded in agreement and moved into the glass room to sit behind the brand new looking drum set. Naruto handed Sakura her own guitar and they both moved into the large room with the glass wall. Sakura stood in front of the microphone and threw the bit of string she used for a strap over her body to hold her guitar in place. Kiba stood by the other microphone with the company bought acoustic guitar in place. The sheets of music Sakura had finished two minutes were placed on stands in front of them.

Sakura Started off the song with was soon followed by Kiba's expert playing and back up singing. Tenten bet out the slight beat to the song and Sakura finally understood what Naruto meant earlier about depth. The song sounded so much better, more interesting and exiting. She definitely needed more than just herself if she wanted t make decent music, even though she was 'forced' to make music, except that it wasn't really forced seeing as she enjoyed it very much.

As the song came to a much better ending than before she heard Naruto clap from the doorway he was leaning against. His face was lit up like a kid at Christmas and Sakura couldn't help but let a small smile lift the corners of her lips either. Naruto only said two words after that.

"You're hired."

...!...

okay that's it for today! thanks you for reading. I'll try and update soon! and thank you to every one who reviewed! you guys rock my socks!