"Mr. Sasuke Uchiha is waiting in the meeting room. Should I remind Naruto once again about this?" A secretary approached and asked Shikamaru.
"No need, we're almost done." Shikamaru spun his chair around and yelled to his blond friend. "Naruto, upper-view plan is ready! Grab those because you have a meeting with Mr. Uchiha now!" He offered a rolled paper, seeing Naruto standing up from his desk and walking towards him to accept it.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow when he saw his friend approaching him. Something was off. Usually at this very moment Naruto would scowl and grumble something unintelligible (curses ranging between arrogant assholes and anal bastards) or he would give out an annoyed huff, begrudgingly accepting the plans while he walked towards the meeting room. However this time, Naruto simply maintained a neutral face, the corner of his lips quirking a small smile as he picked up the plan, widening his beam:
"Thanks Shika!" There were several other plans the blond was holding precariously, dangling on his arms while Naruto tried to adjust the newest one on the pile. Shikamaru kept observing him with an unreadable expression and once Naruto succeeded in balancing the papers, he frowned in confusion, asking. "Is there anything wrong?"
Shikamaru paused, before shrugging and turned his chair back to its original position. "Nothing, you better hurry because you're already late. Mr. Uchiha will complain about it."
"Yeah, he always does." Naruto replied untroubled, and then grinned mischievously. "The Bastard doesn't really mean it 'neeways." His bewilderment further escalated when he saw two lifted black eyebrows from Shikamaru. "What?" The blond grumbled.
His friend sighed quietly, picking up his electronic pen and positioned it on his tablet. Troublesome. "Nothing, you should go."
Muttering to himself about crazy friends and their weird behaviors, Naruto gingerly walked towards the meeting room, carrying a huge amount of plans, hindering his speed. He turned into a corner and—
"Dumbass."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Naruto shouted startled, the small jump scattering the plans and most of them would have fallen if Sasuke hadn't picked them up. "Wha—what are you doing here?"
"You're late." Sasuke said, grabbing other plans from Naruto's arms, alleviating the weight, the blond following him right behind.
"Yeah yeah yeah, so because of that you had to sneak in a corner and scare me like that?" Naruto grumbled.
He saw one corner of Sasuke's lips twitching amusedly, almost bordering on a teasing smirk as the brunet declared. "I didn't do that. I've been waiting for you to arrive for too long so I decided to go to the toilet briefly. It's not my fault when I saw you, you were too distracted with your airhead blond thoughts."
"You're such a—"Naruto struggled to remember the exact curse word in Japanese. He was so used to only calling Sasuke names in English that everything he had learned in google translate was slowly being erased from his brain. "Um…" He scratched the back of his head.
"I see that you haven't improved your vocabulary much lately usuratonkachi." Sasuke said opening the door.
"Quite the contrary, I've decided that I'm not going to lower myself to that level to learn those kinds of indecent words after all." Naruto replied in Japanese, raising his chin haughtily. Then, he added in English. "Bastard."
Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow in response, not wanting to point out the obvious paradox in Naruto's words. The blond however, once he entered the conference room, saw many papers scattered around Sasuke's laptop as the presentation displayed on the screen. "I thought that we were already done with this presentation. Is there anything wrong, did we make a mistake anywhere?"
"No, there's nothing wrong. I just wanted to re-check to see if we had forgotten any detail here or there or if we overlooked any mistake."
"But we already did that like…three hundred times last week and you seemed satisfied after all the proofreading that we didn't touch it in the last meeting. Why are you re-checking today?" Naruto asked, placing the plans on the table and turning on the computer nearby. "Did something happen lately to change your mind?"
Sasuke slightly stiffened his shoulders before he willed them to relax. "Nothing's wrong. Just…my parents decided out of the blue to watch this meeting."
"What? Really?" Naruto blinked.
"Yes. My father suddenly said that he'd prefer to see it since he thought it was unsatisfactory only receiving e-mail reports, he couldn't really picture the whole project unless he saw the mock-up model and it's convenient that this meeting not only has your team showing and explaining, but there's also my presentation giving details about the whole financial status, our sponsors as well expenses for this construction. My mother probably only wants to see me, now that she's in NY too."
The blond opened his mouth into a silent 'oh' and snapped shut when he observed onyx eyes frantically checking some graphs on the paper and comparing them to another one shown on his laptop screen.
Sasuke spoke. "Maybe you should also rehearse again the part when you're describing the mock-up model to see if we should add some other details about our sponsors while I complement with other added slides describing their company and the percentage of their contribution on the overall fund? Could you call Nara-san so we can see if he—"
"Whoa whoa whoa, wait." Naruto interrupted sitting close to Sasuke, snatching the papers from the pale fingers and continuing to speak without waiting for the unavoidable protest. "I don't mind if we re-check it however many times you want, but you don't have to completely remake it. The presentation is fine."
Sasuke glared, snatching the papers back and growled. "No, it's not fine, you don't know my father as well as I do, you don't know how demanding he is with any kind of project, how high his standards are and how much he criticizes about…" About everything. About me. The young Uchiha trailed off, no longer able to concentrate on his task when he was lost in old memories.
Naruto sighed, gently picking up the papers and placing them on the table. "Yes, I definitely don't know much about your father and maybe he's as demanding as you make him sound but I also followed the whole process of this project. You also have high standards regarding it, you have covered every necessary point, you've paid attention to every essential part and there isn't anything crucial or any detail that you overlooked. This presentation is good." He closed Sasuke's laptop with a murmur. "You don't have to depend so much on his approval to see your own value."
Sasuke's first reaction was to flinch from Naruto's sincere statement, every part of his mind wanting to deny this weakness. He was still having a hard time recognizing this flaw and he didn't want anyone else poking at a tender wound, seeing a part of himself that he never desired to show to anyone else.
However, unbeknownst to Sasuke, there was also a rush of relief mixed inside his turbulent emotions, blocking any attempt of snappish recoil towards Naruto, as his words filled with some sort of half-confession. "Must be really pitiful to center one's life on someone else's recognition."
Naruto hummed in contemplation. "No, not really, we all need someone's approval so you can feel more secure about yourself. But I guess the difference is the degree of importance of recognition you desire to receive. Mine used to be really sucky too, almost no one believed that I could be successful, everyone patronized me, expecting that I would fail in life." An old flame lightened in his eyes and the blond mumbled darkly. "That's why I had to succeed above everything else, shove it in their faces that I could become someone respectable and prove my own value; make them swallow their own fucking words."
Blue eyes blinked and glanced at Sasuke who wore a fairly astonished expression, not expecting the blond to show such a resentful side of him. Naruto amended, speaking sheepishly. "But I guess in the end, what I wanted the most was their recognition. There's nothing more horrible than people belittling you and not acknowledging your worth reasonably. But maybe that's what makes us want to further chase them down, just to prove that they are wrong."
Sasuke fixed his eyes on his closed laptop, contemplating on the weight of his words as he concluded. "In the end, if it's only one person or a whole world, we all seek their recognition…so we can finally recognize ourselves."
"I guess…something like that." Naruto mumbled, opening Sasuke's laptop to its original position. "Well, let's get to work, we wasted too much time chatting."
"No, I suppose you're correct…for once, usuratonkachi." Sasuke smirked when he saw one raised blond eyebrow in his direction. "We'll only re-check for the last time, and this is as far as we can go. We shouldn't obsessively concentrate on something already completed when we have other cases to be taken care of." He stared at his empty cup of coffee and said. "Can you ask one of your secretaries to refill my cup? I just finished this one now."
The blond fleetingly glanced at his watch and winced. "Uh—yeah, I'll do that. Wait a min, I'll call one of 'em." He said in hesitation, slowly walking towards the intercom.
Sasuke sighed, the dumbass was so damn easy to read sometimes. "There's something troubling you, what's the matter now?"
"I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about that to you, after all, you are one of our clients…" Naruto responded with a hand on the back of his neck.
"Spit it out usuratonkachi." Sasuke said, his voice monotone, staring at his monitor.
"Err—well, it's just that it's lunch time, so half of our secretaries went out to eat while the other half are staying here to cover their absence. But during this time is when they have the least number of phone calls to answer, so they usually use this time to work on the account balancing and those kinds of things…I kinda don't want to bother them and—"
Sasuke pressed the keyboard shortcut to save his file and rose from his seat. "Fine, let's go to the kitchen to refill the cup."
"Uh—are you sure?" Naruto said uncertainly, after all Sasuke was still an important VP, so surely he must always have a secretary responsible for this. Seeing him in their kitchen (which he guessed that it would be humble in size in comparison to the gigantic one in their headquarters) was something almost inconceivable to believe.
"Yes, I wouldn't mind. Plus, it'd be a good opportunity to pause briefly for a rest." Sasuke declared, staring at the blond and waiting for him to show the way.
Naruto grinned widely, opening the door. "Ok then! Well, it's also a good opportunity to show off our coffee machine, I gotta say, it makes the wickedest coffee…"
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Shikamaru stretched his arms with a jaw-popping yawn, slumping slightly from his seat and grabbing his mug, only to realize that it was empty. He stared at his monitor. Just a few touch-ups and he'd be able to end the top view of this project. Maybe he should go and rescue Naruto from Uchiha before they killed each other by asking his blond friend to have lunch with him. Shikamaru lightly frowned when he remembered that Naruto didn't seem to mind any longer Uchiha's presence, so maybe he shouldn't be worried about those troublesome things anymore.
Rising from his seat to refill his coffee, he heard Naruto's voice coming from the kitchen, no doubt talking to someone else whose tone was quite familiar, but he couldn't really put his finger on it. The ponytailed brunet was ready to turn around and greet his friend when he recognized a styled type of dark hair with spiky strands sticking up the back.
At this moment, Shikamaru stopped in his tracks surprised, eyebrows raised while his eyes reconfirmed once again that yes, the person whom Naruto was talking amicably with was indeed Mr. stick-in-his-ass (as Naruto used to call him) Sasuke Uchiha.
…Huh. Shikamaru actually wasn't counting on this positive development. Not only because he used to hear Naruto complaining every single time the Uchiha had a meeting with them, but from the few times he also participated in those meetings, Sasuke Uchiha also emanated some kind of resentment towards his blond friend.
So what happened in such a short time to turn the tables completely? Shikamaru suspected that it was probably something related to Naruto's last trip to Japan, however according to Jiraiya, Naruto stayed in a hotel while Sasuke Uchiha was inside Mitsukoshi when the earthquake had happened. During the following week, both architects were reporting to Fugaku Uchiha, while Sasuke was recuperating. Logically, Naruto probably didn't meet Sasuke during that period of time.
But oddly enough, other changes were evident from before and after Naruto's trip to Japan. After his return, some trainees commented on the fact that Sasuke Uchiha occasionally dropped by the main office in which Shikamaru could guess that his reason was to specifically meet Naruto, picking up his friend's plans while they bantered, walking to the meeting room. Sometimes Shikamaru would try to find Naruto for lunch only to discover later that he had eaten with his supposedly former enemy. Really odd; Naruto would always prefer to avoid contact with nagging clients in those cases but at first Shikamaru presumed that he was obligated to continue the meetings while they had lunch since both had considerably tight schedules. Such situations had never happened before Naruto went to Japan, and had considerably increased afterwards, and Naruto's change of attitude also ended up connecting with those recent developments.
And while Shikamaru was feeling curious enough to approach them to continue to further analyze this weird behavior, he couldn't move forward or raise his voice to call out to get Naruto's attention, interrupting them. The atmosphere between them was somehow different, like they were in a world of their own, one in which no one was allowed to enter inside.
Shikamaru observed, as Uchiha was leaning on the door frame, that his expression was relaxed unlike the previous times he had met their client, talking with the blond, one hand holding a cup of coffee. They were positioned too far away for Shikamaru to properly overhear their conversation, and although it was obvious that Naruto was doing most of the talking, he could see Sasuke offering short responses with teasing notes, that somehow still maintained a friendly tone.
The brunet said something that made Naruto protest back, but after delivering his response, instead of bristling in indignation, the blond widened a grin that further puzzled Shikamaru.
"Hm. How long has it been since I've seen that kind of smile before?" Shikamaru wondered until he remembered the last time he saw it on his friend.
Oh boy…The black-haired architect shook his head before he went outside to have his lunch. Refilling the coffee could be done later.
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Naruto glanced sideways for the umpteenth time, noticing the usual lazy eyes focused on him and the blond groaned inwardly. Seriously, doesn't he ever get tired of doing this? Ever since his last meeting with Sasuke, Shikamaru had been analyzing Naruto as if he was some sort of challenging puzzle, taking his sweet time to view every possible angle and reach a brilliant and definite conclusion regarding him. For Pete's sake, his friend should be an investigator or an FBI agent instead of an architect, he just had too much fun playing detective.
"What the fuck Shika?" Naruto snapped turning around, glowering at his friend.
Shikamaru answered grouchily. "Something wrong?"
"Don't play innocent, I know that look from miles away. Just what the hell have I done lately for you to keep staring at me as if I'm some kind of lab rat ready to be dissected?" The blond growled.
Shikamaru yawned, not affected by Naruto's increased paranoia aimed at him. "I'm just watching to see if you're not freaking out or getting too nervous about this presentation which I should also be getting ready for to provide backup if needed."
Naruto's shoulders relaxed briefly, although his blue eyes still narrowed in suspicion. "Really? That's it?"
His friend shrugged nonchalantly, then, he cast his bait. "But I'm worried that Mr. Sasuke Uchiha might come up with some kind of scheme to leave you in a tight situation. From what I saw before, he may dislike you enough to do something like that."
The blond snorted automatically, responding. "Nah…doing something so low is not his style – he's too proud, that I know for sure."
"Oh really? But who knows if this is really true, especially coming from a shrewd business man like Mr. Uchiha." The ponytailed brunet asked in an apparent surprise.
"He's not a bad guy, don't worry about it." Naruto defended back.
Shikamaru hummed in response. "Is that so?"
Somehow, the tone of his voice increased Naruto's suspicions as the blond grumbled. "What was that just now?"
"What?" Shikamaru replied distractedly, exiting the elevator and greeting the Uchiha Corporation's receptionist.
"Your 'is that so?' was waaaaay too weird. What the hell is going on inside your lazy brain Shika?"
"Nothing, but I'm not finding my straightedge in my bag, maybe I forgot to bring it. You think you have one in yours?" Shikamaru observed as his friend occupied himself by placing his backpack on the desk and searched for the mentioned tool. It was so easy to change the subject with Naruto… "So is Mr. Uchiha arriving earlier to rehearse one last time before the meeting starts?"
"Hm? Nah, he can't." Naruto mumbled, opening the zippers and palming all possible corners inside his backpack. With a victorious shout, the blond handed the straightedge to his friend. "He said he has to go to the airport to welcome his parents, he'll arrive just in time for the meeting."
The conference room was gigantic, elegant and minimalistic in style, decorated with expensive furniture and high-tech machinery, one single u-shaped table in the middle, dark leather chairs surrounding it while the front side of the table was open for entrance, their mock-up positioned on a table in its center. The window side was fully covered with glass, the light filtering in balanced out the cool colors of the ebony wooden table with the warm colors from the ceiling and walls. They took some minutes to admire the enormous touch-screen TV that occupied almost the whole wall but it didn't take too long for them to get back to their work, analyzing to see if there was any piece of the mock-up bent incorrectly or reconfirming that they hadn't forgotten any small detail, together with their trainees who arrived afterwards to aid them in this presentation.
Half an hour later, an increasing noise of chatter could be heard from the corridor and the team of architects straightened up, prepared to receive the board of directors. Everyone greeted them courteously with a shake of hands, while they studied the mock-up building and were given brief explanations regarding it. Sarutobi arrived later, as his advanced age deterred him from staying for too long at those meetings. Shortly after, one of the secretaries announced that Uchiha Fugaku, Mikoto and Sasuke were arriving, ending the chattering in an instant.
Another secretary opened the door, bowing shortly as both Fugaku and Mikoto prepared to enter inside. Positioned behind them, Sasuke saw that his father placed his hand on the door to make sure the door wouldn't close in front of Mikoto, and once she entered, he lowered his hand to linger close to her waist. His mother didn't voice anything back; however, just one unique quirk of lips was enough to communicate her thanks to him. Her smile was bright and amorous, carrying an ageless expression that didn't fade throughout the years, while she allowed her husband to escort her inside. Sasuke blinked surprised, questioning himself why he hadn't noticed his parents' special kind of communication before.
He also wondered why he was noticing it only now.
Each member of the board of directors greeted the Uchiha family as onyx eyes detected out of the corner a blond dumbass looking restless, wanting to approach them but still occupied explaining the building to someone else. Sasuke smirked to himself when Naruto finally finished the conversation, the brunet already expecting the eventual outburst from Naruto:
"Sasuke!" The blond shouted and immediately gathered the attention from everyone nearby, including Fugaku and Mikoto. Naruto looked sheepish for the bewildered stares, apologizing briefly as he walked towards them. Sasuke took his time to savor the very pleasing vision of Naruto wearing a suit that hugged his body in all the right places, even though it wasn't as breathtaking a sight as the one he wore back at the party a few months ago.
Once close to the Uchihas, Naruto noticed a raised eyebrow coming from Fugaku and offered his hand embarrassed, muttering in Japanese. "It is my pleasure to meet you again, Uchiha Fugaku-sama."
Fugaku stared at the young architect for a brief moment before returning with a firm handshake. "Likewise, Uzumaki-kun."
Mikoto approached them, smiling sweetly. "And this young man is…?"
The oldest Uchiha turned his head towards her and explained. "He's one of the chief architects on this project, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."
"Is that so…" Mikoto also took some time to observe the blond with an unreadable expression, making Naruto nervous with her piercing gaze.
All of a sudden, Mikoto beamed. Her smile was a little bit too wide to Naruto's confused eyes, and a little bit too playful to Sasuke's suspicious ones, while she also offered her hand to shake it.
"I see, Uzumaki-kun right. I've heard about your achievements made in such a short time. It is my pleasure to meet such a talented young man." She shook Naruto's hand and then she threw a significant glance towards her husband. "And you're the same age as our son Sasuke right! I bet you both have a lot to talk about so we old people shouldn't interfere with whatever important conversation you'll have. We should continue greeting other people, Fugaku." She said, still wearing that mysterious smile.
Fugaku exhaled a soft sigh, only detected by Sasuke and Mikoto as he obeyed his wife and left both young men alone. Blue eyes blinked confused at first, before concentrating on the task at hand.
"Hey…Sasuke? Are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"Hm? Yes, I'm fine…" Sasuke answered untroubled, still observing his parents from afar. Mikoto cupped her hand to whisper something in Fugaku's ear, in which the latter responded by shaking his head. Mikoto, however, giggled in reaction, his mother's behavior further puzzling the brunet.
"Really? I was afraid that you're still nervous about all this, so I just wanted to make sure you don't have any problem now." Naruto mumbled awkwardly.
Sasuke raised one eyebrow in mild surprise. No one who ever worked with him questioned him in this manner, already assuming that since he was Uchiha Sasuke, he would finish his task in impeccable order. Naruto was the first one that ever questioned his competency, acknowledging that he was a human being capable of making some errors. Still…
It was nice to know that there was someone that genuinely cared about him.
"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. I've prepared enough; I don't think I'll have any major problem."
"Okay…" Naruto observed to see any sign of confidence in Sasuke's eyes and nodded. "Anyways, you just have to think to yourself that it's a regular presentation, that's all. I believe that even if you seek one sole recognition, when you're able to recognize yourself, eventually people will also acknowledge you."
"…hn." Sasuke couldn't bring forth any words of gratitude, opting to open his laptop. It was unquestionable though that he felt calmer with Naruto's encouragement, one small quirk of lips escaping from his usual mask of nonchalance.
"Pft. You're welcome you bastard." Naruto snorted.
Silently observing them from afar, Shikamaru at first wondered why Naruto was so anxious to end the conversation with one of the directors once the Uchihas entered inside, when the blond wasn't the type that liked to impress important figures. He saw Naruto greeting the older Uchihas until they left Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto alone. The blond started saying something that looked like some kind of uncomfortable issue, as it could be seen through his body language, in which with whatever the Uchiha heir answered, made Naruto relax a little.
Then, it happened again. They started talking about something exclusively theirs, in a language that only they could understand and in a world that no one was allowed to enter inside. True to that, there were several people who wanted to talk with either Naruto or Sasuke, but once they noticed the way one was gazing at the other, they changed their minds and left them alone.
"And so the plot thickens…" Shikamaru wondered before he shook his head amused. Although it'd been a long time since he was presented with a mystery interesting enough for him to uncover, he supposed that it was time to drop the investigation and finally come to his conclusion.
Once everyone was situated in their seats, Shikamaru couldn't help but to notice another of Naruto's oddities—
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"You were staring at him the whole presentation." Shikamaru said after one puff of smoke.
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Huh, what?"
"Yesterday's meeting, you were staring at Sasuke Uchiha the whole presentation." Shikamaru repeated.
His friend offered a roll of blue eyes in response. "Well duh, he was showing the presentation, everyone was staring at him."
"No, everyone was mostly staring at the presentation, not him. Your eyes were completely fixed on him like you wanted to telegraph some kind of psychic message."
"That's—" Naruto mumbled, he just wanted to make sure Sasuke wouldn't falter in the middle of his explanation, looking at him as some sort of support. "Nothing wrong with that right? I helped in creating this presentation; I was just looking at him in case he'd screw up."
"Hm. Of course." Shikamaru answered, unaffected by the blond's defense. "Now then, how are you going to explain the fact that you were staring at his ass when he bent down to pick up a pen?"
The tanned face went fire engine red in a matter of a split second. Naruto sputtered. "What? Wha—I—I wasn't staring at it!"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Maybe you weren't staring, but were glancing furtively at his ass, if you want to be more specific about this."
"I wasn't doing any of that!" Naruto shouted loud enough to be heard from three floors up or down.
"Naruto, seriously, just admit it. You suddenly got all friendly with him, you were defending him, you were chatting with him voluntarily may I add and now you were even staring at his ass. This leaves only one conclusion."
Naruto stared in mild horror as Shikamaru smirked in dawned comprehension, usually seen whenever he was ready to check-mate an unfortunate opponent in chess.
"You've got a crush on him don't you?" This phrase was more like a statement than a question.
The blond sputtered indignantly, one finger raised, pointing towards his friend. "No I don't! Don't say stupid things dammit!"
"Yeah sure." Shikamaru muttered. "I know you Naruto. You don't usually do this. Appreciate some pretty girl from afar? Fine. But you're not someone who would feel physically attracted to someone so easily. So what happened to change this fact so abruptly?"
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, plopping unceremoniously next to his friend.
"I bet ten dollars that it has something to do with your last trip to Japan."
The blond ignored him and muttered to himself about nagging friends and their habits of poking in someone else's business.
"Well, since I'm confident that I'll find out the truth sooner or later, maybe you should fill me in unless you want me to uncover everything on my own."
Naruto stiffened and glared darkly towards the ponytailed brunet.
"Choose your poison my dear friend." Shikamaru smiled, picking up his lighter and another cigarette.
"Well we…in the last trip." Naruto mumbled, still unwilling to share this piece of information. "We kinda…had sex."
Shikamaru immediately stopped in mid-action to widen his eyes flabbergasted. "You…what?" Now that's something he wasn't expecting at all.
"I don't want to repeat myself." The blond raised one hand in defiance.
The brunet took some time to digest this information as he lit his cigarette. "I thought you said you weren't gay."
"I'm not! I—"Naruto protested. Then, he stumbled to find the correct words. "It's…it was an accident." The blond said with an odd conviction.
"Accident." Shikamaru repeated the word bewildered, raising an eyebrow as his friend was hastily nodding his head in agreement. "Accident…You mean, like those corny cliché lines 'accidentally in love' that teenage girls write in their pink diaries?" The dark-haired architect smirked. "Didn't know you were such a poet Naru-chan."
"Fuck you Shikamaru, seriously, fuck you." Naruto mumbled, showing an obscene gesture with his finger.
"Well, if you don't explain however the 'accident' happened, that's what I'm going to assume then." Shikamaru lazily responded, exhaling an amount of smoke.
The other young man messed with his golden hair in consternation, sighing loudly as he raised his eyes to glance at the cloudy sky. He started slowly. "So…you remember when I said that I was in the hotel when the earthquake hit, while you guys saw the news about Mitsukoshi?"
"Yes…that's what Jiraiya told us."
"…yeah. I kinda lied because I didn't want ero-sennin to get all worried about me." Naruto muttered. "But I…actually…uh—got stuck in that building that night. With Sasuke Uchiha."
"…" Shikamaru massaged his eyebrows with his fingers, somewhere his mind warned that he wouldn't like this turn of events. "And?"
"And…we were all alone in that building and we kinda saw the news about the second earthquake and then…Well, we thought that the second earthquake would destroy the building for sure…" Naruto's face was gradually infused with a bright red color as he made awkward gestures with his hands. "So one thing led to another…and we…kinda…and that…"
"Oh God." Shikamaru stopped the lame explanation with one horrified expression. "Oh, please don't. Please, don't tell me that you decided on doing what I'm thinking you'd done on that day."
"Well…" Naruto trailed off.
Shikamaru groaned loudly, rubbing his face with his hands. "Naruto, you're an idiot."
Naruto protested. "Like I've said, it was an accident!"
"Of all the accidents you could do with him, you had to do the worst type of accident. I can't believe you really did something irrational like that."
"We thought we were going to die, so we didn't want to waste this opportunity!"
Shikamaru scratched his head troubled, all the remaining pieces coming together with this single confession. So they must have formed some kind of bond that night, which explained the whole different behavior between them. He would also bet that one or even both of them revealed some kind of dark secret, which in turn could become problematic if Naruto knew something private from a powerful person like Sasuke Uchiha. Who knows if the latter would take on drastic measures in attempts to silence his friend? "Did you really have to do that Naruto?"
"We thought we were going to die!"
"I can't believe you just handled your ass-virginity to him, just like that." Shikamaru shook his head in exasperation.
This statement made Naruto lose all his previous awkwardness as he hastened to defend his masculinity. "Hey wait, I did the deed ok? He was the one who handed his ass to me. I was the one who put my cock in his—"
"Shut up Naruto, too much information." Shikamaru interrupted, looking a little bit green in the face.
"So yeah. In the end, it was all an accident." Naruto said, a pensive expression showing on his face. "I guess it's natural that I would have some lingering feelings but…"
"So you're saying that everything that's happening now was caused by this accident and whatever emotion you're experiencing is only a consequence that will fade away in time?" Shikamaru waited for a return of a hesitant nod and said. "Well good. Keep it that way."
Naruto frowned. "Why?"
"Because I think that Sasuke Uchiha is a difficult person to deal with and, also, considering your personality. The only way that you'd feel any physical attraction to someone is when they're capable of leaving a strong emotional impact on you that would make you want to chase this feeling and in those cases you're rather too intense in the pursuit. Otherwise in normal circumstances, you're pretty much neutral to apathetic to anyone that won't give you enough reasons to be emotionally invested."
"What? But I had some girlfriends before in normal circumstances!" Naruto rebutted.
"That's because you let them chase after you, but you never were interested enough to continue it." Shikamaru saw the blond opening his mouth in automatic protest but continued. "Don't get me wrong, you always tried to return their feelings the best you could, but I guess you could never replicate the same intensity they felt towards you and that's how it failed in the end. So what I'm saying is this; don't try to get too involved with Sasuke Uchiha, because considering you both, the results would be pretty disastrous."
Naruto placed his jaw on his hand and grumbled. "Don't worry about it, I won't."
"Well, thank God." Shikamaru answered with another scratch of head. "Because I don't think I would be able to bear you acting like a love-sick puppy just like back when you used to have a crush on Sakura. You used to be very blind to pretty much anything about her."
"What? I didn't!"
"Uh huh." Shikamaru agreed sarcastically. "You were the only one who admired her super strength back in high school while most of us were scared to death whenever she raised a table with her bare hands. I hope to all Gods that one day you won't come up to me, with your eyes sparkling and saying; 'Oh Shikamaru, but the way he picks the dirt from his nostril with his finger is simply soooo dashing!'"
"Can you do me a favor and go to hell Shika? There's something utterly wrong when you let your sadist friend have fun dissecting you and give meddling advice with whatever is happening with your life."
Shikamaru shrugged, finishing his cigarette and throwing it in the trash. "Ah well, it's not my fault that I found my soul mate so quickly unlike you. When you have already found the one without meeting many obstacles before, you have no choice but to be entertained by analyzing someone else's love life."
Naruto mockingly winced and made gagging faces. "Ugh, those cheesy lines make me want to vomit my whole lunch now. Just you wait till I tell Temari that you said those kinds of sweet sh—"
"Just you wait till I reveal instead that you're now attracted to a guy who you used to hate before, which is clearly the case of a boy pulling the girl's pigtails and see which one will be more humiliated then." Shikamaru rapidly responded through gritted teeth, a slight tinge of red burning his cheeks.
"Whu—But I already said that I'm not—!"
"Keep saying that, maybe one day it'll come true. Even if these emotions are a byproduct from that 'accident', you're still attracted to Sasuke Uchiha now right?" Shikamaru taunted with a victorious grin. "Don't worry about it, I'll be sure though to give you a rainbow colored bracelet as a birthday present."
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Stupid, stupid Shikamaru and his weird theories. Naruto glowered at the source of his problems back in the meeting room and the brunet raised an eyebrow in response.
"What?" Sasuke said when he saw the blond move to glance elsewhere as he muttered something unintelligible back.
God, it was all Shika's fault. Naruto thought that he had been doing a fine job of ignoring his lust back before when he and Sasuke determined that their relationship would be as friends only, leaving that experience as something that would be forgotten in time. Once Sasuke denied any attachment about the night that happened between them, the blond had to admit that he felt some sort of disappointment at first, but slowly it gave way to relief that it was all one abnormal circumstance, his life was still not thrown in turmoil.
Sure, even now he remembered those events from time to time, and sure, he still jerked off from some of those details but this time his imagination filled with some faceless person instead of Sasuke. Yes, short-haired brunet but no matter, he was making some progress dammit! Naruto wanted to smash his face on the table repeatedly, because last night, he recalled once again the thin layer of sweat making the pale skin enticing for him to lick over, pinkish nipples that—
"Where exactly are you looking at usuratonkachi." A deadpanned tone broke Naruto out of his daydream, blue eyes narrowing angrily.
But in the end, the whole problem was Sasuke. Fuck, if only this asshole could be a little less good-looking, it would make his job easier. Stupid flawless skin—wait, it's not like he's attracted to this jerk like Shikamaru was implying, he was simply, simply—
"Dumbass, my face is up here." Naruto could see an amused smirk directed at him and grumbled back:
"I'm looking at it, dammit. I'm busy using the computer, can't you see?" As emphasis, the blond drew a line with his tablet; loudly, and continued with his musings.
I'm really turning gay, aren't I? Naruto realized horrified that if he's becoming gay, does that mean that he'll start liking to dress up fashionably, talking about gossip and hairstyles instead of football or basketball? Or maybe he'll begin preferring to go to shopping malls instead of having some beer time with his friends on weekends, this was a disaster!
While he was typing some important documents on his laptop, Sasuke continued to observe the array of emotions flickering across the tanned face, the vision being too entertaining for him. Too caught up with his own thoughts, Naruto involuntarily rested his eyes to ogle at Sasuke's collarbone, the intensity of his gaze was equally disconcerting but thrilling.
Sasuke cleared his throat to get Naruto's attention, in which the blond turned his head with a scowl. "What is distracting you now usuratonkachi?" The brunet spoke with an unintended husky tone in his voice, drawing shivers on the tanned skin.
Naruto simply glared and focused on the monitor. "Nothing, nothing is distracting me bastard."
"Hn." Sasuke assumed that he had teased Naruto enough to let it slide for now and changed the subject. "So your next flight to Kyoto is already scheduled in three days?"
Naruto brightened up at once and said. "Yeah! Sarutobi-jiichan gave me some time off so I could visit Kyoto, but once I'm finished I'll return to Tokyo to continue the project."
"You wouldn't mind if we schedule a meeting once you arrive in Narita's airport and another one while you're in Kyoto right?"
"No, just give me the address and the necessary material I should prepare to discuss with you and I'll be there."
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And the place the Bastard chose to meet in Narita was an Art Gallery. Naruto blinked twice before confirming the address on his piece of paper and yes, it matched. He was already a little bit bewildered before that Sasuke didn't choose one of the meeting places that Narita airport had or any office of Uchiha Corporation, but he never imagined that the brunet would select such an odd destination for a professional meeting. Naruto entered to confirm whether his client was there, maybe he wrote some kanji wrong or something.
"You're late." Sasuke calmly spoke, his eyes still fixed on his book when he saw the blond approaching.
"Well…I wasn't that late and hey—are you sure you want to talk about those things here?" Naruto glanced around; there weren't many people inside the gallery, so the tiniest conversation would attract their attention.
"Why not? I thought you'd appreciate this change of venue and you studied architecture, so perhaps you'd have some minimal interest in art in general."
"Yes, I do but…" The blond noticed at last the theme of this gallery, scrolls of Japanese paintings hung on the wall. "Wouldn't it be kind of disrespectful to talk about business instead of admiring those paintings?"
"That's why we're going to update the latest reports while we appreciate this gallery usuratonkachi." Sasuke shrugged then. "It's not like we'll be discussing anything top secret, so there's no problem if anyone overhears."
The brunet approached one painting as a sign for Naruto to follow him and the latter scratched his blond hair, opening his backpack to pick up his iPad. While Naruto was turning on the machine, he saw the onyx eyes trained to observe every detail of the painting, enthralled by the beauty of the piece.
"He's really enjoying gazing at this painting." Naruto contemplated until his thought processes stopped once he saw another person from afar.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto whispered excited. "I think the guy in the next room is Tetsuo Obata!"
Sasuke repressed a groan when he heard the name and answered. "Are you sure about it?" Maybe one of his secretaries leaked had the information that he scheduled a meeting with Naruto in this place.
"Yeah! Well, I only saw his photos, but I'm positive! I've heard he's one of the vanguards in Constructivism in Japan and he made many important monuments known worldwide! Wow, I can't believe that I'm that lucky to have a chance to meet such an important architect from our era! You think he would mind if I tried to talk with him a little bit?"
Yes, he would, was what Sasuke wanted to answer, but before he could voice anything, Tetsuo Obata and another man saw the Uchiha and were walking towards them.
"Ah…Uchiha Sasuke-kun. What a coincidence to see you here." He said as he raised his hand.
"Indeed. Coincidence." Sasuke replied with nonchalance, shaking hands and releasing it quickly. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, one of our chief architects responsible for the reconstruction of Mitsukoshi."
"I see." Tetsuo said curtly, glancing with irritation towards Naruto before he continued to talk with the young Uchiha as if the blond didn't exist. "I've heard that the Uchiha Corporation is planning to construct a new building in Beijing."
Whoever leaked this information, once Sasuke discovers the culprit, will be fired soon. "Yes, so what about it?"
"Fortunately, my assistant is carrying my laptop that has some preliminary sketches, and I'm sure you'll be delighted to see some of our ideas. You wouldn't mind if he explained a little bit to pique some of your interest right?"
Sasuke had had half mind to instantly snort and refuse this offer, but once he saw pleading blue eyes staring towards him, with one twitch of an eyebrow the brunet spoke:
"Fine. As long it's quick."
"Of course, my assistant will explain efficiently and succinctly."
Once Sasuke and the other man stood far enough away, leaving Naruto with Tetsuo on the other side, Naruto attempted to start a conversation shyly.
"So, you're Tetsuo Obata right? I've studied—"
"So you're Uzumaki Naruto huh? I don't understand what was going through Uchiha Sasuke's mind to accept a foreign company to design Mitsukoshi." Tetsuo spoke condescendingly, with a frown on his face and crossing his arms.
Naruto's expression faltered. "Wait, but I—"
"And you look so young and inexperienced too, probably won a few titles but won't ever impress internationally for sure. Also, I'm disappointed to see a gaijin instead of someone from our nation; given your name was Japanese. Carelessly throwing a historical building into the hands of someone not from our culture will be a recipe of disaster."
Naruto could feel his blood running cold, at once identifying the familiar voices that he always detested to hear in his childhood. Scornful, derisive and humiliating…his limbs were losing their strength as he just stood there, unable to react.
"Someone from outside would never be able to comprehend a complex culture like ours. How will you ever be able to design anything that wouldn't become a phony style that comes from superficial knowledge of our philosophy? It's a sh—"
"I've returned." Sasuke abruptly interrupted, both architects turned their heads to stare at him.
"Really?" Tetsuo smiled awkwardly. "That quick?"
"Yes. The preliminary sketches shown to me are worthless – I wouldn't want to waste any more of my valuable time."Sasuke responded with the same arrogant tone Tetsuo previously used on Naruto.
Tetsuo slackened his jaw in surprise before closing it with gritted teeth. "Why you—"
"I'm so glad that the Uchiha Corporation didn't choose your office for the reconstruction of Mitsukoshi. You may have been the vanguard a few decades ago, but your style is staid and you haven't had any significant evolution since. You simply don't have any creativity and each of your buildings is a repetition of one after another." Sasuke sneered, subtly grabbing Naruto's arm. "Well, this also meant that I'm absolutely uninterested in any of your drafts shown here but maybe in the near future I'll allow you to decorate our office. It's almost time, Uzumaki-san and I have scheduled flights so goodbye." They quickly turned around, not bothering to see Tetsuo's enraged face as they exited the place and entered Sasuke's limousine.
Throughout the whole short trip, Naruto observed that Sasuke appeared to be angry about something, but wouldn't speak out, not when there were idle ears in the vehicle. Once they arrived at the airport, there was an exclusive room for the Uchiha Corporation that, the moment Naruto closed the door, Sasuke glared with a growl:
"Care to explain to me what happened a few minutes ago?"
"What? What did I do wrong just now?" Naruto replied confused.
It's not that the dumbass did anything bad this time; it was the lack of reaction that irritated Sasuke. He instead, focused on another strategy. "Didn't you say to me that if you can recognize yourself, everyone else will give the proper acknowledgement sooner or later? So what happened with this whole speech?"
"Wait, that's a different thing." Naruto rebutted, his voice ringing without his usual vibrant energy. "Tetsuo Obata is a renowned architect; he's entitled to give me criticism as well as I should listen to him."
"Maybe, but at that time he wasn't criticizing you, he was humiliating you." Sasuke responded.
"But maybe he's correct, who knows. I'm really too young to be responsible for such a huge project, I didn't grow up in Japan to fully comprehend this culture, so maybe—" Naruto was suddenly interrupted when the brunet grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked closer to him.
"Don't give me this bullshit usuratonkachi! I was the one who chose you to lead this project; I was the one who trusted in your capabilities over one resentful architect that decided to blame you for his own failures."
"You initially chose my firm because of Sarutobi-jiichan's name instead of mine, and also his past with Mitsukoshi. You weren't sure then that I would prove to be a good architect."
"So what?" Sasuke said heatedly. "Maybe that was the initial step, but my father gave me full liberties to change my mind if you didn't prove your worth. I'm your client in the end right? And I'm also a Japanese citizen, I recognize that your style follows our culture, your achievements are valuable enough to make you stand in this current position of leadership."
Sasuke observed with satisfaction as foggy blue eyes were gradually focused on him and loosened his grip on Naruto's shirt, resuming his speech.
"We may want to have as much recognition from others as possible, but some recognition is just too unworthy to waste your time worrying about. I recognize your talent, I'm giving you the recognition you deserve. That's what is most important for you at this moment; all prizes and other awards will come later."
It was incredible that Sasuke's words cut through any kind of self-deprecating emotion, washing away instantly all the accumulated insecurity and resentment Naruto felt towards himself. In this moment in his life, Sasuke's opinion held important value, gave a stronger impact in comparison to numerous others. When had such thing happened?
And the instant Sasuke recognized him, it was like a warmth spread through his veins, breathing fire in his heart, initiating a small spark that flickered, burning enough until Naruto reached his epiphany, both hands cupping the pale face:
"Sasuke…I think I'm starting to like you." He murmured, moving down to reach a pair of thin lips.
Report 09: Mirror mirror, my reflection of your image, your resemblance animating my contemplated eyes
AN: Izzat a cliffhanger? Hm. *looking at the last lines* Yeah, that looks like a cliffhanger. Maybe. A little bit. Not much.
Bah ok, I'll admit it's a cliffhanger. But I've done worse so…it's a pretty tame cliffhanger, so yeah, nothing extremely bad that will make you guys wanting to pull your hair or pull my hair and yelling about injustice. Right? Right.
By the way, I'm surprised that no one noticed that the title in Report 01 is tied with the confessions in Report 06. *pouts* Or maybe it was so obvious that no one ever wasted their breath to comment about it?
Oh yeah, gaijin is the term of "foreigner" but more in a depreciative way. I'm not sure if Japanese people are still using this term though.
Now onto more important matters: both "notquite . somethingelse" and "Akenhod"; two readers (thanks for the review btw!) said that the term "camarones" depends with the region in which the Spanish is used, in Spain they called "gambas", which in turn is similar to "gamberetos" in Italian. (which also means it'd defeat the purpose about Sasuke reading incorrectly). Akenhod also gave a detailed description that the name also depends with the size of this type of seafood, if anyone is interested, read her review from the 8th chapter! Sorry, I wasn't aware about those details, I'm just aware that shrimp in Portuguese (my mother language) is camarão, in which I assumed that in Spanish is the same and confirmed in google translate. The fettuccini Alfredo, on the other hand, the USA adapted a specific type with shrimps, as described in a Wikipedia entry.
Thanks for your help! (I tried to answer but for some reason ff . net didn't let me. D: )