The sound of shoes shuffling, gloves hitting pads, grunts and loud music filled the room.

"Again!" Kisame shouted as he slapped the box pads together before holding them up for Itachi to hit.

Itachi grunted as his gloves contacted the pads straight on. They carried on, moving about the room, as if dancing to the music thumping around the room. Sweat dripped down Itachi's brow, hair sticking to his brow, neck, and forehead. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes with the back of his gloves and held up his gloved hands ready for the next round.

"Can you carry on pretty boy or have you had enough?" Kisame smirked at his best friend as he watched the raven-haired man take several deep breaths.

Itachi ignored the jibe and hit the pads several times, jabbing and crossing, ducking, and blocking. As he went to take his next hit, the doors to the gym were thrown open and four men suited and booted walked in and stood sentry as Fugaku walked in after them.

Itachi clenched his jaw at the sight of his father, he tracked his father's movements as he stopped several feet from them. He payed no heed to his presence and carried on hitting the pads over and over, letting the sweat drip off him and onto the floor leaving splotches.

Fugaku waited for five minutes patiently, but became irate as his son continued to ignore his presence. He tapped his fingers against his leg, counting down each minute his son worked out. Ten minutes passed by and Fugaku cleared his throat loudly, making himself known. He watched as the large, muscled man stood straight, his shark like eyes staring straight at him, his thin nose flaring slightly, his jaw clenched tightly.

"Pretty boy you have visitors," Kisame told Itachi as he took off the pads and placed them on the floor, he picked up his towel and wiped at his brow and ran it through his blue tinted short hair.

"Must be something serious as they never leave their ivory towers to come down to the commoners," Itachi deadpanned, his words loud enough for his father to hear. He picked up his own towel and wiped his face and placed it on the back of his neck. He turned to face his father; his eyes boring into his father's.

"Keep it civil, I am not cleaning your blood off of the floor and walls of my gym," Kisame warned low, his words only for Itachi's ears.

"I have no intention of loosing any blood today," Itachi spoke low. He walked a few steps towards his father, "what can I do for you father?" Itachi asked as he stopped, his arms crossed across his front.

"Is that any way to treat your father?" Fugaku asked, his words dripping with annoyance.

Itachi kept quiet, letting the silence stretch out between them. He watched as his father grew more and more irritated with each second of his silence, his finger tapping furiously against his leg, beating out the rhythm of his anger.

"Where have you been? I have been looking for you," Fugaku seethed.

"You found me," Itachi replied, his tone bored.

Fugaku narrowed his gaze, his jaw clenched at the disrespect his son showed him, "I have been trying to reach you since yesterday."

"I have been busy," Itachi told him.

Fugaku walked towards Itachi, stopping when their toes were almost touching, he breathed hard, "you were asked to meet me a day ago, why did you not?"

"Like I said father dearest, I have been busy." Itachi answered, his tone bored. He grabbed his towel and wiped his face again before running it though his sweat damped hair.

"Boy, you need to remember who you are talking to!" Fugaku shouted, spit flying out of his mouth, he grabbed the front of Itachi's shirt, clenching it hard.

"How can I ever forget," Itachi sighed out, "what can I do for you?" He gently prised out of his father's grasp and ran a hand down the now crumpled shirt.

"You will be attending an event Saturday evening at the Sarutobi hotel, and you will be there," Fugaku told him through clenched jaws, his hands balled up in fists at his sides.

"What is the event?"

"A business arrangement between us and Haruno," Fugaku spat out the name, "you will show up and respect me, do I make myself clear?"

"Loud and clear, father," Itachi turned away and picked up his bottle, taking several large gulps of water.

Fugaku glared at his son, his anger bubbling at the evident disrespect Itachi showed him. He wanted to reach over and put him in his place, but he knew that Itachi would not rise to the occasion. Instead, he turned away and marched out of the room, his men following him.

"What did your old man want?" Kisame asked as he watched the old Uchiha leave his gym.

"Daddy dearest wants me to show my face at some business event tomorrow, he came to remind me of the part I have to play," Itachi answered as he took off his shirt and threw it in his gym bag.

"What would that be? Be the pretty boy you are?" Kisame smirked.

Itachi glared at his friend, "you know I can knock that smirk off your face?"

"I would like to see you try," Kisame barked out a laugh, he smiled at him, "you okay though?" He knew how much Itachi despised his father, how they butted heads whenever they were in the same room. He had seen it first hand on several occasions.

"I am fine," Itachi replied nonchalantly, he was in no mood to talk about his tumultuous relationship with his father.

"You know I am always here," Kisame slapped his on his shoulder, "and I will always be here to hand you your backside," he winked and moved away to grab his bag. "Where is the event?"

"Sarutobi's hotel, event is something to do with the Haruno's."

"Sounds like a kiss and makeup event," Kisame pouted his lips, "bunch of old men kissing each other's arse to be the best."

"Something like that," he put on a clean shirt and shouldered his bag, "see you later," he walked out of the building and into his car and drove home. He showered and dressed, ready to go into the office. He walked into his kitchen and made himself a sweet cup of coffee and grabbed a portion of Hanami dango. With his breakfast over, he drove to his workplace, his father's legacy, Uchiha and Sons cooperation.

He entered his office, shrugged out of his jacket, and sat down at his desk, and turned on his computer. He watched as it loaded up, several email notifications popping up, each one desperate for his attention. He clicked the email icon and started to work through the emails, replying and arranging meetings, consulting clients on their contracts and speaking with the staff members who were overseeing the contracts.

Several hours later and majority of the emails answered, Itachi leant back in his chair and sighed silently. He looked around his office, an office he had never wanted, a desk he never wanted and a seat in the company he never wanted. Itachi had wanted to join the Konoha Police Force, but his father had made it abundantly clear to him from a young age that he would be joining the family business and nothing else.

The chirp of a notification pulled his attention away from his thoughts, he clicked on the notification, finding an invite to the board meeting happening in ten minutes. Itach sighed deeply this time and stood up. He grabbed his laptop from the drawer and made his way to the meeting room, where he spent the next four hours, listening to the old men shout over one another, debate what the right thing was to do, while others shouted their opposing views.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Sakura stretched lazily across the sofa, she grabbed her phone and checked the time, 15:30, she chuckled to herself, "last lazy afternoon." She had been forced to take a week off, at first, she had been reluctant, citing that she had a lot of paperwork to catch up on and that her patients were relying on her. But, she had been forced out of the door with the argument that she had discharged her last patient earlier in the day and that that paperwork could wait. Reluctantly, she had agreed to leave, and now she was grateful, she had managed to get on top of her house work, as well as getting time to spend with her friends, all who would complain that she worked too much.

She opened her message app and clicked on her father's name and read the message he had sent her in the early hours of the morning.

I am well, my sweet, how are you? Enjoying the last few days of freedom? We are celebrating an agreement. I have arranged for you to be picked up at half 6 tomorrow, my driver will take you to the hotel.

Sakura frowned at the cryptic message, barely giving her any information on the event, she had tried to decipher it but could not make heads or tails of the message. She stood and pocketed her phone and made her way to the kitchen, she made herself a coffee, adding several spoons of sugar and took a sip and sighed contentedly. As she finished her coffee, an impatient knock sounded on the door. Sakura frowned slightly, not expecting anyone of anything to arrive today. Slowly, she made her way to the door, only for several louder knocks hitting her door. "I am on my way!" she shouted as she opened the door to find a beaming blonde standing there, her best friend, Ino.

"Ino, how are you?" Sakura smiled.

"Have you heard?" Ino asked excitedly as she pushed past Sakura to get into the house.

"I am well, thank you for asking. How are you doing?" Sakura answered her own question as she shut the door.

Ino raised a pointed eyebrow at her, "how are you?"

"I am good, thank you for asking. So polite of you," Sakura smiled at her. "And what have I heard?"

Ino rolled her eyes, a small smile pulling at her lips. "The big event tomorrow."

Sakura frowned slightly, "how do you know about it?"

"It is all anyone is talking about," Ino said as if it was a known fact, "are you going?" she added.

"Yeah, dad said that one of his drivers will be picking me up at half six tomorrow. All he said was it was a celebration event about something."

"It sounds exciting," Ino beamed at her.

"Are you going?" Sakura asked hopeful that the blonde would say yes. Sakura had attended several events already, and each time, she would find herself getting bored, listening to her father and his men talk business and most times, there was never really anyone Sakura could talk with about anything other than business.

"Uh YES!" Ino squealed like a little girl, "everyone has been invited, well almost everyone."

Sakura furrowed her brow, "what?"

"All the main families in Konoha have been invited and many important people around," Ino answered as if it was a known fact.

"Oh…" Sakura replied.

"So, have you got a dress yet?" Ino smiled wide, "if not, shopping trip!"

"Dad already sent for a few dresses for me yesterday to chose from," Sakura gave her a small smile.

Ino rolled her eyes at the pinkette, "obviously he did, after all, you are daddy's little princess."

Sakura rolled her eyes in return.

"Seeing as you've got your dress, you can accompany me to the shops to find a dress for tomorrow," Ino grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled.

"Let me at least get my things first," Sakura groaned.

"Fine, but be quick," Ino let go, "you have five seconds."

"What?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"Four, three, two…" Ino counted.

"Fine!" Sakura snapped as she made her way to her room, she picked up her bag, checked to make sure her purse was in and threw in her phone. She slipped on a pair of trainers and grabbed a jacket.

"Hurry up woman!" Ino shouted from the stairs.

"I'm coming!" Sakura shouted back as she made her way down the stairs.

Together, they left in Ino's car and spent the afternoon making sure that Ino had the perfect accessories to match her dress and help her shine.