Chapter Text
Out of all the scenarios that Naruto had imagined, revolving around meeting his stranger, what unfolded just a few hours prior was definitely not one of them. He had dreamt of him being charming, accommodating and feeling like home. Instead, reality had blindsided him by throwing an icy personality to match his stranger’s captivating aura. It was hardly fair, really.
Though he supposed that he shouldn’t have expected much. He knew next to nothing about this man, opting instead to build up this faux image of him, and yet he believed, somehow, that he would not be disappointed. That the two of them were meant to meet, and that it was not just some simple coincidence, or temporary fascination. He should have listened to Sakura – she always knew better. Woman’s intuition, she had mentioned one time. He ought to have known better.
He groaned. Stupid. He was so stupid!
It was so typical of him to jump into situations with his heart in full view, only to have to patch the pieces back together afterwards. He scoffed, heading straight for his bedroom and diving onto his bed, Sakura following him in a few minutes later.
“Naruto,” Sakura prodded, poking gingerly at the lump that was Naruto.
Naruto grumbled in acknowledgement, his voice muffled within a cocoon of pillows and blankets that he had buried himself under immediately after arriving home.
“Naruto,” Sakura tried again, reaching with both of her arms to grab a hold of one of the blankets and tug it off. “You can’t just – bury – your – feelings – ugh – c’mon, Naruto,” she grunted, each word heaved out as she struggled to claim Naruto from within the chasm that he has built around himself.
“I don’ wanna talk ‘bout it,” he mumbled out, tugging the blankets even tighter around him, and it was true; he doesn’t want to talk about it. He doesn’t want to talk about how, after months of pining after him from afar, he had finally spoken to him, only for this image that Naruto has built of the stranger come crumbling down, stomped on by that – that jerk’s hurried dismissal of him. He doesn’t want to talk about how it affected him more than he would ever want to admit to Sakura, or to himself. He was rude and he doesn’t want to talk about him. Ever.
“Are you sure about that?” Sakura questioned, and Naruto raised his head slightly in realisation that he had said the last part out loud.
“Yes,” he bit out, lowering his head back down and feigning sleep.
Sakura sighed, moving off of Naruto’s bed to head towards his small desk at the far right, sitting down on the chair and picking up his guitar. She placed it carefully on her lap and began picking at the strings, positioning her left hand on the fingerboard and forming the chords in slow succession, just as Naruto had shown her. Soft tunes, slow and occasionally distorted, began to swim around the small space, filling the silence that had settled between the two friends.
“Hey, remember when you managed to save up enough money to buy a new guitar?” Sakura recalled, pausing in her ministrations to look up briefly at Naruto. When she received no answer, she continued on.
“Well, I do,” she said softly. “I remember how precious music was – is – to you, and how much having your dad’s guitar broken tore at your heart, so you insisted on saving up and giving your dad a brand new one for his birthday.” Sakura continued to strum the guitar absentmindedly, quirking an eyebrow when she noticed that Naruto had lowered down his fortress somewhat to reveal a tuft of blond hair.
“He was so happy when he got it. He played it non-stop after that even my mom got annoyed by it,” Naruto added on, fondness etched in his voice. Naruto blew a breath of air, displacing a few strands of his hair in the process. Then he emerged fully from his nest of blankets and pillows, pushing them down to his lap and taking up a seated position. He stared thoughtfully at Sakura, a small smile playing on his face as he watched her struggle momentarily at the next chord.
“Here,” he said, getting out of his bed and heading over to Sakura. “B minor is a tricky one. You gotta bar all of the second fret and…,” Naruto paused, guiding Sakura’s fingers along the fingerboard, “Yeah, that’s it.”
Sakura hummed, adjusting her fingers as Naruto had instructed, strumming the guitar a few more times while Naruto sat down, crossed-legged, on the floor directly in front of her.
“Maybe it was for the best that he was rude,” Naruto contemplated. It has to be. It needed to be, or else Naruto would not be able to get over the hurt that had settled like rocks within him. At least then he would be able to forget about him faster. The quicker, the better. Like peeling off a band-aid. Yeah…
“Definitely,” Sakura agreed readily, placing the guitar back to its stand.
“Definitely,” Naruto echoed, staring down at his hands. That man was rude and a jerk, and he was definitely not worth the time that Naruto had wasted on him. He was right. Sakura was right. He wasn’t worth it.
So why doesn’t it feel right?
~~oOo~~
For the next few days, Naruto focused his energy on attending his lectures and keeping up-to-date with his school work. He still thought of the dark haired stranger often, but it was fleeting and momentary, brushed off as quickly as it had come. He preferred it that way. Really.
Sakura still vibrated with concern for Naruto whenever they are together, but she was doing a great job of not acting on it, much to Naruto’s relief. Sakura has become a sort of mother figure in Naruto’s life, and while he appreciated her motherly tendencies, he has to admit that it could get quite suffocating at times. But it wasn’t really Sakura’s fault, he supposed. It was just how things were.
Visiting the park has been knocked down on Naruto’s list of priorities as of late. It was Sakura’s suggestion, and despite his initial protests, he agreed that it was probably for the best. However, Naruto still remained sorely tempted to take a detour to it whenever he had to cycle home. The park held a sentimental value to Naruto and purposely avoiding it had hurt. It was an ache that pulsated through his entire being, constant and unforgivable. It was as if he had done a great sin before and now he was being punished for it. He supposed he must have deserved it, just like he deserved everything else that was thrown at him. It was just how his life was, and he had learned how to deal with it as best as he could.
But hope was ever so persistent within him. Maybe he still held a chance with becoming a permanent feature at his stranger’s life. Maybe he still held a chance at fulfilling his parents’ wish for him. Maybe he could survive this lifetime without falling apart once more.
~~oOo~~
Saturday night arrived much too quick in Sasuke’s opinion.
He stood in front of his full length mirror, adjusting his black tie around his neck with more focus than was needed. He felt fidgety, restless and stumped. Ever since he had bumped into that blonde haired man, he could not help but ponder over and over why he had felt alive, whole, yet melancholy. He didn’t know the man – had never laid eyes on him before then and yet… he couldn’t get him out of his mind. It was absurd, and it had to stop.
And even if they were to meet again, he knew that there was not a chance for a reconciliation. Judging by the man’s reaction to him, he would most likely be greeted by a punch in the face rather than a timid hello. But perhaps – no. He had to stop. He had already wasted too much time on it.
His phone rang by his dresser, pulling a tired sigh out of him. He had a suspicion that it was Kakashi calling in to tell him that he was already outside, and as irritating as the man was, he was a welcome distraction to the mess he had made of his head.
A quick glance at the caller ID confirmed his guess and after a quick conversation, he took one last look at his appearance and headed outside. The cold bite of spring air as the weather makes its transition from winter to spring helped clear his thoughts somewhat, allowing him to straighten up, set his shoulders back and prepare for the night ahead.
Kakashi was already well settled inside the limo, leaning back against the leather seats with his legs lightly crossed together and nursing a bottle of beer in his hands. As much as he was loathe to admit it, Kakashi was right in informing him about the gala last minute (or, perhaps, as last minute as it could get). Sasuke would have found some way to avoid it had he been notified a few weeks before. He sighed, rolling his shoulders once more and got into the limo, allowing the door to be closed behind him.
Kakashi was silent for but a moment before twisting towards Sasuke and handing him a bottle of beer.
“Now, now, Sasuke, how do you expect anyone to approach you if you look like the Big Bad Wolf?” Kakashi smirked, urging Sasuke to take the beer. “You need to loosen up a little!”
“What I need,” Sasuke gritted out, “Is to be anywhere but here.”
“Ouch,” Kakashi let out, returning the beer back into the cooler and then settling back into his seat. “I thought we had a better relationship than that.”
“Tch,” Sasuke let out, narrowing his eyes when Kakashi merely grinned wider in response. Opting to ignore the older man, Sasuke stared straight ahead and crossed his arms, back rigid as he mentally prepared himself, blowing out a slow, controlled breath to help him relax minutely.
He absolutely despised attending these ridiculous company events. They were nothing but an excuse to showcase the leading CEOs’ wealth and ego. It aggravated him seeing all these strangers bribe and manipulate other people in order to help them rise up in the social ladder, while ruthlessly stepping on whoever gets in their way. It was sickening, and he hated it. Still, he knew that he had a duty to his father, and if attending this gala was part of it… well, then so be it.
“Well,” Kakashi began, taking a quick gulp of his beer.
“What is this gala for?” Sasuke interrupted, still staring stonily ahead of him.
“Ah, I haven’t told you about it yet, have I?” Kakashi mused, taking yet another sip of his beer, causing Sasuke’s finger to twitch.
Sasuke waited a moment for Kakashi to continue.
“Well,” Kakashi began again after a lengthy amount of time – far, far too long a pause, in Sasuke’s opinion. The bastard. “Your father had wanted to expand the company and branch out more, employ more people… the whole ensemble,” Kakashi continued, gesturing vaguely with his hand not holding the beer lazily as if to capture Fugaku Uchiha’s plan for his company.
“I see…,” Sasuke stated quietly, his lips turning downward minutely.
“Has he not told you about any of this, Sasuke?” Kakashi asked, one eyebrow raised at Sasuke.
“No.”
“Ah…,” Kakashi hummed.
Sasuke turned his attention towards the window, watching the blur of the buildings pass him by, the soft glow of the street lights illuminating his sharp features and the small downturn of his lips. Of course his father hasn’t told him - what else was new?
Neither Kakashi nor Sasuke spoke for the remainder of the ride, letting the silence stretch leisurely along the limousine, both lost in their own thoughts. When they had reached their destination, it was Kakashi who broke the silence with an easy grin.
“Well, well… here we are!”
~~oOo~~
“Naruto! You’re here, finally!” Ino exclaimed, rushing quickly towards Naruto with a frantic expression, causing Naruto to tumble back in surprise.
“Uh, Ino, hi… What’s - ?” Naruto greeted in reply, catching Ino haphazardly against his chest.
“You’re late, idiot! Some of the guests have already started arriving. Almost everyone is scrambling to get the appetizers out to them and,” Ino paused to take a big gulp of air. “We need you out on coat duty.”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Let me just hang my jacket in my locker and I’ll be out the front,” Naruto replied, too used to Ino’s frenzied instructions. She would often get like this at the start of every big event being held at the hotel. Nerves, she would often say. Not that Naruto was much better. Though his nerves would often show after the event was over and not at the start. It was an odd quirk that both Ino and Sakura have commented on before.
“Okay, great! I’ll tell Maeve,” Ino throws over her shoulder as she rushes off to undoubtedly tell Maeve, their manager, and to help out with the kitchen staff.
Naruto hurried to do as he was told, managing the front table with an almost mechanical efficiency. He was used to dealing with guests from the elite society, having had this job in the past year and a half. It was often the same interaction with the majority of the guests, namely, that there was none between them. He would greet them with a smile, take their coats, and then they’d be off. It was… tedious and repetitive, he had to admit, but he was content nonetheless. He has great co-workers, he got to meet so many different people, however brief it may be, and the salary helped with the bills.
Naruto was busy putting away the previous guests’ coats when he caught a glimpse of an older looking man sporting an unusual colour of hair – was that gray? – strolling casually towards the front table. Behind him, a shorter man walking with an easy air of confidence about him was slowly following the older man.
Wait a minute – was that…
But, no, it couldn’t be…
“Hello there,” the taller man greeted Naruto, smiling politely at him. “Kakashi Hatake,” he said, gesturing to himself, “And this sour puss over here is Sasuke Uchiha,” he continued, inclining at the shorter man – Naruto’s stranger.
Sasuke…?
Kakashi drummed his fingers on the table after a beat of silence. “Though I enjoy this lovely thing we have going on, we really ought to head in,” he commented, his lips twitching with amusement.
“Uh, yeah,” Naruto stammered out, still in a state of minor shock at seeing the dark-haired stranger once more. Sasuke Uchiha… Why does that name sound so familiar?
It was after another beat of silence that Naruto’s stranger – Sasuke – let out a grunt, raising an eyebrow haughtily at him.
“Aren’t you going to sign us in?” Sasuke asked impatiently, staring directly at Naruto.
Jolted from his shock by the grunt, Naruto quickly picked up the guest list and marked both Kakashi and Sasuke in, his movements stiff and mechanical. He then directed both men to where the gala was being held, his eyes always flitting back to Sasuke’s face.
Sasuke…
“Tch. Idiot,” Sasuke remarked, smirking condescendingly at Naruto before heading over to the ballroom that Naruto had directed them into without another glance back. Kakashi then gave him another amused smile before following his companion inside.
Naruto stared unseeingly in front of him as he heard the two men walk away, thankful for the lack of other arriving guests.
“Sasuke,” he whispered, liking the sound on his tongue. He rolled the name over and over again in his mind, unable to think beyond the name. It nagged at something at the back of his mind, and he sighed, frustrated at how familiar the name sounded. It felt so, so right. It felt like coming home but he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why.
“Shit,” he huffed under his breath, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Shit.”
~~oOo~~
Naruto Uzumaki, the name tag had said.
Naruto…
The name tossed and turned in Sasuke’s mind until he could think of nothing more than that stupid name and how the blonde haired man had looked at him as if he were seeing an old friend. It gave Sasuke momentary pause and had made him feel as if there was a piece of the puzzle that he was missing. Had he really just met this man a few days’ ago? Why did it feel as if they’ve known each other for far longer? Why was it that every time Sasuke thought of him, he felt inexplicably calm and – and content and - no.
No, he needed to stop. Thinking constantly about him would lead to nowhere and Sasuke did not enjoy puzzling over something unproductive and unnecessary. This man was a distraction that he did not need and, quite frankly, he had enough on his plate to deal with.
“So,” Kakashi began, snagging a glass of champagne off of one of the servers, “That guy on the front desk seemed mildly acquainted with you,” he continued, raising an amused eyebrow.
Sasuke gave a minute shake of his head, dispersing his previous thoughts. He spared Kakashi a side-glance before returning to his idle scan of the guests gathered around and taking a sip from his own champagne glass.
“Tch, hardly,” he responded, a finality to his tone that left no room for further conversation. The last person he needed prying was Kakashi.
Kakashi gave Sasuke a thoughtful look before putting his free hand into his pants pocket and adopting a more relaxed pose. “I see,” he hummed, dropping the subject for now.
Sasuke breathed a short sigh of relief before schooling his features into a look of indifference, a gesture not unseen by Kakashi. It wasn’t long before aspiring shareholders and other company CEO’s made their way over to chat up the pair regarding Uchiha Corporation and its future. It was a conversation that Sasuke has witnessed and occasionally been a part of during past business meetings numerous times before. His parents had insisted that he partake in these business dealings, especially after his brother had split the family and settled down with his partner across the world.
Frankly, he was getting quite tired of it all.
“Mr. Uchiha,” a tall, blonde woman addressed him politely, extending a hand towards Sasuke, “Temari Sabaku of the Suna Incorporated. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”
“Sasuke Uchiha, Uchiha Corporation,” Sasuke responded, returning the gesture in kind, his eyes mildly calculating.
Temari let out a startling laugh. “I know,” she said, shifting her weight onto her right side and propping a hand on her hip. “You made quite the headline when your father announced you as the successor of Uchiha Corp.”
“Ah, yes, well,” Kakashi intervened, turning towards Temari and offering her a charming smile.
“Mr. Hatake,” Temari turned her attention briefly to Kakashi, extending a hand towards him. “Chief Marketing Officer and Personal Advisor of Uchiha Corporations. Pleased to meet you.”
Kakashi shook Temari’s hand, giving her a half-smile. “Well, well, it looks like you’ve done your homework. Please, call me Kakashi.”
Temari jutted her chin out just slightly and graced Kakashi with a small lilt of her mouth.
“Of course,” Temari replied. “Well, might I just say that this is quite a gala that you organised. It’s a shame that your father couldn’t make an appearance.”
Sasuke let out a small, indignant noise upon the mention of his father. Sasuke knew that the main reason that his Fugaku Uchiha had organised this event was to test Sasuke’s abilities to handle business matters on his own. After all this time and his father still couldn’t bear to trust his own son. Tch, typical, Sasuke thought.
“He has… other businesses to attend to,” he relayed out loud instead, “Unfortunately.”
Temari offered a tight lipped smile in response, as if knowing exactly the implications behind Sasuke’s reply.
“Well, it was very lovely to meet you,” Temari said in parting as she noticed a fellow associate beckon her over. “I look forward to meeting with you again.”
Sasuke merely nodded in parting, his eyes ever so calculating, before he watched her saunter off towards her companion.
“Well,” Kakashi chimed in, placing his now empty champagne glass on a passing server’s tray, “I don’t know about you but I’m quite ravenous.”
“I heard choking on your own spit seems to help with the hunger,” Sasuke replied dryly, his mind whirring at the implications of Temari’s parting words. It made him suspicious that she hadn’t tried to sell her company and its benefits to Uchiha Corporation. Nevertheless, it gave him momentary respite not having to deal with another person that would undoubtedly do their best to kiss his ass.
“Now, now, Sasuke. And I thought we were finally making progress,” Kakashi sighed dramatically. “However, if you’ll excuse me, I believe there are some people that I haven’t had the pleasure to get acquainted with, not to mention the wonderful, wonderful they had set up for us. It would be a right shame to see it all go to waste…,” Kakashi trailed off, mind already wandering off to other things.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in response as he watched Kakashi head off towards the buffet table with much gusto.
It was a while later that somebody dared to interrupt Sasuke, pulling him away from his thoughts that inevitably strayed elsewhere.
“Um,” the person coughed out as if to announce his presence to Sasuke. Sasuke turned to his left in response and paused when he saw who it was.
In the place that Temari had previously vacated stood the one person that seemed to immediately get under his skin without any forewarning.
Speak of the devil…
“Champagne, sir?” Naruto politely asked, tilting his tray ever so slightly in Sasuke’s direction in query, his jaw tense and his shoulders stiff.
Sasuke briefly looked down at his own champagne glass, noting that it was nearly finished.
“Hn,” he sounded out, placing his nearly empty glass and reaching for a new one, all the while maintaining eye contact with Naruto.
Silence reigned over the two, both refusing to move a muscle – or, perhaps, simply unable. It felt like some sort of test, a competition of sorts between the two, neither refusing to give up.
In the end it was Naruto who broke away, clearing his throat awkwardly, his free hand clenching and unclenching.
“Right, I should, uh, go… sir,” he muttered, already pulling away and heading off towards the other guests.
“Ah – ah, Sasuke, is that any way to talk to potential dates?” Kakashi tsked as he meandered back towards Sasuke’s side with a plate of crab salad canape and potato pancake with gavlax and dill.
“What are you babbling on about, Kakashi?” Sasuke drawled, the usual heat colouring his voice dampened as he tracked Naruto walking about the room, offering champagne to the other guests.
“That little server over there. I thought you two had really hit it off,” Kakashi rebutted, unfazed by Sasuke’s comment.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kakashi,” Sasuke, replied absentmindedly, his attention drawn in by the small laugh that escaped Naruto’s mouth.
Kakashi smirked in response, acutely aware of how Sasuke’s concentration has been snagged away momentarily.
Sasuke could not deny that whatever it was that went on between Naruto and himself had made Sasuke feel electrified. No matter what their first meeting had come to, Sasuke could not help but want to know more about this man. He wanted, no needed, to get closer to him, no matter what it takes, or however long it takes.
Well, he thought, this should make for an interesting evening.