Chapter Text
P R O L O G U E
Sasuke fingered the edges of the business card that was left on the top of his table. It was a miracle to him to hear his father addressing his mental problems- his fucking nightmares.
"You need saving." As calmly as that, Fugaku left his office, leaving him vulnerable and exposed.
"Since when did you get sentimental of my broodings?" Although he knows Fugaku is far from hearing it, Sasuke knows that was the only way for him to retaliate. Because Fugaku will always be out of reach- the unreachable, the unfathomable and the unreadable head of Uchiha household.
A shrill knock on the door interrupted his musings. His secretary opened the door, ready to announce his schedule. Although the same was sent to his email, Sasuke likes to hear them word by word. Sometimes, it is nice to slap these monotonies right to his face.
"At 1 pm." Then a sound of similar to a book being closed echoed in his office.
"At what?" He must have focused more on his own fingers massaging the bridge of his nose rather than the readings of his schedule.
"Konoha Clinic at 1pm sir."
"I heard it right." Although he knows he didn't. But that was not what he's actually asking. "What about it?"
"You have an appointment at that clinic, Sir. I believe Mr. President already talked to you about it because I was only told with these details and nothing more." The secretary had kept her head bowed down in hopes of not getting questioned with the lack of information about his boss' schedule.
Ah, the business card.
Sasuke looked at the card once again. His head is beginning to ache more than it did earlier and he is sure that if he skipped this particular schedule, he would get an earful from his father. Not that the man is concerned to him.
He is next line, a successor.
Which company is headed by a depressed person? Definitely, not this company. Not the Uchiha Corp.
I need saving, huh.
"Alright. I'll visit that shrink."
C H A P T E R 1
It seems like his Sunday has been transferred to Monday. His last schedule for today is his schedule with the shrink. At 1pm and after that, he’s free to do whatever he wants. This was not the first time he would be meeting a doctor for his illness – just like how Fugaku words it. But it would be his first time to visit with his father’s knowledge. Years had passed by with secret visits to therapists, support groups and to immersions but nothing managed to get him out of this downward spiral.
Nothing made sense and nothing even mattered.
He was close to giving up, to actually label himself a lunatic.
Three faint marks on his wrist reminded him of how many times he had given up. But it seems like the world is not ready for it- not ready for the demise of an Uchiha. First attempt was the bottle of pills he had swallowed but his mother made it in time to save him, second time was with Obito, his loud-mouthed cousin, a one big slit in his wrist. Then the third time in his room, after he smoked, after he finally gave up, after it finally made sense that no one will accept him. Not even his death. Not even his death will be accepted for it was Fugaku who found him bathing in his own blood with two more slits on his wrist.
Fugaku holds his life and this time, holds his death.
“You are being difficult.”
Blue eyes stared back at him, hidden in rose gold glasses. But despite the words said, this man right in front of him was smiling. Sasuke has never been a fan of niceties and sunshine, because he likes darkness and he likes to brood.
But this guy, what a mess of blonde hair.
“But it’s not your fault.” And there the doctor smiled again.
“Tsk.” Sasuke might have been managing thousands of employees right there and then but this doctor seated right in front him is too happy for a reason he loathes, for a reason he does not know, but yet he loathes. “Are we here to smile at each other or are we here to cure me?”
Sasuke allowed himself to slouched a bit, with his other ankle on top of his left knee, his hands on both sides of the chair and his eyes lazily looking at the doctor.
“So you are admitting that there’s something wrong with you? I thought that was not what I heard earlier?” This time, the smiled got even brighter. This doctor looked a bit mischievous for Sasuke’s liking. He was here because of Fugaku. Because Fugaku was never wrong and is always right. But it seems like this time, his judges lapse a little bit.
“Christ.”
“I understand.” Sasuke chewed the side of his lips as he waited for the doctor to continue. “I understand okay?” This time, the doctor’s smile mellowed a bit. And his eyes are shining brightly under the afternoon sun.
The walls of the clinic are lined with soft orange papers. It actually calmed him right away when he entered this clinic. The clinic was spacious but everything looks bright. There are plants in one corner and the large window glass illuminates the room in different afternoon colors. You can see the trees and some buildings outside. Albeit the humongous windows, it still convinces privacy.
“How about we start with your day?”
Sasuke forced himself from sighing. What a load of bullshit.
“How was your day Sasuke?”
If Sasuke would laugh at a joke, he would probably keep his face stoic about it. But this question definitely gave a vibe that he likes and he both dislikes. He moved his body a little bit, just to adjust from his slight slouched pose. This time, he would mean business.
“Dr. Uzumaki,” called Sasuke in a tone he uses in his business trips, or when he wants to draw a line. Or maybe this time, when he wants to keep drawing lines. Distance, doctor.
“Dr. Uzumaki Naruto, I appreciate you being friendly with me and wanting to fully “understand” me but let’s cut that shit by calling me Uchiha-san.” Sasuke saw how the doctor’s smile faltered. A bit of his eyebrows shifted and he bit his lips. Somehow, Sasuke felt guilty. Huh, since when an Uchiha felt guilty. He shifted his focus to the windows, but he kept his attention to the doctor. Something about this guy pulls him in.
“Whatever suits you, Uchiha-san.” The smile was back again but this time, it didn’t reach his eyes. “So, why don’t you tell me about your day now?”
Sasuke whipped his head back to the doctor, his eyes sneering. “I don’t know. I thought doctors of the mind can read minds. So why don’t you tell me? A business man came at 1pm in his business suit, what do you think happened to my day, doctor?””
‘This guy hates me.’ Naruto thought.
But instead of doing what he always does to coax his patients, this time his approach is different. Naruto knows what it feels like at the receiving end. And this time is not much of a difference except that Sasuke is making it ten times hard for him. Usually the patients came in and expressed their cluelessness with the chaos in their minds but Sasuke knows why he is here and he will not make it easy for Naruto.
Nothing comes in Sasuke’s life in a snap of a finger. They came in, they got destroyed, and they promise not to come back. What makes this guy, this blonde doctor with tan skin, thinks he is different?
But Naruto knows what to do.
“Alright.” Naruto answered quietly. He stood up and removed his white coat revealing an brown-orange sweater that has been peeking in his coat earlier- a beautiful one, with a black rim at the collar and at the wrists. “Now I am not your doctor but, let’s say a friend.” His voice now reduced to a whisper.
Uchihas don’t have a friend. But Sasuke kept his stern face amidst his amusement.
“Take off your glasses.” He bemused before he even stopped himself but Naruto heard him right as the other guy began removing it. Jesus Christ, he’s beautiful. Sasuke tried to keep his emotions at bay and let himself settled instead at frowning.
“Now that I can’t see you.” At the emphasis of you, Sasuke’s eyebrows raised. He knows. The shrink knows. “Would you mind me telling now what happened to your day?”
Impressive. Sasuke thought. The shrink is quick to catch up how he likes to keep his emotions in check. Now that he can’t see his face, Sasuke is free to smile, to frown nor to bite his lips whenever he wanted. Brilliant.
“Dr. Uzumaki. I don’t have a day. I only have a “schedule”. My day won’t exist if I don’t have a schedule.” He allowed his self to smile a little bit but that is because he knows that’s far he can get. Who would smile at such predicament?
“Then tell me about your schedule then.”
“My schedule, huh.”
Naruto nodded a bit enthusiastically and yet Sasuke found himself getting excited as well.
“Yes, what does your schedule say?” Naruto prodded. Both of his hands are on his lap and his eyes still shine brightly as the warm orange afternoon sunlight envelopes him.
“My schedule says that I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, at 6 I will have breakfast and at 6:30 I will leave the house so I can start working at 7.” Sasuke bristled but he knows none of this amuses the doctor. “Just like everyone else.”
Naruto pursed his lips and said, “Well not everyone else, I for one wakes up at 8 then I ran a mile or two then I prepare for work at 10.” Then he smiled but this time Sasuke sucked his lips.
“You don’t eat breakfast?”
“We’re getting personal, huh.” There, Naruto’s eyes twinkle to Sasuke’s dislike. “Does that mean you trust me now?”
“Not a chance.” But there was a hint of challenge in Sasuke’s tone. He leaned back to the chair not knowing that he even leaned forward. Sasuke subtly looked at the clock at the wall behind the doctor and mentally sigh. He is not going to waste his time here. He put his hand on his chin. A habit he adopted whenever a growing irk fills him.
“Dr. Uzumaki, I don’t think we are going anywhere with this discussion.” Abruptly, Sasuke stood up and gathered his belongings.
Suddenly a hand shot to his wrist and held it in a vise grip. “We are.”
“Pardon?” Sasuke looked back at his wrist and at the face of his doctor. His eyes are still shining in an interesting shade of blue, there’s a dusk of pink coloring his cheeks and his face, oh god, it looks warm under the afternoon light.
“We are-“
But Sasuke had enough and would not spare a time to listen. “We aren’t. In fact, this session will end without you fully knowing me and me forgetting that I know you.”
In a quick second, Sasuke saw how his doctor’s eyes shifted. Suddenly, it holds so much resolve and the grip in his hand got stronger.”
“Oh, there is. Actually Uchiha-san, in a few unwilling answers you gave me, you already bared yourself to me like that.” If a voice can bite, Sasuke knows his wrist was already bitten. Gone is the soft and mellow aura of his doctor because right now is a man whose hand is wrapped around his wrist and feels like a friend taunting and challenging him.
It feels warm and liberating even if there’s a suffocating grip keeping him at ground.
“You are a workaholic person who thinks everyone acts like you so that you can think you are not a stand out stone. That you are not a rotten amongst the fresh. That you are just like me, like everyone else. You are a perfectionist who offers no room for mistakes and yet you are here unwilling.”
Sasuke tried to wrench his hand away from his doctor but failed. “A rotten. And unwilling perfectionist huh? You think twenty minutes of talking is enough to know me?”
But Naruto paid no attention and continued his talk, “I am not like you because I am not workaholic, I am willing and I am not a perfectionist.”
At this point, Sasuke noticed that the doctor has not put his eyeglasses back. If he did, he would see all the whirlwind of emotions displayed on his face right for him to see.
“And I am not afraid.”
Sasuke faced the doctor abruptly, his left hand still holding his things while the doctor’s hand kept it at bay, still holding his wrist. So he used his other hand to grip Naruto’s face. A soft gasp was heard from the other but Sasuke has other things he wants to hear.
“Listen, doctor.” He saw how Naruto’s eyes tried to focus on his face while his hands on his jaw. Sasuke wonders if his doctor can see his face clearly while being this close without his eyeglasses. “If I am afraid I wouldn’t be here. And you think I am afraid of you?”
“You are not afraid of me, but of yourself.”
Sasuke gripped Naruto’s face harder and if he listens to his brain a bit, he would hear it telling him that it is going to bruise. But Sasuke had enough of this doctor that his father recommends. If there is something that Fugaku has ever done wrong in his life, aside from being a father, is that when he endorsed this doctor.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes while Naruto’s seem to shine more.
“I am not-”
“If you aren’t, then why are you getting rid of yourself?” and Sasuke’s senses suddenly seemed to recognize again the warm hand around his wrist.
“Don’t-“ Sasuke started and to his dismay, the hand slowly left his wrist. “What are you trying to get from me Doctor Uzumaki?”
Slowly, when the beating of his heart gets louder, Naruto smiled and whispered.
“Your cooperation.”
“My cooperation.” Sasuke tested the words in his tongue and it left a bitter aftertaste.
“So that I can save you.”
Had the doctor put back his glasses on, Naruto would see the look on Sasuke’s face.
You need saving.