NaruHina: Focus

Chapter 2: Aperture

New York

It was not a glamorous start for Naruto when he arrived in New York. But while his start in the US was rough, it was still the best decision of his life.

He'd been careful to keep his true identity a secret from his employers when he'd sent out his applications. The idea to look for a job overseas had actually come from both Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had spent a month studying English in Australia when she'd been in high school. Meanwhile, Sasuke had made frequent visits to his cousin Shisui, who'd gotten into a journalism program at Columbia University and was living in New York. His friends had both loved the overseas experience and had convinced him to try living on his own, without the influence of his famous mother, in a more freeing environment that would help him get over his shyness.

"There's no harm in trying, right?" Sakura had urged. "I mean, you can always come back."

He must have sent out hundreds of resumes, and the only one that had responded and requested an interview was a small company he'd never heard of. The lowly studio hadn't had the budget to do a proper background check to dig into his past. Nobody had also connected his famous last name to that of the governor of Tokyo's. And since nobody knew who he was in New York, his boss hadn't bothered to treat him nicely, which was fine with him. Naruto had started from the bottom, from the lowest rungs of the ladder at the studio agency, but he didn't mind because it was better than feeling as if everything had been handed to him.

For the first few months, the small studio had treated him as a lackey instead of a photographer. He'd spent most of his time running around the city as an errand boy, ferrying messages up and down Manhattan, schlepping equipment for other more famous photographers, assisting designers and editors, and basically wasted all the training he'd worked so hard to acquire in college.

Until that fateful day when the uber-cool Killer B had strode in, lowered his sunglasses, peered over Naruto's shoulder to check out his photos and declared, "Not bad."

He'd been waiting at a photo set for the lead photographer to appear. Naruto was the assistant and his job had been to make sure that everything ran smoothly, especially since this was a photoshoot for his studio's more prominent client, Regatta, a clothing company that specialized in outdoor clothing. That time, Regatta had done a special series of winter gear incorporating the artwork of Killer B.

Naruto had arrived hours earlier to set up the photo equipment. He'd taken test shots, more than what was necessary because he'd been unable to resist the call of the camera. Everything fascinated him, particularly the huge background of colorful swirls, a signature piece by the graffiti artist. One of the staff happened to be standing in front of the panel, going through the clipboard of the list of things to be done, and Naruto had snapped a photo, taking care to note the expression of frustration and worry on the man's face.

"Nanka chigau naa," he muttered under his breath, reverting back to his native tongue because he was puzzled by something. He checked the shots but something seemed to be off while he inspected the photos. He'd taken shots with different angles, lifting the camera off the tripod and clicking whenever a particular composition felt right, hardly paying attention to the people behind him, talking to himself as he normally did when at work.

"Konnichiwa!"

Startled by the greeting in Japanese, Naruto turned around only to see his face reflected on the dark sunglasses of a tall man.

"I knew it! You're Japanese?"

Naruto nodded nervously. He had a sneaking suspicion who this person was. He couldn't help but gape at the man wearing the glasses. He towered over Naruto, who himself was taller than the average Japanese man. And his aura of power and sophistication was emphasized by the beautifully tailored, dark purple suit and the black fedora he wore, making him appear like one of those mob bosses Naruto often saw in movies.