Naruto glanced around the room, among the busy body of his classmates, a paper gripped tightly in his small hands. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he spotted his best friend. "Sasuke!" He excitedly exclaimed, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, stepping on his loose shoelaces in his hast. He yelped as he fell to the ground, the class bursting with laughter. His lower lips quivered, tears edging towards the corner of his eyes, his face red with embarrassment. "It's not funny!" Naruto yelled at them mocking him. Sasuke sighed and glared at the other children who dared to laugh at his best friend.
Walking over to comfort the close to tears blonde, "You should be careful, Naruto," he lightly scolded his friend. Said blonde sniffled, using the sleeve of his t-shirt to wipe his nose. Struggling to tie his shoelaces like his daddy taught him. "The bunny goes over under-" he whispered under his breath. The raven sighed again and helped him tie his shoes. Naruto looked at him in awe. "Sasuke you're so cool."
"Hn," trying his best not to blush at the praise, but he couldn't stop himself from puffing his little chest in pride. Naruto's blue eyes widen as if he finally remembered something. Picking up the paper whilst Sasuke helped him up, "I drew this for you!" He said excitedly, thrusting the piece of paper towards the Uchiha's face, almost hitting him with it. He smiled sheepishly when black eyes scowled at him. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his friend for a moment before turning his gaze to the piece of paper in his hands. His eyes softening at what was on the thin sheet, a drawing of him hugging his green T-Rex. "I know you lost Mr. Rex at the park so I drew you a picture of you and him together, to show you he will always be with you." He blushed clamping his hands behind his back and nervously swung side to side, waiting for his raven haired friend to respond. Sasuke smiled fondly, "Thank you Dobe." Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to smile or pout at the fact that Sasuke keeps calling him an idiot. Nonetheless he chose to smile, "Teme!" He said, showing off his two missing front teeth as they were called to gather around at the front of their classroom.
....
The sound of an alarm clock was loud in the dark quiet room. A tired groan made it's quick escape between the lips of a sleepy figure as a pale hand slipped from under the grey colored duvet patting the nightstand in search of the noisy device. Coming in contact with his phone, Sasuke brought the tiny gadget to his face. Adjusting his eyes to the bright light of his phone. '5:30' light up the screen. He sighed, hating the fact it was already time for him to get ready for work.
Tossing his phone carelessly on the bed and getting up into a sitting position, he let the navy sheets pool around his naked waist and ran his fingers through his dark spikes, turning his gaze to the picture on the nightstand. It was the drawing Naruto gave him when they were little. He smiled at it but quickly frowned when once again his mind fed him his childhood memories in his sleep. Having never seen the blonde since they graduated high school, both having to study at different colleges in different states. He felt as if his mind was just provoking him for being a coward for not confessing his feelings on their last day together. Instead he chose to stay quiet in order to save himself the embarrassment in case Naruto didn't feel the same.
'Why didn't I say something' he silently wondered, shaking his head at the thought and stretching his limbs. He yawned while climbing out of bed heading for the bathroom to get himself ready with hopes of forgetting any thoughts of the blue eyed sunshine.
An hour later, Sasuke walked down the stairs towards the kitchen to prepare himself a cup of coffee, rolling his eyes when he found Itachi sitting at the breakfast island, having already made himself at home. "Trespassing is against the law," he said in a bored tone, getting a mug and poring cup of coffee.
The older Uchiha smirked, "It's not against the law to check on your baby brother. We live three blocks away and you don't even visit."
Choosing to ignored the annoying sibling, he grabbed the plate that Itachi was eating breakfast off of. The long haired raven opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke spoke before he could. "My house. My food. Get your own."
"Why are you alway mean to me?" Frowning at the harsh action, not even making an effort to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Shouldn't you be bothering Deidara?" Sasuke shot back.
"I would but he's getting Lilium ready for school." He smiled fondly at the thought of his family.
Lilium was their five year old daughter and Sasuke's favorite niece. "Her teacher complained yesterday, saying while she's teaching in class Lilly keeps disturbing the lesson by teaching her little group of students."
The Uchiha brothers chuckled at the thought of the little blonde girl causing chaos for her teacher. She looked like Itachi but was a lot like Deidara.
"We have a meeting with the Harunos today." Sasuke scowled, the happy atmosphere instantly dissipating. "Not them again," he grumbled and took a bite out of his toast.
"I'm not happy about it either, but I think Deidara set the appointment just to get back at me for being late for dinner. You know how he gets in the early stages of pregnancy with his hormones all over the place."
The younger raven glared at the older knowing that his brother was being truthful. Both were WELL aware that the long haired blonde was capable of merciless vengeance.
"Then why am I being dragged into to this to suffer all because you decided to impregnate him again?"
Itachi smirked devilishly at his little brother. "Miss Haruno requested that you be there," stating it as he was describing the weather and not just getting on his brother's nerves.
"Well, I'm not going."
"Wait! If I must suffer, then you should too." Itachi countered not wanting to face the blood lusting woman alone.
"Am I the one married to Deidara or you?"
He hated being in the pink bubble gum obnoxious flirting girl's presence. How could she not have gotten the hint that he wasn't interested in her, or never would be. He would proposition a mission to live on Mars before he would give her the time of day.
"If you hadn't sic Konan on me...we wouldn't be in this mess," Itachi pointed out. "You'd think the woman would be afraid that I'm her boss but she's still vicious no matter the position." He grumbled, still annoyed at what happened the day before yesterday.
Sasuke finished the last bite of eggs and tomatoes on the plate, then got up to go wash his dirty dishes. He walked over the front door with Itachi not far behind, grabbing his briefcase and heading for work.
"Let's just get this over with."
....
Naruto giggled as he hugged the little body back and waved goodbye at both mother and child as they walked out of the classroom. "Bye Max!" He exclaimed smiling, "Be a good boy for your mom and remember to do your homework this time." The little boy squeaked, gasping at his mother for betraying him to his teacher about not wanting to do his homework. He felt embarrassed that his favorite sensei now knew the truth that his pet fish never really ate his assignment. Nevertheless, the little redhead grabbed his mother's hand and enthusiastically waved goodbye.
Naruto sighed in contentment, it was such a joy to work with little kids. "Was that the last one?" The bellowing voice startled him. He turned and saw his coworker Kiba. "Kiba you really need to stop sneaking up on me." He scolded while gathering his class papers and walking out the classroom with the brunette, briefly sharing stories of their day as they made their way out the building.
He waved goodbye and got in the black BMW that was waiting for him. "Hi honey!" He greeted, leaning in to give a kiss to the man sitting behind the steering wheel only for the raven haired man to lean away. Naruto looked at Sai in confusion.
"Why are you talking to Kiba? You know I don't like you hanging around him."
Naruto rolled his eyes and buckled his seat belt. "Not this again," he said already annoyed at having the same argument all the time. "Sai, he's a friend. I'm tired of having this conversation with you. It's getting old."
Sai glared at the blonde and started the car. "I don't like him anywhere close to you. If he knows better he should stay away from you," he threatened, turning on a corner when the robot light signal turned green.
"And I tell you time and time again. Nobody is going to take me away from you. We've been together for five years haven't we?"
The raven turned his gaze at his boyfriend when he stopped at the next light. "I think you should quit your job."
"And I think you're being dramatic."
"I can provide for the both of us."
"I know you can, but I'd like to stand on my own two feet, thank you." Naruto smiled whilst grabbing the paler's hand and gave it a tight squeeze, only letting it go when Sai had to change gears.
Naruto stared out of the window at the setting sun as if he was trying to gather his thoughts. "Oh, umm...Kawaki called and said everything was being taken care of. He didn't even let me say hello and quickly hung up on me when he realized it wasn't you."
Sai quickly glanced at the blonde before turning away grumbling beneath his breath. He didn't miss the tension that was rolling of his boyfriend when he had glanced at him.
Naruto pouted to himself and then gave the raven a sly smile. "Sai? Are you planning something romantic with Kawaki's help?"
"Yeah. Idiot was not supposed to reveal that," he said clearly agitated.
"Sai are you ok?"
"Just thinking of how I shouldn't have asked a person who's romantically constipated for advice. Now he's just making me more nervous for tomorrow." The raven lied and Naruto felt something was off but ignored it. 'Sai wouldn't do anything bad?', was the question in the back of his mind.
"Tomorrow?" Sai smiled at him, taking his hand and kissing the tan knuckles. "You'll have to wait and find out my Love."
"You're not planning to kill me, are you?" The blond teased, still refusing to listen to the warning voice at the back of his head.
Sai chuckled, "I'd never dream of it."
......
Sasuke arrived at the office, giving a small nod to Ino when she greeted him behind her desk. His office was on the tenth floor of the metropolitan's largest business building. He set the cup of latte on his desk that he opted to drink over the bottle of whiskey sitting on the small bar in his office, tempted to numb the dread of the next two hours of his life.
Slumping into his chair, he turned the television on wanting to hear the NASDAQ stock reports. He opened his laptop to check his emails and within twenty minutes he had returned the responses that needed replying. Leaning back into his chair, he glanced at the picture on his desk that his parents had taken of him and Naruto at graduation. He sighed and picked up the silver frame gazing at the glistening ocean blues almost swallowed by the bright smile looking at the camera. He still couldn't shake his dream earlier and pondered why.
It wasn't the first time that the love of his life had appeared in his nighttime thoughts but over the past few weeks it was becoming an nightly occurrence. 'What have you been doing for the past five years', he wondered to himself.
He looked up when the door to his office was opened. "It's time for your nine o'clock meeting Mr Uchiha." The short slender platinum blonde announced.
"Tell them I'm sick."
Ino rolled her eyes, "Nope. I don't get paid enough to deal with a angry Itachi."
"I'll give you a raise."
"As good as that sounds, I'll pass this time." She giggled ignoring the exasperated look on her boss's face.
Sasuke could do nothing but scowl. "If she so much as pushes out her flat chest at me or talks to me in that sickening sweet voice of hers...I'm going to lose it."
Ino laughed at the miserable Uchiha, not at all feeling sympathy for him. "Maybe you should date her. They say when a guy is being mean to a girl, it means he likes her~" She teased, laughing at the look the Uchiha gave her.
"What, are you six?"
"No, but maybe going out with her will get that ten foot pole out of your ass." Suddenly that thought crossed her mind, cringing when she realized her mistake. She'd kill herself too if she had to go out with Sakura. "Umm, better yet... don't. I can only take a grumpy you in small doses. And having to deal with an even more pain in the ass then usual Uchiha, will destroy the last of my sanity." She sighed ignoring him when he flipped her off.
"The contract for the Nightingale is done." She said, carefully placing the portfolio on his desk.
Sasuke set the picture frame back on the space it has always occupied to review the contract that was handed to him. "What's my schedule for today?" He asked not even looking up at the blonde woman.
Ino glanced down at the IPad in her hand to voice his schedule for the rest of the day.
"Thank you. I'll be out in a minute. You're dismissed."
He closed his eyes as she walked out, laying his head back against the chair, far gone in his own thoughts to pay attention to the breaking news report
....A young man's body was found in a alley near New York City's docks. The brutal findings have sparked an investigation by the FBI...