"We should get going, Sasuke."

Huffing out a profanity, Sasuke fixed his tie as he looked in the stainless mirror of one of the sizable restrooms of the Uchiha Corps headquarters. It had been about an hour since everyone but them - including the janitors - had left, and the strong smell of heavy disinfectants lingered in the air.

He gave his hair one last fingering to make sure his bangs didn't look messy. The effects of the hair product he'd used in the morning were still there, so he didn't have to do much.

Itachi and he had stayed behind while all the other personnel had gone ahead to the reserved hotel's restaurant. Ivory Tower was Neji's latest discovery. The place looked neat and the restaurant had good food from what Sasuke had heard.

They only took Itachi's car instead of two separate ones. Itachi seemed concerned about the way Sasuke thoughtfully watched out the window. However, they both kept their silence. Sasuke was sure Itachi had a lot to think about for it was a big day, and he didn't feel like doing small talk. He knew that once they arrived to the place, he had many people to talk to, including his own father (maybe?), and as a CEO of the company, he had to give a speech, too. He was going to enjoy the silence while he could.

Like all good things, the ride ended very soon. Sasuke opted to left his coat in the car to avoid spending time finding it after the event. They shared a look with his brother and started walking toward the building.

Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about playing around a bit with the tradition and adding up a dinner to the mix. Itachi had given Sasuke a pep talk last night, which was quite unnecessary in Sasuke's opinion. The way Itachi saw it, Sasuke was making almost a decade old events seem tragic by replaying the memories over and over in his head. To some extent, he might be right. But Itachi couldn't understand how scarring the situation had been. He wasn't planning on throwing a tantrum by any means, though.

Familiar faces were all around the restaurant. Sasuke's eyes found Kiba by the small stage originally designed for live bands to play, talking to Neji. The suit he'd pulled on looked absurd on him.

He was glad to not have seen Naruto around. Tonight was a special occasion and he had no intention for it to play out melodramatically.

Perhaps he wanted to impress his father. Fine, he knew he did. He wanted the older man to see that Sasuke was perfectly fine on his own, that he was good at his job as much as his older brother was. He wanted to prove his sexuality had nothing to do with how much of a man he was.

He took a seat at one of the round tables. The perfectly white tablecloth felt sickening to look at, and Sasuke's gaze drifted to Karin and Suigetsu. It was supposed to be a fun night; celebrations were considered as fun, yet, Sasuke was bored already, picking on his nails and trying not to look blase.

"Hello," he heard a deep, unfamiliar voice, and the owner of the voice pulled up a chair without asking for permission. "Shino. Aburame Shino. You must be Uchiha Sasuke."

"...Yes," Sasuke raised a brow. The name was familiar, and he remembered that Aburame was the vet that prepared the formulas for Inuakashi's pet food. "Pleasure to meet you."

They shook hands.

Sasuke was confused about why the guy was wearing sunglasses indoors, but he didn't ask.

"I'm not good with crowds. I'm only here because Kiba is my closest friend," Shino said, reaching for the bottle of water standing in front of him and opening the cap to take a drink.

Sasuke briefly nodded. "Yeah. I know how vexing it can be."

"You don't seem amused."

"Celebrations aren't my strong suit," Sasuke explained, gaze flickering over where Neji once was. Both Neji and Kiba were gone, instead, waiters and waitresses had taken their place, readying plates and glasses.

"Ah, Shino!" They heard Kiba yell from the distance. From Sasuke remembered, Kiba was a wild card. He apparently still was. Yelling at a business celebration. Hah.

"Kiba," Shino greeted his friend, who steadily approached them. "Look who I found."

"Sasuke." Kiba appeared surprised. He had no reason to, Sasuke thought. He was a CEO of the company. Of course he was going to be here.

On the other hand. Maybe it was about Naruto.

They shook hands with Kiba, too, and Kiba sat down next to Shino. He had to admit, but it was… kind of nice to be talking to different people. Maybe he should widen his circle of friends, he thought as Kiba excitedly told him about his plans for 2019.

About half an hour later, the restaurant was packed with Uchiha Corps workers. He'd found out that Kiba had brought Hinata along as well as Shino, his childhood friend and Neji's cousin. It was interesting, because as far as he knew Hinata was the daughter of a man Neji hated with passion. But the two seemed to get along just fine.

He couldn't see his father, but he knew he were here. When Itachi finished his speech and called Sasuke to the stage, he stood up, adjusted his jacket and climbed the stairs to the podium.

"Good evening and welcome. My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he introduced himself. The spotlights were too bright for his liking. "This is the celebration for our proud union with Inuzuka Kiba-san's company, Inuakashi."

While he waited for the applause to die out, his eyes searched the crowd, even though he couldn't see much due to the lighting.

"Today is a day of celebration, celebration of Inuzuka-san's successful entrepreneurship. As Dave Thomas said, 'What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.'. He splendidly created a business with his friend Aburame Shino-san and managed to make it Japan's number one in its field."

Another round of applause.

As he continued his speech, his eyes kept hunting for his family, but the only family he could see was Itachi. He was curious about whether or not Naruto was there, but he had a hunch that after the other night, he needed some rest.

. . .

After his speech, he paid a quick visit to the restroom, having little chats with his employees. By the time he found Itachi, it was almost 6 P.M.

"Dinner's about to start, where were you?" Itachi inquired.

Sasuke pointed at the direction of the restroom with his hand. "Talking to people."

Itachi seemed surprised. "I didn't know you did that." He quickly added, "Good for you."

"Sasuke."

Having heard it maybe more than a thousand times, Sasuke immediately recognized the voice. He turned around to regard the older man. He almost said 'father', out of habit, but held it back for some reason he couldn't quite understand.

"That was… an excellent speech," Fugaku, his father, commented. Sasuke took a moment to take in the changes on his father's face. The line between his brows had deepened as well as the ones on his forehead. His hair had whites now - it was a nice dark brown when Sasuke had left home - and his eyes looked different. The way he looked at Sasuke was.

He swallowed. "Thank you."

The more he tried not to fidget, the more anxious he felt, and he could clearly see that his father was not entirely comfortable with the situation, too. So, he quickly excused himself, taking big steps toward the exit, longing for a cigarette. Sadly, he didn't have any. He could always bum one from someone, but Itachi wouldn't like that. Since when did he care about what Itachi thought, he didn't know, but he didn't feel like talking to anyone, let alone asking for something.

But Kiba, being the idiot he was (did Naruto and he influence each other? Sasuke didn't know.) managed to find him in the parking lot - whatever he was doing there. Sasuke hoped the guy wasn't following around like a lost puppy. Maybe being too close with a vet did that to a person.

"Hey, dude," Kiba saluted. "What're you doin' here? All alone? You gonna smoke?"

Sasuke leaned back against Itachi's car and exhaled sharply. "No."

"Why?" Kiba demanded.

"I'm trying to quit, so if you can please stop talking about smoking," snapped Sasuke, sending a glare Kiba's way, hoping it to be as scary as he wished.

But Kiba didn't seem intimidated. "Anyway, I just wanted to apologize about something. I didn't get a chance 'till now."

"Apologize about what?" Sasuke asked, his anger dying out slowly as Kiba roused his curiosity.

"Uh. This is so weird," Kiba chuckled nervously, scratching his cheek and averting his gaze from Sasuke. "Uhh. About the other day. The meeting. I forgot to let you know that… Naruto was going to be there. Yeah - sorry about that. I wasn't trying to… uhhh. How do I put it. Stir you up?"

"It's alright," Sasuke sighed, looking up, searching for stars, but he could see none. "I mean. It's not alright, him and I, but you and I. We're cool."

"Yeah? I know there's bad blood between you two, but… anyway." He flashed a grin.

Sasuke kicked a pebble under his feet and gathered up courage to ask, "How's he, by the way? Did he recover yet?"

Kiba was surprised. "Dude. Are you stalking him or somethin'?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What?" He harshly asked.

"I mean. How do you know about… him getting drugged? Wait - don't tell me-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Inuzuka," Sasuke bit out, feeling his blood boil. "I was the one who carried his sorry ass to the hospital. We just happened to be at the same place. No, I'm not stalking him, I did not drug him, and you, clearly, are an idiot."

"That's the Sasuke I know - or have heard about," Kiba remarked. The innuendo about the insult wasn't lost on Sasuke. But Kiba had asked for it! "I didn't know you were the one who took him to the hospital."

"How is he?" He repeated.

Kiba sniffled. The air was a bit chilly. "He's doin' okay. Resting in bed, or at his parents' house, probably. I didn't get to check on him again, but I'll drop by his place after the night's over. Why are you askin' anyway? I thought you didn't give a shit about him."

"Is that what he told you? Fucking asshole," Sasuke accused.

"Uh. Isn't that why you guys broke up in the first place?" Kiba asked, dumbfounded.

Letting out a sigh, Sasuke started to walk away, brain foggy, unaware of Kiba's perplexed gaze.

Naruto paid the cab driver and stepped out of the car, shutting the door with more force than necessary. He'd left with Sakura afterward, and the talk hadn't gone well. Sakura, rightfully, had told him to get a grip and remove bad influences from him life (meaning Gaara - she hadn't taken that information well). Naruto knew that; knew he should cut ties with Gaara. The only good thing about him was that he was good in bed. He didn't treat Naruto badly, but that could be a mask, too. The guy was involved with drugs, for fuck's sake, and probably Yakuza.

The thought made Naruto shiver. He was suddenly wondering if he was safe. Sasori, to admit, had never been as fond of Naruto as Naruto was of him. Who could protect him if something were to happen? No one. His dad could only do so much.

Once inside his flat, he felt like hitting the sack, but he hadn't eaten much during the day and he felt pretty hungry. He found strawberries in the refrigerator, and some stale chocolate in a drawer, but it wasn't so bad. He melted it in the microwave, then grabbed a bottle of cold water and exited the kitchen. He powered on the small TV in the living room and without even bothering to look at what was on, started dipping strawberries in chocolate. It wasn't the healthiest meal, or the most filling, but he didn't feel like eating anything else.

He ate slowly. His mind kept wandering to Gaara - and how he'd tried to evade the topic of his profession. How he'd said Naruto wouldn't get harmed. He'd been hurt once. What was going to stop him from getting hurt again? If one of Gaara's colleagues was a psycho, what could assure Naruto that the others were not? Drugging people for shits and giggles. Or simply because they didn't like Gaara.

His phone started going off, so he put the bowl on the sofa and picked it up. It was Kiba.

"Hey man, how ya feeling?"

"Pretty good, actually. The drug wore off completely, I think," he answered after swallowing his strawberry. "How was the celebration?"

"Dope. Listen, I was gonna pay you a visit, but Shino got too drunk. Boredom does that to a person, I guess," he laughed. "But I'll drop by tomorrow if that's okay? Rest up, buddy."

"Sure. I was planning on inviting the others over to work. But sure. You can come and see how the website's turning out, too."

"Yeah. Okay. Talk to you later, Naruto."

"Bye, Kiba."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang, interrupting his thought process. He lazily strolled down the hallway and opened the door.

He'd never expected to see two policemen standing at his door.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" One of them asked.

"Yes?"

"You're coming with us."

The ride back home wasn't a quiet one. Sasuke, Neji and Itachi were going to Itachi's place to do some more work so they could take the weekend off. Sasuke was the DD for he had stayed away from the sake, except for one sip.

"That was a nice celebration, wasn't it, brother." Itachi said.

"It didn't suck as much as I thought it would," Sasuke admitted, "but it could have been better."

"If father hadn't been there?"

Neji quietly watched out the window as two brothers argued over their father. Sasuke wasn't entirely unhappy about seeing his father. He'd shown him that he could manage on his own. That he was a strong, independent person.

"You're making such a huge deal out of it in your head, Sasuke. Father acknowledges your accomplishments. He understands now. Can't you see?"

"No."

Itachi sighed. "You're such a brat." He tried ruffling Sasuke's hair, only to be pushed away by him. Sasuke let go of the steering wheel for a second.

"Please. I want to live to see another day," Neji complained good-naturedly.

Sasuke sniggered. "What's with the traffic today?"

"I think there's been a drug bust somewhere. Maybe it's about that," Neji said, not looking up from his phablet.

Itachi looked thoughtful. "Hmm."

"So, what's the plan for Saturday? Are we really going to fish?"

"God, no," Neji groaned, making Itachi laugh all of a sudden. "What?"

"It's just the way you said it," Itachi rubbed an eye and smiled at Neji in the rearview mirror.

Sasuke focused his eyes on the road.

. . .

After stopping by Sasuke's apartment to get Busu, they took the empty highway to reach Itachi's apartment. It was neat, freshly cleaned, and since he'd hired a cooking lady, there was food in his kitchen. They set the table and ate together.

While he put the dishes in the washer, Neji called to him from the living space. "Sasuke. You might want to see this."

Curious, Sasuke washed his hands with soap and dried them, then went out of the kitchen to see what Neji was talking about. Some news channel was on, and the news anchor was telling the story of the drug dealers that were busted that evening.

"Wait… wait- ah, there," Neji pointed toward the screen.

The guy from the bar who had drugged Naruto.

Suddenly, Sasuke started to laugh. "Karma is real, huh?" He spoke.

"I don't know. He'll probably be in prison for the rest of his life."

"And that idiot probably won't even sue the guy for drugging him."

"Hmm."

"Where's Itachi?" He asked as he picked up Busu from the ground and sat down in a chair.

"I'm here," Itachi entered the room, holding his laptop in his hands.

Sasuke pouted without even noticing. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing." Itachi smiled.

"I wonder if you could be any more obvious," Sasuke muttered.

"Okay, okay," Itachi put the computer down and went to Sasuke's side. "I ordered some toys for Busu."

Sasuke was surprised. "You didn't have to. I had one at my place."

Neji chimed in. "You did? When do you care so much about cats?"

"I didn't buy it. It's one of Menma's toys."

Silence fell. Nobody wanted to comment on the statement, so Neji opened his own laptop and started to work quietly. Itachi followed him. Sasuke found himself going back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

He thought about Naruto while he cleaned. He honestly didn't even know what he thought about him anymore. His feeling were all mixed together: anger, pain, love . The thing he once felt for the blond (now redhead). And how he'd crept back into Sasuke's life was… so him . He'd just come and there he was again, playing in Sasuke's mind when he was alone. Was he okay? What was he doing? What, or who was he looking at right now?

Why was he messing with Sasuke's head so much? Did he really want to go back the way they were or was it simply because he really didn't want to be enemies with Sasuke?

Or, more importantly, was Sasuke really okay with Naruto entering his life again? What if they fucked it up once more?

He realized he had placed the last plate, and closed the door of the dishwasher.