Full Circle

Full Circle

chapter 16

Sasuke had been in a great mood since his dinner date with Naruto. Things were looking very hopeful. So much so in fact that it was making him start to wonder what he'd been so worried about in the first place. He was Naruto's fiance. The blond wouldn't just go and throw him over for someone else, even if he did think Sai was a sweet, charming orphaned saint... would he? Of course he wouldn't. Naruto wasn't that kind of guy. He was respectful and honourable. Sasuke had likely never had anything to freak out about. He didn't know what had come over him. After all, he was Uchiha freakin' Sasuke! He didn't have trouble 'keeping' potential lovers. He had to beat them off with a stick for cryin' out loud.

He smiled almost goofily on his way down the stairs for breakfast as he remembered once again, how perfect it had felt to hold Naruto in his arms and the sweet, sleepy smile the blond had given him when they said good night. He had come so close to throwing caution to the wind and kissing those soft lips but he'd hesitated a little too long and the chance had slipped away and Naruto was gone. Ah well, he had the rest of their lives to look forward to.

"Ah Sasuke." A deep voice jerked him out of his musings and he automatically schooled himself back into the stoic attitude that he was known for. Turning calmly, he came face to face with his father. "You're up early this morning. That's good," said Fugaku. "That helps me make my decision. I was considering, bringing you into the meeting with me today. I have some people coming by that I'd like you to meet."

"You want me to attend a business meeting?" Sasuke asked in surprise. Inside, his heart was sinking. He hated this kind of thing.

"You're a man now Son. It's time to start getting your face out there. You need to jump in and get your feet wet. Your brother and I can start showing you how things work in this business." Sasuke mentally sighed and shut out the rest of his father's enthusiastic lecture. He didn't want anything to do with this business. He knew what he wanted to do, and this wasn't it. He knew that his father wasn't to be swayed though, at least not yet, and he resigned himself to the reality of being dragged to the, no doubt interminable, meeting. What a waste of a perfectly good day.

"When is this meeting Father," he asked in a noticeable monotone.

"This afternoon Son. Two o'clock sharp, that should give you plenty of time to get prepared and make yourself presentable. Here. I want you to read over these notes before-hand." He dumped a file folder in his son's hands and disappeared down the hall, apparently most pleased with himself. Sasuke allowed his shoulders to slump as he stood there for a moment, staring at the folder. Then he straightened up and continued on to the dining room, his good mood somewhat diminished.

"Good morning Sasuke," Naruto chirped happily from his place at the table. Sasuke returned the greeting with a little smile. "What's that?" he asked, nodding to the folder as Sasuke plopped it down on the table top. The smile drooped. A maid held up a teapot in silent question and he nodded and watched with disinterest as she poured him a cup.

"This is a file full of boring information that my father wants me to read before I go to his business meeting this afternoon," he answered dully.

"Business meeting," Naruto repeated with a little frown. "When are you going to tell him that you don't want to join the business?"

"Not right now obviously."

"Sasuke, if you let him go on believing that you will, he'll just be all the more disappointed when you don't follow through."

"I already know that he won't take it well. I'm not up to dealing with the confrontation today," Sasuke protested.

"Allowing someone to think something that isn't true, is the same as lying you know, and lies 'always' come back to haunt you," Naruto said prophetically. Sasuke found himself feeling terribly uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Your father would want you to be honest with him. I'm telling you, the sooner you come out and say it, the better."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted non-commitally, staring down into his teacup. He couldn't seem to look the blond in the eye.

"Oh come on! You're only hurting yourself here. You're the one who feels miserable. Just think of the weight that will be lifted off of your shoulders after. You'll be free! Can't you just see yourself, living your life the way you always wanted, without having to worry over this issue any more?" Well, he did make it sound nice. "You know you have my support. I'll help you anyway I can."

"Thanks Naruto," he replied quietly.

"It's no problem," the blond grinned. "I'm pretty sure you can count on your brother's vote too."

"Morning all," came a familiar drawl as Sai found them. "Oh have I interrupted your breakfast? I hope you don't mind me dropping in so early. I was just wondering what you two were doing today."

"Oh that's alright Sai. Good morning. Actually Sasuke was just telling me that his afternoon is pretty much tied up. He's going to be attending one of his father's meetings and he has to get all of that information read before then."

"Oh! Is that so? That's too bad. I suppose it's just you and me then Naruto kun," I had thought that maybe we could all go to a movie together. There's one I've been wanting to see. You and I could go to a matinee though, while Sasuke is busy."

"I guess so. It would help pass the time," Naruto said thoughtfully. Sasuke stiffened. Sai wanted to spend the afternoon having fun and hitting on 'his' fiance while he was stuck in a horrible meeting?! All his earlier confidence and composure had apparently flown right out the window. He didn't want Sai anywhere near Naruto anymore. Especially when he wasn't with them. That little double-crossing rat bastard was stomping on his last nerve!

"Well if that's settled, then I shall be off to take care of a few things and make sure that my afternoon is wide open. I wouldn't want to leave you all alone and bored, now would I," said a very cheerful Sai. He stole a piece of toast from Naruto's plate in an overly familiar gesture and gave Sasuke a wink as he left. Oh yeah, that guy was just begging for punishment and Sasuke would be only too happy to oblige. Some ill fate was going to befall Sasuke's 'best friend' very soon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

After lunch, the two young men were still sitting at the large table out back by the pool, where they had taken their lunch. They had been relaxing there for quite awhile, just enjoying the weather, when a reluctant Sasuke, who had been stalling all morning, finally got around to cracking open his father's file.

"Well if you're going to do that now, then I suppose I'll go get my trunks on and take a dip in the pool before Sai comes back," said the blond, lazily. Sasuke nodded, with a small sigh. He'd much rather join Naruto for his swim than read all this boring, and probably irrelevant crap. Naruto wandered around to the pool-house and he tried his best to focus his full attention on the papers before him. He steadfastly refused to look up when he heard the blond come back out, knowing that if he caught sight of him, whatever concentration he'd had to begin with would be completely shot and he'd end up just staring pitifully instead of reading.

Never the less, after a short while, his attention was wandering anyway and his eyes kept drifting off to look at anything but the words on the pages. It was as he was zoning out like this, his gaze cast off randomly over the trees that edged the property, that he caught a flash of movement, just over the security wall. Now, there was something rather familiar about this scenario. He pretended to look in another direction while he inspected that spot from the corner of his eye. Seconds later, there came the tell-tale black shadow, followed buy the small glint of some shiny object catching the sunlight.

"Why that 'evil' sonofa..." There was little doubt in his mind that the shadow he'd caught was Sai. He was probably spying on Naruto. Sasuke's blood started to boil, but then a thought struck him and a smile that would have frightened the devil himself, curled over his lips. "Ah Sai... How nice of you to help me out with your punishment so conveniently," he mentally cackled. Sliding a hand into his pocket, he pulled out his cellphone as discretely as possible. Flipping it open one handed, under the table, he dialed the three magic numbers and lifted it to his ear, pretending to lean on his hand.

"Hello, I'm calling from the Uchiha residence. We seem to have some kind of prowler or thief sneaking around the back of our property. I want him removed immediately and I'm sure you can understand that we would rather that this removal take place as quietly as possible. We're not looking to make the papers here." Sasuke gladly answered a few questions for the dispatcher before hanging up, evil grin still intact. He barely kept himself from rubbing his hands together in glee at the thought of Sai getting arrested. "Have fun in your cage, oh 'best friend' of mine."

A few minutes later, there was a rustling of the trees and Sasuke watched the shadow drop to the wall and then off the other side. There was a faint sound of voices carrying over the wall but the police seemed to be taking his suggestion seriously and were keeping the incident low key. He was smirking in supreme satisfaction when a dripping Naruto with a towel draped over his shoulders came over from the pool.

"Did you hear something over there?" the blond asked with a curious frown.

"It's likely just the grounds-keeper," Sasuke brushed off casually. Naruto nodded, seeming to accept this as a plausible enough explanation.

"Sasuke, doing your reading I see." Both boys turned to see Fugaku strolling towards them. "You're nearly finished I hope." Sasuke nodded. "Excellent. It's time to get to the board room. Come along now Son. Have a nice afternoon Naruto."

"Thank you sir," Naruto answered with a smile as he waved them off.

Sasuke looked back with a quiet sigh and followed his father into the house. Staring absently at the older man's back, he wondered how long Sai was going to be stuck in jail before he got himself bailed out. They'd probably keep him overnight at any rate. Then he'd get to make a phone call. At least he wouldn't be spending the afternoon with Naruto. Suddenly, he thought about how Naruto was going to be sitting around waiting for Sai, who wouldn't be showing up. He started to feel kind of bad about it. As much as he didn't want him to go anywhere with Sai, he knew it was going to be no fun being stood up. He wished he could turn around right now and go keep Naruto company himself. Bloody stupid meeting. Why was he going to this damn thing anyway?

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. Letting Fugaku move on ahead without him while he seriously considered that question. He really didn't 'have' to go at all. This was pointless He had no interest in it and he had no real intentions of making a life with this company. Naruto didn't think he should be letting his dad dictate his major career decisions and the blond was right. It was his right to choose his own path and he shouldn't be leading his father on if he wasn't going to follow through. All he had to do was speak his damn mind and he would be free to turn around and go back to Naruto right now, just like he wanted to.

Fugaku seemed to notice the lack of a second set of footsteps behind him and stopped. He turned around to see his son standing way back down the wall, frowning pensively. With a frown of his own, he walked swifted back to get him.

"Sasuke? What are you doing?" he asked gruffly when he reached him.

"I'm making a decision," said Sasuke. "Father, I won't be going to this meeting after all. I don't want to join the family business at all. I never really did." Fugaku stared openly in shock but Sasuke stood firm and calmly stared back.

"What? Sasuke! What's brought this on?!"

"Nothing," he answered with a shake of his head. "Nothing has 'brought it on'. I've always felt this way."

"We don't have time for this Son."

"No, 'you' don't have time for this. I won't be going to the meeting. You'd better be off now or you'll be late." Fugaku sputtered for a moment but then looked at his watch and came to the conclusion that this conversation would have to wait.

"Later tonight Sasuke, you and I are going to have a serious discussion," he said sternly. Sasuke nodded and watched as he turned around and quickly made his way back up the hallway and disappeared around the corner. Then a smile began to claim the younger Uchiha's face. He stood there alone for a few minutes more, just absorbing what had happened and finally, he turned on his heel and went back the way he had come, to see if Naruto was still out by the pool.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sasuke! What are you doing back here?" asked Naruto, when Sasuke stepped out the back door. "Did you forget something?"

"I'm not going." Sasuke smiled the brightest smile that Naruto had seen from him yet. "You were right. I took your advice and I told him that I didn't want to go, that I didn't want to work for the company." Naruto grinned happily.

"Really? Wow Sasuke, that's great! What happened? Did he take it ok?"

"Well, I guess he seemed shocked really, but he didn't have time to deal with it right then. He still had to get to the meeting."

"And how do you feel?" Naruto asked, looking sort of anxious. Sasuke laughed and suddenly threw his arms around the blond, scooping him up off the ground in a fierce hug.

"I feel GREAT!" Naruto gave a startled laugh and hugged him back.

A little while later they were both in sitting at the edge of the pool in their swimsuits with their feet dangling in the water, swishing gently back and forth. Naruto's hand came to rest on Sasuke's and he gave a smile when the other looked over.

"I'm so glad for you Sasuke," he said cheerfully.

"You were so right. I have to admit it. Even though I'm not exactly looking forward to talking to my father tonight, I already feel relieved, just having said something."

"That's good to hear. I'm still ready to help, you know. Don't hesitate."

"Thank you Naruto," Sasuke murmured. "I honestly appreciate that... In fact, I've been thinking about it and I want to help you too." Naruto's brows rose and he cocked his head curiously. "What do you say to the two of us taking a little trip to Moon Country?" Sasuke finished. Naruto gasped, his eyes lighting up.

"Oh my God! Really?!! Oh Sasuke! I can't believe it. That would be so amazing!" He jumped at the Uchiha squeezing him tight and Sasuke's eyes glazed over a bit at the feeling of Naruto's bare torso pressed against his. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!"

"It's not a problem Naruto," he assured. "In fact, I think it'll be fun. Besides your convention thing, Moon Country is quite the tourist spot. There are all sorts of other things we could do too. We can make a real trip of it." Naruto was grinning so wide it looked like his face might crack and Sasuke felt a warm pleasant feeling swelling inside him at the sight.

"Oh my God! I have to get ready!" the blond gasped, suddenly thinking of all the things that needed to be done before they could go. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking it over, laughing and making plans. When supper time rolled around and they had to part ways to get dressed, Naruto suddenly stopped and frowned in realization.

"I wonder what the heck happened to Sai." Sasuke almost choked at the instant reminder, but he held it back valiantly and gave a shrug and an innocently clueless look. Naruto frowned again and hummed in thought as he stepped into the pool-house. Sasuke bit his lip until he got inside and halfway to his room before bursting into laughter.



(A/N; Well, I guess that's all for the moment my lovely readers. I will be finishing up this story fairly quickly though. I really want to get it out of the way. The truth is, my interest for it has wavered often since around chapter 5. I can't stand the idea of leaving it unfinished though. Especially when I already knew how I wanted it to end. It would have been a waste and I hate disappointing people. There's only a few more chapter to go now and my enthusiasm is returning so fear not!)