Hello! Though this is not my first time writing for the Naruto fandom, it's the first one I post something outside my Tumblr. This summer, I decided to participate in the SasuSaku Month organised there and though my first idea was to write a series of unrelated one-shots, my inspiration had very different plans and turned half of the prompts into a multi-chaptered story. This is the revised version and since it's already written, updates will be every two weeks (on Sunday), so I have time to edit every chapter thoroughly (I have a quite busy working schedule). I hope that you like it ^^

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Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi, I only take them to play with them in my imagination.

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Day 1: #First Love

CHAPTER 1: PROSPECTIVE PARTNERS (SASUKE)

Tired after a long day of meetings, Uchiha Sasuke, President of the Uchiha Corporation threw his briefcase onto the enormous desk of his office and sighed, pulling at his tie while plopping down unceremoniously on his chair. He closed his lids and pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing. His head was throbbing uncomfortably, prelude of a massive headache.

"Gosh, why had all those old men had to waste two hours on arguing about that small detail on the contract? We could be home already..." Naruto, Manager of the Human Resources Department of his company, grumbled as he closed the door behind him. "And today I had planned to take Hinata-chan out for our anniversary..."

Sasuke opened an eye and looked at his friend, his black pupil lighting with concern.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have given you the day off..."

"And leave you on your own with those oldsters? You'd still be there, listening to their endless rantings. Anyway, I changed the reservation to tomorrow evening and I called her at lunchtime..."

"My family would be delighted if they heard you call them 'oldsters'" a small sarcastic smile appeared on Sasuke's lips. "Especially my father."

"Well," Naruto dropped himself onto the leather sofa across the room and crossed his ankles on top of the armrest. "I call them old geezers when I'm at home" he stretched with a grunt. "They're all over sixty, except for your dad and your brother, and they argue over the pettiest things-"

A knock on the door interrupted his rambling and he turned his head curiously to the door as Sasuke gave permission to enter to whoever was behind it. A very elegant lovely woman with long blonde hair tied in a high ponytail and blue eyes, dressed in a dark purple suit and a white blouse, went into the office and, after an amused glance on his way, walked straight to the desk from across which her boss was frowning at her.

"This is the mail that arrived during the afternoon" she said leaving a large amount of opened envelopes on the table in three neat stacks. "And this is the data for tomorrow morning's meeting that you asked for."

Sasuke sighed again before pushing himself into a straight posture.

"Thank you, Ino" he glanced behind her, to the door, puzzled at not seeing his personal assistant trailing after his secretary. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"He is on the phone. They called from Iwagakure Bank asking if the lunch meeting on Wednesday could be delayed. The President has some problems with his back and the doctor advised him to rest for at least five days because of his age."

He nodded, opening the binder Ino had given him and taking a look inside.

"That old man should retire" commented Naruto. "He had one of his attacks of sciatica during a meeting in the bank and he couldn't move for an hour."

Sasuke made a neutral sound, not bothering to look at them. Though Naruto was right, he liked the proud headstrong elder and enjoyed their meetings. The day Onoki retired, the business world would be a little bit duller.

"Oh" Ino exclaimed taking a thin envelope from under her arm and tending it to him with a knowing smile. "This is from your mother. Her secretary delivered it before they both left for Congressman Sarutobi charity party."

She tried to hide her amusement when Sasuke's face turned a few shades paler and one of his thin brows twitched, but Naruto's outburst of laughter made it impossible.

He lifted the binder a bit more towards his face and feigned a deep interest in the information that had suddenly turned blurry.

"How many omiai photos has your mum already sent you?" Naruto said gasping for air between guffaws. "She must be really desperate to marry you away."

"She's not 'marrying me away', idiot" he grumbled from behind the documents.

But he had to admit that it was becoming a bit of an obsession for his family to match him with an appropriate woman. He had never shown a special interest in the opposite sex but not for whatever weird reason they seemed to have in mind, for he had had a few relationships if he could call them that. However, they had not lasted, since he had his priorities very clear and girls were not among them, which lead to one of the two getting tired of the other. He had always been too busy with private classes and trying not to fall behind his brother's achievements, as he was not as brilliant as Itachi and had to make an extra effort to follow his lead without failing. Being part of an elite family and helping to manage an enterprise were not as easy as people thought. Even though he was not the heir, many sights were fixed on him, judging every decision, waiting for a wrong move, hoping for him and the Uchiha Corporation to fall from their power position to replace them. And he could not afford that.

He lifted his gaze to see that Ino's expression had turned into one of understanding.

"I'll leave it here" she said putting the brown envelope next to the laptop on his desk. "If you don't need anything else, President..." Sasuke shook his head and she bowed towards them, turning and going out of the office, closing the door again.

The room became silent for a few minutes, the only sound was the turning of the pages as Sasuke read and analysed the documents. Finally, with a sigh, Naruto stood up and walked to him.

"Look, sorry I laughed..." his friend did not react at the beginning, and he changed the weight of his body from one foot to the other. "It's just that... it looks ridiculous that your parents have to do this when you're one of the most sought bachelors in our social circle and, well, you can choose anyone whenever you want."

"The problem for the clan, more than for them, is that I'm not interested in choosing at the moment. I'm just twenty-four and I have too many things in my mind now to add one more to the pile. I don't need another annoying woman nagging at me for not having time to take her to expensive restaurants or luxury cruises. I had enough for a lifetime with the last two."

"Not all of them are like that..." Naruto furrowed his brow, crossing his arms across his chest, not really understanding his friend's reasoning.

"Not all of us are lucky enough to find someone like Hinata-san" Sasuke retorted finally leaving the binder on the table and looking at him in the eye.

"I'm not saying that..." he pouted in response. "Then, why don't you tell them to stop? Tell them what you've just said to me and probably they will leave you alone for a few months... or weeks..."

"I've already tried, to no avail. Itachi is already married and the elders have decided that now it's my turn. And since I'm not complying with their wishes, they're pressuring my mother too, so, I just please them making them believe that I read the personal information and considered every woman carefully and then, I invent something that makes her unsuitable for the Uchiha clan."

"You're not going to solve the problem like that."

"I know," he shrugged lightly. "But it works for now, so..."

"Still... well, aren't you curious?" Naruto said glancing at the envelope with a slow smirk drawing across his lips. "What if one of them is the woman of your dreams?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and, taking a pen from one of his drawers to make a note on something that had caught his attention, buried his nose once again in the papers.

"No, I'm not. And I doubt it" he glanced at his best friend briefly, reading in his features his impatience. "Open it if you want."

Naruto took the envelope eagerly and cut the string that closed it but just as he was lifting the cover of the small folder that contained the photos, he stopped himself. He could not do it. It was something meant for Sasuke and he had to be the one to open it. He put it on the papers and Sasuke glared at him.

"Do it quickly and you won't have to lie to them this time. Think of it as a good deed to redeem your soul of all those fibs."

He sighed exasperated and silently observed his friend, who had taken a stance that told him he was decided to get his way.

He eyed the thin white folder and after a few seconds, he lifted the lid with the pen cautiously, as if he expected a dangerous animal to throw itself at his throat.

A lovely young woman smiled at him from one of the photographs, a close-up. She had long pink hair tied in what seemed a sophisticated hairstyle and big bright green eyes that brought him a feeling of familiarity and warmth, waking something inside him, long forgotten.

In the second picture, a full-length one, she was clad in a black furisode embroidered with the crests of her family and different types of flowers and leaves, and a golden obi was tied around her waist.

"Haruno Sakura" Naruto had picked up her personal history and started reading out loud. "Wow, she's the only granddaughter of the current chairwoman of Haruno Private Hospital... And her father founded one of the most prestigious medical research laboratories of the country" he whistled as he scanned her personal details. "A proper high-class girl."

But Sasuke was not really interested in her date of birth or her blood type and blocked his friend's voice. His mind was too busy trying to solve the question nagging at the back of his mind. Where had he seen her before?

"Her hobbies are reading, doing exercise and karuta games, especially Ogura Hyakunin Isshu."

And suddenly, it dawned on him.

She reminded him of the little girl he had met in kindergarten after his father had been appointed as the new heir of the Corporation after the death of his older brother and the family had had to move to the main house. She had been like a ray of sunshine among the fast changes in his life. The sudden pressure of being watched and judged by the smallest thing had been too much for his five-year-old self, and his solely moments of happiness had been when sharing his games and lessons with her. It had lasted only a few months, since they went different ways after entering primary school, but for him, it had always been a fond memory. Itachi had laughed merrily when he had known, saying that she had been his first love.

"She's studying medicine at Todai..." Naruto lifted his head, furrowing his brows. "I think she might be too good for you..."

He leant back in his chair a bit, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his crossed fingers, taking on a thoughtful expression.

"Maybe..."

That forgotten memory had awoken his curiosity. He did not know if she was the same girl, he had forgotten her name long ago, and he was not one to trust in coincidences. But she seemed nice and intelligent, and it would not harm him to meet her at least once. On the contrary, that could bring some good things: peace of mind to his parents, a stop to the harassement about his marriage from the rest of the family, an end to Naruto's jokes and Ino's amused looks and some time off in his hectic routine of meetings, contracts, data and 'oldsters'. He smiled lightly, looking at the portrait again. He only hoped Haruno Sakura was worth the effort.

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GLOSSARY:

-karuta: Japanese card games. There are different types but probably some of you have heard of the most popular one of them: Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred People, One Poem), a game in which 100 poems are written on two sets of cards. Someone reads the beginning and the players have to find the second part before anybody else does to complete a poem and recite it (Chihayafuru anyone?)