Summary: Sometimes it's not a lack of understanding that's the problem - it's when the other person understands far too much.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto character. In fact, most likely my favorite one won't even make it in this story *sigh* have fun in Hong Kong Itachi!!!

Warnings: YAOI, boyxboy, lemon in future chappie(s?), language per usual, smutty!Deidara

A/N: Ok, so I totally meant this to be a PWP oneshot. Alas, plot decided to jump in, especially when Sasuke deided to drag things out rather than just taking what he wanted. Stupid sadistic Uchiha. It'll get there though!

Oh yeah, and reviews make mouths happy ^_^

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Sasuke frowned as he looked down at his last appointment of the day. It was a meeting to finalize the details of the contract for one of their newest international clients. The client was a fashion designer who called herself Sakura. She was quite successful in America, and evidently Itachi's... friend Deidara had fallen in love with her creations on one of his trips over, and Itachi was tired of him being gone every few weeks just so he could experience first-hand the wonder of the Sakura brand. So Itachi had decided to bring the wonder to Japan.

Not that Sasuke could blame him. A happy boyfriend, he'd heard, was an appreciative boyfriend. And an unhappy boyfriend was one who left. Sasuke knew that one personally. His last boyfriend Haku had broken up with him just a few months ago, saying that Sasuke was too cold and traditional and never spent any time on their relationship. He could have salvaged things, he supposed, but the truth was he didn't want to change who he was – and in the end, he hadn't cared enough. He knew it was supposed to hurt more, but he'd felt a strange sense of relief when he heard that Haku had taken up with another man. Like a responsibility had lifted.

The Sakura brand was a good investment, as well. Say what you want about Deidara's behavior, the man had excellent fashion sense. He reviewed the meeting details. It seemed that Sakura would be providing their own translator. He understood English fairly well, but hated having to speak it in negotiations, because his grasp of vocabulary and pronunciation wasn't quite perfect. Besides, it was his habit to not let people know he understood them even if they spoke it. It was handy during negotiations sometimes. Not that he expected anything shady in this business deal. Sakura had a reputation for integrity and a business savvy that was unusual in that type of person. He saw the translator would be Sakura's assistant, one Uzumaki Naruto.

He glanced at the clock. There was still an hour until the meeting, and he knew his assistant Neji would make sure he didn't miss it. He turned towards his window and glanced at the view of the city below before turning back to his work. An hour was plenty of time to get some things done.

. . .

"Wow, Sakura Sakura look!"

The pink-haired woman sighed and looked over at her best friend indulgently. He was peering out the limo window, hand splayed out against the glass. Already, his shirt was untucked from his pants and the tie was undone. She was glad she'd saved the jacket from ruin by insisting he wait until they got to the meeting to put it on. Honestly, Naruto was like a little kid sometimes. Well, scratch that. All the time. Until it came time to get down to business.

He was an absolute charmer with their clients, and some of the photographers that worked with them had been known to beg him to let them shoot him. His unusual mix of Caucasian and Japanese features and coloring did make for good photographs, she knew – she was the only one he modeled for, though. He played it up when the role demanded, but he was always leery of the strange fanclub he attracted. In reality, Naruto was a very private person. He might have the looks, but for most people, it was all look and no touch. She couldn't remember the last time he'd been on a date with anyone, much less in a relationship.

Personally, she thought it was because no one knew how to approach him. He seemed to have an amazing bullshit detector. And granted, she wouldn't want anyone to just seduce him and throw him away, or do anything else to hurt him. Naruto deserved to be treated right. She did sort-of wish that he'd find someone special, though. Even though they spent a lot of time together, she knew he was lonely. Of course, she knew the feeling.

She looked out the window, letting the incessant prattling of the blond soothe her with its normalcy. Inside, she was just as excited as he was. Her eyes darted over the bright lights of the signs as they drove by them, and tried to catch the different outfits people wore. She loved all the crazy colors and shapes and expressions of creativity that were on display. Her fingers itched to grab a pencil and paper and sketch out new designs. She'd have to run around with her camera sometime during their trip to capture all the inspiration.

It was amazing to finally be in Tokyo. She and Naruto had been planning to come here every since junior high when they'd met. They both had Japanese-American backgrounds, though Sakura was adopted and didn't know much about her heritage. Naruto lived with his grandfather, a crazy old coot who insisted that Naruto speak Japanese at home and learn about the traditions of his people. Of course, sometimes those traditions leaned on the odd side, but the man himself was odd. The first Japanese words Sakura had learned on going over to Naruto's house were "echhi!" and "hentai!" when the blond yelled at his grandfather for something he said when she came in the door.

She smiled at the memory. They'd certainly come a long way since then.

. . .

Naruto could sense Sakura's exasperation as she fixed his tie and straightened his jacket. He grinned at her wickedly, knowing she couldn't really resist the awesomeness that was Uzumaki Naruto. It felt really cool to be in a place where people said his name that way. He'd wanted to come to Japan every since he was little. He was excited to be going to their first business meeting. All the previous business had been done in America or through go-betweens, but now they were here for the real deal. This meeting today was with one of the vice presidents of the Uchiha Corporation, the brother of their president. Of course, he'd knew Deidara – who was absolutely crazy, and rumored to be involved with the president – but now he was going to meet one of the real Uchihas. It was slightly intimidating.

He clutched his business case carefully. He'd tried researching all about customs expected. He'd designed meishi – the business cards used in Japan – for both of them. Sakura's were hot pink on the front side with their company logo – a Sakura flower imposed over a swirl – overlapping one edge, and her name and title and contact info in Japanese next to the logo in black. On the back, the design mirrored the front, except it was in english with hot pink on black. His was similar, but with a bright blue that Sakura said matched his eyes. He'd wanted orange, but even he had to agree that orange and black was a bit too much like Halloween.

He hated having to wear a formal suit – but Sakura had said that if she had to wear a conservative dress suit, with a skirt and low heels, that he should be more than happy to just have to wear a suit. He'd offered to switch with her, but her reaction had not been pretty. He really regretted allowing Jiraya to teach her Japanese cuss words. He supposed he should be happy that none of the people on their floor of the corporate offices spoke Japanese, though he was pretty sure at least some of the computer guys know what "baka" meant – and that was one of the milder things he'd been called. Sakura in a temper was scary.

Naruto was grinning at something that Sakura said and thinking of a reply when they were shown into their meeting room. He turned when they were both inside, ready to open his business case to get the cards out, and found himself stunned into silence.

Hyuuga Neji, the man who had brought them to the meeting room, had been hot – long straight brown hair, the palest eyes Naruto had ever seen, and a pretty, almost effeminate face. But the man sitting at the back of the room, furthest away from them – he was gorgeous. Perfect bone structure. Pale skin. Hair so black it was almost blue, and in a hairstyle he never would have expected from a top executive. And his eyes – so black, all he wanted to do was get closer to see how they could be so black and still be real.

The raven's face was expressionless, not revealing anything as he looked them over. But those eyes were intense as all get out. He hadn't felt this gawky around another guy since – well, he couldn't remember how long.

Sakura made the slightest noise at the back of her throat, and looked at him oddly. After watching his gaze, she raised an eyebrow at him, and smirked, just barely, so that their hosts couldn't see. It seemed to take forever, but really it was only a couple of seconds. Only Sakura realized how his normal rhythm had been broken. And knowing how she'd been bugging him to expand his social life – to which he always replied that there wasn't anyone he was interested in expanding it with – there would probably be hell to pay.

They all exchanged business cards. Naruto sat opposite Neji, allowing Sakura to sit directly across from the Uchiha. Sasuke. That was his name. Uchiha Sasuke. Vice President of Uchiha Corp, and total sex god on legs. Naruto was glad that silence was a normal part of conversation in Japan. Oh well, all he had to do this meeting was translate, right? They had most of the major things already worked out.

But of course, Sakura couldn't make things that easy, especially when she was pretty sure that they were the only two in the room that spoke any English. Oh no, not easy at all.

. . .

Sasuke was pleased with how the meeting had started. The woman comported herself with dignity, and seemed to be honestly trying to respect their customs, even if she couldn't speak Japanese herself. Her assistant Naruto was rather a surprise. Sasuke had heard from Deidara that the man had unusual looks, and he hadn't been exaggerating. Idly, Sasuke wondered if he dyed his hair that brilliant shade of blond. He had the most amazing blue eyes, as well. The scars on his cheeks were unusual – he wondered at the story behind that – but his body looked absolutely delicious. Even if the negotiations turned out to be tedious, at least he'd have some eye candy.

The negotiations started out well. Sakura knew her stuff, evidently, and from what he could tell Naruto was a competent translator. As the questions wore on, he saw how Naruto would take Sakura's responses and make sure that they met the Japanese standards for etiquette – maybe the man was more than just a pretty face.

About halfway through the meeting, Sakura slipped in a comment at the end of her response that he didn't quite catch. He did notice that Naruto didn't translate it, however. And then, when Naruto was translating Sasuke's response, he noticed that the blond tacked something extra onto it as well. His tone of voice didn't change, but Sasuke was rather curious why one would be making death threats to ones superior in a business meeting.

. . .

"Tell him that we'll be able to ship product to the ready-to-wear store starting in March, earlier than we planned. And I really think you should reconsider. I haven't seen you be that flustered by a guy since Sai pulled that whole striptease act."

Naruto told himself that once this meeting was over, he was seriously going to give her a piece of his mind. She knew he wasn't going to blow up in the middle of the meeting. And she knew he just had to keep translating. So he did just that, waiting on that sinfully deep voice to come back with an answer.

"He says that would be much appreciated on their part, and asked if we expected to be able to meet the proposed number of new designs per year. And that was only because I was drunk and you know it. Besides he looks nothing like Sai."

"Tell him that I'm finding Tokyo to be very inspirational, and that we have a staff of other great designers who are working with us to provide variety. And I think he looks very much like Sai, actually. Not quite so girly. If I wasn't taken I might try it out for myself. But you're the one who really needs a good lay anyways."

Naruto cursed the warmth going to his cheeks, and chanced a look at the raven to see if he was responding to any of their extra conversation. Really, this was terribly inappropriate, on so many levels. Sakura really needed to stop being able to say the most damnable things in that light, girly tone of voice that made you think she was sweet and innocent.

. . .

Sasuke was an Uchiha. Uchihas never reveal anything on their face but what they want to reveal. So of course, when the blond turned to check him out, he was completely composed. He hadn't reacted to any of the odd little tidbits of information the two Americans were shuffling into the conversation. He was watching Naruto's reactions though. The pink of the blush was just barely there, but it made Sasuke very curious as to how hard the blond would blush if given proper motivation. And how far down that delectable body the blush would spread.

As the conversation went on, Sasuke had to struggle to hold back a smirk. After a while, he stopped paying attention to most of the negotiations – after all, most everything had been worked out already, and Neji could make sure he didn't miss anything important – and started thinking about how he could turn this situation to his advantage. Itachi might yell at him for fucking the client, but hey – Itachi was pushing this through so he could be laid more often by a hot blond, he shouldn't really complain if Sasuke wanted to do the same. And who knows, it might help cement the relationship further. If the woman's lewd comments were anything to go by, she wouldn't be outraged – hell, she might actually encourage it. It seemed that his little blond hottie was going through quite the dry spell.

When the meeting was over and gifts exchanged, they all went up to the top floor with the executive offices. Deidara had plans for a night out on the town with the two Americans. Itachi wouldn't be able to go because he was in Hong Kong that week. Deidara had invited Sasuke, but he hadn't been sure he'd want to go out on the town – normally, Deidara was a bit much for him to handle on his own. Lord knows the long-haired blond must be an amazing fuck, because Itachi put up with some crazy stuff from that guy. But they seemed to both be happy.

After meeting Naruto this afternoon, Sasuke was most definitely going out on the town with them – if only so he could figure out some way of dragging this Naruto back to his place so that he could have his way with him. He wondered, absently, if the blond could dance.

. . .

"Deidara-chan!"

"Naruto-chan!"

Sakura had to hold back a smirk at the look on the Uchiha's face as the two blonds glomped onto each other. Naruto might be acting skittish, but she had a woman's intuition. She could tell that the younger raven was anything but disinterested in her friend. Though it looked like he was starting to have second thoughts about what he was getting himself into.

Well, if he couldn't handle Naruto being Naruto, then he didn't deserve to have the blond in the first place.

She was glad they were going to get to go out and be less formal. That meeting had been rather stiff for her. She would agree it was necessary – though she was fairly certain that, had anything not gone well, she could have Deidara smooth it over – but it was still boooring. At least she had some cool business cards out of the deal, though. She loved Naruto's odd bits of creativity.

'Where do you want to go to dinner, gaki?"

"Ramen, ramen! Hey wait, I am not a kid!"

She blinked as she saw the Uchiha smirking at their conversation. He didn't understand English, did he? Eh, this could be bad. Very very bad. She pulled Deidara aside before they got to the elevator. "You two go ahead! I need to ask Deidara-san about something, we'll take the next car!" Yeah, not suspicious at all. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

The Uchiha was totally expressionless. Naruto had a slight look of panic on his face. But Naruto could handle himself in any social situation, right? Granted, she'd never seen how he acted around a crush – but she was sure he would be ok. She waited until the elevator doors closed then looked at the long-haired blond next to her.

"Deidara, I have a blunt question to ask you."

"When are you ever not blunt, Miss Cherry-lips?"

"Baka. But um, is your friend Sasuke, um…" she swung her hips a bit, hoping to get the message across.

Deidara smirked. "Batting for my team?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Why, are you looking to take a shot at him?"

Sakura stuck her tongue out. "You know the answer to that. But he seemed to catch the eye of our little friend."

"Hmm." Deidara snorted. "Naruto-chan and Sasuke-kun? Now there's a yummy image."

"Hentai! He's almost your little brother-in-law!"

"Heh, you really don't want to know what goes on in my head, yeah. I mean, did you see the man? Granted, Itachi is much hotter, but still, a man can look, can't he?"

Sakura blinked, and wondered how in the world she got herself into these things. And how Itachi put up with it. From what Deidara had told her, he was even more perverted than the long-haired blond (which would have been hard to believe, if she and Naruto hadn't spent their youth being corrupted by a certain dirty old man's naughty book collection – she knew there was worse out there), but still, she figured he'd draw the line at his lover fantasizing about his younger brother. Probably.

"And Naruto, I mean, he's just – eh, yeah, never mind, never mind." Deidara backed away from the glare in the woman's eyes. "Anyway! Yes, Sasuke is definitely someone who swings this way. As to whether he'd go for Naru-chan, well, he's never gone after blonds before, but…" Deidara tapped a finger against his lips. "That could work out very interestingly. Now, it's too bad I haven't installed a hidden camera in Sasuke-kun's apartment – ow!"

Deidara pouted at the pink-haired woman, who was resolutely turned away from him and was jabbing her finger at the elevator button. The blond was just thankful it wasn't his arm.

"Yeah, but if something happens, will Sasuke treat him right?" Sakura threw back over her shoulder.

"Mmmm, well, if what you're getting at is, I mean Sasuke is definitely not the love em' and leave em' type, but meh," he shrugged, "He's kind of a broody bastard, yeah. I make no promises regarding his social skills."

The doors dinged, and they stepped inside the empty car.

"Well, I just hope things go well. I guess they're two adults, but I always worry about Naruto," Sakura said as the doors slid shut.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, yeah." The blond was silent for a few moments, watching as they descended through the floors. "I would say that Sasuke would finally get that stick out of his ass, but something tells me it's not his ass on the line tonight."

"Deidara!"

"Oh come on. Have you seen Naru-chan?"

"Well yeah, but!"

"I rest my case."

. . .

Sasuke had to pick something up on the third floor, so he told Naruto he would catch up with them at the car. Naruto was silent the whole ride down. He still felt terribly nervous from what all had gone on in the meeting. Aside from that, somehow he had gotten stuck standing near the doors of the elevator, and Sasuke was leaning against the back wall. What if he was checking him out?

Ok, Naruto, deep breaths, deep breaths. You can handle this.

When the doors dinged open, Naruto opened his eyes in relief. Before he could take a step forward though, a deep rich voice way too close to his ear said, "Excuse me."

Naruto automatically moved out of the way, feeling the warmth of the other man as he brushed close to him. He watched as the certain dark-haired man stepped past him out of the elevator, admiring the view until the doors slid closed. Then the thought hit him.

That had been in English, hadn't it? What the hell?