Friends & Family von dragonfighter (The Clumsy & The Lonely) ================================================================================ Kapitel 10: Step 10 - Work -------------------------- Work is a basic part of a marriage. In the past, it was usual for the women to take care of the household and children at home, while the men did the working part. But now it isn’t anything special anymore if both spouses earn money themselves. For a couple, this exercise of the profession can be a tough test. If both work in different companies, there should be almost no problems, except maybe the combination of working hours. A bigger problem can be if the spouses work together in the same company. They constantly meet and then spend the evening together and sit together all the time.   It is shortly before half past seven in the morning. The sun is already shining down on the city, only a pleasant and cool breeze providing a bit of freshness and cooling to the civilians. It is accepted by everyone with a smile on their lips, especially in the crowded streets and on the highways where the morning traffic jam is already showing its signs. Few people are lucky enough to be able to stay at home or have already reached their destination.   The youngest Uchiha yawns somewhat tired as he drives through the underground garage of the Uchiha corporation to get to his parking lot. As usual, most of the parking spaces are still empty, just as Itachi’s and his father’s are as well. When he heads for his reserved parking space, he notices that another parking space next to his has been marked as reserved. Puzzled he looks at the identification plate with the numbers on it, which is the only one that can stand on this place from now on, before he shrugs his shoulders and takes his bag out of the car. In the meantime a new month has come and they have been writing the month of July since midnight. He has been married for a little over four weeks now. In the meantime, his wife has already completed her studies and will soon dive into the world of work as well. He doesn’t know whether this fact will change anything about their arrangement, but so far they get along quite well with their way of living together.   With a sigh he runs his fingers through his hair and finally leaves the elevator to walk down the long corridor and get to his office. "Good morning." It comes from his secretary, as one of the few firsts before him, sitting in her office behind her desk while looking up from the documents in her hands. "Good morning Ayame." Sasuke replies still a little tiredly and then goes to his office, where he puts his bag on his armchair and then turns to his panoramic window before opening the windows on the side and lets the still cool but fresh air into his office. He smiles lightly and then unpacks his documents and tablet while the computer starts. With relish he leans on the ledge of the windows with his forearms and lets the fresh breeze blow through his hair.   There is a knock on the door, ending the silence of the peaceful moment. "Yes?" He says, knowing that it is Ayame who is already standing in the open door. Out of courtesy, he turns to her. She is smiling in the doorway, holding a small tray with a glass of water and a cup on it. "Thanks Ayame.” He says with a smile at her as she sets the tray down on his desk. He looks briefly at the lady. Even if she only looks like in her mid-30th, she is already 49 years old. In the past she has already worked as his father's secretary. Unlike now, in the past his father had been the sole boss, but had two secretaries. One secretary for the creative and one for the technological department, which had both done a lot of work. Now Itachi and Sasuke are the bosses in these areas and have his father's secretaries as their support. A smile steals on the Uchiha's lips. Despite the fact that his father always worked long and hard and also had two secretaries. She never accused him of anything, not that he did not spend enough time with her and the family, nor that he had an affair or anything. She simply trusted and even supported him.   Slightly smiling he shakes his head and takes one last look out of the window before he sits down at his desk and checks his mails while he sips his cup of coffee. There is another short knock on the open door and Ayame enters the office again. He immediately turns his full attention to her, because now, like every morning, she will read out his appointments for the day. Like this she gives him an overview of the day and he can think of a way of how he can divide his work the best, so that he doesn't have to stop in the middle of things. “Now, just after 8:00 am the new designer will arrive, who was hired by your father. At 10:00 am you will have a meeting with your brother. At 11:00 am a meeting with the marketing department. At 2:30 pm you have an appointment with a client and at 4:00 pm another conference call.” The brunette woman reads out the daily schedule. A silent sigh comes over his lips. "Oh, yeah, the new designer. Why does she only come after 8 am?” Sasuke explores and supports his chin on his palm. "Your father brings her personally." Ayame answers with a smile, watching the black haired man nod in understanding and then leans back in his armchair. "What do you know about this designer?" He asks, looking at the ceiling. "Well, she is 23 years old, has just completed her master's in industrial design at the most prestigious private university, the Tokyo University of Business and International Affairs and has recently been married. Her husband works all day and she doesn't understand why.“ The secretary tells him with a smile. "Thank you, Ayame." Sasuke says. The brunette woman immediately leaves the office leaving him alone. He sighs softly. A new designer who was hired by his father, which means that he has no idea about her skills and qualifications, does not know who she is and cannot really evaluate her. She is probably some spoiled daughter of one of his fathers friends. Now the fourth reserved parking space in the underground garage has gotten a reasonable explanation. As a daughter of a friend, of course, she has certain privileges and such. Annoyed he rubs his hair. And then he will have to deal with her, as if he hadn’t enough to deal with already anyways!   The black haired man rises from his armchair and turns towards the open window through which he looks at the Tokyo skyline. He thinks briefly, the Tokyo University of Business and International Affairs, this means that she must be a fellow student of Sakura and had been at the graduation ceremony two weeks ago. He doesn't like the fact that in addition to Karin, he has to deal with a spoiled brat too now. A small grin steals on his face though. He knows that Karin comes earlier every morning than everyone else, only to get the free parking space next to his. He would love to see the face of the redhead when she sees that the parking space she occupied is no longer available for her. This woman just goes tremendously on his nerves, but to his displeasure she is really talented in drawing and that’s why he can’t just kick her out of the company. At least not without a reasonable reason.   Sasuke sighs and then turns to his table, from which he takes the stack of documents, that he worked through the previous evening, to divide them in the filing cabinet. The filing in general is actually only a kind of "department system". Each department has its own filing basket, in which it places the revised documents and Ayame then hands them over to the departments. When he has finished dividing the edited folders, he returns to his desk. Since the new employee is going to arrive in the next few minutes, he doesn’t need to start on anything new and therefore devotes himself to his mails.   It is generally the case that when a new employee begins with their first day, that they come to his office and they have a short conversation before Sasuke personally accompanies the new worker to his department, introduces them to their superiors and key employees and shows them their office. The division into the offices is done by his secretary, he only assigns any superiors or groups. The whole procedure usually takes between half an hour and an hour. Actually, all of this could also be done by the deputy, but his father used to do it this way and he thought the idea was pretty good and so he adopted it. Besides like this he has a bit of a change from office work and he can talk to the employees into contact and build up a certain basis for the new employees.   With another sigh, the youngest Uchiha finally rises to stand at the open window with his tablet in hand and feel the breeze while quickly answering or sorting out any mails. He briefly lets his gaze wander out of the window, stopping and staring at the distant park, which stands out with its green plants from its less natural surroundings. ~> * <~   The pinkette stands in front of her mirror in her guest room, alternately holding two tops to her torso. Shortly after Sasuke left the house at 7:00 am, she also dared her way out of her room, had breakfast and prepared everything, so that she only had to decide on one of the two outfits which she had prepared the day before. With a sigh she then holds the tops in front of her and examines them again in detail. "Today I'm in a good mood and want to shine." Sakura says to herself and decides on the green one. She carefully puts it with the matching trousers and blazer before putting the other items of clothing back into the closet. Humming to the music from the radio, the green eyed woman puts on her deodorant and then slips into the green skinny jeans, which immediately hugs her legs and makes them look longer. She gently pulls the top over her newly made curls, which she pulls out from under the fabric.   A quick look at the watch makes her sigh. With the blazer in hand, she turns off the radio and then leaves her room to return to the kitchen. With a slight smile, she took the last strawberry on her plate and lets it disappear in her mouth before she puts her plate in the sink. Stowing her smartphone into her handbag, which is already set up next to her application folder, she slips into her beige blazer and tucks the folder under her arm, with whose hand she carries the handbag. When walking past the dresser in the hall, the young Haruno takes her car keys, quickly slips into her beige pumps with a silk flower on the outside at ankle height and leaves the house.   The sun shines warmly towards her, illuminating the surroundings and warming the air for the hot afternoon. Sakura immediately looks for her sunglasses in her handbag and stows the house keys in their place. A small smile lays on her lips as she turns and goes to the garage where her car is. The time of learning is now over for her. Now that she has completed her master, it is time for her to dive into the world of work. She no longer has school holidays, from now on she only has vacations, which she more or less has to work for from now on. Sleeping late in the morning is now only possible on weekends. The Haruno sighs slightly as she opens her car door and drops into the driver's seat. She already misses the long sleep.   The handbag and folder are placed in the front passenger seat before the pinkette starts the engine and drives out of the garage and over the driveway. She closes the gate through remote control and waits that it is completely closed behind her car. Only then does she set the car in motion and drive to her future work place. A small grin lays on her lips when she decides to take a picture of her husband when she enters the office. After an almost 30-minute drive, she finally turns into the Uchiha Corporation and drives down into the underground parking lot. She smiles slightly when she recognizes her husband's car and immediately parks in the free parking lot on its right. As Fugaku has assured her, this parking space has been reserved for her and a sign with a identification plate shows that only her car can stand here. A small, happy grin lays on her lips before she pushes her sunglasses up her head, takes her prepared belongings and gets out of the car, which she locks while her legs are already carrying her to the elevator.   A smile shows up on her lips when the doors to the 58th floor opens and she sees Fugaku standing a few meters away from her talking to someone. She walks towards him with gallant steps. After just a few steps, he becomes aware of her and ends the conversation before smiling towards her. "Good morning Sakura, nice that you are here.” The Uchiha smiles at her and hugs her in a greeting manner. "Good morning Fugaku." she laughs softly. “Why did you take the folder with you?" He immediately asks. Sakura takes a quick look at the portfolio before smiling with a shrug. "This is my application folder. Just in case that Sasuke might want to take a look at it too." she explains to him and then follows him as he indicates towards the elevator with a wave of his hand. "It’s good that you gave it a thought. Did everything work out? With the car parking I mean.“ Her father-in-law continues, earning a nod in response. "Yes, everything was fine." The green eyed woman says as they leave the elevator with which they went to the top floor. "Nice. Uhm, you already know where you can find Naruto. And, oh yes, Itachi also wanted to visit you and welcome you to the company.” Fugaku reports as they walk down the long corridor to the boss's office of the creative department. The Haruno just nods and looks around the brightly lit hallway.   After a few minutes they arrive at the end of the hallway and the Uchiha knocks on the office door before he enters and holds the door open for her. Ayame greets them with a smile. "Good Morning. Mr. Uchiha is already waiting for you.” The woman explains to the Haruno and points to the door that is only held slightly open. "Well. Then I wish you a lot of fun.“ Fugaku wishes her with a smile on his lips. The pinkette laughs softly and then walks towards the door while she looks for her smartphone from her handbag to take a picture. Shortly but firmly she knocks on her husband's office door and turns on the camera. "Come in." Sakura hears the voice of her husband shortly afterwards and opens the door following the invitation. After entering the room, she closes the door behind her and heads for the desk. Her gaze falls on her husband, who stands in front of his open window with his tablet in hand, not having looked up at her yet.   He slowly approaches his desk and places the tablet on it before looking up only to get surprised by her. A light flashes at the Uchiha and makes him blink in confusion. "What are you doing?" He says in surprise. The pinkette looking at the smartphone screen with a smile. "This is a new development and is called photo shots." She explains cheekily as she sets the touch screen back into its lock screen and stows the device back into her handbag. "I mean what are you doing here?" He shakes his head and looks back at her. "I see. Well yeah. Standing around.“ She says and looks around briefly, grinning cheekily at him. He sighs and looks at her waiting. "I don't have time for that now, a new employee is coming." he explains after they have only looked each other in the eye for a moment. "Very well, Bossy, maybe I should come in again?“ She looks questioningly at him. "Don't call me that.” The black haired man grumbles in disapproval. "What should I call you otherwise? Boss? Chief?“ The pinkette still asking with a cheeky grin on her face. The youngest Uchiha sighs a bit annoyed, he really has no time to deal with his wife at the moment. "Your husband." the dark eyed suggests. "During work I would rather keep it a secret and would prefer to introduce ourselves as friends, don’t you think?" The Haruno suggests before shaking her head slightly. "But joke aside now, I don't want to steal your time, because otherwise you will only come back home way too late.” Now, completely confused, he looks at his wife. He silently looks at her in her outfit, with which she could easily start her first day at work. His eyes widen in surprise as he realizes what she is getting at. When he is about to open his mouth to say it, she already raises her voice. "I'm the new industrial designer which your father hired." She smiles slightly at him. Sasuke breathes deeply and then smiles slightly. "Why didn't you say that right away?" He asks, gesturing to sit down, which she does. The Haruno shrugs indifferently. "Well, since I have no idea how far your skills are developed and talented in drawing, I want you to bring me a drawing during the day. You can choose what you want to show on it, but it should show how detailed and true to scale you draw.“ He begins and she immediately holds out her application folder, which he declines with a wave of the hand and shaking his head. "You can give them to me tonight, when we are at home. Then I can also look at a few models if you have them.” The black haired man explains before he takes his smartphone and rises to his feet to close the windows.   "Then I'll take you to your office and introduce you to a few of your colleagues.” He says, smiling slightly as he points to the door with his hand. The pinkette nods and rises to leave the office with him. The Haruno smiles briefly at the secretary before leaving the office and Sasuke puts his hand on her waist to guide her around. He introduces her to the deputy and his deputy to his wife and shows her one of the break rooms, with a small kitchen and coffee machine.   "Good morning, Mr. Uchiha!" A high pitched female voice sounds from the side as if the person would like to scream. Confused, the pink haired woman looks around at the woman who is approaching them with quick steps. "Good morning, Kaseguchi." The black haired says with an annoyed undertone. The Haruno can barely suppress the grin, but cannot hide a smile. The redhead in front of them happily stretches her breasts in the low-cut top towards the Uchiha, but the Uchiha doesn't give it any attention and reacts rather negatively. "Kaseguchi, this is Haruno Sakura. Our new designer. She belongs to your group.” he finally introduces his wife before turning back to the pinkette in his arm. "Sakura, that's Kaseguchi Karin, you give her drafts and drawings and then she brings them to me." He explains to the green eyed woman, who doesn't miss the poisonous looks of the Kaseguchi, especially when she sees his arm around the waist of his wife. The Haruno nods briefly as a sign that she has understood and lets Sasuke lead her down a corridor and into a room.   The sun shines brightly against her as she enters the room and looks around briefly. "Good morning.” A young brunette in the room greets them when she sees the boss come in. "Good morning, Mrs. Hondo.” The Uchiha replies shortly before turning back to the Haruno. "So, this is your office. You’ll share it with Mrs. Hondo." he explains briefly and makes an extravagant movement. "Ms. Hondo, this is Haruno Sakura, our new designer." Sasuke introduces his wife as well as some others before. "Hello." Smiling, Sakura looks at her new colleague, who doesn't seem to be much older than herself. "Mrs. Hondo will be happy to help you if you should have any problems." Sasuke smiles lightly and looks at the brunette, who nods with a smile on her own lips. "Well, then I will go now and I will get a drawing of yours by the end of the day.” It comes with a small sigh from the Uchiha as Sakura puts her things on a table. The head of the creative departments then leaves the office to return to his own.   "Sasuke!", A hand clasped his arm as he was about to go from the corridor to the main hall. "Should I bring the drawing over to you now or give it to Karin?" The Haruno asks with a wry smile. "You bring me this drawing, you pass the other designs on to Kaseguchi. I wonder how long it will take before she comes to complain about you for the first time.” He grins towards her towards the end. She looks at him with a huff as he turns to go. "Idiot!" Sakura calls after her husband, who only turns and winks at her. She looks after him, her cheeks turning slightly red at his gesture, because the wink was the first she ever saw on him and she can’t deny that it looks extremely sexy on him. With a sigh, she turns and wants to return to her office when Karin is already on her heels and follows her into the office. "How dare you describe Mr. Uchiha, your boss, as an idiot and also dare to call him by his first name!?" The shrill voice of the redhead sounds again. "So, and who gave you the right to be all familiar with me?" The pink haired girl asks and looks bored at the Kaseguchi, before she continues to talk. “Well, it doesn't matter. I am a friend of the Uchiha family, Im not only calling Sasuke by his name, but also his parents and brother.” The redhead eyed the Haruno defiantly. "You don't have to act like this and throw yourself at him, because he already belongs to me." Karin roars and puts her hands on her hips. Sakura raises her eyebrow skeptically and looks at the woman in front of her, who clearly has the top too tight and the bra too small. Inwardly she rolls her eyes; she knows women like Karin well enough.   "You know that he is married, right?" The Haruno asks, but has no doubt that Karin already knows that, as she is surely collecting every single magazine that prints even the smallest picture of Sasuke. “That doesn't matter at all! According to the tests in the magazines, I'm the perfect woman for him!" The Kaseguchi raises her nose and smiles confidently. Now doubtful, the green eyed woman raises her eyebrow skeptically. "And you answered these questions truthfully?" She asks the question, which makes Karin snort and slightly flinch. With a throwaway hand movement, she shifts her weight to her right leg. Only now does the Haruno notice the bright red patent pumps on the feet of the redheads. "He and I have much more in common than him and his wife!" Karin smiles and flips her hair triumphantly. "Oh you mean, your job in this company?" The words come laughing over the Haruno’s lips. Attacked and angry, Karin stares at her. "That's enough! I'm going to complain to him about you for being so cheeky to me!” The Kaseguchi screeches while sharing her next steps with Sakura before she leaves the office completely enraged.   Sakura sighs softly before looking at her smart phone. "Wow, not even 5 minutes." Grinning, she lets the smartphone disappear in her pocket and looks around at the Hondo. Laughing, the young Hondo claps her hands and rises from her chair. "Respect. Finally someone stood up to that woman!” It comes delighted from the brunette, who finally extends her hand to the Haruno. "I am Hondo Natsuki. I'm happy to meet you and we can gladly leave the formalities aside.” She says with a honest smile. A smile appears on the lips of the green eyed woman as well, as she takes the hand of the woman with which she will be sharing an office from now on. "I'm pleased too.” She replies and then takes a quick look around the office. "So this is your realm. On the second table here you can do the modeling. There are also programs for designing and drawing on the computer.” Natsuki explains in a good mood, pointing to a wall unit and the two tables, which are positioned like an "L". For visits, there is an extra armchair at the modeling table. The whole thing is reflected on the other side of the room.   "Great." The Haruno smiles and pulls the sunglasses off her head for the first time to make them disappear in her handbag. "Then we'll get some documents and such for you, after all, as far as I have heard you have to make a drawing.” It comes kindly from the blue eyed Hondo. Sakura nods and finally follows her colleague, who leads her out of the room, across the main corridor to another side passage and into a chamber. “We get everything we need for our work here. A base for modeling, of course paper in various sizes, modeling tools, pencils, crayons, erasers, sharpeners and rulers.” Natsuki explains in detail and immediately loads everything onto the pinkette’s arms. "A few folders, and here in these folders we hand in our drawings, which mr. Uchiha controls and notes down some improvement suggestions.” Natsuki keeps explaining with a smile and takes a stack of folders. A little overwhelmed, Sakura looks at her and then smiles before following her back to the office. "Ah, a new colleague. Is Karin finally going to get kicked out?” A male voice sounds from the side and the blue eyed woman next to Sakura starts laughing. The pink haired woman looks surprised, who smiles at her pleasantly and holds a cup of coffee in his hand. She smiles back friendly. "No, unfortunately not." Natsuki grins at the man before the two women disappear into their office.   "Phew. Thank you for your help, Natsuki.“ Sakura smiles after she put all the equipments on the extra table. "No problem, Im glad I could help.” The brunette replies with a smile, before she returns back to her seat and dedicates herself to the screen. With a soft sigh, the pink haired girl looks around before she starts looking for a place for everything and stows it away. "Sakura?" A voice sounds from the entrance as she puts away the papers. Surprised, she looks up and to the door, where a blonde man stands and looks at her. "Hey Naruto." She greets him back and smiles joyfully, giving him a quick hug. "Hey. What are you doing here?” The Uzumaki asks all surprised. "Today is my first day at work." Sakura explains proudly and then lets her blazer slip off her shoulders to hang it over the back of her desk chair. "Really?" The blue eyed man smiles enthusiastically and sinks into the armchair in front of her modeling table. "Yes." She laughs and pulls her smartphone out of her handbag, briefly taps on it before holding it out to the blonde. Laughing, he throws himself back in his armchair. "You have to send me this! When did this happen?” He grins when he hands the smartphone back to his friend, which shows the surprised face of the Uchihas. "This morning. He didn't know that I am the new designer.“ Sakura grins and finally puts the smartphone aside. "I thought so! For once, following Naruto's voice cannot be a mistake.“ The older of the Uchiha brothers stands smiling in the door, looking amusedly at the two talking friends. "Hello Itachi." The Haruno immediately greets her brother-in-law "Hello Sakura.” He replies, taking a quick look around the office. "Hello." Natsuki greets the second company boss and takes a quick look around the room, before she continues to talk. "A few more and we have to tear down the wall to the neighboring office." She says with a smile and makes everyone in the room laugh before turning back to her work. “Oh, thanks again Naruto. That you brought Hinata home recently I mean.” The pink haired woman smiles at her friend and watches Itachi leaning against the sideboard behind Naruto. "No problem, but I'll come with you next time!" He promises and grins cheerfully. “How did you get home?" His blue eyes looking at her questioningly. "My husband picked me up.” Reports the interviewee truthfully. Naruto and Itachi look at her in surprise. "He picked you up? For real?" The Uchiha asks completely surprised. "At 2:00 am? In the middle of the week?" The blonde asks completely shocked, as if she was just kidding. The Haruno giggles softly. "Yes. It turned out that he was still working." She explains and finally rolls her eyes. "Does he actually have a life outside of work?" Itachi asks a question that was actually aimed at himself. "No." The green eyed woman sighs with a shake of her head. "Sakura how about you start working instead of-" The Kaseguchi storms snorting into the office and falls silent when she discovers the older of the Uchiha brothers. "Good afternoon, Mr. Uchiha. Sakura, Mr. Uchiha would like to speak to you later when you bring him the drawing.“ Karin snorts after greeting Itachi gently and leaves the room again. A whistle sounds, gaining Sakuras attention. "Uh. What does Sasuke want to talk to you about?” Naruto asks with a wide grin on his face and wiggles his eyebrows up and down. Itachi also looks at her with interest. "I guess about Karin's complaint." Sakura reluctantly leans back in her armchair and wipes her curls from her shoulders. "She has already complained about you? How long did it take for her to go to him?” The Uchiha asks with amusement. The Haruno blinks in astonishment, seems as if Karin was already known in half the company. "5 minutes." She finally grins at her brother-in-law and her husband's best friend. "Respect!" Naruto laughs aloud and Itachi claps his hands appreciatively.   "Say Naruto, what are you doing here anyway?" The Uchiha finally asked a question after a few minutes of silence. The blonde laughs nervously and scratches the back of his head a little. "Hehe. I actually wanted to ask Sasuke if he wants to have lunch together.” The Uzumaki explains, hoping it was enough to reason with his boss. Sakura laughs amused. "You don't even have to ask the idiot. He's not coming. Work is more important.” She says with a shake of her head. "Okay. Are we two going to eat then?” The blue eyed man asks and looks briefly at the clock. The Haruno smiles. "Are you coming too Itachi?" She turns to her brother-in-law. "No, I'm sorry." The black haired man shakes his head apologetically. "Did you also switch to Sasukes I-don't-need-any-food-camp?" Itachi laughs at her question and at the way she raises her brows in suspicion. "No no. I have already a date with my wife.” Itachi says earnestly.   "And you Natsuki? Do you want to come with us?" Sakura asks her office colleague, making her look up in surprise. "Oh, no thanks, I brought something from home." She explains and smiles thankfully. "Well then I guess it’s only the two of us." Naruto says and rises and so does the Haruno. "Okay. I still need some inspiration for my drawing anyway.” Sakura nods and takes her blazer and bag, as well as her smartphone, before she leaves the room with Itachi and Naruto and heads for the elevator. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)