Like a Dream || borusara

12.

several weeks earlier...

Sasuke sat at the head of a long conference table, polishing off the last of his morning coffee. A tired frown marred his lips. He didn't have the energy to muster any semblance of enthusiasm for this proposal meeting, despite being promised this was some golden scientific breakthrough Uchiha Industries just had to invest in.

"Why are we doing this again?" he muttered into his mug. His foot was already tapping impatiently under the table.

Sakura, his wife and head of their research and development department, offered him a smile. "Because he's family."

"Family" was a strong word.

He was a distant uncle on his father's side. The kind that only seemed to surface when you have something they want. The kind that probably didn't even know his daughter's name.

Since the success of his and Sakura's biomedical research company and the millions in grant money they received to fund their projects, dozens had flocked to them, pulling out any personal anecdote they could remember to get this kind of meeting in hopes it would lead to their own personal riches.

His wife was always so generous in offering her time to these "old friends" and to hear their supposedly genius proposals from people who didn't even have a background in science or medicine. More than half of the proposed ideas already existed or were just physically impossible, but Sakura always gave them a practiced smile, before telling them they would discuss and get back to them.

Sasuke thought this whole exercise was a waste of both their time, but he seldom argued with his wife on matters like these.

Sakura's assistant peeked his head into the conference room. "Am I good to send him in?"

"Yes, please," his wife replied as Sasuke contemplated feigning illness to get out of this presentation.

When Shin Uchiha walked into the room, they both stood. Sakura shook his clammy, pale hand, but Sasuke refused, offering him a polite nod of his head instead. He didn't like touching strangers.

That's what this man was to him. A stranger. Certainly not family.

"So good to see you both!" Shin said with an enthusiastic grin. "How long has it been?"

Sasuke genuinely couldn't remember, certainly before he was married to Sakura and that was well over twenty years ago. He decided they should just skip the fake catching up. "Do you have a copy of the proposal for us?"

Shin's smile fell. Clearly, he was ill-prepared or severely over-estimating the sway of his Uchiha surname to not bring the most basic of materials. "I can get it to you afterward."

"Whatever," Sasuke muttered and sat back down in his leather chair. "Proceed."

Shin nodded and opened up his well-worn notebook to begin. "Okay, so, first I want to discuss evolution and how we can optimize human genetics!"

Dark eyes practically glazed over with immediate disinterest as Shin babbled on and on about Darwinism and the natural selection of superior genes. By the time he transitioned from designer babies to cloning, Sasuke had had enough.

"I have everything figured out! All I need is your money and labs, and we can—" his excited rambling trailed off when Sasuke held up an authoritative hand.

"I'm going to stop you right there because the prospect of cloning for the purpose of organ harvesting sounds like an absolute ethics nightmare. That's even if you could successfully clone a person. Researchers ten times more educated and experienced are already working on some of the basic pillars of this proposal."

"But... But if you just give it a chance..."

"Why would we possibly spend our money on redundant research to be performed by an underqualified wannabe? You've never even written a grant application let alone executed a full-fledged research experiment."

"Sasuke," Sakura mumbled, clearly perturbed by how harsh he was being.

"I could do it if I had the resources!" Shin defended, his face growing red with frustration.

"I highly doubt that," Sasuke dismissed. "It seems to me you thought your Uchiha name would get us to just write you a check for you to play scientist, but you were sorely mistaken."

Shin's fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, holding back all the venomous words at the tip of his tongue. His pretentious, young nephew thought he was such a hotshot!

How dare he reject him?!

He had poured years of research into this idea, scouring the corners of the internet and discussing his theories with his online friends. This idea was like his baby!

"I—" Shin began, but Sasuke cut him off again.

"Please don't waste any more of our time." His serious, dark stare left no room for debate.

Sakura stood. "I think what Sasuke means is, that we have enough information to make our decision. Thank you for coming in."

Shin was seething as he closed his notebook and leveled Sasuke with a glare. He angrily shoved his belongings into his bag before storming out of the conference room.

"Have a nice day!" Sakura's assistant smiled.

"Fuck off," he spat in reply and disappeared into the elevator.

"Don't mind him," Sakura hummed as she gave her assistant a comforting pat on his shoulder. "He's upset because Sasuke shut him down... rather brutally..."

He peeked over his shoulder at his boss's husband gathering his things in the conference room. Sasuke was scary on a good day, he could only imagine him 'brutally' shutting someone down would destroy their confidence for the foreseeable future.

*****

After drowning his disappointment in sake for several hours, Shin stumbled out of the old ramen shop and into the street. The sidewalks were virtually empty, the city was so quiet this time of night, and yet the anger and resentment festering in his chest were so loud he could barely think straight.

"Stupid fucking Sasuke and his stupid fucking company. He thinks he's so fucking smart, he's a fucking selfish prick," Shin muttered to himself as he trudged back to his home.

All he could hope was that Sasuke would get the karma he deserved. His idea was the most important thing to him, his most brilliant creation, and Sasuke crushed it like an insignificant bug under his designer shoes. How would he feel if his life's work was so carelessly dismissed?!

Shin stumbled to a stop as he found himself outside of a shrine. His brow rose as an idea struck him. He diverted his path, instead of walking home he stepped onto the sacred grounds. Unbeknownst to Shin, this early morning time, in the quiet morning before the sun rose, was considered the ox hour, the time when the veil between the mortal world and the spirit world is at its most thin.

He trod up the steps to the main temple, offering all the remaining change in his pocket before bowing to the gods honored there. When he entered the shrine, his intention was to wish for a cutting ties curse, to free him from this anger and thoughts of Sasuke. But as he bowed to the shrine, he decided that wasn't enough.

He wanted Sasuke to hurt for what he did.

The research he presented was brilliant and innovative! It was his baby he poured years of his life developing and Sasuke shut him down in a matter of minutes.

"How would he feel if his precious baby was taken from him?!" Shin muttered to himself, his hands shaking with rage. "Yes, yes! That's what he deserves! That snobby company of his will disintegrate with this curse!"

He poured all his anger into this curse, the severity of his malevolent intent making it even more powerful. A sinister smile stretched across his lips at the idea that he would ruin Sasuke's legacy like he ruined his.

The only issue was Sasuke's baby wasn't his company.