My Ex Want To Marry Again

Part - V

3rd Nov, 2023
21:58

"Where. is. he. He can't just walk out on his business obligations. I won't let him," Sasuke looked furious.

Kiba bared his teeth in a fake smile. "I am happy to be able to tell you that I honestly have no idea. I tried to call his cell over the weekend to see if he was ok, but his number is no longer in service. And I have asked every one of his friends, including Shikamaru, and no one has any idea at all on how to reach him. So if you were hoping to enjoy seeing how your huge assholeness has destroyed probably the nicest human being you will ever meet, it looks like you are just shit out of luck."

Sasuke was shocked by the verbal assault delivered from his normally relatively respectful head of HR.

"Oh, and if you decide to fire me for saying this, I honestly don't give a fuck."

Kiba turned on his heel and stalked away. Sasuke's eyes narrowed when he saw several people in the office lift their hands to give him high fives as he walked past their desks.

So they think Naruto is the victim in all this? Fuck them. They have no idea. But it doesn't matter. I don't want to be the victim anyway. I am not weak.

He went into his office, shut the door, and called Shikamaru. The man handled their personal and business legal matters. There is no way that he didn't know how to contact Naruto, no matter what that idiot Kiba said.

A few minutes later, the smartest man that Sasuke had ever met was in his office. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his suit pressed, intelligent brown eyes deceptively lazy.

"Where is he?" Sasuke hissed.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother pretending to misunderstand. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't fucking know. He is co-owner of this business, we are in the middle of divorce proceedings, and you are our attorney. There is no way in hell that you can't know where he is. He must have contacted you about the divorce papers, if nothing else."

Shikamaru sighed. This was going to be a huge pain. They were both such drama queens. He almost smirked at his own pun, but the situation was too messed up to be funny.

"Actually, I received notification from Sabaku Gaara's offices over the weekend that they would be handling all of Naruto's legal matters. Something about there being a conflict of interest with me representing both of you."

Sasuke's eyes widened. This was not something he had expected Naruto to think of doing. Fucking Gaara. He was the only person in Japan that Sasuke knew for a fact he could neither bribe nor intimidate nor charm into doing what he wanted. While most of their friends were mutual, Gaara was Naruto's friend, not his. Naruto had met him while traveling with his godfather when he was younger, and the two had kept in touch over the years. Gaara had come to the wedding, and generally had been polite to Sasuke, but his complete loyalty was to Naruto. Evidently Naruto had helped him out with something in his formative years, or some bullshit like that, and they had been tight ever since. If Sasuke hadn't known that Gaara was straight, he would have put a stop to it long ago. He had never really liked the redhead. That feeling had just increased by several orders of magnitude.

"Tell Gaara that I want those divorce papers and the financial settlement papers signed within the week. Tell him to get Naruto's ass in here for a meeting to finalize terms," Sasuke growled.

Shikamaru sighed. He knew his chance of bullying Gaara into doing what Sasuke wanted was exactly zero. But he would go through the motions to get Sasuke off his back.

Shikamaru had no idea what had really happened between him and Naruto. He had talked to Naruto about it last week, and he was sure that the blond honestly had no idea why Sasuke had ended things this way. Naruto had been completely shell-shocked. Shikamaru had been friends with both of them since middle school, and it hurt him to see them suffering. Given everything the two men had been through together, the thought of their relationship being over just seemed... impossible. He sighed again.

He could smell the alcohol on Sasuke's breath, and saw the open decanter on his desk. Sasuke was clearly hurting, though most people wouldn't see it. Naruto always wore his heart on his sleeve, and people loved him for it. Sasuke was closed, keeping everyone at a distance and leaving most people with the impression that he simply didn't have emotions. But Shikamaru had known them both long enough to know that Sasuke had emotions that ran just as deep as Naruto's, if not deeper. He just kept them bottled up and hidden from view, except when it had come to Naruto. The depth of feeling that the two men had for each other had always been a source of almost envy for Shikamaru. He had never seen two people more deeply committed to each other, accepting not only the nice 'good' parts, but also accepting and even loving each other's flaws. Of any couple he had ever seen, he had thought these two would make it. And he had been wrong, which almost never happened to him. Looking at the bleak expression in the black eyes of his friend, he wished like hell he had not been wrong on this one. He didn't know where Naruto was right now, but he was worried. He honestly didn't know if either man could really survive without the other.

"Sasuke," Shikamaru began, ignoring the warning look his friend shot him. "What happened?"

Sasuke's eyes simply shuttered into their usual expressionless mask.

"I terminated a dysfunctional relationship. I just need you to do your job and make it official. Go get Gaara to cooperate."

Shikamaru heard the clear dismissal in his friend's voice, and ached for him. Sasuke never knew how to ask for or accept help. The only one who had ever been able to really draw him out was Naruto. "You can call me, if you want to talk."

Sasuke just stood there, then nodded almost imperceptibly. Shikamaru left. There was nothing more he could do. Except call Gaara.

.
.
.

The meeting with Gaara had gone largely as expected. The man was and always been smart and ruthless, especially when it came to protecting one of the few people that mattered to him. In a way, he was a lot like Sasuke. Which meant this was going to get very ugly.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here, Gaara-san," Shikamaru said. He had always rather liked the green-eyed man, and respected his formidable intelligence and legal savvy Gaara had eyed him coldly, and nodded.

"Sasuke wants the divorce papers and financial settlement documents signed and filed by the end of the week."

Gaara had simply raised a hairless eyebrow. "I'll see what I can do, but my client is rather busy at the moment. With matters of importance. I have read through the original proposal, and we will have some adjustments to make. I will work with my client over the next few weeks to get our response to you."

Shikamaru could sense the underlying fury in the man in front of him. "Gaara. I know I am representing Sasuke. But I have been friends with Naruto for most of my life. You don't need to tell me where he is or what you are planning. But... can you just tell me... is he ok?"

Gaara had looked at him consideringly for a moment, then he had imperceptibly softened. "No. He is not ok. And while I respect that you have a job to do for Sasuke, and I am well aware of your intellectual prowess, I want you to know that if I need to, I will utterly destroy Sasuke to protect Naruto. You play by the rules. I don't. I have taken measures to be sure that Naruto will not be found until he is ready to. Tell Sasuke that if he tries too hard, I will put a very public restraining order on him. I will be the only point of contact in these legal proceedings."

Shikamaru had stood there, torn between feeling slightly nervous about what the smaller man in front of him might actually do, and relieved that Naruto had someone like this to protect him from Sasuke. He was going to need it. The two men nodded at each other, and Shikamaru took his leave. Sasuke was not going to like what he had to say.

______♡♡♡______

TBC..

Well, don't forget to check out my other stories as well 😉
I'll be back soon with the new chapter..
Take care and stay healthy and hydrated. love you all 🥰❤️

Cr: NaruLove11
Dt - 03/11/2023 - 21:58
1475 words