My Lover's Keeper

60. Priorities and Responsibilities

It had been three weeks since Izumi had moved in with Naruto. But it was the first time Yamato-san just wasn't there. The man had a family emergency earlier that morning and had been excused for that reason.

The brunet took a hot shower and got out. He woke up at 10am, which was relatively earlier than his usual afternoon schedule.

He placed a capsule in the coffee machine and walked to Naruto's room. He knocked before he opened the door.

He hadn't spoken to his cousin since that day about a week ago. The bed was empty and made up.

Silence filled the place as the machine stopped buzzing.
He took his cup of coffee and sipped it in peace.

He decided to be productive for once and clean his room since he had nothing else to do.

By the time he finished up; Naruto walked in.
The blond, just like the rest of last week, hadn't greeted him.

The blond was both looking and feeling worse as days went by. If Sasuke didn't remind him to eat or drink Naruto pretty much didn't bother.

After his doctor visit earlier that morning, he was advised to take a couple of weeks off work before he crumbles under the weight of it all. Although, that was not all the doctor said.

But how could he really relax? Everything was on his shoulders, he couldn't let Raiku handle it all by herself and no one had even applied for the open CEO position. No one wants to associate their name with them until the trial is over.

And Izumi...

Izumi was unreliable.

Sure their worth had not dropped in the market but a lot of people boycotted some of their affiliated companies' products.

There was a significant drop in sales and that was damaging their small affiliates.

Kire-corps had to compensate them for all these losses so they were taking indirect hits.

Relax.

It is easier said than done.

"Naruto, we need to talk" Izumi repeated since the blond did not give him an answer.

"About work?" The teen asked. It was all he had in mind.

All day.

Every day.

"No..about-..."

"If it's not about work, we don't really need to talk." He plopped on the couch, worn out from the hectic meetings.
He told himself one more week until the trial and all of this would be over. But even he knew after the trial the mess would still be there.

The trial would do nothing if not make the mess bigger for a while.

"I'm sorry...for what I said the other day." The brunet apologized yet again.

Naruto really wasn't listening to him.

Unfortunately, Izumi thought it had to do with their fight. But the blond's mind was clouded and he needed some quiet to focus.

"Izumi, I'm tired... Please can we just-.."

"We can't talk about it later because later never comes. I know I fucked up many times over the years. But I guess last week was the last straw for you. I didn't mean to belittle you. It just hurt that she didn't even acknowledge my existence. It felt like all the things my uncles and aunts said were truer...my mother's words included and I treated you badly because...you had everything I didn't have...the one thing I actually wanted: a loving family." He confessed.