Raison d'être
Chapter 1
He was gone she knew that, she had known it ever since she got up in the hospital two years back. She knew that she was supposed to move on .Now as she stood in front of the mirror putting final touches of her makeup she felt ready, felt it was time .She smiled at her reflection .As she turned around to switch off her bedroom light her eyes locked onto the diamond on her vanity and she couldn't help shedding a lone tear.
Temari was furious. She looked at the clock again she knew she was going to be late for work, but she was waiting for him they had plans to have breakfast.. People were glancing at her nervously maybe she looked homicidal she certainly was feeling homicidal. Oh she was going to kill the lazy pineapple headed urchin with her bare hands. he knew she had an important client coming …….Why was he late?
She was currently thinking of the best ways to torture the crybaby when she saw the door to the café open and saw her soon to be dead boyfriend walking in. He caught her eye and smirked .He smirked 'the idiot' smirked after making her wait for forty-five minutes.
Shikamaru leaned over and gave a kiss on the lips and sat down. " Good morning Tem, you look happy," he drawled out sarcastically. He looked up she hadn't even cracked a smile. "Seriously Tema what's up is it that idiot shopkeeper ,did he hit on you again?"
Temari looked up and he saw her eyes flash with fury. " Oh thank you Nara –san for your concern but at least the lecher wakes up in the morning to see me and wish me luck for my meeting but my boyfriend for two years who made plans for breakfast couldn't come on time"
Shikamaru looked at his watch and grinned sheepishly " Sorry Tema I guess I overslept, Gomen, Ill make it up lets go out for dinner at that fancy restaurant that serves barely any food, don't look at me like that Ill be on time Promise"
Temari looked somewhat placated .He called the waiter they placed their order .He grinned inwardly now time for the kill and he'll be of the hook for forgetting."So tell me about this meeting with Itachi Uchiha"
He let out a genuine smile as he watched her face light up as she talked about what she planned. He couldn't help feel lucky as he looked at her smiling face and leaned down to gently capture her lips " What was that for?"
"Nothing just couldn't resist". He laughed as she blushed. She swatted his arm " Don't make me call your mother, Shika"she said glaring and the both burst into laughter at the same time .Temari smiled today was definitely turning out to be a ………………
Good day.
Temari was smiling as she went to her gallery, she just hoped her meeting would go fine then she would go out for dinner with Shikamaru and if he dint do anything stupid she would be cooking breakfast tomorrow for him.
She stopped in front of 'Paint box', her baby she had helped build it from the ground up and now they exclusively handled a lot of artists. She walked in through the frosted glass doors her heels clicking on the marble the large room was filled with paintings the colours emphasized by the stark white walls she ignored the other doors and walked up to the glass doors tucked away at the back. Uchiha was coming in an hour. She better get started.
She walked in and went to her private office. She loved her office it was done in tones of ivory and blue. The table was a beautiful mahogany executive desk towards the left was a beautiful mahogany credenza. Directly opposite the credenza was an ivory sofa with dark blue throw pillows. Above the credenza was her family heirloom a gorgeous indigo battle fan depicting a woman standing in the desert under the moon with the wind gently caressing her. Her father had told her that her ancestors apparently could command the wind but the fan represented so much more it represented a rite of passage a belief that you were worthy of the 'Sabaku title'. Fresh flowers were placed on the credenza.
She set her bag down and walked into the adjacent office it was done similar to hers but in light blue, gray and silver tones, the walls were adorned with theatrical masks, while her office used contrasting colours to enhance its beauty, her partners room used light colours with bursts of vibrant red blues and green to enhance its beauty. Shikamaru once commented that their offices were truly a reflection of their personality.
Her attention was immediately on her ebony haired partner Mamochi Haku.
Haku and she had met in college both of them taking the same art courses; they just clicked and immediately after college had opened their baby.
"Good morning Temari-chan, looking good let me guess you met Shikamary-kun". She saw Temari blushing and laughed gently.
"Good morning and stop laughing you're early so I am guessing yesterdays date dint go that well." The smile was replaced with a scowl " Remind me to kill Ino-chan, the guy was a total loser, he did all the talking, asked to spend the night with him and when I refused left me with the bill'. She ignored Temari's snickering "Yes, if youre done laughing at my misery lets get to work".
Temari went ahead and sat in the chair in front of Haku's desk and started informing her of all the information Shikamaru had given her about 'The Uchiha'.
Hinata Hyuga entered the large 52 storeys Hyuga Corporation with a lot of apprehension. She generally never received calls from him unless he required something, which was not very often. The calls were always from Amaya his secretary. He had personally called her up and asked to meet at his office. He never met her at his office; Hiashi Hyuga was too busy of a man to meet family during business hours. Nothing that ever was discussed here ended well for her and she guessed today's meeting would be another one to add to the list.
It was supposed to be her birthright to take over the company once she turned twenty one but at eighteen her father had called her to his office and explained that the council did not feel she could manage the billion dollar corporation and hence decided to make her cousin Neji the heir, she had but no choice but to accept. The truth was she knew nobody could do a better job than Neji, but it dint stop the little bit of resentment from settling in her heart. The resentment wasn't so much against her cousin but more so towards her family for ignoring her, for putting all those responsibility on her shoulders at the age of five .She had tried to impress them but whatever she did it wasn't enough, , though deep down she knew it was coming, when she actually heard the words coming out of his mouth it had hit her hard in essence he had told her she wasn't good enough she never was .
She was so caught up in her thoughts she dint realize that she had already reached his office. Amaya's voice brought her out of her reverie. "Ah. Hinata chan you are exactly on time, go right in you're father is expecting you" she said.
Hinata could do nothing but nod, she took a few deep breathes composed herself "Thank you Amaya –san". She hoped she looked confident and entered.
Hiashi was a tall imposing man with ebony hair slicked back wearing a black Armani suit ,he looked the position of a billion dollar companies president . He was working on some documents when she looked up and motioned her to come sit. She sat down in the chair placed in front of the desk. He finally finished with the documents and set them aside.
" Good morning Hinata, how is you're business doing". She dint know if he was being sarcastic or not. But then this was Hiashi Hyuga if he wanted to insult her choice of work he would just go ahead and give her a lecture on the correct Hyuga way to run a business.
" Good morning Otou-sama ,business is just fine . Thank you for asking"
"Good, good Sarutobi sama had hired you recently he had only good things to say and…" She cut him of off , he wanted something ,the "I am proud icebreaker" wasn't working "Otou sama you require some service of me, I would appreciate it if you come to the point I know that you have lot more important work to do and you would rather do that than make small talk to save my feelings"
"I see, well in that case I do require you service I am planning to throw a party and would like you to host it". " I don't understand I have always hosted these parties ever since I was passed over as heir" she tried not to sound bitter pity it dint come out that way.
" I am aware of that but this time it will be dinner party at home" he paused and let the words sink in .She knew that dining with the Hyuga's at home was extremely different from being invited to their parties .The Hyuga's opened their home only to people who were on par with them needless to say there weren't a lot of "dinner parties" .
" Who is exactly being invited and how much is this dinner worth?"
"Lets just say if this party goes well our net worth would be double its current standing."
She gulped a lot was riding on this party , calm down Hinata you are not fifteen you can do this you have been doing this for four years and never messed up ,you can do it.
" Otou sama before I accept are you sure you want me do it ?" "Of course
, I would trust only you with something this important , Hinata you may not be able to be the president of this company but my child you play a very important role , the same role your mother performed ,no one in our family has your sense of diplomacy"
" Thank you , I will do my best I have a meeting in an hour ,I will collect all the information from Amaya san later" she stood up to leave , before she left she walked up to her father and kissed his cheek and whispered " Thank you , you have no idea how long I have waited to hear those words"
She was almost near the door when she turned around and asked " Otou sama, who"
"Heard of the Sabaku's?"
