A/N: I don't own Naruto. I've got so many plot bunnies and this is one of them. :3 Reviews would be appreciated!

Whenever a new employee started their job at the Sannin Company, Jiraiya made it extremely clear that any kind of romantic relationships between the employees were absolutely forbidden. A lot of theories regarding the reason for the existence of the rule circled around.

Hyuga Neji was strictly convinced that the rule had existed ever since the foundation of the company, and that it was in fact a wise one, as its aim was to keep work smooth and drama-free. "It's in the best interest of us and the company."

Uzumaki Naruto thought that the current president, Jiraiya, had just had bad luck with the company's employees and was so bitter that he wanted to ban any other romance in the building. "Doesn't he just give you the feeling that he'd try to get it on with the ladies? No?"

Nara Shikamaru had heard a rumor that Jiraiya had, once upon a time, had a fling with the previous vice president, Tsunade, but it hadn't gone too well. According to Shikamaru it was due to this that Jiraiya had then decided that romance and work didn't walk hand in hand, at least in his company. "To be honest I just think he's bitter about the break-up."

Haruno Sakura was convinced that there had, at one point, been a couple within the company, but their public display of affection had distracted everyone else and had therefore been deemed a problem. "It just sounds so romantic!"

No one knew for sure what lied behind the rule, but they did know that it was strict – they had seen Ibiki and Anko get fired after Jiraiya had somehow gotten to know about their relationship, even though they had tried to keep a low profile.

The rules were not to be messed with.

On his first day, Inuzuka Kiba had mostly just checked out his surroundings, trying to memorize a few important locations: his boss's office, the bathroom, the way to get to the cafeteria, and most importantly, his own desk. He shared his little rectangular office with Nara Shikamaru, who didn't seem too talkative, but Kiba quite enjoyed his company anyway, even if his responses to his jokes were nothing to say much about.

"Oi, Shikamaru, check this out." The brunet with his hair tied up raised his tired eyes from his monitor and stared at Kiba, who was balancing a pen on the bridge of his nose. The excited brunet had now been in the company for half a year, and Shikamaru was still not sure of how he felt about him. On one hand he brought some kind of entertainment to the usually dull workplace, but at the same time he was such an annoyance.

"Yes?" Shikamaru asked, unimpressed, with a cocked eyebrow. Kiba pouted and took the pen off his nose.

"You're no fun, all you do is work," the brunet muttered and rested his back against his chair. Shikamaru sighed and returned to his monitor.

"Believe me, if I was as fast at work as you are, I would goof off too," he said and began writing a reply to an e-mail from one of the company's customers. "It just so happens that I'm not." Kiba nodded and stood up, checking over the half-wall into the next rectangular office.

"Yo, Temari, what are you doing?" He rested his arms on the top of the wall and stared intently at the blonde, who merely gave him the finger as a response. Kiba frowned and sat down, defeated. Sometimes he hated being as fast as he was, because he always ended up with no work, which caused his natural restlessness to kick in. He couldn't stay still, but it seemed that everyone else still had a lot of work to do.

"Ah, break time," Kiba breathed as the clock showed 2pm, and was quick to dash to the elevators. Shikamaru slowly put his computer asleep and waited until Temari was done. The blonde stood up and took her wallet, greeting the brunet with a cheerful yet well-controlled smile.

"Let's go, Nara-san," she said politely, and the two left the office area with only professional conversation going on between them until they were in the elevator, just the two of them. "Honestly, this is so much pressure."

"No can do," Shikamaru said and took Temari's hand into his – the elevators were one of the few areas that didn't have any cameras, and the sound before the doors would open always came a couple of seconds early. "It would be more suspicious if we avoided each other."

Temari could only nod. Indeed, in an office as intimate as theirs, it would definitely attract attention if they purposely avoided each other; there was hardly a way for it to go unnoticed. Then again, she couldn't lie – the secret budding relationship of theirs was actually quite thrilling. The blonde was always up for an adventure, and there was definitely a nice feel to the chances of getting caught. She smirked and gave Shikamaru a quick peck on the corner of his mouth before the doors opened and they entered the cafeteria.

Having been the first one to leave, Kiba was unfortunately also the first one to return. However, when he returned, he saw Jiraiya walking around with an indigo-haired woman he was sure he'd never seen before – and he had seen pretty much all of the company's employees during his bored walks all around the building. She was wearing a neat, blue button-up shirt and beige dress pants with black heels giving her a bit more height. Her hair reached the middle of her back, waving around as she walked.

Kiba walked to his seat silently and sat down, continuing his observation. Jiraiya smiled at the woman and shook her hand.

"Well then, I think we're good. Welcome to the Sannin Company, Hyuga-san," the older male said, his eyes falling to the woman's slightly showing cleavage for a second before he tore his eyes away. "There's an empty desk over there, I don't think Temari will mind."

"Thank you, Jiraiya-sama."

When the woman turned around, which let Kiba see her face, he was stunned, mostly by how she resembled Neji, the current vice president, but also due to her beautiful features. The woman had light red lipstick on and her pale lavender eyes were circled by a small amount of mascara – simple yet seemed to emphasize her features nicely. Her dark hair fell down straight and her hands were gripping her bag in what seemed like a death grip, and Kiba could smell her nervousness.

As the woman walked past, Kiba stood up and leaned against the wall that separated Temari's and his offices from each other. She put her black bag on the neat desk she would be using from now on and sat down, looking around. Instantly, her eyes met Kiba's curious ones.

"A-ah, hello. I'm Hyuga Hinata, a-and I'll be working here from now on," she said nervously and bowed at the brunet. Kiba smiled at her, slightly taken aback by her sudden stutter. He found it a bit cute, though.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Nice to meet you, Hyuga-san," he said with the smile still on his face, which only widened as the pale-eyed woman blushed lightly. "I'll probably be bothering you a lot in the future, but I hope we'll get along."

Hinata nodded timidly and booted her computer. She found it a bit odd that she was to begin working in the afternoon, but it kind of made sense – the whole office area was empty. She doubted that it was as empty in the morning, but now Jiraiya had had a fair amount of time to show her around with no interruption.

Kiba stared at her for a while more before returning to his own computer, just to play solitaire. He really hoped that Shikamaru, or anyone, would come back from the break as soon as possible.

And so they did, nearly all at once. Shikamaru, Temari, Naruto, Lee, Ino and Sakura all exited the elevator, which then went down to get more of the employees from their break, including Neji, whose arrival Kiba was definitely anticipating.

Temari stepped into her office and curiously stared at the pale-eyed female by the desk that had been empty for as long as she'd been working there. Hinata spun on her chair and stood up, offering her hand to Temari.

"I'm Hyuga Hinata and will be working here from now on, nice to meet you," she recited the line she had been practicing for quite a while, this time without a stutter, and smiled in a friendly manner. Temari shook her hand and introduced herself to the new girl. Her eyes had distinct resemblance to those of the vice president's, and the blonde couldn't help but wonder.

"So, what's your specialty?" Temari inquired as she sat down and woke up her computer. Hinata took a seat as well, tilting her head slightly. "We're all hired according to our skills, I'm sure you have one too? Kiba over there is fast at pretty much everything, Shikamaru works diligently and practically makes no mistakes, and I'm the master of punctuality."

Hinata pondered for a while before she lit up in a gentle smile. "Well, I'm pretty good at putting things together… you know, finding the most relevant parts and connecting them to each other."

"There you go," Temari said cheerfully and opened the calendar on her computer, checking what still had to be done that day. "Damn Naruto, that report's due in fifteen minutes…" Hinata observed confusedly as Temari hurriedly stood up and dashed elsewhere. Sighing, she took out some papers Jiraiya had given her earlier, taking note on what her job description exactly included.

Presentations, researches, communication. Good teamwork skills required.

The indigo-haired nodded to herself, but in the end she came to the conclusion that there was barely anything she could do for the time being. Therefore, instead of trying to entertain herself on the computer, she began writing a list of things she should bring with her the next day: a holder for pens, a stress toy, a desktop calendar and a flower amidst other small decorations.

Neji, who had finally entered the floor, stood by the opening to Temari and Hinata's little office. He cleared his throat, which attracted both Kiba's and Hinata's attention.

"I see you've finally been able to settle down," Neji said with the clear voice of his. Hinata nodded, her pale eyes locked with similar ones.

"Yes, thank you for the opportunity," she said politely and bowed, which confused Kiba for a second as he could've sworn they were related, and what kind of relatives were that reserved around each other?

"No problem. Uh, say hi to your father when you next see him. He's been a great help lately."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at what the vice president had just said, but Hinata only nodded once again, a gentle smile on her lips.

"I will, Neji-nii—ah, Neji-san," she corrected herself, nearly biting her tongue at the slip. Kiba frowned as Neji sneered. Siblings?

"It's okay, Hinata. You'll get used to it. Glad to see you here, though." Neji left without waiting for a reply, but Hinata was used to that kind of actions. Sometimes a reply simply wasn't needed, and this was one of those cases.

Kiba popped his head over the wall again.

"Are you two, like, related?" he asked curiously. He was now rather sure that they were, but being as curious as he was, he wanted details.

"Kiba, don't be an ass and stick your nose into other people's affairs. Have you heard of privacy?" Shikamaru sighed behind him, but Kiba didn't react. Hinata fidgeted for a moment, trying to recall how far she was allowed to reveal her relation to Neji. Not that she would've shared deep details anyway, though.

"We're cousins," she said, happy to be able to talk to the brunet without a stutter. Then again, the sentence wasn't all that long…

Kiba nodded in amazement, still trying to figure out how a woman of such graceful nature could be related to such a humorless man. He couldn't understand, but he didn't think there was a need for him to understand to begin with. Some things were meant to be wondered.

"I see…" the brunet muttered and disappeared from the wall, sitting down on his chair. He flipped an eraser around on his desk with a pencil – solitaire had gotten boring after ten rounds. Shikamaru put his headphones on, as he knew all too well not to ask Kiba to stop. At the worst he would start tapping his nails on the surface just to piss him off, and that was the last thing Shikamaru needed when he was tired from the workday.

Temari huffed as she returned to her seat, practically sweeping sweat off her forehead.

"Did you get it done?" Hinata asked curiously and got a positive answer from the blonde.

"Surprisingly, he had started it already," Temari laughed and crossed a task on her calendar. Only a few more things to be done on time and she was good for the day. This was one of the reasons she had little to no free time at work besides the breaks – she had to constantly make sure that things were being done and that they were also finished on time.

Hinata chuckled. She was glad that so far, she seemed to get along with the person she would most likely spend most of her time with. Temari felt easy to converse with, which was a bit rare for the indigo-haired, who usually felt it rather distressing to establish new contacts. With the blonde there was hardly a problem.

The clock hit five and people started to leave in small groups. Shikamaru and Temari joined Lee and Gaara, whereas Ino, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke formed another four-person group. Hinata, new to the workplace, would have to go alone.

Except if it was up to Kiba.

"Where do you live?" the brunet asked curiously, startling the woman who hadn't noticed the man behind her. She felt her heart racing, and a part of her was sincerely hoping that the man wouldn't be so willing to get to know her so fast. She needed time, but Kiba didn't really seem like a patient person.

"Ju-just a few kilometers away," Hinata stuttered, clutching the strap of her bag. Kiba nodded and told her that he lived a bit farther, then proceeded to ask what area she lived in, if she lived alone and how old she was. The woman was taken aback by the seemingly large amount of questions and thought about the answers as the two entered the elevator.

"I-in the very center. I actually li-live with an old schoolmate and a dog… a-and I'm twenty-five," she said and mentally cursed the stutter that didn't seem to leave her alone. Then again, she was well aware that it would go away as soon as she felt comfortable enough around the brunet.

Kiba smiled widely and explained that he had a dog as well, which actually excited Hinata a bit – she loved her little Momo and had established a deep affection towards pets ever since she got her, not that she wouldn't have liked them before. The two talked about their dogs for the rest of the elevator ride, during which Kiba was happy to notice that the woman had begun stuttering less and less.

After exiting the main doors of the building, the two waved each other goodbye as they lived in different directions. And well, Hinata would take a bus whereas Kiba needed his car, anyway.

Hinata spent her twenty minutes in the bus looking out of the window, observing the packed streets full of people just wanting to get home. The bus was rather packed, too, and she was growing slightly anxious about how she'd manage to get out of it on her stop. She sighed and pressed the stop-button, and mumbled a quick "Excuse me" before she stood up and began the adventurous trip from her seat to the middle doors of the bus.

Finally, she stepped on the street and walked to the door to her apartment complex, which was rather close to the bus stop. As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted by her delighted golden retriever. She smiled at the dog and squatted down to greet it properly, mumbling things only she would hear. Momo wagged her tail and gave Hinata's palm a lick. The woman stood up again and looked around the empty apartment. Tenten was taking oddly long to return from work.

Then again, if she knew the brunette at all, she was probably enjoying a car ride with Neji.

So much for obeying the rules.