Counterfeit Agreement

Chapter One

-Stratagem-

Akito rushed forward in the lobby of the large building, holding his hand out to catch the elevator. He let out a sigh of relief when the doors stopped from closing, entering the small square and squeezing in with the other occupants. One of the men smirked and raised a brow. "Late morning?" he asked, noting the ebony haired man's harsh breathing and the two coffee cups from Starbucks in his hands, the contents sloshed onto the lids a bit, signaling that he had been running.

"You don't even know." The young Uchiha muttered, staring at the indicators in the elevator as he waited for it to reach the fifth floor. He sighed once more when they opened, and hurried out of the elevator, heading towards his boss' office. As he rounded the corner a mail cart hit him, knocking the breath out of him and spilling one of the coffees on his crisp white dress shirt. "Are you kidding me?" he yelled, glaring at the small man. "You idiot!" he cursed, tossing out the now empty cup and continuing on his way.

He made it to his desk and set the mug down, before looking at his ruined shirt. She was going to kill him, and he really didn't feel like dealing with that right now. Not on top of all the other crap she would probably put him through today. Frowning, he loosened his red tie and began to unbutton his shirt, removing it quickly and tossing it into his chair. Ignoring the stares from his female co-workers as his built chest was revealed to them, he bent and opened up one of the compartments in the side of his desk, where inside he had a spare shirt hanging up, just in case of such an occurrence.

He put it on, buttoning it up and tucking it in just as he heard the elevator doors chime once more. Knowing that she was here, as she always got here at eight-thirty on the dot, he shoved his soiled shirt into the cubby and closed it, before picking up the coffee and meeting his boss halfway, continuing with her towards her office.

She was a slender woman, with short pink hair and bright jade eyes. Her body was one to die for, dressed in a slim black pencil skirt with a tight black dress shirt, its sleeves stopping just below her elbows. But what overshadowed her gorgeous body was her bossy and arrogant demeanor, something Akito loathed to the core of his being. But he never spoke against her, because without her he would never make editor.

"You have a meeting with Jill at three, and the manuscript for Simon's book needs to be completely edited by the end of today." He reminded her, offering her the cup. She took it from him without even sparing her assistant a glance.

"Fine. Move the meeting to four and tell Simon that when I finish the manuscript I will give it to him. If he wants it to be perfect, he'll calm his little head down." She said, her tone even more condescending than her aura. He walked ahead and got the door to her office for her and then followed her in, watching as she sat down at her desk. "What's on my schedule for lunch today? I'm starving, and I didn't get to have breakfast."

He searched his head for the answer to her question. "The cafeteria is serving Caesar salad, spaghetti, garlic bread, and, if that is not to your liking, some kind of Italian pasta." He informed her, walking over and picking up a stack of papers that had been left on the corner of her desk. He would have to sort through them later and give her the ones that she would actually look at.

"That all sounds horrible." She sighed, a look of disgust crossing her face. "I want you to go out and get me something delicious around noon. And right now I'd really love a bagel with some cream cheese. You know the kind I like." She took one of her pens from the holder on her desk and grabbed one of the manuscripts on her desk and began to look over it.

Akito held in a sigh. "Of course." He said, hating it when she gave him vague instructions. It was just a good thing that he knew her so well, and had worked with her for as long as he had, otherwise he would be at a loss for what to do. As he turned to leave, the phone rang, and he walked over to pick it up. "Miss Sabaku's office." He said, listening to the voice on the other end. He nodded. "I'll tell her." he hung up and looked back at the pink haired woman. "Mr. Truitt wants to see you in his office. Now." He told her, seeing that she was about to ask him to come up with some kind of excuse to delay her meeting with the head of the company.

She groaned and sat her pen down, leaning back in her chair and giving him an accusing look. To this all he did was give her a small smirk. "What?"

"Don't what me." Natsumi huffed, getting up and smoothing out her skirt. She walked back around his desk and stopped in front of him. "Alright, in about ten minutes come up and get me with some excuse. We have a lot to do today, and I don't have time to waste talking to men who simply lounge about in their offices."

"Yes Miss Sabaku." He said, walking off to go and grab her bagel really quickly while she went up to see the boss.

Natsumi shook her head and stared after him, unable to keep her gaze from his rear. For an assistant, he sure had a nice ass. Without another moment to lose, she headed out of her office and walked towards the elevator, taking it to the top floor where she headed towards her boss' office.

The secretary gave her a nod, "Good morning Miss Sabaku, you can go in now." She said, not even receiving an acknowledgment from the Editor in Chief. Natsumi walked into the office and gave the two men her best smile.

"Hello gentlemen, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes." The older of the two men said. He was the one sitting at the desk, meaning that of the two, he was in charge. "We just got off the phone with your attorney, who was informing us about your citizenship."

"It's about time that thing went through." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I've been waiting on it for three years now. Attorneys can be so unreliable sometimes." She shook her head, the smile still adorning her features.

The other man in the room stepped forward. "Miss Sabaku, your application has been denied." He informed her. "You're being deported."

This made the friendly look fall right off her face. "Deported? What? Why?"

"Remember when your application was being processed, and you went out of the country to get Anne to sign with us?" Mr. Truitt asked. "Well, the United States government apparently didn't see it as you trying to help out our company, so they are kicking you out of the country until further notice."

"They're sending me back to Japan?" she glared, doing her best to keep her cool. "But we would have lost the agreement had I not gone."

"But they government doesn't care about that." The other man told her. "They just see it as you breaking the rules and leaving the country."

"So while you're gone and this is all being straightened out, we're going to have Tom take over your position as Editor in Chief." Her boss said.

Her eyes widened then. "Tom? That lazy animal? He doesn't know what the hell he's doing, if you make him Editor in Chief we're going to lose over half our authors."

There was a knock on the door then, and Akito poked his head into the office. "Sorry to interrupt, but Jill is on the line." He informed Natsumi. "She is freaking out about the meeting being moved back an hour, and I told her that you were previously engaged, but she's insisting to talk to you."

"Alright, alright." Natsumi held up her hand to silence him when an idea struck her. She looked back at Akito and then gave him a once over before gesturing for him to come in with them. She turned her jade gaze back to the men and plastered another forced smile on her face. "Gentleman…I understand the predicament. And I see where you are coming from but…" she trailed off, moving back towards Akito as he slowly came in, confusion marring his brow. "I think that you should know something…" she nodded, looking back up at Akito for a moment. "We're getting married."

Akito's eyes widened. "Who's getting married?" he asked.

"We are." Natsumi repeated, still smiling at the men before her.

The Uchiha nodded slightly, looking at the heads of the corporation, completely dumbstruck. "We are…" he trailed off, not even sure what to make of what was going on.

Mr. Truitt stood and clapped. "Well then, congratulations. Just fill out and turn in the proper paperwork to the immigration office, and we're good to go." He instructed.

"Isn't he your secretary?" the other man asked, pointing to Akito.

"Assistant." Akito corrected.

"Very valued, best assistant ever, if you know what I mean." Natsumi laughed, giving Akito a small jab to join her in the comical relief.

He laughed, but it was forced. "Yeah, we didn't announce it to anyone because we didn't want it to look suspicious, what with my promotion and everything." He said, beginning to get back in the swing of things.

"Promotion?" the old man asked, raising a brow.

Natsumi's gaze shifted to the man beside her and turned to a warning glance. "Promotion?" she repeated.

"Yeah." He said, not intimidated in the least as a small smile came to his face. "Natsumi here was going to make me an editor, but we didn't want it to look like favoritism to everyone else. So we were going to let the promotion go through, and then a few months later, announce our impending nuptials." He explained.

"Ah," the other man said, nodding his head. "That does make sense. And very smart of the two of you." He pointed from Akito to Natsumi. "Just fill out the paperwork and send it to my office, I'll be sure to give you a good office space once you're promoted."

The Uchiha's smile widened. "Thank you sir. I'll fill it out and send it to you this afternoon, while Natsumi is in her meeting. She can have one of the other assistants there for dictation if need be."

The pink haired woman stared at Akito, slightly wide eyed until she was snapped from her stupor by the call of her name. "Natsumi, are you alright?" Mr. Truitt asked, his expression turning from bliss to concern.

"Uh…yes." She nodded, finally breaking from the hold that had her lungs. "Just thinking about the plans and all." She told them, grabbing Akito's arm tightly and giving it a painful squeeze as she dragged him out with her.

"Nice talking with you gentlemen." Akito said before he was fully pulled out of the office. He allowed her to drag him behind her until they reached her office once more. Once her door was shut behind them he yanked his arm from her grip. "You want to tell me what the hell is going on?" he asked, crossing his arms and giving her a hard stare, all false pretenses of politeness gone.

She turned around and met his stare with a glare of her own. "Don't get that tone with me." She pointed in his face. "You were clearly okay enough with it to dig your little claws in and climb up." She said, crossing her arms then. "I was going to be deported back to Japan because my visa didn't go through."

"I told you to send in those papers." He said.

"Why should I have to worry about trivial things like that?"

"Well it's not so trivial now that you're being kicked out of the country is it?" he smirked, arching a mocking brow.

Natsumi's jaw dropped, but her glare only intensified. "You should have done it for me. That's what I pay you for."

Akito rolled his eyes. "I had the flu. I was out for three days, it's not my fault you forgot to fill out the paperwork and give it to me before the deadline hit."

"Look!" she held her hands up in a silencing and placating manner. "Just chill. This will all work out, we just need to get to the immigration office and fill out a fiancé visa, and we're good to go."

"I'm not going to marry you."

She blinked, looking surprised. "What. Why?"

He just looked at her like it was the most obvious answer in the world. "There is no way I'm going to be stuck with you for the rest of my life. I have a hard enough time dealing with you ten hours a day, five days a week. And you don't even give me weekends off half the time, forcing my life to revolve around you." He said. "And now that Mr. Truitt and his associate think I'm going to get a promotion, something you've denied me for two years, I don't see why I should help you." Then he smirked. "Besides, you didn't ask me nicely."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He said, his smirk widening.

She placed both her hands on her hips, sticking one out a bit. "What does that even mean?"

"That means that I want you to get down on one knee and propose to me like you mean it." he ordered, pointing to the floor. "Now." He said, before she could argue.

Natsumi's eyes widened. "You have got to be kidding me." When his smirk didn't let up, she sighed and offered him her hand. He took it and allowed her to help herself down to her knees, since she was in a skirt after all. Once she was down, she looked up at him, a small glare on her face. "Will you marry me." She ground out.

"No." he said, releasing her hand and crossing his arms. "Now say it like you mean it, or I walk out of this office, and go fill out my paperwork."

Her glare only increased, but she sucked it up and allowed it to recede. When she met his gaze once more, she leaned forward and rested her hands on his thighs. "Oh dear, dear, sweet and sexy Akito. Won't you be my hubby?" she pouted. "I would be ever so giddy and happy."

"Fine." He said, moving away from her and causing her to fall forward, since she didn't have anything to hold her up. He would have stayed put, but he didn't want to have an unsightly reaction to her proximity to his member. He walked towards the door to her office and grasped the handle. "By the way, I'm taking next week off."

Natsumi felt surprise for like the millionth time that day. "What? You can't take off. Where are you going? We need to see this thing through." She commended, attempting to help herself up in her heels. She managed to get up and dust herself off, before walking back over to him.

"I'm going to my parent's house for a family reunion. We have one every year, but I was never able to go to any of them until now." He said, giving her an accusing look. "And it will take the entire week."

"You can't go." She said, sounding final. "We have a lot to do here."

"No, you have a lot to do here." He said. "I will have my work finished before leaving, and if it's that important, suck it up and hire a temp." he told her. "Either way, I'm taking the week off."

"But-" She was cut off when he shut the door behind him. She glared at the wood and went back to her desk. "If this doesn't work, he is so fired."