Story Note: Ten's last name Yukari is not her actual last name- its the last name of her voice actor.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hyuuga or badass Ten

Please Enjoy :)

Prologue:

"Have you ever tried to reach your pre-determined destiny but fail continuously?"

Lavender eyes searched for some form of response from the girl lying beside him…

...She glanced over to him, dark brown eyes determined and confident but warm...

"I don't believe in pre-determined destiny…and I think that's just an excuse for not reaching your goal…"

The man frowned and brought his gaze back to the dark night sky above him. The mixed scent of fresh grass and flowers pleasantly over-whelmed his senses as he lay in the grass field…

"But…our destiny connects us with the rest of the world, it links us, holds us responsible for our mistakes and successes…surely you must believe in some kind of a fate…"

...He looked over at her again, desperate to gain her conformity just in time to see a slight smile grace her pale rose-colored lips…

"Fate doesn't decide our lives for us, we do…"

Chapter 01

Bitter Monday Mornings

Executive Office 8:15am

"I think I've had enough of this...you can clean out your desk and go."

A brief silence followed the curt, yet cutting statement as the employee gave her now former boss an incredible mix between surprise and absolute livid.

"May I ask why, and with what authority?" She asked, raising a perfectly lined eyebrow.

The man sitting opposite her gave her a slightly irritated look and in return received a rather menacing glare from the blonde woman before him. What he would give to just shove this woman out his door and slam it without facing harassment charges.

Instead, he kept his eyes glued to his pavilion screen in the hopes that the conversation they were currently engaged in would somehow evaporate eventually into thin air—however, applying the laws of high-school chemistry to such a mindless situation would be taking more than enough energy from his already irritated brain cells and that, he didn't want to do. So instead, he decided to ignore her. Less brain cells, more energy, save the world. Or something like that.

On the other hand, the blonde woman was fighting to keep her countenance from bursting into fits of steam, fuming and waiting for a damn good reason as to why she was being fired - or I am seriously going to have to break a nail beating one out of him…

She was trying her hardest not to start swearing aloud at her boss repeatedly…but shit, it was getting fucking harder not to yell anything at this stuck-up ass-hole-of-a-boss father put me on the bandwagon for…

The silence continued to follow again between employee and employer, this time for about a minute and a half…

The woman continued to look…or rather, glare at her superior for some kind of explanation, response…anything that would pinpoint the reason for this sudden change of events.

Pale, smooth fingers continued to shuffle through files and occasionally would, from time to time clickity-click its way across the sleek white key-tabs of his notebook.

Okay…be a good girl and be polite to the bastard now…

"I don't think I quite understand Hyuuga-sama," she started again, ignoring the urge to just reach over there and throttle the bejesus out of him. "Have I made some kind of an error on the recent reports? If so, I will fix them immediately."

Amethyst stone eyes were still fixated on the pavilion screen of his notebook as the woman tried again to re-avert his attention to her.

"Hyuuga-sama?" The woman asked again, knowing she was being pointedly ignored and felt her left-eye twitch. Even though she was surprised as she was irritated at what was going on, she knew that he at least owed her a legitimate explanation.—emphasis on legitimate.

"The tea you made this morning…was terrible." He finally responded, still not looking up at her. "No sugar was added."

Bitter people don't deserve sweets. Her thoughts spilled out on automatic. The woman with much effort, tried to refocus her attention to the present as she then asked, "So…due to my lack of proficiency in 'making tea', you have decided to fire me, sir?"

She couldn't believe this- Tea? This was insane…

The Hyuuga CEO paused from his shuffling and re-shuffling of papers, his un-wavering and stony expression already dutifully pulled over his handsomely pale features.

Incredibly pale yet gorgeous lavender eyes flickered up at her and held its gaze at the young woman. She couldn't help but squirm slightly at the uncomfortable and rather intent way the Hyuuga man was watching her as he continued his statement. It was like she was on surveilance.

"You lack style and the management skills needed as a manager of this particular project. The majority of proposals that were handed in failed to show any versatility whatsoever...and this company is all about versatility—we not only strive to be original, we demand it."

The woman stood quietly, not breaking eye-contact. It was unnerving her a bit that the young Hyuuga could say all of this with such a calm face, as if her credentials and ideas meant absolutely nothing to this company.

Pale lavender eyes still bore into the blue eyes of the blonde woman once more before finally concluding his reason for her discharge.

"Your skills in making tea reflect the uncertainty and impatience with which you conduct your work."

"But you can't really expect me to-"

"If you can't be serious about such a simple thing, how can you be serious about this company?" His attention re-focused itself to his black notebook screen once again.

"Your time here was well appreciated." He made sure to cut off anything that she might have wanted to say again as he added. "And please be sure to hand in the company key at the front desk. Thank you."

The blonde growled as he gave her a curt nod and resumed his typing.

She growled.

Oh hell no.

"Well I suppose while I'm working on the 'skills' needed to make tea, you will be working on the 'skills' needed to keep a woman and then a life." And with that she exited the room, her nose high in the air and slammed the door.

Neiji's eyes flickered towards the door and stayed for a few seconds..before immediately resuming back to his typing.

The woman stalked out of the large grey-stone building known as Hyuuga Enterprises muttering and grumbling.

She couldn't be blamed for wanting to beat the shit out of her boss for firing her. She was infuriated and if diplomacy and dignity weren't a part of her strict straining as a child, she would have done something worth the paper to the pompous bastard!

She was damn good at her job and only after working her ass off for three months at this bastard's company! Hell, what the was she going to tell her parents!

Oh, sorry mom, dad. My boss was being a shit so I told him he needs to get a laid and now I'm out of a job…what a day, huh?

Missing the sleek silver appearance of the company's BMW, she leaned against the door of her Audi and sighed.

She really wasn't looking forward to facing her parents or tell them about the 'great news' about their daughter's lay off at the company that they just happened to have a shared partnership with.

The woman sighed again, depressed and craving for bitter coffee as she started up her car.

Co-Executive Office 8:45am

"Hina-chan," a voice greeted once stepping into a brightly lit office.

Porcelain fingers paused its fervent typing as lilac eyes caught emerald orbs in easy recognition.

The Hyuuga heiress smiled, "Sakura."

Sakura nodded and smiled taking a seat opposite the other woman, "Please tell me you plan on doing something about the drama going on in there," she said to the other girl, motioning to the break-room that was filled with bickering office staff.

Hinata looked up from her computer screen, lavender eyes making their way over to the said scene.

Dear lord…not again she thought.

She really did hate the constant hiring and firing attitude that her cousin Neiji had recently began to adapt.

"You know I'm not supposed to get involved Sakura." The dark-haired girl replied to her friend. Though Neiji is being more than difficult at this time…

"Keep going on like this and all you guys are going to be left with are two CEO plaques and an empty coffee machine." She muttered, taking a seat in the brightly lit office and sipping her mocha.

Hinata laughed. "It's nothing to worry about Sakura." She smiled widely at her child-hood friend while neatly packing up the scattered papers on her desk.

"How's Sasuke-san-" Her eyes then immediately shifted back to the scattered papers "-and Naruto-san doing?"

"Uchiha is busy organizing this fund-raiser for Namco and as far as Naruto…" she looked carefully in Hinata's direction"...he's not doing too bad either, though he did mention something about Sasuke sending him over this after-noon to pick up those files."

Hinata flushed a brilliant pink, accidentally knocking over her pen organizer.

"Is t-that so? Well I wasn't in-informed of that up until n-now Sakura." She gave her a somewhat disapproving look mixed with embarrassment as well as apprehension.

Sakura grinned at the stuttering girl. "Well, now you know."

Sakura chuckled and sipped her coffee.

"I swear Sasuke is rubbing off on you, Sakura."

"Wha-? No way!"

"Well, thank you for informing me," Hinata smiled in her direction as she picked up the last few pens off her desk and put them into her organizer.

"My pleasure," said cherry-blossom winked before seeing an image of an all-too-familiar person.

"Here comes the Hyuuga majesty," Sakura warned Hinata, getting up immediately.

"Sakura?" Neiji raised an eye-brow at the now leaving pink-haired girl. "Leaving? Hopefully not on my account."

She gave him a brilliantly fake smile to match his very fake politeness.

"My coffee cup needs re-filling and yes, leaving most definitely on your account."

Ditching his act, he gave her a placid look.

"Tell Uchiha I need another copy of the new files for the Kariju building project."

"I'll let him know."

Sakura then left, shutting the door slowly as she gave Hinata a quick smile.

Neiji's eyes met his cousin's upon hearing the lock click.

The air immediately thinned.

"You know why I'm here. Does everyone know?"

"I don't know for sure but my father just called. We have an inquisition right now."

He folded his arms, "Are you serious? Whatever for? It can't be about her—"

"Its not, but if the other employees knew about—"

"Hinata, what for?"

The Hyuuga woman gave him a long and careful look, "Your position at the company and um whether or not you're capable of taking over branch in America next month..." She looked away uncertainly before adding, "...Emotionally that is."

"Convince me that this has absolutely nothing to do with your pet sister, Hanabi?" His voice laced with sarcasm and animosity.

"He didn't say much about her having a share here, but I'm positive she wants your position badly enough to incite him."

She gave him a reproachful look. "Either way Neiji, this is your fault."

He unfolded his arms and straighten out his tie.

"We'd better get going then."

In the boardroom 9:28am

Twitching inwardly as he entered the conference room, Neiji's eyes flickered immediately to the end of the hall, half-expecting to see his uncle.

His chair was empty.

However, to the rights and lefts of the enormous circular table, sat eleven board members conversing in hushed tones. After taking his seat to the left of the chairman's position, Neiji glanced around the plain white walls surrounding him, feeling as though he were in the interior of a hospital. The conference room was covered in ivory blind fittings, its spacious lengths over-shadowing the smaller and deeper ivory curtains covering the glass front windows. Hinata took a seat opposite his, to the right of the chairman's chair.

He tapped his fingers on the asymmetrical glass surface of the cantilevered conference table in agitation.

He was so not up for this at half past nine in the morning. There were a ton of things he would rather be doing at this very moment, and a large fraction of those things varied from contracts in need of critical attention; two files of legal documents that needed his signature and stamps as well as bank statements claiming all kinds of purchases that have left his financial department deaf-dumb when questioned about it, now that he thought about it he just fire the whole lot of them; and he was most definitely in need of a new intern. In fact two, given that he fired the blonde one just this morning—

"Do you mind moving over." a voice spoke, interrupting his inner tribulations.

Neiji's eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here?"

Hanabi smirked. "Here for your job most obviously, beloved cousin."

At that moment, a door slammed.

"I'd prefer if there was no talking from either of you," A strong voice announced upon entering the large conference room.

Everyone got up immediately bowing respectfully as Hiashi surveyed the room before he sat in the chairman's chair.

"Let us begin."

In the break-room 10:16am

"-Given that Hyuuga-sama isn't going to let her change his mind—"

"-But he can fire her, right? Hinata-sama can't do anything about anyone in his department—"

"-How do you even know that's what they're talking about? It could be about a promotion."

"—Nobody gets promoted in this place!"

"- Besides, no one cares if she leaves or not. Personally, I hated her from the very start—"

"What does that have to do with anything? She's one of our best superiors!"

"Smart, good business instincts, not to mention her family ties to the Hyu—"

"-She told me that I couldn't take my dog to the vet last week, it was either his life or mine!"

"Haha, I would have told her to kiss my—"

"-I think Hinata-sama might just hire a new manager for our department if Hyuuga-san fires her, I mean it's not like she's going to come back even if they did hire her again, right—"

"-nothing else for them to discuss. There's no project manager…so our best bet is to believe that Yamanako-san isn't coming back."

"That's true… what do you think Akimichi-san?"

"Ehh..."

"-Oi Inuzuka! Pass me another pretzel ne?"

"-Get it yourself lazy-ass."

"-She was pretty nice to me though—"

"-How come she always yells and orders me around?"

"-She orders all of us around Lee! It's her job."

"-Uh, you mean was her job—"

In the boardroom 10:25am

"It has come to my understanding that things have started to get difficult these past couple of months, specifically for you Neiji."

Hanabi tossed her dark flowing hair behind her shoulders, an ever-so-smug expression on her face, like a child watching a frog squirm underneath a piece of hot glass in a sick and very pronounced excitement.

Neiji felt like that frog at this very moment.

"It has come to my attention that when it comes to exercising your judgment on any situation period, there is need for much concern. Now according to the employee sheet, it seems you have fired twelve interns, six people from our accounting administration and two from our head office. We currently have twenty-six employees working in special projects out of the original fifty-two and there's a minimum of four newly hired personnel. Would you like to explain the depletion of our employees to me? Are we in a recession and I don't know about it?"

Neiji's eyes scanned the faces of each board member before making final eye-contact with his uncle, his voice as calm as they come.

"Many of the employees working here lacked impression and backbone. They fret, they quarrel and they seem ignorant when it comes to accepting blame. I just believed that weeding out the worst of the lot was necessary tactic for the good of the company, not as a recession gimmick."

Hanabi smiled.

"And what of Ino Yamanako, dear cousin? Did she too lack these qualities or was that a lack of serving you tea?"

"More so the latter but that's not the point—"

"-Oh really, because I thought forgetting to add 'the sugar' was the point—"

"-The tea reflected her inabilities as an employee here and since your ass doesn't even work here, I don't know why your input is—"

"That is enough... Neiji, Hanabi."

Hiashi's creased forehead and dead-serious expression shut the both of them up if his hard tone didn't do so already. On the other side of the room, Hinata sighed at the picky antics of her cousin and her sister, feeling the need to duck her head in shame. She found it damn near preposterous for Neiji to fire someone based on how well they made tea.…a bit ridiculous even for him...

Hiashi set eyes on his nephew once more. "Neiji, was that truly your reason for firing the Yamanako girl?"

"One of many—"

"-Even though you are aware that our company has a partnership with her father's?"

"Well I had to fire her. Can't even make me a proper cup of tea—"

"-So this was a personal?"

"I never implied that—"

Hiashi raise his hand in silence.

"I believe that I have heard and discussed this enough. I have made my decision on what must be done to set things back in order."

In the breakroom 10:30am

A long pink pony-tail amidst the crowd couldn't help rolling her emerald-green eyes at the scene before her.

"...This crap again." she muttered, stirring in her fourth lump of sugar in her cup of coffee. This was practically how everyday was spent in the break room at this office. Gossip. Gossip. And more gossip.

Sometimes the girl wondered if these people's lives were that much of a bore since they insisted on getting overly-excited whenever someone happened to enter the main office. Running slender fingers through the loose strands of her cherry-blossom pony-tail, Sakura Haruno stirred the rest of her sugar in and poured all of into her black coffee mug, unconsciously rubbing her thumb over the red and white 'Uchiha Corp' fan logo in white subscript printed neatly on the front.

She slipped the coffee cover over the mouth of the cup and twisted it shut. And there they go again…yeesh!

"-it could have been that Hinata-sama decided on firing her in the first place, too!"

"-Yeah, you never know if Hyuuga-sama actually made the ultimate decision in letting her go—"

Jeez, don't they ever take an actual break!

Sakura groaned again at the unprofessionalism of the gossipy office staff, she made her way out of the room. Upon exiting, she noticed the new intern lingering around the entrance to the ladies bathroom a bit too long and barked at him to get his ass back to his cubicle. Sakura shook her head in disgust and began making her way over to the superior's office.

Damn kids…

In the boardroom 10:55am

"Because it seems that making sensible decisions are something you are lacking in excess, it has been decided that you attend counseling-"

"You have got to be fucking kiddin—"

"-I believed earlier on, that it was unnecessary to do such a thing regarding your estranged wife—"

"-I don't give a shit about that—"

"-But apparently I was wrong."

Hiashi gave Neiji a stern look, a warning if he dared to interrupt him again and with swear words no less, it was not going to be pretty.

"This is my final decision. You will attend six weeks of counseling, three times a week."

Neiji resisted the urge to swear determinedly at the man, and instead opted for a glare.

This was bullshit.

"If you don't, you can forget about America. In the meantime, my daughter Hanabi will be acting co-executive until the doctor has deemed Neiji well enough to return."

This was some serious bullshit.

Hiashi got up to leave along with the rest of the board members and Hanabi in tow, smirking ridiculously. He looked to his oldest daughter. "I trust you will ensure he receives the required treatment."

Neiji looked away, feeling the need to strangle something.

Hinata bowed. "Hai, Father."

Neiji massaged the bridge of his nose, in obvious distress before banging his fist on the table.

Shit..