Disclaimer: All character names and concepts are credited to Masashi Kishimoto. All events of the story are fictional; therefore if it coincides with any other artist's work, it was unintentionally done. Please enjoy!
"So you girls are from Sanban High school near the edge of this district huh?" Naruto asked with a wide smile. So far the goukon didn't seem too daunting, rather she found these girls to be pleasant. He can deal with pleasantness.
"Yeah. The school of course is not like yours, but it's most definitely a cool place." Sakura grinned back. She liked this kid with blonde hair. Sure, he is a bit on the goofy side but she liked his honesty. However, the person she liked more was the raven hair guy. "Hey Sasuke, you have any hobbies like playing tennis?" Sakura pumped up her chest and her face gleamed with pride as she spoke. "I'm the captain of our school's tennis team and last year we even made it to the nationals. If you ever need help with practicing and improving tennis, you should call me."
Not willing to lose to her friend in getting some attention, Ino followed Sakura by saying,"Sakura is very good at playing tennis,but she's extremely brutal when it comes to sports. She might hurt you." Ino placed a hand on her chest, trying to emphasize her body and said, "I'm the vice president of the film club, and I'm sure I can make both you and I into Hollywood stars. Right Sasuke? What do you say?"
Sai smiled contently to himself. He see this happen all the time in school; the female students vying for Sasuke's affections. These three girls were probably no different. He was more interested in how Sasuke was going to deal with this. He continued to sip quietly on his side of the table.
"Neh Neh, Sakura-chan,I need help with tennis. I'm going to be joining a tournament two months from now. Can you give me some pointers on how I can get better?" Naruto tried to regain Sakura's attention by asking politely.
Still looking at Sasuke, Sakura answered, "Of course! You will come too, right? Sasuke?" Sakura's eyes were gleaming with hope.
Sasuke didn't say much but looked at Hinata. He thought she looked familiar when he entered the cafe and was trying to remember. All of sudden it hit him that she was the girl that was standing on the street, staring at cherry blossoms. Something about her really intrigued him. Not to mention she didn't look half bad. Perhaps she'll just become one of his other conquests.
"Hinata-chan, are you in any clubs in school?" Sasuke asked with a light tone, trying to make small talk. If there's one thing he noticed was Hinata didn't seem inclined to talk.
"N-n-no, I'm not." After making her shaky reply, she picked up her cup and started sipping her orange juice.
At this point, Sasuke thought it might be better to take it slowly with Hinata because she seems to be the shy type. Well, at least its nothing he can't handle.
"It's almost time for us to get home." Sasuke stated flatly. "Perhaps you girls would like to come out and meet with us again?" He was sure that Sakura would take up this opportunity for the other two girls; apparently she's the leader of the girl pack.
"Of course we would love to!" Sakura answered happily.
"B-but, Sasuke, I don't need to go home-" Naruto was cut off by Sai.
"Contact us when you want to meet. It would be our pleasure to see you girls again." Sai said with his smooth rich voice. "Til next time." The three guys stood up, paid the check and left the building.
Sakura and Ino were, by this time, completely enamored by the Sasuke.
"Wasn't he gorgeous? And so gentlemanly too!" Sakura squealed with delight.
"I know. I can't believe that they wanted to meet us again! I'm not too sure if my heart can handle that much." Ino jumped in joy.
Hinata didn't pay too much attention to her friends because she couldn't get over how creepy Sasuke was; she noticed he was staring at her quite a bit. Her only comforting thought was returning home and seeing Neji, but who knows whether he'll be there when she gets back.
"Remember to add some of the data analysis details to the proposal. We want to make it as fool proof as possible." Hyuuga Hiashi was discussing the last minute corrections with Neji. "Make sure when you present the benefits of the project to the investors. We wouldn't want them to doubt our choice in merging with the Uchiha Oil corporate."
"Yes, sir." Neji responded.
"Very well. You are dismissed." Hiashi returned to the work on his table, while Neji exited the office. He checked the time to see if he could run to the patissier to get vanilla swirl chocolate mousse cake for Hinata. This afternoon had been upsetting for Hinata and he wanted to do something to cheer her up.
Thinking back, he had always found ways to cheer Hinata up. That is only natural since they grew up together. Besides that, Hinata had accepted him for who he was, providing a place or home for him. She never treated him like a servant, but as an equal. However, he couldn't repay her for her kindness,neither can he admit to his true feelings because that would be over stepping the boundaries. Life was filled with these tribulations.
A knock disrupted his thoughts. "Come in," said Neji.
"Sir, the data analysis from Shirokawa Firm has been received. I have it right here." Kurenai, Neji's assistant left the papers on the table. She had looked over Neji since he was very young and had supported him in all his endeavors. In addition to his business affairs, she was familiar with his personal life, especially how he truly felt about Hinata. But she wasn't going to tell Neji how to run his life.
"Thank you Yuhi-san." Neji took the papers and began reviewing it.
"Bucchou, isn't today Hyuuga-sama's birthday?" Neji's headed lifted from the papers in response to Kurenai's question. "I don't mean to pry but I believe a girl's sixteenth birthday is very important. If you want, I can help you finish the details on the proposal?" Kuranai kindly suggested.
After a few moments of comtemplating, he gave in and answered, "Fine." He got up and walked to door. Before he exited, he made one last request, saying, "Yuhi-san, can you call Mont Blanc Cafe to order a vanilla swirl chocolate mousse cake? I want it ready by the time I get there."
Kuranai replied in her professional manner, "Yes, will do sir." With that, Neji left his office.
Kakashi was sitting in his room reading Icha Icha novel. He was up to the exciting part where the main character was being seduce by a female staff in the ryoukan when all of sudden Hinata walked into his room. Still reading his book, he greeted Hinata. "Welcome back, Ojou-sama. Did you have fun with Neji-kun?"
Hinata looked sullenly at the table as she down near Kakashi. He caught the hint from Hinata that her plans were spoiled. Half immersed into his book, half concerned about Hinata's situation,he continued his prying. "He told you he didn't have time for you huh." Kakashi's knew that his guess was right. This was a method he used when he wanted Hinata to spill her issues. He learned through the years, in order to get Hinata to talk is to give her the choice to tell you because trying to yank her heart open is more difficult than finding gold.
She nodded in reply. "Kakashi-san?" she looked at sadly.
"Don't worry about it." Kakashi patted Hinata on the head. "Neji-kun is that kind of person who keeps his feelings to himself. His sense of duty is strong, but that doesn't mean he doesn't think of anything else."
Hinata always felt comforted by Kakashi because he says what she wanted to hear.
Neji suddenly opened the door to the room, startling Hinata.
"Welcome back our Prince-sama. A-re a-re... what do we have here?" Kakashi was eying the thing that Neji was trying to conceal. Knowing that he should leave them alone, he tried to excuse himself. "Well if you don't mind, I'm going to continue with my reading. You guys have fun." With that, Kakashi left the room.
"Hinata, happy birthday." In saying that, he revealed, from behind him, a well garnished marble like mousse cake. It was decorated with raspberries and chocolate shavings. Right in the center of the cake was an already lit candle. Hinata's eyes glowed with glee and she was overflowed with joy.
"Thank you Neji" she said with feeling.
"Make a wish." Neji nodded toward the candle.
Hands tightly clasped together, Hinata focused on making her wish and hoping that it will come true. In one puff, she blew out the candles. She smiled at Neji, unable to conceal her happiness and Neji smiled back. They were truly alone together at that moment.
"So what did you wish for?" Neji asked while he cut the cake and handed a slice to Hinata.
"It's a S-E-C-R-E-T." Hinata grinned widely at Neji. "Neh, Neji. Remember when we were younger, we used to climb up that cherry tree in the backyard?"
"Of course. You had me quite scared that time. You climbed so high and fell to the ground. I didn't know what to do then when you were crying uncontrollably." Neji shivered at the memory.
"Well, it did hurt a lot." She puffed her cheeks up as to fake a strong appearance. " A-anyhow, remember what you said to me that time?"
Neji tried to recall the words and realized what Hinata was trying to get at.
"You told me that I shouldn't ever do anything dangerous because you will always be there to protect me." Hinata eyes turned to the half eaten cake on the table. "I..." She hesitated for a bit. "Will you protect me...forever?"
Neji's face darkened with emotions. He couldn't keep to that promise because it would never be allowed. "I'm sorry." In saying that, he left Hinata in the room, crying. "I'm sorry" he whispered to himself.
Hiashi sighed. "So that's what the investors said, huh? That they won't agree to the proposal unless we ensure that our chances in merging with Uchiha Oil is 100% success."
"Yes. Unfortunately the last venture that we propose to the company about building a hotel with an aquarium had cost us a 80 million dollars when we had persuaded them we will rake in a 20% profit. The stocks had also suffered a bit due to a lack of confidence on our failure." Neji explained.
Hiashi was rubbing his head, completely stressed over the finances of the company. From the other people's point of view, the company was vibrant and successful. However in actuality, it's facing money problems, and due to the investors distrust of the CEO's decision, it was difficult to get funds for new projects. "This merging is vital to the company." Hiashi didn't like the fact that they were running out of options. The time was ticking and something must be done with the circumstances. "Neji,what are our alternatives?"
"We don't really have much of choice other than proposing better proposal to Uchiha Oil. They probably want a larger portion in stocks of the company. If we can see it at a lower price-" Neji was cut off by Hiashi.
"Is that the only way?" Hiashi walked to the window and stared beyond the glass. He knew that there was another way but it seemed Neji refused to say it. "We must ally ourselves to the Uchiha through marriage." Hiashi shook his head. "Hanabi is too young to leave the house. Our only option is to have Hinata marry to the Uchiha son."
"Must we do that? Must we sacrifice Hinata for the sake of the company!" Neji slammed his fist against the table in frustration.
"She is a Hyuuga! She was born to this family and she has a duty to fulfill her role for the family, which is to uphold the Hyuuga house in status and fortune!" Hiashi yelled back. Then he patted Neji on the back as if to smooth his feathers and said calmly, "If we had a choice, I would have done the alternative. As of now, we don't have much choice. I have workers' livelihood that I need to maintain. There's no time to be selfish. You understand right?"
"Yes, I understand," Neji replied softly. It didn't seem that they had a choice. His sense of honor and duty, again, came into conflict with his feelings for Hinata. He's not sure whether he should choose his duty over Hinata or not. What shall he choose?
Another chapter out! Luckily my family has been out during the day otherwise I wouldn't have been able to gain internet access to write and upload. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Like always, please leave me your feedback so I may improve my writing or the story. I already have the anticlimax and ending of the story pretty much planned out but I just need the plot that builds up to it. Other than that, everything should be fine. Later on there will be more characters to be introduced to the story. Hopefully, I will get the next chapter out soon. Again, thank you for your support. :)
* Oh yeah the business stuff I included, like merging and whatever, I'm not actually that familiar with it. If I need to correct certain things, please let me know.
Arigatou Gozaimasu.