Technically, this is still chapter one, but please review on last chapter as well (^_^). That said, enjoy!

Chapter One: Secret Omiai (2)

The meeting had gone well.

Itachi took a sip of his wine, a pre-winter breeze dragging chilled fingers over his bare chest as he watched the sparkling Konoha city lights from his bedroom balcony. He recalled the meeting with Sakura-san, running over the event in his mind.

They'd both arrived on time. She'd seemed a bit confused, but with just enough curiosity to make him feel as if she might be receptive to his proposal. She had been very demurely and attractively dressed, in a crisp, white pantsuit and patent leather pumps. He'd caught a glimpse of their reflection in the restaurant's shiny glass artwork, and they had complemented each other satisfactorily.

The fact that their colour scheme had matched, her vibrant pink hair breaking the starkness of their black and white attire, suited them as a couple very well.

As appearances mattered to his clan, Itachi made the mental note to coordinate their apparel if and when he formally introduced her to them.

Yes, the meeting had gone very well.

Better than he'd hoped.

Although he didn't quite group her with all the other rich socialite heiresses out there, her composure had been remarkably different to what he'd expected.

Haruno-san had been quieter than he'd assumed she would be… much quieter than he'd expected, but all in all, she had seemed open to the concept of marriage. He'd been quite pleased that she'd expected him to bring some documentation; this showed that she was logical, despite her occupation as a fantasy novelist. He'd expected her to be somewhat scattered, taking that into consideration, but in fact she had been very calm.

Almost bordering on docile.

Itachi tended to like a bit more spark in his female companions, but his father would like that. He'd look down on her profession, but he'd be well pleased with her disposition and family. He'd be even more appreciative of her connections.

Itachi took another sip of wine as he thought about their conversation.

She'd accepted his words with relative ease, and while he was a bit wary of the fact that she said next to nothing to prod further into his intentions, he supposed that she probably intended to read through his proposal contract before voicing her questions and/or concerns.

'She was a bit boring…' he mused. He'd really quite expected a bit more of a reaction from her. Then again, he wasn't really interested in having an actual emotional relationship with her, so he supposed it didn't matter too much. It wouldn't be too wise for any distractions to come in at this point. That said, even his business relationships improved when his partner was at least an interesting conversationalist.

It was a bit late to retract his offer at this junction, however Itachi found himself mentally recounting the reasons why he'd initially thought this was a good idea.

The first thing, outside of her slurred confession a few months ago and the obvious draw of her family background, was that she had made a name for herself. Yes, she was the heiress, adopted or no, of the Sarutobi family, but it was impressive that she had made something of herself in a field that was completely separate.

The second thing was that she was a charitable individual. Although she was more public than he was in this regard, Itachi appreciated people that were kind and shared their excess with the less fortunate. The good image from her benevolent acts would blend nicely with his, and his merit in the public sentiment would increase.

Thirdly, she was young and beautiful, but seemed down-to-earth and reasonable. They would look good together.

Other reasons included her financial stability, assets and so on, but one of the things Itachi valued the most was her busy schedule. Should they marry, their busy schedules would keep them out of each other's hair, and they would be able to maintain lives that carried forward many of the benefits of singlehood.

They would hardly have to see each other and that suited Itachi just fine. That and the fact that they had no feelings for each other was a big plus. It would be much easier to be rational.

Itachi drained the last of the wine in his glass and poured himself a refill.

Yes.

Itachi usually took a while to make a decision, but when he did, he very rarely regretted his choices. He didn't think he would regret this one.

He allowed his mind to drift as he enjoyed the rest of his wine and the city scenery, and his mind slowly moved on to other things.

He needed to go to Amegakure.

He'd seen the most spectacular piece of land in the background of an image placed in an article he'd read, and his initial research told him that the owner might be open to selling.

He intended to pay a visit and turn that probability into certainty. He withdrew his mobile phone from his pocket and quickly used the thumb of his right hand to type a message to his assistant, reminding Yamato to book tickets for a flight two days from now.

"Don't throw it in there!"

Ino snatched the still-sealed envelope from Sakura's hand before she could toss it into the crackling fireplace.

"And I should keep it because…?" Sakura returned, trying in vain to reclaim the envelope from her best friend. The taller female held it high, just out of Sakura's reach.

"Well, because we don't know what it says yet. Why do you always make decisions without getting all the information?" Ino said on an exasperated sigh. The Yamanaka heiress had come over with chicken and beer mere minutes after Sakura had messaged her with a ten-line rant about her 'business meeting'.

"I can't think what other information I am going to need," Sakura snapped. "He's boring and rigid. He could be offering me the stars for all I care," Sakura muttered. Ino rolled her eyes.

"Kami, you are impatient. Let's at least see what the guy has to offer. He's not going to be Sasuke. No one will, and I've honestly had enough of you looking for him in other people. Pardon me for saying, but that ship has long sailed. I'm going to be one hundred percent real with you now, so brace yourself," Ino said, sticking a fried chicken leg into Sakura's hand and flopping backwards onto the couch.

Sakura didn't have time to get her wits about her before Ino continued, "Even if Hinata and those kids died or left Sasuke, and you will go to the depths of hell for ever wishing that on those sweet people, but even then Sasuke would never be satisfied with you. Give up and move on."

Ino was her best friend.

Ino knew her better than anyone did.

Ino knew how much those words would hurt, but the blonde had said them anyway, and had ripped Sakura's heart out, threw it in the dirt and crushed it with her shiny red designer heels in the process.

But Ino wouldn't be Ino if she allowed Sakura to focus on that pain much less wallow in it. She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist and withdrew the contract from its envelope before Sakura's first tear could even make it out of the duct.

"The first thing… Ohhh, lovely, it's scented. Did you realize that this paper is scented?" She shoved the expensive paper into Sakura's face, giving her a whiff of some delicate, but unmistakably manly fragrance before withdrawing it. Before Sakura's mind could even process the pain or the scent of the paper, Ino began to read.

"Okay, so the first thing on this contract is 'mandatory mutual respect'. Firm words, but I already like where this is going. That is already an improvement on all your previous relationships."

This was true, and Sakura was still unsure of which of Ino's stinging comments she should focus on while being somewhat distracted by the masculine fragrance that still lingered in the air in front of her.

This was what Ino always did.

She moved and spoke so quickly that even Sakura's legendary snap decisions couldn't keep up. By the time she processed whatever it was Ino was trying to say much less formed a conclusion, Ino would already have managed to have gotten her full point across.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but Ino steamrolled her.

"The next heading is about… 'Financials. Both parties keep and maintain their own personal accounts. After engagement, a shared bank account will be created for relationship and ceremonial expenses, and any other purchases that affect both parties, such as household items'... yada yada yada," Ino muttered as she scanned the words on the contract. "Oh! Listen to this: 'Contribution to the shared bank account is optional for the bride, and the amount of her contribution is up to her discretion should she opt in."

Sakura blinked.

Ino smirked.

Sakura wordlessly asked a question she couldn't seem to formulate into words. This was what happened when she was thrown for a loop.

"He's basically saying that he'll take care of you and you don't have to worry about money or even contributing financially to your shared life. This is what people of his kind do when the primary benefit of a proposal isn't financial. He's also saying you can contribute however much you want to, if at all."

"How do you even-" Sakura sputtered.

"It's all very clear. I mean, I know you're not a genius, but I hope you hadn't jumped to so much of a conclusion that you can't even process this much. It's really not rocket science," Ino returned.

Sakura took a deep breath and mentally shook her head.

It shouldn't be this difficult. The words on this contract so far were actually simple and direct, but she had been so against the idea from the get-go that the logical benefits were taking a bit of getting used to.

She hated this.

She took a deep breath, wanting to just stop right here and now, but Ino was relentless.

"'Family and clan events. Attendance is mandatory for both parties', yes," she said after a pause. "The 'both' is italicized," she clarified before continuing, "'and for public events as well, unless otherwise agreed upon beforehand. To facilitate this, it is proposed that a shared calendar be generated and kept up to date by both parties or their assistants, so that the schedule of the couple respects the schedules of the individuals.'" Ino stopped there and looked up at Sakura with one eyebrow raised.

"For someone that doesn't know anything about you, this proposal is almost creepily aligned to your interests."

Sakura refused to respond, but she wasn't so annoyed anymore. She was mostly salty at Ino's smugness at this point. Who wouldn't be, with someone relentlessly eye-beaming 'I told you so' at you?

Ino smirked again and continued reading. She scanned the document wordlessly, her pointer finger raised in a silent command for Sakura to be quiet, even as she nodded occasionally or 'mmhmm'd her agreement.

Sakura was beginning to get impatient, and was just about wondering why she was even obeying Ino's finger when the blonde looked up at her and grinned suggestively.

"What-" Sakura began.

"Marital obligations," Ino drawled, her eyes meeting Sakura's. As much as she despised it, hated it, and wanted to refuse its existence, a light blush tinted Sakura's cheeks.

She was curious, and she hated it.

She had to admit, that as dryly as the contract was worded, it was a contract after all, the clauses Ino had read so far were largely in her favor. If she really wasn't to be led by the desire for love, it was pretty close to perfection.

"'There are no obligations or restrictions placed on the marriage bed. Any and all marital intercourse must be consensual and at the discretion of both parties. Any extramarital affairs, however, are to be kept at a minimum and with the maximum discretion to avoid negative impact on the other party. Any extramarital affair becoming public will result in the enabling of the immediate annulment of the union, at the other party's discretion.'

"So basically," Ino continued, "It's an open-ish relationship. He's not forcing you into anything, but he's not asking you to be celibate either, and I suppose in the spirit of mutual respect, if you're planning to sleep with someone other than him, keep it on the downlow," Ino said.

"I'm not attracted to him, though," Sakura objected.

"You don't have to be," Ino replied.

"I know, I'm just saying," Sakura returned.

"He's not saying you have to sleep with him. It doesn't seem like he's desperate to get in bed with you either," Ino reasoned.

Somehow, Ino's comment and the openness of the proposed relationship status bothered her, because the thought of her potential husband having an extramarital affair was not appealing in the slightest. So she had no idea exactly why she was verbalizing her lack of attraction to him.

The words had somehow just come out.

"Is that the end of it?" she asked impatiently. She didn't want to talk about this anymore.

Even though it was pretty much normal, and she should be used to it by now, she really hated when Ino bossed her around like this. She didn't know why she allowed it, but then again, she thought morosely, pretty much everything Ino had bossed her into had worked out in her favor.

Nothing she went after herself really panned out, and Sasuke was a prime example of that. While Ino had encouraged Sakura from the get-go to consider someone like Naruto, who had clearly been enamored with her and who always let that show, Sakura had ignored her. Now, even Naruto had moved on, and she had registered as a mere blip on Sasuke's emotional radar.

"There's a bit more, but we don't need to go into it at this point," Ino said, taking a bite of chicken. "He does say that this contract, or rather this proposal, is open for negotiation. You might want to read it over yourself. Give it some serious thought, because honestly, you've been killing yourself to live up to a standard that you set by killing yourself in order to impress your family. You put so much unnecessary pressure on yourself, and while there is nothing wrong with being a high achiever, this much is unhealthy. You need to kinda get out on your own, and for someone claiming to be uninterested in love, you should either face the fact that you've been lying to yourself or that this contract is damn near perfect."

Sakura bit her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood hit her tongue. She wanted to rail and scream. Ask questions like 'What do you even know?' or 'Do you even know me?', but quite frankly, Ino did know her. Ino had been there with her every step of the way.

At this point, though, it felt like she wasn't even in control of her own life.

With all her work and her crazy schedule and her writing and traveling and publicity, the only thing she did that felt like her actual decision was related to her charities.

The words she said sometime in the past came back to haunt her. The setting was hazy, the exact words were blurred in her mind, but the feeling behind them was as clear as crystal.

"I'd much rather marry for convenience than for love. Someone financially stable and decent would be perfect for me. I just need to be able to help people. I'd be content with someone who will support me and leave me to my charities."

Ino handed the contract to Sakura as she took a sip of beer. She swallowed before continuing.

"You can present all the conditions you want met, and if he accepts, marry him and live however you want. Honestly, outside of Sasuke, which is impossible, I'm not convinced that you even know what you want for yourself or out of your own life."

The words hit Sakura like a shower of rocks. They hit her dead on, all of them, and they hurt like hell.

What made it worse was that, once again, she had no comeback apart from the stinging tears of frustration that she struggled to hold back.

As if Ino sensed her dilemma, the blonde reached for her and pulled her into a comforting half snuggle.

"Let's watch some K-drama," the blonde cooed. "The final episode of An Indispensable Assistant is finally out."

Hehe, I couldn't resist, and you guys should know what I mean by that!

Last chapter I told you I was trying for a different kind of Sakura to the type I usually write. You should be kinda able to tell more from this chapter. I think it will make for good enough character development. I'm planning to show a bit more of her next post. Also, trying for a different and more important Ino character than I have before. I'm not sure yet if I am going to include her PoV or not yet.

Are there any secondary character PoVs that you would want to see? Please let me know in the reviews or by PM!