Juxtaposition

Chapter Four

-Living Hell-

"I hate it Talia." Hikari whined, hitting her head on their usual table at the Starbucks the blonde worked at. "I hate it so much." She shook her head back and forth, not even looking up.

"I thought you were mega excited about this job?" Talia asked, sipping at her coffee. She was in her uniform as usual, since the two always spent her break together.

Hikari sat up and sighed. "I was, until I met my boss." She locked gazes with the blonde. "It's the man I slept with. From the bar."

Talia burst into laughter. "No way!"

"It's not funny." She pouted, taking a large gulp from her coffee. Thank god today was a Saturday and she didn't have to go in to work. At least she hoped she didn't. She'd had to give Noriaki her cell number in case he needed her for anything, though she didn't understand why he would need to call her outside of business hours. "He's so anal about everything, and it all has to be specific. Not to mention that I have to walk around with a fake smile on my face, and always happy, and say, 'Yes Mr. Noriaki, of course Mr. Noriaki, can I do anything else for you Mr. Noriaki?'" she mimicked, pasting a fake smile on her face and using a squeaky voice to make the entire thing more dramatic. She exhaled harshly, blowing her bangs from her face. "It's like they want their secretaries to have no personality at all, and just walk around like mindless drones."

"Well I doubt he would get mad at you for having a personality, and that's what secretaries do. They sit silently and make their bosses' lives easier." The younger girl pointed out. "Besides, I bet you get paid amazingly, unlike this dead-end job."

She shook her head. "That's the only thing keeping me going, knowing how much money I'll be getting in my paycheck." She rested her chin in her palm, setting her elbow on the table. "I just wish I'd gotten to work for his brother, like originally planned. I met him the other day. He's so nice, and a pretty easy boss to work for. Helen even gets to leave early, because he doesn't like to stay late." She smiled slightly. "He doesn't like to be away from his wife that long, or keep her waiting. Isn't that sweet?" she sighed. "That's the kind of man I need."

"You would eat a man up if he were like that." Talia scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No offense Hikari, but you're kinda in everyone's face. You need a man who can subdue you, but at the same time will be tender and love you."

"Yeah, well, other than my life becoming a living hell, I do have some good news for you." she smiled, perking up and taking another drink of her coffee.

This seemed to perk up the poor coffee maker. "What's that?"

"I heard around the office that some jobs are opening up. Just small stuff, but I know you'd totally be able to do it. Do you want me to get you an application? I can already guarantee you'd be getting paid more than you make here in a year, and you get benefits, and you'd have better hours." She said.

"I dunno." Talia sighed, leaning back in her chair, looking exhausted. "That's a big company, and if I leave here and work there, what if I get fired?"

Hikari was about to speak, until she glanced at the door and went wide eyed, a look of horror coming to her face. Before Talia could ask what was wrong with her friend, the chair next to her was pulled out, and the dark haired man that Talia had a crush on sat down without a word.

Both women looked over, utterly speechless. "Um…" Talia said softly, a dark blush spreading across her cheeks, "Can I help you?"

"Not yet." He said, resting his elbow on the table and looking at Hikari. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Aren't you my brother's new secretary?" he asked. "The one he slept with?"

"Um…yes, I am." Hikari said, a blush coming to her cheeks.

"Thought so." He looked back at Talia, who was just staring at him.

With deep green now on her, Talia turned a darker shade of red. "I don't understand what's happening right now."

"I am waiting for you to finish your break." He explained with a slight tilt of his lips. "Instead of interrupting it this time."

She blinked, "Oh…um…well if you're in a hurry, I could always-" she moved to get up and almost knocked over her own cup, which had he not caught would have spilled all over him. "I am so sorry!" Talia gasped, she could hardly feel her face anymore.

"It's no trouble." He said, placing his other hand on her arm and easing her back into her seat. "Just relax," he teased, setting her cup farther away from him, and her, for that matter.

"But I don't want you to be waiting, I know you must have a lot of things to do." She covered her face, trying to take deep breaths. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize. A few minutes of your company is worth the wait." He said.

Hikari just sat back and watched the two, trying to keep the smile off her face. It was so clear that they liked each other, despite what Talia said.

The blonde peeked through her fingers and finally lowered her hands, "So…you know Hikari?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

"Not really."

"We've never been introduced." Hikari said. "But I have heard about Sanosuke, obviously. I have to coordinate schedules with his secretary on a few occasions, should he and Noriaki need to be in the same meeting."

Sanosuke sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Oh! So you work over at Uchiha Inc." Talia nodded and then went wide eyed. "You're an Uchiha?!"

He nodded, and then turned to face her. "Uchiha Sanosuke." he said, holding his hand out to her. "I forgot to introduce myself earlier."

She took his hand nervously and shook it. "Utagawa Talia. It's an honor to meet you, I mean, everybody knows about you guys."

"Another unfortunate thing." He said as he released her hand.

Hikari frowned. "So Sanosuke, are you going in to work or something?" she asked, nodding to his attire, which was what he usually wore in the office.

He nodded. "I like to go in on Saturdays because nobody else is there to bother me. Especially my family."

"Do you not like them?" Talia asked innocently enough.

"I do." He said. "But I see them five days of the week, and sometimes more so when my mother plans a family dinner over the weekend."

Talia smiled, holding up a pointed finger. "You should treasure your time with your family. You never know what you have till it's gone."

"You've never met his family." Hikari snickered, taking a drink of her coffee. "They're an interesting bunch, to say the least."

"Nonetheless, it's still nice to have family that gets to be together." the blonde sighed.

Sanosuke looked at Talia, intrigue lighting his gaze. "So your family is not close, I take it?" he asked.

"My dad died when I was really little and my mom was killed by my step-dad. So no…not really close." She said simply, strangely calm about letting him know such intimate information, though Hikari knew her friend better than that.

His eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry, if I said something that offended you." he said. "I'm told I do that a lot."

She waved off the matter and stood, "No worries. That was a long time ago and he's rotting in prison." Talia sighed, picking up her coffee cup and walking around them. "I'll go make your coffee for you." She said, heading behind the counter.

Seeing the concern marring the Uchiha's brow, Hikari sighed. "You didn't offend her, trust me. It's just a very touchy subject. I'm surprised she even told you." she said.

"Hm." Was all he said as he rose and walked to the counter, watching closely as Talia made his coffee. She set it on the counter and rang up his order, not even telling him the total, as he had already taken out the proper amount. As she reached out to take the change from him, Sanosuke grasped her hand in his, causing her to look up at him sharply. "I do not wish to ever put such a look on your face ever again, and for that, I apologize." He told her, lifting her captive hand and kissing it. "I hope the rest of your day goes well, Talia. And thank you for the coffee." And with a small, lopsided smile, he folded her now limp hand around the money, grabbed his cup, and exited the shop.

Talia blinked, watching as he left as another huge blush spread across her cheeks. There was no way that had really just happened. She glanced down and looked at the bill, seeing it was much more than his drink had cost. Hikari rose from her seat and practically hopped over to the counter, a huge smile on her face. "He so likes you." she said. "I mean if I didn't think so before, I definitely do now."

"He so does not." The blonde protested weakly, unwanted thoughts swirling around in her head.

"He kissed your hand Talia." The violet-eyed woman deadpanned. "Which looked totally romantic, by the way."

Talia blew some of her bangs from her eyes. "That's just because he talks all formal like he's from feudal Japan. Anything sounds romantic when you talk like that, and it could mean anything Hikari." She huffed. "He's an Uchiha, I'm the coffee shop girl. There's no way it would ever happen. I mean for goodness sake his dad married a neurosurgeon who looks like a freaking supermodel. Not to mention I heard his older brother married a superrich heiress."

"So you're saying you wouldn't be interested in working with him?" Hikari smirked.

The blush returned to her cheeks. "I'm just saying it's unlikely…and it might be nice to have some different scenery and…the occasional glimpse of him might be nice instead of the few minutes every morning."

"Then I'll be sure to put in a good word for you and get the people in HR your information." The other woman nodded. "But you won't hear anything until next week."

"Why don't you just seduce your boss? By your story it seems like he knows how to get anything he wants." She suggested with a sly smirk. "If I recall you said sex with him blew your mind and your knees. You could hardly even stand when you came home the next morning."

A dark blush came to Hikari's cheeks at the memory. "I can't, it's so unprofessional." She shook her head. "It was different when he was a stranger, but now that we work together, and people gossip in that place like no other, especially the secretaries…I don't want to be seen as the woman who tries to sleep her way to the top. And Noriaki would never allow that to affect our working relationship anyways. As it is now, he hasn't so much as hit on me, so I don't even know why he wanted me for his secretary in the first place."

Talia shrugged. "Just ask him. I'm curious to know as well. So why not go for the kill?"

"Maybe I will." Hikari said, tapping her chin with her pointer finger, appearing thoughtful. "I could ask him on Monday. He doesn't have any meetings scheduled, and only one client consultation, so it's not like I would be bothering him."

"Sounds good." Talia giggled and then shooed her friend away. "Now get lost, I think you're making my manager angry."

She smiled. "If he mentions it, tell him I said to kiss my ass." She winked, picking up her cup and leaving the coffee shop. As she walked down the street she thought about Monday, and the work waiting for her. She only hoped she had the lady-balls to ask Noriaki why he'd hired her. Because part of her was afraid of the answer.