A/N: The October update has come at the beginning of November. - Mufin
Warning: This story is rated T.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Custody ~MufinXoxo
Chapter 7: In theory, invitations should make people happy
*Tenten*
Not much had happened since Tenten's birthday; she didn't clearly remember getting home at that. The morning after her birthday, her alarm clock had woken her along with a pounding headache and a runny nose. Somehow she'd contracted a cold in the chilly evening the night before, so she had called work and excused herself from attending. Konan hadn't minded (Tenten had done enough overtime already anyway).
She had dragged herself to the kitchen, only to find Sasuke sitting there, drinking black coffee. As soon as he had seen her he had appeared shocked, before he had burst out laughing, before he had turned around and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders had still been shaking.
He had refused to tell her what had occurred the night before, hinting at various absurd and embarrassing scenarios she had apparently insinuated, as drunk as she had been. When she had asked if they are true, he had simply turned around to his coffee and said 'no'.
It had been very strange. Needless to say she had therefore been very suspicious the past two weeks, and she was strongly suspecting that Sasuke was avoiding her, for some reason she couldn't fathom.
Had she really been that drunk? Even in her drunken state she shouldn't forget what he had done in the past.
###
In her usual fashion, as soon as the alarm clock rang Tenten slammed her hand down on it. She crawled out of bed, glancing at the bright red display to reassure herself that there was a reason for her getting out of bed in such a dismal way.
05:45 MON 23 MARCH it read.
Urgh. It was so early.
She got out of bed and quickly got ready, pulling on more formal clothes than normal. She wore a black pencil skirt and blazer along with black stockings and a red blouse. Today she was going to have a special meeting at work with investors for a project they had been working on, and she refused to make a bad impression.
Striding out of her room, she knocked on the door opposite, "WE ARE LEAVING IN TEN MINUTES!"
Tenten could hear some cursing on the other side of the door, but she chose to ignore it, quickly fixing herself some cereal. When Sasuke came into the kitchen, he was grumbling something about the 'ineffectivity of counselling and how it only caused more stress, as opposed to relieving it'.
"Are you ready to go?" Tenten inquired.
Sasuke looked up, directly meeting her eyes after practically two weeks of avoiding them. Tenten felt heat course through her body, so she fled the table, dumping her bowl in the sink.
"Sure." he replied, and Tenten could hear the smirk in his voice at her sudden reaction. She felt her blood boil in annoyance, so she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and turned around, staring back into the depth of Sasuke's eyes.
This, for some peculiar reason, only made his smirk, which she could now see stretched clearly across his face, grow even bigger.
"Then we are leaving. Now." she curtly stated, turning around and striding to the front door, more annoyed at how she had reacted than anything Sasuke had said.
###
*Sasuke*
Tenten had blatantly ignored him the whole car ride. Not that he could really complain, considering how he had avoided her the past two weeks. Unbidden thoughts sometimes crossed his mind when he spoke to her, and he had tried suppressing those to the best of his ability.
Sasuke let himself into the grey office, not bothering to knock. His 'counsellor' was expecting him anyway.
"Ah, Sasuke-kun!" Orochimaru positively beamed at Sasuke as he sat down in the chair opposite the desk. "How have you been?"
Sasuke ignored him, staring at the wall and the clock on it. Only 57 minutes left...
"Now, Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't ignore me!" Orochimaru pouted, just as Kakashi entered. "How are things progressing with Akiyama-san?"
Sasuke frowned, "There is nothing to progress on. Absolutely. Nothing."
"Now, don't be that way, Uchiha. You didn't even tell us how her birthday dinner went last week." Kakashi added, taking a seat.
"I did. We went out for dinner. We ate dinner. We went home. Nothing more."
"Home?" Orochimaru inquired innocently, eyes sparkling.
"Yes, back to the apartment."
"You think of the apartment as home?" Orochimaru looked like he was about to explode with barely contained glee.
"Temporary home." Sasuke bit out. He still had a real home, but he hadn't been there in ages.. not that they would be extremely happy to see him return.
"Well that aside, we have organised a spectacular opportunity for you, Uchiha."
Sasuke stared at Kakashi in disbelief. Anything that man considered 'spectacular' was probably neighbours with his worst nightmare.
"This weekend, you and Akiyama-san are invited to a training camp. No questions asked, you are going."
Sasuke swore he could hear Orochimaru quietly cackling to himself.
###
*Tenten*
After arriving in the shop, Tenten hurriedly prepared everything with Konan and Temari. Nervously Tenten and Temari fluttered around, dusting this and rearranging that. Konan, on the other hand, maintained her cool façade, no bead of sweat breaking on her forehead.
Finally a chime could be heard, announcing a visitor. Konan confidently strode past them, into the open area whilst Tenten and Temari reluctantly followed.
Their little shop was now filled with six people; Konan, relaxed as ever; Temari, readjusting her skirt; Tenten, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face; an old man, with greying hair; a young woman, with blond hair elegantly brushed into a ponytail and dark eyes; and Hyuuga Neji, glancing around the shop.
Tenten's eyes widened in panic. No, please no, just not him.
"Welcome." Konan spoke, a smile gracing her features. "Please, follow me." She walked ahead and the old man, the woman and Neji followed her.
"Why him?" Tenten muttered to Temari.
Her friend only gave her a sorry glance, nodding that she understood Tenten's predicament before following.
After welcoming pleasantries had been exchanged and everyone was seated, Konan spoke;
"It's a surprise to see you here, Hyuuga Neji-san. I was expecting your cousin, who said she wanted to become our benefactor."
"Hinata-hime is feeling unwell today." the older man explained. Tenten remembered him briefly; he had been a high ranking servant of the Hyuuga house, back then when she used to visit regularly, back then when things were still right, back then when she thought her world was perfect.
"I offered to come in her place." Neji elaborated further, "She will most likely be present at the next meeting."
"Very well." Konan produced a folders, handing each of the three visitors one, "Please look through these. They are new designs we would be planning to create with your investment, additionally hiring another employee to cope with the extra workload. Based upon our last sales, the profits of this plan would be measurable, of which the Hyuuga household, as our investor, would receive certain percentages."
"I don't particularly like this design," the blond woman said, "I think it's too simple."
Tenten, Temari and Konan glanced at the design to which she was referring. Tenten noticed with a feeling of impending dread that she had designed those certain earrings, after a lot of tears and research on the types of metals needed to make it economically suitable. It was an intricate leaf design, for which she had already begun to create the mould because Konan had claimed it very 'pretty and well thought out'.
Getting proper praise form Konan was more difficult then running eleven marathons through an exploding volcano that smothered everything in its ash and lava.
Tenten also noticed that her name, as the designer, was scribbled at the bottom of the page. That woman was targeting her! What a-
"And you are?" Konan asked, her clear voice cutting through Tenten's mental cursing spree before it even started. Konan's piercing grey eyes were focused on the woman, her tone of voice probably to freeze hell over.
The woman cowered back a fraction, before straightening herself and boldly answering, "I am Nii Yugito."
Konan looked at the women pointedly. She immediately felt the need to elaborate further under Konan's icy look.
"I am a business partner of the Hyuuga household."
"That does not explain why you are here." Temari pointed out matter-of-factly.
Neji spoke up, "She's here with me. Yugito-san and I are currently engaged in a relationship, so I asked her to accompany us."
"Well, Hyuuga-san, I would greatly enjoy it if you split your personal and private lives, or at least if you did not meld them together in my shop." her condescending stare would have even made Sasuke stumble over himself to apologise, Tenten was sure. "Now could we please continue with the matter at hand, with only the parties that it concerns partaking in the conversation?"
"Of course, Konan-san." the older man agreed, for what else could he say, really?
Yugito excused herself, and whilst all eyes were trained on her as she left (including those of Neji, Tenten noticed with slight resentment) Konan winked at Tenten.
Tenten thoroughly enjoyed having such an awesome boss.
###
When Tenten got home, she found Sasuke lying on the couch flicking through channels at lightning speed.
"Why can't men just stick with one channel? Or one thing for that matter. Stupid, male race!" she shouted at Sasuke after observing him for a minute. She also hurled her keys at him in frustration, although he caught them, eyes slightly widened by her sudden outburst.
She stomped into the kitchen, and opened the shelves, looking for pasta that she could make for dinner. After Yugito had left the business talk had gone well, but Tenten couldn't help but feel Neji's reproachful stare on her from time to time.
Was it her fault now that they had broken up? The relationship had been great, until he had started becoming such a self-absorbed bastard with a stick up his ass, just around the time when her problems were piling up due to a certain Uchiha's criminal record anyway. He had thought she was cheating on him, Tenten was sure of that. But she hadn't been. Then he had dumped her, saying he needed some time apart due to the stress. He was stressed? Well, he didn't seem stressed now, having already found someone else to happily spend his evening with doing god knows what.
"I hope you're going to be happy with your pretty house and pretty future wife." Tenten told the pasta, throwing it into the boiling water.
More than anything, it still hurt.
"Er, Tenten?" Sasuke's voice sounded from the doorway.
"What?" she scowled at him.
"We have to go on a training camp this weekend. The perverted prison chief said we have to."
"Well, fuck him." Tenten replied.
She really needed to stop swearing when she became angry, it wasn't very becoming of a lady such as herself.
A/N: So, initially I never planned to include so many Sasuke point of view bits, but I enjoy writing them, so meh, whatever, he even got a whole chapter to himself last time ;) It will mostly be his sessions with Orochimaru, however, when it's his POV, but I think you guys like his perspective?
Also, in the manga Konan actually has grey eyes (unlike amber in the anime), so I decided to go along with the colour the wonderful and amazing artist intended it to be. :) -Mufin
