Separate from the Tutor ones.

TITLE: Business

GENRE: Romance, Drama

RATING: K+

Our parents were involved in similar businesses, with both of us meant to take over our respective companies in the future. He had older siblings, but they'd both proven themselves unworthy of the title. He alone was mentally strong enough, smart enough, and prepared enough.

I felt that I was better than him, a man, from the start. I thought that I could take our company to new heights, surpass this man within a month of taking over, and yet that was not the path I was destined to follow.

They decided that their companies would merge.

To make it more official, they thought it would be a good idea to have the two heirs marry. This would create unity among the workers and loyal customers rather than having two co-presidents who might not agree on everything.

Our parents set up our meetings to gradually grow longer each time, so we'd get a chance to know either other over time, not all at once. It was their idea of a gift, but I didn't feel very much like I'd received a gift of any kind. If anything, I just felt more trapped, knowing that next time, we'd spend even more time together.

But I stuck it out, for the sake of our family. I didn't want to disappoint them, not after we'd risen so high. We were once shunned from society, hated outcasts. And now we were merging with another major company. Their fault lied in the "problem children" the current president had fathered—alone, apparently. Together, we'd make up for those downfalls.

So I didn't protest, especially not after having tea with the man for the first time. The boy, really.

He never allowed a single bit of real, human emotion to slip into his jade green eyes that had no pupils, outlined with dark circles that were either makeup or the result of sleepless nights. Brick-red hair was shaggy over his forehead, cut a little higher on the left side to reveal a tattoo that was the kanji for love.

His long, pale fingers curled around the handle of the teapot, and I immediately snapped into action.

"Please, let me get that," I said politely, rising to my knees to take the pot from him. He let his hand fall back to his side as I poured the tea into his cup and then set it back down. A friendly smile was on my lips as I asked, "How much sugar would you like, Sabaku-san?"

He blinked once at me before plucking two sugar cubes from the jar next to the teapot and placing them in his cup, giving the impression that he didn't need me. Me, a woman. My eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but I sat back on my heels like the nadeshiko I was supposed to be.

Pouring myself some tea as well, I tried to start a conversation. "I prefer sweeter teas, like chamomile," I explained as I took four cubes and plopped them in my tea. "That's why I add so much sugar to green tea."

He took no interest in this topic, sitting motionless except for his blinking eyes.

Miffed, I went ahead and drank the entire cup of scalding tea at once. When I set it down, I was gasping a little, my mouth on fire and eyes watering. I felt too stupid ask for something cold, but suddenly he left the room and I sighed. He was probably tired of me already, going to call off the marriage arrangement.

A couple minutes later, he returned with a glass of ice and set it down in front of me without a word.

I stared at him in amazement before composing myself and smiling. "Thank you."

Maybe he wasn't as cold as I initially thought.

One afternoon, after Mei had met with Gaara a number of times and had been surprised to find that she was growing quite fond of him, he showed up at her door in a tuxedo. At first, she was a little too shocked to say anything. The only time she saw him was during arranged meetings, usually over dinner or a company party, and during those, they didn't see each other much anyway.

To him have so boldly come up to her house on his own…

"Temari put me up to this," was the first thing he said, flatly, as if he was between not caring and annoyed.

Mei's face fell, but she quickly recovered and slapped the usual smile on. "That's fine, Gaara. Would you like to come in?" Over the meetings, she'd picked up on his distaste for the title "Sabaku-san" and gradually found something that worked without him cringing oh-so-subtly. Gaara was a simple name, with no honorifics, that he took to with a sort of relief when she first used it.

"No, I think Temari would like us to take a… walk," he told her with a very faint sigh.

It had come to her attention, again over these meetings, that Gaara was most decidedly not a romantic. His sister Temari had apparently schooled him in the right things to say and do and for a while, Mei didn't mind. With Temari's advice, Gaara was almost a complete gentleman, if not for the way he so infuriatingly acted like his emotions had gone extinct.

"That sounds delightful," Mei assured him, noticing the slight change in the way he held himself. He'd relaxed his shoulders the tiniest bit, something Mei only saw because she'd been watching him so closely for some sign that there was a human being inside of him.

And when she saw those sides, there was no way she couldn't fall for this lonely boy a little more each time.

Their age difference had been a sore spot for her in the beginning, but he made up for it in other areas. He didn't seem like it at first, what with his pale, fragile-looking exterior, but he was really somewhat aggressive. The first company meeting the two of them appeared at together, a rude guest whispered an insult behind Mei's back. While she didn't hear what the man said, Gaara was immediately on his feet, whipped around to grab the man's collar.

Gaara's green eyes were extraordinarily intimidating, so it was no surprise to Mei when the man started stuttering an apology and stumbled as he ran when Gaara released his collar. Then he took Mei by the wrist and led her away, to the balcony, where he didn't say anything until the end of the party.

Another thing that astonished Mei was when he told her, not asked her, to remove the knot of hair she worn on top of her head. It felt like a criticism at first, but when she reluctantly took it down and straightened out the mess, Gaara nodded approvingly.

"I can see over your head now," he'd said. Their height had been leveled. His true motives were revealed, and she forgave him.

After a while, his boyish face had started to give way to hardened lines along his jaw, and his baby fat disappeared over the course of a few months. She knew nothing about for weeks, until she accidentally arrived early to his home one day to discover him in their private gym room, working out. The image of him pressing nearly three hundred and fifty pounds over his head left an impression and she couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day, though Gaara had asked her to please forget what she'd seen.

Once she found her light autumn jacket, Mei stepped out of the house and locked the door behind her. No one else was home, and she wondered if Temari had timed this perfectly for a moment when no one could disturb the two of them.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Gaara stared at her for a moment, holding her in place with the intensity in his jade green eyes. The lack of pupils had him look inhuman, and Mei was frozen. He leaned forward, slipping under her long auburn hair and gripping her head, pulling it towards him as he tilted his head down a little and placed a kiss on her lips. It wasn't soft and loving, but it wasn't harsh and needy, either.

When he released her, Mei let out the breath of shock she'd been holding throughout the kiss, and Gaara's eyes seemed somehow harder.

"Another day," he said unexpectedly, and he turned and left.

It was all a joke to me at first, something to humor my father in his dying days.

Something I had to put up with in order to finally rise to the top where I deserved to be, where people would be forced to look up to me and show their complete devotion to me no matter what. I would become an important person, my existence completely validated by their unconditional love. Whatever I needed to do to get there, I would put up with.

Until Naruto, I didn't think twice about anyone else's emotions. At least, I was thankful that Mei appeared before me after I'd already encountered the boy who changed me. We'd had nearly the same childhood with different results, and these days, I aspired to be like him. No one would've thought my death threats would ever go away or my obvious hatred for all of mankind that was now veiled and hidden within myself.

And yet they returned to me in the form of a woman with long, auburn hair, sweeping bangs that covered one of her light green eyes, and nearly every time I saw her, in that blue dress that hung off her shoulders, leaving only so much to imagination.

That was my first thought, of course. She's pretty, but nothing more. A pretty face, a pretty body, it means nothing when there is no personality behind it.

She proved me wrong in so many ways. The first time she burned her mouth on tea, drinking it furiously because of me, and how she smiled when I brought her ice. I didn't really care about her at the time. My father would've had a fit if she'd gone home and complained about how awful our first date was.

Day by day, Temari suddenly took interest in my state of affairs, giving me advice on how to take care of a lady. There were times when of course I messed up, and most days I did nothing but sit in silence with flat stares and minimal contact because I just didn't know what to do. She made it easy for me to show a little emotion and be a little kinder with those constant smiles that only Mei could perform so flawlessly.

When someone commented on how much better she looked without her top-knot, something I'd requested her to undo because I wanted to be able to rest my head on her chin like Temari told me I should do, I didn't know if I should feel jealous or angry. Either way, I would've reacted the same, so I didn't decide on which I felt before acting, and then I spent the rest of the evening realizing that they came hand in hand.

Emotions I'd never felt sprung up all over the place when I was around Mei and it was getting harder to keep them in check.

Then one day, Temari ordered me to go propose to Mei properly. It may be an arranged marriage, but that didn't mean that I had to make it feel like one. So I let her dress me up and drive me over when no one else was home—how she knew that, I didn't bother to ask.

I was glad that Temari drove off before I could ring the doorbell, because the moments that followed made me feel as shattered as a man could feel.

This was an arranged marriage. There was no reason to make it something it was not. And while I had obviously grown feelings for this woman, I knew there was no way she could feel the same. Her smiles were always there, from the beginning. They were not special. They were not for me. When she came back with her jacket, I kissed her.

I'd never kissed anyone ever before, so it wasn't one that would even leave an impression on her. I made a false promise, but I'd never come back to her again. She deserved a real, true marriage.

I left.

Six months later.

"Hey, are you Terumi?" a man's voice asked. The auburn-haired woman turned slowly, blinking her eye. It was the turning point between autumn and winter and both of them were wearing jackets, hats, and gloves, hers blue while his were dark purple.

He took her reaction as a yes, but he wanted to make sure. "Terumi Mei?"

"Who wants to know?" she demanded, her tone clashing with the sweet smile on her face.

"Sa—Kan—Um, I'm Ken," he stuttered, holding a hand to his head. "Sorry, I'm incredibly hungover."

Mei narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I'm not stupid," she told him, crossing her arms. They were in the middle of a park where snow started to fall gently. People stepped around the two, clearly curious but not wanting to gawk. "You were about to say Sabaku Kankuro. I've seen pictures, and I've talked to your sister. What does he want?"

"Maybe it's what I want," Kankuro retorted, his pride hurt at being found out so easily.

She cocked an eyebrow. "No, you don't want anything, or you wouldn't have had to ask my name. What does he want?" Mei repeated, a little sharper, stepping towards him.

Kankuro nearly started to walk back, surprisingly intimidated, but he held his ground even as she came within a foot of him. He wasn't much taller than his brother so he could just barely see over the top-knot that Mei had reintroduced to her appearance.

"It's for his sake that I'm here," he explained, keeping his wits about him.

He refused to let Mei push him into a corner, but she did exactly that, moving herself so close to Kankuro that he could smell the caramel candy she had in her mouth. Mei lifted herself onto her toe and all but pressed her chest against Kankuro, just so that he could see the full power of the fury in her visible eye.

"You tell Gaara," she spat, using the name he'd most preferred almost mockingly, "that I don't want anything from him after he left me like that. I genuinely liked him, and what do I get? A parting kiss and a million excuses after that! It may have been an arranged marriage, but it never felt like one to me! You tell Gaara that I was hurt and betrayed, and I don't want a man to help me gain leverage in this sick world of business. Okay?"

Mei ended her rant with a cheerful smile and impulsively kissed Kankuro on the corner of his lips. She smirked dangerously. "How did that man manage to father two good-looking boys like you?" she asked with a wink.

His mouth hung open as she swiftly spun around and walked off, but he relaxed a little when the person he was counting on to be there appeared from behind a tree. Kankuro only hoped that his hadn't misunderstood the kiss and left before he could find out.

Gaara, on the other hand, hoped that his burning fury reached his brother as the coward fled the scene. He then focused his attention on Mei whose eye widened in shock seeing him so suddenly. She tried to step past him, her visible eye already closing down her emotions, but Gaara blocked her path every time she tried.

Giving up with a growl, Mei turned around and started the walk the other way, only to have her scarf yank her back, hard, into Gaara's arms.

"Please," Gaara whispered into her ear.

Mei stopped her struggling, but he didn't let go yet.

"Hear me out," he begged, letting only a tiny trickle of emotion into his voice that was enough to let Mei understand that he was serious. She pushed away from him harshly but didn't start to run. Taking this as a good sign and not taking it lightly, Gaara tried to explain.

"I didn't want you to be caught in something that meant nothing."

"It meant everything to me," she hissed, already thinking of her next escape route.

His eyes softened so much that Mei was taken aback. Gaara stayed silent, praying that his actions would speak louder than words.

"No, Gaara," Mei croaked, her forehead creasing. "It was too much… I can't give you another chance."

"I wanted you to be with someone you loved," he told her, wiping a snowflake from her cheek. Her eyes closed at the feel of his hand on her skin. "My father died a week ago."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, leaning into his touch.

"I've spent all this time gathering the courage to tell you that…" Gaara lost track of his thoughts. He'd planned this, using Temari's suggestions to make this speech into one that would make her swoon and he'd have to catch her. Then, a kiss would be the only thing to wake her. But he threw all caution to the wind and clenched his free hand into a fist.

"That I love you," he said simply, and at this, Mei's eyes flew open.

Another kiss was upon her for the first time in months. When Gaara pulled away, he felt something wet on his cheeks, and he looked at Mei to see that she was crying. Not knowing what to do, he just wiped the tears away like he had the snowflake, and he held her while she cried.

Through hiccups and gasps, Mei fought to tell him, "I love you too!" And even though her face was a mess, she smiled at him, and Gaara's lips very faintly curled upwards as well.