Fugaku Uchiha glared at his latest failed assistant. The man set a stack of folders holding candidates for his replacement. In the interest of his career, he chose to look for his own replacement then transfer to another department gracefully instead of being fired.
"These are the most qualified young candidates." He explained.
"Why young?" Fugaku asked, flipping open the first folder.
"They are all fresh out of school. Your eldest son suggested someone who could 'keep up with you,' sir." He didn't look him in the eye as he muttered this, good.
Fugaku sighed, tossing the first in the trash and rubbing his temple. A name caught his eye. He picked out a middle folder. "Hyuga?" He wondered aloud. Opening the folder.
"She has perfect scores on all her exams, however, from a less prestigious school. She comes from a rather unclear background. Her family has no money or connections, I included her because he has the highest scores of the set, but I could take her out if like."
Fugaku barely heard him.
He was transported to the past, just looking at her face. He recognized her, well, not her. He could see her mother in her face, eyes, and roundness of her face, but her father in cheekbones. Her eyebrows furrowed at sour memories. "This one." He snapped, handing the folder to his assistant, who took it bewildered. He immediately scooped up the other folders.
"Are you sure, sir?" He shifted his glare from up at him, and the man simply bowed and left.
Fugaku knitted his fingers together if this girl was who he thought she was. He was going to make her life a living hell.
Hinata flattened the fabric of her blazer for only the third time this minute. She had sent the resume with no actual thought that she would be asked in. She had sent it only to bring up her sense of hope of having something better than temp jobs for the rest of her life. Even then, when she was called, she was even more surprised to find that she had applied to the wrong position. Instead of a minor desk assistant, she had applied to be a personal assistant to the company's director.
She at first wanted to decline and admit that it was a mistake, but something in her told her that she should at least try. If only to get the interview experience in one of the hardest markets in the world. She should get used to rejection.
If she was rejected at the highest level, at least she tried right. You could only go up from that.
The knowledge that she wouldn't get this job didn't take away all the nerves, of course. Yet, she had to force herself to remember that she was doing this to improve. This rejection was only a stepping stone. She needed to learn the process and find herself a good job. Hanabi needed to not worry about college. She had to pay off her own college. Her father would need care.
She needed a good job.
"Hyuga Hinata?" She stood up straight and followed the man.
He took her into a conference room, but they weren't alone. A man in an oversized office chair was turned away from them. Hinata took a deep breath and ignored it.
The interview was grilling. Challenging questions, scenarios Hinata had never heard of needing to be solved. She answered best she could ask questions only that she thought were relevant to the issue. He grilled her on her schooling, why she had picked such a cheap school, why she had no extracurriculars.
The last one was the one she found the hardest to answer, even though the answer was simple. She was working. She hadn't had the time.
That was why she was most confused about being selected. People who got jobs high in a company's infrastructure young were usually from wealthy families. People with connections. Why was she chosen when she so clearly came from a family that had no assets?
"Why have you come like this today." The man asked, glancing down at her clothes.
Hinata looked down and blushed, feeling very self-conscious. She had warned her best dress, a conservative black pencil dress, and a larger grey blazer. They weren't expensive. They weren't named brands. Her hair was pulled back in a simple bun with a hair tie and a few pins. She didn't own jewelry.
The man that was interviewing her was in a name-brand suit, expensive watch, expensive shoes. She looked more like a joke than she initially realized.
Hinata pulled together her lack of pride. "My clothes shouldn't be the reason to hire me."
He shook his head. "You will be representing the company poorly in that."
Hinata licked her lips and swallowed. She tried to keep a straight face. She felt equal parts rage and embarrassment.
"I think we are done. You are excused." She stood bowed politely, glance at the back of the chair that had still yet to turn around say a word. She found it rude, and she had already been insulted enough.
She turned to it and bowed to it as well, turned and walked herself out of the room.
She missed the surprised face of the interviewer.
Hinata sat in her room reading on her phone. A knock came on her door. She looked up.
Hanabi looked at her still in her clothes from the interview, less her heels. She had hastily pulled her hair down on the bus trying to hide her upset face. "That bad?"
"This place was far too good for me. I want the experience anyway. It doesn't make it hurt less." Hinata grumbled.
"You'll get there," Hanabi assured her. "I finished my homework. Come watch a movie with me."
"I should get to bed. I have to be in for the 5 am shift at the office tomorrow." Hinata sighed. She was tired, she had been on a bus and a long train ride to get to the office and back.
"That place is awful," Hanabi whined. "It 8'o'clock."
"It's temporary." Hopefully, she tacked on in her head.
As her sister made a face and was ready to leave, her phone rang in her hand. Hinata blinked at her sister and answered. "Hello?"
"Hyuga Hinata?"
"Yes?" Hinata wondered.
"I am from Uchiha Industries. You had an interview with me." Hinata's breath caught.
"Yes." Hanabi immediately sat beside her, trying to listen.
"We are offering you the position. We need you tomorrow at 6 am sharp." He told her.
"I… Yes, sir." Hinata agreed.
"Goodnight." He hung up.
Hinata's mouth fell open. She didn't even take the phone from her ear until her sister shook her arm excitedly.
"You got the job!" Hanabi squeaked.
"How..." Hinata wondered aloud.
"Who cares!" Hanabi screeched and hanged herself over her sister. "It doesn't even matter if you keep this job a month. Passing an interview at a company that big will get you a job anywhere." Hinata hadn't told her what the company was called. Hanabi had never asked. Hinata was too embarrassed she had put her resume into the biggest company in Konoha.
"Yeah," Hinata mumbled.
She wasn't sure she would even last a day, though.