Sasuke was surprised to see Hinata walking toward the conference room he was leaving. There was a pain that was he was growing familiar too.

"I do have this reserved, don't I?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke looked at her and then away quickly. "Uh, yeah, we just finished."

"Oh, good. I'm supposed to meet Gaara here." Hinata explained.

"Who?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata ignored his tone. "Gaara no Sabaku director of Suna. He decided to make a trip here instead of me going back to his building. He should be here any minute." Hinata checked her phone.

Woah. "Wait, you're on first name bases with him. You can't even call Itachi without an honorific." Sasuke was offended. He couldn't get her to call her what out a -sama.

"Believe me, we already had that entire argument. He spent half of the dinner convincing me," Hinata explained with a smile.

"Dinner?" Sasuke asked.

"We had dinner after the last meeting. We were working for quite a few hours. Depending on how this going, I might have to order something." Hinata explained. "I should get ready." Hinata walked past him into the room.

Sasuke had more questions than answers.

"Where is that last year's sales document?" Gaara asked as he was looking at the projections.

Hinata hummed as she moved her hand over the pile they had in front of them, snagging it out as she found it. "This one." She turned it back to the relevant page quickly before handing it to him.

Gaara looked over the numbers with a flat face and made a small grunt. That was his approval. They could move on. Hinata scrolled down to the next section.

Gaara was an odd man, very set in his ways and mannerisms. It made their first interaction awkward as she was figuring out his queues, but now that she had gotten the hand of his main few indications, they ran smoothly.

Hinata tucked her hair back as they shared the computer screen. "Mmm, that doesn't look right." She picked up another document. "Yeah, the numbers are incorrect. Let me fix that." Gaara sat back quietly as she made her corrections, but when she was done, she realized he had been watching her the whole time. "I'm sorry I could have done that later."

Gaara barely shook his head, indicating he didn't care, and leaned forward to look at the next section.

A few more sections to comb through, and they were done. She stepped out to print it and have it signed.

Gaara waited by the door while she cleaned the explosion of papers they had made. He held out a large yellow envelope she hadn't noticed he had. She took with a questioning look, but he didn't acknowledge it. He bowed his head, thanking her for her time, and left.

What an odd man.

Hinata forgot about the envelope until late into the evening, when she opened it and slid out its contents. Another contract.

Hinata pressed her lips together, uncertain what she should do with this. She smiled and shook her head, sliding it into a desk drawer. Maybe it was a little motivation. She was doing well.

Fugaku took the finished contract with a smile of pride. "Good job. You got the kid to play nice."

Hinata bowed her head. Hinata decided not to tell him about the job offer sitting inside her desk. It was best not to worry him about it.

Fugaku smiled and nodded. "We should get out of her, dinner?"

Hinata smiled and went to grab her bag.

Hinata shifted the stack of folders on her hip as she pushed Sasuke's door open and set them down, he wasn't in his office, and his assistant must have been with him. She turned around his desk, found a sticky note, and leaned over to write on it.

"What are you doing?"

Her head snapped up, and she lifted the sticky note for Sasuke to see. "I was leaving a note."

Hinata expected a glared from Sasuke, but his face looked guarded, eyeing her.

Hinata pulled off the half-written note and balled it up. "These are the reports you wanted on the last run."

"You're hand-delivering them?" Sasuke asked, coming around the desk and sitting down in his chair. She moved to the side to move out of his way. "Don't you have an assistant?"

"Lee-san is with the director at a meeting across town," Hinata explained, tossing the notes in the trash. "And I was on my way past your office."

Sasuke's jaw twitched like he was trying not to clench it and stay neutral. "He also went with dad on the cruise? Why was that?"

"Lee-san can take notes as well as I can. The director wanted me to handle his usual meeting schedule while he was gone," Hinata explained, leaning her hip on his desk.

"But you were out all week." Sasuke tilted his head.

"I attended all those meetings remotely." Hinata shrugged, pressing her lips together. She didn't want to have to lie more than she already did. She hoped he didn't ask too much about her being 'sick.'

Sasuke looked down, his face unreadable, his eyes conflicted.

"Are you okay?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Hinata pressed her lip together, then forced a smile as she left.

"Do you have my ridiculous suit ready for that …. What is the event on Saturday?" Fugaku rubbed his eye in annoyance as he looked for the invite.

Hinata pulled it out from under a folder on his desk. "The benefit gala." Hinata corrected. "Of course. I checked on Itachi-sama's and Sasuke-sama's. They will be pressed and delivered mid-Friday."

Fugaku nodded. "And you'll be going, will be going with Sasuke."

"Hinata nodded. The director didn't want to be argued with about that anymore. "He's been acting odd."

"You see him today?" Fugaku sat back to listen.

"Yeah, he was spacey. I don't really know how to describe it… I'd hate to call it depressed. He said he was fine. I just have never seen him so… not irritated." Hinata explained.

Fugaku nodded thoughtfully. "It might be personal."

Hinata nodded. "I don't expect him to tell me we aren't really friends, but I just wanted you to know because it was a little concerning."

Fugaku gave her a smile. "Thank you for keeping an eye on my boys." He sat back, switching back to business. "Status."