"Ino, darling."
Though his voice was steady, Seigo's nostrils were pinched and his jaw was clenched. He was seething. Perfect.
"Oh, hello Seigo," said Ino in the absent way one might greet a passing acquaintance before returning to one's engrossing conversation with one's lover.
Seigo came to a halt next to the table just on the threshold of an impolitely close distance to Ino. "You look well."
"Thank you," said Ino with the briefest glance up at him, before her attention was riveted back to Deidara.
At this point, Seigo might as well have stopped existing. Ino proceeded to lose herself in Deidara's blue eyes like a thing mesmerized – a fledgling catching its first sight of open sky.
Seigo would not, of course, be so easily dismissed. He edged in closer to the table so that the bottom of his suit jacket touched the tablecloth. "I'm surprised to find you here, darling…"
"Mm?" Ino blinked and looked up as though surprised to find Seigo still there.
"…Here on a Sunday night, no less."
Ino raised her fine-boned shoulders into a shrug. "It was the only decent place with a free table tonight. Our plans were a little last-minute…"
"Ah."
"I hope my being here didn't bother you too much," said Ino, releasing Deidara's hand to press her fingertips to her collarbone and act out some beautiful fake-caring.
"On the contrary," said Seigo through his tight jaw, "I was glad to see you enjoying yourself with – with this gentleman. I don't think we've met, Mr…?"
"Deidara," said Deidara.
He held out his hand. Seigo stared at it. Ino had been wondering how long this forced civility would last – how long before Seigo's self-control lost the fight with his ego.
The answer was now.
"You've found yourself a man with interesting manners, haven't you, Ino?" said Seigo, still staring at Deidara's proffered hand. "Good breeding would suggest removing one's gloves before offering to shake. But perhaps he is too cold?"
"Actually, he—" began Ino, some lie about eczema or whatever at the ready.
"Sure," interrupted Deidara. There was a spark of something dangerous in his eye.
He loosened the glove, finger by finger. Then he pulled it off and extended his hand to Seigo again – this time in all of its butchered glory. The white and red of the scarred-up tissue caught the light, flashing that hideous grin across his palm.
If Seigo had hoped to discomfit or otherwise insult Deidara, he had failed. Instead, he was the one who balked.
"Wouldn't good breeding suggest shaking now…?" asked Ino with a hint of reproach, enough to inform Seigo that he was the one making a faux-pas, now.
Seigo stared at the gaping scar and looked progressively more repelled. And Ino knew that her own reaction to that sight had been much the same, and therefore improper and uncouth for someone who prided herself on being elegant, well-bred, and sophisticated…
It struck Ino in that moment that she had amends to make on that front, and that she could, perhaps, begin to make them right now. And so, in a move that cost her a significant degree of courage, she reached across the table and ran her fingers over Deidara's palm. "Scars aren't contagious, you know …"
Deidara's leg twitched against hers under the table. He hadn't expected this. Under Ino's fingertips ran ridges and furrows of melted flesh. Not as horrid a feeling as she might've thought, only rough – rough and saddening.
"Of course they aren't," snapped Seigo. Still he made no move to shake; instead, he plucked Deidara's glove off the table and tossed it to him. "That doesn't mean I want to touch them. Put this back on; no one needs to see that mess. Give a man a warning, next time—"
"Weak stomach. I understand," said Deidara with such condescension that Ino would've bitten off his head had it been directed at her. But it wasn't: it was directed at Seigo, whose initial anger was now supplemented by embarrassment.
Under the table, Ino's foot ran up Deidara's leg in approval.
Predictably, the embarrassed Seigo attempted to turn the tables the best way he knew how. "So…Deidara. We mustn't move in the same circles. What industry are you in?"
"Explosives," said Deidara as he pulled the glove back on.
"Oh? And who do you own – any companies I'd know?"
"I don't own," said Deidara. "I'm more of an…independent contractor."
"I see," said Seigo, looking down his nose at Deidara. "So, you're more hands-on in terms of your work."
"Uh, yeah. You think I got these scars by jacking the day away at a desk job?"
Seigo sniffed at the crudeness. "A blue-collar boy, then."
"You could say that."
"How interesting," said Seigo, looking between Deidara and Ino. "I thought you must've been something more than that to have so captured Ino's affections…She is so hard to please…"
"So hard to please," repeated Ino, though with considerably more ice. "They're rarer than I thought, men who can manage the bare minimum of fidelity."
Seigo turned his attention back to Ino. "So, you've found yourself one of those rarities, have you, darling? This man?"
"Yes."
"Funny. You talk of fidelity and yet, here we are – what, five months? – after our unfortunate separation, and you're declaring your…your undying love to another man right in front of your fiancé?"
"Six months," corrected Ino. "Former fiancé. And at least I had the decency to wait until we'd broken up before moving on with someone else."
Seigo looked towards the ceiling in a long-suffering way. "She was just a mistake."
"Yes, she was. And as for my undying love," Ino said, interlocking her fingers with Deidara's, "Deidara deserves it more than you ever did. I belong with him – to him, almost; it's the most wonderful thing. I've never been this happy…"
Seigo's fingers twitched into a weak fist and Ino knew that she had struck gold with that particular stream of gushing. She beamed glowing joyful love at Deidara and squeezed his hand between both of hers.
A passing waiter found his arm snatched by Seigo: "A chair, please. I must join my friends for a moment. See that my mother gets her cappuccino and tell her I'll be with her in an instant."
A chair was found. Seigo sat much closer to Ino than necessary.
Deidara played with a table knife and, somehow, it looked dangerous between his leather-clad fingers.
"I know what you're trying to do, Ino," said Seigo to Ino in a whisper. "You aren't as subtle as you think you are."
Ino made fleeting eye contact with Deidara and she saw his thought: careful. And she agreed. If this was indeed the rich idiot who had put out a contract on her father's head, he could just as easily put one out on hers, if he knew that she knew…
"And what am I trying to do, Seigo dear?" asked Ino, putting her chin on her hand and bringing her face close to Seigo's.
"You're trying to make me jealous—"
Ino parted her lips in feigned surprise. "Am I?"
"—by bringing this little boy toy of yours here and taunting me with him. You think I don't see how you lined this all up? Found yourself a man who's everything I'm not? A fair-haired pretty boy? Hm? With his pretty blue eyes? Who works with his hands? With scars? Women like scars, don't they?"
Ino bit her lip. She hadn't actually lined any of those opposites up – those things were all happenstance – but now that Seigo laid it out this way, she could see why he'd think she had.
"And you show up here on a Sunday night when you know I'll be here, and you – you make love to him, right in front of me?" Seigo leaned back and held his hands wide. "Well, it worked. Congratulations. I'm jealous."
"Seigo, we're just having dinner—"
"I want you back," said Seigo. "I've wanted you back since...since everything happened. So now what?"
"You can't have me back – I'm not some possession—"
Seigo wasn't even listening to her. He waved towards Deidara. "Let's ditch this loser and get out of here. My place. We can talk."
Deidara's leg tensed against Ino's under the table. She gave him a warning look. This was not the time for him to pretend to be an offended boyfriend; she had Seigo right where she needed him, jealous and wanting her.
"He's not a loser," said Ino. "He's—"
"He's a nobody," cut in Seigo with a dismissive gesture. "How are we even having this discussion? My net worth is literally several billion times his."
"That doesn't matter to me anymore," said Ino. "It used to. But my experience with you cured me of that."
Seigo put his hand on Ino's forearm. "You're being both silly and stubborn, darling. Be honest with yourself and think. There's nothing in the world that this, this Deidara, or whatever his name is, can give you that I can't."
Ino jerked her arm away. "How about happiness?"
"Happiness."
"And how about love and trust and other intangible things that you and your money can't buy?"
Seigo blinked at her. "Since when does that kind of sentimental bullshit matter to you?"
"Since I found it for myself," said Ino, "with him. But I suppose I'm wasting my breath. I shouldn't expect you, of all people, to even begin to understand these things…"
"I could learn," said Seigo, leaning in towards her. "If you did…"
Ino recoiled from him. "No. All you ever saw in me, and all you see in me now, is opportunity – for a perfect wife and a perfect merger."
"Yes. You are perfect for both those things. Why can't I have them both?" Seigo turned to Deidara as if expecting him – Ino's ostensible lover – to agree that, yeah, he wasn't asking for that much here.
"How can you even—?! You all but told me you only wanted me for the...for the prestige of netting a woman like me for a wife, and because I opened doors to Yamanaka, Inc.! And then – because you're an utter imbecile – you cheated on me! As if I'd ever go back to you!"
"She was a mistake," said Seigo. "How many times to I have to tell you? She's gone. I fired her. I don't give a shit about her. If you hadn't been so thin-skinned about her, we'd still be together, married by now, and I'd have—"
"She's a mistake I'm so glad you made," cut in Ino with a shake of her splendid hair.
"Listen, Ino, you gorgeous thing, you'd make everything so much smoother," said Seigo in his most coaxing tones. He slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Telwave's take-over—"
Ino shrugged off his arm brusquely. "Take-over? I thought it was a merger."
"Semantics, darling. We'll call it a merger, if you prefer that. You'd make everything perfect, and with so many beautiful benefits, of course. Having you as my wife – your beauty, your brains – would be a dream. Just think: I could make you my General Counsel, and you could name your salary, obviously, but whatever's mine would be yours anyway…We'd work together every day—"
"Keep dreaming."
Seigo was fazed by her curtness; money made all his other problems go away. However, unhappily for him, he was attempting to negotiate with a woman who had a fortune of her own and was set to inherit far more than what he had to offer.
"I want you by my side," said Seigo. "I do. But I won't beg."
"Then don't. Leave."
Again, Seigo waved her words away. "The truth is, I don't need you. You're a nice to have – a wonderful to have. But I can achieve what I want to achieve in other ways."
Ino raised an eyebrow in a gentle taunt. Now, perhaps, they were getting somewhere. "Can you?"
"I can buy Yamanaka, Inc. twice over, at this stage."
"You think my father would sell to you? After what you did to me?" Ino gave Seigo a once-over so cold he might've developed frostbite from it if her eyes had lingered longer. "Over his dead body."
Ino's choice of metaphor didn't elicit a blink or the slightest twitch in Seigo's composure. And he wasn't adept at masking his feelings, especially not in as heightened a state as he was right now, fighting for her favour while her new man sat across from him, looking pretty and murderous all at once.
"Don't be so dramatic," said Seigo. "I'll whittle away at his shareholders, bit by bit."
"My father owns the majority stake."
"I know he does. But once I own everything else, I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."
"What kind of offer?"
"Enough cash that he won't be able to say no," said Seigo. He shrugged. "He's a good businessman, Inoichi. Nearing retirement age. He'll know when it's time to bow out. He can go buy another villa in Sicily or an island in the Aegean or whatever and have a good few years…"
"He'd never sell to you."
"He'll sell to the highest bidder. Which will be me." Seigo put a hand on Ino's thigh. "Only, this then becomes a long-term project. See, with you by my side – with your blessing – your father would sell that much faster. You'd help me advance this at ten times the pace. Between Telwave and Yamanaka, Inc., we'd own eighty percent of the telecoms in the US. We'd be behemoths – unstoppable. And in the meantime we'd be together…"
"No." Ino lifted his hand off her thigh with two fingers around his wrist, like she was disengaging her leg from something disgusting.
"Just think about it. Think about me versus this guy here," said Seigo with a wave to Deidara. "This explosives technician, or whatever he is, who is so shit at his job he barely has hands left…"
Deidara, who had been simmering in silence for most of the conversation, fell into a full-on fume. His jaw was tight; the table knife twirled faster between his fingers.
"I can make you happy," said Seigo, carelessly ignoring this warning sign.
"He makes me happy," said Ino.
"I can make you happier." Seigo pushed his chair back. "Just think about it. I must go back to Mother; she'll be so glad to hear we're back on good terms…"
"We aren't on good terms—"
"We'll see each other soon, darling," said Seigo. He leaned in, apparently with every intention of kissing Ino, until a hand gripped his collar and pulled him back into his chair.
Deidara's glare was blue fire so hot that even Ino found herself cowed by it.
"How dare—" began Seigo, before he was cut off by Deidara pulling him in close – and half-strangling him.
"Shh. Just listen," said Deidara in a low voice. "I can handle you coming here and interrupting my goddamn dinner. I can handle you throwing a hissy fit because she's found someone else and you can't buy her back—"
Seigo squirmed; Deidara's fist held him in place. "I can handle you insulting me. I can handle you trying to get your hands on her for the last fifteen minutes 'cause I can see how much you miss her. I'm willing to be the bigger man…but you just crossed the line."
Seigo attempted to sputter out something indignant, but Deidara's brisk shake jostled him into silence. "Shh. Listen, buddy. Listen. I want you to know something. Are you listening?"
Almost choking now, Seigo nodded. Deidara leaned in closer and searched his eyes. "If you try to kiss her again, I promise there's no money in the world that could fix the things I'll do to you. You understand?"
"Yes," wheezed Seigo.
"Good." Deidara released his hold. "Now get the fuck out of here."
Ino had never seen Seigo so subdued, so frightened. He rose, readjusted his collar, and left for his own table without another word.
Deidara watched him go with those blazing eyes and a clenched fist that told of still-smoldering anger.
And Ino stared at her wineglass and hoped Deidara wouldn't notice that she had goosebumps.
