For Better or Worse

Part 2

Reading guide

Italic - thoughts

"Normal speech"

'Quoted speech, words etc.'

Sasuke felt his world crumble into a dark abyss. The one person he had prayed for the past four years to never meet again was in front of him.

Why?

Why was this happening to him? Why was Neji here? Did he come back to humiliate him once more?

Sasuke wanted to scream at Neji, but words refused to mould on his tongue. The mixed emotions he felt at that moment towards Neji were indescribable. He wanted to inflict pain on Neji; to make him feel the humiliation he had gone through that night.

Despite bearing the feeling of hatred for Neji, Sasuke felt faint warmth of happiness to see his old friend/lover again.

Wait… happiness? Why was he feeling happy upon seeing Neji again? He was supposed to be angry damn it!

No. I am not happy to see him. I don't want to see him. I am not happy to see him. I am not happy to see him…no way. Sasuke tried to convince himself. He was filled with confusion. His own emotions made him nervous.

Neji sat silently in the office chair facing Sasuke's mahogany desk. Maybe he had come on too strong considering how they had parted in high school.

Or maybe the whole thing of coming here was a mistake. Neji thought.

Sasuke had looked displeased to see him, if the expression of dread he had had on earlier was anything to go by. Even though Sasuke had looked affected by his greeting, Neji was uncertain whether it was positively or negatively.

Neji felt anxious; although he had readied himself for any negative reaction he was to receive from Sasuke, it hurt nonetheless.

He had very much expected Sasuke to still be angry at him from high school. But his heart hadn't been as ready as he had thought it.

The way Sasuke had reacted had made his heart heavy and empty all together. He felt the little confidence he had built up just to greet Sasuke, fade with each tick of the clock.

What was he going to do now if Sasuke says no to hire him?

Well, he didn't come here to just give up! He was going to work hard to earn Sasuke's trust again. No matter how long it was going to take, he was going to wait for Sasuke, just as he had done in high school. And for the four years after.

Neji and Sasuke loved silence. However the loud silence that was in the room was distressing for both of them. Despite the awkwardness that the silence between them brought, none of them appeared to have anything to say, or rather, they had no idea where to begin.

Neji's mind seemed to have gone on a strike because he couldn't remember what he had planned to do upon meeting Sasuke again. He rummaged around his mind for anything, anything to break the silence in the room. Nothing.

Sasuke wasn't doing well either; he wanted to say something outside work, anything that someone would say after meeting their old friend again. But nothing came to mind.

Damn it. Why was Neji not saying anything? Back in high school, Neji was always the one to start a conversation whenever they found themselves in an awkward situation.

Say something Neji. Begged Sasuke in his mind. Even thought he had told himself that he never wanted to see Neji again, he had to admit, he was sort of happy to see him after so long.

"So" Neji broke the silence.

"So?" questioned Sasuke.

"So I will be working for you." Neji said it more as a statement than a question.

"Do you have a problem with that?" questioned Sasuke irritated. Inspite of that, he felt like smiling. It made him happy that Neji had broken the silence just like in high school.

"Not at all, it's just that I never imagined working for you after what had happened." Sasuke winced at that; that annoyed Neji. What? So the Uchiha was planning to pretend that nothing had changed between them since that night?

"You know I still have to make a decision about accepting you." Sasuke said coldly. His mood had suddenly darkened from what Neji had just said.

"I know." Neji responded shortly.

'Accepting you' the words cut his heart mercilessly. Even though he knew Sasuke had meant accepting him for the job, to Neji it had meant accepting him to be by Sasuke's side.

"I will be a moment." Sasuke suddenly excused himself and rashly walked out of the office; he hadn't meant to sound so cold. But by Neji just mentioning what had happened between them, Sasuke had felt his heart beat quicken. His heart had been beating fast already since the moment Neji had walked in and had greeted him with that voice that had been haunting his every dream for the past four years.

Damn. Sasuke cursed himself. He couldn't believe he had fallen under the spell again; Neji's spell. Just hearing his voice had sent his whole body into frenzy that he hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from the Hyuuga. What made him feel even worse was that, after four years of training himself to never react in any way towards the Hyuuga, he had lost his cool, and easily so.

With a reinforced determination, Neji sat in the chair comfortably waiting for Sasuke. His eyes wandered around the office.

The room had a book shelf which occupied one wall of the room and just in front of it were two blue sofas; one a two sitter and the other a three sitter. The chairs formed an incomplete semi-circle around a coffee table and they were facing towards the full window which gave a view of the busy city.

Just on the left of the window was the office desk.

The wooden polished floor that matched the mahogany desk made the blue chairs stand out.

Sasuke matched to the men's room, he felt so hot and his tie felt so constricting. He walked in and opened one of the taps and splashed some cold water onto his face.

This couldn't be happening. Why was Neji here? Tsk. how silly. The answer to that was clearly that Neji had passed the interview. But would Neji be happy to work for him? Speaking of work, why was Neji looking for work here?

Would they keep their high school years as a bygone?

What does he want here? Surely he is not here for work. Come on, he is supposed to be the heir of the Hyuugas. Maybe there is a mistake. What is my brother playing at?

Sasuke remembered that his brother was the one who had said yes to Neji. So if Sasuke were to say no, it would not end well with his brother despite the 'okay' he was supposed to give for the person to take the job completely. Itachi would say he was not ready for the responsibility of the company. Besides it would be utterly unprofessional which his pride didn't allow.

Sasuke really didn't know what to do. But standing in the toilets wasn't going to solve anything.

So he decided to go back; not that he had a choice in the first place. He wiped his face with a handkerchief and walked back to his office.

Just how was he supposed to act around the Hyuuga?

Okay this was not good. Seriously besides his brother, Sasuke had a feeling someone was enjoying torturing him.

He decided to handle the situation just like his brother would. First of all, he needed to set his heart which threatened to leap out of his chest at ease. The confusion that the situation brought was too much; never mind the name 'Hyuuga Neji' triggered some unwanted memories; now the owner of the name sat right in front of him. If this was supposed to be fate then Sasuke didn't like it at all.

He sat in the desk chair and glanced at the silent Hyuuga briefly.

"Okay," Sasuke began, to get Neji's attention.

"You've already passed the interview with my brother so I don't see why I should say no when he chose you. I know I can trust you Hyuuga. Don't make me regret my decision." Warned Sasuke.

"You won't regret it." Neji answered shortly.

He gave himself some credit for keeping his voice so neutral because his heart wasn't on the same wavelength as his voice; he could hear every beat of his heart resounding in his ears loudly like drums. He felt faint despite the frontage he was putting on. Here was Sasuke, after what? Four years? Four years of separation and his heart still ached so much with not a single sign of the pain diminishing.

"Okay then you start on Monday-" Sasuke was cut short by the ringing of the phone on his desk.

"Yes?" he answered it.

"Uchiha-san, there is a call for you." The voice of the receptionist said through the phone.

"Is it very urgent? Because I am busy right now. Get their number and I will get back to them." He instructed.

"Yes sir." The receptionist responded.

After disconnecting the call, Sasuke looked up at Neji, but before he could say anything Neji spoke:

"I will be taking my leave if you are busy. We are done here right?"

"No. I mean, I can get back to whom ever called later, it's not like I'm expecting any important calls. So it's fine." Sasuke felt like punching himself; why was he so keen on having Neji stay longer in the office even though they had finished talking about work?

"No its fine, I will see you on Monday then." Neji said and made for the door.

"Alright." Sasuke answered.

Neji was about to open the door when…

"Hyuuga," called Sasuke.

"Yes."

"It's…its nice seeing you again." Said Sasuke honestly with his eyes looking anywhere but the Hyuuga.

Neji felt heat rush throughout his body him. He was happy; he was glad that Sasuke didn't hate him as much as he had thought, though the form name was a bit unsettling for him. He smiled and opened the door.

"Sasuke, do you want to go for dinner later? That is if you don't have any plans." He asked suddenly.

"Dinner? Why?" Sasuke was surprised at that. No, he was shocked at how his heart had begun beating fast again at Neji's request; he fought the heat that was rushing to his cheeks.

"You know, so we can catch up with each other and of courses to develop a work relationship."

"Okay." Sasuke said and smiled warmly.

"Oh and Hyuuga,"

"What is it?"

"That's Uchiha-san to you." He smirked.

Neji noticed the smirk and decided to ignore Sasuke's correction just to spite him.

"Great, I will pick you up at seven." He smirked back and closed the door before he could have a reaction from Sasuke.

Sigh. Things have gone well so far. And I am even taking him out to dinner, though it is under the pretence that it is a business dinner. But that is the only way I knew he would agree to it. Anyway, maybe there is a possibility for a second chance. Neji thought as he walked towards his car.

Sasuke sunk further into his seat.

Why do I feel like I have been tricked? Pick me up? I am not a woman for him to be gentlemanly with. Sigh. Why do I feel like I have signed on to something that I won't be able to get out of? Tsk, maybe I am just thinking too much on this, it's just dinner. Besides Neji said it himself that it was for work. But can I trust him? Oh well, if he tries something again, I will make sure to hold down my ground this time. Sasuke thought.

With that sorted, he proceeded to returning that phone call.

At dinner, they had spoken about their working together and as if on an agreement they had completely avoided any topic regarding their high school time.

The evening had gone on quite well to put it simply.

Well, that is until Neji decided to confront Sasuke about what had happened in high school. To which Sasuke had responded negatively.

Neji stopped the car in front of Sasuke's mansion's door. After Sasuke had put off Neji's confrontations, they had driven in silence. But that didn't mean that Neji was satisfied with the response, quite on the contrary.

So before Sasuke could open the door of the car, Neji asked:

"Come on Sasuke, you are planning to just ignore what had happened then? Just like that? Why?"

"That is none of your business. Your business is to make sure that you don't make me regret making you my assistant. And don't you think it's best to pretend that nothing had changed between us? I'm sure that would make both of our lives a lot easier. We are grown-ups now. What had happened then was just between two hormone ridden high school kids. Just to prove that we are not going to have any problems between us, let's test this out."

Sasuke leaned towards Neji and planted a chaste kiss on Neji's lips.

Neji let go of the steering wheel and reached for the back of Sasuke's head and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. He nibbled on Sasuke's bottom lip and licked it gently.

Sasuke gasped and Neji took the opportunity to insert his tongue in Sasuke's wet mouth. He sucked on Sasuke's tongue.

Sasuke moaned into the kiss, just the reaction Neji had wanted. His hands desperately reached for Neji's shirt. He felt the need to hold Neji in place; it was as if, if he were not to hold him down, he would disappear.

Neji pulled away and observed a mess that was Sasuke; he felt a sense of satisfaction from making Sasuke look so ravished.

Nevertheless, the self-gratification was short lived when Sasuke spoke.

"So? Anything?" Sasuke asked, completely composed as if nothing had just taken place.

"No... nothing..." responded Neji; that was a lie but if staying by Sasuke's side meant living a lie, then he was going to do it, that was a little sacrifice he could give. The response pierced him as if it were not his own.

"How about you?" he was obliged to ask in spite of foreseeing the answer.

"None." Was the forthright answer form Sasuke. He got out of the car and walked to his door without another word.

TBC