"There he is," a woman murmured to another, "that's the red head I was telling you about. He's the one who's notorious for his like week-long relationships, but I tell you. Every one of those women leave him a very happy woman. Not a penny richer either, he's never gonna marry anyone of them." The woman, by the name Marisol, addressed her friend quietly, "Ash, you'll be hard pressed to catch his eyes, let alone keep his attention."

Ash, short for Ashley, was a beautiful woman. She would hardly call herself feminine, no one else would either, but she knew she was pretty. Long flowing black hair and shiny green eyes. Abnormal eyes too, they shone like lights and with her pupil - a very cat like slit - they were very hard to miss.

So is he...she thought to herself. Gaara Sabaku was the current CEO of Suna International. According to the newspaper, his father originally had an idea, but the man's alcoholism ran the business into the ground. When he died, Gaara was 15 years old and a child prodigy. He'd already gotten himself a business degree. The young red head took over the business under the watchful eyes of the entire country. The whole world had wanted to know how the hell a 15 year old was going to run this business that spanned the globe.

But he'd done it and well. He put the business back in the black and put it above every other business in the country. The young boy had expanded it from weaponry to medicine and by the time he was 18 had a PhD under his belt as well. A licensed doctor, not practicing, and a CEO. Of course he drew eyes. Ash's interest was hooked from the moment she saw his face in the picture. So her friend, a business woman herself, brought her along to the biggest party she was attending that month to see if perhaps the 21 year old genius would be there.

"Hard pressed, sure. But impossible? No. I'll do this."

With that, she'd left the side of Marisol and approached the fiery tempered red head. To the day Marisol swears that she saw his interest jump when Ash cleared her throat to catch his eye.

3 months later and Ash was officially the longest running lover the red head had ever had. She stretched languidly and groaned softly when her back cracked. The cool air tickled the bare bronze skin on her back and an answering sigh from her right reminded her that she'd not gone to bed alone last night.

"Gaara, you've got to wake up. You've got meetings to attend and fat cats to make happy."

A few locks of red hair shifted and Ashley knew Gaara was burying his face in the pillow and beginning the process of thoroughly ignoring her. She reached over and ran one freezing fingertip down his spine and watched the goose bumps rise. She placed her whole hand on the base of his spine and snickered when he shivered. While he made himself regain consciousness she glanced at the difference between the two of them. She had such completely darkened skin and he was pale as a ghost. Deep jade eyes looked up from the pillows and Ash leaned down to let him kiss her good morning.

"Meetings...brilliance...fat cats...it's a wonder I survive the day." He smirked and Ash laughed. He came off so stern but he was hilariously gentle in his everyday life. The 3 cats running around the apartment could attest to that.

"Mew!" Speaking of. Ash looked down towards her feet and recognized the almost yellow cat that Gaara had named Naruto. He told her it was the name of a friend not unlike the little yellow cat. Both, he said, were insanely hyper and driven. The second cat, the one slowly making his way up Gaara's back was Suna, so named to remind the CEO of home. Suna was the most snobby cat of the bunch, but he was definitely willing to get himself in trouble to benefit friends.

'Naruto was outside once and a couple of alley cats picked a fight. Naruto couldn't handle them both but Suna got between them and got beat up so bad that I had to take him to the vet that same hour. I remember Naruto felt so bad that the entire time they were keeping Suna drugged and in the cage, even though he hated it, Naruto wouldn't leave his side. The only time I ever saw them sleeping together was that time.' Gaara had told her that story when she asked why Suna's ear had the smallest little chunk taken out of it.

The last little kitten was Ash's favorite. Blossom. She had almost a pink tinge to her white fur and Gaara said he might as well name her Blossom, because Sakura was too formal. Accordingly, when Ash asked about the obvious reference to one of his doctors on staff, he laughed and mentioned that she was a old friend.

"Oh good morning my baby girl." Ash picked up the little pink cat and nuzzled her little face. Gaara mumbled something about loving his cats more than him and Ash merely gave him a glance and nodded. "That's because your cats won't run out every time the phone rings."

"Not fair, that phone could be someone telling me that my entire life is crashing down around my ears. Phone calls are very important in my lifestyle." Gaara stood and Ash looked him over. All lean muscles and straight planes.

And totally comfortable in his own skin...Ash glared. Gaara strolled to the bathroom completely naked and completely oblivious. "I'm taking a shower. Are you coming with me?" One eyebrow raised and the love tattoo on his forehead raised with it. Ai, the kanji for love was tattooed on the upper left side of his face and Ash vividly remembered running the tip of her tongue over the red lines found there.

"Oh, definitely."Ash rose, dimly noting that she was only waking up at 7:30pm on a week day. No wonder all the women he slept with left him happy. Not many men could afford to stay in bed with you all day then leave for work at 7:30 at night. There was something about that that made you totally relaxed and completely joyful.

Gaara Sabaku left the apartment building a half hour later and found himself driving around. Ashley Tatiana had been his lover for 3 months running, but he had told himself that he'd give her 2 weeks before breaking up with her. 3 and a half months was a record and the job offer he was getting her at the biggest paper in the city should keep her from going completely loco. Then again, she'd never find out that he was the one giving her articles to the editor of the paper. As far as she was aware, that paper would have just noticed her works.

So the question becomes; will she be like all the others and fade away and leave me as a distant recollection or will she go crazy?

That had happened once when he was 19. A boyfriend went crazy, tried to kill him, Gaara hadn't left the house for a week because he couldn't stop shaking. It was an episode he'd tried to block out, unfortunately when a celebrity name was beaten to all hell by their current lover it was very publicized and many a person wanted to interview you about it. So for a month Gaara had his public relations leader screening questions and covering all things media-y.

It had not been a pleasant month and much of it was spent out of the country to give the PR man the excuse that Gaara was out of the country and therefore unable to field all these questions himself.

He turned the corner and his eyes landed on a man reaching out to try and hail a cab. Pitch onyx hair and determined eyes to match, his umbrella was up and open but it was angled wrong and the water was running through his hair and down onto the knee length coat. For a moment Gaara was about to just keep driving, but something compelled him to pull over. So his black solstice pulled up alongside the man and Gaara made the offer. The man got in a moment later. At first they both stared for a moment then Gaara offered a hand. "Gaara Sabaku. You?"

"Sasuke Uchiha, thank you for picking me up."

His eyes were wary though, and Gaara had been to enough meetings to see that he was being assessed for risk and insanity levels. When he was deemed sane and risk-free Sasuke cautiously reached out to shake his hand. Gaara smiled warmly and Sasuke smiled back.

"So where are you headed?" The red head put his eyes back to the road and pulled back out into traffic. Sasuke seemed to gage him once more then speak.

"Suna International. The medical side, please." Gaara restrained his reaction. This man worked for him? Sasuke Uchiha, if he worked on the medical side he had at least a Masters degree. This, hottie, doctor worked for him and Gaara had no idea? Damn, the CEO made a mental note to review the staff of both sides in his building. There was so much potential. Of course, if this man worked for him then telling him that Gaara ran the company would be a freaking good conversation killer - how do you compare to a multi-billionaire. Hell, his name was practically a household name. That this man didn't react meant he focused too much on his work to care.

"You're a Doctor?"

"Yes. You?" Gaara didn't nod, he had a doctorate but he didn't want to seem too familiar. So instead he shook his head.

"No, I work at Suna International though. I'm a numbers guy though. I probably figure out your budget." Gaara shrugged. It was true. Gaara actually paid the budget, this guy's paycheck as well, but no way was that passing his lips.

"Really?" Sasuke's eyes widened, it was good to meet someone that worked in his building. Someone he didn't have to constantly prove himself around. A number-cruncher would hear doctor and there would be the immediate respect of that amount of work. Sasuke had to admit though, the number-crunchers got his respect as well. All those zeros made the Uchiha's head spin. "Are the offices there really as big as they say? A friend of mine works in the PR department and he says all the offices are twice as big. The guy who runs Suna has to really worry about comfort."

Gaara had instant admiration for this onyx eyed man. He had sat down with the architect himself to plan the building, he didn't want one big room with a small hive of cubicles. Comfort had in fact been the goal. Comfortable people were happier with their job, they also worked faster and better. Ultimately, comfort equaled profit. Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara thought, was definitely someone he'd have to look into.

"Yea they are, they're all roomy and they really keep them organized. How about in the medical department? I've never met anyone in your area." Partial truth. He'd met with the head of the department, Sakura Haruno, to discuss rearranging her schedule so she could log some hours at the hospital. Evidently a friend of hers had been wanting to get in pediatrics and needed a good name to recommend him. His age had been a factor and he wanted to prove a young person - Sakura was only 20 a year younger than him - could be an accomplished Doctor.

"Amazing. Dr. Haruno told me that the CEO had talked with her personally about the design and that she and he had spent a good day and a half designing this place. It turned out beautifully. I didn't know a lab could look homey but they pulled it off nicely." Sasuke smiled and Gaara could tell that he really did appreciate the work that went into the building. Gaara nodded as he thought, if it really did help to make the workers happy perhaps he should take his sister's advice and throw that Christmas party. He had 3 months. That was definitely enough time to plan something. He had that huge hall in the Cicero hotel on retainer, one phone call and it was his.

"Out of curiosity one of my friends works in the higher offices and he dropped a hint that there may be a Christmas party. What do you think?"

"Who's the friend? If it's credible..." Sasuke raised one eyebrow, both of them were staying in the vague area of 'one of my friends' and it was time to begin searching out sources to check this guy's authenticity.

"Shikamaru Nara." Gaara said the name with the confidence of a long-time friend and he was. They had known each other growing up and Shika married his sister only recently. Gaara had been the best man. Of course, the wedding had been well publicized. Vaguely Gaara felt some concern for this man's connection to the outside world. How the hell did he manage to miss the wedding?

Sasuke nodded. Friends with Shika! Perfect. Sasuke could make one call and prove this guy a liar or not. Shika and he had know each other as children, before Sasuke moved and they'd kept in touch. Shikamaru wasn't directly involved in the company but Sasuke was aware that he'd married the CEO's sister. But damn it all Sasuke never even thought about who the hell the CEO was. He was just the guy in charge to Sasuke. Nobody really all that important.

"I don't know, it'd be fun if it wasn't like a business meeting. At my last place of employment the Christmas party was spent discussing business and work." Sasuke chuckled at the memory. If nothing else, Suna International was much more lively. He used to work at just the Hospital and a small laboratory in a doctor's office. It was horrible.

The last Uchiha quickly did another threat assessment of the man beside him. Fire red hair and warm, swirling azure eyes. The love tattoo drew his eyes for a second, but he looked too professional to have gotten that anytime recently. The dark silk vest over the darker pressed shirt screamed that he took his job seriously. His hair however was still tousled, almost bed head. So he didn't really care much about his physical appearance. Ultimately, nothing all that threatening. Hell his entire demeanor invited Sasuke in.

Gaara nodded thoughtfully. This shouldn't be too difficult. Gaara smiled to himself. "Well, we're here." Gaara stopped at the front of the building and Sasuke quirked one eyebrow. "I work the other side of the building remember. There's no point of me parking out front here when I work on the other side." Gaara shrugged and Sasuke nodded with a small ah.

The Uchiha could have smacked himself. Leave it to him to play the fool. Sasuke extended a hand. "Well it was nice meeting you Mr. Sabaku-"

"Gaara. My name's Gaara."

"-Gaara. Thanks for the ride. Maybe we'll see each other again." Sasuke exited the vehicle and walked into the building. Gaara pulled away and went into the parking lot. He'd only really stopped because he couldn't very well park in the visitors area, but he couldn't park in his own parking spot. There was a sign that read Gaara Sabaku CEO there and that would give him away to an idiot.

The red head admitted to him-self that he hoped he'd meet Sasuke Uchiha again. In 7 minutes he'd made quite the impression on his boss. Gaara tugged out his cell phone and called his sister.

"Temari. Pull up an employee file and leave it in my office. It's the file of a man in your med-lab; Sasuke Uchiha."

Yes, Gaara nodded to himself as his sister gave an affirmative reply, definitely someone he needed to keep a better eye on...