"You did what?!" That was my roommate and best friend, Ino. She was less than happy when I told her about how I'd said no to Kakashi's dinner invite. "What the hell is wrong with you, Saks?"

"Umm, nothing. I just got a job, I'm not about to mess it up for a dinner that probably won't lead to anything meaningful." I was on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on my laps and the phone still in my hands. Kakashi had just called a few moments ago. I didn't want to say no to him but until my place at Uchiha and sons was solidified, I wasn't going to risk it.

Kakashi was a great guy and I liked how he made me feel. It upset me that Itachi was being all weird about it and dictating my love life. But what could I do?

"I can't believe you." Ino said. Yeah, well, newsflash, I couldn't believe me either. "You actually meet a good guy, a great guy who finds you desirable and what do you do? You push him away." She shook her head in disbelief, "Nice one."

"You think I want to do this?" if she believed that then she didn't know me at all. I wanted to go out with Kakashi. I'd been excited about it. I just wanted to have a paying job too. How could she not see that?

"I think you're throwing away something that could turn out to be beautiful for no good reason."

"No good reason?" I scoffed, "how about my future? Mmh. How about being able to pay rent?" I was losing my cool. She didn't understand.

"Do you think it was easy for me and Sai to reach this far? You have to work for these things. They don't just happen."

I knew that. "Well, we can't all have a love like you and Sai's, okay?" I retorted, "Most of us don't have that easy."

"Excuses." She said.

"Whatever," I told her as I got up and walked to my room. I had a trip to prepare for. The trip to Suna wasn't going to be an easy one. I needed my wits about and thinking about how I was losing out on being with Kakashi wasn't helping. As my best friend, she was supposed to be making my decisions easier not harder.

~xoxo~

The following day I was ready for the trip. From the time Itachi had told me that I'd be accompanying him 2 days ago, I'd made sure that everything was perfect. I'd looked through Temari's old diaries, the ones she'd left for me to get acquainted with the job and know exactly what restaurants and hotels to book. She was an angel. They had really come in handy.

For Suna, according to her notes, the hotel to go to was The Sand Hotel. I imagined it with gorgeous buildings like in Dubai with must see sandy beaches and beautiful blue swimming pools. I'd booked two rooms and emphasized on that one. Last thing I wanted was to have to share a room with my boss.

This trip wasn't going to be half bad.

As I was hailing for a cab, I saw someone with familiar white hair walking out of a coffee shop. My heart skipped a bit. He was dressed in dark blue denim jeans, a white tee-shirt and a fitted leather jacket. Kakashi in suits was sexy as heck. Kakashi in jeans was just ridiculously attractive. How was it not a crime to look that good? He must have seen me eying him because a smile formed on his face and the corners of his eyes crinkled. It just made him look even more dashing. He turned and started walking my way.

"Hey, Red." He said as he sipped on his coffee.

"H-hi." I tried not to come off so taken aback. He had that effect on me.

"Did I make this awkward by walking over? If so, I can step back." He was so nice. Damn that Itachi for his stupid rule.

"Oh, no. Not at all." If anybody was making this awkward it was me. "Why should it be awkward?"

"Usually when a guy is put in the friendzone, awkwardness tends to follow." He teased.

"Friendzone? People like you are never in the friendzone."I assured him.

"People like me?" he arched his brow.

"Hot people." I said it before I could even stop myself and my cheeks flushed. "I mean-"

"It's okay." He laughed, "At least now I know you didn't turn me down because I'm an ogre."

"Pssh, please." he was far from being an ogre. "And I didn't turn you down."

He arched his brow further like he was asking me, "Really?"

"I said, it was complicated. My life is complicated, I'm complicated." I tried to explain myself.

"All the ones who are worth it are complicated." He looked me straight in the eyes. My breath caught. "It was nice seeing you again, Red."

He started walking away and before I could stop myself, I called out his name, "Kakashi…" now what? What the hell did I want?

'Yes." He turned back and took a sip of his coffee. Suddenly I was jealous of that stupid cup. How come it gets to feel his lips? No idea where that thought just came from.

"Um…" I wanted to tell him, I'd like to give dinner a shot. That I'd like to hang out with him sometime. My phone buzzed and it was Itachi calling. Crap! I was probably running late. I looked up at Kakashi and smiled, "Enjoy your day, okay?" Lame.

He returned my smile, "You too." Then with one hand in his pocket and the hot beverage in the other, he walked away. So unfair. I wanted me some Kakashi pie.

I answered the phone, "I'm on my way." My boss was something else.

A car finally stopped for me and I told him to take me to the airport.

~xoxo~

Suna Airport.

Once the plane landed and we waited for our car come to pick us from the airport, the first thing I noticed about Suna was that it was hot and it was sandy. I immediately craved to see how the sandy beaches were like, if there were any. By the time the car pulled over, I was sticky and I was dehydrated. I couldn't wait to reach the hotel room. From what Temari had made of it, it was going to be an experience I wouldn't soon forget. A smile crept on my face and I felt excited.

This was going to be fun.

"Are you just going to stand there like a loon or will you get in?"

"Oh, sorry. Just taking in the surroundings?" it was probably normal for him but for me, this was a big deal. I didn't travel much, so any time I got a chance to see a new place, I had to savour the moment.

He sighed as I scooted in after him. "We're not here for sightseeing, Miss Haruno." He looked at me with his serious lawyer face, "You'd do best to remember that."

Okay. Geez. Business, not pleasure. I got it. That however didn't stop me from being wowed by all the buildings and the entire foreign vibe I got from suna.

~xoxo~

"Yes, mom." I was facing my back to Itachi, "I'll remember to put on sun screen."

My mom had phoned me as we were being driven to the hotel. She was being overprotective again. Somethings just never change, "I have to go now. Talk to you later."

If Itachi minded me taking personal calls while I was with him, he didn't show it. He was unmoved by it all actually. I kind of liked that.

The car was making a turn on a rundown place that was called "The and Hot". Wait a second…what? Three letters were missing.

No freaking way! This dump was "The Sand Hotel"? This couldn't be right. I had to blink several times to make sure that the heat wasn't getting to me and making me see things that weren't there. This had to be a sick a mirage. This was the place Temari recommended?

What in the world?

Itachi shifted in his seat uncomfortably. I felt his horror. "Miss Haruno, please tell me this is some kind of sick joke." He was firm as he looked at the blinking sign that was missing an "S" and the "el". I didn't even know what to say as I looked at the sleaziness of it all.

There were a number of trucks in the parking lot, if you can even call it a parking lot. The paint job on the building needed some much needed maintenance as it looked like the place had survived an earthquake and I use survive loosely. Everything was falling apart. Though it had 3 floors, one would wonder how it didn't collapse on itself. This looked like a place where prostitutes, hobos, hopes and dreams came to die and by the look on Itachi's face, so did my career. I was so getting fired.

The car stopped and someone came out to help us with our luggage. We got out of the car and he got my small travel bag first and went inside. I didn't like the idea of being too far from my essentials so my toilet bag was in my large handbag-Held close to my body.

"Miss Haruno?" Itachi turned towards me. I just shrugged. I also didn't know what the hell was going on. Without wasting anytime, I reached into my bag and got out my phone. I swiftly looked through for Temari's number and dialed. Itachi was still looking at me like I'd just spat in his coffee.

The line went through and Temari answered. "Hello?"

"Temari, it's Sakura, Ita-Mr. Uchiha's new assistant." I explained myself.

"Hey, what can I do for you? Did something happen to Itachi?" she sounded concerned.

"No, he's okay." He probably wants to murder me but he's okay. "What's the meaning of this? The Sand Hotel is a piece of crap. Why would you recommend it?"

"The Sand Ho…" She trailed off and then burst out laughing and I wondered why, "You didn't?" she said, still laughing.

"What?" I was confused, "What do you mean I didn't? What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry Sakura, I should have said something earlier.. It's something that started long before I got my job there. It's a running tradition to mess with the new worker. It can be hotels, restaurants-"

"What are you talking about?" I wasn't making head or tail of any of what she was saying.

"It's just a silly game. You add in fake information in the system or in my case, my diary, to throw the new assistant off. A sort of initiation. I put the Sand Hotel in my diary weeks ago. I'm so sorry. That was before I met you and I guess I forgot to remove it or tell you about it."

"Are you telling me that this is all some part of a sick prank? I could lose my job for this." And it was true. The way Itachi was breathing behind me was an indicator enough.

"Don't panic, I'll text you some numbers for really good five star hotels. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." She cut the line and I took a deep breath.

"Well?" Itachi asked.

I turned and gave him my sweetest smile, "Just a misunderstanding, I'll have it sorted in no time." I hoped.

My phone buzzed a second later and I got dialing. I walked a distance from Itachi and started my mad search for a decent hotel. I called every number that Temari had sent me. The responses were the same, "We're fully booked." My heart sank and I could see my life start flashing before my eyes. I was screwed. And it wasn't the fun kind.

I swallowed hard after my last attempt and turned slowly, a sheepishly grin on my face. "Um, maybe it's not that bad." I tried to make him relax. It wasn't working. The place was worse than a dump.

"In which world do you think that I can actually stay at a place like…this?" he gestured to the dilapidated craphole. "This conference is very important to me and the company. How could you fuck up this bad?" I flinched for a second.

I wasn't about to throw Temari under the bus or play the blame card, if I'd been more thorough in my work I wouldn't have been in that situation. "Sir, every other place is booked. I don't know how this happened, but I'm sorry." It looked like sorry was slowly going to be my new nickname. Walking towards him, I picked up his suitcase and prepared to enter the 'hotel'.

"Leave it." He said. It looked like it was taking everything he had not to lose it. "I'll carry it myself."

"Of course." I said.

This was going to be a very stressful trip.

~xoxo~

"I don't understand." I told the lady at the reception, her name tag said had the name Matsuri on it.

"What's hard to understand? It is exactly like I said. We don't have any workers who carry bags here." She explained. "Does this place look like it can afford any more employees?" she gestured to the god-awful interior.

"What does that mean?"

"Lady, what do you want me to say? You were robbed." What the hell was wrong with my luck? My beautiful, beautiful dresses. "You stuff is gone. Stolen by some sand thief."

Itachi was by my side rubbing his temples, "Can I please just have my key?" he said. He said it like it caused him physical pain.

"Sure thing." She smiled at him seductively. Really? Now? Who would flirt in such a place? "Your rooms adjoin." She gave me a nasty stare like I was planning on sneaking into his room or something. No happening. I wasn't that kind of girl.

He grabbed his keys and walked away. So, I was left standing there, thinking about my stolen bag and what I was going to be wearing during my stay here.

This job was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth.

~xoxo~

My crappy room.

If I thought the outside was bad, the inside of the rooms was even worse. The puke-green wallpaper was peeling off in some places, the carpet looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the hotel was built. I'm guessing in the 40s. There were cobwebs in the roof and everything screamed 'horror movie'. I crinkled my nose at the musty and dusty smell of it all. It was official, I was in hell. The bed looked like an accident waiting to happen even though the beddings looked a bit decent. I didn't want to think of all the things that could be lurking under those sheets. Just how many overdoses had occurred in this place? I was surprised there weren't any white markings showing where someone had been killed.

My phone buzzed. It was Ino. She was apologizing for the night before and asked how my journey had been. I quickly texted back to tell her how things had turned out. She was probably laughing her stupid butt off. Who could blame her?

It was getting dark out and I felt exhausted.

I laid my bag on the chair that was in the room, took off my outfit and was glad that it wasn't wrinkled. After my unfortunate theft, it looked like I'd be getting back into that same outfit. Gross. First thing in the morning, I planned on doing a quick shop and wear. It was the only way I'd get through this trip without coming off as an idiot.

Dressed in nothing more than my bra and panties, I headed for the bathroom, with my heels still on. There was no way I was stepping on that floor with my bare feet. The stickiness of my bod was starting to bug me. I needed a shower. I opened the door and saw that the once white tiles had become stained after years of neglect and now the whole thing looked like a whore house. I cringed as I thought of all the venereal diseases one would get in such a place. The mirror on the small cabinet had a nasty crack and the shower curtain looked like it was the breeding ground for every skin disease known to man.

The showerhead looked almost moldy. I walked to the sink and turned the tap. Water shot out furiously and got me wet in a second. I almost gagged as some of it went in my mouth. Fumbling for a bit, I finally managed to shut it and stood there huffing and puffing. I heard a scratching sound behind the cabinet and I knew I shouldn't have been so curious as to want to see but curiosity got the better of me and I open it. A wet looking rodent dove for me; I'd just disturbed its gross nest. It came straight for my face and I screamed my lungs out. I ran out of the room and lost balance as I tumbled to the bed. It appeared termites had made this room their territory or I was more overweight that I thought because the bed broke in half as I fell onto it.

Dozens of cockroaches started swarming from under the bed and I screamed some more. Scuffling to my feet, the heels still on, I struggled to find my footing. I could feel those nasty critters all over my body. I wanted to hurl. I wanted to die. With no bearing to where I was going, I ran into what my brain first concluded was the wall until I felt hands on my arms. Calming me.

"What's the meaning of this, Miss Haruno?" Itachi's calm voice spoke to me. He was steading me. He must have heard my screaming and used the door connecting our rooms. My body was squished against his. In my distraught state, I didn't even mind that I was touching his bare chest. "What the hell happened to your bed?" Ha. What bed? There was no longer a bed. All that was left was rubble and an overused mattress infested with cockroaches and bedbugs.

I was still frantic and the cockroaches could still be felt. "Rats…cockroaches." I tried to be calm, "Get them off me!" I was sure I had tears in my eyes. I didn't care. A time to act serious was long gone. I wanted to get the hell out of there.

He ushered me into his room and closed the door. Once I relaxed a bit and my senses came back to me, I almost ran back into the cockroach infested room as I remembered what I was wearing. My half naked body was exposed and his black eyes stared me down. I tried to cover myself with my hands. It didn't work.

He grunted as he moved to his bed and got a tee shirt from his bag and tossed it at me. "Here." No sooner had the piece of clothing reached me than I threw it on my head and covered my shame. It smelled of him. My face heated up and I looked away.

Itachi shook his head in disbelief. "Miss Haruno, you sure are a piece of work." He said, "You can use the bathroom if you want. Use these." He held leather slippers in his hands. I finally looked at him, as in really looked at him. I'd gotten so used to seeing him in his tailored suits that the image of him in nothing more than loose fitted flannel pajamas was unsettling. It was wrong of me to notice but he looked good. I walked over to him and hesitantly grabbed the slippers. I missed my stolen bag already.

"Thanks." I said and I meant it.

He just sighed.

The bathroom might have been gross but at least there was running water. Running water meant a decent bath. What a messed up day it'd turned out to be.

I was so getting fired.

~xoxo~

Later in the night.

"Oh, yes"

A bang against the wall. Some creaking.

Grunt.

"Oh, god."

Bang. Bang.

"Yes, yes…just like that! Mmm…"

Creak. Bang. Creak. Bang. Creak. Bang.

"Faster. Harder."

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The creaking echoed in my head. The loud thudding against the wall was insane. There was plaster dropping on my head. The bed I sat on was shaking. It felt like the wall between our room and the next was going to come down. It was just my luck to be neighbors with that one couple that had sex all through the night. I hugged myself at my misfortune. Last thing I wanted to witness were sweaty naked entwined bodies because that's how it felt. Like any second, the dude would thrust too hard and land himself and her into our room.

"Oh yes, I'm gonna…oh god…"

Creak. Spank. Groan.

This was freaking ridiculous. How was her vag taking all that force? My cheeks were red and my heart was about to implode. This wasn't how I envisioned this night going at all. I could feel Itachi's eyes on me. I didn't dare look at him. I could feel his anger. He was gritting his teeth and had clenched his fists. I couldn't blame him.

He'd allowed me to stay in his room. At least his bed wasn't a termite kingdom. It had taken a lot of breaths and chanting 'I can do this. I can do this' to finally agree. Plus the idea of sleeping on a broken bed among the rats and cockroaches in my room was incentive enough.

"Pull my hair…yes, yes, harder…yes baby. Fuck…"

Creak. Creak. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Well, Miss Haruno, I hope you're happy." Itachi finally said something. It was hard enough that I had to deal with the moaning, the creaking and the grunts from the other room and now he was playing the blame game. Seriously, why don't you kick a dead horse already?

"This isn't my fault. Temari assured me that this was the hotel that you normally stay in whenever you visit Suna." Oops, I'd let it slip.

"Hotel?" he scoffed, he looked around the room with disgust and crinkled his nose when once again the musty scent of it hit him.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

Grunt. "Who's your daddy?"

Creak. "Who's your daddy?" Spank.

Oh come on. I quickly got off the bed and stood a good distance away from it. My arms were folded on my chest and I tried not to redden any more than I already was. I hated the look on Itachi's face. How was I supposed to know there was a running prank tradition to mess with the new employee? Why couldn't they just have put bugs in my cereal or something? This was freaking cruel.

The sex machines in the next room weren't making it easier either.

"I'm sorry okay." I finally said. The way he looked at me suddenly made me self-conscious. My legs were just exposed for him to see. Why didn't he own a bigger shirt? This felt too intimate. He didn't look to decent either. In all his shirtless glory, it was a wonder how I was still able to breath. A weaker person might have jumped him already.

Damn. Where did those thoughts come from? He was my boss. And like chocolate cake at fat camp…totally off limit.

"Next time, do us both a favour and actually do your research. I can't believe I'm going to sleep in this dump." He said with disgust.

"Next time?" I sighed and couldn't help the smile that formed on my face. So I wasn't going to be fired. That was good to know. Suddenly that insane banging from the insatiable couple in the next room didn't bother me as much. I was going to keep my job.

I was about to walk to the bathroom to cool off when my phone started ringing. It was probably Ino wanting information on whether or not I was going to be the next cliché like in one of those "The Billionaire's Innocent Assistant" novels. Sorry to disappoint you Ino, but this assistant is all business and no pleasure. No matter how tempting it was. Hey, come on. Try fighting off your body's responses when there was live moaning and banging in the next room.

Itachi picked up the phone and was about to hand it to me when he snuck a quick peak. His already stern features morphed into something I couldn't even figure out and he looked me over before finally handing it to me.

Oh Boy. I saw the caller ID and tried to act like I wasn't just caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I faced away from Itachi and could feel his eyes on me. This wasn't good.

"H-hello." I said in the mouthpiece. I tried to be confident but it came off more like a timid girl's pathetic whisper. It reminded me of my stage fright days in high school when my voice got a mind of its own and never came out when I wanted it to. I hated it.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" he asked. His voice reached my ears and I almost moaned at my loss. Why shouldn't I be allowed to be with him? For the first time in a long time, a decent handsome man found me attractive.

"No, not at all." I knew I was playing with fire but if I was going to soldier on through this awkward and weird night, I'd need all the help I could get.

"Good. I know you said you didn't think it was appropriate having dinner with me but you didn't say anything about me calling you." He said and I knew he was smiling. "Phone calls aren't complicated, right?"

"Fuck me harder!" a needy sound came again and I shut my eyes. Gosh woman, we get it.

Seriously? What were they, rabbits? It should be illegal to have sex for that long. And that hard.

"Um, are you sure I didn't catch you at a bad time?" he said, "If you need some time, I can call later."

What? I hoped he wasn't thinking what I thought he was thinking. If I thought my cheeks couldn't redden any further I was wrong.

"No…no, it isn't what you think." I blurted out, "I was just watching Game of Thrones."

Itachi coughed behind me and I couldn't believe I'd actually forgotten.

"I-I have to go." I sounded apologetic.

"Sure. You take care of yourself, Red." Ah, Red. It wasn't my name but I liked it when he said it.

I cut the line and waited for the firing to commence.

"I see you're as bad at following instructions as you're at booking rooms, Miss Haruno." He said flatly. "You don't understand the severity of your actions. Kakashi isn't the man you think he is."

At that I turned. I had to know what he meant. Kakashi was the gentleman who rescued me from fish-enthusiast guy and had been nothing but nice to me. What was this big secret that Itachi thought was big enough for me to deserve a warning?

"What's wrong with him?"

The corner of his lips turned and he got up slowly. His flannel pajamas hung low on his hips and my breath caught. What was wrong with me? He walked over to me gracefully and with purpose, I couldn't do anything but stare at him. My phone gripped tightly in my hands. When he wasn't stopping, I started taking a step back with each that he took towards me.

I'd moved so far back that I felt the cold hardness of the wall behind me. He kept moving closer. I swallowed hard. Was he going to kiss me? More importantly, was I going to stop him?

"Don't move." He said. I couldn't even if I tried. My eyes shut involuntarily and my lips parted slightly. I heard him stop right in front of me. I felt a light touch on my tummy and a second later a loud stomp sounded. I opened my eyes and found a huge spider sprawled on the dusty floor.

Was that thing on my tummy this whole time? My skin suddenly crawled. And sis I just think my boss wanted to kiss me?

"Wouldn't want you screaming your lungs out again." He said with a smirk on his face, "Now I don't know about you but I'm knackered. You can either stand there fantasizing about men who you'll never have or you can rest for the night and move on with your life. Kakashi should never cross your mind again. We have a long day tomorrow Miss Haruno and I won't let this situation deter our plans or distract us from why we came here in the first place."

He lay on the bed back first and faced the ceiling with his hands on his stomach. I had to just stand there for a second and recover from my mishap. This was going to be one long night and if the sex freaks in the other room were anything to go by, chances were that I wouldn't be sleeping that night.

~xoxo~

Author's Note: Okay, so it's been a while since my last update. Love triangles are hard, I didn't like how the chapter kept turning out. I hope this was a good read.

Thank you for the follows, faves, reviews.

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