She was dreaming of Gaara. Gaara and his gloriousness. Gaara and his gloriousness to leave her hanging.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The sound of her alarm clock was absolutely annoying. She rolled over and hit the end alarm button, hugging the duvet to herself. And no, not her bare skin, like some would have thought. Her eyes closed tiredly as she flopped back over, into the middle of her large bed, frowning depressingly at the door.

He had rejected her.

The lump formed in her throat as she thought about. He hadn't given in, like most men would have. He hadn't agreed to her silent pleading. Just led her to bed, tucked her in, wished her goodnight and left.

No sex, no screaming in passion, no nothing.

He just left.

She should have felt grateful he hadn't take advantage of her. And, reasonably she was . . . kind of. She had been hoping he'd be a regular guy and take his chance. Take her to bed and make her wish she didn't have to leave the states so soon. But he didn't. He just kind of . . . left her hanging, as Sasuke would put it.

Her eyes watered up again.

And Sasuke.

God, she didn't even know if she liked Sasuke after this. After being gone for three days, she hadn't been expecting him to go off and fuck five different girls. Yeah, he told her, because she wanted an explanation for why he had been gone for so long. She got her wish, Sasuke was moving on. Sasuke didn't need her anymore. She was just some chick he had fucked for fun.

Her bottom lip trembled and she lifted a hand to run through her greasy, blue hair. It was becoming a shade darker from all this sun, which was weird, considering how short her stay here was.

Light fluttered through the ivory curtains that hung in front of the sliding glass doors. They were open slightly, to allow some of the morning light to flood a little spot on the sandy blue carpet. She turned her head away, wrapping the blanket around her head so that light was blocked from her eyes.

This morning, she didn't want to get up. Everything felt too . . . weird. Like she was waking up in an alternate universe. But no, it was still Honolulu and she still had to finish up business with Gaara and his company. She still had to deal with Sasuke and their relationship issues. She still had to put up with her father, Hiashi, and his partner-in-crime, Fuguka.

Her life was one big episode after another. One minute, she'd be dating the legendary man himself and the next; she was throwing cold water down his pants in a five-star restaurant. One minute, she was mourning over her loss of a great boyfriend and the next she was fucking her next lover boy.

Hanabi would have called her a slut and a heartbreaker by now.

"I'm not a slut," she mumbled under her breath, sniffling lightly.

In the past, there had been so many guys during her high school days. Shino and Kiba had been there the whole time, dealing with one after the other. Those days, she was hoping -key word here: hoping- to find her dream guy. But that was high-school. No one finds anyone in high-school. Because, well, it's high-school.

What is puppy love is mistaken for passion. What is passion is mistaken for heartbreak. Back in high-school, no one would take anything seriously. You could have been the most serious person in school, like uptight Shino. You were still able to joke around.

Her eyes closed, burning lightly. Sometimes, she wished she could just fall asleep and walk up fifteen-years-old again. Go back a few years and do a re-do on her pathetic life. Maybe her confidence would be fixed a little if she knew she was going to become the COO to an international company some day in the near future. Maybe show her father she wasn't some worthless hunk of his skin and blood he thought she was.

She snorted. Yeah right. Father didn't even appreciate Hanabi, so why should he to her?

Her jaw clenched and she clamped her burning eyes shut. Was everything against her in the world? Was she just supposed to sit back and take it? Like a good girl's supposed to?

Hell no.

She was Hyuga Hinata. Her older cousin worked for her. Businessmen competed for her acceptance. Women treated her as a role model. She had been on magazine covers that had nothing to do with her line of work. She went to the Oscars with Hanabi. She owned millions of businesses and always managed to hide from the Monopoly laws.

Fatigue swept over her body and she gratefully accepted it. She was tired of trying to find a reason to be happy. It was too depressing, realizing she didn't have a lot to be happy for. But that was probably why she as having that affair with Sasuke. Because she had something to look forward to, to be happy about, to look forward to after the end of the day.

A small, sad smile fell on her unglossed lips. Things were so much better when she was in a pathetic excuse of love.

-

Sasuke, on the other hand, was finishing last minute business with Gaara. Right after he got Gaara to sign the last of the documents and agree over the terms, he and Hinata would be hitting the road. They were getting out of this place today, and he wasn't taking no for an answer.

The minute Gaara's pen lifted from the paper, Sasuke popped the document into the manila folder, labeled it and dropped it into his briefcase. His didn't have an organized little purple folder thing like Hinata's, so he'd give it to her to file correctly later.

Gaara capped his pen and gave Sasuke a nod. "Is that it?"

Absentmindedly, Sasuke checked everything. "I believe that's it. Thank you for you time and cooperation."

Gaara gave a ghost of a wry smirk. "You sound like a telephone call girl."

His black eyes narrowed then he chuckled. "I did, didn't I?"

They stood and Sasuke felt a little of the barrier break around him. He had been a little tense today, but now he was feeling better. Mainly because in twelve hours or less, he and Hinata would be back home, enjoying themselves-

No, they'd be at their respective houses, listening to a conference on their computers while trying to relax and ease away their jet lag. Of course, that wasn't going to happen because Fuguka and Hiashi believed that everyone was just as equal to them and had the stamina of a jackhammer, which is incredibly stupid, like they are.

"About your friend," Gaara began and Sasuke blinked, trying to tense up again. His "friend" wasn't exactly "friend". They were more like jealous ex-lovers. But he wasn't going to tell Gaara that.

"What about her?" he said, glancing to the man beside him.

Gaara's posture was ridiculously straight and Sasuke stopped his usual, slouch-and-shove-hands-into-pockets to stand tall next to him. Gaara didn't notice, or pretended not to notice, and Sasuke realized they were the same height and same build. Freaky.

Gaara gave a ghost of a smile, peachy-pale skin turning golden from morning sun. "I believe she has a crush on me."

Sasuke snorted and turned his head away. That wasn't supposed to come out. Hinata was going to snatch his ass up. She was going to chew him up, spit him out and stomp on him with impossibly high spike Versace heels. He almost shuddered at the thought because knowing her; she probably would do just that. It wasn't highly unlikely here.

Gaara looked to him. "I believe something happened between you two."

"Nope." Sasuke scowled in his head. That answer was a little too quick.

Gaara raised a brush stroke eyebrow. "If you say so." He turned down a separate hallway and Sasuke watched him for a while before scurrying off towards his room. What was up with that man! Scrounging around in people's business . . .

If Gaara even so much as laid an ear on information about them and Hinata found out, he was dead!

D to the E to the A to the D.

Deader than a doornail.

No longer among the living.

Kicked the Bucket.

Not-coming-back-for-another-chapter-dead.

He bit down on his lip and stopped his mind from coming up with synonyms to say "dead". It was starting to scare him a little bit, and Uchiha men don't fear anything. They also don't get emotionally attached, but he had already broken that rule so why not break so more while he was at it.

-

Hinata groaned, sitting up and rubbing her sore shoulder. She had slept on it awkwardly and now it was all sore and her neck had a kink in it. Grumbling to herself, she slid from bed and shed her sweaty clothing in the afternoon light. It was disgusting that she hadn't taken a shower since seven this morning.

Wrapping her turquoise terry cloth robe around herself, she frowned at her stingy, greasy hair in the brass antique mirror above her dresser. She looked a mess, with oily skin and red cheeks. They weren't even cute little pinch-able red cheeks. They were blotchy, like she had been crying.

Which she had, but let's not get into that right now.

Her door flew open and she suppressed a scream as Sasuke stood in the door way.

"What the fuck!" she hissed then sighed and straightened herself up. He merely stared at her, a briefcase in one hand and the other shoved into his ivory cargo shorts. They were paired with a brown American Eagle polo shirt and Hinata was tempted to say how good he looked, but didn't. They had a "mutual agreement" pact, and she wasn't going to ruin it now. Even though she had been bending the rules with her angry comments about. But that's for later.

"Is there something you need?" she asked as he sauntered in.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she eyed him, all the while wondering what this man was about to do. She wanted nothing to do with him right now, especially when she was feeling crappy and not up for a challenge. And of course, a challenge he would most likely issue.

"I got the rest of the documents signed," he said in his monotone, masculine voice, dropping the briefcase on her bed. "I probably didn't label them right so you can take care of that. I'll get the plane ready for tomorrow."

Her eyes widened as she looked to him. "You . . . you actually finished everything?"

"Yes," he said, curiously eyeing her. "I figure, since I haven't been around for a while, I owe it to you. It is my company as well, Hinata."

Her heart pounded in her chest from just her name slipping from his full, luscious lips and she smiled, with actual appreciation. "Oh, thank you then. Yes, I can file them correctly for you. We'll go over them when we get back home, okay?"

He nodded and left the room briskly, leaving her with a pocket of silence and the memory of him being in her room. She picked up the brown leather briefcase and wrapped her arms around it, beaming to no one but herself. Maybe Sasuke wasn't such a bad guy after all. He just needed to be . . . jostled around a little before it kicked in.

-

He shook his head, leaning into the salty-tasting breeze and letting out a cloud of smoke. His eyes were focused on the back of a red-head, standing tall and broad shoulder. He was talking into a cell phone -looked like a Blackberry- his black-sandal clad feet sinking into the sand just outside the bar area.

Sasuke placed the cigarette between his lips again, and leaned against the railing on his elbow. Gaara's head turned away and he couldn't tell the expression on his face.

His mind wandered back to Hinata. And how . . . appreciative she had looked when he had given her the rest of the documents. Obviously, he was now on her good side. No hard feelings today.

He shook his head again, ignoring the hole in his chest that was gradually filling. Uchiha men aren't supposed to get emotionally attached. They just weren't and it wasn't natural for them to get attached. Women were just instruments in their lives, very talkitive and annoying, but enough to keep them busy. But let's not get Uchiha men wrong. They were cold hard. Like ice straight from the arctic. They just couldn't melt.

But like he said, he had already broken that rule.

Uchiha men sound brutal . . . But hey! Fuguka married! He must not have been so bad in the "good ol' days" XDDDD I use this term lightly XDD

Anyways, I'm so glad you're enjoying this! I have to thank you for you reviews! They're really great and I seriously appreciate them! (I learned -after about two months- how to spell it RIGHT! XDDD) They're great advice and I would so luh-ve for you to keep them up! Don't you dare stop because when you do, I get sad. And you don't like me sad . . . .

Love ya! R&R Please and Thank You! X3