Hiashi nodded, pleased with how things went. "I am most pleased. You've done a good job."

Hinata held her smiling to a minimum. "Thank you father, Fuguka. Plans for construction in America are already being set up. Gaa- I mean Subaku-san has agreed to take care of that."

Fuguka raised an eyebrow as Sasuke sat back in his seat, his cold demeanor up and blowing cold air through the office. "Who is Gaa?"

"Gaara," Sasuke said, and Hinata felt her cheeks warm, looking down into the lap of her slate blue pencil skirt. "His name is Subaku Gaara."

Hiashi narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips, staring at Hinata. "Did something happen in Honolulu, Hinata?"

Neji and Itachi quit their quiet conversation. Itachi stared pointedly at his younger brother while Neji clenched his jaw, prepared to book a flight on his Blackberry Touch and find this "Gaara".

"N-no father," Hinata mumbled, pinching herself under the table for stuttering. It was so obvious she was lying.

Hiashi sighed, drumming his fingers on the desk. "You've heard this over and over again Hinata. In fact, you enforce this common rule. And you know all too well what happens, don't you?"

Sasuke didn't even stiffen. Instead, he pressed his fist to his mouth and she saw quirk in his lips. He was enjoying this?! The sudden urge to slam the chucky heel of her square-toe Ralph Lauren deep blue ankle boots up his toned ass was incredibly strong. But she refrained, figuring some guy might want that ass. The gay pun made her feel slightly better about herself.

She nodded. "Yes father, I do."

"Good. Then I hope you do not jeopardize this by your actions."

"Of course, father."

"Meeting adjourned." Fuguka slapped the file back on the desk, a pleased glint in his obsidian eyes.

The minute she had Sasuke alone, she pulled him into the break room. Blocking the door, she turned to face her ex-lover-co-worker, hands on her hips, legs at shoulder's width. "What is your problem?"

"My problem?" Sasuke curled his lip in contempt. "I was not the one drooling over His Highness for the last week."

Her head snapped back and she glared up at him. "This is getting tiresome, Uchiha. Gaara and I are only acquaintances. I don't need you jealousy ruining what I've worked hard to get."

"But you want more, don't you?" He glared down at her when she didn't answer. "That's what I thought. You don't care about anything other than that; all you care about is getting what you want."

"T-that's not true!" she retorted, her stomach twisting into knots. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could see this was going downhill, fast. The Snowball effect. It just keeps rolling and rolling, getting bigger and bigger until it hits a tree and explodes in your face.

He crossed his arms over his white untucked button-up. "Oh please, Hinata. I've known for the past week that all you've thought about is Gaara. It was always Gaara this, Gaara that. I'm sick of hearing about Gaara. Can you please keep you mind off his dick and on your job?"

Her glossed mouth opened to protest but he was already out the door before she could say anything. Tears pricked the back of her eyes and she slumped into a chair at the table, her forehead resting against the cool surface. Why was this always happening? One minute, they'd be getting along just fine, and they next they were at each other's throat.

She sniffled but immediately pulled herself together when the door opened. Sakura's pink head popped around the corner and Hinata jumped up. They wrapped each other in a tight hug, squealing like high-school girls after summer's vacation.

Sakura held her at arm's length, her emerald eye sparkling. "Look at you Hinata-chan! You're all tan and look so much better! I love the burgundy crew top! It goes so well with the blue. And the boots are such a cute touch!"

They stared at each other for a moment before bursting into a fit of laughter. Neither cared much about their fashion, just so long as they were comfortable and looked nice enough. Of course, that was for the weekend and in the office, clothes mattered very much.

Sakura dropped her things into a chair across from Hinata's and smoothed down her pearly white satin button blouse. "So, did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Hinata stood and went for the coffee pot.

Sakura waved her hand. "Don't worry about it. But you have to hear this. Ino told me and I had to come and tell you."

"Then what is it?" Hinata leaned forward, wishing she had a chai latte to sip on and was at their table at the bistro, outside. Even though it was fall, and cold and crisp, she wanted a more comfortable place to gossip.

Sakura's glossy coral pink lips puckered up. "Let's hit Ayame's. I don't think you should hear this kind of news in the office. Can you get out for maybe thirty minutes?"

"I'm the boss," Hinata stood and smoothed down her top and wavy hair. "I can do what I please."

Sakura's bubbly laugh filled the room as she fluffed her chin-length bob. "So true!" She grabbed her things and they both giggle-rushed towards Hinata's office to get her things.

-

Ayame's was a two-story café, with a bistro's atmosphere. It was the most comfortable place to be and was also classy. Whenever you walked through the door, you got the feeling of being in the ninety-sixties. Or the American version of a gangster movie.

The red brick walls were a great comfort to Hinata as she and Sakura made their way inside to order. The low murmur of voices and the soft wafting smell of cinnamon coating her tongue was all she needed to forget Sasuke. Well, not for long since she realized she hadn't thought about him for the last twenty minutes.

Sakura talked the whole way to the register, just tidbits about what was going on with the clinic and how hanging out with Naruto was getting to be tedious. While Sakura could keep a conversation going by herself, Naruto could keep up several . . . hundred.

Hinata pulled her purple multicolored Gucci scarf tighter around her neck and tucked it down the front of her long black trench coat. Her eyes stared up at the menu above them as they waited in line, catching the occasional sentence from Sakura. It was nice to listen every once in a while to her friend. Especially since with Sakura, she was always making her laugh.

"How can I help you ladies today?" a young man of about eighteen smirked at them. Sakura made it blatantly clear she was dating by "answering" her phone and talking to her "boyfriend". Hinata laughed brightly and was startled by her own phone ringing.

Ordering their coffee (Sakura got the House Blend today) Hinata went for her purse and nearly screamed in joy. Hanabi sent a text saying that in a few hours, her plane was landing. And that they should gather up some friends and hit a club downtown.

"What is it?" Sakura leaned over the table, her pink bangs getting whipped by a bout of fall wind.

Hinata smiled behind her scarf, her cheeks pink with excitement and cold. "Hanabi's coming home. She says after she gets some rest, we should get together and go somewhere."

"Hanabi?" Sakura cocked her head, sipping on her hot coffee.

"She's my younger sister by five years. You'll like her," Hinata answered her question, giddy with her sister coming back. "She had gone to France for a few months to become an intern to a very exclusive designer. And now she's coming home, for good."

Sakura's eyes sparkled with mock envy. "Did I ever tell you how cool your family is, Hinata-chan? I swear, my family so boring, owning a "responsible" clinic for the last sixty years."

Hinata giggled, careful not to scald her tongue on her chai latte. "At least it's only sixty. Mine's been since forever!"

They burst into a new set of giggles before remembering why they had come to the café in the first place.

Sakura coughed into her red-leather-gloved hand. "Anyways, I have gossip and deserve some Cool Points."

Hinata giggled. "How much."

"Three-hundred should be good enough."

Hinata cocked her head, smiling. "Depends. Tell me what's up first."

Sakura leaned forward over her coffee, her own cheeks pink. Hinata noted that she looked pretty, with wisps of pink fluttering around her face in the fall wind. She looked like a model, with a toned body, not a trace of body fat to be seen.

Her emerald eyes were lined with black liner and charcoal gray eye shadow. Her lips were glossy with coral pink lip gloss. Her makeup was flawless. Hinata felt a little inferior to her friend. But at the same time, she felt a little secure. Like she knew that if guys were looking at Sakura, she could keep to herself and not have to deal with the whole heartbreak thing.

Especially since she screwed up the last relationship she had.

She leaned forward as well, her black-leather-gloved hands wrapped around her cup. They're knuckles touched and the gossip buzz zipped through both of them. Their traditional pose and after so long, Hinata was already waiting for the next time she could do it.

"So, you know Nara Shikamaru, right?" Sakura began.

Hinata nodded. "He's our lawyer. Neji introduced him to father and forever since, we've kept in contact. He's gotten us out of many situations that would have surely turned out bad if he wasn't there."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Really? And I thought the Hyuga company was all for the goodness of others."

"Well, it's now the Hyuga & Uchiha Co-Op. Nothing special about that, except that we have two COOs and really important people." Hinata sipped her latte but immediately put her hand back.

Sakura nodded. "Anyways, Ino hooked Shikamaru up with this one girl. I believe her name was Temari? Something that. But that was three years ago. So he took her out to dinner to this really exclusive restaurant and now they're engaged."

Hinata's eyes widened. "No!"

Sakura burst into laughter. "Yes! Ino was stumped! She didn't realize he was going to go for her so fast!"

"When's the wedding?" Hinata's legs bounced for warmth and from excitement as Sakura went on.

"It's gonna be soon. Like around November. Shikamaru's all for staying inside and Temari doesn't want to be a June bride."

They giggled and Hinata smiled warmly. "I can't believe it! Shikamaru's getting married. When I first met him, he seemed so laid back. You wouldn't think that he was such a genius."

Sakura nodded vigorously. "The thing is though, it's not gonna be fancy-smanchy, you know? He wants to keep it private. For a while now, the press has been on him since he won that case on the murder. Temari's kind of pissed that she can't invite more that one hundred people because of the place they picked. But they're throwing a reunion."

Hinata's head snapped back. "R-reunion?"

Sakura nodded. "Shikamaru's thinking of having some of his old high-school buddies back for the wedding."

"W-what high-school are we talking about here?" She flexed her fingers and blinked away the sting in her eyes.

Sakura leaned forward, her mouth in a gleeful smile. "Konoha Academy."

Hinata squealed with her.

-

Sasuke blinked, pulling his vibrating Palm Treo out of his pocket. A frown creased his brow as he leaned back against his shiny midnight blue Mazda Mazda6. Crisp fall wind whipped his bangs around his face and he read over the email on the screen of his phone.

It was Naruto, exclaiming that there was a big high-school reunion hosted by an old friend. Sasuke cocked his head and went down a little farther. Why would anyone want to hose a high-school reunion? What if nobody showed up?

He smirked at his twisted idea of humor.

Then it was slapped off his face as he stared at the electronic e-vite. Nara Shikamaru. One of the few geniuses at Konoha Academy. The same Academy he used to go to before moving away to Sound.

And on that e-vite was a list of people going. He groaned, shoving the phone back in his pocket. There was that one name he was seriously starting hate these days.

Subaku Gaara.

Oh joy.

And yep, Gaara's coming back. Poor Sasuke. I'm just an evil little bitch ruining his world. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Anyways, we all knew this was coming. Or did we?

No, you probably didn't. You were probably expecting them to get fruity on the way back, didn't you? For Hinata to remember that her one and only love is Sasuke! . . .

You do realize that I don't make things that easy, don't you?

Yeah, I know, this one came out faster than you expected. You was expecting maybe three, four more days right? Wrong! My Microsoft Word broke down before I put chappie 15 up, so I FIXED it. XDDD I couldn't fix shit before and now I know how to put Microsoft's ass in GEAR. Take that Bill Gates!

R&R Please and Thank You! X3 (just realized, Shino and Kiba haven't shown up in a while. I'ma fix that^.^)