Sakura

Let's talk about early mornings for a second.

I actually love them. In fact, my friends call me crazy for waking up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the gym every morning before work without an alarm set up.

I love the feeling of sweat dripping off of my body as I run on the treadmill, the feeling of my fists meeting the sand-filled punching bag, my muscles tensing as I lift weights. Exercise has always been the start of my day, and I never dread it.

At least, I never used to.

Clutching the strap of my gym bag, I prepare myself for his arrival.

At five A.M. on the dot every morning, he shows up ready to take the elevator down. Today is definitely no different.

He stands a few inches away from me as we wait for the elevator.

Everyday it's the same.

Black hair that manages to look attractively styled yet odd at the same time? Check.

Either all black, black and grey, or all grey gym outfit? Check.

Perpetual frown on his face? Check.

I don't even have to look down at his shoes to know that he's wearing-

Wait.

My gaze stops at the new sight, and I blink a few times to make sure I'm not delusional.

He's wearing white shoes.

"Wow, so you do own something that isn't black or grey," I say as the elevator ding signals its arrival at our floor.

I see him rolling his eyes before he walks in, and I follow suit.

"I was convinced you would never own such a color," I mock.

He sighs. "Must you always have something to say this early in the morning, Haruno?"

"I don't know," I shoot back. "Must you always argue with me during company meetings or do you do it to be an asshole?"

Who's the greyscale dressed man, you ask?

Sasuke Uchiha, the senior editor of the fitness department of Shinobi Men's Magazine, second son of the notorious Uchiha family, the man with the longest pole stuck in his ass, also happens to be my neighbor.

I moved to this building a few months ago when I was promoted to senior editor of the health and fitness department of Kunoichi Women's Magazine, the counterpart of Shinobi. The two magazines are both under Hokage Mass Media, meaning both magazine's offices are in the same building.

Just when I thought I've seen enough of this guy, I just had to move into the same building he lived in.

There I was, in front of his door that's across from mine, with a plate of cookies on my hand ready to greet my new neighbor, and then he opened the door, and my face dropped.

My first meeting with him was during my first time attending a senior editor's meeting and he not-so-kindly referred to my pitch as ridiculous.

Needless to say, I have never had a conversation with the man without one or both of us being pissed off in the end.

It just sucks because if he wasn't so rude, I might just admit that he's ridiculously good looking. Not that he doesn't probably know it himself, or even cares about it at all. Or that I care at all.

"If you'd stop with the overly giddy pitches with no worthwhile addition to your magazine, maybe," he says in his usual monotonous tone that always seems to get under my skin.

"Overly giddy?" I parrot. "Just because I actually have some form of emotion coming through my voice doesn't mean I'm being too giddy."

He sighs, like he does every morning in our usual pre-workout argument. "Annoying," he says under his breath.

The corner of my lips perk up.

His shoes may be different today, but right before the elevator doors open to show us the lobby, he still says that one eight-letter word.

All is right with the world after all.

Ino walks into my office with an iced latte in hand which means only one thing, something I won't like is about to happen.

Taking my eyes away from my laptop screen, my fingers rest on the lettered keys. I meet her blue eyes with concern.

"What's going on?"

She smiles sheepishly as she closes the door and takes a seat in front of my desk, placing the latte on its surface. "Promise you won't get mad?"

I tilt my head in confusion, taking the iced latte and bringing it close to my lips. "About what?"

"So, I had a meeting with Kurenai to discuss this idea I had for a running story, and she liked it a lot."

I stare at her, not knowing where this is going.

"So much so that she thought it'd be a good idea for it to be a joint running story with Shinobi. She talked about it with Kakashi, and he's on board. The problem was they didn't know who exactly would be on the story." She paused. "You know about that Twitter poll they put up yesterday?"

"Yeah, the one about the readers' favorite?"

"Well, you won."

"Oh, wow. I did?"

She nods. "And that vote was to figure out who'd be on the story, so I'm guessing they're about to call you up about it, but I wanted you to hear it from me first, alone, before that happens."

"You're worried about making me write a story? It's really no issue, Ino." I smile, amused at her dragging the explanation on, yet I'm also puzzled as to why she's so nervous. This is not the usual Ino.

She and I have been friends since we were in high school and both rose to our jobs here in Kunoichi together. As the senior editor of the relationships department of Kunoichi, she's usually confident, unafraid of flirting shamelessly for a story, and can get us in any place in Konoha with a flick of her hair.

"It's about what the story is about." She takes a deep breath. "Promise me you won't go apeshit?"

"Please, it can't be that bad."

"Well, I wanted to see someone from Shinobi and Kunoichi go on a few dates and see how it goes. How would someone from a men's magazine would go about dating someone from a women's magazine, and vice versa? Who knows the other sex better?"

"You think that would be fine under today's political climate?"

She rolls her eyes. "It's for fun and it's also just for both magazine's to grasp each other's audiences better. Kunoichi has been getting so many reviews about us being in our own bubble and Shinobi has been getting the same backlash, so this was what I came up with to make it a little spicier, you know?"

There's the Ino I know.

"Basically I was voted as Kunoichi's representative?"

"Yes."

I sigh. "I was expecting something worse than being forced into going on a few dates with someone. Do you know who they're sending for Shinobi?"

She shakes her head and laughs. "I haven't checked. I was too busy preparing myself for your wrath."

"Shut up! I'm fine."

"Thank fuck! I was literally scared there for a second."

"It's not too bad. Plus, it's a work thing, not actual dates."

I hear a knock and my assistant opens the door. "Ms. Haruno? Oh! Ms. Yamanaka, you're here, too! You both have been called to Ms. Senju's office for a meeting."

Ms. Senju?

"Thank you. We'll be right there," I reply before she closes the door, and I turn my attention back to Ino. "Is this so big that the meeting has to be with Hokage's CEO?"

She shrugs. "I mean, it's a joint story. I'm not surprised we have to head up there."

Kunoichi's offices are located on the twentieth floor while the CEO's is all the way on the thirtieth, the top floor.

Ino and I chat through the elevator ride and even as we make it to the top floor. As we reach the lobby area, the receptionist stands and walks towards us.

"Follow me, please. Everyone has already gathered."

Shiho (I read her name tag) leads us from the lobby area to a large open hallway that leads to one large door. She knocks and announces our arrival before opening the door.

And the first person I see is Sasuke fucking Uchiha.

Lord, help me.

Note:

Listen, I couldn't help myself.

This is basically the story of how SasuSaku in my oneshot, Occupational Hazard, started.

This is very tropey, very self indulgent, something lighter for me to write and will only be, at most, twelve chapters for now. It came out of me procrastinating rewriting the new Eternal chapter because I hate writing fight scenes and didn't feel like it's good enough to publish yet, so that's probably going to be updated last. The Archangel's Hunter chapter 3 is coming next.