Author's Note: Well. Here we go. I've started yet another story, that, hopefully, will not follow in the same way as my others, and will actually be completed.

Hehe.

Disclaimer: No. They're not mine. If they were, Ino would be in it a lot more, Kakashi would not be late for visiting the memorial, but because he couldn't walk properly, and I would be rich.

Let's go girls

The office.

It was a place of incredible opportunity. It was a place where people worked in close spaces, struggling to beat each other and rise through the ranks. It was a place where high bosses would walk among the desks, able to personally inspect each and every thing that went on in the building of their control, where dramas like none other had the possibility to unfold. Where class was valued as the high apex of conduct, where men wore million dollar suits and the women thousand dollar shoes, where rivalries, bitchiness and backstabbing were common factors, associated with even the purest of intentions.

The office was brilliant, where she was independent, hard-working, not overlooked by anyone. She was her own person! Her own self! Nothing could -

"… I'll need that all done by tomorrow morning, at the latest," he told her, letting a stack of papers drop heavily onto her glass-top desk and interrupting her office-place musings.

Ino sighed, eyeing the stack unappreciatively. All the same, she made an effort to look through it – at least she could see what she was dealing with – and was shocked at what she saw.

"Mr. Nara! These are documents you should have filed weeks ago! These are notes and records from some of your biggest, most important cases, you -"

He cut her off. Bastard. But he was like that. No complaints. Ino understood he was busy. She usually didn't have a problem with doing work for him. Hell, she had to prepare for when they were married and she would take care of his laundry and everything, didn't she? She listened to his age-old excuse with a strange, bittersweet fondness.

"Things like that are just too troublesome for me, Ino…" Shikamaru Nara, genius lawyer of Konoha law firm told her, waving a hand idly her way and excusing the matter.

"Yes, sir. Okay then, sir. I'll have it done by then, don't you worry." If he was anyone else, then she would have told him where he could stick his bloody paperwork. As it was, Ino offered him her best smile.

He didn't even look at her. It was the same situation she had been in ever since she started working for him.

"Thanks, Ino," he said lazily before ambling back over to his own office, letting the door click shut softly behind him.

Ino's smile dropped. He hadn't noticed anything that she had done that day! She had a completely new wardrobe, her hair, for once, was left out, and she'd gotten new jewelry, all for the sake of getting him to notice her – just once! She slammed her head on the desk, groaning.

"Didn't notice you again, huh, Pig?"

Ino growled, raising her head to shoot a venomous, blue-eyed glare towards the secretary of the only other person that had a reputation almost as famous as Ino's boss.

"Shut up, Billboard-Brow. Has Uchiha even given you the time of day before? At least Shikamaru trusts me to help with his work. Uchiha won't even let you organize his desk."

Ino took comfort in the true fact. It was probably one of the only reasons that she hadn't yet given up, gone insane and moved on to something else. Seeing someone fail even worse than her was a ridiculously uplifting feeling.

Just as expected, Sakura Haruno bristled and snarled, fixing her hair and pulling her skirt down in what Ino recognised as an agitated habit.

Ino's little comment had annoyed her, then.

Well. That was the point.

Oh? Oh. She was saying something….

"I speak to Sasuke all the time! We do heaps of stuff together!"

Ino rolled her eyes, deeming that it probably wasn't worth tuning back into the conversation in the first place. "Yeah, right."

To try and prove her point, Sakura pressed the button on her speaker and leant forward into it. Her pale green eyes sparkled with determination, and Ino hoped to God that she wouldn't be proven wrong.

"Sa- … Mr. Uchiha, is there any work you need me to do this morning?" she asked in a tone that would make any sane person want to throw up. Ino knew she sounded the same when she tried to speak to Shikamaru – and it was similar on those rare occasions when she got to converse with the gorgeous head of the firm, Neji Hyuuga. But hypocrisy was a part of her personality, and Ino had accepted it long ago.

Plus, the voice was just a part of the job, strolling hand in hand with the role of the obedient, fawning secretary. Neither of them could really help it.

There was a brief moment of dull, tense silence, where both the secretaries stared at each other. Sakura was biting her lip, staring fiercely at her blond rival as she waited for her reply. Ino chewed the inside of her cheek subconsciously. As proud as she was, she didn't want to be proven wrong under any circumstances.

They jumped as static came through the speaker, clearing as the cold, arrogant voice of Sasuke Uchiha spoke through the device.

"….No…. I won't need you today, Sakura…. You should probably just go home…." There was another small burst of static as Sasuke severed the connection.

Sakura stared, hurt, at the speaker as if it had just butchered her life beyond all hope of repair. Ino couldn't hold herself in, and burst out laughing. She never was one for pity – not towards people she didn't like, anyway.

"Oh, oh! He loves you! Obviously!" Ino cackled, holding her sides as she rocked back and forth on her swivel chair. People at the desks further down in the office, who catered for the less influential, brilliant lawyers, looked at her and sighed. By now they were used to the all-too-common catfights between the two beautiful women.

"Shut up, Pig!" Sakura howled, throwing the wireless mouse at her blond rival.

Unfazed, Ino kept going, wincing inwardly and restraining herself from rubbing the bruise that was no doubt already forming on her shoulder.

"Even Shikamaru's more responsive than that!"

"Fine!"

Ino started in surprise as the pink young woman stood up, causing a loud crack as she slapped her hand on the top of her desk.

"This is serious now!"

"What?"

"If you think Shikamaru is better than Sasuke, and you're so popular with him, then you should put your money where your mouth is!"

Ino stared blankly, and wondered if she was joking. What was going on? Somewhere along the line, Sakura had lost her.

"You've lost me."

Another young woman who worked on the floor above them as Mr. Hyuuga's personal assistant – Tenten, who despised the term 'secretary' – walked between the two desks, giving Sakura a down-the-nose look before entering the elevator and disappearing behind the doors. Sakura sat down, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

"Listen, Ino-Pig," the woman said, eyeing the mouse that she had thrown before regretfully. "First one to get their man, wins."

"And…?" Ino prompted. She was studying to one day be as good as Shikamaru in the courtroom – she didn't plan on being a secretary forever. If there was one thing she had picked up during her studies, it was to always get all the details before agreeing to anything. Ino loved loopholes – exploiting them and using them. Sakura took the secretary job to save up for med-school next year. She just wouldn't understand.

"And what?"

"How about this," Ino started, leaning her head on her hands and giving Sakura a challenging stare. "The first one to get a kiss - that is returned beyond reasonable doubt - is the winner. And it has to be in front of the other – or it can be in a picture or something, whatever. Either way, it has to be seen to be believed… Now… the loser…" she trailed off, trying to think of a good punishment.

"I know!" Sakura said, clenching her fists in excitement. "The loser… has to quit, so that she'll never bother me again."

The words sent Ino's pride roaring, swelling to an alien proportion. What made the stupid cow think that she would be the one to win?

"What? Bother you! It's you that'll be leaving, Billboard!"

"So it's a deal then?" Sakura asked, a smug, confident smile on her face.

Ino smirked back at her, tossing her blond hair out of her eyes.

"Deal."

The best thing about being a woman

Is the prerogative to have a little fun

I'm an Ino fan. Can you guess?

And yes. That's Shania Twain – be afraid!