Machiavellian Intentions

By anna

All general disclaimers apply

Machiavellianism: Tendency to deceive and manipulate for personal gain. (wiki)

Experiment: Reverse time line

Note: If you haven't figured it out already by the odd chapter titles, this story is going backward in time. You could be adventurous and read the ending first, or be safe and read my third installment and follow the correct timeline. But really, why not just read backward? Live a little. Go crazy.

three

--

There were more faces to Sakura Haruno than on the rarest diamond.

--

Tenten was startled. The brunette stood up from her small cubicle and craned her neck to get a better look at the man in the expensive black suit. Her employer raced past her in an urgency she never thought a man of his calmness could muster. Sasuke preferred his private office located at the building's top floor, so it was odd that he was venturing the lower departments.

"Uchiha-sama?" she called after him.

Immediately, he stopped and turned around. The secretary was taken back at the emotion his eyes were showing.

"Tenten… do you know a person by the name of Sakura Haruno?"

"Sakura? Yes, but her shift doesn't start until later tonight,"

"What's her last stop for the night?"

Tenten stropped for a moment to think, she looked up again and almost recoiled at the smoldering gaze the handsome man was giving her, "Um… I think it's Hyuuga-san's office."

Sasuke considered the information calmly. He was looking like an idiot chasing around his building and he knew it. He could make it extremely easy on himself and simply asked for her to come to his office. But Sasuke knew that if he did that, she would be more than happy to defy- and what was he going to do then? Fire her? It was absurd to fire a woman who was going to own half of the Uchiha Corp. revenue.

"Remind me to give you a raise," he said and left, leaving Tenten dazed.

Her neighbor poked the brunette curiously, "what was that?"

The secretary looked down and shrugged.

--

Neji closed his eyes in exhaustion. His entire day was spent meticulously checking every inch of the blueprint. He found the little flaw in the security cameras, but the vault itself was impossible to penetrate unless she had the code. Even Neji wasn't entrusted with the information. Images from the corporate party flashed in his mind again. She had hung on sensuously on the Uchiha's arm, but somehow the financier doubted that the woman would go that far to get the code. That and the CEO was allegedly the office prude.

The red blinking light of the telephone caught his attention; Neji leaned forward to push the intercom button.

"What is it Ino?"

"Hyuuga-san, I have Uchiha-sama waiting outside your office,"

"Tell him to please enter,"

Immediately, the door to his office opened and his employer stepped in. The Hyuuga stood up politely and gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

"This is an odd visit, Uchiha-sama. Has there in a break in the case?" Neji asked.

"Actually yes, I know how the perpetrator managed to remove the diamonds by himself,"

Neji searched the dark man opposite from him for any signs that may reveal if he knew said perpetrator's identity. The Hyuuga was obsessed with the case and he was obsessed with the woman who made it possible- he did not want to see her behind bars. The specific male element Sasuke attributed made Neji breathe a little easier.

"How?"

"He used the sewage and ventilation system. It's genius," Sasuke answered.

Ventilation? Neji hadn't thought of that before. He simply went through this the wrong direction, he had assumed that she removed the gems off the building's premises, but she simply hid it. The vault had an air vent near the top; she could have easily stayed inside, away from the cameras' prying lenses. She also returned the diamonds before the detective had the chance to check the air vents. Sakura Haruno was becoming even more fascinating.

A singular knock brought both men's attention to the door. Neji knew that knock, Sakura was never persistent. Opposite from him, Sasuke's lips curved into a knowing smirk. Neji may know her knocking habit, but Sasuke knew her presence.

"The maid?"

Neji nodded and called out, "come in Haruno-san,"

The pretty woman entered, she bowed respectfully when she saw the unexpected company. She knew the danger she was flirting with, but getting flustered wasn't going to help.

"Uchiha-sama, I didn't think you would be here. I could return later…" Sakura offered calmly.

"Don't be annoying, Haruno-san," Sasuke cut in.

A flash of something like irritation appeared in her green eyes but Sakura nodded. She wheeled her cart in noisily and began to rearrange Neji's bookshelves.

"So Haruno-san, have you heard anything about the heist two days ago?"

The financier raised his eyebrows at the other man's blatant display of curiosity. His employer's attention for the woman was making Neji slightly uncomfortable.

"Yes Uchiha-sama, I hear that Detective Nara is stupefied, quite a feat," she smiled amicably and began to dust the furniture.

A small smirk graced his countenance and Sasuke leaned forward, his grace and dignity negated the eagerness, "the perpetrator made fabulous use of the sewage and vents,"

"A maid or a janitor would have close contact with the sewage, a technical worker would have access to the vents," Sakura answered, after a second, she added, "my money is on a maid,"

Neji was now thoroughly confused, what the hell was she doing? Was she trying to go to jail?

"How could a person bypass the cameras virtually undetected?"

"Well… Uchiha-sama, I don't know much, but I have one theory," she held the duster cutely below her chin.

"I would love to hear it,"

"You see… letting two security guards to oversee twelve screens isn't exactly a strike of brilliance- especially when one of said guards has an affinity for womanizing. Not only that, each screen flashed to a new location every five seconds. The perpetrator would have a five second interval where he remained invisible,"

Neji was listening intently; this was nothing like what he thought.

Unaware of the silver eyed man's intense gaze, Sakura continued, "If he could figure out at which location and the exact time it will be off screen, he could successfully 'jump' his way to the vault undetected."

The Hyuuga was in awe, his breath was caught somewhere in his throat. This was simply genius. Across from him, Sasuke nodded approvingly.

"But what about the code?"

This time, Neji leaned forward in anticipation. Yes, what about the code?

The woman laughed, "well… if it were me, I would try something of importance to you,"

She looked directly at the CEO, "the birthday of someone special to you would be my first guess, an anniversary, a special future date…"

".. Or I probably would have gotten you drunk and have sex with you," Sakura shrugged offhandedly.

At that, even Sasuke managed a chuckle, much to his silver eyed employee's discontent. Sakura had managed to single handedly bring fear to his company, but at least that night with her had been most enjoyable.

Their employer stood up suddenly and offered Neji his hand. "This visit proved to be very informative, but I think it's time I go back to my office,"

Before leaving, Sasuke turned back and addressed Sakura, "And Haruno-san, my office needs a thorough cleaning. I would like for you to come up after you're done here,"

The pink haired maid bowed courteously in compliance. Once she was alone with the financier, Sakura resumed her dusting. Sakura opted to ignore the stare she was currently receiving from Neji. He was the first to break the silence.

"What the hell was that?"

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You told him everything. You could go to jail."

She laughed, "Maybe,"

Ignoring the incredulous expression on his face, Sakura gathered all her cleaning utilities and began to push the cart out.

"Where are you going?" the financier asked.

"I have an appointment with Uchiha-sama," the maid answered and, with a quick wave, exited the immaculate office.

--

The woman was a mystery, that much Sasuke knew. But for her to pull a stunt like that was beyond comprehension. He also knew she was smart, that was what attracted him to her in the first place, but Sasuke thought her intelligence was limited to medicine. Now that he thought about it, it irked him to know that he was blind to the fact that his fiancée was only a few floors under him. Not to mention the fact that she was awfully cozy with one of his employees.

At the thought of Neji, Sasuke narrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. The financier appeared incredibly vexed when Sakura explained the heist. Neji knew that Sakura was the person behind all the chaos, yet he never once mentioned it- he was trying to protect her.

Now why would he do that?

Having a crush on the boss's future wife wasn't advisable.

The creak emitting from the door attracted the CEO's attention. Sasuke smirked slightly when a woman in a maid's uniform entered. He watched in silence as she began her routine of dusting the shelves. The man scowled when he knew she was bent on ignoring him.

"Sakura, stop," he commanded.

His fiancée lowered her duster and turned around to face him. Her expression was unreadable and Sasuke wondered if she got that from him.

"Sasuke-kun," she greeted amicably.

"As much as I enjoyed the excitement, I need to ask what my future wife is doing here without my knowledge,"

She shrugged, "I was feeling neglected,"

"And so you decided to break into my company's diamond vault. For what? The money?" he asked, his dark eyes fell on hers. He knew it wasn't for the money, but he felt like asking anyway. He had the right to.

"Of course not, that's silly. Marrying you would ensure more money than a few diamonds would bring," she laughed. Sakura had teased her fiancé on various occasions that she did not want to marry him because of his looks; she was more interested in his money. Sasuke knew that both were a lie, if she wanted money- a marriage with the Suna Inc. owner would take care of that.

Slowly, and with an incredible amount of grace, the CEO stood up from his chair. He stalked toward the woman standing not far from him. His presence was enough to make a woman swoon, but Sakura was staring up at him almost defiantly. A finger traced the smoothness of her cheek while the other hand trailed along her back.

Sakura could feel his breath on her and his lips nibbled lightly at her collarbone.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her breathing instinctively quickened.

"Not neglecting you," his lips were on hers, preventing anymore silly questions.

--

There was a memo floating around about a scheduled locker search. It was at Detective Nara's insistence and all the lower floors were buzzing with the news. Sakura herself was slightly surprised, not at the search itself, but at the delay. She wasn't sure how involved her fiancé was with the whole idea, but the fact that he allowed it to happen both anger and brought her relief.

With the prized pink diamond safely in her pocket, Sakura maneuvered past the front desk. She breathed out when she found the locker room empty. Nimble fingers carefully turned the master lock and she smiled when it clicked open. With a wary second glance around the room, she threw the large diamond inside, leaving it in plain sight.

Putting on her uniform, the pink haired woman stole out of the room as quietly as she entered.

--

Lee was standing against the wall. Next to him, Sakura appeared mildly bored. The police officer in charge of the search was young and energetic, but most importantly, he was inexperienced.

"It's ok Sakura-chan, they're not going to find anything," Lee looked down and smiled, mistaking her boredom as fear. It was so contagious that Sakura had to smile back. But she sobered quickly, on the contrary, they were going to find everything.

Turning her head to survey either sides of her, Sakura was displeased at the way they were being treated. The officers were herding them like cattle, lined everyone up against the wall as they pried the lockers open with crowbars. It was insulting.

When they hovered in front of her locker, Sakura shifted slightly in both anticipation and exhilaration. A young man in uniform opened her locker and looked inside. The pink haired woman smirked when she saw the colors drained from his face.

The room was filled with mumbles as a large pink diamond was extracted. The young officer turned around, his eyes were filled with false arrogance.

"Whose locker is this?" he asked.

"Mine, sir," Sakura raised her hand and stepped forward. She could feel Lee's incredulity permeating around her.

The young officer was slightly taken back. She was not who he was expecting. Especially a woman who looked like her.

Two large men walked up to her, each grasping her arm. "Er… Uchiha-sama will be expecting you,"

She smiled. She knew he was.

--

"Let her go," Sasuke commanded, he waved to dismiss the security.

Sakura was thrown to the ground for good measure; she scampered up on her feet to find that the CEO had gotten out of his desk to approach her. Neji watched the other man's action with mounting curiosity. Silver eyes settled on her skinned knees and he growled lightly at the securities' carelessness.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" the young CEO asked, his onyx eyes narrowed and scanned her body critically. He let out a growled similar to his financier when he was the bloodied knees.

"I'm fine," she mumbled.

Sighing in relief, Sasuke got back to his desk leaving Neji to mull with slight jealousy over the strange display of tenderness.

"You know Sakura, ever since I first saw you, I've always known you were an odd one," Sasuke leaned back to his leather chair and rid himself of his tie, "but I liked that oddness so much I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with it,"

Realization dawned on the Hyuuga's features as the missing pieces began to reveal themselves.

"I indulged your every whim, I let you keep your shabby little apartment, I let you keep your job, I let you stay in your world and did not press you to live in mine," Sasuke continued.

He stood up to indicate the finality of the meeting; his expression reflected a fleeting look of frustration. Across from him, Sakura was beginning to take off the glistening pink diamond. He moved swiftly toward her and swatted her fingers gently away.

"Don't be annoying. I'd like for you to wear it at the wedding,"

"Where are you going?" she asked at his receding back.

"I have a few security guards I need to dismiss,"

With Sasuke out of the room, Sakura was left alone with the Hyuuga. She did not need to see his face to know that he was peeved. All this time, she was not who she said she was. He knew women were confusing, but this was pushing the envelope. Neji Hyuuga was not a man who squandered affection, and it was slightly disconcerting to know he gave it to her so willingly.

"Sakura Haruno, graduated valedictorian from Konoha University. One of the most respected medical minds and a brilliant researcher…engaged to the Uchiha Corp. CEO… Tsunade failed to mention that small little tidbit,"

From their first encounter, he knew she did not belong there. He knew there were more facets to her, but there were more faces to Sakura Haruno than on the rarest diamond. Sasuke was the collector; it was only fair that he would also own a beautiful piece like her. Neji simply got caught in the spiral to the abyss of glamour.

"Neji…" she began, her pretty face contorted in exasperation.

He stood up and loomed over her. An ironic smirk graced his lips, "Are your "whims" always this… emotionally expensive?"

"Neji…" Sakura tried again, but it was proving incredibly difficult to talk when she was pinned under that blazing gaze.

"I made my interest perfectly clear, and now, hopefully I'm making my disinterest just as comprehensible," the Hyuuga's velvety voice danced on her skin, she closed her eyes and listened to his retreating footsteps.

In a few weeks, she was going to be married and he needed to find a new job.

xxxxxxxxxxx

End.

Be honest, how many other stories on ff dot net are you going to find with this format?

To the people to took the "safer" route: gah?

To the more adventurous readers: High five!