-Hinata-

I'm so nervous.

I ran into Tsunade again after the long elevator ride and she just walked me into the CEO's office and sat me down. The entire time, my hands crumbled the edges of the folder in my lap. Despite knowing so much about the company, I've never seen what the CEO looks like. I just know he's very young; only about two years older than me I think.

All the interviews I've read about him have all been mysterious and he never shows his face to the public. I always wondered why but I felt guilty for being too nosy at that point and stop.

I heard voice outside the door and my entire face heated up. Is that...his voice? 

Just like that, the doors slid open. 

I jumped out of my seat and bowed as low as I could. I can't look at him right now! I'm a nervous wreck and not to mention my new position is a leadership one. If I look at the CEO right now and just break down, he would probably think I'm useless.

"Hello! You must be Naruto Uzumaki! I'm Hinata Hyuga! It's nice to meet you, sir!"

Oh crap!

Did I just yell my introduction?

Oh great Hinata, first time you get to jump out of the water of your comfort zone and you flop like the useless fish you are.

What is wrong with you?

No reply.

That's it. I'm done for. First impression and I completely destroyed it.

I wonder what he's thinking. Probably ways to lock me down on the second floor with some duct tape across my mouth for being so loud. I wouldn't blame him...

He cleared his throat.

Here it comes...

"Nice to meet you, too, Hinata." 

It's so calm. His voice, I mean. Something about it was oddly...soothing. A little scratchy but that's where the character comes in. 

I snuck a glance at him.

And I regretted it immediately.

The heat surrounding my face increased and not only that, my heart was beating at the speed of light. 

Time decided to hold for a second; giving me a bit to just take in the man in front of me.

His eyes glistened brightly just like the beautiful ocean on a bright sunny day. His blonde hair was neatly trimmed and kept. Even from where I was, I could see how soft it was. His cologne tickled and teased my nose despite being a little ways apart from me. 

Those were only beginning.

His cheeks were decorated with whiskers which I assume are birthmarks but it suited him all too well. 

He stood tall at probably around 6 feet; a solid head taller than if anything. His body was mouthwatering.

Oh my Kami.

He is...gorgeous!

Dammit!

Not only is he one of the youngest CEO of all time, he's also, by far, the hottest as well. Working here just got harder and harder. 

I have to see him every single day, too! 

I was well equipped to deal with any coding issues that might be thrown my way. 

But never in my life was I ever prepared to deal with hot men. That was never an experience I was ever able to pick up. 

"Please, have a seat, Hinata." 

Just like that, time decided I've had enough. Everything resumed as Naruto walked passed me towards his desk. I stood up so quickly my head almost exploded. 

I sat back down in my seat, straightening my back as he took his own right behind his desk. He pushed his monitor aside so now we're face to face.

Face to face.

Only about a foot apart.

I need help...

Right now would be very helpful.

"First off, let me give you the official welcome to Konoha. It's amazing to have you here." Naruto extended a hand towards me.

I glanced down at it.

Shake it, Hinata!

Oh right.

I extended my own and let his bigger hand engulf mines.

Wow.

It's so warm. This is the very first touch we shared but all the nerves from earlier are slowly starting to ebb away. The comfort his handshake gave was enough for me to stop shaking in my seat. My heart, however, still wanted to run the marathon it was on at top speed and the heat surrounding my cheeks weren't going away. 

I hope he doesn't see. He would think I'm weird and...

No negative thoughts, Hinata. Just be yourself.

Just be yourself.

Who am I kidding?

This is me! A nervous wreck who doesn't know how to respond to a hot guy. On top of that, the said hot guy is now my boss.

I was the first one to take my hand back. Naruto calmly rested his on his desk and leaned back a bit. "So, what brought you to our company?"

"Oh, uh. I just loved your games." Great...is that you best answer?

No! But there's this guy just staring at me and my mind went dumb!

It's okay. Try again.

"Since I was little, I was always fascinated with games. The way the characters were able to move, the attacks, down to every little letter that made them act the way they did. It was another form of art to me and I wanted to make up my own. When it came down to my favorite games, I noticed they all came from Konoha. The way each game was designed, they each had their own...isolated profile to them. I wanted to work in a company that allows that creativity to explode through games."

Naruto gawked a bit, his eyes widened, surprised. 

Good going, Hinata. You broke your own boss within the first hour you stepped foot in the building! I scolded at myself as I looked down at my hands.

"I'm surprised." Naruto finally said.

I glanced back up and my heart stopped altogether.

His mouth was curved into the most attractive smile I have ever seen in my entire life.

"Normally, employees tell me the same thing over and over. They wanted to work in an up-incoming gaming company so they can build their own reputation. I'm frankly surprised you're able to latch onto the little details we gave out to the gaming world and hope they latch onto it."

"Oh, thank you but it's nothing special."

Naruto chuckled. "I heard you were able to crack my virus code in only 12 minutes."

Oh damn.

As a fellow coder, I know it's a huge ego burst when someone else figures out their way around your code. 

"Don't worry about it. It was made to be broken." My boss continued. "Only, you're the first one to figure it out."

"First one?"

"Mm-hm." Naruto nodded. "I'll put my pride aside and say I was thoroughly impressed. It was a code my father made when he first started the company. I made some improvements and it's been the test ever since. You, Ms. Hinata Hyuga, were the first and only one to crack it."

It was my turn to gawk. I remembered the sequence well and yes I admit it was a pretty tough one. I had failed a couple times before I figured out the little trick to breaking it. 

"Thank you, sir."

Naruto brows furrowed. "Please, just call me Naruto. I'm not that old and besides." He leaned in a bit further. "It makes us seem closer."

"S-sorry...Naruto." I corrected. 

The room fell silent for a bit. I could feel Naruto's ocean eyes digging into my skin as he just sat and studied me. I had to glance away at some of the books on the book shelves behind him, just mentally taking in every title to distract myself. I knew if I looked at him...I'd just becoming a bumbling mess.

Two knocks on the door stopped the entire atmosphere.

"Do you need me now boss?" A male's voice came through. 

I looked back in time to see Naruto blink and clear his throat. "Come on in, Shikamaru."

The door slid open and in walked another man. He's cute but he's not as cute as Naruto. His hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. He had...some pretty beady eyes and he didn't look all that friendly either.

"Hinata, I'd like to introduce you to your fellow leader of the coding department: Shikamaru Nara." Naruto introduced.

So, he's my partner in crime here.

I stood up and held a hand out with a bow. "Nice to meet you."

Shikamaru shook my hand with a bow of his own. "Likewise."

"Coding in video games is the literal backbone of the entire game." Our boss continued. "Shikamaru has been handling the load himself for a long time. We thought it'd be nice to bring in someone to help him carry that load."

I nodded my understanding.

Naruto smiled again. "Then why don't you two go ahead and get started."

-Naruto-

I need air. A lot of air. Just give me all the air of Tokyo no matter how polluted it is. 

I NEED IT!

At first, I didn't have a single clue how to navigate our first meeting with Hinata. I played the cool boss all the way through somehow but that didn't mean I want to stop talking and just stare at her.

I did do that, didn't I?

I ran my hand through my hair. 

She must think I'm some sort of creep for doing that. 

When I first saw her upon entering the room, I had to do everything mentally to calm myself down. I thought that if we sat down, I don't just collapse. 

I focused the entire mini interview on the company to keep the professionalism alive. But every time she answered, her voice was singing a melody to my ears. She knew what to say and how to say it to keep me as distracted as possible. 

Usually, the employees would just brag and brag about their skills in the field. Hinata, on the other hand, never once mentioned her own talent. I mean, I already know how far her talent is and I even tried prodding at her to brag about it when I mentioned the virus. 

She only thanked me and that was it.

I leaned against the open window, crossing my arms.

Hinata is unlike anyone I have ever met. She speaks so humbly and she really does love video games with all her heart. 

Within the couple minutes I took to myself just to creepily stare at her, I was able to paint the perfect portrait of her in my mind. Every single little thing down to the little handshake we shared. 

My hand raised up to my field of view on instinct.

They were so small, soft... There were little scars from past cracks under her fingernails. I caught sight of them as she gave me her hand. 

One under her index and on under her thumb.

Scars of her hard work.

Yet the touch was so delicate, it calmed almost everything buzzing in me. 

"A rare sighting spotted: an idiot looking like he's thinking." Fuck.

Sasuke was standing at my open door, his arms crossed and leaning against the door frame. 

"Shut the fuck up, asshole." I growled, hiding my own hand. 

"It times for rounds." Sasuke announced. "You coming?"

Am I ready to see Hinata again so soon?

I have to be. Morning rounds are important for the company and I have to put the company first.

Ahead of my sudden fascination with Hinata.

"Close the door and let me change first." I sighed.

Sasuke left the doorway and stood outside as I changed into my more comfortable outfit: some jeans and a hoodie.

I learned that people come up with the best things in a comfortable enviornment. So besides meetings, the attire around the building is usually just casual. 

Hinata mustn't have gotten the memo since she was just all business all the way through.

Ugh! Why does she have to be so cute?!

I finally met up with Sasuke as we started exploring each office on the floor. We started with the art and worked our way through.

Each department gave me hope that our biggest game yet is only improving. 

The department offices were all glass windows so I could see each and every one of the heads working effortlessly trying to achieve this company's dream. The sense of pride I got from just glancing around every so often was enough to keep my upbeat mood. 

Sasuke's department, cyber security, is usually the last one to visit. 

The second to last one...

Here we go, again.

Thankfully, Sasuke didn't notice my nervousness returning as we approached the glass office holding the two coders. I couldn't hear anything but they were sitting facing each other with two monitors between them. Shikamaru's mouth was moving but then the weirdest thing happened.

He smiled.

And then.

Hinata smiled.

Oh Kami please just stop my heart right here.

Sasuke knocked once and entered. "What's up nerds?"

Shikamaru just turned to him, the smile gone. "We're all nerds, nerd."

I entered afterwards. "How's the newbie?"

Hinata stood up from her desk and greeted us with a bow. "I am doing good. Shikamaru is doing a good job of showing me what to do."

Again, Shikamaru stupidly smiled proudly. 

Stop that before I wipe it off myself.

"How are the bugs I asked you to fix?" I said, bluntly.

"Actually." Shikamaru made his way around to Hinata's monitor. "She already figured out what to do with it."

I blinked.

Ten minutes in and she fixed a bug we've been having problems with since the game's release two years ago?

I wandered over to Hinata's side, making sure I keep enough distance to keep myself sane. It doesn't help I can smell her faint perfume radiating from her skin.

Hinata quickly explained to us what she did. The issue we had with our game was whenever a door was knocked down, the leftover debris would often block the players point of view. Since it is a first person shooter, that was very annoying to a  lot of the players.

"So instead of keeping the door planks fully intact, I thought we could just make them shatter to tiny pieces. Of course it isn't as realistic as you had hope but it's a way to get rid of that plank." Hinata explained, sitting down.

I looked over the code sheet.

Wow.

So neat and everything is so organized.

"Damn, Hinata already making big things happen at our company." Sasuke chuckled.

"It's n-nothing!" She waved her hands. "It's just an idea."

Yeah. A fucking genius idea.

"Submit the code to the game and have Choji test it out." I ordered. 

Shikamaru had returned to his desk. "Done."

This is so great.

I know we've been getting a lot of negative reviews when it comes down to little things like this that might affect the entire game so with this start, well, it's a nice start.

I turned to Hinata. "You are amazing."

In more ways than one and I literally just met you.

A small blush crept to her cheeks at my compliment. Thankfully, I'm more tan otherwise I'm pretty sure she would've seen.

"Keep it up." I smiled brightly. "And again, welcome to Konoha, Hinata."