A bet on Love

1 | "...why her?!..."

The atmosphere between the silver-haired man and the brunette - each covering one eye - was thick and uncomfortable as they fiddled with their fingers and glanced at each other from time to time in the large office with family portraits scattered around and yellow and blue present here and there.

On the far end of the office, however, a blonde man sat at his desk with a slight frown on his face as he sketched something out on a notepad in front of him in total concentration. After a while, he broke into a proud smile and lifted up the notepad to admire.

Finally, oblivious to the two men that had stood in his office for the past 20 minutes, he perked out of the corner of the notepad in his hands to look at them. He raised an eyebrow and the silver-haired man cleared his throat nervously, nudging the man beside him.

"U-um," the brunette started, "We going broke?" He whispered and the silver-haired man hit him on the shoulders, sending him a glare.

"What Obito meant Minato-san, was, we are getting fewer requests on our inventions, meaning we get less income, meaning if we don't act now, the company might suffer bankruptcy."

"Ne Kakashi, what do you think about this new design for an invention?" Like always, he wasn't taking this seriously. Kakashi's eyes twitched in annoyance as Minato flipped the book in his hands to show the new idea he had just brainstormed.

"Even if this invention is successful Minato-san, no one is going to buy it!"

"What do you suggest we do then?" At that, Kakashi took a step back and glanced over at the brunette nervously. Cold sweat dripped down the corner of his face as he adjusted his mask.

"You're not gonna like it but after Kakahi and I looked at ideas and ways we can save the company from bankruptcy, we decided this was the safest option." The blonde man stayed quiet and the brunette took it as the cue to continue, "We have decided on a family negotiating." Minato frowned.

"You mean like a marriage?" The two men nodded slowly, fear slowly masking their faces. The blonde man frowned and shook his head, "No. I'm not doing that. Sorry. Think of something else." Kakashi stepped forward.

"Please hear us out Sir! It is with the Hyūga Company. As you know, their family has a long generation of actors and actresses. They use a lot of the kind of inventions we make so if we sign a contract with them, they will be using what we make, benefiting both families. Their studio flourishes and our company will gain high ratings, drawing in more customers!" He bit his lips when the frown on his master's face deepened and he shook his head. He looked over at his masked friend who looked just as worried as he was.

"I won't say it again, Kakashi, Obito. Either you think of something else, or our company suffers bankruptcy. I am not putting my company before Naruto. You two of all people should know that."

"We know Sir, but please reconsider. Here is a file of their eldest daughter. You can see the kind of girl Naruto is going to be engaged with- if you do change your mind that is." Both friends dipped their heads and then left the office.

The blonde glared at the brown file at the end of his desk. He picked it up and slid out the A4 thick paper that was in it. In the top left corner was the picture of the beautiful Hyūga heiress. She had long beautiful blue hair, pale lavender eyes like every other Hyūga, and a little smile. He was going to admit, she was beautiful.

To the right of the picture was information about her. 'Hinata Hyūga' was written in a bold black font that stood out from the rest of the other information. She was 18, just a year younger than Naruto, and was an official professional actress - still in school - and had good grades.