disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The Social Scene

Chapter 1

I escaped through a keyhole before they erased me
I married the beetle and learned to be graceful
It's why all this warfare pours out of my eyes.

- Miike Snow

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Sakura cried over and over again as she rushed down a bustling Tokyo street, apologizing profusely when she accidently bumped into people. However, she kept on running to her destination, regretting how late she had become for her job when she had decided to plug in her Beats, listen to Arctic Monkeys on full volume and completely lose track of the world… except that also meant losing track of the time.

She had never been late to one of her part-time jobs, but fate had dealt her an extremely unlucky hand that morning. She knew how snobbish her employers could be and they always liked to have the best of the best; because, of course, she was a waitress for all the fancy parties and dinners that the Tokyo-equivalent-of-the-Upper-East-Side loved to host.

When she reached the Cerulean Tower Hotel in the Shibuya district, she raced through the front doors, ignoring the doormen who tried to rush to get the door before her. She hastily made her way to the Ballroom, which could occupy over a thousand guests, but as she ran through the doors, out of breath and exhausted, she hadn't realized she had run in on a room full of seated people in formal gowns and suits. The event had seemingly just started and a man in his forties or fifties was giving a speech to his guests, his champagne flute held in the air.

She gulped when the whole room turned to look at who had made such a commotion coming through the main doors. She hadn't realized she was this late. All the waiters and waitresses were supposed to come an hour before the event started, and it now seemed that they were about half an hour into it; which ultimately meant she was approximately 90 minutes late… her boss was so going to kill her – of course, not before firing her.

The man on the stage tried to get everyone's attention back onto him, but when it failed, he said a meek 'excuse me' whilst he walked off stage, and stalked angrily towards Sakura.

It was way too late to flee out of the room when she realized that the guy coming towards her was most definitely her employer. He had already come over and grabbed her upper arm, dragging her towards the back of the large ballroom, towards the kitchen. Many people's eyes followed them, engrossed in any new gossip they could get their hands on.

He took one look at her and had already deduced that she must have been a waitress; her unruly hair that hung down to her waist, grey Dr. Martens, leggings, an oversized Guns 'N' Roses band t-shirt and a knitted, large scarf slung around her neck. "Why the hell are you so late?" he hissed out, trying to be discreet, but his harsh tone made it clear to the whole ballroom that he was obviously pissed.

"I'm really sorry!" she said, her sincerity true to her words. "I lost track of the time and you wouldn't believe how busy the streets of Shibuya are at this time of day!"

"I don't fucking care about your lame-ass excuses," her boss said with an extremely hurtful tone. "I should fire you, you know…"

"I know, I know, but you've got to believe me when I say I'm really sorry and I promise I'll never be late again."

"You better not be! This is an insult to my son! Instead of apologizing to me, you should be apologizing to him."

Now she remembered! This event was hosted by Fugaku Uchiha, who was her employer and also owned about half of Japan with Uchiha Industries. He was throwing a formal dinner for all the socialites, businessmen and, generally, the super wealthy in a tribute to his son, who had just been named the new heir, after his eldest son had decided to give up this title in pursuit of a career in music.

She bowed quickly, before exclaiming another string of apologies, until a low voice from behind her startled her into whipping around so abruptly, that she saw the whole room as a blurred, unfocused mass of pixilation.

"Father, is everything alright?" It was the voice of a male, definitely young, and his voice held a baritone that most people found utterly absorbing and difficult to forget. This voice gave away every single characteristic that this male possessed. Straight away, Sakura could decipher that she already didn't like this punk. His voice mirrored his arrogance, vanity, selfishness, his skills in the art of manipulation and his untrustworthiness.

When her eyes were focused again, they slid from the man's solid build, attired in a suit that smelt of Dolce and threads that cost as much as a year of her wages, and finally slid high enough to catch a good look at his face.

She had to give it to him though; he was handsome in an iconic, 'Abercrombie' kind of way. His jaw was sharp, his eyes were stoic, and his hair was black and looked effortless, even though, realistically, it took this guy an hour to style every morning. She internally scoffed at this, but kept her outer appearance professional, as she gave a slight bow to him in greeting. After all, it was her job to please the rich kids.

"Everything's fine, Sasuke," Fugaku said, shrugging his shoulders in an act of feigned nonchalance. He walked around Sakura to grasp his son's shoulder as he slyly slid away from the scene, not before glaring over his shoulder to scold Sakura and hiss out, "Get your damn uniform on and start doing your job!"

She glared at his retreating back for a few moments, and she could have sworn she saw her employer's son, Sasuke, turn over his shoulder to give her an amused smirk.

Nevertheless, the pay for this job was good, and she wasn't going to let any more mishaps get her properly fired, so she did as she was told and immediately headed for the toilets, where she stuffed her old clothes into a tote bag and threw on a pristine white shirt, a black skirt and a simple black waist apron.

Throwing her tote bag into a locker, she headed out of the kitchen again with a tray in her hands this time, and an intention to serve tables and stay low for the rest of the evening.

She picked up a few empty glasses from around the room, but at the table she stopped at next, she happened to bump into Sasuke Uchiha again.

He was standing up, seemingly just visiting and talking to a guy at the table. He was leant over the shoulder of his friend's chair and laughing about something, but when he caught a hint of pink in the peripheral of his vision, he stopped mid-sentence of what he was saying to stand up taller.

He graced her with another small, arrogant smirk, which she passively ignored and continued to pick up the glasses from the table.

"Whoa, who's that girl with the wild hair?" Sasuke heard Naruto comment lowly, so as to be sure that the said person didn't hear.

He smirked at his best friend's comment and casually replied, "Just some chick that my dad hired to be a waitress for the evening."

"Waitress or not, she's mighty fine," Naruto said, whilst whistling lowly.

By this time, Sakura had made a full round of the table, and went past the two boys again, who weren't doing such a good job at slyly checking her out. Nevertheless, she ignored their intimidating looks and went on by, before a hand wrapped gently around her wrist. She turned around calmly, thinking it was just another guest who wanted another drink. But instead, it was Sasuke's blonde friend.

"Hell-low," he introduced in a slow, almost patronising way. "My name is Na-ru-to." He stressed every syllable of his name, to accentuate his words, but Sakura didn't get it. She was beyond confused, and she simply raised a neat eyebrow at him. He tried again, this time pointing towards himself, "My name is Na-Ru-To. Na-Ru-To U-Zu-Maki. What is your name?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. And then it clicked. This had happened a million times before, where people came up to introduce themselves to her and they had spoken as if she were a baby. This was simply because her appearance was deceiving, as she was half-Japanese, half-English. Her father was born in Kyoto but went to study in England when he was 19, and that's where he met her mother. Sakura was born with the dominant features of her mum, which meant that many of the Japanese mistook her for being a foreigner. But that still didn't explain her natural pink hair.

She could see Sasuke laughing silently behind his friend, knowing full well that she could speak their language. However, he wanted to see how it played out, not warning his friend, and instead studying the face of this girl, which caught the light perfectly where she was standing.

Casually, with a hint of mirth in her tone, she replied in fluent Japanese, "My name's Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you, Na-ru-to U-zu-maki." She couldn't help but to mock him. It was just too irresistible and she saw Sasuke try to cover his chuckles with the back of his hand.

As for the poor fellow, he stared at her in shock, slowly turning a light shade of pink in his embarrassment. But his shame didn't last long as his face lit up with a bright grin a few seconds later and he rubbed the back of head abashedly. "Ahaha, my bad; I just thought you were a foreigner because-"

"-I look like one, right?" Sakura interrupted, now balancing the tray in one hand, whilst the other was placed elegantly on her hip. "...Well, appearances can be deceiving." She gave them both a light smile, before she turned back around to walk away, not before adding over her shoulder, "See you boys later," although it was only said to be polite, and not because she actually wanted to see them again.

However, Sasuke took it literally and guaranteed to himself that he would definitely see her again.

Inspiration: Watching Shibuhara Girls in cantonese when I was in Hong Kong (even though I didn't understand a single word), Fitzgerald and of course, Gossip Girl

I can't believe this is my second story in a week, but I'm really enjoying writing this. Review please!