Lessons of Life
By baluyutbee
We live, we learn. Then we cry and learn to get back up on our feet and try.
- Justin Bieber (Wow, I know. But don't hate.)
Saturday, June 1st
Flight 84, Paris, France has arrived.
Oh Japan – Sasuke's back.
Supermodel clinging by his side, Sasuke went over to the luggage area, grabbing their luggage and quickly leaving the airport, quickly and quietly.
Bring.
Bring.
Bring.
He opened the door for his lady, and took a seat inside the car after wards. Taking a glance over at his phone, Mikoto Uchiha. Great. Pressing the blue tooth in his ear, Sasuke heard a loud voice booming.
"Sasuke Uchiha! How long has it been since you last called? Last seen us? And, you didn't even tell us when you were coming back from Paris – you didn't even tell us that you left either!" Mikoto Uchiha screeched over the phone, nagging him him like a typical mother.
"I see you every day, Mom, on the news. Hen Long Corp. seems to be doing well in the stocks," He replied calmly. "It was just a business trip, no need for you to worry."
"Sasuke – you know that's not what I mean. I don't understand why you're never home, you haven't even visited us! I know you're off on your own-but does it hurt to visit your family once in a while?" Mikoto pleaded over the phone.
How long has it been since he had last seen his parents in person? A year or two? Maybe more.
The woman with red hair nudged his side, mouthing "Who is it?". Sasuke simply mouthed "family" back at her. She simply rolled her eyes, turning back to her phone – she was probably tweeting.
He'd stop visiting his parents after Karin had showed up in his life. His family would never approve of her, let alone his own mother. The Uchiha family was a family of tradition, they were a family who avoided the media.
"I understand."
"Good. There's a family reunion at the vacation house, whole family. It's for your grandfather, so I expect you to be there. Also, after that is Itachi's wedding. Have you even met his bride yet? She's lovely, just wonderful. " Mikoto nagged, once more, with a persuasive voice. "You're father and I expect you to bring home the woman that Naruto has been blabbering about. And we need to talk about that Paris trip of yours."
Damn that Naruto.
"Sasuke," his mother trailed on. "No exceptions. You're grandfather is expecting all of the Uchiha's to be there, meaning you too. Last time I checked, you're still my son. Still an Uchiha."
"Alright," simply said, not really giving a damn.
"Sasuke! I am not joking around – you better be there, with your girlfriend." Mikoto warned Sasuke. He knew she was serious, she rarely called nowadays to nag him like this. She took the time out of her busy schedule to make a quick phone call to her son. Time was money, after all.
"Mom, I know you not joking. I'll be there," Sasuke bid farewell.
"I'll get Kabuto to send you the details later," Mikoto paused. "Sasuke, take care of yourself." With that, she hung up.
"What did she want?" Karin asked, from beside him, still not taking her eyes off her phone.
"She wants to meet you." Sasuke said agitated, stupid Naruto gave her away.
"No way! I can't meet your family, nor even go for a vacation! I have fashion shows to tend to, I can't simply comply to your mother's wishes. Plus – they would never accept me, you're family is way too traditional." Karin argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Sasuuukeeeee-kun, I can't goo. You know that I can't miss Dior's fashion show, I'm their main model!" The wicked witched whined and whined.
Does life always have to play out so nice, to get back at him?
Sasuke sighed, he was not having a great day.
"I'll talk to Naruto about it, don't worry."
Monday, June 3rd
Under the hot sun, she walked around the city in a long orange maxi skirt and white top, her brown bag slung over her shoulder. She walked into a coffee shop, seeing their sign "WE ARE HIRING" Trying her luck, she handed her resume to the cashier. At the moment, Sakura was willing to take on any job available.
"I saw your sign outside. Please take my resume into your consideration." Sakura said.
The lady in front of her nodded and said, "We'll call you if we like what we see on the resume."
Sakura smiled a blunt smile. She probably won't call, Sakura thought.
She walked out of the coffee shop. You've got maaail! Her phone was buzzing in her pocket, singing "You've got mail". Taking the phone out of her pocket, she saw the text message sent to her by Ino Yamanaka.
Meet me at La Marmitte at 7, I got a promotion! Girls night out?
-Ino
Sakura smiled dully, at least Ino had a job. Lucky her. She pressed reply and texted,
I'll be there, it's on you anyways, right? (:
-Sakura
Looking at the watch on her wrist, 6:14. I guess I'll go there earlier and wait for her. The travel time from here to there is pretty far anyways.
Whenever Ino and her go out, Sakura always wakes up the next morning having a massive headache, not remembering what she did last night.
Monday, June 3rd
An annoyed couple was sitting in front of a grinning blonde headed male. "You want to what? Sasuke starred at him in awe, stammering. "Y-you want me to get a fake girlfriend? Are you crazy?"
They were currently waiting for their food to come.
"Well, it'd be the perfect plan." Naruto said, as if it were the most genius thing in the world.
"Naruto, can you repeat that again?" Karin blinked, not clearly understanding what Naruto's idea was.
Naruto clasped his hands together and leaned on his knees with his elbows. "All you have to do is get an actress to act as Sasuke's fake girlfriend, make her act like someone they won't like and show her off to your parents for a bit. Keep her for a month or two to piss your parents off."
"And how will this get them to accept me?" Karin raised a brow at the blue eyed male.
"You see, once Sasuke and the actress "break up", then you can come in and his parents will think that you're an angel compared to the other girl." Naruto stated, proud of his scheme. "I can take care of the actress, take her from one of the agencies, no problem."
"Good job, Mr. Big-shot-director!" Karin applauded him, agreeing to his plan.
"Hn." Sasuke stared at Naruto, intensely. "Don't turn my life into one of the shows that you direct, dope."
Naruto burst into laughter. "When scheming plans, you have to think outside the box, bro."
Naruto was a famed director, he could get any actress to star in his movies and all of his movies have hit #1 in the box office.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Naruto's phone vibrated in his pocket. "Sup." He answered, it wasn't exactly a question, his "sup" was more like a greeting, not a question. His expression changed, from having a poker face to an annoyed face. "Alright, I'll be there. Stop worrying ba-chan, you'll get more wrinkles." He smirked.
Hanging up the phone the blonde stared at the couple. "Sorry, I've got to head out, Tsunade's angry with me, I still haven't found an actress for her commercial." The blonde scratched his head, taking a sip of his drink and getting up.
Karin smiled and Sasuke stood up from his seat for whispered to Naruto's ear. "I need the actress by the end of the week, hopefully you can do that." Naruto grinned and nodded.
"I'll use this to my advantage too. I'll use cast her as Tsunade's commercial lead." He turned to Karin and said, "Want to come to the agency with me tomorrow? We can hold auditions on Thursday, but for now let's just advertise." Karin smiled flatly at him and simply nodded.
"Sure, what time?"
"1 o'clock tomorrow, I'll pick you up at Sasuke's." With that, he left.
Monday, June 3rd
I got off the public transit bus and headed towards the bar. When I stepped in, the first thing I smelt was liquor, heavy scent of it. I sat down by the bar. "Hennessy, please?" I asked the bar tender.
I saw a hand touch the bartender's shoulder, "Hennessy over here too, boss." He had spiky blonde hair, deep blue eyes. He looked at me and smiled a charming smile. He sat down beside me. The bar tender handed over our drinks. "My treat, to you miss beautiful."
"Thank you," I smiled and took a sip of my drink. I was not having a good day. I glumly looked down at my drink, stirring it.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly having a hell of a great day either." With sarcasm in his voice, he tilted his head forward and scratched the back of his neck. He was charming, Mr. Good Looks, even though he looked stressed out. "Stupid old hag Tsunade, wouldn't comply to what I wanted in the commercial." He mumbled.
Oh my God.
My eyes widened in shock, realizing that the man beside me was Naruto Uzumaki. My high school crush. I bet he doesn't even remember me. I was a social outcast, after all. He was my first love, the first guy I've ever loved. He never felt the same, though.
Slumping my shoulders, I took a light sip of out of my drink. We were silent for a bit, until he spoke again. I was nervous.
"What do you think of the entertainment business? Idiotic?" He asked me, out of the blue. "Who am I kidding – you probably don't even care."
"I'm an aspiring actress, I don't think that the entertainment business is stupid, not entirely." I replied, smiling. "I love the stage, performing. There are just some really messed up people out there, wanting to destroy the entertainment business."
He grinned at me, "You're an aiming to be an actress? You remind me of someone, I just can't put a name to her." I squinted my eyes and focused on my drink, tightening the grip of the glass. He pulled out a piece of paper from his wallet and took out a pen, writing an address on it. "My friend's been looking for an actress, if you're interested come to this place on Thursday around 10am." Handing the piece of paper to me.
I stared at his deep blue eyes, not saying a word. He still looks the same, just a bit grown up. I smiled, blushing a light shade of pink.
A man placed a hand on the his shoulder, "Sorry I'm late." He was a striking man with silver hair, black eyes. He looked like a sharp man. "I'm not interrupting something, am I?" His expression softened and turned into a smirk.
"No, not at all." I said, chuckling. I looked over to the blonde, he gave me a we-aren't-finished-yet look and he raised a brow at me.
I got up from my seat, he grabbed my wrist.
"I hope that you consider auditioning. Thanks for the company by the way." He winked at me, I blushed slightly. I nodded.
Heading out the door, I bumped into Ino.
"Sorry for being so late! My boss asked me if I could go and meet him at his office to drop off documents that he needs." Ino explained. I smiled reassuringly.
"That's okay, someone kept me company anyways."
"Oh lala, I wonder who it is." She said, nudging me at the side. "Hey, I'm in the mood for some ramen, let's go eat out instead of a bar." I agreed, and left with her.
I looked at the card that Naruto, whom I've crushed on for the four years of my high school life, handed me, "Guildford Building 14747 Room 156."
Kakashi looked at Naruto, "Who was that?"
"Nobody special, just someone I encouraged to go audition for Sasuke's girlfriend hunt," Naruto explained, smirking at Kakashi.
"He's never going to be able to pull it off." Kakashi laughed, knowing that the Uchiha family was not a family to fool, nor even mess with.
Thursday, June 6th
Sakura woke up bright and early, ready for the auditions. She told Ino about the audition the night they ate ramen together, she just left out the part about was hoping to get something out of the auditions. She locked the door of her apartment, bumping into her landlord.
Giving an apologetic look, Sakura said, "Ah, Chiwa-san, I'm so sorry I haven't gotten to pay you for this month yet. I promise I'll pay you soon! I'm going for an audition today, so wish me luck!"
Her landlord, a middle aged woman around her late 40's, gave her an unpleasant look. "Sakura, I am sorry but if you don't have money to pay for your rent, then I can't keep doing business with you. After all, I'm not a charity." She warned Sakura. Sakura nodded, and bowed to Chiwa-san.
"Gomen-ne, Chiwa-san. I promise that I will pay you back this month! You can count on it!" Sakura gave Chiwa a reassuring smile, but the landlady was not happy.
Sakura loved her apartment, it was near almost everything. There was a convenience store nearby, just in front of the apartment. A nice little coffee place was near too, owned by Chiwa-san's husband, a couple of blocks away and near the bus. The neighborhood wasn't the best, but that was bearable.
Sakura arrived at her destination, Guildford place. She went inside and approached the front desk. "Excuse me; do you know where room 156 is at?" The lady in front of her simply nodded.
"Ah, are you going for the auditions? I see that a lot of women are here for that. Take that elevator and press level 4 and room 156 should be at the end of the hall, not too hard to find." Sakura gave the woman in front of her a simple thank you and headed her way.
I pushed the rim of my glasses up the bridge of my nose. Clutching my resume in hand, I took a big breath and exhaled, walking into the interview room. I saw women, tons of women, ranging in beauty. Drawing closer and closer, I saw lines of women by a closed door, a familiar woman with brown hair, wearing a short, tight black skirt over a v neck white shirt and a long red cardigan.
Kin Tsuchi.
That girl tormented my life in high school. Made my life a living hell. Kin was the head of the swim team, she had a great body, no denying that. She went pursuit acting as well, and would do anything to get her spotlight. Another thing that she pursued was Naruto, when we were in high school.
She was not about to steal this one from me.
Kin started to walk out. She must have finished her audition. She passed by me, not noticing. "Sakura? Is that you?" Oh please, don't let hell go loose.
I turned around to face her, and saw her smirking at me. "Oh, hello, long time no see."
She approached me. "Talk about long time. You're trying for this role?"
Psh, why else would I be here?
"Yeah, I am." I gave her a slight smile.
"Ah-one of my close friends are hosting this, break a leg ma' dear! Any who, I've got to go." She looked at her watch. "Got an appointment. Bye, darling!" If looks could kill, she would've already been dead.
I'm not your darling.
Minutes, turned into an hour. Face's of disappointment, distress of anger have filled the faces of the women who have left. I was nervous, of course I was. I haven't gone for an audition in a long time. Pursuing my acting career was not the number one thing on my mind, but at the moment, it was.
I was called up, and I walked through the doors. My eyes widened, noticing a familiar blonde haired man with a red head beside him. He winked at me, I nervously smiled back at him.
Naruto was bored. Damn, he was bored. None of the girls that have came have interested him. They've got talent, they just don't look like the 'it' girl that their looking for. Besides that, Karin's been implying that some girls were too ugly, meaning that she was threatened of their beauty, or unsuited for the job. They needed a fool, not a beauty queen nor an ugly brace face - and she needed to know how to act. They were expecting too much, I guess.
The door opened a pink headed girl. Karin turned to him and whispered, "Who in the world has pink hair?" She laughed. Sakura came towards her as Sakura gave her resume.
Naruto was shocked, he was surprised to see the girl from the bar. She came.
"Name and age?" Karin asked.
"Sakura Haruno, twenty seven years old." So, that was her name. It suits her, like a cherry blossom.
Karin turned to me and whispered, "She's not bad. Not too ugly. Let's see if she can act."
She just wanted Sakura to be the fake girlfriend because she thinks of Sakura as no competition.
"Please read the script for us?" Naruto asked Sakura, she was a little shocked that he was there. Naruto smirk as he gestured her to read the script.
Sakura took a deep breath and started.
She took out her phone, pretending that she was talking on it. "You were the first person that I've ever liked. I thought that, when I met you, I would finally break out of my shell."
Flashback
Sakura was lost, it was the first day of high school. She was a grade eight, grade eights were stupid. Ino wasn't with her either, so she was alone. She bumped into a boy with blonde hair and black glasses.
"Ah-gomen." She apologized, blushing. He was cute.
The blonde haired boy stretched out his hand, "Naruto Uzumaki, grade eight." He grinned ear to ear. Sakura shook his hand.
"Sakura Haruno, grade eight. Ano, Naruto-san, do you know how to get here?"
"I was just about to go there! I guess we're classmates Sakura-chan! We're in the same homeroom."
Tears started to flow down her face. When she started she wasn't Sakura anymore. "I loved you, but you've never even thought about how I've felt."
Flashback
It was the last day of grade 10. Today was the day she was going to tell Naruto that she liked him. Her hands were shaking. She saw him playing basketball by himself, in the court outside. She approached slowly, taking her time. She inhaled and exhaled, trying to stop her heart from beating so fast. She couldn't help it.
When she was just 5 meters away from him, she heard someone running towards her.
"Narutooo-kuuun..."
Hinata Hyuuga was running, with tears in her eyes. She ran towards Naruto. He dropped his basketball and came running towards Hinata, running into an embrace.
"What's wrong Hinata?" He asked, wiping her tears with his thumb.
Sakura just watched in awe, not knowing whether to stop them or to let them. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything.
"Sasuke-kun-he-hiccup-he-hiccup..."
"It's okay, I'll bring you home first."
Naruto didn't even notice her. They just brushed passed her.
"You've never even thought of me, not even for 5 minutes of your life. I've loved you for too long and waited for too long."
Flashback
"Sakura-chan, wait for me!" Naruto called her, running to catch up to her."Wanna eat lunch with me?" He smiled, holding up the bento in his hand.
They sat down on the grass. He laid down with his back flat on the grassy field under the shade. She leaned against the tree, continuing her lunch.
"Ano-Sakura-chan, do you have someone you like?" Sakura almost chocked on her food. She managed to cough and not choke to death. Blushing, she turned away from him.
"Yeah, I do have someone I like. Why?"
"Don't you hate it, when the girl you like is always with another guy?" She looked at him, his eyes were closed. "I'm jealous, and I want to tell her I like her-but I don't have the courage to."
"I thought that you felt the same way, but I guess you didn't. I was fooled by your actions. You kept leading me on."
Flashback
They had just come back from Spring Break. They were in grade twelve. Sakura made up her mind, she's confessing. She had liked Naruto for four years, her entire high school life, she's only liked him. Approaching him beside his locker, she called him. "Naruto-san... ano..."
He turned around, "Sakura-chan, hey." He sounded gloom. Maybe it was because Hinata had left for Canada. I heard rumors going around, that her parents are forcing her to pursue the rest of her schooling abroad.
"Naruto-san, I-uhm-like..." She paused gulping and looking away from him. "you.."
He looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry, I love someone else." He closed his locker door and left. Sakura stood there, tears streaming down her face. Her heart shattered into millions of pieces.
"I hate one sided love. Goodbye." She closed her phone shut and wiped her tears.
Naruto started to clap his hands, "Bravo! Bravo!"
Sakura smiled, "Thank you."
"No, thank you. Please wait for our call in the next 3 days or so. Byebye." He said, shooing her out. Sakura nodded and left.
Once Sakura has finally left, Naruto asked Karin. "What do you think? Have we found our "it" girl?"
Karin chuckled and said, "We sure have. Now, we just have to ask Mr. Uchiha about his opinion on this girl."
Saturday, June 8th
Bring.
Bring.
Bring.
Damn. Stupid phone.
I rolled over, looking at the clock then over at my phone. It's 7:54 in the morning. Whoever this is, better have a damn good reason as to why they call at this me.
Answering my phone, I greeted with a low and tired voice, "Helloooo?"
"Hello? Sakura Haruno? This is Naruto Uzumaki, the one you've met not too long ago at the bar." Taking a few seconds to register what he just said, I snapped my eyes open. "Have I woke you up?"
The one you've met not too long ago... That idiot. He doesn't remember me.
I pulled the covers over my head, sulking. "No, you haven't woke me up, Uzumaki-san." My voice was soft, sad.
"Uzumaki-san my butt. Call me Naruto." He snickered. "If you have time today, do you mind coming to see me?"
"Sure, what time?" I wondered what he wanted to see me for.
"7 o'clock, dinner at the Cactus Club in downtown. I need to speak to you about the auditions."
Oh my God. The auditions. I completely forgot!
I felt like I was about to burst out of joy and happiness. "Yes, sir!" I was looking forward to this meeting.
I came into realization after I finished jumping on my bed, screaming "I DID IT!" I came to realize that I was possibly going to work with the man who rejected me in high school, a painful rejection. The man whom I've adored for four years, but never really cared about me. I was just there, and that was all that he knew. He doesn't even remember me, I bet.
What have I just gotten myself into?
Author's Notes: I am baluyutbee. Like the first chapter? I hope you do, I worked hard on it. Aha!