I've been thinking of writing Sakura as a violinist and Sasuke as a pianist for a while now... (it's just such a beautiful idea I mean SASUKE + PIANO /cries) And I finally wrote Chapter 1! Updates might be a bit slow since I'm pretty busy these days.

Oh, the song that Sakura is playing at the beginning of the story is Introduction and Tarantelle by Sarasate, and the piece that Sakura hears Hinata playing is Concertino by Chaminade. You can find both of the youtube links on my profile.

Enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I. Allegro

She wasn't perfect. She understood; nobody was. But sometimes her slender fingers would press the wrong notes or tangle over trills and she would feel…empty inside. Something was missing. She didn't know whether it was perfection or something more, but it didn't feel right. Was it supposed to?

She felt hundreds of eyes boring into her hands, her arms, the multitudes of slips and sweaty palms. Her mind unconsciously took in all of the gray faces watching her illuminated form sway to her music, and her chest rose and fell with a ragged breath. Flow with the music. One, two, three. One, two, three.The notes ingrained in her heart danced in a fluttering staccato, her fingers straining to keep with the beat. One, two, three. One, two, three.

With a light toss of her petal pink hair, she ended her piece with a flourish and plastered a smile on her rosy lips. Bowing to meet the applause of her audience, she padded lightly to exit the stage with her cheeks still burning with heat.

She had played, they had applauded. She had stumbled, they had never noticed. But why did she still feel incomplete?

She rushed into her small practice room backstage, everything seeming blurry and unreal. Her violin was placed neatly in its case as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. In, out. In, out. It was over. Finally over.

"Sakura."

She turned to look into the gentle eyes of her master.

"Shishou." Ashamed at herself, ashamed at her fingers—Sakura balled her hands into fists, nails digging into palms. "I'm sorry. I should have practiced harder."

The blond woman sighed as she placed a hand on her pupil's shoulder. Of course, as a mentor, she had been strict about her playing at times, but this girl was putting too much pressure on herself.

"Sakura," she repeated, catching emerald orbs with her brown ones. "It's over. Don't dwell on the past." Noticing the teen continuously wiping her hands on her plum-colored dress, she shook her head slightly. She could already guess what had happened. She had been nervous. Her fingers had slipped. And it all had gone downhill from there. A violinist's worst problem…

"Your stage fright."

Sakura looked up at her teacher quizzically. "Tsunade-shishou…?"
"Overcome it." Once soft brown eyes turned as hard as steel in a matter of a second. "If you want to become a better violinist, don't get nervous when playing in front of an audience." Tsunade's grip on Sakura's shoulder became firm, and she continued to stare into her eyes. "That's what you want, don't you? To become one of the best."

Sakura swallowed, a heavy lump suddenly forming in her throat. Yes, she wanted to say. Yes. But her mouth couldn't form the words. They felt strange and foreign on her tongue, and her heart felt heavy with guilt. 'That's what I want, right? I'm not lying.' Was she?

Tsunade frowned slightly at her motionless student. She seemed to be going through some trouble. Sakura had always been a hard-working student. She had been the leading violinist of her class and had won many awards for her performances. To others, no matter what she did, she was always Sakura, the prodigy, the genius, the girl-who-could. Tsunade could sense more than that. Though she had enormous potential, underneath her glowing exterior, she was self-conscious. Unconfident. Self-critical. She just covered all these parts of hers with practice, thinking that she could erase them if she spent enough time with her fingers hovering over a fingerboard.

The woman closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. Turning on her heel, she marched out of the room, stopping just outside the door. "I'm still proud of you for being able to play in this concert. As I told you, it's only for the most talented musicians in Konoha." She looked over her shoulder, her lips curving upwards a fraction. "If you want, we could listen to some of these people play, then."

Sakura couldn't help but offer a tiny smile, in spite of the internal turmoil she was facing. Maybe she could forget about her goal, just for now. Maybe she could open her mind to listen to others for once, not just herself. She nodded and proceeded to follow the busty woman to the concert hall once again.

A faint but beautiful melody reached her ears as Sakura neared the concert hall with her mentor. 'A flute… But it's not ordinary.'

Eyebrows slightly raised in curiosity, she silently stepped onto a balcony overlooking the stage, following Tsunade. Lifting the hem of her long dress and blowing a few strands of hair out of her eyes, the girl squinted to adjust her eyes to the sudden brightness in front of her. The stage. She had stood there just moments before.

The lilting tune increased in volume and clarity as Sakura leaned over the edge of the balcony, trying to catch a better view of the performer. She recognized the melody as a piece she had heard many times before, a piece she had caught her mother humming on numerous occasions.

The flautist was an ebony-haired girl who looked about the same age as herself. Her pale blue dress seemed to shimmer as she moved to her music, looking completely at ease in the glare of the stage lights. Her features were not clearly visible from this distance, but Sakura could tell she was a quite attractive girl.

But how, how in the world, did she make it look so easy? How did she stand on that stage, in front of a large crowd of people, and play like there was no one else in the room? Her flute glinted in the lights and her fingers flew over the keys, producing ethereal sounds that could only be described as captivating. Her music seemed to draw the audience in, capturing their attention and locking their gazes on her, and only her. Her perfomance had some kind of hypnotic ability to grab others' minds and never let go. Sakura found herself sinking into the music, swaying slightly to the rhythm. Her eyes closed and a smile crept up her face, the melody conjuring sweet images of sunflower fields and refreshing scents of dawn, the bright days of summer and ice cream melting on her tongue.

And as quick as it came, the spell was broken with ear-shattering applause, a subtle wiping of tears, a standing ovation. Sakura stood along with the people around her, smiling, clapping, convincing herself that she no longer mattered.

As she sat back down in her seat, Tsunade leaned towards her and motioned for her to come closer.

"Her name's Hinata Hyuga. Prodigious flautist, I've heard." She stared as the Hyuga exited the stage. "I've also heard that she's from a very wealthy family."

Sakura's eyes dulled. All of these people were extraordinary. "Shishou, why was I, of all people, selected to play here? I don't even have anything special about me." She bowed her head. "So why…?"

The woman beside her was silent for a moment. Polite applause resounded around them as the next performers took their spots on the stage, Sakura still staring down at her clasped hands and white knuckles.

"Maybe it was fate."

A cello began to play.

A/N: Who is playing the cello? Was it really fate that brought Sakura to the concert? Heheh, sorry to leave you with the abrupt ending. How is it? Should I go on? Sakura is a bit of a perfectionist... and I'm sorry for not introducing Sasuke in this chapter either. I know it was tedious. But you know how introductions go. Sasuke will be introduced in the next chapter... hopefully.

Well, thanks for reading!