So I was working on Turning Twenty and somehow ended up writing this instead.. this always happens :$
Anyways, its basically going to be a story that adapts the concept of the bachelorette, only I've never actually watched it so I have no idea what its like. I'm just going to use the idea of it and twist it around in my own way ;)
I haven't decided on a pairing yet for the end but that is what you guys are for :D
Also I didn't know what to rate this, I just rated it M to be safe, there will probably be some explicit stuff later on LOL
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the bachelorette
Ino Yamanaka was many things, she was famous first of all and rich of course. She had the A-List life, she was beautiful and probably wanted by men all over the world, yet she didn't have a stable boyfriend. Sure, she had a few one night stands here and there but that was pretty much it, Ino's life was fast-paced, she didn't have time for relationships and such.
Sakura Haruno, quite the opposite. She wasn't exactly famous, nor very rich. She was housemates with Ino, along with being her bestest and closest friend. Sakura was beautiful though, however she frequently compared herself to Ino and made herself feel insecure because of it. She was also not the type to engage in one night stands, but she hadn't a boyfriend as well. So how were these two polar opposite girls best friends then?
Ino sat on the sofa in her living room with a lollipop in her mouth, she boredly watched the TV, Ino never realized how boring it was constantly being at home. Being the model turned actress that she was, she didn't have much free time, although when she did she found herself not being able to figure out what to do with it.
"Hello Ino." Sakura said, taking a seat next to Ino in the living room. Her pink hair was put up into a ponytail and she was wearing glasses, Sakura clutched a textbook in her hand and eyed the lollipop that was moving around in Ino's mouth. "Ino, those are really bad for you, you know."
"Oh hush, Sakura." Ino waved a hand at her pink-haired friend, "you're always going on about that health crap."
"Hm, sorry." Sakura apologized, "I'm going to go finish some homework I have, I'll be down later to make dinner." Sakura smiled, before heading off upstairs to her room where she had been previously. Ino watched her leave, and raised a fine brow, still twirling the lollipop in her mouth.
Sakura and Ino had been best friends since the age of five, they were both twenty-three now and living a fairly decent life. Ino had always wanted to be a model since she could remember, she finally got a big break when she was hired to do a gig. From then on, her fame and stardom rose as did her fortunes. By the time Ino was twenty, she had made more money than she could spend. A little while after her twentieth birthday, Ino decided that she was going to stop modeling for the bad effects of the lifestyle were beginning to catch up to her, and she headed towards acting.
Ino had shot two movies, before she got her big break with the current one she was starring in. It was titled 'A girl can dream right?' and it was about a girl who had been with a fair amount of guys and was going to meet her prince charming for the most part. Now her fame was at the highest level it had ever been, and many places everywhere wanted to hire her. But Ino knew her limit, she wasn't going to take more than one project at a time for she knew it would burden her and cause her stress. Sakura was there to make sure that Ino was not stressed in the lightest.
Sakura had lost her parents at the age of twelve and had been living with Ino and her family since. They raised her like a second daughter, so when Ino moved out to live in the city of Los Angeles, naturally she had brought Sakura with her. Sakura didn't want to be a burden on Ino and accept free money from her like Ino had offered, so she did the next best thing she could do for her. Ino hired Sakura as her assistant, it was Sakura's job to manage all of her bookings, her meetings, tell her about any gigs she may be offered, etc; Sakura was amazing at it, not only that but she went to medical school on the side to become a doctor. She wanted to pay for everything herself and get on her own two feet, but the only thing Ino lacked in her life was a social life.
Sakura almost never went out, she was always busy with school or with managing Ino's schedule, Ino did offer her many days off but Sakura never took them. She stayed indoors and only accompanied Ino to parties that she had to attend, Sakura was never irresponsible, she never thought for herself and never in a million years would she think about being in a relationship with anyone. She simply didn't have the time nor the skills to get one.
Ino wanted to do something for the pinkette, and it was as if at that moment that something clicked in Ino's brain. She threw the lollipop aside and made her way over to the pile of mail that was neatly organized on one of the shelfs by Sakura, there was three piles that Sakura had neatly arranged for Ino to take a look at. There was junk, fanmail and gigs she was offered. Ino rummaged through the pile of gigs and finally found what she was looking for, she returned to her spot on the couch and ripped the letter open.
It was at that moment she recalled that Sakura had mentioned this so called gig a few weeks prior to her, Ino had brushed it off saying it was so typical and stupid of the producers to want to hire her for some crap like this. But maybe it was a blessing in disguise, for not for her but for Sakura.
Dear Ms. Yamanaka
We have sent you this letter to invite you to appear on our newly launched show, we have observed your work and have been highly impressed by what we have seen. Anyways, our show's concept is simple, you will appear and there will be a dozen or so men waiting for you, after introductions and such you will get to know each man, going on dates with them, etc; each round will consist of one elimination, you must eliminate the one you do not choose. By the end, there will be two men left, you must see which of the two is ready to propose to you or commit to you in a relationship and embark on a new journey of love with that person. More about the show will be described in detail when you come to the studio.
Please fill out the attached form and reply back to us at the earliest convenience Ms. Yamanaka.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ms. Tsunade Senju
Manager and Director of The Bachelorette
Ino smirked at this and began ripping apart the form that was attached to the letter, there was no way she would do anything like this ever, she knew that they just wanted her to publicize their show and pay her money to fake emotion on it. But she wasn't going to do that, she was going to give them somebody real and hope that if not the love of her life, Sakura would at least gain some experience out of it.
Dear Ms. Tsunade
I am sorry but I am going to have to decline the offer you sent me. It simply is not my style to appear in such shows, however I do have an offer for you. My assistant and best friend Sakura Haruno is interested in starring in this show and I think you should give her this. However, if you do agree to it, I will put forth a few conditions. One of which is that I will not tolerate any sort of defaming of Sakura to appear on television or I do not want anything fake to be aired in this show. I want everything to be a hundred percent real, should you fulfill all my requirements I will pay you in very large increments.. should you not.. then well I think you know what I'm capable of. Anyways, I've attached her form, so if you could get back to me ASAP that would be perfect!
Yours truly, Ino Yamanaka.
Ino grinned to herself, and shoved the letter inside an empty envelope. She placed it in the outbox and knew that Sakura would go mail it as soon as humanely possible when she saw it. All Ino had to do now was wait.
Three weeks later, Ino was beginning to think that the producers of the show had perhaps declined her offer. Until one fateful day, when one of the security guards paged Sakura, who was coming over to Ino.
"Ino? There's someone from the bachelorette at the gate who wishes to speak with you." Sakura stated, the life of a celebrity was tough sometimes, everybody who wanted to come to Ino's house had to be questioned at the gate and only after paging Sakura who asked Ino could they be let inside. Although some people did have special privileges, their friends and family and such.
"Tell them to let them in." Ino answered, grinning. Sakura nodded and mumbled something into the mic, the gate could be heard opening and a few minutes later there was a ring at the door. Sakura instinctively went over to open the door, she greeted the person at the door, who she couldn't help but notice kept eyeing her and led her over to where Ino was.
"Hello Ms. Yamanaka." The lady said, reaching out her hand to the blonde, who stood up to shake it. Ino motioned for her to take a seat cross her, she couldn't help but notice that this woman had a friendly but powerful aura around her.
"I presume you must be Ms. Tsunade?" Ino said, crossing one leg over the other and placing her hands in her lap.
"Yes, Ms. Yamanaka. I am Tsunade Senju, manager and director of the bachelorette." She answered, she was fairly older than both Sakura and Ino, she would have to be at least forty for sure.
"Please, just call me Ino." Ino grinned, "so have you taken my offer into consideration?"
"Although we are disappointed to know that you yourself will not be participating in our show, yes we have taken your offer into consideration." Tsunade began, Sakura who was still standing in the doorway, couldn't help but eavesdrop at the conversation for it intrigued her. "We will accept your offer on the basis of two conditions."
"I'm listening." Ino added.
"One is that we want to take the girl today itself, give her a bit of a touchup, and introduce her to the other contestants."
"That's manageable."
"Secondly... we will agree to your condition that none of this is to be scripted, but we want you to make a guest appearance on it."
"A guest appearance?" Ino repeated, Tsunade nodded. "But if I may add, I feel it would be wiser to have it more towards the end of the show rather than the beginning. For if any of the contestants were to find out that this person is linked to me, they may feel the need only to compete in order to get close to me." Ino stated, Tsunade nodded and opened her mouth to speak.
"That is understandable Ino, very well then, we will have you make a guest appearance towards the end of the show."
"So it's decided then? It's final?!" Ino said with a lot of excitement in her voice.
"Yes. Our next bachelorette will be Sakura Haruno." Tsunade stated, turning in the direction of Sakura. Sakura dropped all of the folders she was carrying and her eyes widened in shock.
"WHAT?!"
"Ehehe.." Ino innocently laughed, "surprise?"
"I-Ino!" Sakura shouted, "I thought that you were... me.. bachelorette?! That's going to be televised isn't it?!" Sakura said in between breaths, "I can't. No, absolutely not."
"You had no idea?" Tsunade said, looking back and forth between the girls. "I can cancel it if you wish, but Ms. Yamanaka, your deposit will not be returned then."
"Deposit?" Sakura raised a brow, "how much did you..?"
"Five Hundred Thousand Dollars." Ino stated, "C'mon Sakura! Just do it! I don't care about the money, but I'm tired of you throwing away your life just like that for me! I want you to do something for yourself, for once!"
"But Ino-"
"Why? Why can't you?!"
"I've never been on TV, how will I..?" Sakura blushed, "or around that many boys.."
"Sakura, you have nothing to worry about. I will be there along with the rest of the crew to make you look fabulous, although Ino had forbidden us from faking any of the scenes, we will still make sure that you can handle everything for perfection."
"Erm.."
"Perhaps if I explain how it works, you will change your mind." Tsunade cleared her throat, "it will be televised from start to finish, there will be camera's pretty much everywhere you go, but for the most part the camera's are placed in various places in the room so you have your privacy."
"Wait a minute.." Sakura mumbled, "everything is going to be televised? Even.. even intimate moments?"
"The camera's will be everywhere except the bathrooms."
"Oh okay.."
"As I was saying, you will meet the other contestants, there are a total of ten other men who will be competing for you affection. As time passes by and you get to know each of the individuals, you may start to like some of them and you may start to not warm up to some of the others. After each round, there will be an elimination, both the votes of the audience and your own preference will be considered and from there, someone will be eliminated."
"W-What rounds exactly? Like what do you mean when you say that?"
"They could go from various things such as we may set you up with various dinner dates, you could participate in a game show to see which of the men knows the most about you. Stuff like that, it varies really."
"I see then."
"So once everyone had been eliminated, we reach the end. Two of the males will be left and we will privately interview each of them and then air it live, they will talk about their feelings for you and the audience will vote on who you should end up with. Ultimately, although the audiences views will be considered, it will be up to the decision of the boys to decide if they want to enter a relationship with you or not, and its up to you too accept." Tsunade paused to take a breath, "I believe that is everything, do you have any questions?"
"Um.. what about work and school?" Sakura said, "I have to manage all of that as well."
"Don't worry about work, Sakura." Ino smiled, "I'll take care of that, and as for school isn't your term over? You just have a term paper to hand in which I already know you finished, and your off for the semester!"
"Well yeah..."
"So do you have any more reasons to object?"
"Well no..."
"Then I will require you to sign a few things and prepare to leave to the resort where everyone will be staying."
Sakura hesitantly read over the papers slowly and signed her name where applicable and handed it back to Tsunade.
"Shall we get going then?" Tsunade asked her.
"B-But I haven't packed.."
"It isn't very far from here, only about a twenty minute drive. You can come back tomorrow to get all of your stuff."
Sakura nodded and Tsunade gave Ino a smile and turned to leave and go back to sit in her car, she awaited for Sakura. Sakura turned to her best friend and sighed.
"I'm gonna kill you." Sakura stated, in the nicest voice she could muster and then turned to leave with Tsunade.
"Love you too! Have fun!" Ino called, and then the car drove off, leaving Ino by herself.
"So is all this going to start today..?" Sakura asked Tsunade shyly, truth be told she was not a shy person, she didn't go out much but she knew how to talk to people well. She just had her shy moments and this was one of them.
"Today we will touch you up and introduce you to the men you will be participating with. The real round doesn't begin until tomorrow."
"Oh I see then.." Sakura said, she didn't know what Tsunade really meant when she said touch up. Sakura didn't think there was anything wrong with her appearance, sure she never let her hair down much, wore any makeup and almost always wore glasses, but she wasn't ugly or anything.. was she?
"We're here." Tsunade said, she opened the door and Sakura followed suite. Tsunade let the way into a gigantic building that said 'Konoha 5 star Resort' on the front, Sakura gasped at the sheer size of this place. Her mouth almost hit the ground in awe at the size of the place once she got inside, she had been to many places over the years with Ino, but this place was just something else.
It looked like it was a castle.
"Hello Lady Tsunade!" A woman with short dark hair said to the woman next to Sakura, "Ah you must be Sakura.. pleasure to meet you, I'm Shizune, the host of this show."
"Oh, hello." Sakura said politely, reaching out a hand for Shizune to shake.
"Sakura, I will lead you to your room. Hinata and Tenten, our makeup and hairstylists will be waiting for you there to fix you up. After that, you will be escorted into the main hall where the men will be waiting to meet you!" Shizune gave her a big grin, she leaned in close to Sakura. "And Sakura? Everything from this moment onwards will be televised." She whispered, giving Sakura another grin. "Enjoy!"
Sakura followed Shizune to her room, she was kind of freaked out a little bit with the feeling that she was being watched. Her every movement would be broadcasted live for everybody to see, but Sakura couldn't deny the fact that she was kind of excited. Losing her parents at an early age, Sakura had to grow up pretty fast despite the care of Ino's parents, it was just never the same. After that, she began being Ino's assistant and before she knew it, her teenage years had just flown by her and she never got to experience even a twinge of romance.
Not that she minded though, she saw how devastated Ino used to be after her various breakups and Sakura definitely did not want to go through with that, but could her prince charming really be one of these men that were just contestants on a reality show? Probably not, Sakura snorted. She wouldn't think too much, nor get too attached to anybody, she would simply see where it would go.
"Here you are. Three oh five." Shizune grinned, "call room service if you need anything. Everything is free for you." Shizune gave a warm smile, "I'll send somebody to get you in about an hour and then you'll meet the boys! Bye!" She said, before darting off in the other direction.
Sakura slowly opened the door to her room and walked inside, it was fairly average sized, there was a bed, a bathroom, a computer and a TV. Sakura guessed that the kitchen was probably separate downstairs or somewhere, made sense.
Two girls sat on Sakura's bed, one had long blue hair up to her waist and the other had brown hair that was put in two buns. Noticing her arrival, they turned their attention to Sakura.
"Erm.. hello." Sakura gave them a warm smile.
"You must be Sakura, then." The brown haired one said.
"Hello Sakura." The other one said, from their tones Sakura could already establish that the brunette was the dominant one, whereas the blue haired one seemed more shy.
"So you girls are probably the hair and makeup stylists?" Sakura asked rather awkwardly.
"Yup, I'm Tenten and this is Hinata." Tenten, the brunette said. "I'll be doing your hair and she'll do your makeup. No offense or anything, but you have no sense of style whatsoever."
"Excuse me?" Sakura said, raising a brow in annoyance. "That's kind of rude, don't you think?"
"Oh I apologize, I didn't mean it rudely. I just mean, living in LA and appearing on the bachelorette, I pictured you different." Tenten said, Sakura still rolled her eyes, because that was still rude.
"T-Tenten...!" Hinata stammered, "sorry Sakura, I-I think what Tenten means is that you are beautiful, but television beautiful is considered w-well.."
"Oh don't worry, I get it." Sakura gave a half smile, "my best friend In-" Sakura froze, she wasn't supposed to let anyone know she was connected to Ino, she knew that. "-my uh best friend in the whole wide world is gorgeous."
"Oh well then, shall we start?" Tenten said, brushing off Sakura's comment. "We set up already in the bathroom, if you can go sit on the chair in there that would be awesome."
Sakura nodded and turned to the bathroom and like Tenten said, sat in the chair that was perched in the middle. There were various hair products and makeup sprawled everywhere along with a hair straightener and a curler plugged into the wall. Tenten and Hinata entered the bathroom, Hinata to her right and Tenten to her left.
"First impressions are everything, so you want to make a good one." Tenten stated, Sakura nodded. "I'm thinking for your hair..." she trailed off, grabbing Sakura's hair gently and from the looks of it she was measuring the length of it. "It's not too long and not too short, what do you think Hinata?"
"Um... i-it may look silly curled and we don't have much time... so we could straighten it? G-Give Sakura a more natural look, w-we don't want to over pamper her on the first day.. w-we can save the curling for a special event."
"Good idea." Tenten smirked, "then it's settled, we'll straighten your hair so that its sleek straight... Hinata, you start on the makeup."
"Right." Hinata nodded, "Sakura? What kind of outfit were you thinking of wearing?"
"Outfit?" Sakura repeated, "Ms. Tsunade didn't really give me time to pack, all I have is the outfit I'm wearing."
"Sounds like Tsunade." Tenten muttered, "well..." she gave an odd look, looking at Sakura's choice of apparel. She was dressed in a white button down dress shirt with black leggings, and a pair of black sandals.
"What?" Sakura said, noticing Tenten's look of disdain. "Oh come on, I was at home minding my business."
"No matter, lucky for you, we came prepared." Tenten smiled, "we have a few outfits with us in the trunk of my car. I'll run and go get them." Tenten said, before darting off out of the room.
"Geez." Sakura grumbled.
"S-Sorry about Tenten.. she's not usually like this, she's a-actually rather nice if you get to know her." Hinata gave Sakura a small smile, Sakura was beginning to like her.
"What? Oh no.. it's alright." Sakura said, although she was lying. She did not like Tenten's attitude of being better than her one bit. Who was she to lecture her on things when she had her hair up in two buns, like c'mon.
"S-So... for your makeup, I'll do light pink on your eyes for it doesn't clash with your eyes and it matches your hair and I can give you some red lipstick to look a little bit bold? A-Aside from that... you'll look flawless." Hinata gave a small blush.
"Thanks, Hinata." Sakura grinned, nobody ever complimented her like that. "I'm glad somebody around here is nice."
Eventually Tenten came back, and in about forty-five minutes, Sakura's makeover was finished.
"Wow.." Hinata mumbled.
"Gotta say we are good." Tenten added.
Sakura looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't believe her eyes, there she was, really she was no less than flawless. She had removed her reading glasses, so that her bright green full of life eyes were gleaming, they were topped off with eyeliner and light pink eye-makeup that flowed perfectly with her hair. Her hair was down and was so sleek, Sakura couldn't stop touching it. It flowed to just below her breasts and her red lipstick completed her perfect look.
If that wasn't enough, the outfit she was wearing made her look like a curvaceous woman. She wore a black sleeveless tight crop top that showed just a little bit of her stomach with a matching black pencil skirt with black boots. She definitely looked smoking that night.
And then it hit Sakura that she was going to be appearing before ten different guys.
"Oh my gosh, I can't do this." Sakura shouted, "take me home I ca-"
"Sakura stop!" Tenten said, grabbing the pinkette by the shoulders. "You are beautiful, they won't be able to resist, you can do this." Tenten said, "Breath in, breath out." Sakura did as she was told, "now repeat after me, you can do this."
"I-I can do this." Sakura said, "I can do this." She repeated, with less hesitation in her voice.
"Let's go." Tenten said, giving a smirk. She opened the door and led the way to wherever they were going. Sakura took a deep breath and just kept telling herself she could do this.
"Oh wow." Tsunade said, when she saw Sakura. "I'm glad I made the right choice in hiring both of you." She said to Tenten and Hinata.
"Thank you, ma'am." Hinata said.
"Sakura, you look stunning." Tsunade said to Sakura.
"T-Thank you." Sakura said, she hadn't meant to stutter, but she had gigantic moths swirling in her stomach due to nervousness she couldn't help it.
"Don't be nervous." Tsunade said soothingly, it kind of reminded Sakura of her mother. "It'll be easy."
"Sure.." Sakura said, giving a fake smile.
"This is how it works, you will be sitting on one of the chairs in the room and one by one Shizune will introduce the boys into the room. One boy will come from one side and then exit the other side, until you have met all the men, am I clear?" Tsunade said. "Okay, there's your queue, good luck!" Tsunade said, giving Sakura a little bit of a push so that she was stumbling into the hall. It didn't look so bad to Sakura now, there was one seat on one side and then on the other and Shizune sat in the middle, she was facing another wall, which Sakura presumed had a camera in it.
"Hello Sakura!" Shizune said, standing up to give Sakura a hug. "Please, be seated." She said, motioning for Sakura to sit down on the chair. Sakura did so and gave Shizune a small smile, she fidgeted with her hands, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face.
You couldn't even tell that they were being recorded, it was almost like they weren't which made Sakura ten times easier, she had pictured there to be a billion cameramen in the room with her, but it was just Shizune and Sakura. What a relief.
"Now.." Shizune started, "everybody welcome to this years show of the bachelorette. As you know in the previous season, our bachelorette was Temari S, and she ended up with the contestant Shikamaru. Where are they now you must be wondering?" Shizune paused for dramatic effect, "engaged! Temari is also pregnant we wear! The magic of this show... undoubtedly. The matches are always perfect." Sakura wondered if that were true, "now... this year's bachelorette is Ms. Sakura Haruno. Sakura, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
Sakura knew how to do this part, she did it a thousand times over when scheduling things for Ino.
"I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura paused, "I'm twenty-three, I'm in medical school, studying to be a doctor hopefully someday. I'm from Carolina, I moved to LA a few years ago umm..." Sakura trailed off, "I live with my best friend, and my favorite color is pink, naturally."
"Wonderful, what a beautiful soul." Shizune said, Sakura was absolutely sure she was just being fake for the camera, she doubted that's what Shizune actually thought of her. "Now Sakura, why did you choose to compete on the bachelorette?"
Oh crap.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
Is my best friend tricked me into it a suffice enough answer?
Think Sakura...
"My best friend sent my entry in as a sort of surprise for me, heheh.." Sakura blushed, Shizune nodded and said a bunch of other crap which Sakura tuned out of.
"Now.. we've met our bachelorette this year, let's meet our lovely contestants!" Shizune said, Sakura gave a smile when she looked her way but that was about it. "Alphabetically order, up first we have Deidara, I hope I pronounced that right."
Sakura gave a fake smile and looked to where the spotlight shinned, a boy who was definitely much taller and older than Sakura emerged from there. He had long blonde hair which was partially tied in a ponytail, one of his eyes were covered, but what Sakura could see of his other eye, it was blue. He held a smirk as he entered the room, he was dressed in long black coat. He kind of reminded her of Ino.
"Welcome." Shizune said with a smile to the blonde, "please take a seat."
"Thank you, un." The guy named Deidara sat down on the seat closest to Shizune, directly across of Sakura. He looked at Sakura, their gaze met and she instantly looked away, and blushed a faint pink, he smirked at that.
"Deidara please tell us about yourself." Shizune said to the blonde.
"Sure, un. I'm twenty-six, aspiring artist and I love my women." The blonde stated, 'oh great' thought Sakura, 'he's a self-conceited proud jerk, definite no-no.'
"Artist? Hm, sounds very interesting. What do you think of Sakura?" Shizune asked him, Sakura blushed a little more at the way Shizune said that, gosh did she really have to be so blunt?
"So this is Sakura...hmm.." Deidara started, placing his hand on his chin. "I would have to say that she is.." He paused, staring at her. She crossed her arms and looked away, clearly not used to this kind of behavior from men. "... Absolutely gorgeous." He stated.
"How romantic." Shizune said with a sigh, "I'm already rooting for you both."
Sakura snuck a glance at Deidara and noticed that he had now crossed his legs and was smirking at her, almost as if she was inferior to him.
"Okay, next we have.. Gaara!" Shizune called, Sakura turned her attention again to the area where Deidara had appeared from and this time there was a red head, he slowly walked over to where they were and took a seat next to Deidara. He had lots of eye-liner from the looks of it on his eyes, his expression seemed very cold and unlike Deidara, he didn't so much as glance at her.
"Whoa." Sakura heard Deidara say, he shifted a little bit so that he wasn't sitting as close to Gaara. Sakura noticed as well that he wasn't very friendly looking, he crossed his arms and finally turned to look at her. She flinched a little bit when he did, and then he looked away, almost as if he was expecting her to do so.
"Well then.. Gaara, where are you from? How old are you? Some details about yourself?" Shizune asked the red-head.
For the first couple of minutes nobody answered, Sakura felt like the silence was going to kill her.
"I am Gaara, of the desert. I am twenty-three years old." He stated, Shizune sweat dropped.
"Well okay then.." Shizune said, she decided not to ask him anymore questions, seeing as he wasn't responding much anyways. "Next, we have Hidan."
A loud thud was heard in the direction where Gaara and Deidara had emerged from, the trio turned their heads to look at the source and there was a man with sleek platinum hair, a giant scythe in his hand and he wasn't wearing a shirt. Just black cargo pants, and shoes, that is all. Sakura would admit that he was pretty attractive, okay he was really attractive, but he seemed like a lunatic. The way he walked in, with a scythe?
"Erm.. Hidan, weapons are not prohibited.." Shizune said with a awkward laugh.
"It's not real, you fuc.." He muttered the last part so that it was inaudible, he took a seat next to Gaara and shifted his gaze over to me. "Whoa, damn bitch." He whistled, "you, Sakura?" I nodded, "damn, this is gonna be fun."
Sakura didn't know whether I should be flattered or scared.
"Erm, okay.. n-ne-" Shizune started, but was interrupted.
"Wait a minute, you not gonna ask me anythin'?" Hidan asked her, "dumb bitch."
"A-Ah... Of course!" Shizune stammered, "t-tell me-"
"I know the drill, woman." Hidan growled, "I'm Hidan, thirty-one, from LA, don't got much else to say."
"Okay... if you're done then.." Shizune said hesitantly, noticing that he didn't say anything she continued. "Next is... Itachi Uchiha."
A man with long black haired tied back in a lose ponytail emerged from the curtains, he politely sat down and greeted Shizune. What stood out to Sakura was how expressionless and calm he seemed, he was absolutely stoic to everything going around him, he look at her and then looked away. His eyes lingered for a brief second.
"Itachi Uchiha... Of Uchiha Co.." Shizune said dreamingly, "I know a lot about you."
"I'm honored." Itachi said in a monotone, Sakura snuck a few glances at him and blushed. He made all the previous boys look like crap and they were all very attractive for the most part. He also seemed polite, but not completely isolated like Gaara.
"Now Itachi, we know about you already. You're thirty, your father is the president of Uchiha Co, you are the CEO and your..." Shizune trailed off naming some other nonsense about him, but Sakura had been too entranced by the beauty of the Uchiha. She wanted him, yep she definitely wanted him.
"Yes that's right." Itachi said.
"W-Well then... we'll move onto the next contestant, we have Kiba Inuzuka." Shizune stated. An average looking boy with two red triangles painted on either side of his cheek entered the room, he took a seat next to Itachi and smiled at Shizune and then at Sakura.
"Hey." He said.
"Kiba Inuzuka, tell me about yourself." Shizune asked intriguingly, Sakura assumed that she had no information on him. This boy was average looking, nothing special. He seemed friendly enough, but Sakura kept sneaking glances at Itachi. Why hadn't she wanted a boyfriend again?
Get yourself together, woman! Her inner Sakura said to her, we have to show these boys whose boss remember! Can't fawn all over them like this! Oh be quiet, Sakura said back to her, just let me enjoy this. You idiot... don't come crawling back to me when you get hurt, remember how Ino was?! That's right... I must not lose my composure.
Sakura realized that she had tuned out of Kiba's introduction, Shizune was now introducing the next boy. Sakura didn't know if this was a joke or not, but she cringed at the sight of the man.
He was...
It was..
Was it even a he?
IT WAS A SHARK!
"Kisame." Shizune stated, "welcome."
"Pleasure." Kisame grinned, before sitting down. 'So it could talk..' Sakura thought to herself.
"Please stay away from me.." Sakura said, thinking she had thought it to herself.
"Excuse me?" Kisame said, raising a brow.
"H-Huh?" Sakura said, blushing. Everybody's attention was now on her, she blushed even redder and hid her face. "I um.. I just s-"
"Shut up, I heard you." Kisame muttered, "rude."
Sakura felt kind of bad now, she hadn't meant to say it out loud, she had just never seen a shark that could walk and talk.
"Uh okay.. next we have Rock Lee." Shizune said, forgetting to ask Kisame for an introduction. Add that to poor Kisame's embarrassment.
Sakura didn't have time to react when flowers were thrust forward into her face, she couldn't even see who the sender was. She blushed and accepted them, and then she saw who had given them.
"Hello, beautiful girl." A boy in a green speedo, with a bowl cut that looked like it had tons of gel in it said to her. "I am Rock Lee, and I will make you mine." He declared.
A snort of laughter could be heard in the direction of Deidara and Hidan, even Kisame let out a chuckle.
"You can't be serious right, un?" Deidara laughed.
"Laugh at me now, but when I emerge victorious you will think otherwise." Rock Lee said, sitting down next to Kisame.
"That was unexpected." Shizune said, "anyways since he kind of introduced himself, I'll get to the next person. Next we have, Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto? Sakura repeated in her head, she knew that name. True enough, she looked in the direction where the previous boys had come from and there he was, the blonde that Sakura had grown up with! He had been one of her closest friends prior to moving to LA!
"Sakura!" Naruto called, taking a seat across her. "Wow, it's been so long hasn't it?!"
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, "I can't believe you're here?!" Sakura said even louder, oh what a relief it was to see somebody she knew.
"Yeah you too! I never imagined when they said Sakura, it would end up being you!" Naruto gave her a big grin.
"Ahem.." Shizune said, "Naruto? I'm sorry but we're running out of time, so I won't be able to give you a proper introduction." She paused, "we have two more contestants left, Sasori is next."
Sakura turned her head in the all knowing direction and there was another red-head, he had softer eyes than Gaara though, his were teal. He looked so innocent and unmoved by everything, Sakura blushed at the sight of him.
'Whoa, get yourself together girl.' She thought to herself, Sasori took a seat next to Naruto and gave her a small smile.
"Hello." He said to her, rather than to Shizune.
"Um.. hi." Sakura said.
"Hello Sasori." Shizune interrupted, Sakura had wanted to get to know more about him but Shizune had said there was no time. "Our last guest: Sasuke Uchiha."
Sakura's jaws absolutely dropped at the person standing before her. It was her other friend, Sasuke. Truth be told she used to have a crush on him when she was younger, but seeing as he was so closed off to everyone and the fact that she moved to LA, she gave up on him.
He looked pretty much the same, he was unmoved and emotionless and took the last seat.
"And that folks is our group of contestants this year." Shizune grinned and said to nobody in particular, "thank you all for your introductions. You have the remainder of the night to do as you please."
So what did you think? I know the intros got kind of boring and long, but I'm going to jump straight into romance next chapter LOL .. also just FYI some of the characters will be kind of OOC..
ADDITIONALLY ..
When I mention the audiences votes in the story, I do mean you guys :D
I want you all to vote for the pairing you want and the pairing you don't want. I will definitely take it all into account when decided who is to be eliminated each round and who ends up with Sakura.
Review Fav and Follow
Thanks guys!
-MarronB