Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
:Made to be Broken:-
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��� The phone steadily rang for a good five minutes as Sakura scrambled to get out of the shower and into a towel. In her haste, a wet foot slipped on the slick tile floor and she fell face first. Moaning, she tried to ignore the pain and dizzily clambered her way to the phone in the next room.
��� "...Hello?" she voiced, near breathless and trying to keep her towel on. Her nose hurt like hell from that spill and she hoped that it didn't start bleeding.
��� "You were in the shower, weren't you?" the voice on the other end deducted and she heavily sighed.
��� "...Yes, sorry."
��� "Apologies are empty unless you really mean it!" the man declared, causing Sakura to roll her eyes. Out of all the people that could have been her manager, she had ended up with the talented, yet completely insane, Kakashi Hatake. She had first been recommended to him and following an intense training session, he had agreed to take her under his wing. Her mother had been ecstatic at the time but even she chose to question some of his methods. He had been a karate teacher before he had turned to singing, so his focus on 'tough love' certainly lived up to its name.
��� "I'm sorry! Really!"
��� "... You really don't have to apologize for being in the shower. Now, how's my Sakura today?"
��� "I'm great, sensei!" she lied, fearing another hour-long lecture about appreciation and the true meaning of unhappiness. Idols are always supposed to be cheerful, she briefly remembered Kakashi embedding into her head. That's what makes everyone adore them.�
��� "...Really?"
��� "Yep!" It was becoming difficult to sound peppy when she was freezing to death in only a towel. Her soaking hair and the growing pile of water beneath her wasn't helping, either.
��� "Great! Now, in an hour I want you to meet me at the studio. I have something very important to discuss with you."
��� "Haaai, Sensei. Is there anything I should bring?"
��� "No, just try to look nice. And also I must ask... are you naked?"
��� "Pervert!" She slammed the phone down with such vehemence that it was a surprise the object didn't smash upon contact with the nightstand. Any day now the phone would probably break from her wrath, but she found it quite justified. Having a manager as perverted as hers wasn't what every girl possessed, or would want.
��� "Stupid idiot's been reading too much of that book..." she muttered to herself as she returned to the washroom. Yet as she dried herself off, she could only wonder why Kakashi had asked her to dress up nicely. It slightly irked her, making her clench her fists and her pulse increase. Didn't she dress up nicely everyday? He had even given her a fashion lesson a year ago, for god's sake!
��� "Sakura, did you get the phone?" her mother called out from downstairs, her voice ringing through the hall. It was a wonder that her voice had a higher range than hers.
��� "Yes!" she hollered back.
��� "Who was it?"
��� The girl decided not to answer, disliking having conversations where each person had to literally scream to one another. Sometimes she wondered why her mother simply couldn't make her way to the stairs and speak like a decent person. Then again, from her experience, all the woman in Konoha were the same -she simply prayed she wouldn't become one of them.
��� She took her time dressing, knowing well that Kakashi would be late, as usual. It didn't take her long to find something that would gain his approval -a flowing white skirt with a rose pink halter- and she applied make-up sparingly yet meticulously. Once satisfied with her appearance, she descended the stairs and explained to her mother where she was going before heading out.
��� At seventeen, Sakura was at her prime to becoming a singing sensation, but that also meant balancing her budding career with her schoolwork. Luckily, she was intelligent enough to gain spectacular grades while attending school three times a week yet in turn, sacrificed anything close to friendship with the students. She had split with her only friend, Ino, three years ago when a classmate of theirs, Uchiha Sasuke, had hit it being in the movie industry. Both girls were in love with him beforehand, but his gained stardom was the catalyst for them to start seriously competing for his heart.
��� She supposed that the only people she had close to an acquaintance was Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru. The only reason she allowed Naruto to come near her was because for some odd reason, he was always paired with Sasuke on school projects and they attended the same dojo. As for Shikamaru, his intelligence surpassed hers, allowing for a person to have decent conversations with and to help her catch up on missed schoolwork. Truthfully, though, his bluntness was a bit too callous for her at times and she had nostalgia for a female companion.
��� Their village was fairly small; fifteen minutes later she had reached the studio and was ready to wait for at least another ten minutes for Kakashi to arrive. His lateness was infamous; therefore, she was startled to see him sitting outside of the recording booth, his eyes focused on yet another smutty novel and greedily drinking in the lemon-filled bits.
��� "...Kakashi-sensei...?" she asked tentatively, slowly stepping into the room. He looked up and smiled, although it would have been difficult for any other onlooker unfamiliar with Kakashi to tell. He had a tendency to dress eccentrically, donning a thin black mask reaching to the bridge of his nose (she supposed he kept it from his karate days, not to mention it helped with publicity) and styling his hair so that it spiked out as if windblown. He said that it was natural but she hardly believed him.
��� The one thing, though, that made girls crazy about him was the scar running from under his left eyebrow down to his cheekbone. His left eye was permanently shut and unusable but that didn't seem to change the opinions of various females.
��� "Ah, Sakura!" he greeted, standing up with his book still open in one hand. As usual his style of clothing was ridiculous -a red jacket with matching pants and a black turtleneck. She wanted to point out the reviving the 80s was not a good idea but knew he wouldn't listen to her. And despite his flaws in dressing himself, he certainly knew how to dress a woman. "Your record has been heard by the executives at Tsukiyomi and they're quite interested in it."
��� He had said it in such a blase tone that Sakura nearly didn't comprehend the full meaning of what he had said. But after a moment of letting it gestate in her mind, she could feel her breathing become stagnant and her limbs tremble. Kakashi quickly led her to sit in a chair and rubbed her back while she attempted to breathe normally.
��� "Really...? Really!" she managed to utter, turning to face her manager. He nodded, eyes closed, but didn't seem as overjoyed as she was. Sensing Kakashi's discomfort, her smile dissipated in favor of a frown and in turn, he looked away.
��� "...Sakura... I know you've worked hard and you deserve this more than anything," he said and then turned back to her, clamping his hands on her shoulders. "But whatever happens, just know that you have limits to what you can do."
��� "Wha...what do you mean?" She hated the intense look he was giving her and found herself recoiling from him for the first time. A knock on the door broke the tense moment and Kakashi stood up, smiling as if nothing happened.
��� "So Sakura, are you ready to meet the man who will make you a star?"
��� "...I don't know what you mean..."
��� He held out a hand and hesitantly, she took it and stood up in front of him. "He's the owner of Tsukiyomi--"
��� "Uchiha Itachi?" Sakura cried out but was stopped from saying anything else by Kakashi's hand quickly covering her mouth.
��� "He's right outside and wants to meet you but..." His good eye closed for a moment. "Whatever happens... just... don't freak out."
��� She nodded and he removed his hand. "Come in, come in!"
��� The door swung open to reveal the aforementioned producer, Itachi, who she had to admit was more stunning in real life than in the magazines she had seem him in when she was a pre-teen.
��� At twelve he had been recruited as an actor, both for looks and talent. By fifteen he was a heartthrob but disliking the attention, he drew away from his career and went into producing music. Now, his brother was following in his acting footsteps and although not as successful as Itachi, he certainly did have potential.
��� He swept back some of his dark locks escaping their pony-tail hold and slowly blinked, his onyx eyes so beautiful that she nearly sighed. He was dressed in entirely black attire, a black suit, shirt and tie, except for his white belt -she noted that his shoes didn't match it. As Kakashi approached him, she noted that he was a few inches shorter than him but his presence didn't allow him to be dwarfed.
��� His eyes, however, focused on Kakashi for a moment before snapping to her in a single blink. She almost felt like she was being swallowed by his stare and blushed profusely, quickly looking away.
��� "Is that Haruno, Kakashi-san?" Itachi asked, his voice deep, smooth and almost lethargic.
��� "Yes. I've been working with her for a few years now and I feel that she has more potential locked inside of her. With the proper guidance and motivation, she'll be able to reach great heights."
��� "Hnm."
��� The silence that followed made her want to say something but she kept quiet, unable to summon enough strength to voice anything in front of Itachi. Finally, he spoke.
��� "Please follow me, Kakashi-san; we may have something to discuss. The girl must stay here."
��� Kakashi sent a hesitant look to Sakura before nodding and following Itachi out of the room, leaving her alone. She couldn't quite understand why but Kakashi seemed uncomfortable in Itachi's presence. It was the first time she had seem him so nervous, even suspicious. She remembered his words to her before and tightly shut her eyes, wondering what could befall her. If Itachi agreed to the contract, she would have a lot in front of her.
��� She leaned her head against the sound mixer, fiddling with the dials as she waited. Moments later they returned, Kakashi seeming more drained than before.
��� "Sakura, Itachi wants to hear you sing."
��� "Now!" she couldn't help but to cry out. She hadn't even warmed her voice.
��� "Just run through the basics and then sing Haru. I have a call waiting but I'll be back soon."
��� He made sure to shut the door on his way out, entrapping Sakura with the famous producer. He worked quickly with the mixer, adjusting the dials as if it were programmed into his mind. He waved at her to go inside the booth and she complied. Nervously she ran scales with her voice for two minutes before stepping up to the microphone and putting on her headphones.
��� After he pressed a button, the background music for Haru came on and she wondered whether her voice would come when she needed it. Holding her hand to her chest, she tried to steady her breath and decided that closing her eyes would be the best option. Shutting out the visual world allowed for her to concentrate on the music and not on a certain man sitting outside of the booth, judging her fate.
��� When her cue came, the first note passed through her lips perfectly and after that she became fully focused on her singing. Therefore, she gasped when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and her eyes flew open. She struggled to turn around but her captor was holding her too tightly. He removed her headphones, carelessly dropping it to the floor, and lowered his lips to her ear.
��� "You sing beautifully, Sakura," he whispered and she stiffened, unwilling to accept that the man holding her was Itachi. But as she looked outside the booth, his seat was empty. She tried to turn her head around but her curiosity was rewarded by him lightly brushing his lips over her own. With one finger he traced the side of her face and then descended to her neck and then stopped at the curve of her breast. Then, his hand pressed against her waist, drawing her closer against him.
��� She found that this time she couldn't look away from the dark pools of his eyes and with his next words, he smiled softly.
��� "Now the question remaining is, how badly do you want this?"
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A/N: I can't believe I'm writing something like this...It's so messed up and cliche. The idea came to me after reading Love Celeb (by the same person that wrote Kaikan Phase) and well, being three in the morning, I decided to write something along the same concept but with a completely different storyline. It's a trial, I'll see how the response is like... It's somewhat an Ita/Saku fic, but will have bits of Saku/Naru and Saku/Sasu. Who knows who she'll end up... then again, that's the whole premise of this story. So yeah... scrap or keep? I'm notorious for starting fics and not finishing 'em, too, so... I also need help in that department.
