Frights, trauma, action!
Hey guys! This is a fic I'm making just because I'm in the spirit of theater lately since I got a role in the school play. I would much prefer to be playing sports, but since I tore the cartilage in my elbow, I can't do a sport this season and was left with no choice. Anyway, since I'm in the theater mood, I decided to write a fic about it. However…though it's about theater, it's an Action/adventure/romance fic, so that means there are more deep plotlines than you might think. I know this first chapter sucks, but trust me, things will get better. This story won't live up to my other ones, but you never know if you don't try, right?
REALLY hoping at least some of you enjoy it!
(VERY AUish but has series references)
Summary:
Eight teenage girls and boys win starring rolls in a play. However, there are dangerous secrets to the theater they have yet to realize, and when they start to unroll, the show turns into a nightmare…still starring them.
Pairings: NejixTen, SasuxSaku, InoxShika, NaruxHina (Although this pairing may be a bit on the down low since it's hard to write about, so please don't kill me!)
Chapter 1:
Prelude: Extras and Shattered Glass
"Last call for auditions for the rolls of Kailey, Amber, Lydia and Mindy!" Kurenai, the theater director's voice wrung throughout the Mantwell Theater, reaching all ears of those in a ten-mile radius.
Nearby, the girls Tenten, Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga covered their ears against the sharp sound. The walls of the theater were made to project even a whisper said by those onstage, so with Kurenai yelling as she did, it made them feel like their eardrums had imploded.
"I said…" Kurenai repeated in a lower voice.
"Oh god," dreaded Sakura, putting her head in her lap. "Here it comes…"
"ANYONE PLANNING ON AUDITIONING FOR THE ROLLS OF KAILEY, AMBER, LYDIA OR MINDY BETTER GET ON THIS STAGE BECAUSE THIS IS IT!!!"
Needless to say, the girls fell out of their seats.
"I'm pretty sure what I just fell on wasn't inanimate…" groaned Tenten into the ground, jumbled between Ino and Sakura.
"Agh!" Ino twitched. "Something's crawling up my ankle…"
"It's nothing," Hinata assured her. "I was just getting up, I brushed it on accident."
"Phew…" Ino sighed.
The girls were auditioning for a play showing at a nearby theater- the four had always been interested in acting, but never put themselves to the test. One day, though, they finally broke down and decided to audition for rolls in the rather minor showcase known as A Parallel World.
It was pretty much the most whacked out script they had ever read, but you know what they say…you've got to start from the bottom before you get to the top.
Once the girls settled back into the theater seats, they looked onstage at what they called their "competition." They had auditioned for the rolls the day before, Tenten as Kailey, Ino as Amber, Sakura as Lydia and Hinata as Mindy. They considered their performances average, in contrast to what they've seen, but were overjoyed when Kurenai gave each of them a beaming "fantastic." One couldn't base a decision off that word, but it sure made their days.
"Check out the Morquette-Quartet," said Tenten, pointing subtly at four girls on the stage.
"Joy," said Sakura sarcastically, resting her chin on her hand as all their eyes fell on the girls.
Rachel, Katie, Laya and Erin Morquette were quadruplets who had been obsessed with competing with the girls since birth. The girls didn't hate the quadruplets, but their overly spastic and competitive states of being just…miffed them. Thus, earning the name "the Morquette-Quartet", courtesy of Tenten.
At the moment, the quartet was auditioning for the parts the girls were. Or at least it appeared so, probably would be more if the four would get their minds made up.
"I'm Rachel and I'll be auditioning for Kailey," Rachel declared to Kurenai, finally stepping out.
"Nuh uh! We went over this last night…I'm Kailey, you're Mindy!" Laya stomped forward, waving the script sample in her sister's face.
"Uh, newsflash Laya?" Rachel scoffed, swiping the flapping script out of Laya's hands. "How can I be playing Mindy if Katie's playing Mindy?"
"Whoa, when was that decided?" Katie asked, stepping forward, putting her hands out between her two sisters. "I memorized Amber's monologue last night, I know I did not waste all that time just to end up-"
"Slow down!" Erin interrupted, putting her hands over her ears. "I memorized Amber, because I thought you were memorizing Lydia!"
"…Who's Lydia?"
"The girl in the script who you were supposed to have memorized!"
"OH the one with the brown hair?"
"No, that would be Kailey."
"Who, may I make clear, will be played by me," Rachel added, waving her finger at the two. Laya stomped forward, ready to throttle Rachel.
"For the LAST time, I'M Kailey!"
The girl's voices soon became unreadable as their conflict turned into what sounded like the squawks of numerous pigeons. The only words that could be made out were "No, I am!" and "No, she is!". The girls watched the quartet in amusement. Around those four, there was never a dull moment…which depending on the case could be good or bad.
"Girls…erm, um, girls??" Kurenai struggled to speak above the girls rising voices. However, her voice went unheard as the quarter continued to squabble. "Girls, please, we don't have time for this," she asked more earnestly, as she stood up this time, hoping for it to make her seem the least bit more intimidating. No such luck however, as the girls still lashed out at each other.
Kurenai sighed.
"Looks like they leave me no choice…"
Tenten, Ino, Sakura and Hinata, sitting three rows back from Kurenai all looked at each other in alarm.
"Ah, no…" Tenten shook her head ferociously as she bit her nails.
"Oh god, here we go…" Ino said this as all four of them cautiously squinted their eyes shut and covered their ears, knowing what would come next.
"SHUT YOUR YAMMERING PIE HOLES BEFORE I PERSONALLY MARCH UP THERE AND SEW THEM SHUT MYSELF!!!!!!!!!"
Since the girls had prepared themselves this time, this screech didn't come off nearly as startling as the first…however, it was nonetheless scary.
The Morquette-Quartet must have thought so as well, for they all shut their mouths simultaneously after Kurenai's outburst. They sheepishly turned towards Kurenai, all their eyes widened in shock.
"Damn, how I wish I had a camera…" Tenten snickered evilly as she peered over the seat at the four stunned girls.
"Y-yes Kurenai?" Katie asked shakily as she mustered a smile.
"I have an idea," Kurenai beamed, suddenly looking all angelic and calm. Quite the metamorphosis.
"Go ahead, Ms. Kurenai?" Laya offered sweetly, trying to reconcile.
"How about you girls play these wonderful roles we know as…." Kurenai waited to prolong the tension and add to effect. "Extras!" She said this enthusiastically, as if it were the greatest honor the gods could ever hand down.
The quartet looked at one another while the four girls in the seats struggled to suppress their giggles.
There was a pause as the quadruplets exchanged a meaningful silence, as if communicating with one another telepathically rather than speaking.
Finally, Erin broke the silence.
"What's an extra?"
Now, the seated girls faces turned beat red as their laughs became harder and harder to silence. It was as if their cheeks were overstuffed pillowcases with the seems loosening and ready to snap.
Kurenai took a breath in as she walked out of her row of seats and walked up to the stage.
"Well, Erin," she explained hesitantly, putting her hands together. "An extra is a character that erm…" Kurenai struggled to find words to make the "role" of an extra seem as significant as humanly possible. "…Is on stage a majority of the scenes, particularly during the ones that involve a large public."
Kurenai knew she had to kick it up when she saw the quartets faces lift only a tiny bit.
"And better yet," Kurenai added, suddenly coming up with something that she knew would be convincing. "You get to change costumes every scene."
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHH!!!!"
The Morquette-Quartet screeched squeals of joy as they joined hands and leapt (AN: If this were some weird family movie the camera would make them freeze in midair.)
"We're extras! We get to wear different clothes through the whole show!" Rachel said happily as the girls scuffled offstage past a relieved Kurenai. "Hey you!" she pointed at a random freckled kid with braces who was sitting in the back row. "Guess what we are?"
The freckled kid scratched his head as he squinted one eye, most likely a thinking habit of his. "…erm…?"
"EXTRAS!" The quartet screamed in unison, making the boy flinch as they began to skip down the isle to the exit.
"Hey guys!" Erin waved ferociously at the four girls as they skipped by their row. The four girls all laughed and waved back as they watched the quarter nearly trip over themselves as they enthusiastically spilled out the door.
(Many blinks. Random freckled kid runs out opposite exit muttering things that sound something like "psychopath girls" and "never auditioning again.")
"DAMN, am I glad that worked!"
The girls turned their head to Kurenai, who plopped down into the closest seat to her in exhaustion.
The girls took this time to walk out of their row and down to Kurenai. There had been many auditions that day as well as the day before, and Kurenai had experienced many more that were much worse than the quartet. Breaking the same sad news in a nice way forty times is no easy task.
"Tired Kurenai?" Sakura teased this as she tossed Kurenai a water bottle she picked up from a nearby cooler. Kurenai caught it with her left hand, popped the cap right off and chugged.
"Mentally, yes," Kurenai breathed, water droplets running down her chin from her careless chugs. She swiped up a napkin and dabbed the water off as she sighed. "I didn't know there were such…err…oblivious aspiring actors in this town."
"Neither did I, actually," Tenten said, putting her hands behind her head as she cocked an eyebrow. "I heard that even Sasuke and Neji auditioned! Can you guys even imagine?"
All the girls burst into laughing.
"You're kidding, right?" Sakura asked between her gut suffocating laughs. "Sasuke the Uchiha? Did he lose a bet or something?"
"Oh my god," said Ino, putting her hand on her chest. "Just imagine if those two actually tried out for the leads? I swear I would drop dead if that were to happen!"
The girls kept laughing incredulously as Kurenai stood off to the side, biting her lip in amusement as four names store up at her from the clipboard she was holding. Each name by a main character's.
As the girl's laughing died down, Hinata noticed Kurenai's awkward silence to the side. "What's wrong, Kurenai?" Hinata asked this is concern, as everyday Hinata would.
"Erm…" Kurenai pursed her lips, not wanting to laugh. "Well, about that, turns out Shikamaru and Naruto signed up too and…"
"Shikamaru??? NARUTO???"
Kurenai squinted her eyes as the girls all screamed this. She braced herself for the worst, as she knew she hadn't gotten to the best part yet.
"And well…" She looked at the girls whose eyes were now wide. "They all tried out for the four leads of Ryan, Tyler, Cody and Jake."
Kurenai braced herself for screams of disbelief, but they never came. She opened her eyes to see the girls all looking at one another, faces red, their cheeks ready to burst.
And so the laughing fest began. Each girl laughed so hard that by the end of it, they all ended up curled up on the ground.
"I…can't…believe it…can they even act??" Tenten squealed in amusement as they all began to sit up.
"Pfft, I highly doubt that," said Sakura with a flip of her hair.
"Actually," Kurenai added to the girl's surprise. "On the contrary, they're all phenomenal actors." The girls all exchanged another look of amazement, but as all they're laughing juice had ran out, they remained quiet. Kurenai shrugged. "Surprised me too."
"Wait, wait, wait, lemme get this straight," Ino closed her eyes and waved her hands around. "So you mean to say the arrogant jerks from the academy, the bad ass ninjas, the fighting geniuses…they auditioned for a local play…and are being considered for the leads??"
They all turned to Kurenai, who nodded slowly. "Spot on," she said with a smile.
"My goodness," sighed Hinata, running her fingers through her now medium-lengthed hair. "I always knew that Naruto probably had some acting potential, but Neji…" she shook her head. "Never."
"Well, he seemed to do pretty well," Kurenai said. "Especially because the part of Cody is a very serious intellectual one. Neji didn't need to put his whole soul into pulling that one off, I must admit."
"Yeah," agreed Tenten with a smirk, sitting in one of the seats by the small table Kurenai was sitting at. "That just might have helped."
When the girls were genins, they would admit, they were crushing hard on each one of their guys. But then, after friendships reconciled and the Chuunin exams ended, they all saw the guys as arrogant, but still hot. Arrogant hotties would be the correct terms for the guys. So of course, the girls relished in the fact that the arrogant jerks were breaking down and auditioning for a play.
"Well girls, you better be getting home now- I know I am," Kurenai sighed in relaxation at the thought of going home. She picked up her keys. "The theater's closed tomorrow, so call backs will be posted on the front door in the afternoon. Rehearsals will start the day after."
"Which theater?" Ino asked this in regards to the fact that there were two theaters- the one they were at, where they would perform the main performances, auditions and big rehearsals, and the one on the other side of Konoha which was smaller but located more conveniently by where a majority of everyone lived, so they often had regular rehearsals there.
"Eh, the other one, it's in better shape. Besides, I'm not up to the half-hour long drive," Kurenai said, her eyes lolling back at the mere thought of it.
"Alright, the other one it is. See you," Sakura said in farewell.
I'll see you girls then!" Kurenai gave them a wave goodbye as she walked up the isle way up to the exit door. "By the way," she added before turning the knob. "Backdoor's unlocked, you can go out that way if you want as long as you lock it afterwards. Spare keys are under the prop box."
With that, Kurenai left and closed the door.
"You think they did it as a joke?" Tenten asked the other three girls this regarding the guys' auditions as they started walking back stage to the prop box.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Ino replied simply as they pushed by the side curtain entrance to get back stage. "They'd just love to stick it to the community that way."
"Ha, well, how low they have sank will keep me laughing for days, smiling at the least," Sakura laughed as they all walked to the large prop box in the far corner of the backstage area next to the costumes.
Hinata kneeled down next to the box. "She said the key was underneath the box?
"That's right," Tenten replied, lifting the box a few inches with little effort, as she was always the one with the most presentable arm strength.
Hinata held her arm out under the box and felt around the ground. "Ah," she said, her fingers running over a rigid object. She grabbed hold of it and pulled it out from under the box.
"Um."
"What?" Hinata asked Sakura at her awkward response to what Hinata pulled out.
"Uh….try looking at what's in your hand," Ino suggested with just as much discomfort as Sakura.
Confused, Hinata looked slowly down at what she thought was a key in her hand. However…
It turned out to be something much different.
"The hell is that?" Tenten took the object from Hinata and held it up to the sun. She squinted her eyes. "It's translucent."
The object was flat and had a variety of colors in it. It contained flecks of red, blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, and many other blends. It looked transparent, but light could not shine through it, or at least as far as Tenten saw. It looked like a crystal-like glass, which only mystified the girls even more. Since when were there crystals or glass that were multicolored?
"Uh…maybe it's just a peace of glass?" Hinata asked this lightly, as it seemed to be the most realistic explanation yet. "The colors could be manmade into it," she explained. "…Somehow."
"Maybe," Tenten said, bending down onto her knees to look under the prop box again after tossing the peace to Sakura. "But maybe not." As she said these last words, she looked back up at Hinata inclusively, as if to say don't pretend you didn't get the strange feeling we got when you pulled that out. After she did, she returned to shuffling her hand under the box every which way until her hand ran over something.
"Here," Tenten said, pulling her arm back out from under the box to reveal a brass key. "If you had gone a bit more to the left, you would have gotten it," she told Hinata, giving her the key.
Hinata took it, her cheeks red at the fact that Tenten had found it so easily when she herself hadn't even grazed it, better yet ended up pulling some other random thing out.
"Let's get out of here now," said Tenten with a smile, patting Hinata on the shoulder and walking off.
"Yeah," Hinata said to herself, as she stood there. "I guess." She sighed and turned as she started walking with her friends.
"I think it's kind of pretty," shrugged Sakura as they walked. She flipped it over in her hand. "Looks to me like- woops! Ack!"
The piece of glass fumbled in Sakura's hands after she flipped it over, and it fell completely out of her palms and hit the floor, shattering. Everyone took a breath intake at the unexpected accident.
Sakura looked up frantically at her friends. "I'm sorry!" Even though she didn't really know why she was apologizing, she felt it was necessary.
"Don't worry about it," shrugged Ino. "It's just an old piece of- WHAT THE HELL?"
Ino's sentence was cut off as the ground in the theater began to shake roughly. The ground was shaking so hard that things toppled off shelves and costume racks fell over.
The girls started tripping over their feet as the planks of the theater began to rattle, some actually flexing above their original placement. It was freaking the girls out.
"Is it an earthquake?!" Ino shouted this over the conflicting noises brought on by all the shaking.
"Impossible," Sakura shouted back. "Konoha is located centrally on the continental plate it resides on," she exclaimed this as all the girls grabbed onto stationary objects for support, slowly making their way to the exit door. "From a scientific standpoint, this shouldn't be happening!"
"Well, from a realistic standpoint, IT IS!" Tenten shouted this back as she fell to her knees due to a blank bumping her off her feet. She began crawling towards the door. "And from the same realistic standpoint, my senses tell me if we stay in here any longer, the roof will give out on us!"
This last comment really alarmed the girls, and was evident when they began struggling even faster to get to the exit.
"I've got the key!" Hinata squealed as she made her way to the doorknob. She grabbed it to stabilize herself.
Hinata kept trying to insert the key into the hole, but due to the shaking, she ended up scratching the sides of the lock each time. She growled in frustration. It was like she was drunken person trying to unlock her car.
"Here, let me try," Ino offered, Hinata giving the key right to her in a 'be my guest' way. Instead of being steady and careful like Hinata, Ino just quickly thrust the key into the hole. And wouldn't you know it, it hit dead on.
"How did you do that?" Hinata asked this, flabbergasted at the fact that yet again, she had been outmaneuvered by one of her friends.
"If you do it quickly then your hand doesn't have time to shake," Ino explained to her simply as she began to turn the lock. The lock was rusted, making it difficult to turn. "Can someone give me a hand here?"
The other three girls did just that as they all took a section of the key and turned it with all their might. To their relief, they heard it tick forward as the key began to turn. They averted their eyes from the flecks of rust that were flinging out as they did.
The floorboards were shaking even harder now, and the atmosphere was getting even more dangerous.
"Come on, come on…" Tenten pleaded with no one in particular as they all pushed the door as hard as they could. This is what happens when you lock your doors from the inside, Kurenai!
"Maybe if we just- Ack!" Sakura was cut off mid-sentence as the door all of a sudden opened almost easily, sending them all flying out with force.
"Agh!!!" Ino squealed this as all the girls went flying through the air. The door was on an elevated platform that had stairs leading down to the grass, but due to the fact that the girls were thrust so forcefully, they forwent the stairs completely and were just sent flying into the open air.
They each could see the ground below them. They each knew it was going to hurt like no other. They each knew-
"Umph!"
"Erk…"
"Hmph…"
"Eh?"
The girls certainly did hit something alright, but it definitely didn't feel like the ground. In fact, what they landed on felt rather warm. And did the "umph"s they heard sound…masculine?
All the girls thought the same thing sarcastically.
Great…just the guys we wanted to see.
(Hits self numerous times with stupid stick) So not proud of this chapter. At all. The second chapter is better (I'll bet you can guess who's gonna show up ; ), I swear to post it when it's done but it may take a while, I'm so sorry! Third quarter at school is always the worst, so please don't get too impatient with me if you don't mind. Again, I'm sorry for the uninteresting and sucky chapter…but I assure you, everything in it is significant for future events. Thanks for reading! I really hope you guys review! If you have any constructive criticism or stuff you'd like to see later please don't be afraid to speak up! I'd love to hear it, honestly! Thanks!