Chapter 2 up! Another joint effort from Heartfelt Dream and leo-lowen. Enjoy!

-

They'll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer
on speed dial

Sakura's POV

Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! I made the band, my god, I did it! It wasn't a dream. I was going to be famous! "FAMOUS!"

I looked around at the twenty-some other girls still waiting in line, who were giving me extremely alarmed looks. That was around the time that I realized that I had screamed the last word aloud. Whoops.

The manager of the band, the silver-haired one wearing a vest and a mask (everyone's entitled to their quirks, I suppose), called out, "Sorry, the auditions are closed. Thank you all for coming."

About half of the girls' heads snapped around angrily in my direction. I swear the air temperature dropped about fifty degrees. A redhead hissed at me. A brunette flipped me off. A cutthroat business, this, but still, it was my dream!

The manager looked at me. "First rehearsal starts now."

I blinked. "Alright, then"

-

"No, no." I said, pointing to a guitar solo halfway through Stealth's new song 'Shinobi'. "This is thirty-two measures long. Don't you think that it's too long? I think we should cut it in half."

"No," said Naruto heatedly. "That solo is really important."

"Sixteen measures would suffice," I shot back. We glared daggers at each other... but I was sure I was right.

"Look," said Gaara irritably. "Make it twenty-four. We can cut out the first eight measures and not rip each others' throats out."

I looked to Gaara, rather curious about him. After all, he didn't seem the peace-making type, did he? Or maybe he was just frustrated and he wanted to move on. Yeah, that one's probably more likely.

Kakashi looked up from his "adult novel" for once. "Yeah, you'll need your vocal chords to be intact. The first concert with our new member is tomorrow and the show is sold out."

I brightened considerably. "Really? That's awesome!!!"

I was esctatic. After all, this would be my debut as a member of "Stealth" What more could a long-time fan dream of? And maybe... well, maybe I'll impress Sasuke... He's always made an impression on me. Snapping back to reality, I focused on the rehearsal.

We practiced the newly edited 'Shinobi', along with 'Myself Alone', 'Azure Sky', and 'Tsukuyomi' (which Sasuke wrote on one of his low times). These were the songs we would perform in concert, and I wonder how different it would be to play them on stage. Of course, I wouldn't get stage fright or anything! No, Sakura Haruno was a born performer. I am... I suppose I am just excited!

The door swung open and a tall figure appeared in the doorway. He had long, black hair pulled back somewhat messily and wore a long black trenchcoat, a shirt with a cloud design on it, and jeans. The person in question also had two, oddly symmetrical scars on his pale face. He looked… he looked like… Sasuke, actually.

Funny that I would make this connection, because the man walked over to Sasuke right then. "Hey, little bro," he gave a weird half-smile. (Aha!
I thought) "You need anything?"

Sasuke glared, but nodded. "Hey, Itachi. A little speed, but that's it."

"Coke," called Naruto as he unplugged his guitar.

"Some ludes" said Gaara.

Sasuke snorted. "You don't need any sedatives."

I was completely in the dark until Itachi started doling out the 'merchandise'. Then reality bitch-slapped me. Holy shit!

Itachi turned to me. "You want anything?"

I stood, frozen, and everyone looked at me. "Urrr…" I made a strangle noise. Would they think I was a priss if I didn't get some? After all, I didn't have to use it… "Umm… just a little speed."

He handed me a packet with whitish crystals in it, so I gave him the twenty dollars owed.

Naruto was giving me a really strange look as I put it into my pocket. He looked like he had just figured something out. Uh oh... I winced. He probably figured out that this was my first time. He kept shooting me furtive glances and looking away when I tried to catch his eye.

-

Narcotics officer Neji Hyuuga called his assistant, Tenten, over. "Hey, I found something."

She walked over as she smoothed a brown wisp that had escaped one of her twin hair-buns. "On what?"

Neji brought over the sheet that he had printed out. "On the Akatsuki drug-dealing ring. They just arrested one of the guys. Calls himself 'Sasori'. He was a big dealer, so I'm glad we caught him. But there are still quite a few out there."

"Rumor has it, one of them's really covering a lot of ground. He's the number one dealer in the Akatsuki, and his street name is 'Sharingan'. Tenten said as she studied the sheet of paper.

"I've heard of him, too." Neji replied. "But he's good at evading us."

Tenten smiled wryly at Neji. "Not for long."

-

Ino was in a state of euphoria. Totally! She was going to go see Stealth tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would see her from the stage, amidst the other fans, and become smitten with the cute, mysterious blond he saw... and ask her out!

-

Leo's A/N: (pant) (wheeze) Done! (collapses) I'm also tossing around another idea for an FMA fic, so there's been a lot on my mind lately.

Heartfelt's A/N:... Hi .

Sakura: Aren't you going to say more than that?

Leo: Yeah, c'mon.

Sasuke: Really, you sound like Hinata.

Gaara: ...

Heartfelt: GAARA! SQUEE! glomp

Gaara: ...Off...

Heartfelt: NOPE! XD

While Sasuke flails at the excessive use of emotiocons (he hates those... says they zap his angst...), Gaara stoically commands Dream to stop glomping him whilst various other arguments/conversations ensue.

END CHAPTER :)

(Sasuke Flails)