The Music From The Soul

Until that day I had never thought I'd be slowly falling to my own disgrace…

Chapter 2 - Pride

Sasuke's Diary

Monday, December 14th

I knew I was looking to something special since the first time my eyes met hers. I didn't like it, not even a bit of it. We already had our band, why did that stupid label want to change it? And that girl, she was great. That was a problem; a big one.

The window's view was pretty boring. It was not helping to ease my tension. The boys seemed relaxed. Naruto played with his drum sticks, as usual. Shikamaru was taking a nap, also as usual. Lazy ass… But he was a bass genius, so I made a mental note not to disturb his beauty sleep. Neji wasn't there yet and Kiba was reading a magazine. We were at the meeting room of Spice Records, an independent record label located in Tokyo.

Things were going great. Few months ago we were just a garage band trying to play in music festivals of our island (Okinawa), and now we were about to sign a contract with a good label in the capital city of the country. Still… I wasn't happy. I should be, but I wasn't. Our band would sign the contract and also change completely. Our name would change, our sound would change, our crew would change… There would be a girl among us. That was weird.

Sakura was good, for sure. But she was… Sweet? Yeah, sweet seems a good word to describe her. She wouldn't fit in this band… I knew that keep analyzing the girl wouldn't help me, but I couldn't help it myself. Ok. She was pretty. Oh hell… She was beautiful. Who am I kidding? That girl was beautiful and hot, despite the sweet thing. Her pink hair was interesting and talking about a band with five totally different guys, she would be a plus. Imagine that. Seriously, take a moment to analyze our band in an esthetic perspective. There was me, dark hair and bangs like that guy from… What was the name of the band? Oh, right. Sleeping With Sirens, Kellin something. Then Neji who looked like those heavy metal guys with a very long and dark hair. Shikamaru sometimes reminded me of a hippie. Kiba had some resemblance of a wolf, or vampire like he uses to say. His teeth are sharper than normal. And at last Naruto who was blond with blue eyes, like what? A blond blue-eyed Japanese boy? Yeah, that was it. And now. A girl. But not only a girl, a pink-haired girl. What was the probability of six so different people end up working together?

I heard the door opening revealing Neji and our new manager. Hatake Kakashi was presented to us two days before. He seemed to be a good manager and always sounded like he knew what he was doing. As far as I knew he was the responsible for that "fusion" we were about to make. Or suffer. He gave the idea. I wasn't sure if I wanted to punch him or thank him for that one. Anyway I turned my back to the window and leaned against it to watch the guys. Now only Sakura and her manager, Tanaka, were left to show up and our meeting would start.

"Hey man!" I heard Naruto say. When I lifted my eyes from the floor I saw him staring at me. "What's your problem bastard?" The idiot was screaming again. Too much energy and a loud mouth were a terrible combination.

"Shut up idiot."

That kind of scene was so common that no one paid attention to us.

"He is still thinking."

Everybody turned heads to where Shikamaru was still with his eyes closed.

"Thinking about what?" Naruto asked. Wouldn't he just shut up?

Shikamaru moved a little and finally woke up from his nap. Yawning a little he rubbed his eyes before answering.

"Still thinking if this is a good idea."

"Oh". Naruto said when realization hit him. "You are talking about Sakura-san, right? She is good, isn't she? I'm sure our band will be a success with her."

Annoying blond…

All the boys were staring at me, waiting my response. I knew all of them had already accepted Sakura as one of us now, I was not willing to disappoint them, but I had to voice my thoughts.

"Yeah. She's good." Was my short answer. "That's the problem."

"What?" Both Naruto and Kiba gaped. "What are you saying man? Are you afraid the little girl will steal your place as vocalist?" Naruto asked.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair out of habit. I wasn't in the mood to talk. In fact, I was never in the mood to talk, even less to create a whole speech on why I thought Sakura was too good for that to work.

"I think I know what Sasuke is thinking." I turned my face to look at Shikamaru. "Sakura being good is a blessing and a curse."

I turned my head away once again, but kept my attention on him.

"Our chance to succeed is in Sakura's hands. No wonder she is awesome. With that girl singing with us our band will be on top. The problem is Sakura's reasons to join us. She has been here for some time and didn't succeed at all. Now she has another opportunity, but… Does she want to be part of a band, with five more guys? I bet she wanted to be a solo singer. What if later she decides to leave us? Once famous she could just kick our asses and start her own career. If she does it one day we're screwed. Because she is good. Another problem is that she is a girl, the only girl and we all know how female fronted bands are complicated. The girl will always be on the spot, more than any of us. If she leaves, we will have a hard time to overcome that. Where will we find another great girl to replace her? And the fans may not like that. This is a great shot, but it can backfire."

Judging by the silence in the room, everybody had understood the problem. Even Naruto got quiet, pondering what Shikamaru had said. Not so much after that Kakashi cleared his throat and started talking casually.

"You're right. But it doesn't seem you have any other option. The label will only sign with you if Sakura joins the band. If you retreat you'll have to find another label. Furthermore, there's no way to assure Sakura will leave you. That may or may not happen."

Silence fell on the room once again. I knew that. I knew all of that. Still I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. But before I could drown myself in my thoughts again, Sakura and her manager appeared. As my eyes locked with hers I remembered what happened on her dorm two days ago.

We had finished our performance and I could swear she had loved us. Yet in the end, Sakura rejected our offer. At first I got infuriated. How dare that little girl just turn her back on us? Tanaka-san apologized and said there was nothing he could do as she was decided to leave, in that same evening, to the USA. I wanted to just let her go, once that was what she wanted. Tried to convince myself she was not that great after all. But I knew I wasn't going to deceive myself so easily. As I saw the disappointment in the eyes of my buddies I decided to take some action. In secret I asked Tanaka-san the directions to her room and got there before I could even think on what I should say.

She opened the door after a moment and seemed to be almost shocked to see me standing there in front of her door. I could relate to her. I would be surprise with me there. Thing is I never do that kind of stuff, talking to someone like that…

"Sakura…" I said after an awkward silence. "Could you… Talk to me?"

The girl was still holding the door half closed so that I couldn't see the rest of her room. It was noticeable her nervousness. I could only hope she would listen and think again.

"What do you want?" She asked more nervous than angry.

"Just talk."

She sighed and opened the door for me. I entered the room, but didn't dare close it behind me. Another awkward silence. Damn. That would never work…

"So?" she asked and I felt like she didn't want me there for too long. Maybe she didn't want me there for even a second…

"You know…" I started, not really sure of what I was doing. "When the guys formed the band they heard me singing in a festival. After my performance, Kiba invaded the backstage and offered me the place of vocalist."

She looked at me uncertainly. Probably she was trying to figure out my reasons to start the story time.

"Then you accepted, as I see." She said.

"No."

Her jade eyes widened a little. One eyebrow narrowed. I could see her index fingers tracing the edges of her bag on the bed casually.

"How come you are their vocalist then?"

"Kiba called me every morning, every single day, for four months until I said yes."

Her pink eyebrows rose. Then she looked away.

"Will you call me every day for months as well? I'll be very far."

"No. I won't." She looked at me again. Her green orbs locked with mine, and for a brief second I wondered what was crossing her mind in that moment. "Because you won't leave. I won't let you go."

She gave me a very confused and shocked stare. I couldn't help but think that that phrase would have sound pretty romantic in another context. For the last time: what the hell I was doing?

"Isn't it your dream to work with music? To sing? Why are you giving up?"

"You know nothing about me, Uchiha-san. I have my reasons."

"It's not just your dream." I watched as she stopped, frozen in the middle of a turn to grab her purse on a nearby table; I supposed. "The guys accepted you. They were already talking about you as part of the band even before they saw you. Naruto became very excited about it, Kiba as well. Shikamaru was already thinking about the changes we would make to bring you with us and Neji was taking care of the legal stuff. They-"

"What about you?" She interrupted, without looking back to face me. "What do you think about it? About me…"

I was taken aback by that. Then I realized I only talked about them. And after that I also realized I haven't thought about her. Not really. What should I say? Words… Damn you words! It was funny how I could write tons of songs, but when I was the one who needed to talk, I would just freeze. Pathetic… I took a deep breath.

"I just know that, without you we won't make it."

I decided to stare straight into her eyes. I had no idea if that was good or intimidating; I was hoping for the former.

"The guys' dream? It will end, for sure. Mine as well. And yours if you don't think again and change your mind."

Sakura's hands were slightly shaking and she tried to hide them from me. For sure she was having an argument with herself deep within. I didn't want to push her buttons that much, but I… Damn. I needed her. I hated the idea of being in need of someone else, but in that case, there wasn't much I could do.

"Sakura… You need us. We need you. I need you. So no, I won't let you go."

And them, two days later we were about to sign the contract. Yeah, Sakura decided to join us after that night. Thankfully, my humiliation served for something. I would never, ever, do that again. Needless to say, Sakura didn't gain much of my affection because of that, but I could work with her anyway.

The girl entered the room, followed by her manager. She smiled at everybody but I could tell she was trying to hold a blush. Silly, but… Cute. Oh no… No way had I said that. Fuck… All right. That would be an interesting blend anyway. Five totally manly guys and a little pink girl. Did I just say interesting? That was weird. That idea had better work…

So it was decided that Kakashi would become our manager and Sakura's as well. Tanaka-san seemed pretty emotive. Who knows how much time he had spent as her manager. Anyway, Neji was revising all the contractual terms of our contract with Kakashi, aloud. Man… That was boring. They were talking about money, media exposure, copyright, something about the label's royalties… We all listened and nodded, listened and nodded on and on and on. Naruto and Shikamaru were almost drifting off to sleep when something Kakashi said made us all gasp.

"Sorry, Kakashi-san…" Sakura started. "Could you repeat the last line?"

Kakashi smiled under a mask he wore, like those medic masks for sick people. "Sure, Sakura-san. No member of the band is allowed to be in a romantic relationship with Haruno Sakura."

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled. "Who created this term?"

"It was the chief officers. They are sort of… Concerned with adding a girl to a group of boys." Tanaka-san said visibly nervous.

"But that was their idea…" Sakura muttered. Her eyes were staring at the table in front of her.

"Yeah," Kakashi said. "They really believe your band will be a success. That's why they don't want to take the risk of letting something like jealousy or broken hearts disturb your career."

"That's ridiculous!" Everybody was startled by Sakura who had almost shouted her indignation. "You are talking as if I were some irresistible model. Besides it we should all be free to make our own decisions. Of course they would never choose me after being with me for much time. I'm… Dull…" The last part came off in a whisper.

Nobody knew what to say after that. Until Kakashi decided to talk again.

"I personally agree with you Sakura-san, but if you don't agree with this term, there will be no contract signed. It's your choice."

We all exchanged glances, trying to read what our companions were thinking. After a moment we all sighed and nodded. I just hoped they wouldn't start to control our lives more than that. I'd rather die than be restrained by that industry. Yes, I must confess that at that time I was still somewhat innocent. Wish I could go back.

The rest of the terms were "normal" and no other problems appeared. In the end we all signed a lot of papers. Now officially we were a band. Sakura was a member as any of us.

"Ok. Now guys, you'll need another name for your band." Tanaka-san suggested.

We were taken by surprise. Nobody had thought about changing our name. Well, no wonder that our current name "Bloody Hell" wouldn't fit anymore. Not with a pink-haired girl singing with me. As the two managers saw how unprepared we were to answer that Kakashi called it a day and we ended up receiving a week to think about our new name and present it to him.

One week later, exactly, we called for another meeting and then Sakura and Naruto showed Kakashi a handmade sign with our new name they both had made using a cardboard and some silly crayons. Kakashi seemed satisfied with our choice and he was probably smiling as he read aloud:

Haikara.

Let's go, wake up to go, to the future that we don't know

Well, spreading our wings, facing the wind

It's a jump start, bringing forth one and only power

Insecurity plus pride fly in my heart

Author's notes:

Hello people!

Even though I received only two reviews with the first chapter TT_TT, I was pretty surprised as three people favorited my story and other 9 are already following it. Thank you!

I know I promised longer chapters, but as this is also an introduction like the previous one, I decided to cut it here, and that's it! Anyway I'd like to know if you want longer chapters, or if this length is ok.

I didn't revise it before uploading, so please, help with correct any mistake.

I want to know what you think, so review guys! Please!

And yes, this will be Sakura's and Sasuke's POV. Each one per chapter. Hope you like it!