Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Well…so much for keeping this story in the back of my mind. I'm just really set on writing it right now, much more than any of my other fics. Maybe it's because, once again, I've got the whole story in my head, whereas the other ones I'm sort of making up on the spot, heh.

In response to eetheng, you were correct in your review! Yes, this story is based off a Taiwanese drama titled Lavender (hmm…I probably should've mentioned that beforehand huh). I like the story very much as well.

And thank you everyone for your reviews, particularly to the people who left long, meaningful ones. I'm glad you guys could take some of your time to give me some feedback.

Chapter 2: Concert Blues

---

Neji stood by the counter, rearranging some flowerpots, while Gaara sat opposite him, typing away at his computer. The redhead was a bit shocked at what Neji had told him.

"You're not serious right?"

"Dead serious actually," replied Neji, shifting the pots all different ways to find the best positioning. "He's the one Naruto's been searching for. I'm positive. Of course, Naruto's still a bit unsure, but I just have this weird feeling it's true."

"Naruto…and this Sharingan guy…" Neji saw uncertainty flash across Gaara's face before the redhead stopped typing. The brunette gave a small sigh as Gaara leapt out of the room, intent on finding the blonde.

Gaara caught up to Naruto as he was leaving, watching as the latter was pushing his bike up a hill.

"Naruto!" The blonde turned around, allowing Gaara to catch up to him.

"Oh hi there Gaara. What's up?"

Gaara wanted desperately to ask Naruto about Sharingan but, somehow, he restrained himself. He chewed his lip uncomfortably, not knowing what exactly to say.

I should just ask him…but…what if I don't want to hear the answer?

"Did you have something to ask me, Gaara?" The blonde blinked up at him, expectantly.

"N-no, it was nothing." The redhead mentally smacked himself. "I—I just forgot to say goodbye to you, that's all. So…goodbye." Turning around, he hurried off.

Naruto didn't know what to make of Gaara's odd behavior. Never had he heard him stutter before. And his sudden running off…he didn't know what to make of it, but he wasn't going to let it worry him too much either.

Making his way to the park, Naruto smiled serenely, staring at the flowers sprouting up. He watched as two little kids, a boy and a girl, made their way through, holding hands.

"Wow! Look how pretty these are!" The girl said, pointing to a golden sunflower that was growing quite nicely. She leaned down to sniff it.

"You really like it?" The boy asked her. She nodded. Bending down, he broke off the stem and handed it to her.

"For you."

"Oh—thank you!" The two skipped of happily, and Naruto couldn't help but feel happier just by watching the innocent display.

Ah, love was in the air.

---

Sasuke sat in a chair, pen and paper in hand. His stylist was busy working on his hair, while Sai blabbed on endlessly about unimportant issues. He was working on a new song, recording the different notes on the sheet music paper, while tuning his manager out completely.

"—And so your concert tonight will be amazing, trust me. I have the area all scouted and planned out. Excited, Sasuke? Nervous?" If there were an award for the most monotonous, boring voice in the world, Sai would've won it.

"Sai," Sasuke grit out, his patience slowly winding down, "I'm trying to write here. Can you please stop bothering me?"

"Ah, of course Sasuke!" But that did nothing as Sai continued to talk, clearly not understanding Sasuke's subtle message to shut the fuck up.

"So what about the theme for the concert tomorrow, hmm? I was thinking go big, so huge flashes of light and—"

"Whatever you want, Sai. Whatever you want." Sasuke continued writing down notes, not caring about a single word coming out of the other's mouth.

"Oh Sasuke, you act as though having your hair done is the most horrible experience in the world. The stylist team's goal is to try and get the back of that head of yours a bit…eh, not so spiked." Taking the pen and paper from Sasuke's hands, he set it on the counter next to them. "Now, this'll all go faster if you're a bit more cooperative."

That was the last straw.

"Sai, will you just let me write my fucking music?! Seriously, could you please respect me for just a few minutes?!" Sasuke yelled, irritated out of his mind.

"Ah, ah, ah. No need to get upset, Sasuke," Sai spoke gingerly and lightly, as if talking to a child. He pushed him back into the stylist chair. "Now here," he handed him back the pen and paper.

Sasuke let out a loud sigh before dropping both. "Forget it. I can't concentrate anymore." Rubbing his temples to soothe the oncoming headache, he tried not to think about anything else, other than his music.

---

Gaara sat unhappily on a large rock, watching the clouds overhead.

"Well…this sucks." He let out a pout.

If this Sharingan guy is whom Naruto really wants…well, I mean, there's nothing I can do to stop that. At least if it had been anyone else, I would've been able to compete against him! But…against a pop star…Argh.

Taking out the crumpled ticket from within his pocket, he frowned at it.

And what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing now?

He folded the ticket into the form of a paper airplane, giving it a kiss, before sending it flying somewhere in the grass. He didn't bother to look where. It wasn't like it mattered. Naruto wasn't going to go.

"Hey…Gaara!"

Gaara turned his jade eyes to see a familiar looking blonde walking towards him, waving happily. Gaara felt his spirits brighten just the slightest.

"Naruto…how are you?"

"Good, good." Naruto took a seat beside Gaara on the rock. "Listen, I was thinking…I know you offered me a ticket to the Sharingan concert. And I know I turned it down the first time, but…if I told you I changed my mind, would it still be available?" His eyes looked hopeful.

Gaara nodded vigorously. At least now, if Naruto would go, it wouldn't all be a waste. He reached for his pocket, only then remembering what he had done with the ticket. Panicking slightly, his eyes scanned the grass, trying to locate the slip of paper.

Aha! Running over and picking it up, he unfolded the little plane and smoothed out the wrinkles, holding it up for Naruto to see.

"It's right here!"

Upon seeing Gaara's actions, the blonde couldn't help but laugh.

---

Sasuke rubbed his sore neck muscles tiredly. He had spent the rest of the day filming a music video and working on new choreography for tomorrow night's concert. Sai had asked him whether he would liked to have joined him for dinner, but anything would've been better than dinner with Sai, so Sasuke had declined, insisting he had other plans.

His plans for the night qualified for going to some random bar. Stepping into the lowly dimmed room, he noticed it wasn't too crowded. Perfect. He could hear some whispers of 'Sharingan' here and there, but he ignored them.

Making his way to the pool table, he began to set up a game. It was then that he noticed a presence of another near him. He looked up to see a blonde girl, tall, with her hair up in a ponytail. She was wearing a plain, white dress. Her blue eyes raked over Sasuke's body once, and Sasuke couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted. She was just like every other girl that had been infatuated with him for his looks.

"Can I join?" She asked breezily, taking a sip of some fruity looking drink.

"I don't like winning from girls." Sasuke eyed the white ball, lining up his stick.

She grinned. "How exactly do you know you'll beat me?"

Sasuke smirked. "How much you want to bet?"

"Betting with money isn't any fun," she eyed the pool table. "I say, winner gets to take anything from the loser. Well, anything on them anyways. So, what do you say?"

Sasuke gave her a long, hard stare. Oh, she was good. If it was one thing that clouded his judgment, it was his ego. She knew the right buttons to push. He could see the corners of her lips turning upwards. She knew he wouldn't refuse.

And he didn't.

Instead, he tossed her a stick and the game began.

Sasuke hated to admit it, but the girl was pretty damn good. He had about a quarter of his balls still on the table, while she was down to one. It was his turn and there were no open opportunities for him. So he opted for hitting the ball into a corner, making it unable for her to reach her last ball.

She grinned when she saw the tactic he was using. Leaning over, she gave the ball one hard shove and watched as it bounced on each wall once, before moving slowly, and landing in the hole.

Sasuke did have a big ego, but he wasn't a sore loser. He dropped his stick on the table, gave her a look as if to say, "you knew I was going to lose in the first place" and hopped onto a bar stool, ordering a bottle of vodka. She plopped down beside him, not saying a word. It was then Sasuke remembered their bet.

"So," he began, "what exactly do you want from me?"

The blonde girl pondered it for a moment before smirking.

"Your car keys."

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned forward. When his mind was working logically, he would've flat out told the girl no and to fuck off. But…for some reason, his mind had decided to temporarily shut down on him. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out his keys and threw them down in front of her.

The girl's smirk got wider as she snatched them up.

"Meet you in the car," was all she said before getting up and leaving.

Sasuke took a long swig of his drink.

It was going to be a long night.

---

"Sasuke, I swear to God if you're still in there by the time I get up these stairs, I am going to kill you."

Sai made his way up to the second floor of Sasuke's condo to see the raven lying on his bed, shirtless and passed out. The blankets were everywhere, while random clothing and beer bottles littered the floor. Sai swore loudly.

Getting up on Sasuke's bed, Sai swatted at the sleeping body.

"Get up, Sasuke! Get up!" The raven on the bed made no response, other than to shake Sai's arm off of him and bury himself underneath his pillow.

"Do you even know what time it is? Sasuke, it's fucking two in the afternoon! Now get the hell out of bed, you've got a concert to get ready for!" Sai began picking up garbage on the floor, tossing the empty beer bottles into the trashcan. He noticed an index card on Sasuke's desk. It said "Ino" on it and underneath, a phone number.

"Bitch." Sai declared loudly before ripping it up into shreds.

By this time, Sasuke had somewhat roused himself awake. He looked about as hung over as one could get. Sai sighed, taking in the raven's baggy eyes.

"Sasuke, we need to talk about this. Seriously, I can't believe you. If this got out to the press, you would be ruined. You have an appearance to keep up." Sai's voice had returned to its natural calming one.

Sasuke simply stared at him, mumbling a, "I don't give a shit" before making his way down the stairs.

Oh, Sai was mad now.

Following the raven, he sat on the couch and took a deep breath.

"Listen Sasuke. I know what it is. You're still having trouble sleeping, aren't you?" Sai continued, once he saw he wasn't going to get a response out of the other. "You know I'm here for you…but I really don't think you're handling this the right way." He let the words sink in.

"Anyways, we've got to get you ready for tonight. So go on, put on some clothes, and we'll go, ok?"

Making his way to the closest, the raven said nothing.

---

Naruto stood in front his mirror and let out a small huff. He had spent the last hour and a half trying to decide on a suitable, nice looking outfit to wear. It never took him that long to get dressed, but, for tonight, he wanted to look his best.

Finally deciding on a light blue sweater that brought out the color of his eyes and casual gray slacks, he sat down at his desk. There were only three things on it at the moment: the lavender bottle, a childhood picture of him and some of his elementary school classmates, and a Sharingan cd he had picked up recently.

Opening the cd, he pulled out the front cover and flipped through its pages, taking a glimpse at the song titles and lyrics. On the back page, he noticed, was where the personal information was. His eyes grew large and he let out a soft laugh at what he saw.

There, right above the word Sharingan, were the words Uchiha Sasuke.

---

Both Gaara and Naruto stepped close to the huge building where the concert was about to take place. The show was set soon and a huge mob, consisting of mostly females, was already at the door, wanting to get in.

Gaara pulled Naruto aside. "Uh, Naruto…this would probably be a good time to tell you that…I don't have a ticket."

Naruto's mouth dropped. "W-what?! I mean, I knew Neji and Lee didn't get tickets, but I thought you would've gotten one for yourself!" Gaara didn't exactly feel like elaborating as to why he was supposed to have two tickets, but only ended up with one.

"Don't worry, come on let's just go."

"But, how're you suppose to get in without a ticket?" Naruto asked him. Gaara just shook his head.

"Look at all these people here. They won't notice if I just…slip in. Now come on, like I said, don't worry."

Naruto nodded hesitatingly and the two joined the mob.

A rather large man was checking the tickets. When it was Naruto and Gaara's turn, Naruto handed the man the ticket while Gaara tried to simply sneak in. However, the man pushed him back, asking for his ticket.

"You already checked my ticket." Gaara stated, trying to stay calm.

"No, I checked this guy's ticket right here," the man said, pointing to Naruto. "Now, where's yours?" Behind, the group was beginning to complain, yelling for them to speed it up.

"Look, that ticket over there cost me 4000 yen. That's more than double what it's worth. Now, let me go in." Gaara growled out, but then man refused.

"I'm sorry, but if you don't have a ticket, you can't come in." Gaara was about ready to kick the guy's ass, but he really didn't feel like causing a scene either.

"Take it." Naruto thrust his ticket into Gaara's hand. "You go see it. I'll wait here for you." With that said, he quickly walked out of line and further away from the building, while the redhead chased him.

"Naruto, stop." Gaara grabbed his wrist, hanging onto him.

"Why didn't you tell me that ticket cost you so much?" The blonde hissed at him, looking a bit upset. He didn't want Gaara to have spent so much money on him.

"I didn't want you to react like this," Gaara sighed. "Listen Naruto, just go. I'll wait for you out here." He cursed his luck because right after he said that, it began to rain.

Naruto's eyes darted toward the building. Everyone had gone in now and the doors were about to close. The man checking the tickets called out to him, asking if was going to come in or not. This could be his chance…

"Forget it. I'm not going." Naruto turned away defiantly and Gaara almost screamed in frustration. He knew it was a kind gesture that Naruto refused to go in without him, but all he wanted was for Naruto to be happy. Standing in the rain didn't particularly qualify as "happy."

Running his hand through his wet hair, he draped his jacket over the blonde, who had begun to shiver, and pulled it tightly around him.

Both stood in silence.

---

There was a lot of mayhem and commotion backstage, but Sasuke calmly sat on his chair, playing his guitar. He then set it down and mentally counted the seconds before Sai came bursting into his dressing room.

"Sasuke!"

Ah. There we go.

"Tsk, tsk, Sasuke. You're on in ten minutes. I would've expected you to be preparing somehow, at the least." He poked at the raven's outfit, fingering the white, button-up shirt. "Is that what you're wearing onstage? Don't you think you could look a bit more…lively?" He made a note of Sasuke's black leather pants. "Black's always looked good on you, but how about we try something more feisty…like red."

Sasuke shot him a look that clearly said, "no way are you getting me into red leather."

Sai gave a half-pout and a shrug. He opened the door and made a hand movement to indicate it was his time to leave.

Sasuke got out of his chair, making his way to the stage. He could already hear the loud screams and cheers from his fans.

Show time.

---

Naruto tried to ignore the music blaring from the building. He knew he could've been in there, but there was no way he would've been willing to leave Gaara, alone in the rain, waiting for him.

It wasn't as bad now. Gaara had gone out to buy an umbrella so the two of them were a little less wet. Still, he hugged the jacket around him more.

"Naruto…" The blonde looked up to see Gaara's intense gaze upon him.

"Is this Sharingan guy really important to you? I mean, Neji told me he was the guy you were friends with since elementary school and that—" he took a breath, "he was the person you've been waiting for all these years."

Naruto didn't say anything, but that was all the answer the redhead needed.

Taking the blonde's hand, he wrapped it around the umbrella. Naruto looked at him, confused.

"Gaara, what—"

"I'm going to go see if there are any other doors you can go through. If this guy means that much to you, I'll help you get to him. Wait here, I'll be back." The two locked eyes for a moment before Gaara ran off. Naruto could see the rainwater, that hadn't let up, pounding upon the redhead's body.

"Gaara, wait!" But the rain drowned out his voice.

Naruto tightened his grip on the umbrella handle, awaiting Gaara's return.

---

Eh, sorry for the short chapter. I had to put two of my fics on hold to finish this one up and Voulez Vous (which I've sort of been neglecting...ah if I could only get my lazy ass to write the damn chapter. Seriously, it's been in my head for ages). And, as I'm planning ahead, I doubt I'll be done anytime very soon…oh well.

Drop a review and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.