The Music from the Soul

At that time things were simple. And we had fun. We were just learning how to fly.

Chapter 3 – Over

Sakura's Diary

Thursday, February 25th

Even after we signed the forms to work together, we still had no idea how to do it more than one month later. The boys were used to write songs, as well as I was too, but I used to do it calmly playing an acoustic guitar. I didn't understand a thing about raps or screams and then I started to question our decision to blend in just one group.

Kakashi was amazing as manager. I should admit that I liked Tanaka-san and I missed him already, but Kakashi was so much better managing us. That guy always knew what to do and it was thanks to him that we found a way of working together.

In a freezing afternoon I was in one of the studios, in the same building I lived that belonged to our label, playing with some instruments and the digital audio-mixer, trying to entertain myself while waiting for the boys. Once we signed the contract the guys moved in to the label's building. It was a ten-story building in which some artists could live. The first and second floors had meeting rooms, offices and studios. From the third on there were the dorms. They would show up anytime and while I waited I was playing with the controllers.

That was the third time the boys and I would try to rehearse; and I say try because until that day we hadn't made any progress yet. I mean, on the first day we just talked… Tried to know each other better. Again, tried. Naruto and Kiba are lovely. Both of them. Naruto specially is pretty talkative. He told me all his life story and things about the beginning of their band. Kiba is not that loud mouth, but I enjoyed his talking, even though I felt like he would sweet talk me, had he been given the opportunity. Or maybe that was just my imagination. He was probably just trying to be friendly… Sakura, you paranoiac…

Oh, well…

Shikamaru was almost falling asleep; I noticed that was probably normal as nobody seemed to care. The Hyuuga boy just said he is the leader (so now, my leader as well…) and the oldest of us all. I didn't really listen to him; his dark, long and straight hair was distracting me. Like… Seriously, that thing was perfection! Myself as a girl was envious of his hair… And his pretty face. Damn. In the end, always the Uchiha. Quiet and lonesome as he seemed to be forever and ever… I was starting to wonder what was wrong with him. He only said that he is the responsible for the lyrics of the group, which meant that if I wanted to include my "poetry" I would have to talk to him about it.

Annoying.

So freaking annoying that guy was. In that moment I really wanted to rip my hair off while thinking what the hell I thought I was doing. Hell…

Do you know when something whispers in your ears and you don't really know if it's your stupid mind playing games with you, or if God himself decided to be cool and give you a tip? So, I could hear in the back of my mind that Sasuke was not what he seemed to be. How I knew? I had seen him on stage. He was fucking brilliant. No way would that ambulant ice cube have so much passion as he did. And hell how he did! Singers could never be emotionless, stoic. That guy was a great lie.

That was what annoyed me the most.

And then Sasuke and I would work together. Closely together, more than the rest, because the message of the lyrics was our responsibility. Great… I was looking forward to it.

No. I wasn't.

Anyway, the second day wasn't really better than that. The guys played some ideas and I was there, in a corner watching them with no idea of what to do. Almost one month later Kakashi appeared to check on things and become, mostly by accident, our savior. He noticed how excluded I felt and realized that the boys were really… Not ready to work with a girl. I don't know if I felt better after he stated that. Yeah, I'm a girl… So what? Was it that difficult? Boys…

Kakashi asked us to gather around him in a semi circle. It was hard to guess what he was thinking behind that mask. Nobody knew what his reasons were to wear that mask all the time; he was not sick. I had been living in the label's building for two years at that time and I had heard some rumors about Kakashi, the manager. Some people said he once was a criminal and is still wanted by the police so nobody can recognize him or else they will disappear mysteriously. Yeah, sure.

"Guys… I think you all need to come closer. Sakura-chan is feeling a little… Left out. You are a band now and she is part of you." Kakashi said.

"We know that, Kakashi." Naruto said. "We are trying to develop a better way to work together…"

"That's simple." Was Kakashi's answer. "Light and dark."

Everybody stared at Kakashi while processing what he meant by that. Noticing that we were clueless he explained.

"Think about light and dark. You boys are the dark side and Sakura is the light. Now Neji, take that guitar and bring up now a heavy and dark sound."

Neji seemed not really willing to, but did what he was told nonetheless. Then Kakashi asked the rest of the band to join Neji. Except for Sasuke. I watched as they started to create a pattern for the new song. Gosh, they were so good! It seemed like I was hearing an introduction of a Linkin Park song, maybe…

"Now Sakura?"

I turned my face to look at Kakashi.

"That's when you start to create. Follow the music."

That's not very simple when you are an indie rocker trying to come up with ideas for a somewhat heavy metal song. But just then I started to understand our dynamics. I listened to that over and over again, until I was able to start humming some notes.

Kakashi's smirk was noticeable under his mask. "Sasuke?"

Damn. It was easy for him. He created a rap, with some silly words just to present something. And when the pattern changed I filled in with some lines. Surprisingly, Sasuke followed me including some words in a rap manner in between my lines.

That was it. We had finally found our connection. The boys became pretty excited with our little progress and Neji decided to track that part, to prevent us from forgetting. Later we were able to finish a raw instrumental demo with which Sasuke and I would work to add melody and lyrics.

Now, days later, we were almost getting it done. And I was excited. Our first song was almost finished in just three weeks. Sasuke had included some old lyrics he had saved in a somewhat "diary" he would carry anywhere he goes. At that time I thought that was just a notebook for sketches. Only years later, I would find out the truth written on those pages. So, by using those lyrics, we were able to finish the song and today we would finish it completely.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's voice cut the silence and I turned to smile at him. It was easy to be around Naruto, even when he smelled like ramen, which was rather often… "The boys are coming! There's only the last chorus to track and we're done! Our first demo! Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah! Sure! Do you think people are going to like it?" I almost screamed. That demo was coming to prove that our dream could come true. Coming to prove that the boys and I could work together and we would succeed.

"Hi…" Sasuke's voice interrupted our dialogue. "Ready?"

Being the good girl I was it took me some effort not to reply with "I was born ready". Instead, a smile grazed my lips as I followed him into the cabin to record our voices. I tried not to be nervous as I put my headphones on and waited for everybody to be more comfortable in the room in front of us. And then, our sound engineer gave us a "thumbs up" signaling the start of our recording.

I would sing, and Sasuke would be the second voice for that chorus.

Singing with him was…

Magical.

We had a hard time trying to match our voices on the early days. We were still struggling a little, but our voices sounded good combined. Sasuke had a different voice; the guys had named it "machine gun vox". He was able to sing completely different than the way he spoke. Ok, let me admit it: I was impressed. Not everyone can do that.

Our first song didn't have any screams. It was a happy beat in general. Like a heavy rock made for an energetic day. Sasuke gave an even lighter façade adding a rap as a bridge for the chorus. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the guys also added their voices in a somewhat "audience manner". They would help us with some "yeahs!" in the background. And the guys enjoyed a lot to play that. They seemed lighter as well, but they didn't complain about it as I thought they would do. Was that the result of having me with them?

Weird.

In the end we all seated down in the studio room to listen to the whole song. Of course it was still a rough draft without the mixing and stuff, but we could have an idea. I was so nervous that I grabbed Naruto's hand and refused to let it go until the song finished. Not that he complained about it anyways…

And then a round of applause. We were proud of ourselves. So fucking proud, to be honest. Kakashi turned to us.

"Congratulations guys. You officially have your first single."

Later that day we were all together in Kiba's room. The boys had bought some pizzas and ice cream and we would celebrate our first work and the room was a mess. Too much people in a tiny room along with sodas, the food boxes and some DVD's were not a good idea at all. Shikamaru and Kiba were arguing to decide which movie we would watch first, with Naruto pointing his opinions here and there. But when the girl decided to talk everybody agreed.

Should I be worried with this? Probably.

Their surprised looks were soon replaced by content ones upon hearing my suggestion.

"C'mon guys! The Terminator series! Why not?"

It surprised me more to see that, while the boys were still looking at each other questioning my suggestion, Sasuke had already gotten up and was placing the DVD in the player. That being done no one wanted to argue anymore. What for, right?

They complained a little as the movie was starting and I was still up in front of the TV, almost jeopardizing our movie session (Naruto was complaining I was not transparent), but I was just trying to find a more comfortable place to sit. That's when Kiba petted a pillow and placed it on his lap, gesturing to me to settle there. No need to say I blushed. Was he serious? I looked around and saw the guys had seen it, but no one said anything.

Well, let's put this on topics:

-I was the only girl in the room;

-There were five, FIVE, other boys there;

-One had asked me to practically lay my head on his lap;

-No one seemed to care;

You know what? I sent all my cares to hell and accepted his offer. What was going on in my head was that, if we were going to be a band, we would become something like a family. What kind of family cannot seat together like that? I rationalized that if we had the license to be open with each other, we would work better as a team. Sometime later I would realize I was right on that one.

Maybe, just maybe…

I was already feeling home.

"Take this." I remember looking up and seeing Shikamaru tossing me a bottle of water. My smile was automatic.

We were in the middle of a photo shoot to add them to our portfolio. Even though the weather was still cold, the studio room we were at was pretty muffled, so we ended up taking pictures with some summer-like clothes. During the winter- what the fuck?

I felt a little embarrassed for the boys would always put me in the middle or in front of them. You're the only girl; you're one of the vocalists… That's what they were saying all the time. And of course, Sasuke would normally stand by my side. We were the formidable pair, the super couple and shit…

But one thing couldn't be denied: Sasuke looked a lot more relaxed around me since we started recording. That was when I started to wonder if I wasn't misjudging him. I mean he still was like an ice cube, but maybe it was just a defense of his (who's this strange pink-haired girl? Why will she sing with me? Weird girl… Hehe…).

We still had to work on other songs to decide if we were going to add them to that specific single or maybe just for our debut album. It took us months to decide that. But in the meanwhile we grew as friends and I felt that we were really meant to be.

If only I knew how much that would change our lives…

Our first single "OVER" reached the stores only in November, 24th of that same year. Though it was only sold in one specific store, the single sold out in just one month. You can imagine how happy was our Christmas then, huh?

Even if we had kicked off our career singing "over", we were just in the beginning.

Over over 20 borders
What's the scenery like in the future we must come to?
Raise your expectations
But before you do, get rid of that feeling of hesitation
Don't let it get to you, try! That's right!
You can always start running, just now

Author's notes:

Hello! Another chapter of Sakura's diary!

And yes, the band is HIGH & MIGHTY COLOR. It's just one of my favorite bands EVER, and I like their story.

I'm still waiting for reviews, you know... *shy Keyko hides*

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Thanks for reading!