A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed. I need at LEAST one review per chapter, otherwise I see no point in continuing. Thus, a special thanks to the FIVE of you who reviewed me. I really appreciate it.

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2 – I Want the World to See Me

"Haruno Sakura?" a man read the name off a sheet, his tone bored.

"Here!" She jumped up and down, waving her arm so the man could see her above the crowd. The girl was no longer the timid young girl she had been. Nine years had passed since she had promised to be like her mother. The Haruno girl was much older now, much more dedicated to what she was doing. Her pink hair reached down beneath her shoulder blades now, having grown agonizingly slowly in the time that had passed. Her mother was so proud of her – she could now dance with the tessen without tripping or dropping the fans.

Pushing through the crowds of impatient, long-haired girls, she made her way to the desk and happily accepted the Lift pass from the man sitting boredly there. Sighing and looking back down on the list, he called another name, but Sakura gave it no mind, just rushing back to the tiny home and her mother.

"Mama!" she cried, barreling through the door, "I got it! I have a pass! I'm going!"

Her mother's figure snapped up from her seat on a chair, a grin plastered across her face as her daughter waved the pass around as if it were a winning lottery ticket. She squeaked in delight like a teenager, stretching out her hand and plucking it from her daughters. She squinted down at the paper, reading the message aloud.

"Day Level Lift pass issued to Haruno Sakura whom shall be attending the annual Entertainer Auditions held in Builders' Hall. Valid two trips."

She laughed delightedly as Sakura giggled and jumped around as if she were ten again. Walking over to a floorboard, the woman wrenched it up, causing her daughter to stop jumping and come looking over her shoulder, wondering what in the world her mother was doing. The woman reached her hand down beneath the floor, bringing up a box before resetting the floorboard. Brushing the thick dust off the lid, she coughed slightly as it rested in her throat. Carefully, and with Sakura leaning curiously over her shoulder the entire time, she lifted the lid off and removed a beautiful dress and sash from its depths along with a hair ornaments and some jewelry. Sakura had seen this kind of finery only in the tessen which she used.

The dress was cut into sections, each section strung together by orange thread and bordered in white. The dress itself was a beautiful red thing with a collar of white and a pattern of cherry blossoms and yellow swirls. The sash was black, while pink diamond-shaped decorations covered the backdrop. It was gorgeous. Along with the dress came a pair of stretchy-looking black shorts so it wouldn't be… indecent. Her mother looked at it fondly before handing the items to her daughter. Sakura nearly choked.

"F-for me?" she gasped. Her mother nodded, smiling.

"It's what I wore when I was becoming an entertainer. I hope it brings you as much luck as it brought me," then, standing and unlocking a drawer, she also removed the tessen, placing them atop Sakura's pile, "These are yours as well, now. Use them well. And remember," she said. Sakura looked up at her mother intently. There seemed to be a note of warning in her voice that the girl felt she needed to listen to, "If you are ever in trouble, these will help you. They will keep you safe. They will be your allies. Never forget that. If the situation arises, don't be delicate with them, they were meant for that sort of thing."

The pink girl nodded firmly, but she had a feeling that her mother wasn't telling her something. Something in her mother's voice had told her that she had had to use the fans in exactly the ways she had just described.

"As an entertainer, it is not only your job to keep the Lords occupied, but also to protect them if the time comes – with our life if necessary. That is our duty. It is also the reason why they choose women who seem to have fierceness about them. And that is a trait that you have of no short supply, Sakura."

The girl nodded, understanding.

"Thank you, Mama. Thank you so much."

Tears welled up in the older woman's eyes, "I'm just glad you decided to do this. Promise me you'll do your best."

Sakura smiled softly, "I promise."

"That's my girl."

"Hey! Forehead!" Ino cried to her friend. Her hair had grown out as well, although considerably more than Sakura's. Her blonde tresses reached down her back, swishing behind her like a tail on a cat. She ran towards her pink-headed friend, waving her hand wildly and brandishing a pass near identical to her friend's save for the name Yamanaka Ino. She grinned and grasped Sakura's hands, "We're going to be entertainers!" she squealed.

"I know!" the rosette-haired girl laughed, then poked her friend, "Who knows, maybe you'll get to entertain Sa-su-ke," emphasizing her syllables with a poke, much as Ino herself had done years before.

"And maybe you'll get O-ro-chi-ma-ru," the girl teased. Sakura spit out her tongue in distaste, making her friend laugh, "Come on, Sakura. Admit it, he's hot."

"Definitely," the girl rolled her eyes, "I'd date him." They both laughed giddily, too excited to be serious.

The entire Twilight Level was filled with girls unintentionally mirroring Ino and Sakura in actions and in excitement. However, as many people who said 'We're going to be entertainers' only six would actually make it that far, of the thousands who participated. In the euphoria of the moment, though, as the realization hit them all that they had a chance made it all too easy to forget that they would more that likely be eliminated before getting to the final six; and once eliminated, that was it. No more chances. Besides, most of these girls only thought of the entertainment portion of the job they were striving towards. They had to protect the family member assigned, they could spy for the House if asked, they could fight for the House as an elite soldier if there was ever a war. Most girls didn't think of these portions of the job, and as such, would be eliminated. The House heads knew to look for fierceness, limitless loyalty and stealthiness in addition to the entertainment.

Right now, however, no one was focusing on those other nuances of the job. Right now, everyone was too excited to care. They were only hours away from getting a shot at being accepted into the household of one of the Great Houses. A good percent of girls seemed to be absolutely smitten with either of the two Uchiha brothers. Itachi, the elder and heir to the proverbial "throne" of the family was brilliant – with an IQ that was easily double what even Sakura (who had been described as 'very gifted' by any teachers she had) possessed – and claimed good looks to match. The trademark tall, dark and handsome Uchiha looks improved upon by unique reddish eyes that you could almost see analyzing your every movement. The younger of the two, Sasuke, was just as devilishly handsome, and was also labeled with the title "genius", but was, however, overshadowed by the legacy his elder brother left in his wake. For these two boys, a percent of the female population regularly pined, oblivious to the fact that the objects of their infatuation couldn't hear their cries of undying love, even if they could, most likely choosing to remain in brooding silence rather than answer their piteous calls for attention. However, despite their obvious disdain for the girls, said girls continued to worship the ground they walked on and wished that they should be chosen for entertainer by the House of Uchiha – if only so that they could pine in closer proximity to the objects of their attention. Of the other – smaller – percentage of the female population who didn't grovel at the brothers' feet, some were prone to sarcasm and snarkiness when it came to the subject upon which their colleagues willingly lay themselves out for, while others simply didn't find it within the best interests of their business, nor within the boundries of their personality to care a whim for the boys or the way the other girls would gladly commit a mass case of lemmingism for them at the drop of a hat.

Of these, Sakura was outwardly the lesser of the population, seeming to exude a nonchalant ness at the subject of the boys and speaking as if they were any other of the six Great Houses of the City. Inwardly, however, she pined just as much as Ino for the younger of the two Uchiha brothers. But far be it for her to tell her friend of this, as the Great Yamanaka Ino was not one who took threats to her claims lightly or in a peaceful manner. No, if Yamanaka Ino's claims were endangered or tread upon by another, obscenities so profane it could lead one would wonder whether she grew up in a bar would rain down upon the offender, subsequently followed by bouts of violent behavior if said offender wouldn't back off after the first warning.

All of this aside, everyone participating was so incredibly giddy that the entire Twilight level seemed to be chalk-full of19-year-olds intoxicated with the excitement of competing struggling through the crowds of overbearing parents bragging about their daughters to reach home to pack for the next day – the day from which a number of girls would ultimately never return. Either by their own choice or as a result of another's choice.

Our Sakura had departed from her friend, bidding giddy goodbyes as they both rushed back home to care for their belongings and say longing farewells to loved ones. Her mother had also saved the gift that the House of Sabaku had given her upon her imminent return home; a beautiful woven bag with the Sabaku House seal sewed into one side like a badge. Taking out a knife, the woman carefully cut the stitches securing the badge to the bag, removing the symbol and clutching it to her breast.

"It has a lot of memories, this symbol, but take the bag. The Gods only know, I won't be needing it," she smiled, clutching the badge as if it were life itself. The seal of the House of Sabaku was an hourglass-shaped design of tan and white. Sakura nodded and smiled at her mother, thanking her once again for everything. The woman waved it off absently, "Nonsense. It's my pleasure. It's certainly better than having these old things lay there and never be used."

The pink-headed girl gently placed the dress and all its accompanying items inside the bag, its woven designs standing out amongst the drab, near colorless walls of the room. After securing the bag shut, the girl raised her head, looking around her one-room home. She soaked in every detail - from the dim photograph in the corner of her mother and father standing arm in arm, happy smiles upon their faces to the cracks in the wall to the stains on the floor. She gazed at everything with a sense of finality, as if this was the last time she would see it. If she didn't get chosen, it wouldn't matter, but if she was... she wanted to remember what everything looked like. So she would never forget. Without a word, and now with a feeling of sadness mixed with the excitement, Sakura climbed into her bed on the floor and fell into a deep, if fitful sleep.

Her dream was odd that night. She barely ever dreamed, but when she did, they were almost always unpleasant and baffling. This one was no less so. She was standing barefoot in an old park. The moon hung high overhead, a pearl-white globe of light that she had seen only once or twice, but was clear as if she were actually looking at it. It had half of its face hidden from view, casting a feeble light down upon the ground. Sakura was barefoot on the ground, green grass damp and cool with the breath of the night. She stared down in wonder at the blades. They were soft underfoot and refreshing to the touch. Her dreams were hardly ever this real-feeling. A soft tune came to her ears - a tune that felt like it belonged to a music box. Looking over to where the tune came from, there was a machine standing abandoned. Rust climbed up metal poles and paint chipped off and lay like dust on the ground around it. Whatever paint that wasn't chipped off was bleached near pure white by the sun, ghosts of color remaining. Horses on poles spun slowly around the machine's circular base, galloping to a place they would never reach, imprisoned in a circle. Sakura approached it tentatively, stretching out her hand to touch one of the spinning horses, but pulled back when a horse came by that was completely scorched black. Looking past it, she noticed that there were "shadows" along the axle of the machine of the horses and poles, like a great heat had darkened everything around them. Looking around, she saw – noticing for the first time – that some of the poles were warped out of shape and twisted. For some reason, she found this revolving machine - once an object of amusement for children long dead - frightening and sad.

Leaving the machine and its music-box tune behind, she went farther into the park, each stall and ride just as rusted, just as warped and blackened as the machine with the horses. She yelped when she stepped on something cold, hard and crunchy. Looking down, she fell back onto the ground and shuffled away, whimpering. She had stepped on a skull, wiped clean of flesh through the years. Standing again and hugging her arms around her, she shivered in the silence - a silence penetrated only by the eerie music-box tune playing and playing again. Bones lay everywhere. It was like a graveyard. Coming around a corner, there was a scorched teddy bear lying unattended next to two skeletons, one of its eyes missing and its fur tattered and mangy. A small skeleton was curled up next to a larger one against the building, both arms around where the waist of the other person would have been. The larger had its arms around the child's head, as if trying to protect it. Reaching her hand down to touch the bear, Sakura carefully picked it up, inspecting it, when suddenly everything changed.

It was daylight, a light so brilliant she had to squint, used to the dim lighting of her home. People filled this little park, playing games and laughing. She was in amongst them, but somehow seemed as though they were a million miles away. Everything seemed a bit blurred, vague and yet clear as crystal. Still, the music-box tune rose above the chatter. The stalls and rides were brilliantly colored again and everything was sound and laughter and light. Then, an immense sound like thunder filled the air and everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the source. A light more bright than the sun flashed in their eyes and they all screamed as they felt themselves burning. Sakura, not feeling what they did, shut her eyes, clutching onto the teddy bear.

Waking up with a start, Sakura was panting and a cold sweat drenched her hair. Holding out her hand, she could still feel the teddy bear's mangy, scorched fur against her skin. Tears streaked down her face as she remembered a little boy in the dream who clutched what looked like a brand-new version of the bear to himself and chattered happily, clutching a fold of his mother's dress in his hand. The rosette-haired girl placed a hand over her mouth, stifling the sobs that threatened to wrench themselves from her throat. Taking a few deep breaths through her nose, she calmed herself down enough to close her eyes and let the tears escape silently. She didn't know what the dream meant – if anything – but she hoped she would never have it again.

"Goodbye, Mama," she said, her voice thick with unshed tears. She forced a smile to her lips and hugged her mother with one arm, the other laden with her bag. The woman forced a smile as well, her eyes red and puffy. She didn't want to say goodbye to her daughter just yet, but at the same time, wanted her to try to achieve her goal.

"Goodbye and good luck," her mother said into her daughter's shoulder. Unsure as to whether she would be able to bear it any longer, lest she change her mind, Sakura whispered another goodbye before kissing her mother on the cheek and turning away to the Lift that would take her to the Day Level. It was an enormous box that could hold almost a hundred people in it at any one time. It was as old as the City walls and still stood strong. The doors were comprised of two gates, ornately made in wrought iron, enabling the people seeing off their children to look at them for the last time ascending like angels behind the gates of St. Peter. Gold though they were not, they still promised the chance of a better life, a life in paradise. Not unlike Heaven. From the inside of the box, it seemed as if it were merely an iron cage instead of a pair of symbolic iron wings. It felt almost as if they were animals there. Sakura was squished into one corner, protecting her precious cargo from any who might find this time as opportune a moment as any to practice their pick pocketing skills.

While clutching her bag to herself, the girl shoved her arm between the bars of the Lift, waving frantic goodbyes to her mother, the only family she had ever known. A tear or two ran down her cheeks, only growing slightly in amount as she felt the Lift shudder beneath them before slowly starting to rise. Pulling her arm back inside, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, taking a deep, shuddering breath. Leaning her forehead against the bars, she sighed, feeling a rush of air as the Lift gained more speed.

"Hey! Forehead!" a familiar voice cried. Sakura turned her head to see her friend pushing and shoving through the crowd towards her, "Get outta my way! Move it! Woman on a mission here!" She got some of the dirtiest looks Sakura had ever seen. When Ino had finally made it over to her, Sakura was welcomed with a poke in the forehead. "Don't lean on the bars. You've got a red mark the size of the Night level on there. You'll only attract attention to it."

Sakura sneered at her friend, "Funny. Very, very funny, Ino-pig." Sticking out their tongues at each other like children, they laughed at each other weakly. The pink-haired girl sighed again as Ino started chattering about the younger Uchiha brother. Sakura just tuned her out, daydreaming. She had borne Ino's chatter about Sasuke now, usually resigning herself to her daydreams while her friend continued on in her incessant banter. Her mind drifted back to that dream she had had the night before. The spinning horses, the warped poles and metal bodies of the animals, the bones, the teddy bear. The flash of light. It was all so real. She could only wonder as to whether this was another bout of an overactive imagination or whether it could actually mean something. She was told that the Readers on the Day level sometimes had premonitions in the form of dreams. Readers were a special brand of people identified at birth by unnatural lines on their bodies. These markings are a physical manifestation of a genetic sensitivity to the electrical current flowing within living things. By being able to read the fluctuations in the current, it was said that they could look at a person and tell whether or not they were lying, sick, diseased etc. They were almost always brilliant beyond what a normal person could imagine, being able to master abilities at an unnaturally young age. The drawback to being genetically predisposed was the fact that they were only predisposed. This meaning that the subject had to be altered some to be able to magnify what sensitivity they already possessed to inhuman levels. They said that Uchiha Itachi was one such predisposed person, but refused to be tampered with as a toy for scientists. "I'm not going to be their lab rat," the proud boy had exclaimed, following this statement by claiming that the Readers "have a right to choose their own fate, rather than having it forced upon them," as most Reader infants are altered at a very young age with implied consent. Itachi escaped that fate by way of his mother believing that he was fine just the way he was, not needing to be altered in any way. As for Sasuke, neither he nor his family had mentioned anything as to whether or not he bore markings like his brother. Some Reader traits floated around in the general populous, but the scientists in charge of the Reader programs usually disregarded those who didn't bear markings because 90 of the time, they couldn't control what they Read, usually Reading subconsciously while the person slept, giving rise to unnaturally real dreams that seemed to predict the future.

In addition to being extremely useful to Police Forces in interrogations – due to their abilities to sense if a person was lying – Readers could also serve as elite soldiers to the Houses. For, not only were they able to see the flow of electricity, they were also able to alter it, or cut it off completely. In the case of soldiers, this meant that they could disable the electrical impulses in a person's body, rendering them unconscious and even dead without the Reader suffering a scratch. However, their value was multiplied by the fact that they were so rare, meaning that even though they were so powerful as to surpass the power of a well-trained entertainer in a fight, there were so few of them that the use of an entertainer in battle overshadowed them, as they were easier to come by.

Sakura brooded over this for a while before being poked by Ino.

"Hello? Forehead? Y'all right? You seemed kinda out of it."

The pink-headed girl shook her head, smiling, "I'm fine, it's nothing."

Ino shrugged, "Whatever you say, billboard-brow."

"Keep talking, porker."

Momentarily scowling at each other for the names, they shook off the affectionate teases before staring out between the bars of the cage. Ino sighed and ran a hand through her hair, pulled back into a high ponytail. Sakura looked over at her friend, cocking her head to one side.

"Eh? What's wrong?"

The blonde girl shook her head, "Nothing's wrong, I'm just amazed." She motioned to the Twilight Level spread out below them. It was beautiful in its own way. Haphazard, crumbling buildings lay at the edges of the Level, given a heavenly glow through the light that came around over the walls. The newer, pristine buildings circled closest around the Lift area, as a result of wealthy citizens passing closest to that area. Lights glowed from windows and one could see children running through the streets, adults buying groceries – the beauty of everyday life was everywhere and they could see it all, as if they were angels overseeing everything below them, beholding the beauty spread out below them. Sakura nodded at her friend's observation.

"Yeah. It's pretty."

A sad look crossed Ino's face, "But at the same time, it's sad, you know? I mean, we don't know if we'll be coming back for eleven years. If we got chosen by a House that's not in the Twilight level, we would only see it sooner if there was a war here and our House rallied to fight with them – something I hope I won't see happen here. Ever. You know what I mean?" she turned back to her friend, tearing her eyes away from the city below.

"I guess so," the pink girl nodded, "It would be horrible if this place was torn up by a war. We'd lose everything. I read in a book once that five hundred years ago, a man by the name of Orochimaru attempted a coup d'état of the Day Level Houses. Left the Twilight Level in ruins. Needless to say, his attempt failed, but the Twilight people lost everything," pausing for a moment, she subconsciously brought a finger to her lips in thought.

"What is it, Sakura?"

Sakura chewed on her lip for a moment before answering, "Well, it's just that there has always been a man named Orochimaru in charge of half of the Night Level. I'm just wondering… the excuse has always been that the successor of the previous Orochimaru would adopt the name, but I'm just wondering. The personality of this Orochimaru in the book is by all accounts very similar to the one we have now…" she trailed off, deep in thought. Ino laughed.

"What are you suggesting?" she chuckled, "That he's immortal or something?"

Sakura shook her head, "No. No, that's not what I mean. Immortality is impossible. Mmm, I'm not sure how to explain it," sighing, she threw up her free hand in defeat, still clutching the bag, "Whatever. I don't even know what I'm talking about, let alone trying to explain it all."

Ino chucked to herself again and prodded her friend, "You're just being paranoid, billboard. There's no way that guy's lived this long. If he has managed to, I'll laugh. The old fart would need to kack it soon, for the sake of all of us. I mean, we can't have some 500-year-old megalomaniacal geezer lording over us all if he ever does manage that coup d'état you talked about. Ya know? That'd just be depressing."

Sakura laughed and shrugged, "That would be. But there's one problem," she stated, pressing her finger to her lips pensively again, "Our Orochimaru doesn't loot five-hundred-plus years old. He looks like he's in his thirties."

Ino sighed, "Which is why he can't be five-hundred-plus years old. Seriously, Sakura, they're probably just related," she shook her head, "Y'all know how family can act alike."

"Mm. But still-"

"Oh, come on. Give it a rest already. If you get chosen, you can look up the family history? Then'll you be happy?"

Sakura laughed, "Yeah. I'd be very happy indeed. Means I could investigate my little brainchild unhindered."

As they laughed to each other, they felt the Lift shudder to a halt as they reached the Day Level. They couldn't see anything. There seemed to be a box surrounding them, with artificial light coming from recesses in the ceiling. First, the wrought iron gates opened, sliding to the sides, then, with a horrid screech, the metal box's doors opened, bathing them all in blinding light. A few girls cried out while others covered their eyes, overwhelmed by more light than they had ever seen in their lives and consumed by the pain behind their eyes.

They had seen the light. Sakura pushed through the crowd, tentatively stepping off the Lift onto solid ground. Warmth enveloped her and she closed her eyes, lifting her head up into the light. After a second, she opened her eyes, staring up at the blue, blue sky and the fluffy white clouds. Clouds she had only seen through the cracks above the walls of the Twilight. Feeling something well up within, a smile welled up within and she started laughing. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes as she laughed.

She was here.

Still smiling, she whispered to herself, "I wanted the world to see me… and now they can."