Update on Band Verse, as promised ;)
Hmm. I debated putting in Cheating Butter, but it was just word prompt I got and couldn't pass up. Anyways I hope you enjoy. Yes, there has been a massive time skip about ~~~ 5 or 6 months, tours take a long time anyways… (That's what I'm telling myself.)
Oh and I guess people really want warnings so (even though I've already given one in chapter 1): I'm not very strict on my characterization especially those within my humor fictions; so there may be OCness... But on that note: I do try to keep my characters as consistant as I see them...
Please enjoy,
Z.z
p.s. reviews are always appreciated.
Priority
Naruto's mouth hadn't closed yet and Sakura was beginning to wonder if it ever would. This was not how she planned to break the news to Naruto. In fact, she would have wanted to never break it to him. Things were meant to stay whole. Their friendship was supposed to be forever. Naruto and her had been friends since they were in kindergarten.
Sasuke's lips were set in a firm, obviously irritated. Karin was smiling…but of course she was smiling, them being angry at her was good news. Or maybe it was Karin had never seen the two boy's like they were.
"I'm not going to stand, publically, in the same room with my brother and pretend to be friendly for your website," Sasuke growled.
"Yeah," Karin agreed smugly, "Lightening Fox and The Red Clouds are enemies, duh."
Sakura sighed, obviously they hadn't figured it out yet, nor had their manager informed them. Which was odd. Because even though the man was a freak and weirdo, he was usually very prompt and tidy.
"First of all it won't be all friendly. And second, you don't have a choice," Sakura told them trying to explain.
"Sakura as much as we appreciate everything you do, we won't do this," Sasuke replied, his eyes seeming to darken.
Sakura rolled her eyes. It was amazing how unalike the two brothers were once one got past the facial resemblance. Itachi had been excited to see his little brother, well excited in Itachi's special way… which was behaving to the point of actually being a 'good boy' in Tobi's books. It was extremely odd not being 'sexually' harassed at home. Kisame had said that Itachi's harassment had a lot to do with the death of his older cousin, who he saw as an older brother. The man had once been the goodiest of two-shoes but after the death, during his first year of high school, he had begun to take on the characteristics of his once best friend. It was one of the reasons Kisame was so adamant about his health, not only did he care for his wellbeing he feared Itachi painting his body blue.
Sasuke, on the other hand, looked ready to commit suicide on the spot at the mention of his brother.
The door of the hotel room opened revealing the paper skinned man and then the door slammed shut. A tight smile was plastered on his face. "I'm sorry I was held up by an old colleague."
He blinked at Sakura, "What are you doing here?"
"Orochimaru, Pein had—"
"Ah, yes!" He glanced at his watch, "We're almost late. "
"Yes, that is why I was just checking in."
"Where will the photo-shoot take place, in the lobby?" The man asked his hands seemly twitched in irritation.
"It's going to take place in a hotel room. One floor down, room 315."
"Perfect. Come along," he snapped his fingers.
Sakura raised her eyebrows but got out the door first.
"What do you mean, I never agreed to do anything with Itachi," Sasuke seethed.
"Shh," the man held his index finger to his lips, "This will boost sales."
"Look, I thought we had a dea-" Sasuke started.
"Shut it! You're family deal with it!"
Sakura skipped down the hall and opened the stairwell door. She didn't want to be part of a spat, she wasn't part of them; it was like walking in on a fighting family. Privacy was needed.
She increased her brisk pace until she reached the room. She slid her card key in the door lock and it opened. She pushed the door open and then was practically tackled in a hug.
"Sakura-chan! Tobi was scared you got ate-a-tid."
Sakura gently patted the bushy head of the tall man hugging her abdomen. "No one ate me," Sakura hummed as she decided the hug had lasted long enough. She gave a push but he didn't let go. "Tobi-"
A voice cleared its throat. Sakura glanced at the members and manager of Lightning Fox.
Tobi let go and backed away while not standing up. He turned his head, his mask hole peering at the audience. "Cousin!"
Immediately Tobi pounced, but was blocked by a red blur.
"Hands off my Sasuke."
Tobi stood there, whatever expression he had lay hidden behind his mask, his face only several centimeters from Karin's.
The man turned towards Sakura and straightened up. Then he started to cry.
Sakura face palmed. She didn't have any lollipops on hand and she needed him to pose; he was uncooperative when unhappy. The day just couldn't give her a break. Everybody, besides Sasuke and Sakura, looked bewildered at the supposed mystery, doom man drummer bursting into tears.
"Tobi," the door opened to reveal Sasuke's older brother. "You're not allowed in the hallway."
Tobi turned at being called, "Itachi, Tobi found Sasuke!"
Itachi's eyes scanned over the opposing band, "I see." His eyes finally froze upon Sasuke. "Brother you're late." His normal peaceful tone sounded forced and crisp.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger at being belittled.
Sakura glanced back and forth between the two; the entire aura of the room felt frozen. So Itachi had at least three faces in his pocket: the fun loving, the goody-toe-shoes and a monotonic jerk.
At once, Sakura could see Karin beginning to eye-google the tall man. "Well, you'll have to excuse-" she began trying to be flirty.
"Excuses are pathetic and will get you nowhere in life. Own up to your mistakes," Itachi cut her off. Coal eyes regarded the woman with distaste.
Karin's cheeks puffed out at being dismissed.
Sakura backed away, the Itachi before her was cool, calculating and very mean, a man too different from the one she had been living with for thirteen months. Her movement caught his attention. He looked at her and his gaze softened as if seeing the thoughts in her head. "Sakura, I believe we have some photos to take."
"Yes," she nodded grabbing Tobi by the shoulders to lead him into the room. "The Red Clouds have gotten their band single shots done, so do you want to take combined photos first or just Lighting Fox?"
"I don't understand why we need to take photos with them. Why does our website need to have pictures-" Sasuke growled.
"The pictures will be released on yours and our newest album. Instead of releasing singles and paying for the entire thing separately, we cut costs and will make a profit by combining our talents," Pein answered as he walked through the set consisting of a green screen and overly large black couch. Sakura didn't know how they got it up the hotel stairs because there was no way it fit in the elevator.
"Make-up and clothes should have been prepared, did they make it?" Orchimaru asked.
"Yes, they are in the side bedroom," Pein pointed to a door way on the left side of the room. There was barely any space to walk. Pein had gotten nice rental camera equipment for the photos; of course, he had been cheap on the room, back drop and he had decided to do it in a hotel. Pein walked through the door way on the right side of the room.
As Lightning Fox edged their way along the side of the room to avoid equipment, Itachi walked to the middle of the set and sat in the middle of the couch; Tobi followed after him.
"Tobi wants to know why you are so unhappy," the taller man whimpered.
Itachi stretched out his back and just gave Tobi a level stare.
Sakura sighed and made her way to the camera. "Smile you two."
Itachi gave her a stare and Tobi cried, "Tobi says cheese!"
The flash lit the two of them up and then Sakura looked at the picture on the screen. Itachi looked like an eighty year-old man.
She walked to the couch and sat on the other side of Itachi. She smiled her cruelest smile, "When we take pictures, I expect that you drop the whatever 'I'm evil, fear me act'. "
"Or else?" there was no tease in his voice; in fact it sounded like he was angry.
"I live in the same house with you, I can make your life a living-"
"Sakura, please, I can make more hell than you."
She had no choice; she wasn't going to get him to do what she wanted, she was going to have to use the Tobi way. She widened her green eyes and stuck out her lower lip and began to whimper. Itachi's eyebrow twitched. Then Tobi joined in. Itachi shut his eyes and sighed, "Fine."
Sakura smiled, "If you get me good pictures I might even show you my scrapbook of when me, Naruto and Sasuke were in the same band, just because I know you're interested."
Coal eyes looked into hers and the smirk she had found herself missing was back on his face. He took her hand and kissed it, "I'll be a perfect gentleman."
Sakura sighed, "I don't need a perfect gentleman; I need Itachi Uchiha."
He tilted his side and gave his famous teasing smile, "My stage presence is all yours, on one condition."
Sakura could already feel a headache coming on. "What is this condition?"
"You and me…"Itachi stopped as if the whole situation was amusing, "in a recording studio…with the rest of the band of course."
"Wha-"
"Lightening Fox upped the ante with a bringing a female to their team, we'll match and beat them with you," Itachi smiled.
"Look, I'm not going to-"
Itachi leaned in to whisper, "Your prettier, your more snuggleable and loveable, not to mention the only time you have four-eyes is when you read and even then you're the most cutest thing on the planet with your eyes being magnified several thousand times."
Sakura's mouth hung open. Then she snorted, "How dare you!"
Somewhere behind her she heard Kisame sigh.
"How dare I? Please, doesn't it seem reasonable?" He positioned himself so he was pinning Sakura to the couch. "You already work for us and you can keep a tune, it's not that big of a step."
"I don't-"
"Do you want good pictures?" Itachi looked like he was brimming with pleasure at catching her in his trap. "Think of the money you would make from the record; Pein doesn't go through record companies so we get a good chunk of money from sales. It would be a win-win situation."
Sakura glared at the man, "No, I'm not betraying anyone."
"It wouldn't be betrayal, especially if Lightning Fox and The Red Clouds recorded together…"
Sakura bit her lip. There was something off about the deal; there was no way the two bands would record together. "If you can get everyone to put a song together, in the same studio, at the same time, then I'll sing."
A giggling noise came from the door way and the three on the couch turned.
Akumi88 walked through the door. "You shouldn't agree to deals without a lawyer, Blossom293. The recording has already been arranged. But, I am looking forward to hearing you sing… Lighting Fox's quality has dropped slightly in recent months as well as in ratings; having one of the original members back with them, might give them a boost."
"Akumi88," Itachi greeted the girl.
"Itachi," the girl nodded stepping through the door way. "Thank you for the card key, it was appreciated. I hate knocking on doors."
"As do I," Itachi smiled.
Sakura growled turning suddenly on the older man, "Why can't you follow simple house rules?"
"And miss you reading Shakespeare to your stuffed animals? I think not."
Sakura turned beat red before slugging Itachi. "It wasn't Shakespeare!"
"So you read to your stuffed animals?" Itachi smiled, winning. "That's adorable."
Swear words spewed from Sakura's mouth as she tried to grab his neck, but she failed as he pushed her away using two fingers on her forehead.
Another door opened and Sakura felt herself being yanked backwards and off the couch. "I'm am deeply sorry, Mr. Uchiha," the manager of Lighting Fox said, his yellow eyes pierced at Sakura's skin as though daydreaming of stabbing her to death.
"For what?" Itachi asked, looking past Orochimaru and at his brother.
"Our photographer's unprofessionalism, I assure you it will not happen again," he commented glaring down at Sakura.
At that a loud rumbling laughter burst from the corner of the room. Kisame was leaning over and holding his abdomen, the rest of the Red Clouds' band members sighed in relief. The over grown man wasn't harming the walls by pounding on them with his fists. Pein would cut all of their income to repair them if so.
Sakura blinked up at Orochimaru and back at the ground, which was several inches below her extended toe.
"May I ask that you remove your hand from our spokesperson, Orochimaru. I'd hate to file a lawsuit," Pein said walking into the room, without even looking at the situation.
Sakura winced at her title; it wouldn't be lost on any of them.
"Spokesperson?" several voices asked in unison as Orochimaru dropped Sakura.
"Sakura officially works for us," Pein sighed as if the whole thing was just a waste of time.
"Since when?" Sasuke asked raising an eyebrow at his brother.
Itachi regarded Sasuke coolly, no smile on his face. "It's none of your business."
"Sakura works as our fanclub president, it is our business."
"Actually," the little girl spoke up, "I'm now the fanclub president of Lighting Fox. Sakura didn't want to have a conflict of interest."
"It was very reasonable of her," Itachi commented.
"Very," the little girl replied.
Sasuke looked like he was about to throw up. "Sakura?" he asked as if hoping it wasn't true.
She coughed, "We have pictures to take."
"Very true," Pein said clapping his hands. "Time is money, let's go people."
"Sakura, why didn't you tell me?" Naruto said, his blue-eyes looking close to brimming over.
Sakura gulped, feeling the room getting hotter under the intensity of stares. "It wasn't one of my top priorities…"
"Don't be unprofessional brother, when things don't go your way that doesn't give you an excuse to act like a spoiled child. Do your job and get the pictures done with," Itachi reprimanded.
Sasuke opened his mouth as if to try and rebuttal, but then his jaw snapped shut. "Where do you want us Sakura?" His voice came out monotonic and detached.
"On the left side of the couch. Sasuke you'll sit next to Itachi, then Naruto, Karin, Lee, Kiba and Juugo." Sakura turned to look at the Red Clouds, "Situate yourselves accordingly." She then looked at the stiff faced Itachi and poked him in the shoulder. "Is our deal off?" she asked.
He watched his brother and the band members sit before winking at Pein. He smiled at Sakura. "Nope it is on."
"Good," she growled about to walk around the couch to get to the camera.
"Sakura," Itachi called, making Sasuke scowl. "I think I may have ruined my make-up…"
"What?" Sakura barked, coming closer to take a look.
In several seconds Itachi spun her around and flipped her upside down over the couch so her head rested between him and his brother. He grabbed her and held her as he sat and she started swearing at him. Sasuke tried to rip Itachi's hands off and then bright flashes of light caught everyone's movements. Naruto lunged and Kisame only had to rest a hand on the boy's head. Karin had jumped up (for what reason no one was sure) but Tobi literally dove across the entire length of the couch, he was at the end, to tackle her to the ground. Juugo and Hidan made perfect symmetry laughing their heads off. And Sasori gave a bored look at Lee who was pumping his hands in the air.
Orochimaru and Pein shared a nod; the picture would be perfect for the album. Akumi88 grinned evilly at the scene and at her phone, which she was currently typing on to update the website. Konan and Deidara smiled, the scene had played out perfectly. Everything had gone according to plan.
Cheating Butter
Losing twenty-five pounds how hard could it be?
Hard.
Extremely hard.
Every coconut cookie that Kisame baked screamed at her. Every drip of cheese falling from the pizzas in everybody else's hands serenaded her eyes.
Just. One. Little. Bite.
No!
Five weeks with one more to go and five more pounds to drop. She was going strong; she would be happy and healthier. Even though it seemed she was missing out now, in the end she would be the better.
Who would have thought a new job and new house would have fattened her up? It was more than likely the takeout food. When everyone else decided they'd eaten enough of Kisame's 'fish food' for a week they bought takeout. At least she wasn't alone. Kisame may have made amazing, sickening, and rich desserts but everything else he made loomed on the line of health-nut. Of course, being so tall the man needed to be aware of his diet at all times. The man had been supportive too, when she had announced her idea, not only did he help her plan her diet but aided her in finding a workout routine.
Tonight wasn't a good night though. Kisame wasn't home. There were left over coconut cookies and oily pepperoni pizza, her favorite food, before her. Her stomach gurgled as she tried to shove down her tuna.
"You want some Sakura, un?" The blond man took a slow bite of pizza. The drips of the oil clung to his bottom lip and the soft chewing noise almost brought her to the edge of insanity. Would one night really kill her?
Just a bite.
That was all she wanted.
Resolve! Her mind screamed.
'But,' the little devil on her shoulder giggled, 'doesn't it look delicious?'
Oh yes, it looked beyond delicious; it looked like a delicacy. But it was wrong. She had five more pounds to loose!
'But one night wouldn't hurt. After all,' the devil smiled, 'you've cheated on everything already. Turkey bacon, non-fat greek yogurt for dips, salads for lunch, tofu chicken and you even cheated on butter with that 'I can't believe it sh**.' You deserve to have the real thing. Just one little bite won't hurt you.' The trident poked her cheek, 'Take a bite.'
"Just a bite," Sakura murmured more to herself than the others in the room.
"Here," Deidara smiled passing her a plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza. The others in the roomed sighed.
Sakura raised it to her mouth. Oh, how wonderful. The warm gooeyness was squishing under her fingertips. The heat of the piece brushed her face like a lover. Mmm.
"I love a b_ with handles," Hidan commented.
Everything in Sakura froze. Love handles? No! Her resolve-It wasn't too late- It couldn't be-She hadn't even taken a bite. With a splat the pepperoni pizza slammed and stuck to Hidan's face.
Sakura moved herself from the dining room to the kitchen. But temptation was still there, the door hadn't blocked the wonderful, heavenly smell.
Itachi got up from the table calmly and removed the plate from the swearing cat lover. "If you want to blame someone, Deidara was the one who gave her ammo."
As the pizza flinging catastrophe happened, Itachi made his way out of the room while ducking and dodged his way to the kitchen, the 'if-you-mess-it-up-you-will-die' zone.
After a quick glance Itachi found Sakura curled around the air freshener that was plugged into the wall.
The man smiled and a mischievous glint glittered in his eyes. He kneeled by the woman and leaned in enough to touch foreheads with her. Her eyes snapped open then narrowed.
"Do you want to tease me too?"
"No," he breathed in and the jasmine freshener burned his nose. "I have a way that you can taste the pizza without eating it."
She raised her thin, pink eyebrow. "How?"
At once her mouth was confiscated.
Two minutes later the thought that air might be needed to continue living came to Itachi. It was only after three minutes and fifteens seconds, and after he was supporting a passed out pink haired woman, did he come to the conclusion that yes, breathing was essential for all life forms.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers.
"Pepperoni pizza," she murmured as she snuggled into his chest.
He smiled; she was so unique.
"No," she whimpered, "I didn't want to cheat on you, mister butter!"
He sighed. Yes, she was very unique.