Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Thank you byinj for reviewing. I love it when you guys review. :)
Sakura and Lola part ways. Zooming in we see a smiling Sakura waving Lola off. Her green eyes sparkling but underneath there lies a layer of worry. And maybe a little bit of anxiety. Her jaw line is tense and so are her shoulders. Her small and delicate hand clutches her purse. She has on a loose shirt, just tight enough to slightly show off her curves. Her jeans conform to her legs. Her feet in gladiator sandals. She turns around and locks the house door in a swift movement. A small sigh escapes her lips. She straightens her shoulders, places her sunglasses on her nose and walks off.
Sakura walks into a glass building. Bustling with people. Everyone on a phone and rushing in every direction to get somewhere important. Sakura gives another sigh and walks to the front desk. The lady at the front desk didn't even raise her head as Sakura walked up. Her hair was up in a loose bun, vigorously typing on the keyboard in front of her.
"Excuse me. I have an appointment." Sakura politely spoke.
The lady kept on typing without ever looking up at Sakura. "Of course you do. What's your name?"
Sakura rummaged through her purse till she got a small card out. "Kagome Hikaru...?"
For the first time the lady looked up at Sakura. Her small brown eyes looked Sakura over. "You don't sound too sure." her eyebrow arched as she scanned Sakura.
Sakura gives a small cough to clear her throat. "Yep. That's my name." Sakura said. The lady gives Sakura another once over and looks at the computer.
"I don't have you marked down with an appointment." She said, not looking at Sakura.
"Did you check THE list?" Sakura asks sweetly. Clearly irritated at this point at the lady. The lady slowly brings her head up and looks Sakura square in the face. Her expression shocked.
"What list." She said stiffly, regaining her composure.
"You know what list." Sakura shoots back. " I don't have time for this. Just look up my name. It's on The list."
"No one from The list uses the front door." Her eyes going into slits.
"I was instructed to use the front door." Sakura whispers back. The lady didn't say anything as she pulls out a key. She unlocks the middle drawer on the other side of the desk. All the while looking at Sakura. As if she would disappear if she had to look back. Sakura gives her a soft smile. No one from The List does use the front door so she couldn't be too upset. The lady looks through the list.
"Department 8." she says softly after a short while. On the page there was a small key with Kagome on it, which she hands to Sakura. Sakura gives a small bow and walks away.
Sakura got to Department 8 just as the big bell tower struck 9. She gave a small sigh of relief and opens the door. Pain sure had gone through a lot of trouble to do this. Even giving her an alias. It was a little strange. Inside was a photo shoot. People were starting to put it up. The photographer- Sakura knew him all too well, it was Hyuuga Hiashi -was talking to...yeah you guessed it Sasuke... Sakura's mind reeled, thinking.
'No...please tell me it's not with him...' As soon as she finished that thought Sasuke turns his head as if he could hear her mind. They're eyes catch for a second. Hiashi turned his head to follow Sasuke's gaze. Sakura quickly turns her head. The last thing she needs was for Hinata's dad to recognize her. Quickly she runs to her dressing room.
Sasuke's P.O.V
He only got a small glimpse of her but he was sure it was the same girl that he saw before.
'Is she stalking me?' he thought, a little amused. Hiashi was saying something but at this point Sasuke wasn't listening. He excuses himself and went after the girl he saw. It was easy to spot her due to her bright, pink hair. He sees her disappear behind a corner. Though when he reaches the corner he can't find her. He gives a frustrated sound and walks away.
'Like it matters anyway. Just as long as she doesn't get in my way." He thought to himself. 'Again.''
Time was irrelevant to Sakura right now. She didn't think much about time, like how much time had passed, how slow or fast. She was in her own world. At some point there had been a lady who came in and had done her makeup and hair. Another had came in to give her the clothes that she was going to wear for the first shoot. At one point Sakura had looked in the mirror and saw not herself but someone entirely different. She remembered hoping that Hiashi wouldn't recognize her. Or Sasuke for that matter. As soon as she thought his name her hand tingled, it became warm. Almost as if it remembered the feel of him against it. Sakura hit her hand against the desk, it becomes numb. She gets up and walks to the door.
'Ready or not.' She thinks. Turns out she wasn't ready. She had managed to get all the way to the photo shoot but just as she was getting on the stage-thingy...she tripped. And to make matters even better she tripped right into Sasuke. Her face was against his chest. She could barely make out a heart beat. A cold shudder ran through her body.
"Are you OK?" Sasuke asks with concern. Sakura looks up and saw different. Though his voice was filled with concern and his face was worried, his eyes were clearly irritated. She pulls back from him. He gave her a look and turns toward Hiashi.
"What's the theme?" He asks. His hands were at his side and he was relaxed. But to Sakura's trained eyes she noticed that his muscles weren't. He was on edge. Something was clearly bothering him.
"Couple." Hiashi said, quickly and brutally, like a true businessman. Sakura coughs a little and turned her back to Sasuke. As she turns she notices Sasuke looking at her with a questioning look.
'This is just getting awkward...' Sakura thinks to herself. Her body tenses up. She feels Sasuke holding her waist and his chin on her shoulder. She has the instant urge to just melt into his arms. But something was off. Maybe it was the fact that he was holding her a bit to loosely, as if he didn't want to touch her, or maybe it was his body temperature. He was cold.
'Maybe this is what a vampire feels like.' Sakura thinks. Her body responses though to Sasuke and fell in a bit.
"This feels nice, right?" Sasuke whispers in her ear. He grips her a little harder, maybe too hard for Sakura's comfort but she doesn't really care.
"It feels fine." She got goosebumps over her arms, most likely from the cold that was coming off him.
Sasuke gave a soft chuckle. "You like this?" He took her hair and placed it on the other side. His lips almost touching Sakura's neck.
"This is good. But I have enough of these try something cheerful. Like smiles maybe." Hiashi intervened. "Something lighthearted and cute."
Sasuke nodded. He released Sakura and holds out his hand. Sakura took it shyly. He smiles at her. She smiles back, a little bitterly.
The photo shoot went on like that for a while. Sasuke was really kind and he offered her advice. Things were going good. Hiashi has gotten all of the photos he had wanted and doesn't even noticed who Sakura really is. Sakura was about to leave when Hiashi called after her.
"There's one more shoot."
Sakura stops dead in her track. 'What's left?' She thinks.
"There's still the swimsuit portion. You were told about this, right?" Hiashi said in his usual business tone.
"Of course..." Sakura says hastily. "I was just...um...changing." She gives a small laugh. Hiashi gave her a look but didn't press any farther. Sakura quickly shuffles to her dressing room. She locks the door behind her. On the dresser is a swimsuit. A small two piece string swimsuit. Sakura walks over to it and looks it over. Gingerly she put it on. After she is done she looks at herself in the mirror. She puts her hair down. It falls past her shoulders, in loose curls and frames her face really well. She takes one big sigh and leaves the room. She feels other people eying eye. She walks up to the photo shoot which has changed to a beach. As she walks up Sasuke turns his head. The lazy-I-don't-care look fades from his eyes and a sort of light takes over. He clearly checks her out. Hiashi comes over and pushes Sakura toward Sasuke.
"Just pretend that I'm not here. Have fun frolicking in the beach." He said, not even looking at Sakura.
"More than happy too." Sasuke mumbled under his breath. He takes Sakura by the hand and pulls her slowly into the beach.
At some point Sasuke had picked her up over his shoulder and had thrown her into the beach. It was a fun and Sakura was laughing, along with Sasuke.
"OK. That's it. Thank you for your time." Hiashi says as he rolls up his camera.
As soon as he said that Sasuke turns back to his normal self. So in other words he keeps to himself and giving death glares to almost everybody. Sakura sighs as she walks back to her dressing room. Along the way Sasuke stops her.
"You did a good job today." Sasuke said and walks away, smiling at Hiashi on his way out.
Sakura shakes her head and moves away.
Class, if that's what you wanted to call it, had become boring. The black room with it's padded walls became suffocating. The grumbling from the A/C and the droning coming from that guy's mouth accompanied with the sighs from Kiba's lips becoming increasingly more annoying. And the flying paper, ninja, throwing stars from Naruto became unbearable. Gaara didn't know how much longer he could take this for. This whole thing was grinding on his nerves. He watched the clock on the opposite wall slowly move in big hand. In a small fit of irritability and anger he tousled his hair. Their mentor took notice.
"Is there something wrong Mr. Gaara?" he asked in his nasally voice. He took his glasses off from the bridge of his nose and stared down at Gaara. Gaara looked back at him straight in the eye.
"Yeah. I don't know what it is though. I don't know if it's the fact that we're learning about music and not making it. Or you voice. I still can't decide." Grimacing at the man upfront, Gaara leaned back in his chair and tilted it so it stood on one set of legs. He stared at the man, making sure not to back down. From the back of the room Naruto was trying hard not to burst out into a fit of laughter, which wasn't going well since it sounded like he was going to choke. Soon a banging of the desk was accompanied by the choking sound. Kiba turned his head, a small attempt to try and hide his smile. Gaara raised an eyebrow. In a way challenging the man to say anything. Of course he didn't. He just pinched his nose and said some curse in French.
"Oui oui. (Yes yes.)" Gaara said back to him with an almost triumphant smile. "Manger mon pantalon, vous vous porcine dirigez. (Eat my shorts, you swine head.) Oh yeah. You're not the only one who speaks French."
In the back Naruto finally burst out laughing, well more like howling. Banging his fists on the table. Kiba finally let out a small laugh. Gaara shook his head.
"Stop that Naruto. It's just plain old annoying." Naruto let out one last laugh and shut his mouth. Gaara got up and walked toward the door.
"What's the point if being in a recording room but not recording anything?" With that he walked out. Naruto also got up and grabbed his sunglasses, leaving Kiba and the man on the room.
Kiba gave a sigh and walked up toward the man. Patting him on the shoulder and said, "Désolé à ce sujet. Il signifie pas de mal.(Sorry about that. He means no harm.)" And he too walked out the door.
It was around seven o'clock. Sakura was heading home, back from the photo shoot. She couldn't help but remember the feel of Sasuke. Her mind wondered off on that thought till it came across another... Gaara.
Sure enough we zoom out. The soft evening glow allows us to barely see a man shrouded in darkness. A man with a mission. A mission to obliterate two birds and create a 'god' with only but one stone. His camera, once hanging from his neck, was in his hands. Plenty of photos at his disposal.
There you have it! This one came out pretty long. It's a treat for you guys. xD Anyway, now it is summer so I will mostly be either posting chapter very quickly, but short, or not as fast but longer. Now I need feedback on something. I don't know if I should add some lemon to the mix. Not yet but later. And I was wonder if anyone would like me to keep that separately. As in two chapters that are identical except one has the lemon in it and the other doesn't. What do you think?