Author's Note: Been a little busy. I have like almost two weeks before I have to move into my apartment dorm. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and please review. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 25:

Digital Sea

"I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping beneath the sound
Here my voice goes, to ones and zeroes
I'm slipping beneath the sound"

~"Digital Sea" by Thrice~

It was the end of the first week of May and people crowded into Konoha High's school theater. The school had volunteered to lend the theater for the final round of the dance scholarship contest. Why not have the finals performed in their building? One of the school's students was a finalist. People squeezed in close to one another so that there were no empty seats left available. They had all heard that this round was going to be one of the best anyone had ever seen in all the years the contest had been around. Three judges walked down the aisle surrounded by a sea of people and sat down at a table in the front. They messed with their microphones to make sure they were working and motioned for the lights to dim.

Sasuke had never been to a dance show before. In fact, he never thought that he would actually go to one. They sounded particularly boring. However, Sakura was to perform in the final round of this dance show and Sasuke had every intention of supporting her. He had only seen her dance once before, back when they weren't dating. It seemed so long ago, that day when Naruto had been sent to detention and Sasuke's only choice for a ride was Sakura. Sasuke often wondered what would their relationship be like if he hadn't asked her for the ride home.

Mr. Haruno sat next to Sasuke looking just as bored as the youth that was positioned to the left of him. On the other side, his wife wrapped a slender arm around his own and was giddy with excitement. Sasuke did not want to sit next to Sakura's father only because even though he was starting to get used to the older man's presence, he was still an ominous figure. The man would glance over in the teen's direction every now and again with a threatening smirk of dominance.

Sasuke looked around at the crowd that surrounded him, searching for familiar faces while the stage crew set up for the dancers. He spotted Sakura's friend Ino with Shikamaru sitting a few rows ahead of him. Ino had her head held up high like a queen and snarled at the boy next to her. Shikamaru rose from his seat to leave only to come back with a bottle of water and a small box of candy from the vending machine outside. Sasuke turned his glance elsewhere and found Naruto and Hinata in two rows behind him to the left. The blonde noticed him staring and waved with a wide smile. Sasuke curtly nodded and saw Neji and Tenten in the same row as Naruto. Unlike the couple beside them, the two love birds were calm and poised.

Movement in the closed curtains on the stage caught Sasuke's attention. A pink head popped out, scanning the room carefully. She had yet to see Sasuke in the audience, obviously looking for him. The curtain she hid behind allowed the Uchiha to see a small glimpse of the dance uniform his girlfriend had chosen to wear. She had told him over and over again that her outfit was going to be a surprise. From where he was sitting, he could see a mixture of light blue and sea foam green. Her arms in sleek silver gloves with stones scattered in the pattern. He could only imagine what the rest of her looked like.

She finally saw him and weakly smiled. Sasuke could see how nervous she was and gave her a thumbs up. The gesture brightened her face, but he knew that she was still a bit anxious about her performance. She turned around for a second, probably talking to someone back stage and then waved good-bye to her boyfriend. The rosette left her spot at the curtain and it became dark in the theater. An announcer came on stage to explain what was going to happen tonight though everyone in the audience knew very well why they were there. He read the first dancer's name off a card and left as a spotlight was turned on for the dancer taking her place to dance.

Sasuke watched the girl dance for a little bit before taking out his phone to play Solitaire on. He was not interested in seeing these girls dance. How well they performed and the scores that they made did not matter to him. The only girl that he was anticipating to see was Sakura and he wouldn't miss her dance for anything.

Sakura paced backstage as the dancer before her started her performance. She was lucky this time to not be the last dancer like she was in the round before. However, this time out of the five dancer going on tonight she would be the fourth. Why were the judges always placing her at the bottom of the list? It wasn't fair and it made her sick with nerves. She had saw her friends and family in the crowd outside which killed off some of the butterflies in her stomach. As long as there was someone she knew out in the crowd, she would be okay. It didn't make her feel as nervous.

Temari came up to Sakura dressed in a dark purple ballerina gown with a kimono style collar and a long red ribbon around her middle. She, like Sakura, was to be one of the last to perform. Sakura would go on before she would and then the judges would deliberate the winners. If either one of them placed in the first two spots, they would be give prize money for the scholarship though the first place winner would receive much more than the second place one. The blonde girl at Sakura's side crossed her arms as they both began to watch the current ballerina out on stage.

"Dang she's good," Temari muttered as the girl on stage put on a fiery performance. "Mixing in some salsa dancing in with her routine."

"Who is she?" Sakura asked, just making small talk to pass the time.

"I'm not sure, but I think that the announcer guy said something about her being from Otoga or some place like that," Temari said. "Man, I hope she doesn't win."

"I know. We both worked too hard to not place in the top two slots," Sakura replied. "I'm sure that we'll both do well."

Temari nodded and left her spot by the curtain to continue warming up. Sakura stayed to watch the remainder of the current dancer's performance knowing that in a few moments she would hear her name called. The ballerina on stage did a final leap and ended her dance with a low bow in which the audience erupted into applause. Sakura gulped and played with her feet as she waited for her name to come up. The announcer took his spot by the microphone and read the rosette's name off a card. Sakura skipped out onto the stage on her tiptoes and did a small wave to the crowd. She stood at the starting position in the spotlight, letting the light illuminate the rhinestones on her costume. Kurenai had suggested that Sakura dress up in a way that made her look like a wave in the ocean. Sakura liked the idea and ordered her costume from a hop online. It had long flowing strips of thin fabric in soft wintry colors to look like the color of water in a current and Sakura had silver zeros painted in two columns on her face. The song she had chosen spoke about the age of technology therefore she wanted to represent that in the costume she wore. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun to complete the outfit.

The crowd went silent and Sakura listened for her music to blare out from the speakers around the stage. She took the first step to her routine and all the hours of practice merged together in her mind. Each move was performed with absolute perfection just like she wanted it to be. The dance made her feel like a moving piece of art. A rush of air grazed her neck after she gained momentum with every twirl she performed. She loved her dance, loved unspoken expression she was trying to display with her body. If she was to choose a profession besides being a nurse, then her next choice was definitely a ballerina. However, that dream would never happen. Her father wouldn't allow it.

Since she was small, he had drilled it into her mind that she had to major in profession that would guarantee a steady income. Though she had told him that she wanted to a ballerina many times when she was growing up, he had only allowed her to pursue that dream in order to gain scholarship money and to build up her college application. Therefore Sakura had told to pick either a career in medicine or business. She wasn't one for office life and chose to be a nurse instead. It wasn't her dream job, but it made her father happy which made her happy.

Sakura spun on her tip toes and lifted one of her legs to maneuver into the next step. She wasn't looking where she was placing her foot and pivoted to perform a small leap. The weight she put on the foot twisted her ankle and before she knew it, she was falling onto the floor. The polished wood floor pulled on her skin when she landed, causing a stinging sensation to crawl up her side. For a moment, she just sat there on the floor with a bewildered look on her face. She hadn't expected herself to fall then again no one expects themselves to. She wanted to cry more than anything. All that hard work was for nothing, the fall was sure to deduct points off her score with the judges. The music she had chosen to dance to was turned off to give her a chance to get back up, but she showed no signs of wanting to do so.

Then she heard a loud shout from out in the crowd. She lifted her sad head and saw Sasuke standing up in his seat. He waved, shouting her name to persuade her to go on with her dance. Soon, she saw her parents do the same and each of her friends as well. Before long the entire audience was cheering for her to continue and the rosette gained enough confidence to stand. Her music came back on and she eased her way back into her routine. She ended the performance in an elegant seated position with her leg outstretched and arms poised around her head. The crowd roared and tears came to Sakura's eyes as she smiled and bowed. She had messed up her dance, but had ended it the way she had intended on doing. The crowd seemed to love her. She only hoped that the judges did as well.

Sakura went backstage and was greeted by Temari who gathered her into a bear hug. She told her how proud she was that Sakura had continued on though she had fallen. It showed perseverance and perhaps the judges would take that into consideration. The girls couldn't talk long because Temari's name was called asking for her to come on stage. Sakura wished her good luck and went to one of the stage hands whose job it was to make sure the dancers had plenty of water to hydrate with. She asked them if they could get her some ice for her ankle she had twisted and was handed a sandwich bag filled with ice. She sat on the floor and pressed the bag to her ankle. The cool ice felt nice again the injury and the pain was slowly being reduced to nothing. From where she was sitting, there was a small opening in the curtains for her to look through to see Temari. The other girl was doing extremely well and even though Sakura wanted to be placed first, she was okay with Temari taking the spot if it ever came to that.

The blonde finished performing and came backstage to check-in with Sakura as the judges totalled all the dancers' scores. Then the announcer called for all five dancers to come out on stage. The dancers stood in a line on the theater stage and smiled widely for the audience. Sakura crossed her fingers as the announcer began to read the final positions determined by the judges. She was jittery and excited.

"And third place goes to Sakura Haruno from Konoha High School," the announcer read loudly. "Second goes to-..."

Sakura blocked out the rest of what he was saying and was hit by a wave of disappointment. She was third. There was no money to be gained for a scholarship for third place winners, nothing at all. Her wide smile quickly turned to a pursed frown. She bit her quivering lip and told herself that she wouldn't cry. It would be foolish to do so in front of all these people and embarrassing as well. She fidgeted with her fingers in front of her, glancing down at the floor to hide her solemn face.

There was a loud cheer and the sound of clapping around her. She glance up for a second and saw that Temari was having a gold medal placed over her head. Sakura smiled briefly, happy that Temari had at least gotten a high rank unlike her. The blonde earned the right to wear that medal like a champion.

The girls were ushered off the stage after they all bowed at the crowd together. Backstage, Sakura gave Temari her congratulations and went to gather her stuff. She wanted to go home and wallow with a large tub of ice cream on her couch for the rest of the night. Of course that wouldn't change the fact that she not only lost, but didn't get a scholarship as well. Her father might be a tad pissed though she really hoped that he wasn't. He always pushed her to do her best and to exceed in areas of utmost importance. This contest was one of those areas and she could remember times in the past that he had been angry at her for not getting a high rank. She didn't want to deal with him tonight if he was going to act that way.

Sakura went into the dressing room backstage and changed into the cargo pants and hoodie she had arrived in. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and made her way towards the stairs leading into the theater's seating area. Before she could get to the stairs, a man and woman came up to her. They looked midly overdressed for the event they had just attended.

"Sakura Haruno?" the man asked, sticking out his hand for her to shake. "Hello, I'm Jiro Maeda and this lovely woman next to me is Ami Sato."

"Um, hello," Sakura said as she shook his hand.

"We saw your perfomance this evening and were thoroughly impressed by it," the woman, Ami, said.

"Oh well, thank you," Sakura replied.

"You see Ms. Haruno, Ami and I are from the Kaji Dance Company," Jiro explained. "We are the ones that put on the Nutcracker every Christmas and Swam Lake in the summer."

The rosette's eyes widened and she held onto her bag's strap. Kaji Dance Company was an extremely famous and prestigious dance company. The dancers that performed in their shows were highly professional and had very high salaries. It was this company that Sakura had dreamed about joining one day when she was growing up and here she was meeting two people from that very company. It was simply amazing.

"Jiro and I were in the audience tonight because we heard that the dancers performing were phenomenal and were asked by our director to pick one of you to join our cast as an intern for awhile," Ami told Sakura. "We both agreed that we want you to be that lucky dancer to join our cast."

Sakura was at a lost for words. She was being offered an internship with them! It was like her childhood dream was unfolding right out in front of her. What made it all the better was that she remembered reading in an article that interns for Kaji usually ended up being a permanent addition to the dance cast. If she agreed to the internship, Sakura could become the professional ballerina she had wanted to be. Jiro reached into his pocket and handed Sakura a business card.

"Call the number on the front if you decide that you want to join us this summer," he said. "Since I am one of the managers for Kaji, this number goes directly to me and I'll set you up for the internship. However, don't wait too long to contact us because there is a deadline."

"It's been nice talking to you and we look forward to your call," Ami added in and pivoted on her heel to walk out of the theater with Jiro.

Sakura couldn't believe that this was happening to her and flipped over the card. On the back in large black letters was the date May 26th. That was the day after Sakura was to graduate and plenty of time for her to consider taking the internship. However, she was going to need to convince her father to let her go and she had a feeling that he wasn't going to let her go so easily.

Author's Note: I've been reading the new chapters of Naruto and they're making me a little sad. On another note, hope you liked the chapter and please review. I'll try to get in another chapter either later today or sometime tomorrow or Monday. :)