Notes: ACK! ACK! ACK! I am SO so very sorry I haven't updated recently! The mess with Hurricane Katrina, and then I moved back up to my college dorm, and I've just started week two of classes so I just haven't had any time to update at all! SORRY! Here's a chapter to tide you guys over 'til I can really start punching them out again!

Part 2: Chapter 4

"And sometimes I think it'd be so good to notice, the way that you're looking right at me tonight."

TWANG!

Everyone looked over at me. I winced and lowered my eyes to my baby: one of the silver chords had snapped, and now it curled at me like an angry snake. I cleared my throat nervously—they were still staring.

"Ahaha," I smiled at them. "Played that last note too hard."

I tried to avoid the amber-black eyes that were focused on me; he would know that wasn't really the case. He would know just how much that last line got to me.

"Maybe it's time for a break," Sakura offered tentatively from beside me.

"We just started ten minutes ago," Sasuke's tone plainly stated 'are you joking?'.

"Not that kind of break…" she trailed off meekly.

"Cancelling practice for tonight would actually be a good idea," Garra spoke up from behind his synthesizer keyboard set-up. "We've been practicing hard for three weeks now."

"Yeah, and Battle of the Bands is four weeks away," Sasuke reminded.

"Just for tonight!" Sakura continued boldly now that she knew someone else was on her side. "One cancelled practice, then we're back on schedual!"

"I think…" I finally opened my mouth and there were those eyes again. This time, I didn't avoid them. "I think Sakura and Garra have a point. These practices have been long and hard; we deserve a day off."

"Practice is only three times a week," he said bluntly and I winced.

"Yes, but the other four days out of the week, we're all trying to keep our shit together in our classes," I pointed out. He made a face; he knew I was right. As a matter off fact, just yesterday he was saying that his History of American Culture class was really pounding him for work and he barely had time for any of his other assignments. Sakura, Garra, and myself as a Fine Art majors needed to put in some extreme homework and classtime hours in the studio. Hinata and her Communications major, Kiba and his Design major, the others with their own areas of study to worry about; it was tough for everyone. And after a long pause, where Sasuke was looking into my eyes and it felt like he was reading every thought that crossed my mind, he gave a reluctant nod.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But only tonight."

There was a collective cheer from the other members and they instantly started to break down the set-up. I turned from the commotion and made my way to a darkened corner of the lounge, plopping down on a dark, overstuffed couch and fingering the snapped chord. The frayed fibers scratched against the pads of my fingers and I frowned as I mentally counted how many wires that had been in the past three weeks. Seven. It always seemed to happen whenever I was thinking about

Sasuke sat down next to me, giving me a quiet look.

"You okay?" I prompted.

"I should ask you that," he gave me a fake, tight-lipped smile. "Sorry I've been such a slave driver lately."

"Someone has to be," I shrugged and leaned back on the couch. He watched me silently. "Aren't you tired though?" I glanced over after a moment.

He nodded. "Dead."

I half-grinned at him: "Lets go do something."

"I thought we were having this break because we didn't want to do anything."

"Argh!"

"Okay, okay," he gave me a slight smile. It was small, but it was real. "Let's go do something."

We ended up driving around in Sasuke's navy blue convertible-top Mustang GT. His car is a thing of beauty, really. I can remember drooling over it the first time he showed it to me. Now, I sat in the passenger seat on the clean, cool leather and suddenly felt my ears popping as he fiddled on the driver's console and the top started coming down. The night sky opened up to us, two people on a lonely highway, and the stars suddenly seemed a thousand miles closer. I leaned my head back, my hand flicking briefly to the radio and turning the dial all the way up. His speakers were god-like; they thrummed powerfully as the GT's engine purred deeply, escalating slowly to a hushed roar as we hit fourty five, then fifty, then sixty. These were the kind of things I lived for. I looked over at Sasuke, having half a mind to tell him he should write a song about this, and for a little while I could only stare at him. The rushing wind was blowing his hair back from his eyes and the moon was reflecting off his light skin and the only thing I could manage to think at the time was that he looked like an angel, something totally ethereal. He felt me staring because he glanced over at me, one eyebrow raised as if to ask 'yes?'. I forced a smile onto my face and turned my head the other way, my eyes falling to the highway scenery whizzing by. And then all the houses and grass fell away to reveal the coastline; I knew we were close to the beach, but until just then I had never realized how close. It shocked me, in a good way. I caught myself thinking again that Sasuke should write something about this. Then I heard the song blasting out of the car's speakers and my mind skipped again (I get easily excited, which leads to getting distracted quite easily too). I loved this song, it was one of my all-time favorites. The band was okay, but I really admired the way they played this particular song of theirs. The drums pounded, the guitars hummed, and the wind howled so loudly that all that was left was me, Sasuke, and the music.

"Well I can't regret—" I started to sing along.

"Could you just forget it?"

I looked over at Sasuke in shock. 'I started something I couldn't finish.' "You know this song?"

'And if we go down, we go down together.' "It's a good song," he nodded. "And we're talking right through it."

I blinked. 'Best friends means—' Then I grinned: "Yeah, sorry."

He smiled back. 'Well, best friends means…'

"And I've got a twenty dollar bill that says you're up late nights starting—"

"Fist fights versus fences, in your backyard."

"Wearing your black eye like a badge of honor."

"Soaking in sympathy…"

"From friends who never loved you—"

"Nearly half as much as me."

"Where are we?" I looked around as we pulled into the small café's parking lot.

"In the next county, I think," he answered simply and parked, killing the engine. He opened his door and got out so I followed him out of the car and through the small doorway into the smoky darkness of the unknown café. I heard before I could make out the clinking of glasses and the lighting of cigarettes and the low drone of bunches of people having conversations among themselves at small tables. To our left was a bar and to our right, a stage with a pretty sweet set-up on it. I tugged on Sasuke's sleeve.

"Hey, someone's playing!" I pointed. He nodded.

"Do you want to stay and watch? I was just going to get a coke or something," he offered.

"I don't know," I made a face. "No one really good plays gigs at a café in the middle of nowhere…" I watched noncommittally as a lanky, middle-aged guy with a striped button-up shirt and glasses climbed onto the stage and tapped the mike, clearing his throat. The slight feedback in the room made the patrons look up from their own business and toward the stage with half-interested gazes.

He leaned over and spoke quickly into the mike: "The first band for tonight is an entrant for the Battle of the Bands contest, and will be performing the second week of Febuary."

"Whoa, hey! A contestant!" I grabbed at Sasuke's arm excitedly. This was it! We'd finally get to see what we're really up against!

The guy onstage looked to his left and held out an arm to welcome the band members onto the stage. "Please give a round of applause for The Akatsuki."

The response from the crowd was more than expected; they cheered as if it were a real, professional band coming up onstage. I watched the members filing onto the stage and standing in their designated positions behind their instruments. There was a tall, thin guy with long, light hair tied back in a loose tail and wire-rimmed specs who wore a headband and finger-less gloves. He looked fairly old to be in a starting band; he picked up one of the two electric guitars set up onstage. The drummer was almost the exact opposite of the clean-cut guitarist: long, greasy-looking black hair, pale to the point of being white, and narrow, nasty-looking yellow eyes. His tongue darted out from between his teeth (which were filed down to points) briefly as he surveyed the crowd. His tongue was pierced. The keyboardist settled and I finally got a good look at him (after the distraction of the drummer).

"Holy crap!" I nudged Sasuke. "That's Neji!"

"Neji?" Sasuke squinted to get a better look and the final member walked out onstage. He wasn't taller than half the people in the group and he was light-skinned, with a mop of raven black hair that seemed to almost fall into place effortlessly over deep red-amber eyes. I looked at him. Then blinked. And looked at Sasuke. Who wore the expression of someone who has seen a ghost or has been told something horrible and life-changing. The dark-haired man, who was apparently the lead singer as well as the second guitarist, adjusted his strap and the height of the mike stand, then spoke clearly into the tense atmosphere.

"Thank you. We're the band Akatsuki: on drums is Orochimaru Hebi," he gestured behind them. "On keyboards, Hyuuga Neji," he made another gesture. "Lead electric guitar, Yakushi Kabuto." Gesture. "And I'm Uchiha Itachi, vocalist and secondary guitarist. Thank you for coming tonight."

The cheers were loud, I knew it, but they were drowned out by the deafening echo in my head. Uchiha… Uchiha Itachi? I looked slowly to where Sasuke was standing and he turned to me in the same instant. Uchiha? I wanted to ask, but I didn't know if I should. I opened my mouth to say something. Anything. He blinked.

"Naruto… Let's go back to the dorms," he said in a perfectly normal voice. I nodded—what else could I do? We left as the opening chords started up and my god I almost fainted when I heard them.

They were perfect.