Notes: Thank you all for the reviews! To my new readers, I'm glad you like it! To my old ones, sorry this is taking so long! The Battle of the Bands competition is just around the corner, and I've got some new lyrics for you guys too. :D Plus, that M-rating. Mmmyep! You'll see why veeeeeery soon! ;p

Part 2: Chapter 8

For two weeks we'd practiced the new song. Haku had actually written a decent melody in one night—how was that for skilled? We had to tweak it a few times, and some of the instrument breaks had to be switched around. Plus, Sakura and I had to write up our own tabs this time, but overall, it was coming out okay. With each practice, the time to prove ourselves drew closer. One week from our scheduled time to perform, the equipment arrived and was starting to be set up; I passed it at least once a day: a huge table for judges and check in, and a makeshift metal contraption that would be the performing stage set up in the center of the West Lawn, flanked by two huge black mountains (that were actually big, huge speakers) and crossed overhead by a lighting catwalk that looked so narrow that no cat would have been able to walk across without falling off. It was, overall, a little daunting.

That night was one of our last practices before our actual performance—we would run through the new song twice and the others once, see if we heard anything we didn't like, fix it, and move on. I was neglecting my homework now, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one (pretty sure about the guys anyway; the girls—along with Haku—seemed to have this innate ability to uber-multitask). I had to learn two more sets of lyrics; "For You" and our closing song, "Drive You Crazy"—one Sasuke wrote in a sudden inspiration to mix the hook he'd had stuck in his head since Christmas and the very first song he'd ever let me read out of his book. It, in my opinion, had come out so badass. It was Sasuke's trademark emo song: the tempo changed so rapidly it was almost bi-polar (and so was my boyfriend, as of late).

I was in the student lounge, sitting on the big couch Sasuke and I had shared on the day all those months ago when we held rehearsals for our new band. My guitar was in my lap and I was plucking out the notes idly as I read one of the three sets of lyrics, two of them Sasuke's masterpieces, one of them my own heart scrawled out on paper. Is this how he felt each time he wrote a song? Presenting his heart to a bunch of strangers? No wonder he never really talked; it was all in his notebooks—the happiness, the sorrow, the pain, the anger. I fiddled with the chords so I could get the general beat in my head as I softly murmured the words aloud to myself. The door to the lounge opened but I didn't look up—people sometimes came and watched us rehearse, it was cool. The newcomer sat next to me on the couch and I lifted one hand in absent-minded greeting as I skimmed over the chorus of "For You". I think I said hi, can't remember.

"I saw the competition in the province over a few days back."

I froze. That voice! It couldn't…It's… My heart was suddenly in my throat, pounding hard. I wanted to look up—I physically couldn't look up. It was someone playing games with me, or my mind finally cracking under the strain, yeah, that was it. Slowly, I met Sasuke's eyes.

"Akatsuki was really good," he said slowly, as if weighing his words. "But they need a better lyricist." I wanted to say so many different things: I wanted to cry and scream and throw my arms around him; I wanted to kiss him; I wanted to hit him; I wanted to ignore him; I wanted to hold him so close, so unbelievably close, and inhale the scent that I'd been missing for so long.

None of that happened, though. I managed to gulp my heart back down: "Style but no substance?" I managed to choke out normally enough.

He gave me a weak smile. "Yeah, something like that." There was a long pause—it wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly welcoming either. It was just…there. "I'm sorry," he finally said, looking embarrassed. "For the way I've been acting. I just…" He shook his head. I straightened, lowering the guitar to the small gap between us on the couch and folding up the three sheets of lyrics.

"I should apologize," I started softly. "It wasn't my place to pry…and I punched you. Sorry about that as well."

He flashed me a half-grin and my nerves quickly subsided. I watched him touch the bridge of his nose self-consciously. "Yeah, you did. But I think I deserved it."

"Nah," I made a face. "You were flipping out about…you know, your brother."

"You told the others, didn't you?" he asked and I flinched. "Haku and Garra have stopped trying to get it out of me, and I know they'd have kept trying until hell froze over—"

"I know it wasn't my place," I spoke up before meeting his eyes. "But everyone was really worried and confused, especially me, and I thought that if I told the others…" I shrugged and met his gaze. He wasn't glaring, which surprised me, he was looking apologetic. Even after all this time, I could read Sasuke's face like a book.

"I know I was acting a little crazy," he admitted sheepishly.

"A little?" I tried to grin. He looked me over once, then gave a small shrug as if to say 'Okay, maybe not a little…'

"I'm sorry for that too," he finished. I shook my head. We looked at each other; the silence wasn't quite right yet, but it was a vast improvement.

"So…are you coming back?" I left that one an open-ended question. He knew it too, and stared into my eyes as if he could find the answer there. I shuddered; I still couldn't make out the undertones in his eyes.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "My brother's still…"

"Did you get the chance to talk to him?"

"No… I lost him in the crowd after the show." He scowled a bit. "They won."

I took a deep breath. Still a sensitive subject. Okay then… "Will you at least watch us perform?" I asked.

He blinked at me: "Am I allowed?"

"Of course, you idiot," I rolled my eyes.

"What's the third song?"

"Hm?"

"Each band has to perform three songs. I only gave you two. What's the third song?"

I grinned fully and stood up, picking up my guitar by the neck and tucking the lyrics into my back pocket. "If you come, you'll find out," I said.

"What if I don't come? Will you tell me?" he stood as well.

"Nope," I answered, heading toward the set-up in the back of the lounge. I felt his eyes lingering on my back and I closed my eyes briefly. I missed feeling his stare on me; how weird did that sound? The silence was still lingering in an uncomfortable limbo between normal and strained. "Hey, Sasuke?"

"Nn?" he responded.

"Mind if I say something about Itachi?" He didn't answer, but I didn't hear him leave, so I drew in a deep breath and turned to face him again. "Did you ever think that maybe he put you in the orphanage because that was the best thing to do? I'm not saying it was right, and I'm not sticking up for him or anything, but did you ever think about that? That he did it for you?"

I saw it click in his eyes, and almost like an evil spell had been cleansed from his body, like in fairy tales, his eyes changed from the deepest, darkest black, to a soft amber-honey hue. The undertones—I had my answers, he had his hope, and whatever happened from now on, we'd both be satisfied.

He started toward the door: "Break a leg, dobe," he pulled it open. "…and thanks." He was gone. But this time, for some reason, I wasn't worried or afraid. He'll be back. I started to hook myself up to the system. Twenty minutes after that, the other band members started to arrive along with a few spectators, more so that usual. And as everyone greeted everyone else and got ready to practice till the early morning hours, I found myself recalling the chorus from that song that Sasuke had known when I thought I was the only one who did:

"Broken down in bars and bathrooms; all I did was what I had to. Don't believe me, when I tell you—"

"It's just what anyone would do."

"Take the time to talk about it; think a lot and live without it. Don't believe me, when I tell you—"

"It's something unforgiveable."

This practice was the best one we'd had since Sasuke had quit Sharingan.