Notes: We've come this far! Huzzah:D This is NOT the last chapter, I have to close the story damn properly. :P
Part 2: Chapter 10
"The light and the darkness," his mouth pressed to the mike as his voice came out in a sensuous rush; it made me dizzy with happiness (and lust) but I restrained myself from jumping him right there.
"Hidden deep inside," Hinata's voice mingled with his and then fell off into a whisper.
"Piercing my heart, with those gentle eyes," he reached a hand out toward the crowd. They collectively reached back, as if they could all touch his outstretched fingers. "I'm sent to eternity." The note held, then sunk behind Kiba's soft, pulsing drumbeat--Tah tunk-tunk, ta-dah dah dah, da. Sasuke licked his lips and opened his mouth to sing again: "Even when I kick and scream, and even when I cry…" He opened his eyes; the stage lights momentarily gleamed off of them before he tilted his head down. "I seem to be invisible, to everyone but you."
Brah-dah dada dada!
"And I--"
"Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed," I called into my own microphone, my voice intertwining seamlessly with his, as if we had never been apart.
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me," he glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes catching mine. The last part of the chorus fell numbly from my lips as he soundlessly repeated the word: "Tonight…" He turned away again, focusing once more on the audience. I blinked. That look… What was that all about? It was so…
"Wandering the voice between…"
(Intense. Wasn't that the word they used?)
"Zero and infinity," Hinata's voice snapped me out of my stupor. Thank god I'd still had the sense to keep playing.
"Where both extremes are nothing," he whispered to the audience and they hung on every word, on him; they craved Sasuke and the music he sang. Frankly, I couldn't blame them. "Silence tells me secretly--"
"In muted, colored tones," Hinata and I joined his voice this time.
"That you're the one to teach me--"
"How the sound goes!"
Bah dun-dun!
"I wrap my arms around you," he literally circled his arms around himself, "and know I should hold tight." His head lowered and a lot of the girls in the audience screamed; I knew what look he was giving them--the 'uber-sexy-dark-stare-from-under-unruly-hair' look. I fairly melted on the spot just thinking about it. "But the sound is getting louder so I can't go any higher till," he raised one arm over his head, "you lift me up again! And I--"
"Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed," I joined him again.
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me--"
"Tonight."
Ka-dun dun! Dun dundundundun! Bah-dun!
"I'm--" he threw his head back and began howling into the mike. "--breaking away! I'm--" his free hand snapped back as his body arched forward into the lights, toward the crowd. Fresh cheers, louder than ever, echoed across the campus. "--breaking out again! Can you--" the hand beckoned at the mob of people. "--save me? If you care, or does that drive you crazy!" Bahdundundun! "Sing to me with gentle tones, and maybe I'll be satisfied. Or we can rest in silence, knowing what's on the other's mind."
"Or does that drive you crazy?" Hinata and I cried out again, but Sasuke's voice lifted higher than that, higher than the guitars and the drums and the shakuhachi recorded on the synthesizer, and the koto that had suddenly joined it as the tempo picked up abruptly. And in a sudden rush, everything stopped. Sasuke was perched at the edge of the stage, leaning over, one arm out, the mike tucked inside the arch of his body. And then, the drums exploded.
BA-DUM! DUM! DUMDUMDUMDUMDUMDUMDUMDUM!
"And I--" he turned to look at me, his body still angled toward the audience and illuminated by the stage lights. It radiated like an aura.
"Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed," I smiled softly. Welcome back, Sasuke.
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me--"
"Tonight."
Kiba and Sakura's instruments doubled up: her electric guitar wailed and she stepped forward, Sasuke backed toward me to let her and Kiba be in full view. Kiba pounded on his drums for all he was worth, planning the beats perfectly to fall within the swells and dips of Sakura's chords. The shakuhachi and the koto rose high into the night, not sounding the least bit absurd in the mingle of rock music. Ba-dum! Dum! Twang! Bah nana nana! Ka-tung! Bah tah-tah tah-tah!
And I--"
I took a deep breath: "Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed."
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me--"
"Tonight," I sang alone. Sasuke took a deep breath and lunged forward as the music reached a crescendo once more.
"Turn down the volume and bring down the roof; scream at one another till throats rupture! Take turns speaking and listening; the blood spills in silence and hit's the floor loud as a shriek. We'll drive each other crazy!"
"Day in and day out, like puppets on strings," Hinata sang with him.
"And I--"
"Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed."
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me--"
"Tonight."
"And I--"
"Can't shake the feeling my voice goes unnoticed."
"And I--"
"Can't hide the fact that I want you to notice."
"And--"
"Sometimes I think It'd be so good to notice…"
"The way that you're looking right at me--"
"Tonight."
We repeated the chorus as the song died. The lower we got, the louder the crowd went until their screams were deafening. The music finally stopped. Sakura dropped her arms thankfully. I lowered my guitar, the new strap hanging comfortably from my shoulders. Sasuke looked back at us and then out at the audience, waiting. Slowly, like ripples in a pond, silence stretched out to all corners of the area. Panting slightly, he grinned and pushed his hair back out of his face.
"How did you guys like it?" he asked and was rewarded with an enthusiastic round of screams. He waited again--a trick to let the band recover before the last song; smart man. The next song was our loudest and fastest, by far. We'd need all the resting we could get. "So, who sings better? Me or the dobe?"
"Screw you, Sasuke!" I laughed, gesturing rudely at him. He took it with a cool glance, as usual, but I also knew he was laughing. People were yelling his name; some were hollering mine. "Look at that," I lifted my eyebrows with a teasing grin. "It looks like I could easily take your place if you ever decide to leave." It was the most blatant thing I could say, I thought. And Sasuke totally caught me off-guard as he actually smiled at me and shook his head.
"Get used to being a back-up," he winked, then turned back to the audience. "I'm staying for life."
The response was overwhelming. Kiba howled and started up the drums to the final song--"For You". Sakura giggled and started up as well. Sasuke looked back again, catching my eyes with his once more. His smile was true: he would stay, he just wasn't sure if he could. I gave him a nod and returned the smile, and as he turned to address the fans again, I had the feeling he knew what I had thought, even though I hadn't said it out loud: For life. That's what I wanted to hear…
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
Pah-pah, ba-da-da-da-da da-dah!
Bah dah-da-da-da-da da-dah!
Ba-dah bada bah da-da-da!
Tah ta-pah! Tah ta-pah! Tarararararararatah!
"Pen and paper in my hand." Dah dada dada da-da daaaaaaah dadada! "Thinking up this song for you. Haven't seen you, for days now, I'm not sure what to do." Daradara da-dah! "Listening to the radio, singing all the songs that remind me of you, and remind me of the things we used to say—" Bah pah-dadadadadada-da da-da! "And all the stuff we swore to do." Parrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrah pah! "Everyday I look for you."
"For you!"
"I want to tell you everything, and have you tell me everything too. So, I'm always looking for you--"
"For you!"
"Daydreaming about the times together; I had everything when we were together." Bah dah dada-da-da-dadadah dah dah!
"It seems I ask for everything, when all I want is you." Bararararararararararah! Bah! Bah! "And everyday I look for you—"
BarararararaPahdararararaDahpahpapapapapapapapaBRAHDAHDAHDAPAHPAH!
"When I'm not there for you, it hurts me like you can't know." Buh-dah-duh, buh-dah-duh, buh-dah-duh! "Because you're always there for me; I'll try to be a better friend, so—" Badah! "Tell me the truth without subtlety, so I can keep learning more from you. To be the friend I can never seem to be—the one I want to be for you. So…" BAH! "Everyday I look for you—"
"So I can tell you every time I see you, 'I love you' and 'I miss you'… And 'I'll always be here for you'."
"For you!"
"I'm looking at a star now--"
"--just for you."
"And hoping through my eyes that you can see it too. I make a wish on it for you—"
"For you!"
"And watch it fade away. It's sucked into the brand new day—the sun-lit sky is like our lives, you know. But I still want to be there--"
"--just for you."
"And I want to be a better person--"
"--just for you."
"And I just want to let you know now, that I don't care what other people say, or what they think they know. My dearest friend, I will always dream, of all the times we had together; and remember always, your words of advice, and try to be all you need—"
"For you…"
Bah-da-da-da-da-dah DAH!