Chapter 4

Neji, Gaara, Sakura, Kakashi and Lee were in the room talking about what they were going to play, where they were going to play and how they were going to play. Most of the talk was amongst the new members while Neji listened. Neji had something else on his mind. Like how could his new band compete with Sasuke's new band? I mean Sasuke had almost thirteen songs already made with the sounds to it and fixed up. Neji, he was starting form scratch. It wasn't going to be fair. Sasuke's band was also using some of the songs that Neji had written.

While the rest of them were talking Sakura noticed that Neji was looking else where. Neji looked a bit depressed about something that Sakura couldn't figure out.

" Neji-san, is there something wrong?" Sakura asked Neji who finally snapped out of his state of confusion. Neji looked over to the people surrounding him, they all looked a bit concerned for Neji.

" Uh, yes?" Neji asked while looking at all of them.

" Are you alright bro? I mean. You looked like you zones out on us." Lee said to Neji who put up a fake smile to make them be at ease so they wouldn't worry about what he was thinking.

" Neji-san...please tell us what's wrong." Sakura said to Neji who sighed but then prepared himself to speak.

" Look, I know you guys are just as psyched about this band as I am but I told Sasuke that we would beat his band at the competition two months from now. I don't think we have a chance to beat him at all. I guess It might just be destiny for us to fail. We can't change destiny." Neji said as he looked away from his band.

Gaara stood up walked towards the electric guitar and plugged it in to the speakers. He began to play the guitar in which the guitar sounded like a very familiar song to all of them.

Gaara moved left hand's fingers to fix the cords to make the sound different each time when his right hand's fingers played the bottoms cords to make the rhythm of the exact tone he wanted it to come out as. As Gaara played the guitar which everyone knows takes a lot of talent to know how to play a tone from a different song to.

" Damn! I know which song you're playing! And I'm joining in Gaara!" said Lee getting pumped just by hearing Gaara play the guitar. Lee began to mix some beats but waiting to see if any of the others had recognized the song enough or knew how to play the next beat to continue.

" That's my Gaara-kun!" Sakura squeaked out as she grabbed the bass to test it out then started along with Gaara so that the beat could keep a steady flow.

" Might as well show off my skill, everyone else is doing it." Kakashi said calmly as he picked up the drum sticks and looked at all of the set of drums.

" Dude! I am so skilled I know I can play this song with my eyes closed." Kakashi boasted.

Neji now felt inspired by his band that didn't really care about the competition because they knew they were skilled enough to make it in.

Gaara began to play the guitar along with Kakashi tapping lightly on the set to make a calm melody to then move on to a heavier beat.

As soon as Gaara Neji had started to sing .( A/N because we can't post the lyrics and it really is a pain in the ass to come up with them if you aren't that kind of stuff I'll just tell you who sang it. Imagine Neji and the band playing to Slipknot's " Wait and Bleed" listen to the song sometime!)

After the group was done they were all proud of what they had done. Since all of them were talented enough to nail the song without repeating. Neji turned to him band who was now sweating somewhat because enough though they played it without mistakes it takes a lot of skill to do that.

" Dudes! We rock! We Fucking rock!" Kakashi said to his band mates. Kakashi stood away from the drum set and walked to Neji who was still catching his breath. The he put his arm on top of Neji head, which made Neji feel short.

" See, Neji! We are just as good, probably even better than your old band. Besides we nailed ' Wait and Bleed' in one shot. We can do it. " Kakashi said to Neji who looked more relaxed.

" Well, it's all really thanks to Gaara-kun!" Sakura said with a smile while hugging Gaara's arm. Gaara blushed slightly and then turn his head away from all of them. Making Sakura and Lee laugh.

Gaara turned back to Neji and then walked over to where Sakura was and put his hand around her waist. When Neji saw this he flinched slightly but enough for Kakashi to notice that this made Neji somewhat jealous.

" Since we already know we kick ass I think that our next step should be to make an actual song, don't you think?" Gaara said to Neji while Sakura rested her head on Gaara's shoulder.

" Right. I already came up with some lyrics that we could use. Luckily I didn't rehearse them with Sasuke or any of the others. So they won't know anything about it. I have a bunch of other lyrics that I wrote a long time ago but Sasuke thought they weren't good enough for the band." Neji said slightly frowning that his work had been turn down before.

( Flash back)

Sasuke had walked in the gym getting ready to rehearse and saw Neji coming his way so he put a paper that he was holding away into his pocket.

" Yo Sasuke! I was wondering if maybe we could work on something for these lyrics." Neji said handing Sasuke the papers with the lyrics.

Sasuke gave them one look and then balled it up and threw them to the side.

" Neji ...I doubt you would know anything about death. Anyway since I'm the lead singer I think I should be the one who does that.. You only work on the beats for the music. That's your job. So act like it is and stop acting like you're the leader of ' Chidori' because I am. I'll be going home to practice today alright. I'll see you tomorrow and remember what I said Neji, alright?" sasuke said not even bothering to make a second glance at Neji who un-balled the paper and put it in his pocket.

" One day I'll break away from this group and make my own, Sasuke. You just wait and see." Neji said while getting his things and walking out of the building.

( End of Flashback)

" Dude! This isn't Sasuke's band! It's your band Neji-bro!" said Lee while giving Neji a slap on the back that almost knocked his down.

" Lee is right Neji-san. And from what I heard this Sasuke-guy is a real jerk. There was no way any of us would ditch you for that guy. We're with you all the way Neji-san!" Sakura said to Neji while raising her fist in the air. All of them fallowed and did the same.

" You guys are right, well I think we better get started on practicing the new song. We have to create a melody for the lyrics to go with it." Neji said to the rest of his group.

Everyone's eyes got bigger by the surprise that Neji already had lyrics to start with.

" Alright then, we better get to work. If we can get one song down by tonight that means we are elite. We can do a hell of a lot of things with this band." Gaara said with a straight face to the rest of the group who looked at each other as to looks at one another for reassurance of his words that they will true.

" Gaara is right! C'mon we have to start so we can kick that wannabe Sasuke's ass!" Kakashi said as he flipped his silver hair out of his eyes.

All of them sat down and read the lyrics that Neji had written. All of them were left with an astonished look...well all except for Gaara. He was never all that surprised about anything.

" Can you give us like an example of what kind of sound you want for the lyrics of the song?" Lee asked Neji who looked at Lee.

" Let me think...how about I sing part of it so you can get the idea. I had already thought of that way the vocals should be and from there you guys can help make it better sounding." Neji said.

He started to sing and looked very concentrated. By the looks of it he had already memorized the lyrics.

While singing Neji was thinking about how Sasuke had treated him and the girl he loved the most...Ino. This was a song basically meant for Sasuke and the way he was.

(A/N this is a real pain in the ass but hey..I can't write lyrics...the song Neji was singing was " Happy ?" by Mudvayne. If you have the music you can imagine Neji singing which is cool)

All of them were inspired by Neji's song.

" Neji! That was the best lyrics that I have heard in a long ass time! Dude! Awesome!" Kakashi said to Neji while giving him a smirk that could make any girl fall for him...well... except Sakura because she has Gaara.

" Neji-san! You rock!" Sakura said to Neji who blushed slightly at this comment but looked away so Gaara couldn't see that Neji actually liked getting complimented by Sakura.

"Neji-bro! You are destined for greatness! And we will help you become better!" Lee said to Neji.

" It was good" Gaara said with a straight face and crossing his arms leaning against a wall.

" That means Gaara-kun likes it!" Sakura said to Neji as she hugged Gaara. This once again made a tingle of jealousy go thru Neji's body.

" I think you just inspired us Neji-san!" Sakura said in an extra hyper tone.

All of them rushed for their instruments and tried to find the perfect tone for the song. In their minds the song couldn't get out of their minds which helped them create a tune for it and then write the music notes down just in case.

When ever they needed help they asked a very willing Neji to go to them and sing over the part that they needed to fix for the tunes and such. It was like this for an entire week. But in that week days they were already working on their second and third song. They had the entire week off from school because of some sort of recesses that they really didn't care about but liked having the days off. But finally it was the day before they went back to school.

Neji and the others were just finishing rehearsing the songs before they got ready to call it a night.

After they finished the last song they all sat down on the couches to get some rest before they left for their homes.

Neji sat and took a water bottle and a towel to wipe off the sweat from his body. He saw sakura talking to Gaara who just nodded to what she said then got up and left. Sakura looked at Gaara and then sighed. They didn't look like they argued so Neji sort of wondered what had just happened.

Neji sat over next to Sakura while they both watched Gaara was back at playing the guitar checking if all his work was right. Neji turned to Sakura who was looking at the ground.

" Um...Sakura-chan..." Neji started out by saying that which caught Sakura's attention.

" Yes Neji-san?" Sakura asked.

" Did you and Gaara just have a fight or something?" Neji asked while he twisted the cap off the water bottle and took a drink from it while water began to spill out of the sides of his mouth.

Sakura looked on to what Neji was doing then went back to looking at the ground.

"Not really...but sometimes I really think Gaara doesn't feel the same way I do about him..." sakura said as her face became saddened by what she had just said and then noticing that Neji was at her side.

" My apologies Neji-san. I do not mean for you to hear about my idiotic problems. You have many problems from which I heard from your uncle and then hearing mine must make you wanna hate me or something." Sakura said in a sort of dumb founded voice.

Neji looked at her and then put his hand on her shoulder. She looked to Neji's face and his face showed deep concern for her.

" Look Sakura-chan...it's alright. But if you really feel this way you have to tell Gaara about what you think then you will really be sure but for now think about the band. I know that is what's taking most of your energy. Correct?" Neji asked Sakura with a sort of smile on his face.

Sakura looked at him and then gave him a toothy smile. Both of them got up. Gaara, Sakura, Lee and Kakashi got their things and walked towards the door while Neji accompanied them.

While they were exiting they walked past Hinata. Sakura slightly bowed her head. Kakashi winked at her. ( A/N That made her blush!) Lee waved at her and Gaara looked at her from the corner of his eye and then even after he walked away he was still trying to steal a glimpse of the girl. Neji noticed this..in a way it infuriated him because this proved what Sakura was thinking about and if she found out that Gaara now liked his cousin Sakura might quit the band, but the good side to this was that neji might have a good shot at getting with Sakura. But to do this he would have to make Sakura fall out of love with Gaara and get to know her better so hopefully she isn't another fan-girl type person.

" See you guys tomorrow at school or at band practice alright?" Neji shouted to them while all of them waved 'Bye' and shouted "alright" or " Whatever".

" Your band is awesome Neji-niisan. You are really good at this. I especially like..um..er..n-never m-mind." Hinata said as she turned away to go back into her room which was on the second floor.

Neji knew that when his cousin began to stutter that meant she liked someone...which Neji was guessing was either Kakashi or Gaara. It didn't matter to him anyway.

" Good night Hinata-chan.." Neji said as he walked to him room with nothing more than his band and Sakura in his thoughts.

( The Next day at school)

As always school was going pretty boring until one of his classes got interupted by the principle Tsunade.

"I'm sorry tp interupt your class but I don't think it would have mattered because I know you don't pay attention. This is a new student that came the day before school went on break...please welcome Ms. Haruno Sakura to your Japanese Class." said Tsunade before she was gone. The teacher resumed whatever he was saying from where ever he was cut off.

Sakura sat next to Neji which was where an empty seat was. As sakura walked she saw someone who looked towards her. It was Uchiha Sasuke and he took a quick glance at her and then turned back to his spot. He looked again when Sakura met his eyes...he took this as a chance to challenge her because he knew she was one of Neji's band mates.

" What the hell are you staring at!" sasuke said to her while leaning on his hand. She turned to him and then responded.

" Nothing much." Sakura said in a calm voice as she sat down and opened her notebook.

" Oh...ouch! That really stung." Sasuke said in a straight face.

" That might not sting but the fact the our band is going to kick your bands ass will." Sakura said looking dead at the front of the room and not looking at Sasuke once.

Sasuke stop leaning on his arm and then looked up to her.

" What did you say?" Sasuke said to sakura who the slightly turned to him.

" You heard me. This Friday is our big debut at Marise Tenshi High school and we will make it to the Battle of the Bands before you ever make it pretty boy." Sakura said to sasuke who was not liking anything he had just heard from her. But then again she intrigued him. She was the first girl to challenge Sasuke without thinking of the consequences.

" Alright. Try and humor me with your crap on Friday." Sasuke said to Sakura who didn't bother to look at Sasuke.

When Neji witnessed all of this he knew that his band was feeling just as confident about this as he was. But the fact was he knew Sasuke had something in it for Sakura. He knew Sasuke very well. Neji knew sasuke liked girls that were challenging but he won't give Sasuke a chance to even get near Sakura outside of the school.

" I guess you know that we'll kick your ass on Friday by making you look even worse than you already do sasuke." Neji said confidently.

Sasuke gave him an angered glare but Neji didn't care at all. Sasuke also knew that Neji wasn't going to let him lay a finger on Sakura much less try to hit on her.

When the classes were over Neji and Sasuke met each other outside of the classroom.

" You do know you are way out of your league when you are trying to hit on Sakura-chan. You know you just made her detest you right, Sasuke?" Neji asked Sasuke who didn't look to happy to see his ex-band member.

" Please..I can make any girl fall for me. Just wait Neji. Sakura will be with me in just a matter of day." Sasuke said with a confident smirk. Both looked very determined to try and get Sakura but should they count Gaara out already?

" I'm warning you Sasuke, Sakura isn't like your other type of girls that went with you for your looks. If you do get with Sakura you better not do anything to her! Because if you do...you will regret it." Neji said to Sasuke who glared at Neji.

" You mean like what I did with that slut Ino? You didn't do anything when I made her feel like crap now did you?" sasuke said to Neji. Neji was now furious. Though he does like Sakura he still has feelings for Ino.

" I still don't know what Ino saw in you!" Neji said to Sasuke. Sasuke turned around but didn't walk away just yet.

" Look Neji...you are just getting in my way to beating my brother...which I can not allow. So you will fall to CHIDORI...got it!" sasuke shouted as he began to walk away.

Neji stood there in the middle of the hall. All of a sudden he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw it was Naruto's older sister Chiu. She was already a senior at the school. Just one year older than Naruto.

" Neji-kun...can I talk to you after school? " Chiu asked Neji who thought about it for a few minutes and then nodded to her request.

" Please come over to our house. Naruto would be glad to see you. He hasn't really seen you or talked to you in a while.

" Chiu-san...what exactly are we going to talk about?" Neji asked Chiu before she left.

" It's about...that girl...Sakura.." Chiu told Neji before she left.

What could Chiu tell Neji about Sakura? Or this something deeper than that. Like about Neji's new band. Or something about Gaara. Gaara has been at the school for a while. He and Kia used to be really good friends but for some reason Gaara withdrew from any friendships until now.

This is something that Neji just had to know.

( After school)

Neji met with the rest of his band members and told them that there was to be no practice today because he had some business that might take a while.

The rest of them agreed on that and decided to practice double the next day.

Neji met up with Chiu and Naruto who walked in silence until they reached their home in the northern part of Tokyo. Which was a bit far from the school. As soon as Neji, Naruto and Chiu sat down on the couch in the living room. All three were silent once more but then Neji spoke up.

" What is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked Chiu.

" Neji-kun, I obviously know that you like Sakura-chan but do you really know who Sabaku no Gaara is and why he's Sakura-chan's boyfriend?" Chiu asked Neji who now looked a bit baffled. Naruto looked Neji with a sadden look in his eyes.

Naruto spoke up to Neji.

" Neji...Gaara is actually...

TBC in chapter five!

Sorry I haven't updated but I finally got a hold of my story by coping it from Fanfiction

and I got a good idea from where I left off. Unfortunately I can't reply to reviews but if you guys get the petition to sign against this rule please do so I can respond you guys! Hope you guys like the cliff hanger! In chapter five we'll know who Gaara really is. Friday finally comes around and looks like Gaara is ready to brake everything down to Sakura. But who helped Sakura to cope with this before the show...Naruto! And Itachi makes his first appearance! Please review!

☺ And for Neji/Saku lovers I made a new story Mahou Sensei Nejima?..it's about Neji finally getting girls! OH! Ps..I need a Beta-reader for this fic! The first person to ask me will get the job along with my other story! Shameful Wish! I need two Beta-readers! Bye guys