Previously on Band Rivals

" Sasuke never really liked you Neji...that's why. He didn't care who he hurt as long as he did it. Not to mention there is still a lot more to this than I know. I think Sasuke's brother might have something to do with this as well." naruto said not knowing there was someone behind him.

" Sasuke's brother has what to do with this Naruto-kun?" said a deep yet calm voice. Naruto and Neji looked towards where the voice was coming from.

" Itachi!" Naruto said in a surprised tone.

" Itachi!" Neji asked while looking at Naruto and then back at Itachi.

As soon as Naruto turned around Itachi smirked at him. Neji's face made a frown showing his discontentment.

" I overheard what you were saying, something about me having something to do with a plan that Sasuke-kun has. Well, if you must know, I don't give a damn about my little brother. Sasuke-kun is un-talented and so he isn't part of the Uchiha family." Itachi said with a smile to Naruto and Neji.

Itachi smiled at the two boys but then someone called his name from behind the curtain.

"Itachi-san! You have to get ready to test the stuff before your big performance, please come on, " Someone said to him which made him turn around and leave the two boys without saying another word.

Neji and Naruto stayed where they were for about another minute. Naruto broke the silence by standing up slowly and speaking just above a whisper.

" Neji, I'll be right back" Naruto said as he left that spot. Neji wanted to ask what the reason was but it was obvious the reason was to beat some sense into Sasuke and Gaara. Neji didn't know wether to stop Naruto from causing things to get any bigger or join him, because of what those bastards did to Sakura.

Neji shook Sakura enough to snap her back into reality.

"Sakura, look...um...I'm not sure if Gaara might come back to the group or not, so I'm just saying that even though it's hard for you right now, you have to pull your self together. We have to win this." Neji said to her trying to lift her spirits somewhat.

Sakura looked up to see Neji and then she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. She tried to smile but she couldn't even muster that much. She burst out crying.

"I-I-I'm S-s-sorry!"She just stopped talking all together and cried. Neji didn't touch her at all, when he saw a girl crying he just didn't know what to do.

"It's alright Sakura, just please be ready when the time come, okay?" Neji asked in the sweetest voice he could muster.

Sakura looked up again and this time she smiled even through the tears.

(Some where on the other side of the stage...er..backstage)

Naruto was searching every place he could to find Gaara or Sasuke. He was seriously pissed off but just kept that to himself.

All of a sudden he bumped into someone.

"Sorry, I didn't see where I was going." Naruto said in a non-caring tone and began to walk off.

"Naruto! Where are you going?" said someone very familiar to Naruto. Naruto turned around to find Ino. Ino ran up to Naruto with a worried look on her face.

"Naruto, what's going on?" She said looked at Naruto. Ino knew Naruto was looking for Sasuke because of the look he had.

"Ino, where's Sasuke?" Naruto said without looking at her directly. Ino was a bit stunned by the question but said nothing, instead she averted her eyes to a different direction. It seemed she did know where Sasuke was but because of her love towards him, she wasn't willing to see him hurt even though he deserved it.

" I-I don't...know. I'm sorry Naruto." Ino ran away from Naruto hoping he wouldn't follow, which wasn't the case. Naruto chased after Ino without thinking about it twice. Ino was leading towards a very narrow path Naruto never thought would have been anywhere near the stadium where they were performing for the Battle of the Bands. Still Naruto chased after her though until Ino ran into a show like door and stopped. This Struck Naruto as odd. Why would she have to stop now?

As soon as Naruto coming near the shadow like place he saw more than just the shadow of the alley and Ino, it was Sasuke's shadow and someone else's who he couldn't recognize. He kept on running not keeping his eyes off the shadows until he stopped because something was thrown right at him.

"Who the hell are you!" Naruto shouted as he was about to charge at the shadows but they revealed themselves to be Sasuke and none other than Gaara.

Naruto instantly stopped as he saw Gaara come out of the shadows.

"Why the hell are you with this bastard! Sakura is heartbroken because of you!"Naruto shouted at Garra. Naruto couldn't control his rage and attacked Gaara when he saw that he made no sudden change of expression.

Sasuke and Ino pulled them both apart.

"Naruto! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto who was was trying to get Ino to let him go so he could rip Gaara a new one.

Gaara on the other hand just wiped the blood that Naruto made him spill. Gaara moved his arms high to the side of him as if he were saying "Hey, it wasn't my fault", this just pissed Naruto off even more. This time Naruto didn't bother to attack Gaara. Instead he pushed himself away from

Ino and straightened out his shirt and himself. He heaved a deep sigh and looked up to Gaara and Sasuke with a menacing glare.

"If you go near Sakura, or anyone of us...I swear, I'll really hurt both of you fuckers. Don't play with me, or you'll end up like shit. That was a warning." Naruto said with a dead serious tone and then walked away.

This really pissed off Sasuke. Sasuke started walking up to Naruto but then he stopped when he felt someone hug him. Sasuke turned slowly to see who it was, who was holding him back from hurting Uzumaki Naruto. It was Ino.

"What the hell are you doing Ino?" Sasuke asked in a very serious tone. Ino looked up to Sasuke with tears in her eyes barely able to keep her pupil from moving from all the frustration.

"Sasuke, please...don't. Just leave Naruto be. You can't get yourself banned from the competition or else you'll never beat Itachi. Besides, what happen if you got hurt!" Ino choked out the last sentence she had said. Her worry of Sasuke became her first priority.

The last sentence she said, which had incredible feeling just pissed Sasuke off like he's never been pissed off before.

"You think that blond-haired bastard can beat me! Is that what you think! You're on their side right Ino!" He screamed at Ino, making her cower.

He had enough of her, so he slapped Ino accross the mouth so hard is ripped her lip open and knocked her to the ground.

Ino held her mouth and began to cry as she felt her tears hit the blood on her lip that was now trickling down her hand.

"S-s-Sasuke-kun! I'm s-sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Please!" She shouted to him even though the metallic taste of blood was getting into her mouth and that where she sat, she left a puddle of blood that still fell from her lip.

Gaara was walking towards Sasuke without even second-glancing Ino in her state. He threw a napkin at her before he left that Ino picked up to put on her lip while she slowly got up and took out some chap-stick to hopefully help her lip heal before the performance.

Sasuke walked towards the stadium with Gaara following close behind leaving Ino on the ground bleeding and crying.

"Sasuke-kun...I still love you, and I'll help you even through the tough times." Ino whispered to herself through the tears.

(Back at the main stage)

Neji was checking for everything on stage to be working alright to make sure his performance was going to blow everything in everyone's face.

He had wanted to go and check on Sakura but it was better if she sorted this kind of thing out on her own. There was nothing he could do without hurting her feelings.

Lee and Kakashi had been testing out their equipment and trying to practice all the songs they were going to perform so they would be at the top of their game.

"Hey Neji! Why don't you gather up the band so we can rehearse before they do the opening act, which is in like five minutes." Kakashi said while twirling a drum stick between his two fingers, making it look almost impossible for an untalented person to do it.

Neji nodded and decided to go look for Sakura first and then deal with Gaara's non-sense.

Neji left his guitar over by the side and walked off the side of the stage.

Many people were starting to come and look for openings to where maybe they would mosh, or be closer to the stage and stage-dive if the band was that good.

Neji pushed through crowds of people in search of a pink haired girl but there was no luck. He decided to take a breather after looking to ten minutes without stop. He sat behind the stage looking up at the sky as a brown feathered bird flew across the sky.

Something about that relaxed his nerves, since he was so tense. He took deep breathes in and exhaled until he felt it was time to take another deep breath.

As he took his last breath, he heard someone doing the same exact thing as him, which sort of surprised him. He look to see who was the person who was doing this and was amazed to find it was Sakura.

By the looks of her face she had re-done her light make-up and had calmed down a bit. It was obvious she was still hurt by the break-up but not as bad anymore.

"Sakura...are you feeling better?" Neji asked Sakura who was caught off guard by Neji.

She turned to him and gave him a radiant smile which made all of her tears and sad eye expressions seem like a thing of the past.

"Well I feel better, not great but better. I don't think I can handle seeing him anymore but either than that, I'm feeling just fine. Neji-san...thanks...you and Naruto were here for me when I broke down and I really owe you guys" Sakura said with a smile on her face yet looking at the ground. She was watching her own feet kicking the ground.

Neji kept a straight face and then using his index finger, he pulled her chin towards him, making her look at him with a bit of shock on her face.

" Neji-san?" Sakura asked Neji who was staring at her with his light purple yet silver eyes.

Sakura was enticed by his eyes and couldn't stop staring at him. She felt as though she wanted to kiss him but she didn't know if it was right because of her current situation.

Sakura was starting to get very nervous.

But all those feeling left her as soon as Neji couldn't contain those feelings anymore.

He bent over to Sakura's heightt and kissed her lightly on the lips. Sakura closed her eyes and so did he. He then pulled back but then went back for more. Neji this time kissed her deeper. His bottom lip was right above her lower lip. Then his top lip was on top of her top lip.

Suddenly Neji tried to force his tongue to enter her mouth and caress hers but then Sakura snapped back into reality and pulled away. Neji then realized it to,

" I-I'm sorry Sakura! I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me!" Neji apologized to her. Sakura smiled and said.

" Um...well It's not like I didn't enjoy it myself but I think it's too soon Neji-san...so just give me time please." Sakura said slightly blushing. Then she snapped out of her blushing state.

"Was there something you needed with me Neji-san?" she asked him which reminded him.

"Oh yes! I was wondering if you could join the rest of us who are getting ready to practice our main song." Neji said to her. Sakura smiled and nodded to his kind request.

Sakura stood up completely and walked along side of Neji who couldn't help but smile at her. Sakura shut her eyes and smiled at him and then opened them and started walking to the place where they were going to practice but hoping she would not encounter Gaara there. Sakura didn't know how she would handle it if she saw him again on this day.

(Back stage)

Kakashi was sitting on one of the giant speakers playing random cords on the guitar while looking at other bands talking to each other. Kakashi then looked at Lee who was trying out his "cool Poses" for when they won, he would be ready for it.

" Hey Lee!" Kakashi yelled at Lee hoping that Lee could hear him over all the clamor that all the other bands were making.

Lee turned to Kakashi. "What is it?" he asked while looking at Kakashi who was smirking at something, which in a way perplexed Lee.

"Do you think Neji likes Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked while putting his thumb at the side of his right cheek while his index finger was under his chin in a bit of a coiling position.

Lee was a bit stunned that this type of question even came to Kakashi. But then Lee snapped out of it and shook his head.

"Why would he? He knows that Sakura and Gaara go together." Lee said to Kakashi who nodded in agreement. All of a sudden both saw that Neji and Sakura were coming their way.

"Yo Neji!" Lee shouted to him and Neji looked up at Lee and Kakashi.

Kakashi noticed that there was no Gaara to be in sight.

"Where's Gaara? Didn't he come with you guys?" Kakashi asked Neji who made no facial gesture to show any opposition towards Gaara. Sakura on the other hand looked at the ground and her smile turned into a frown. Kakashi got the hint. He knew that something between Sakura and Gaara must have happened.

Lee of coarse didn't know anything so was a bit confused and showed it.

All of a sudden Lee pointed behind Neji and Sakura and said " Gaara, you're here".

Instantly Neji and Sakura turned and Kakashi jumped down from the speakers to land next to Sakura. Kakashi gently landed on his feet as though he were a cat and started to stand up slowly and balled his hands into a fist and now stood next to Sakura. Kakashi didn't need to know the circumstances to know Gaara had lost the trust of the band for some reason.

"Gaara. What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked in a very serious tone to Gaara who turned to him.

Lee was still very confused and didn't understand why they were all mad at Gaara. Oddly enough, the people surrounding them didn't even bother to look towards their direction because the more fighting between the bands, the better for them because now they had better chances of winning.

"I didn't come here to fight...not now anyway. I came here to tell you that I'm dropping out of this band, okay. That's all I had to saw." Gaara said as he was turning to leave and began walking.

All of a sudden Sakura stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. Kakashi, Lee, and Neji looked as Sakura was doing this without moving.

"Gaara, you might be siding with Sasuke to reach the line light easier to make it big quicker, but there is no fast way to get to the top. I'll teach you this." Sakura said with all seriousness in her voice.

"Whatever" Gaara said as he walked away leaving them in silence.

Lee now got what was going on and decided to say nothing.

Kakashi decided to speak up about the new problem. :So who's gonna play main guitars now?" Kakashi asked Neji who was now in deep thought.

"I'll take that spot." said someone who was heading their way. All of them turned to where the voice came from and noticed it was none other than Naruto!

"Naruto? I thought you were still in Sasuke's band. Why?" Kakashi asked Naruto who just made a smirk that reached from ear to ear.

Naruto walked closer to them.

" I quit Sasuke's stupid band. I thought you guys might need me to help ya." Naruto said while putting his arms behind his head as though he was reaching for something there.

Sakura smiled softly, Neji sort of grinned, Lee was still confused from what had just happened, and Kakashi sort of smiled in a cocky way.

All of them raised their fists into the air while Neji said something to them as a vow.

" We are going to kick ass and no one is going to stop us!" all of them cheered and raised their fists up to the sky.

As they said that the speaker came on to the stage.

"Chicks and dudes! It's time we start this shit!" Everyone went crazy in the crowd. Behind the stage everyone started to get a bit out of control because some of them had to get ready because they were going on after the main attraction.

"Settle down! For this year's Battle of the Bands, we got a kick ass band! We have...AKATSUKI!" The announcer said while everyone in the crowd went completely crazy.

People had to camp out just to get a mediocre seat at a headlining AKATSUKI concert.

Itachi, Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame came out from behind the curtains getting ready to play.

Neji and the others behind the stage too were getting a bit excited to see the members of Akatsuki even though they never really liked Itachi.

All of a sudden then heard a loud yawn come from behind them. Neji and the others turned to see who would dare yawn while AKATSUKI was about to go on.

It turned out to be none other than Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother.

"Sasuke!" Neji and Naruto shouted.

Sasuke grinned because they said his name. Kakashi payed no attention to him and Lee was still looking at the band members while they were talking.

Sakura gave a none-caring type of look towards Sasuke.

"Sakura, how are you? I mean after Gaara dumped you? You could always go out with me. I know Gaara wouldn't mind." He said with a smirk on his face. Sakura was struck by what he had said. She said nothing but gritted her teeth.

Neji stepped in front of her and Sasuke.

"Don't start something you can't finish Sasuke.We're going to kick your asses in the battle of the bands. You're done Sasuke." Neji said and then took Sakura before Gaara could come out.

Naruto gave Sasuke a menacing glare and then turned to leave.

"Guess they must really hate you Gaara." Sasuke said while still looking at them leave.

Gaara came next to Ino and Kiba.

"Who the hell cares. I only came here to win not to make enemies with the guys that love to kiss my ex-girlfriend's ass." Gaara said in a dead serious tone which only made Sasuke chuckle.

(Back to the main stage)

Akatsuki began their song with Itachi playing rhythm guitars and vocals, Deidara on bass, Sasori on guitars, and Kisame playing the drums. Their song was amazing because everyone stayed quiet for their performance. There were tons of head bangers and people were crowd surfing. Tons of mosh-pits were formed while they were starting to play.

Akatsuki had been around for about three years and had made millions of fans all around the world and just as many bashers otherwise known as "Haterz".

(so you can get a good idea of what I can envision Akatsuki playing it would be something heavy. Imagine the song "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God...don't let the name fool ya, they're good ol' fashion metal check em out)

All of the bands backstage weren't sure if they could ever match up to the greatness of Akatsuki but they sure as hell were ready to try after hearing this great performance.

(TBC)

A/N I know I said there was a lot more to this chapters plot but I had a serious writers block and not to mention now when I finally want to write, I have some serious work put on my shoulders.

I promise that as soon as I upload this chapter I'm writing the next one to catch you guys up. And as you may notice, I changed my e-mail so I kinda lost the e-mails of my beta-readers.

So for now I'm gonna do it and correct it myself. Might suck but o'well, O' I'll try to upload another chapter of my others fics as soon as I catch you guys up to the place where I'm supposed to

bye-bye