Chapter ten
Hokage Publisher
The heart of the Icha Icha Series
Act one: Underage
'SAKURA-CHAN, SAKURA-CHAN, GUESS WHAT!' Naruto ran into the classroom door, smashing a few people out of the way. He stopped when he was in front of Sakura and Sasuke's table. The proud look on his face told Sakura that some thing good happened. His smiles differed from that which he normally gave.
'What's up Naruto?'
'I've been promoted to vice-president!' Yelled Naruto grinning proudly of his achievements.
'That's great! Uh…where do you work again?'
Naruto told her once, but Sakura wasn't really paying attention, she was daydreaming instead. His eyes twitched, Naruto's face grew red and answered; it wasn't something which he was proud to talk about.
'Hokage publisher' His voice was almost a whisper, the boys in the room seamed to let out a loud roar while most of the girls just giggled. Sakura smiled not realizing the sudden change of reaction in the class or the obvious whispering and continuous gasping.
'I see, does that mean you'll get a higher wage?' She didn't even know what Hokage Publisher did, but judging of how happy Naruto looked. Sakura was sure that it was a great publisher.
'Yes, but a lot more work of course'
Naruto was glad that Sakura didn't laugh or felt uneasy after knowing what company he worked for, maybe she doesn't know what it has published. That was probably the reason; normally a girl like Sakura would definitely give a strange reaction once she knew about Hokage Publisher.
'That's pretty quick; that perverted old man is being extra nice to you isn't he?'
Sasuke came up from behind Naruto and took his seat beside Sakura, he once again clasped his hands together resting his face on top of them. His thinking pose was what Inner Sakura called it. The drooling pose was the fan girls' translation. Sometimes Sakura wondered if he did that out of pure habit or he just did it for showing off, but knowing Sasuke, she was stupid to even ask her self that.
'Aa, I thought it was strange that he gave me another promotion after one month'
For the first time Naruto and Sasuke actually spoke, but that made Sakura feel as if though she was missing that something in the picture. The strange feeling soon increased as the conversation extended.
'Perverted old man?'
The two boys turned their attention back to Sakura. Sasuke sighed and answered.
'The Dobe's guardian'
The confused look remained on Sakura face, she opened her mouth to ask another question.
'Why do you two call him perverted old man?'
It was obvious, because he is a pervert, but Sakura wanted to know more, there was something behind that name that she couldn't precisely pick out. Something in which the stupid expression on Sasuke and Naruto's face they used to stare at her. (A/N –TT – here's a better view of the face)
'Because he's the pervert' Sasuke sounded as if though he was explaining something obvious, give the sarcastic expression of a bored face.
'Yes I get that bit, but why?'
Naruto watched Sasuke carefully and nervously. A droplet of sweat rolled down his face hoping that his 'enemy' wouldn't say anything unnecessary.
'You're too young to know that' Sasuke's answer relieved the anxious Naruto. Her eyebrow fused, forming a frown.
'Oi, I'm older then you, what do you mean I'm too young?'
'Your mind is too young for that type of stuff'
'What ever, if you're not going to tell me then I'm going to ask Naruto, he's nice enough to tell me'
Sakura diverted her gaze over to Naruto who looked a little uncomfortable. Luckily that's when Kakashi came in, Naruto quickly dashed over to his table.
'Okay every one, sorry for my lateness but Tsunade-sama made me run one of her errands so I have no choice. Now I would like you all to turn to page 62 and continue the work from yesterday.'
This time Kakashi's excuse for his lateness seemed to be real, most of the time it would be either a really dumb excuse or lame-assed. And surprisingly she wasn't the only one in the class who realized that.
Headmaster's office
Sakura stared blankly at the lady, the information that she has processed just then didn't seem like something out of the ordinary modeling career. Sakura pinched her cheeks and felt the pain confirming that she was not dreaming; she opened her mouth to ask the lady once again in disbelief.
'Tsunade-sensei, what do you want me to do?'
The woman sighed and answered once more.
'There's a photo shoot for Come Come Paradise and you're the main subject, meaning that you're going to be the main model for the very next volume.' Sakura fought the urge to pinch herself once more to understand that what just happened was real.
'But I'm underage!' exclaimed Sakura. The woman took off her glasses and closed her laptop. She opened her drawer and drew out an envelop with gold decorations. She slid it over to the table to Sakura.
'With your parents' permission you can almost do any kind of job. Inside, that envelop has the papers with your parents' permission, you can check if you want'
Sakura's small hands slowly reached for the envelop in front of her. She opened it and drew out a set of papers. It was almost like a contract, Sakura slowly read the context. Her parents' signatures were signed clearly on the bottom of the page. Just what are they planning with my life here? Inner Sakura screamed in annoyance.
A slight feeling of disappointment erupted inside, creating a rush of anger. Her parents signed a contract without consenting her first; 'it's my life and reputation that they're contracting on here!' Inner Sakura yelled out and strangely enough the voice of Sasuke echoed inside her asking her 'what reputation?' while her inner self answered back 'The reputation of the human being, asshole'. Her inner self kicked down the image of Sasuke, it was until Sakura found it strange talking to a voice inside her head; she diverted her attention back to reality.
'Meet me at the front of the school after school time, that's all for now, you're dismissed'
Sakura bowed and left the room.
Sakura posed once more for the camera, flashes of light blinded her eyes for a split second sending her head a heavy wave. She's been taking shoots after shoots for hours already. The fake smile that was printed on her face started losing its edge as she begun to feel her energy drained. Her head felt heavy along with the rest of her body.
'Okay! Let's take a break?'
Sakura dropped herself on the spot and took deep breath. A cold can of drink was placed in front of her face. Sakura looked up to see Tsunade smiling carrying another can for herself.
'You're tired aren't you?' Sakura nodded and took the can of drink. After taking a sip, Sakura felt like she was going to barf, a sour look took over her neutral face.
'What is this?'
It almost tasted like apple juice but it was also soft drink, it was in the middle of both. Poison was what she concluded in.
'Oh, so this is your first time trying out energy drinks. Don't worry you'll get used to the taste' energy drink? What the hell was this sick world anyways?
'Aa, arigatou' Sakura totally forgotten her manners when she took the drink, it was a little bit late, but she said it didn't she? It wasn't even five minutes when the Photographer already yelled out time over.
'Every one let's get back to work'
Sakura slowly got up; she handed the drink to Tsunade and went back to her old position. Can my life get any worse?
Act two: The vice president
A few weeks later, Hokage Publisher, vice president's office
'OH MY GOD' yelled Naruto, his office seemed as if though it's just exploded. His employees rushed into the office smashing down the door just to see what had happened. No matter how stupid and hypo the boy acted they've never seen him yelling that loud before.
'What's wrong Naruto-sama?' asked Ayame his assistant. The stupefied expression on his face staring at the pictures lay out on his large office table. His jaw almost reached the ground as his eyes were almost white. For a moment there Ayame thought that her boss has fainted from shock and died. It took a while for them to realize that he was still alive due to the fact that his nose flung out blood violently as he dropped onto the ground.
'Naruto-sama' screeched Ayame in a horrific voice. She rushed over to her boss who was lying on the cold ground of his large office. She was relieved to see that he has gotten his senses together and slowly got up with her help. Within seconds, Naruto got back to his seat. When he realized that almost half of the office was there, he quickly wiped off the blood on his face and tried to obtain a calm look. Which he couldn't.
'Go back to your work, I'm okay now'
A few of the females employees giggled as they saw the pictures on his table while a few male employees couldn't help but kept starring at them. As soon as everyone was gone except for his assistant Ayame, Naruto quickly turned to her.
'Ne-chan what is the meaning of this? And how come I didn't know about it?'
It wasn't a bunch of questions coming from the vice president of Hokage publisher, it was a demand for an answer. As his assistant Ayame would know almost everything that goes on in the whole company but this time, she too did not know anything about the pictures.
'I'm sorry to tell you that I too know nothing of this Naruto-sama. Not until now that is' she hugged her folder tightly around her chest. She was afraid, afraid that he might scream and take his anger out by yelling at her. The old vice president Ebitsu would, he was a pervert and if she let him grab her butt or let him do something perverted she'd be free from the fear of losing her job. Thank God he got sent to another office after the chairman promoted Naruto as the new vice president.
'If Ne-chan doesn't know then there's only one person to ask'
Naruto got out of his seat and headed out of his office. Surprisingly Naruto didn't yell at her, she was starting to love her new boss much more then her old one, which she hated from the beginning. She smiled softly and blushed; Naruto-sama sure is a great man.
Hokage Publisher, president's office
'ERRO-SENNIN, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?'
With the loud voice that Naruto used he could probably break the whole building's windows if he concentrated. The older man took his two index fingers out of his ears and laid his eyes upon his adopted son. The boy had a strange fiery look on his face that meant trouble for him. A large picture was slammed on his table; the man took a look at it. It was a girl, a girl dressed in a pink bikini; she had strange pink hair and pale green eyes which shone due to the effect of the background and camera lights. She was in a very sexy pose along with a very cute pout. Jiraiya couldn't help but let the blood roll down his nose. He lost control of his face and let out a perverted grin as he drooled over the picture. But before he got the chance to examine the picture any closer Naruto pulled it away from him.
'Care to explain what's going on here? Why is this picture in the new cover list? And why are there other pictures of her in the other pages?'
Once again it was a demand to answer from Naruto. Jiraiya quickly wiped off the blood that came out of his nose and switched his face back to normal mode.
'Isn't it obvious, that's our new cover, and the new photos for the next book' answered Jiraiya simply.
'I know that already, BUT SHE'S UNDERAGE FOR GOD DAMN SAKE' yelled Naruto, Jiraiya lifted his eye brow.
'She's allowed, her parents signed a contract letting her model for almost anything.' Naruto frowned, how could her parents do something like that to her? Sakura, their own daughter? Thought Naruto, they're pretty bad parents letting her live by herself and making her do stuff like that.
'So this is our new cover?' asked Naruto unconvincingly.
'Yes' answered Jiraiya sharply watching his adopted son carefully. It was the moment when Naruto was calm, which scared Jiraiya the most, as a guardian and a teacher.
'Why did you let her model for this?' asked Naruto. Once again his voice was calm. If her parents made her do something like this, then Sakura would definitely do it.
'Its Tsunade's doing, she wanted the girl to model for the new volume' now that was a shock, in all of Naruto's years of knowing the old lady, she would never let a student do something like that. Unless if it was a serious matter.
'B-'
Naruto was cut off by Jiraiya's voice
'Naruto, in the business world things like this happen often. Especially in the modeling world. Popularity is the main importance'
That was even more shocking. Life was a lot more cruel then Naruto has expected. He stared at the picture of Sakura for a while and turned around to head out of the office. Processing the information, Naruto slowly accepted it.
'Erro-senin, I'm leaving now'
Naruto closed the door behind him. Outside Jiraiya's office he stared seriously at the picture. Sakura-chan is definitely going to get into more trouble with this on the cover.
And Naruto was right, Sakura did get into a lot of trouble, everywhere she went, men, boys, perverted little kids, were reading the new volume of Come Come Paradise with her big picture on the cover, not only that, but other pictures inside too. And thanks to Sakura's rare pink hair everywhere she went, she was recognizable. Every boy in the school would be found walking around holding a copy. Soon Tsunade made a rule to band those books at school since they were distracting lessons.
There were many copies confiscated at school but somehow the boys never seemed to run out of the stuff. The only boys that probably didn't hold one around were Sasuke and Naruto and a few other which will not be mentioned due to their privacy purpose. Strangely enough, Naruto suddenly got popular with the girls due to the fact that he didn't carry a Come Come Paradise with him all the time. But what the girls didn't know was that he was the vice president of Hokage Publisher, the creator of Come Come Paradise. Still till this day Sakura knew nothing of his job.
Act three: Night drive
Throwing the phone as hard as he could towards the wall across to him, Sasuke took his keys and wallet and rushed out of the large mansion. A few of the maids noticed the angry aura oozing out of him, yet none decided to stop him. Hopping into his favorite car, Sasuke excited the mansion as far as he could away from the nightmare. Stepping harder on the accelerator, he could see the distance he made. His car engine roared replacing the sound of silence from the night streets.
She packed her bags and got changed into a different set of clothes to get ready to go home. Sakura made her way out of the building. Her head lifted up to see the moon shining brightly. It was once again a full moon. A pretty rare one, in fact, it was blue. A cool breeze passed by, Sakura shuddered under the cold breeze; she wrapped her arms around herself and slowly strolled down the dark streets. A large number of good looking cars sped past her; it must be one of the battles again, she thought. She'd been to one before, it was fun. The loud sound of the roaring engine echoed down the streets. A familiar car stopped in front of her just before she was about to cross the street, the door opened revealing Sasuke.
'I'll give you a lift home'
Sakura smiled and hopped into the car.
'Thanks'
As Sasuke continued to drive, silence broke between them. Her head leaned against his dark windows, eyes starring out at the far distance. She hummed a familiar melody, in the silence of the car. His car engine roared in the background accompanying her peace humming. It wasn't until he got annoyed with the melody that Sasuke decided to break the silence between them. (A/N – the song that Sakura was humming was the Sakura theme, listen to it, its pretty sad. Why did I choose it? Don't even ask cuz I'm not gona answer, it's for preventing future chapter spoiling purposes)
'So how was work?' asked Sasuke, Sakura lifted her head from the window and moved it to the soft seat.
'Terrible' answered Sakura. Her hand reached for her temple rubbing it, easing the pain it was going through.
'I see'
'By the way, what are you doing driving around at night?'
Sasuke kept silent and then swiftly answered.
'Felt like it'
'Did something happen?' asked Sakura, her head lifted off from the seat starring at him, his face held a blank expression like usual
'Nothing' snapped Sasuke.
'You're a bad liar, tell me'
Sasuke didn't say anything…he kept his silence. Her eyes focused upon him. Sasuke was concentrating on the road at the same time as concentrating on her with the corner of his eyes. The attention was annoying, he was forced to answer.
'They were stalking me again'
'Who are 'they'?' asked Sakura, his eyes flinched, he bit his bottom lip, the features on his face showed anger and irritations, one of the few emotions people see on his face.
'My parents' answered Sasuke, he slowly let go of the accelerator and stopped, he parked in a parking spot of the empty street. He was afraid that due to his rush of anger he might lose control of the car. He's always has an anger problem. There was silence between them; Sasuke had to break the silence.
'They want me to go to America and join them over there.' Sasuke's fist curled up, he gripped it as hard as he could, trying to control himself from punching something.
'You're mad because you realized that they only call you because they need something from you, right?'
Her parents only recently started calling her again because they wanted her to take the modeling career seriously. It's was almost like bribery, she knew exactly how he felt. It was something that every single parent knew how to do well, money, cars, new things, even a house; they only know of bribery to get what they want. Thinking about it made Sakura mad, while on the other hand Sasuke was surprised, but then one thing special about Sakura was that she almost understood everything that he felt. Maybe that was why Naruto was also attracted to her, she understands.
'I take your silence as a yes, but you know, even if you run away from them, eventually you'll have to face them, it's not something that you can run from for the rest of your life'
The moonlight silhouetted her features clearly, she wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was fixed upon a far away distance. She looked as if though she was sucked into her own world. And he was sure what she has just said was something that she told herself many times before. Noticing his gaze of bewilderment, Sakura smiled at him. Sasuke shook off the stupid expression from his face and replaced it with his normal ice-cube feature, but what he didn't realize was that the ice-cube features were melting.
'Have you eaten yet?' asked Sasuke, Sakura shook her head as her tummy roared as if right on cue.
'Let's go somewhere to eat' sighed Sasuke, Sakura never really knew how to take care of herself, but that's just the way she was, no matter how much he hated to admit, Sakura was perfect the way she was.
'Actually, let's go back to my place, I want a home cooked meal' grinned Sakura, Sasuke stared at her for a while, straight away he knew what she was thinking. If he decided to run from his house for a while he might as well stay over at her place, she was his only friend after all. Naruto was not included, he was somewhere in between of enemy and friend. And there's nowhere else for him to run to. He let out a small smile.
'Sakura don't ever change' mumbled Sasuke; his voice was so soft that she could barely hear.
'What?'
'Nothing'
Sasuke opened the car window to let in some air, the cool wind brushed against his cheeks tinged in red, for once in his life time Sasuke was glad that it was dark. Otherwise, Sakura would see him blushing and that would be shame to his name, no… shame to the entire Uchiha name. No matter how low they go for businesses, the Uchihas would always keep their faces up high and never look down in shame. The blood runs in every single member, from the branch family to the main, so does the ice-cube-ness. It was passed down from generations to generations. It was just Sasuke's bad luck that his ancestors were all ice cubes. He stepped on the accelerator, and once again his car shot down the empty street replacing the sound of silence with the sound of his car engine roaring.
'C'mon tell me' whined Sakura; the sound of his ring tone caught her attention. Sasuke pulled out his phone and handed it to Sakura, without moving his sight away from the window, Sasuke drove with one hand. She stared at him blankly.
'Answer it for me, I can't talk while driving'
Sakura slowly nodded and took the small phone, she flipped it opened and perked her ears into the latest model. Sasuke watched her closely with the corner of his eye while concentrating on the window at the same time.
'Sasuke, listen to me you father only wants what's best fo-
'I'm sorry, I think you've got the wrong number' Sakura didn't know what to do; she panicked but then got the best idea. Luckily she kept her voice calm and innocent; thank God I took those acting lessons, must thank Tsunade-sensei. Must thank Tsunade-sensei. Chanted the Inner Sakura.
'Oh, I apologize' with that Sakura closed the phone, just when she was about to hand it back over to him, a command was given.
'Turn off the phone before she calls back'
Sakura did as she was told. Who was that woman? The voice was feminine, sweet, that of an elegantly mannered person, lady to be more précised.
'Wh-
'My mother' answered Sasuke swiftly reading her mind.
'Oh I see…Sasuke… how long are you going to run from this?'
She gazed at him solemnly. But silence was his answer, he didn't want to give them what they wanted, he couldn't. He swore that he would never obey them, that he'll never live by the family rule, and that he'll never do anything foolish. He gritted his teeth as memories from the past rushed upon his mind. It was all regrets, he was only ten. He was foolish. Foolish to think that he could change anything, to go after a life that had no meanings, and to abandon the most precious thing to him, in order to receive a little acknowledgement.
Sakura took his silence as a sign that he didn't want to answer, sometimes she felt like she knew him inside out, some times she felt like he was just another person or a thing standing next to her with no feelings or any emotions or life. An ice cube was what he was, Sakura's eyes diverted to the scenery outside the car window. Heavy droplets of rain encountered the smooth clean window.
Watching them in silence, Sakura felt as if though Sasuke was not the same person she knew, the perfect image, the perfect life. It was all fake, like her. And for once, Sakura wouldn't have thought of any one else that knew her feelings better then he did. Smiling, she knew she was no longer alone. Someone understood how she felt, that someone shared the same pain.
'I'm glad we became friends' she mumbled, the roaring sound of the engine forbade him from hearing, but knowing that was just enough for her. Sakura smiled, a true one this time. She smiled toward the window, hiding it behind the darkness that wrapped around her. But it was visible to Sasuke, seeing her smile eased his inner soul, since that day, he knew he was no longer lonely. The silence between them remained for the rest of the ride, this time the silence held a peaceful aura.
To be alone
To be nobody
The pain of loneliness is unavoidable
Sometimes running away became the solution
But it would only work momentarily…
But if someone understanding comes along
Then the trouble shared is trouble halved
And eventually, you'll have to face it all
Although its not always easy,
That doesn't mean it'll always be hard.
Because sometimes things just click.
And just when everything is perfect
Something else would go wrong
Sadness, happiness, comes and goes
The way of life is unpredictable
But what goes around comes around
To never give up is the challenge in life.
-Shiro-chan and moonsweetangle doesn't exist on I'm just using her email address' name-
(A/N – this is the text for my little English assignment picture book. My partner and I got the idea from Naruto. It's lay out like a poem, but its not.
Who can guess why I put it in this?)
The boring-est author's note
Hi guys, I updated early! Yay, well I've decided, updates from now on are once in two weeks I've decided to do regular update from now on. That wasn't two weeks, but heck, next chapter is on the next next Thursday.
Next chapter is the beginning of the main twist, don't worry there is heaps more of this fic. I'm planning around 20 to 25 chaps. I gave up the idea of writing in acts, I guess I'll leave it as a special chapter, since it was sooo long.
I've also posted two of my new SasuSaku AU fics, Mistaken Identity and War Machines. Check them out if you have time, personally I think they're a lot better then Real Emotions. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. Tell me any thing through a review, I'm more then happy to respond. Here is a preview on the next chapter.
Next chapter: Fan girls, The crazy airheads
'Aaaa…where has my dear beloved Sakura-chan disappeared to?' shrieked Lee.
Sasuke and Naruto both stared at their sempai overreacting, Sakura was probably hiding behind them two since seeing Lee overreacting might give her nightmares. The two boys turned around to see that there was no one behind them. Strange, as they exchanged glances. Without saying anything Sasuke rushed down the corridor, what ever that was wrong with Sasuke, Naruto also had a bad feeling. He too dashed down the corridor following Sasuke.
Well that wrapped it up for this week, see ya all in two weeks. That's if I remember, (mwhahhahahahaha)
Shiro
