Disclaimer: NARUTO and its characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. I also don't own any real life brands mentioned in the story.
Coming Home To You
by yunotsuki
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Chapter 5
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"Yamanaka-sensei! Here! I'm here!"
I see Uzumaki-san at the opposite end of the corridor, waving his hand at me. Then Tenten and I immediately trot towards him.
"Oh, so you brought Tenten-sensei with you," commented Uzumaki-san while bowing his head a little bit at Tenten. She responds to him with similar gesture.
"Ino-sensei invited me because her friend who's supposedly going to come couldn't make it in the end. I also heard from Ino-sensei that it was Uzumaki-san who gave us the chance to enter the backstage, therefore I'd like to say thank you."
That man nods. "It's no big deal. I also got this ticket from one of The Falcons' members who's my relative. His name is Neji. Later you can also deliver your gratitude to him."
"Of course!" I exclaim.
Right now I can barely wait to enter the backstage as soon as possible. I've fixed my make-up in the toilet before this and I've also prepared my mental self to meet The Falcons, especially Sai, in private. I even brought one of The Falcons poster collections I own so that I can ask all of them to personally sign it.
Uzumaki-san then guides us to the entrance door to the backstage, which is guarded by two big-built security staffs. They let us in after each of us showed them the tickets and after they gave us name tags written as 'special guest'.
"Can I know who is Yamanaka-sensei's most favorite among The Falcons members?" Uzumaki-san asks me out of the blue after we're told that we still have to wait for a while in the waiting room.
"My favorite member has always been Sai since the beginning," I answer, "but please don't ask me why though because I myself don't exactly know the answer. Perhaps, it could be because of his smile."
"So, it's Sai! In my opinion though Sai is a bit kind of creepy, you know," DUH! "but still he's really fortunate to have a fan like Yamanaka-sensei. Then, what about you, Tenten-sensei?"
"I'm still a new fan, so for now I don't have a particular someone I favor the most. I like everyone."
"This was her first The Falcons's concert," I add, grinning.
"Is that so? That means Tenten-sensei is very lucky to have the chance meeting all The Falcons' members in private on your first concert."
Uzumaki-san is right, Tenten is especially lucky. Hardcore Falconers out there are so going to be jealous of her if they know about this. I can imagine they would definitely take any possible measures just to be in her shoes and obtain this one very rare opportunity which we are very blessed to have.
"What about you, Uzumaki-san? I know you and Neji The Falcons are relatives through your wife, but are you also friends with the other members?" I ask him this time.
"Well yeah, you can say I'm friends with all of them. At first it was because of Neji, but sometimes when I was still in Konoha, I would go hang out together with them whenever we had the chances, so I think I'm pretty close with them. They are all genuinely fun people to be with after all, but soon you're going to witness something that, I bet, will totally left you stunned!"
Before I can ask for more details, a staff comes to usher us towards The Falcons' private green room. They are ready to have guests right now I hear.
"Remember the rule. No photos, no videos," I can't count how many times that staff has said this.
We all nod. Gee, and here I was hoping for the chance to take a picture with all of The Falcons...
"Don't worry, we will manage to do one later," whispered Uzumaki-san with a smirk. I return that with one of my own as well as a thumb. Heh.
My chest is pounding hard when the staff knock the door with "The Falcons" written on the silver-colored plate on it's surface. I can hear a dim respond coming from inside—I'm not sure from who, perhaps Suigetsu—and then the staff opens the door for us.
"Naruto! Finally you're here!" THAT'S KIBA—an he bumps his fist with Uzumaki-san's. Seems like what he said before is right; The Falcons and him look like long lost friends already.
"How is Hinata? Is she alright?" THAT'S NEJI—his long hair looks impossibly smooth and silky as usual, I mean didn't he just finish a concert a short while ago? Therefore as a woman and a fellow owner of long hair, I can't help feeling a bit jealous. What kind of hair product is he using? But unfortunately I also don't have the guts to ask. Ugh.
"She's fine. Two days ago she had some kind of a back pain to the point she could barely move, but right now she's okay. Her doctor also said that there's nothing seriously concerning that we should worry about."
"I see. That's relieving. But I'm still worried because she wasn't like this when she was pregnant with Boruto."
"I think it's mainly because we had to move to Kiri in her pregnancy. I couldn't refuse when Hinata firmly insisted that she wanted to come along with me as well."
"That girl has become so stubborn after she married you."
"Hahaha, that's not the case, really..."
"Naruto, by the way, who do you have there behind you?"—KYAAA SAI! THIS IS SAI! THE REAL SAI! I was too focused on Uzumaki-san's conversation with Neji that I didn't realize Sai was here—of course he is! What the heck, Ino!
"That's right, I almost forgot! Because Hinata and Boruto unfortunately couldn't come today, so I invited Boruto's teachers from his hoikuen. These are Yamanaka Ino and Tenten. By chance they are also fans of The Falcons."
"Greetings, my name is Tenten. I'm a new fan. Your concert earlier was undoubtedly amazing!" Tenten says, introducing herself.
Although I'm actually very nervous right now, I try my hardest to calm myself and bow down at them. "I-I'm Yamanaka Ino! I've always been a fan of The Falcons since your debut 2 years ago!"
"Yamanaka-sensei told me that she's a huge fan of Sai," Uzumaki-san's adds with his wide grin. Gee! Thanks to him now I feel embarrassed!
"Damn it, Sai, you're so lucky to have a peerless beauty like her as a fan!" THAT'S SUIGETSU—and he also puts his arm across Sai's shoulders. His pointed teeth look dazzling at a close distance when he makes a wide toothy smile at us. "Both of you know who we are already, but there's nothing wrong if we do some introductions. I'm Hozuki Suigetsu, you can call me Suigetsu. And this one is Shimura Sai."
"Nice to meet you," Sai chimes in, and, oh my God, even though I've seen him twice during his fanmeets but this is the first time I'm meeting him in a personal situation like this and I'm so starstruck—I literally can't take my eyes off of him.
And that smile of his—ugh! I feel like melting right now!
"Hi, my name is Inuzuka Kiba. Just call me Kiba. Thanks a lot for making your time to come watch our concert!" Kiba also introduces himself. His sharp, almond-shaped eyes narrowing when he smiles. He's cute.
"And I'm Hyuuga Neji, Boruto's uncle. Thank you for taking care of my nephew in hoikuen." Neji's soft voice and unique irises somehow manage to calm me down.
"Oh, it's nothing. That's my job after all. Besides Boruto is a cheerful boy for most of the time so we in the hoikuen are all happily taking care of him," I respond, "isn't that right, Tenten-sensei?"
"Yes, that's right. Boruto has always been pretty adorable on top of that. And thank you for giving us the opportunity to visit the backstage."
"Don't mention it."
All of a sudden, Uzumaki-san asks the important question. "Wait, where's Sasuke? He's not here?"
Certainly I don't see Sasuke The Falcons here in this room. I've been too starstruck to begin with, so I fail to notice that one member is currently missing.
"He's having a private guess, they said. He'll come here sooner or later," answered Kiba.
Suigetsu comments, "perhaps it's that movie director again, who's his name again? Ever since Sasuke got a cast in that movie, that director has come to visit many times, even to our studio."
"You mean, Jiraiya?" I respond, "You're talking about the Coming Home To You movie right? If I'm not mistaken the director was called Jiraiya."
"You seem to know a lot. Or don't tell me Yamanaka-san is not actually my fan, but Sasuke's instead?"
Oh my God, Sai, that's not what I mean... "N-No, I mean, I just happened to know, that's all."
"Haha, I'm just kidding. Besides I know you, the girl who attended my fanmeet bringing the whole 1:1 scaled poster of mine for me to sign, am I right?"
MY GOODNESS HE STILL REMEMBERED! PLEASE KILL ME NOW!
"One-to-one scaled poster? Wait, but then that means it's real-life size, isn't it? Are you for real? Do you also have my version of that poster?"
Suigetsu asking me with such a loud intonation does nothing but makes me feel much more embarrassed. Not to mention literally everyone in this room shifts their focused attention towards me right now. Without being able to utter anything, I just shake my head slowly. Suigetsu then makes such a disappointed expression which is followed by mocking laughter from his fellow group members. Seeing all that also makes me laugh just a little bit in the end.
If only they knew I've set that 1:1 scaled poster up as a standing display I placed inside my room... well perhaps I should just shut up about it.
In the next moment, they let us to sit and offer a few of canned cold beers. I gladly accept them of course, but Tenten asks for a soda because she says she doesn't drink alcohol. Hm, that's news for me. Even though we are both co-workers but I still don't know anything about Tenten. Perhaps I should invite her to lunches after this.
Uzumaki-san is totally right. The Falcons behind the camera are all fun and humble people. Kiba and Suigetsu are the most cheerful members in this group and they always and always love teasing and mocking Sai—poor Sai—but the receiving person himself doesn't mind it at all. In fact sometimes he will tease them back with his sarcastic responses—not to mention I just found out that Sai is actually a dark humor expert, but it's the one that magically doesn't make the atmosphere to turn awkward, this kinda surprised me actually. And then Neji is the calmest among the others but still he often offers his comments and opinions here and there.
Actually, this is not that different from what I've always gathered after watching The Falcons' behind-the-scene coverage or reality show features—except Sai and his dark humors of course. But seeing them in person and watching them on screen definitely are two different experiences, especially when now I feel like I'm actually involved in it. I feel like this isn't reality and I'm merely dreaming.
I think my love for The Falcons has grown even much more than before.
Our topic then comes back to Sasuke who still hasn't yet returned to this green room.
"I bet his private guest is that actress with the red hair again. Lately I often see her coming to the studio with Director Jiraiya," said Kiba while rubbing his own chin.
Woah, this is the gossip that was covered in Temari's favorite magazine, isn't it? Does this mean Sasuke and Karin are indeed close like what the article said? To think that I can get the news from valid and trusted sources is totally cool! Those mysterious 'anonymous' sources in that magazine can now just bury themselves in shame.
"By that actress you mean Uzumaki Karin, right? Are they really as close as what the circulating gossips say about them?" I ask feeling suddenly excited. My curiosity mode is activated.
Kiba then says, "Oh, so there are gossips about them out there already? Actually I don't really know. We've never asked Sasuke directly about it because since it's not really that important to us personally and I just think that whenever I see that woman in the studio it's all simply for that movie."
"And I think Sasuke also has never introduced that actress to us as far as I can remember. On top of that, we aren't exactly concerned with the stuff about the movie because we are not involved in it after all. Our manager and Sasuke himself deal with it."
"Neji's right," Suigetsu adds, "that's why I even forgot the director's name just earlier."
"High chance they are indeed close though. This is the first time I heard Sasuke being involved with a woman. And here I believe he's actually gay."
WAIT, SAI, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?
"Sasuke is... gay?" I repeat, feeling taken aback.
"Pfft how can you come up with that, Sai!" Uzumaki-san say while stifling his laughter for some reason. "Indeed he might never have told us anything about the opposite gender—so unlike you guys—but that doesn't automatically mean he's gay though. Maybe he just doesn't feel the need to talk about it. But I'm sure he's into women just like us."
"So does that mean each of you have a girlfriend then?" Woah, good job Tenten! Dig it deeper! Dig it deeper!
"No, none of us has one," answered Sai—and for some reason I suddenly feel relieved. "But I think Kiba secretly does. Who's the name again... Tama-chan?"
"Hey! I told you guys before that Tama is just my friend since childhood, not my girlfriend!" Kiba denies, but looking at his reddened face even I think they are so not 'just' a friend. Kiba's fans would be so heartbroken if they knew about this.
The other members of The Falcons laugh seeing Kiba's reaction. They definitely have the same thought as I do.
"But the truth is our management forbids us to have a girlfriend right now, because The Falcons has just made a debut not too long ago, right? We're not even completely ripe yet. Two years are still short after all," explained Neji after that.
Is that so? Well, no wonder I guess. But hold on, if my memory serves right, didn't Suigetsu date a model for a while before? Although they broke up like not so long ago I think. And so I ask about this matter to him.
"Ah, that... It was merely to promote her modelling career, that's all about it. You know how entertainment world works. Sometimes you need a scandal to raise your popularity, so our management agencies set us up for it. But don't let any of these out to public, okay? It's a secret," answered Suigetsu. "If I can be honest, she's not even my type at all. In fact, the type of women I like is actually kinda similar to that Sasuke's woman we've talked about before."
"I don't have a woman," a baritone voice suddenly comes from the direction of the door—oh my GOD THAT'S SASUKE! THE REAL SASUKE!
This is the first time I've ever seen Sasuke this close (because as I said I've never been to his fanmeet events). I think I've also mentioned before that Sasuke is the most handsome member in The Falcons and I'm totally not lying here—even though the value of handsomeness is a taste and tastes are very subjective, but still.
I'm being starstruck again for the umpteenth times today.
"Oh, Sasuke! Otsukaresama! Done meeting with your guest?" Uzumaki-san greets him with a fist-bump, to which Sasuke answers with the same gesture.
The leader of The Falcons finally notices Tenten's and my existence in the room when after he grabs a can of beer from the table.
"They are my acquaintances," Uzumaki-san explains on his own, "Hinata and Boruto couldn't come today so I invited Boruto's hoikuen teachers who just happened to be fans of The Falcons. The one with hair buns is Tenten and another with blonde hair is Yamanaka Ino."
Sasuke only nods. He opens his beer can and sits down on the empty single sofa between Uzumaki-san and Neji. This room suddenly turns into a complete silent as it seems like the rest of The Falcons are waiting for him to say something, but their leader continues to keep his mouth shut.
"Oi, Sasuke, shouldn't you introduce yourself?" Kiba asks, breaking the silent.
"Right. I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to meet you."
I'm finally brought back to an awkward reality when those black eyes stare at me. "Ah yes, nice to meet you too. I'm Yamanaka Ino."
I think Tenten also feels as awkward as I do because she introduces herself in a quite a poor way, perhaps mixed with being starstruck too.
The room goes silent again. After Sasuke's sudden appearance in this room, for some reason I've been feeling pretty awkward—is it because he arrived when we were gossiping him still? If I were him I would feel awkward too if I entered a room and found out the people inside were gossiping or talking about me. A kind of an unpleasant feeling, or whatever you name it.
But isn't Sasuke a friendly person in general? From The Falcons' videos he seems like a fun and pleasant type. Always putting on a smile and behaving in ways that melt his fans. That's why he has so many fans out there in return.
However what I'm feeling right now is a total opposite. Is Sasuke currently not in a good mood?
Uzumaki-san seems to catch the confusion on my face because in the next moment he says, "hahaha, you know, the real Sasuke is actually like this. Cool and doesn't talk much. The Sasuke persona you see out there is a complete fake. I was also surprised the first time I got to meet him, because he's just too different."
"Yeah, he's absolutely right," Suigetsu chimes in, "Sasuke will turn into a completely different persona whenever he is in front of a camera or when he is standing on the stage. I've been in the same group with him for the last two years and even I'm still not completely used to it yet."
"That's why he could get the main character role of a movie without casting. His acting is just too good to be true," Sai adds.
I take a glance at Sasuke who's silently listening his friends who are talking about him, not even sharing comments of his own or anything. I really can't believe that the real Sasuke The Falcons would be like this. This is nuts. If Falconers knew about this, I'm sure the fandom would explode in a matter of seconds and it would totally stay like that for weeks. But, you can say I'm really lucky having the chance to know firsthand!
This room is back to lively again thanks to the chattering trio Kiba-Suigetsu-Sai and Uzumaki-san who often responds to them. And then for some reason, the topic of the conversation is now shifted to Tenten and I.
"Have you been working long in the hoikuen?" asked Neji.
"Yes, after I graduated from high school, I worked part-time in several places before I landed a part-time offer in Futaba Hoikuen. After I obtained the early education teaching license, I finally become a full-time staff there. Until now, it's been 2.5 years since I first started full time."
"In my case, I'm still a part-timer," Tenten says next, "because I haven't got the license yet, but I plan to take the exam in the near future."
"Futaba Hoikuen is the best pre-school facility in the whole Kiri. All of the staffs there are professionals. That's why I decided to enter Boruto there." Uzumaki-san exclaims proudly. "You all know how Boruto is, do you? But you know what, just recently I heard that Boruto was willing to share his foods to his friends. In fact, he said himself that he wants to bring edamame for one of his friend and it's just yesterday when he begged me non-stop to buy him lots of them."
"Ah, edamame for Sarada, right," I say, remembering the short talk between father and son in hoikuen before the said father gave the backstage entry tickets to me.
Neji asks again, "Sarada? Who's that?"
"Sarada is one of the girls under my care in hoikuen. She's in the same class and same batch with Boruto in Kuma class. I noticed that the two have been quite close lately as they often play together."
"Boruto is still a three-year-old but he's having a crush on a girl already?"
"What are you talking about, Sai, there's just no way a three-year-old understood stuff like that." Suigetsu smacks one of Sai's arms.
"Loser. Just admit that you envy a three-year-old."
"What did you say! Who's feeling envy!"
"But really when I think about it again," Uzumaki-san cuts them, "these days at home Boruto's been telling us about his friend, Sarada. Sarada this and Sarada that, he always has a story to tell every time. So, don't tell me Sai's actually right... my son is entering his puberty already?"
Unexpectedly, Sasuke throws an empty can that he just finished earlier to Uzumaki-san. Exactly on his head. I can't help but laugh at that.
"Hey! It hurts, Teme!"
"Boruto is still three years olds, Dobe."
"I know but no need to throw an empty can at me, you know. It freaking hurts."
"I'm tired of hearing your stupidity."
"What'd you say!? You want to know how my fist tastes like then!?" Uzumaki-san folds up his sleeve as if he's seriously going to hit him, but the wide grin on his face shows that he's not serious about it. He's just being dramatic.
Kiba then shouts, "Oi, you can hit him wherever it is but just not his face! It's The Falcons' precious asset, y'know!"
We all laugh hearing that—except for Sasuke who's just forming a small, barely-there smile.
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Both of my eyes just can't stop staring at my iPhone's screen. I can't count how many times have I zoomed in, then zoomed out, and then stared in silent at a photo that's been the focus of my attention since who knows how long.
My picture with all of the members of The Falcons.
Our fun conversations had to come to an end when The Falcon's manager, Yakushi Kabuto if I'm not mistaken, came to the green room and announced that it was time for The Falcons to go back to the hotel. It's because in the next early morning they have to be ready for a flight to Iwa to perform their second concert of the Golden Week Tour. Their schedule during this Golden Week is really packed. In a week, they have to do five cities with Konoha as the closing of the tour.
"After the Golden Week Tour, we'll have more free time in our schedule, especially before Sasuke starts his filming at the start of summer," Neji told me, "I was thinking to come and see Boruto in hoikuen, so I'd like to know if there will be some hoikuen events before summer?"
"Oh, actually yes, there is. On the third week of May, hoikuen is going to hold a Parent's Day event. Aside from doing an open house, we usually do some picnic together in the school's yard and there is usually a voluntary performance by the neighboring junior high school's brass band club every year."
"Hm, interesting. And the timing's also perfect."
"I think it'd definitely be a chaos in the hoikuen if Neji The Falcons actually came to the event," I commented without thinking, yet he only replied with a single smile.
Seemed like he's really going to come. It's crazy to think about it.
Before all of them left, I asked Uzumaki-san so that I could take a picture with everyone in The Falcons. He gladly told Sasuke about it and asked for a permission. Fortunately for me, Sasuke didn't mind but only if it's for my own personal collection and not to be uploaded to the internet.
Ugh, even though I actually wanted to post it to my social medias and show off to everyone.
After that Uzumaki-san sent both of us home with his car. I really felt like I owed him something big. After all, this is one of the best days in my entire life.
I open my Line and sent some chats to Temari, showing off that picture at least to my best friend who is still far away in Suna. I bet she'll be jealous at the fact that I could take a picture with all members of The Falcons. Rare chances like this won't easily come for the second time after all. Not my fault if she couldn't have that chance because she had to go back to her hometown.
And I also remembered Sakura-san who declined my invitation to go watch and meet The Falcons together. I'm definitely sending some chats to her as well.
Yamanaka Ino: Sakura-san, it's too bad that you couldn't go.
Yamanaka Ino: Look who I took a picture with.
Yamanaka Ino sent a photo.
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To be continued
A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you like it so far. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Uzumaki Karin doesn't have a family relationship with Uzumaki Naruto even though they have the same surname. They don't know each other at all in this story. A complete stranger basically. Also to anon: yes, ytamano and I are the same person.