Hey guys! Really sorry for the late update. I have been really busy these past few months. its like as soon as i would start working on the story something would come up and then I would have to abandon it. I hope you all can understand. I will try my very best to become more regular but no promises. Because even now I have a lot of things on my mind. So apart from all this I hope you guys enjoy it. So, without further ado onwards!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 12: Phoenix

A week had passed since Sakura's infamous audition. After her performance, there was no doubt that Sakura was a gem and Kakashi didn't want to let go of such a talent. Immediately, a contract had been drawn up and Sakura was signed up as a singer for Beatboxx music records. She was told that she could start working after a week.

So, today was Sakura's first day at her new job. She was excited to start working on her music. Various ideas had been swirling inside her head regarding her album and she wanted to bring life to them as soon as she could.

She reached the record company's headquarters around 9 am. Ino was waiting for her in the reception area.

"There you are!" Sakura heard Ino's musical voice, "Let's go to the recording room and I want you to meet someone very special."

Sakura followed Ino to the third floor which housed various rooms for recording. Ino stooped in front of room no. 5.

"Before we go in" she said to Sakura, "I want to give you heads up about the fact that I am going to introduce you to your agent. Her name is Tenten Hyuga and she is an amazing woman."

Before Sakura could reply, Ino turned the handle of the door and walked in.

"Hey Tenten!" Ino called out to a beautiful woman standing in the middle of the room. She was wearing a short black sleeveless dress with a round neck. Her hair were bound in two buns on the top of her head. Her tall and sleek legs were accentuated by silver sparkling four inch tall pumps.

"Hey Ino! It's nice to meet you again, sweety!" she turned her attention to Sakura, "You must be Sakura Haruno. Wow! Ino wasn't lying about your hair being pink. So exotic! By the way, my name is Tenten Hyuga. I am going to be your agent or manager. My job is mostly to promote you and your music. I will also be responsible for your PR. I am looking forward to work with you."

She offered Sakura her hand, which Sakura shook politely.

"Hyuga?" she asked, "Are you somehow related to Neji Hyuga?"

"Yeah! I am his wife. But how do you know Neji?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Through Sasuke. You know Sasuke, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah! Neji speaks very highly of him" she replied excitedly, "He is one of Neji's closest friends but…." Her euphoria giving way to wariness. "How do you know Sasuke?"

She looked questioningly at Sakura.

"I…..um…..I" stammered Sakura.

"Uhh…Sakura is also one Sasuke's close friend." Ino said quickly. Sakura looked at her grateful. She wasn't sure if she wanted to share her secret with Tenten yet.

"Oh! That's great!" Tenten replied unsurely though her face brightened up considerably.

"Well let's move on to recording, shall we?" Ino interjected in an attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah!" replied Tenten.

She hooked one of her arms with Sakura and showed her all the paraphernalia that would be used for recoding. She also explained her the whole procedure for recording.

Sakura felt a weird tingling sensation in her stomach as though butterflies were swirling around inside her stomach. Her whole life was about to change. And she couldn't wait for it. But somewhere in the back of her mind she was feeling restless. She was scared of failing and feeling like a total loser.

"Just go with the flow, Sakura" she assured herself, "Just go with the flow"

Sasuke arrived home in the evening to find the house just the way it was but still he felt as if something was wrong with it.

"Sakura" he called out. But no reply came back. Suddenly, he remembered that she had left the house to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. It had almost been a week since Sakura left.

He sighed and made his way towards his study den. He slumped in one of the sofas placed there.

His parents, after expressing their desire to live with their older son, had moved out too. Though he still had his other servants working tirelessly, he felt the absence of his pink-haired friend. Just within a week, her absence had started affecting him and he realized how much for granted he had taken her. He was happy that she was following her dream and working hard to achieve them but he couldn't deny the fact that without her bright, dimpled smile the whole house looked dull. It was as if she was the life of the house and without her, it was just a lifeless mansion.

The only thing that helped him overcome this solitude, was the mind-blowing sex he got from his girlfriend, Karin. She truly knew how to cheer up a man, at least in bed. But still at times he would lie in bed thinking about his best friend. And the problem was that he still didn't know why she had taken such a drastic step so suddenly and why she hadn't shared her dreams with him? He would have helped her become a singer a long time ago, if only she had conveyed her longing of becoming one.

"Sasuke?" he heard Karin call out to him in a sexy voice.

"Coming" he answered her back.

He got up from the sofa and looked over the room once. His eyes landed on one of the pictures that he kept on his study table. It was of Sakura. He had captured the picture when she was admiring the sunset one evening. He had walked into the garden and found her standing there, with her eyes closed and her head upturned towards the sky. Her long pink tresses swaying in the light wind. He had never seen someone look so beautiful and peaceful. She truly looked like an angel to him. Without disturbing her out of her quiet demeanor, he had silently taken out his mobile phone and clicked a picture of her.

He gave one last look at the picture and then walked out of the study to meet his girlfriend.

6 months later

It had been 6 months since the fateful day she had walked out of the mansion. For those 6 months she had worked hard and her album was finally complete and ready for sale. Though she was still in touch with Fugaku and Mikoto, but not with Sasuke. Any news that she got about him was through his parents. The first few weeks were really hard for her. She had no idea as to what was happening and though, Ino and Tenten did their best to help her adjust to her new life, she still was pretty apprehensive. Sometimes, she felt this great urge of leaving everything and bolting back to Sasuke. But then all her bad memories of the cruise would come floating back before her eyes and she would abandon the idea of going back to her old life. Life had offered her this great opportunity to stand up on her own two feet and show the world, and more importantly herself.

And Life has never been fair to anyone. Nobody gets everything on a platter. To become something in life, to achieve one's dreams, one has to work hard. So with these new philosophy, she soon came to terms with the demands of her new life and even began to enjoy them. She easily overcame all the challenges thrown towards her. And finally, today was the day that her album was about to be finalized.

She made her way into the record company. She was wearing a white off shoulder sun dress, cap sleeved and reaching just above her knee. To accentuate her attire she wore her hair in a bun behind her head and donned white sandals on her feet. As soon as she entered she was greeted by the receptionist.

"Big day, huh?" she said to Sakura.

"Yeah" Sakura replied, "Fingers crossed"

"All the very best" she called out.

Sakura smiled at her and made her way towards the elevators. The whole elevator ride her heart was beating so hard that she felt as if it would beat its way out of her body. Today was the day, to put on final touches on her album. Kakashi had already gone through her album and was awe-struck by it. He was more excited than Sakura to launch his new singer.

The elevator doors opened on the top floor and she walked towards Kakashi's office. As soon as she entered, she was greeted by Kakashi.

"There is my star." Kakashi called out.

"Not yet" Sakura replied in a sing-song voice.

"Well, soon enough I am pretty sure you are going to rock the world." Kakashi paused, contemplating something, "Well, at least your music will.

Sakura laughed out.

Kakashi and Sakura indulged in small talk until Ino and Tenten arrived.

"Now that all of us are here" Kakashi started, "There are some things to discuss before we finalize the album. First of all, you still have to give me a name for the album. Secondly, we have to schedule a photo shoot for Sakura's album cover and thirdly, we have to decide a venue where we are going to uncover her album."

"Okay" Ino answered, "We can decide the name for the album by today. It has to be Sakura's choice. For the photo shoot, I think we should have it as soon as possible. We can keep it day after tomorrow and release the album by the end of the week. The venue should be in London, England. I mean we can uncover it in US but I feel it will help strengthen our international ties by holding the event in the UK.

"Excellent!" Kakashi cried out happily, "Any problems, anyone?"

Both Sakura and Tenten shook their heads.

"Well, ummm…." Sakura replied shyly, "I have come up with the name of the album. But I am not sure if its good." Her voice trailed off.

"Okay" replied Kakashi, "Tell us anyway and also the reason for choosing it."

"I thought about going with 'Phoenix' because all my songs are my journey from going through heartbreak, then finding myself and then finally, rising out of the pain as good as new. So, I thought….I mean….I don't know…." Sakura broke off.

All three of them stared at her.

"Sakura" Tenten called out, "That is brilliant and so apt for your album! I love it! What about you guys?" She gestured towards the others.

"Yeah I like it" Kakashi said.

"Yeah, me too" Ino cried out.

Sakura blushed from all the appreciation she was getting.

"Oh wait!" Ino interrupted, "What about your music videos?"

"No I am not ready for a music video." Sakura explained, "I just want people to like my music and not buy it for its music video. If my album does great then I will think about doing the video. I know that is not how it's done but I need to do it to see if I am as good as I believe I am. I hope you guys will understand."

Though Sakura's request was absurd, but seeing the determination in her eyes they decided to comply with her wishes.

The rest of the day they made preparations for the photo shoot and for the release of the album.

After a Week

Sakura was sitting in her green room. In just a few moments her album was going to be unveiled to the world. She had been preparing for this moment for a very long time. Sakura couldn't believe that she was in London. This was her second trip out of US and for this trip she was not a maid but the centre of attraction. Even without releasing any music videos, Kakashi and Ino had done a pretty good job of creating a hype about her album. They had selected one of the top hotels as the venue.

Sakura had decided to stay with the Uchihas at Itachi's Manor. She had made sure that Sasuke wouldn't be staying with them. She wasn't sure if she could face him yet. She was assured by Mikoto that Sasuke was not going to stay with them. Though he was coming to attend her function but he was staying at Karin's place in London. She couldn't believe that Sasuke was still dating Karin. It had been almost 6 months since they had met at the cruise and their relationship was still going strong.

She had arrived at the manor yesterday evening and was thrilled to meet the Uchiha family again especially Itachi. She had stayed up late last night talking to Itachi, after Fugaku and Mikoto had retired for bed. Though he already knew what had transpired between his brother and Sakura, it didn't stop Sakura from pouring out her feelings in front of him. After hearing her story, Itachi just sighed.

"Foolish little brother" Itachi breathed out, "I think he is the only person in the world to confuse his love for friendship."

This made Sakura stare at Itachi.

"Its true" Itachi replied passively, "I have seen the way he behaves around you and also, when you are away from him he gets agitated. I believe that even now he must be going through some inner turmoil. But I cannot discount what he did to you. Somewhere down the line, he really started taking you for granted and accepting that you are his maid. At times you become more than friends to him and sometimes you are just an employee to him. He is really complicated. I always felt that one day that dumb head would realize that the only person he has loved more than anything is you, not even his family. But after what he has done to you, I think he needs a wakeup call and what you are doing to him is completely justified."

Sakura took a moment to go over what he had said to her.

"I don't know if he loves me because I have always got tenderness from him and not love. I was always just a friend to him. I don't want to make this something more than it is. I did just that before the cruise. I thought it would be just me and him. Look where that got me. So I just don't want to think about this. He is my friend and will always be my friend. No matter how much he hurts me, I will still be there for him as a friend." Sakura replied.

She looked heartbroken to Itachi and the worst part was that he didn't know how to make her happy again.

"Damn you, Sasuke" Itachi thought.

Both of them talked about less touchy topics rest of the time and then finally, bade each other goodnight and went to their respective rooms.

Sakura lay in her bed and thought about the two brothers. How different they were from each other. Itachi had always been there for her as an older brother and would always offer her good advice whenever she needed. Though she had trusted him but she had trusted and loved Sasuke more than him. All she had always wanted was to stay with Sasuke. To her, her dreams didn't mean much more than Sasuke. She had given them up in a blink of an eye just to care for him. Sometimes she felt that even now she could throw her desire of becoming a singer down the drain for him. She would still run back to him if he called her or if he needed her.

"Maybe that is why I need to become independent so as to not become his shadow." she thought, "I need to make a mark of my own. To show myself and the world that Sakura Haruno is something. To show Sasuke that I exist and I have feelings too. If I have been his maid for him, that doesn't mean that I have lost my voice. If I can run his house, then I can run mine too. If I have lived for him all these years, then I can live for myself too!"

There was a knock on her door that brought her out of her reverie. She heard Tenten asking for her permission to come in, which Sakura replied in an affirmative.

"Sakura, 5 minutes to get on to the stage." Tenten bustled in, "You look amazing and I believe you will perform remarkably. I have complete faith in you. You just have to have faith in yourself. Okay?"

Sakura just nodded as she didn't trust herself to speak.

They walked out of the greenroom and made their way to the backstage.

Tenten took a deep break and Sakura realized that this was the moment she had been waiting for this whole time. And though she was trembling with trepidation and excitement, she was more than ready for this moment. It all came down to this minute and Sakura was determined to prove herself.

So just before she walked on to the stage, she heard Tenten voice the exact thought that was going through her mind as well.

"Its Showtime!"

Yeah I know its a little short but I just wanted to get this chapter out. I was tired of staring at the same chapter these past few months. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I am really sorry for the late update and love how you guys have appreciated my story so much.

Katty09 signing off.