A/N: Since I can't respond personally to anonymous reviewers, I'll just say thank you here: Thank you! Firegoat, Sasuke does drama films like Hinata, but I think he leans to the darker ones (Where he can brood and look cool.).

This is definitely a SasuHina story, but I love triangles too much not to write one... However, I think I might save it for another story I'm planning (Another AU, 'cause I can never get enough of them).

Chapter Two: Gathering

Hinata arrived early Monday morning at the studios of Sannin Productions, and was greeted by a cheerful, dark-haired woman who introduced herself as Shizune, aide to Tsunade as well as the assistant director for 'Dead Drop.' Hinata wondered briefly if her friendship with the studio head had anything to do with her securing the directing position, but chose not to pursue this thought out loud.

'Miss Hyuuga-' Shizune was interrupted by Hinata's polite insistence that she be called by her other name- 'Hinata, please follow me to the meeting room. Have you eaten yet?'

Hinata nodded, stepping after the aide through a long hall that wound past many small offices plastered with movie posters. The two women exchanged pleasantries during their walk and Hinata discovered that she was the first to arrive.

'I expect the other three will be late,' Shizune sighed. 'Tsunade won't be pleased.'

'I'm sure they won't be,' Hinata assured her. 'They know how important it is to be on time for a production of this size.' She added a mental 'And no one wants to face Tsunade's wrath.'

The meeting room was quite large, furnished only by a simple table and chairs. Tsunade sat at the top of the table, rifling through files and occasionally tapping out a note on her laptop.

'Tsunade, Hyuuga Hinata is here.'

The blonde looked up, instantly flashing a smile at Hinata. It seemed to Hinata that her early arrival had put her in a favourable light.

'Welcome, Miss Hyuuga! Take a seat! I'm pleased you took a role in the movie; your work is exceptionable. "Silence" is a favourite of mine.'

Hinata didn't bother telling her that "Silence" was generally accepted as a terrible movie and that it made huge losses at the box office. If Hinata hadn't been contractually obliged to do it, she would have run the first chance she got. Instead, she did as she was told, making sure to position herself in the middle of one side. She neither wanted to sit too close to Tsunade, nor too far, for fear of offending.

Tsunade had just begun asking her something about "Silence" when the door flung open. The three women present turned to see who was making such a dramatic entrance.

Uchiha Sasuke sauntered in, dark eyes rapidly sweeping over them. He seemed to sum them up in a mere moment, and, as if uninterested by what he saw, sat down directly opposite Tsunade without a word.

'Mr Uchiha,' Tsunade said, a frown tightening her lips. 'It's a pleasure to see you again.'

'I'm sorry I can't say likewise,' he answered indifferently.

Shizune stifled a noise of disbelief; at Tsunade's look, she exited to wait for the other two actors.

'I confess I was somewhat surprised to hear that you agreed to appear in this movie.'

Sasuke shrugged lazily.

'What can I say? The scripts for the other projects I was sent appeared to be worse than the one for 'Dead Drop.' I figured I might as well take the best the industry seems to be offering at the moment.'

Rooted to her chair and unable to squeak out an excuse to leave the room, Hinata focused her gaze on the window opposite, tuning out the verbal sparring the others were engaged in.

Uchiha Sasuke had always been a mystery to her. As teenagers at the Academy, they'd been the most famous students there, even before they began making a name for themselves through acting. Both were children of two of the most powerful businessmen in the country, and it had always been believed that Sasuke's acting was simply to occupy his time. When he turned eighteen, his family expected that he and his older brother, Itachi, would contribute to running the company.

That was the general belief, until the night Sasuke discovered his entire family murdered in their own home.

There'd been a celebration at the Uchiha house, Hinata had heard. Close relatives had been invited. The details of the actual murder were sketchy, but every single person in the house had been poisoned. The perpetrator was concluded to be Itachi, who was the only person whose attendance was confirmed and who authorities couldn't locate afterwards. Later, there were reports he'd been spotted overseas, but nothing concrete ever came out of those leads.

Shuddering momentarily, Hinata turned back to Tsunade and Sasuke, only to hear they were still firing increasingly nasty jabs at each other.

Naturally, the news was splashed over television stations, newspapers, magazines and radios. Sordid reports emerged: Sasuke's father had apparently been having multiple affairs and fathered several illegitimate children, while his mother had supposedly been suicidal. Hinata didn't believe one word of it; the only report confirmed was that only three days before his death, Sasuke's father had changed his will: Instead of leaving everything to his elder son, he split everything in half.

Sasuke finished school with his classmates and lived a mostly solitary life from then on, granting only occasional visits from Hatake Kakashi and Naruto. He took control of the family company and assigned trusted employees to its running, while he continued acting.

'Hey, Sakura, don't hit me! We're not kids anymore, you know.'

The loud, energetic voice snapped Hinata from her private recap of Sasuke's life and stopped the 'friendly' bickering. A second later, Shizune re-entered with Naruto and the pink-haired Sakura in tow.

'You're late,' Tsunade accused.

'No, we're not!' Naruto said brightly. He grinned at Hinata before dropping down one seat below Tsunade. 'We're two minutes early.'

'Three,' Sakura corrected. Hinata was amused to see she chose a chair on the unoccupied side of the table, two seats up from Sasuke.

Hinata responded softly to Naruto's questions, but was unable to stop herself watching the 'Sakura and Sasuke Show.'

After a polite 'hello' to Hinata, Sakura attempted to inquire after Sasuke's health. He gave her a brief 'fine,' clearly unwilling to say anymore. She persisted, asking after Kakashi, his house and even his car. He again answered with 'fine,' 'fine' and 'fine.' She stopped. He glared, daring her to continue. She gave up, but there was a glint in her eye that told Hinata she wasn't quite scared off.

'Alright. You've all read your scripts, I presume?' Tsunade asked.

There was a mutter of confirmation, although Naruto fidgeted suspiciously.

'Good. There's-'

The door flew open again. This time, Kakashi popped in, followed by the screenwriters.

'Hello, everybody!' boomed the elder of the two green-wearing writers. 'What a talented, youthful group we have here! Don't you agree, Lee?'

'Absolutely!' Lee exclaimed. 'Such fair flowers' -he beamed at Sakura and Hinata- 'and such dashing gentlemen!'

Kakashi rolled his eyes, leaning back against a wall. Hinata laughed quietly, seeing Sakura and Naruto's matching looks of horror and Sasuke's expression of silent contempt.

'Tsunade, we have the revisions to the script!' Gai tossed her a stack of paper and slid identical piles to each cast member.

Hinata caught hers with a small frown. What revisions did he mean? The original was mostly action-filled, but it seemed fine to her.

'Yes, we've made it sexier for you!' Lee told Tsunade enthusiastically.

Sakura made an odd choking sound and quickly began skimming for her parts. The other cast members did the same.

Hinata's confusion morphed into horror as she realised her character now had a relationship with one of the male leads. Her character gradually seduced a high-ranking spy and ultimately betrayed him, revealing she was an enemy agent. Hinata thanked heaven her character at least didn't do the obligatory 'falling in love with the enemy.' The script actually seemed to show her as a manipulative, cold-hearted woman with only her mission in mind, something Hinata looked forward to playing.

'This is lame,' Sasuke finally commented. 'This plot device has been done to death.'

Tsunade shot him an angry glare, but the writers didn't seem to be offended.

'Ah, Uchiha Sasuke!' Gai said. 'You're playing Nori, aren't you?'

It was Hinata's turn to choke; Sasuke's gaze slid fleetingly to her, but returned to Gai almost as suddenly.

'And you're the beautiful Mira!' Lee all but shouted, his attention grabbed by her strange noise. 'I'll tell you a funny story: We used the name 'Mira' because Mira is the complete opposite to what she seems to be. Mira, mirror, get it? A mirror image?'

Lee and Gai roared with laughter, pounding each other on the back.

Fantastic, Hinata groaned inwardly. She'd be shooting love scenes with Sasuke. It wasn't that she'd never had to do romantic scenes before- quite the contrary, actually- but the ones in 'Dead Drop' were fairly intense. And they were with Sasuke,who still frightened her almost as much as he had while they were teenagers.

'And that leaves Naruto as Katsu, and Sakura as Kasumi,' Kakashi spoke up.

Hinata could almost feel the envious look Sakura was directing at her. Naruto seemed oblivious to her predicament, having only plodded though the first two or so pages.

The meeting was interrupted by Tsunade's cell phone. With a quick apology to her cast and crew, she barked a 'What?' into the phone.

'I'm sorry,' she said to them moment later. 'I'm afraid I have some urgent matters to attend to. Shizune will fill you in on the rest.'

She left the room.

Sasuke shook his head in disgust. Hinata kept her eyes trained on Shizune as the woman explained their schedule and requirements, introducing different members of the crew during the course of the gathering. The portrayers of several minor characters dropped by at various stages as well, including a former co-star of Hinata's, Gaara.

Exhausted, Hinata rose gladly when Shizune closed the meeting some time later and escorted them out.

The actors headed for their cars together: Sakura owned a cute pink convertible; Sasuke a sleek, foreign import; and Naruto, of course, hopped into a huge monster of a vehicle that looked as though it'd been through several rough roads.

'Goodbye, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Shizune,' Hinata said politely, before breaking away from them to slide into the limousine her father insisted she use; it was a matter of keeping up appearances, he'd told her.

The last thing she saw before the car pulled away was Sasuke's intense gaze on her.

A/N: I got a little carried away with Sasuke's backstory, since it was so much fun to write. I'm not sure yet if Itachi will make an appearance.

Not too much SasuHina, I know, but there will be soon, I promise. I personally didn't like this chapter very much; I felt it was necessary, though. What else...? Oh, they start shooting in the next chapter!