Chapter 2
Shikamaru led Sakura down a narrow hall that descended to a cool and empty linoleum landing. Just as his hand rested on what she presumed to be the final door, he softly spoke: "Remember, don't overstep with the demands. We're just one in a hundred to these guys… However, we're just that, and we've got to try our best to get this label. I don't know how much longer those guys are gonna stick around with their hand out up there."
She assumed he was speaking of their band. "They seem to get along just fine to me."
He shook his head before turning the ornate door handle. "They're just too exhausted to start up on each other's style."
Sakura couldn't help but question how anything could work out if the band mates couldn't even get along. She was also quite certain that every contract was binding. Would they be able to stand each other long enough to record an album?
Before she could conclude her own thoughts, the overwhelming stench of hard liquor almost caused her to wretch; it was the worst she had ever smelt. The room before them was visually disenchanting with the filthy inch-high brown carpet and picture covered wood panel walls, most of which portrayed lewd and obnoxious scenes.
Her discomfort was reinforced by the two men who looked up from the dark wooden desk towards the back of the room. The one sitting was the bigger of two, and probably more important. His bushy white hair seemed to extend past his waist, and it truly made him look like a hooligan.
The one who was standing up was much slimmer and had a mask that covered half of his face. His silver hair was much neater than the older man's style, and he was quite attractive, despite the enigmatic mask.
None of these oddities seem to perturb Shikamaru in the least. He proceeded to one of three chairs in front of the desk, an action in which Sakura quickly emulated. The two men opposite of the desk exchanged glances before pushing the papers they were working on aside.
Shikamaru began in a brisk tone: "We got a pretty good turnout. I think our following is more than enough to support a full length album."
The oldest in the room began to laugh, obviously catching Shikamaru off guard.
"Boy, you take this shit too seriously. I haven't heard the ceiling shake that bad since… well, since when we were still playing." He paused to look towards Sakura. "Now, who are you?"
Sakura took a contorted breath before answering: "I'm Sakura Haruno, co-manager of..."
"The Deadbeats." Shikamaru cast a sharp glance at her for not knowing the band's name.
The man nodded in acknowledgment. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jiraya. Very well, now down to the meticulous tidbits…" He reached down into an open drawer and produced a substantial stack of papers that measured an inch high. He began to read: "You'll record in our studio located here at Paradise Records and Bar. Your onsite unit producer will be Kakashi here," he motioned towards the silver haired man at his side, who waved "and you will be allotted eight months to compile at least ten tracks. Each of these tracks must be longer than one hundred-fifty seconds. We will allow a one thousand dollar advance for each of you, which we expect to be repaid in full two months after the album's debut. And… all that other jacked up official office crap described here." He pushed a stack of papers towards Shikamaru. "Sign it, and you guys can begin tomorrow."
"Hold on," Sakura injected, grabbing the stack and leafing through it. "What about royalties? What's the percentage?"
Shikamaru's demeanor turned cool. "Yes, Jiraya. Don't tell me it's too low to even mention?"
Jiraya sighed, leaning back on his squeaky chair. A new voice began to speak, causing Sakura to look up to confirm the speaker.
"Jiraya and I agreed that you guys have potential. We had initially hoped you wouldn't be especially concerned with royalties; you guys are all in school, of which your parents are probably paying, and we're hard pressed business owners. Your main compensation is that we'll always be open to sign you guys hereafter, if your work doesn't tank."
Sakura continued to search the document, reading through numerous lines before stopping towards the middle of a page. "Five percent. That sounds ridiculously low."
"That, it is." Shikamaru leaned over his seat to see the number himself. "Unbelievably low. That's half of what I anticipated."
"Of course, black listing you guys could always help you make a decision." Both of them jerked their heads up at the same time to see Jiraya still reclined in his chair, staring at his stained ceiling. "You know how hard it is to sign a rock band. Everything is all pop and rap these days. A notoriously hard to work with band probably wouldn't sound very appealing to any other company that I know of." His eyes slid back down towards the two of them, narrowed and cocky.
Shikamaru groaned in irritation. They had inadvertently trapped themselves into the deal before they had even entered the office. For some reason Sakura had no doubt that Jiraya wasn't bluffing; they were, after all, just one in a hundred, judging from all the photographs of the wall.
"Let's just go for it." Sakura turned back to Shikamaru. "I mean, what are you guys even in this for in the first place? Was it the money, or the opportunity to get your feet wet? Besides, we don't even have to come back after the contract expires, and if you guys are big by then, a lot of other labels will swing their doors wide open."
"I liked where you were going until that last part." Kakashi raised his finger in disapproval.
"Yet I agree." Shikamaru returned Jiraya's stare. "Fine. How long?"
Jiraya scratched his chin before answering. "I believe I put down three years."
"Three years at five percent. Great." Shikamaru rolled his eyes in recognition of the bad deal. "Can we at least negotiate to some kind of middle ground?"
"You know what, I think we could." Jiraya suddenly eyed Sakura, leaning his arm onto the table. "I have another business to run, kid. I'll raise it to eight percent if you agree to do some work for me."
Before she could speak, Shikamaru interjected: "What kind of work?"
"Nothing bad… Just some bikini shots for my semiannual lifestyle magazine. It's hard to find willing models when you don't have a good reputation with the agencies."
"She'll do it."
Shikamaru completely ignored the uncomfortable look Sakura shot him as he stood up to shake hands with Jiraya, who giggled as he leaped up to meet him.
"Welcome to Paradise Records."
Sakura patiently waited against the wall outside the old green door. After their negotiation with Jiraya, they sat in his dank office for two hours for the contract to be edited and reprinted. It was day break by the time they finished, and the band had gone home. Shikamaru told her to be at the studio by ten, and that he would tell all the guys to be there at the same time.
They were all two hours late.
Her impatience grew by the minute; the studio wasn't even open yet! Then she remembered how she would also be called on any day to do some perverted half-nude photo shoot. Her regret was exponential to her current impatience.
"Sorry I'm late."
The sudden appearance of Shikamaru caused her to start. There he was, just casually standing there with his hands in his pocket, probably thinking about what a cool guy he was for showing up late. He was probably cracking up on the inside and calling her a fool for actually showing up at the appointed hour and wasting her Saturday.
Jackass.
She grit her teeth before speaking. "What the fuck guy, it's twelve o'clock."
He shrugged. "So what?"
"So what?" Her eyes desperately tried to shoot lasers into his. "You told me ten. Why should I have to stand around for you? Why did I even agree to help? This industry is fucked up!"
"No shit. You think musicians are prompt? Let me give you some advice." His nonchalant tone was adding fuel to the fire, as Sakura began to seriously consider leaving. "Creativity doesn't take a lot of effort. It usually comes naturally. These guys think everything in life is going to be like this, so ninety percent of the time they're not going to give a shit unless they see some kind of an immediate gratification. That's why they need people like us," before she commented on how he was just as late, he brought his hands up to signal his defense "people who are smart enough to look beyond the obvious. That's why I thought you would've figured out what kind of crowd this is. We can get away with clinging to their 'schedules' and be just as 'on time' or not as them. Get it?"
Her irritation was slightly diffused as the expectation was explained to her. "So what you're trying to say is that I should just set all my clocks back two hours?"
Shikamaru gave the slightest of laughs. "If you want. But a rule of thumb is that any more than three, and they're just being douche bags."
Sakura couldn't help but suddenly feel like the wait wasn't even that big of a deal, and that she was some kind of insider for knowing this unspoken rule. "Wow, I guess that doesn't make me a douche then."
She was scared for a second time that hour by Kakashi, who had silently strided up behind Shikamaru.
"Wow, you guys sure are early." His comment reignited a small part of the flame, but at least he had the keys.
"Let's hurry and start setting up." Shikamaru moved away from the door expectantly, allowing Kakashi access to the keyhole.
"Well, I hope you guys weren't waiting long." Neither Sakura nor Shikamaru chose to answer as Kakashi shouldered the door open. He didn't seem to be perturbed by the silence, and continued to talk as they made their way to the studio. "So let's get some preliminary facts straightened out. What's the official genre?"
Shikamaru answered: "Punk rock."
They stopped in front of a black wooden door with three locks labeled 'Bedroom' before Kakashi opened it as well. "Okay, and an album name?"
"We haven't gotten that far yet." Shikamaru subtly shivered, leading Sakura to wonder if it was a sensitive issue.
They were now in a large room with four hallways. Kakashi took the one farthest to the right. "We have a different room for each stage of recording. This one is where we mix everything."
As the entered the room at the end of the hall, Sakura almost gaped at the sheer amount of technology in the room. Under a row of glass panes, which looked down to three separate rooms, the walls were decked out with a plethora of knobs, dials, computers, and other machinery she didn't even know how to describe. She was suddenly grateful for Kakashi, who seemed to enjoy her awestruck expression.
"Everything is new. I don't know if you guys know this, but you're the first band we're going to produce as a company. Everything is top of the line as of this year, and you'll be the first of many to use it. Luckies."
Shikamaru examined the room with an approving look, like he knew the function of every bit of equipment that met his eye. Kakashi obviously did not expect his lack of a reaction, and hurried them out of the room.
They walked back to the first room, which Sakura then realized was actually a lounge, and a rather nice one at it. It was complete with two couches facing each other with a glass table between them, a microwave, refrigerator, cabinets, and a large flat screen television. Shikamaru wasted no time admiring the living space and followed Kakashi down to the next hall over. The subsequent room was completely coated in black soundproof foam and had a wide selection of stringed instruments and amplifiers.
"We have a lot of gear you guys can use, too. Fender, Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, Gretsch, Ibanez, Jackson, and Schecter guitars and basses."
Shikamaru looked up from the instruments. "Why so many metal brands?"
Kakashi shrugged. "They actually have pretty good clean tones, and no one's going to force you to play metal on them. Plus, there's more metal heads than I care to count, so we have to appeal to them too. Aside from guitars," he moved to a stack of numerous amplifiers "we also have some pretty good amps, especially this baby right here." He rolled one out from the side of the pile. "Four thousand dollar head. Two thousand dollar cabinet. I think this'll make your guitarist very, very happy."
Shikamaru actually looked impressed as he looked at the set. "I seriously doubt that, but no one can say no to a Soldano."
An alarm echoed through the rooms. Kakashi looked up before he began to push the amplifier back to its original spot. "Sakura, could you please get that? We're going to the drum room, and I don't think it's something you'd be very interested in, but knowing your partner, I think he'd like to see it."
"Alright." As she left the room, she couldn't help but feel like the maid, and that she was setting up the premises for becoming the door answerer. Or maybe it was because Kakashi seemed so desperate to impress Shikamaru. Either way it wasn't really fair, but as she opened the door, she forgot about it anyway.
"Naruto!"
The blonde grinned, relieved at having been forgiven for last night's news. "I think my day is going to take a turn for the better. I didn't know you were going to help us produce! I thought you were just going to help with the label?"
Her hand came to rest on her cocked hip. "Well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be your boss. It makes my status more official."
"Of course, my queen." He bowed in an exaggerated fashion, before another voice made someone else's presence apparent.
"I always knew you were whipped." The soft, deeper voice carried from somewhere down the hall.
There was Sasuke, creepily standing just out of Sakura's line of vision. He was decidedly more attractive than she initially remembered, now that the lighting was better… But Sakura still couldn't help but shiver at the dark vibes that rolled off him in waves, and decided against addressing him directly.
"What are you supposed to be, Morticia? Quit standing in my shadow." said Naruto as he walked past the threshold.
"Its about time." Shikamaru commented as he and Kakashi emerged from the hall.
Sakura closed and relocked the door after observing Sasuke slowly ghost into the room. He maintained a cool distance and did not greet her... Was this guy awkward or what? He didn't even make eye contact with her! He simply graced the nearest couch, crossed his legs, and stared at the ground. The boring, gray, carpeted ground.
Slightly offended, Sakura integrated herself back into the conversation. "What's in the last room?"
"I was just about to take you guys there." Kakashi seemed (it was hard to tell with the mask) to smile as he began to walk down the final hallway, with the other two following in a single isle. "This room doesn't have as much in it as the others, because you don't need as much stuff to get good vocal recordings compared to everything else, but it's still got a lot over your bedroom."
It was nearly one before Kiba and Neji showed up. They were both nicer and more social than Sasuke, but Sakura couldn't bear to call people who arrive three hours late as 'polite'. She also found her presumptions from the night before to be correct, with Neji being slightly effeminate and Kiba a somewhat calmer version of Naruto.
"That's so interesting, we're practically neighbors." Neji finished his sentence in a slight whine, something Sakura was still getting accustomed to. His voice however was nothing strange compared to his shockingly light-colored eyes, something that Sakura found as beautiful as they were unusual.
They were all sitting in the lounge, waiting for Kakashi to finish setting up the electrical components of the recording equipment. She took a sip of her water before continuing her conversation with Neji. "I know. Its strange that we've never seen each other. You're only a building away! You originally from here?"
He shook his head, his long black hair rippling with each shake. "No, I moved here from New York, and then I dropped out. I would've been two years out of college already had I stayed in, but I'm so glad I didn't."
Kiba chortled as he picked at the couch's corduroy. "Yeah, because not all of us can afford penthouses in a building like yours. Listen," Kiba smirked at Neji before continuing "they say drummers are bad, which can be understandable at times… but nothing can beat the spoiled choir boys from those fancy families that grind the blue collars into the ground. 'Oh, I'm rich enough where I don't need a degree!'"
"Give it a break, senator." Naruto threw back his head in exasperation. "We all know about how hard it was growing up in the backwoods, but don't go acting like some badass Robin Hood, when all you do is hit things with a stick."
"At least he knows what he's doing, and not stuck on the metronome." Sasuke's mutter was almost inaudible, but Naruto's hearing seemed extra sensitive that day when he responded by flipping him off.
Sakura couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as they all began to argue. How long was day one going to last?
Sorry for the long wait... Please R&R!