And chapter 4 is here! I am on a roll!
Warning: some minor cursing, not Hidan this time!
In the nineteen hours that have passed since Sakura walked off the stage after that horrid woman had insulted her mother, Mebuki had said a grand total of four words to her daughter: meeting with Kakashi tomorrow. That's it! She knew her mother was going to be upset with her, at least a little bit, but she never would have guessed the woman would be this angry! She figured her mom would have given her the typical speech about etiquette and how a proper lady should act, the one that usually lasted at least an hour. Maybe the woman would of raise her voice a little bit once they were alone with no chance of eavesdroppers, but this, this was a little harsh in her opinion.
Sakura had to admit it felt kind of lonely to receive the silent treatment from her mother, especially since she normally couldn't get the woman to shut up. It just seemed so… odd for her to be silent for more than a few moments at a time. But if she had to be honest with herself, she didn't regret what she did, not in the least. If anything she regretted not punching the snake in her smug face, maybe with the hopes of breaking her nose or a black eye at the very least.
It was too late for that now though. Now she had to focus on making her mother and Kakashi see that this incident was actually a benefit to them and not a hindrance. A lot easier said than done, well at least when trying to convince her mom. Kakashi was going to be a breeze to convince. Surely by now he looked into Anko's numbers and statistics to see if they were true or not. He had a lot more sense to him when it came to her career, even though he had his irresponsible moments, but he usually just kept his mouth shut as he was technically Mebuki's employee. But after all of this, she was sure he couldn't keep quiet any longer.
So here she was, sitting in Kakashi's office with her mother, waiting for the perpetually late man to arrive. It was so unbearably quiet in there and it did nothing but put Sakura more on edge. She swore that if that perverted old man took any longer to show up for the meeting he called for, she was going to strangle him. She couldn't take too much more of this tension before she snapped.
To Sakura's relief it only took another five minutes before he finally showed up. Only fifty-two minutes late this time, she had to admit, if this were a different situation she would actually be very impressed. This was an extremely rare moment, usually he is two hours late at the minimum.
"Sorry I'm late, I went out to get a coffee and passed this little old lady who needed help carrying her groceries home." This excuse probably had to be his favorite one to use.
The young woman couldn't help but snort at her manager's antics. "You are such a liar Kakashi. You have a coffee machine right there." She pointed to the machine in the corner with a grin. "You were hiding in the janitors closet again reading your dirty books weren't you?"
"Er…" He gave a sheepish grin before quickly trying to change the subject, meaning she had been right in her assumption. "Anyways! I thought it would be better for us to meet face to face so we may discuss yesterday's events and how to proceed from here."
"What are the chances that we can just play it all off as Sakura being ill? Or maybe having menstrual cramps or something?" Mebuki didn't hesitate to cut to the chase. She wanted this situation handled and under control as soon as possible.
Sakura literally face-palmed before she even had the chance to think about it. Seriously! She loved her mother but how dense could she be? "Seriously mom!? You cannot be serious right now!"
"Actually Sakura, I am." The glare present on her mother's face made her freeze. In all of her life she had never been on the receiving end of that look and honestly it was a little terrifying. "You were careless! You slipped up on live television! You raised your voice which is beyond rude and improper, and you walked out on your host before the interview was over! You embarrassed not only yourself but me and Kakashi as well. Do you know how much damage control we are going to have to do, how much effort we are going to have to put in to make sure your ratings don't plummet after your little stunt?"
"Really mom? Did you pay attention to what happened during the interview at all or are you choosing to only focus on the fact that I walked out?" She couldn't do it anymore, she couldn't keep her mouth shut and pretend to be a good little girl. If her mom didn't want to see the truth, she was going to make her see it. "Anko didn't make any of that stuff up. Those numbers were real. People hate me, and no that is not an exaggeration, they HATE me. Do you want to know what they say about me on social media? Do you want to know what people say about me when they aren't worried you are going to ruin their careers or whatever for saying something even slightly negative about me?" Sakura pulled her phone out of her bra and went through it till she found some screen shots of tweets she had Ino send to her. "Here is one of the milder ones. 'Is there a Kickstarter campaign for Sakura Haruno to NEVER sing again?' This one is pretty calm too: 'I love how music takes you to another place like Sakura Haruno is playing at this restaurant so I'm going to a different one.'. Oh here is a one that is a little bit meaner: 'Sakura Haruno's forehead is the same size as my left ass cheek and I weigh 250lbs, so I'll let you imagine how big that must be.' Wait! There's more! 'If I had to choose between screwing a pie or Sakura Haruno, I'd chose the pie.'. How about this one, it's pretty nasty if I do say so myself: 'I would rather chop my arm off and screw myself with my detached limb than listen to Sakura Haruno sing ever again.' By the way, I censored myself on that one. No one is believing this princess bullshit! Why would they?"
"Watch your language Sakura!" Mebuki scolded which only earned her an eye roll from her daughter. "And I am sure those are just a few negative voices amongst a sea of admirers. Every star has a few individuals who have nothing better to do than try to destroy a celebrity's hard work. Stop focusing so much on the negative and focus on the positive."
"Actually Mebuki," Sakura practically yelled out in happiness when Kakashi finally felt the need to cut in. "Sakura's numbers for the over eighteen demographic are rather low, one of the lowest in the business."
"You can't be serious Kakashi, how is that even possible?"
"Look Mebuki, things have changed since your time in the spotlight. I know when you were Sakura's age, a woman was expected to be a proper lady, but now the general public is looking for more strong willed woman to be role models for their daughters. They want someone who is going to encourage the younger generation to take charge and follow their dreams, not bite your lip and let everyone walk all over you." He handed over his tablet to the older woman, on the screen where charts and numbers Sakura really couldn't see from her chair. "I've kept my mouth shut in the past out of respect for you, but if you really want Sakura's career to continue, we need to drop this act. Look, the numbers on the left showed her approval rating as of eight a.m. yesterday, the numbers on the right show her approval rating as of a two hours ago. After standing up to Anko, and not for her sake but yours, her numbers went up by nine percent. She is the number one hot topic right now, and people are eating it up."
The woman frowned and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. How could it be that people actually enjoyed such a display? It was entirely improper and highly embarrassing to watch. "So what are you saying Kakashi?"
"You may not like this, but I think it is in Sakura's best interest for her to start being her normal hot headed self in public."
"Hey! I resent that!" The teen spoke with a huff even though on the inside she was dancing. She could not believe that her plan had actually worked! She could not believe it! She was on cloud nine right now.
"And if I refuse to allow it?"
"Well then, Saku's career will be over even before the contract with the recording studio is even up. Honestly, this is our only option here, there is no going back, it wasn't working for us anyways." Kakashi gave his longtime friend a sympathetic look. He knew letting go of this princess persona was going to be difficult for the woman. It was her only way of holding on to the past, but it was time to let Sakura grow up. He had been on her side for a long time, with how long he has known the family he saw Sakura as the daughter he never had, so he can understand his friend's reluctance to let go. But she was at the end of her teenage years, she now was a beautiful and proud young woman. That shy little girl that used to hide behind her mother no longer existed and Mebuki needed to realize that.
With a dejected sigh the woman finally consented. "Fine, then what do we do from here?" She could not believe she was agreeing to allow her daughter to act like a rambunctious tomboy in the eyes of the public. Her precious little princess was disappearing right before her eyes and there was nothing she could really do to stop it. When did femininity become such a bad thing? This city has certainly gone downhill if they found that kind of behavior from a young lady to be appealing.
"We need to start transitioning Sakura into her real self, but slowly, we need to ease the media into it. If she jumps right into her normally brash self, they will only take that as evidence that she has been lying for years. If we do this properly and slow enough we can play it off as she is finally hitting her rebellious streak."
"Can we start with these stupid ass skirts? I am excited to get something else in my wardrobe." The pinkette could no longer contain her excitement, her grin just wouldn't stay away. The little angel is gone forever! Hello real Sakura! "Maybe some pants? And sneakers I can wear for more than working out?"
"Sakura, language. Please." Her mother sounded extremely tired, as if she hadn't slept in days. It was obvious this argument had taken a toll on her. "I may have agreed to this, but I would still prefer if you did not curse in front of me."
"Actually, I may have the perfect way to go about this with minimal chance of backlash." Kakashi stood from his chair and gave the two ladies that lopsided grin of his. "Give me about twenty minutes."
"You better not go back to your closet to read those dirty books of yours." The pinkette warned with a displeased glare. She never understood why he liked those so called novels. Don't get her wrong, she had her own stash of risqué books hidden away where her mother could never find them, but they were well written with at least some plot to balance out the smut. Those horrid things Kakashi reads though? Practically every chapter had a raunchy scene with very little believability.
"I promise you Sakura, I am planning to do no such thing. Trust me. Just twenty minutes." With an affectionate pat on the girls head he made his exit, cellphone already typing away.
"Twenty bucks says he won't be back for another hour." The younger of the two women said in a dead pan.
"Thirty says it won't be for another two." Mebuki countered, her face a little more relaxed. She knew she was going to have a very difficult time with this new plan but Sakura need to come first before her selfish desires.
"You're on!" She was so excited she was practically bouncing in her seat. She didn't know what Kakashi was planning, but it couldn't be that bad. She was too happy to care how long it actually took for him to get back; all she knew was that she couldn't wait to go celebrate with Ino. This had been the best decision of her life!
So just a heads up, I went back and edited the last bit of the previous chapter. After re-reading it, I just didn't really like how it turned out though I'm still not a 100% happy with it, I think it is a lot better. It isn't TOO drastic of a change so you don't have to go back to read it if you don't want to, but the only change is within Itachi's segment so it wouldn't take long to read it.
So I hope I delivered with Sakura's attitude in this chapter. It's actually pretty difficult for me to write her speech out the way I imagine it, because I instinctually want to write out the way I talk which tends to be fairly more proper than your average person. I know it fits with her character a bit for now, I know it will become more difficult as you know she starts loosening up and forgetting her teachings.
The mean tweets I used in this chapter are actual tweets sent to real celebrities. I cannot remember who sent the original tweets or who they were meant for, but they can be found on the Jimmy Kimmel Mean Tweet videos.
Finally, I want to thank mbravesgirl7 and parsimonia for the reviews. They mean the world to me and they are what's pushing me to get these chapters out even faster. I hope I can keep writing and meeting your expectations.
Thank you lovelies. Your support means a lot to me.