So, there was a huge gap between when I posted (and wrote) chapter two and chapter three (as if you all couldn't tell upon reading this chap) but I'm content with the progress.

The song is 'Everybody Knows it's Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight' by The Go Find. It's over on youtube if you're curious.

Oh, and that number is totally random. Don't go dialing it, children. Resist temptation.

Comments/reviews are sexy.

Backstage, Sasuke swatted absently at a mosquito as he anxiously eyed the clock.

It was 7:42 pm on a Saturday night in the Square. Their show wasn't until eight, but forty-five minutes ago, all of Taka and the stage hands could hear the commotion outside of a substantial crowd. The raven was torn between elation that his band could finally grow its wings tonight and a suffocating fear that if he didn't get signed from this gig, it was virtually the end of the road.

Perched in an uncomfortable chair in front of the large make-up mirror, he nodded his head minutely as he hummed their song line-up. Obsidian eyes closed as his fingers kept rhythm on his thigh.

Because of his parents, tonight was forced to be the aggregation of every move he'd made towards bringing his dream to fruition for five and a half years of his life. Five and a half fucking years. Sasuke moved from nodding his head to shaking it with a small, mocking smile, still humming.

Not that'd he would give up should they not be signed tonight.

No, that wasn't really an option. It would just be a rather large bump in the road as he'd have to concede to either doing something his parents wanted him to do - which would be akin to defeat in his books - or losing any and all financial support from them, in which case he'd be forced to get some crappy job and split his time between it and the band. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of things that weren't good for Taka. Like a major cutback on budget, a cheaper (and of course smaller) studio to practice in and they'd have to only perform in-city gigs. Gas, of course, was murder on the budget anyway and without Sasuke covering the expenses to haul the equipment, it'd be impossible to go nearly anywhere.

Aside from a signing, there was one other thing that the raven hoped for this evening. He hoped that Itachi would be here. Despite not speaking to him since the incident at his apartment, he anticipated that his elder brother would come and watch him perform one of the biggest gigs he's ever had. He could only hope though.

"Sasuke." A gentle hand on his shoulder caused him to look up into Juugo's kind eyes. The larger man smiled down at him encouragingly, saying more than either of them knew would be heard in the form of words. "We're on in fifteen."

Sasuke nodded and watched Juugo's back as he retreated to undoubtedly tune his bass. The Uchiha rose, squared his shoulders and set his jaw, shaking off all the negative thoughts and all the pressure that had been tying him to the chair. As he moved to tune his ruby red guitar, there was only one bizarre thought that surged through his mind.

Would that blond idiot he met at the beach really come tonight?

"Dude!" Kiba shouted, attempting in earnest to be heard over the surprising commotion while simultaneously trying not to lose Naruto to the crowd. "This is kind of sweet and all but you said we were gonna hit up the bars on 42nd!"

"Eh, I know but -" Naruto turned and rolled his eyes as Kiba seemed to be swallowed by the swarm. He reached through the bodies and grabbed the brunet's wrist to yank him forward. "If I told you I had to go to a concert at the Square, you wouldn't have come!" The whiskered man shouted near Kiba's ear as they shoved their way to the fountain in the center of the circular green.

"Damn right! No one knows these bands!"

"Please! Look at all these people." Naruto rebutted, though Kiba's words held some verifiable truth. "And just because no one knows them doesn't mean they're not good!"

And like true rebels, the two of them climbed the massive statue in the center of the trickling fountain to perch upon the stone man's meaty leg. For the life of him, Naruto couldn't figure out why more people weren't already up here, but he shrugged it off as the stage lights stroked the crowd and the concert began.

Things were always better after the opener.

Nerves were put to rest after the raven belted out the notes to the first song; after the instruments settled into the player's hands and after an understanding was established with the crowd, like a long missed friendship. It was something nearly unexplainable, but Sasuke could feel it like it struck his very core. It was both a comfort and a rush and a feeling he wouldn't trade for the world.

Elation welled within him at the sight of throngs of people bouncing to their music. It was undoubtedly the biggest crowd Taka had procured themselves - and damn it, it better be because the youngest Uchiha paid a fucking fortune for this opportunity.

But because of that, everything was ridiculously… perfect. As he wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced around at the band during a particularly wicked drum break, he saw excitement and, most importantly, hope. Pure, unfiltered, exuberant hope.

He couldn't stop the smirk from forming as he lifted a fist into the air and Karin counted out the tempo of their fifth song. He took a deep breath and began to sing.

"Everybody knows it's gonna happen
Only not tonight
The city is sleeping
But I'm awake"

Sasuke's voice fell like fine velvet over the expanse of the park, lulling the people into his rich melody and echoing across the ocean. Girls swooned and guys envied. The raven ate it up.

"The neon lights are weeping
They're screaming it out
Like friendly fire
Leaning east and far away down"

The keyboard chimed in perfect sync as Juugo played it masterfully. Sasuke turned his obsidian orbs to the side slightly, lidded as he sang, noting as Suigetsu plucked his bass and nodded with a fanged grin at the extras Sasuke paid (much too generously, he thought) to fill the sax part. Rather than have a recorded version playing through the speakers, he hired them to play the piece that Suigetsu and Sasuke duo'd when writing the song. They looked more professional this way.

"Oh, let me take you back
To the 90s
When we were teens
Oh, no mountain caps
Or friendly fire
But secret desire"

It was Taka's first mellow song of the night and Sasuke couldn't have expected the vibe he was feeding off of from the crowd. He backed away from the mic during the instrumental break and nodded his head slowly as he played his guitar, just letting the music ride, milking the moment, milking the feeling.

His mind wandered briefly, curiously stumbling upon the question of whether or not his brother was out there or even that blond bird boy, witnessing this moment of success. They shifted after a moment to his parents and he wondered what they would think if they were here right now - what they would say to him after they heard Taka's music and breathed in the ambience that Sasuke instilled in the crowd.

A sick feeling settled in his stomach when he thought that maybe it wouldn't matter what they heard or felt here at this concert, they'd always have something to slander Taka with. Raven locks whipped fiercely with the ocean's breeze and he was thankfully snapped out of the cynical trance. Opening his eyes, he took in the swaying crowd.

Fuck them. This, right here and right now, was Sasuke's dream. This sensation, this sound, this crowd - this is what he craved and he'd be damned if he let the mere thought of his parents damage this moment.

Because in this moment, he was proving himself worthy of his dream.

That's all that mattered.

The concert had officially ended after two encores. Naruto hopped down from the statue, followed closely by Kiba, and he turned to grin at the brunet before shoving his hands in his pockets. Kiba quirked a brow at him expectantly.

"Told ya." Was all the blond said before turning on his heel and pushing his way through the crowd. "Hey!" Kiba cried, jogging after him and snatching a handful of his shirt. They still had to shout over the riot of people and though the two of them sat through the show unexpectedly quiet, undoubtedly surprised by how fantastic the music was, Kiba's voice was hoarse from the cheering nonetheless. "You were right man, it was a pretty decent show. I'll give it to ya. But you're not just going to ditch me after I sat through a surprise concert with you! You're coming to the bars with me!"

Naruto waved a hand behind him and Kiba felt his shoulders shaking as if he were laughing. "Yeah, definitely! Go on ahead, I gotta go meet up with that bastard who was singing and let him know I was here."

"Uhh… what the hell?" Kiba questioned, curious. "You know him?"

Naruto shrugged and gave a grin over his shoulder. "Sort of. Now go, dude! I'll meet you at the Blue Moon."

The brunet paused to give him a look that clearly read 'you better fucking be there' and Naruto turned to retort with an expression somewhere along the lines of, 'what the hell, stop doubting me douche' while motioning for him to shoo. Kiba turned on his heel with a small smile but his blond companion snatched his wrist in a flash and jabbed a finger into his chest.

Naruto smirked, his scarred cheeks wrinkling on one side as he shouted, "The prettiest girl there? She's mine. So don't even think about it." Kiba guffawed and snatched his wrist back, already weaving through the people before shouting back, "Yeah right!"

Sasuke was hot, sweaty and physically exhausted but he radiated with pride. Suigetsu was going insane all over him - hanging off his shoulder and punching him in the chest and hell, he was even getting along with Karin at the present moment - and Sasuke didn't mind any of it. He probably would have even smiled at them except he was an Uchiha, and Uchiha's didn't smile. But he was smirking out his ass.

"Yeah man! Juugo your riff sounded fucking amazing in 'Islands!'" Suigetsu jabbed the tall man in the arm with a toothy smirk and didn't even wait for a response before turning back to Sasuke. "What'd you think about the adlib I did for 'Nights?'"

The raven nodded as he was jostled by the other man. "It was nice. I think we should write it in." Suigetsu pumped a fist in the air victoriously.

Amongst the midst of the members of Taka riding on the high of the night, Sasuke noticed a commotion in the back where the stagehands were coiling the wires. He strode away from the group just as Suigetsu complained about being tired and Karin promptly laid into him.

As he approached, his brows furrowed slightly. "C'mon man… just… let me in." The apparently offending blond grunted as he pushed against what Sasuke would have deemed unnecessary security guards except he was being proved otherwise. "I know that bastard that was singing tonight!" He tried to explain.

Courtesy of the articulately spoken 'bastard,' Sasuke immediately registered who it was and his smirk returned.

"Well well. If it isn't my biggest groupie." He seemed to saunter over to the security guards and nodded to them that the blond could come backstage. Naruto glared and straightened his shirt as he approached Sasuke. "Dude, being an asshole is seriously a bad habit of yours. Just sayin'."

"And being an idiot seems to be one of yours. Who tries to come backstage immediately after a concert?"

Naruto scoffed. "I didn't know I was trying to get in to see such a celebrity." And despite himself, Naruto found that Sasuke's smirk was strangely contagious as his lips quirked into a smile.

There was a small moment of silence between the two of them as they just grinned at each other. It didn't feel awkward to either of them.

The staring match was suddenly interrupted as Naruto's gaze flickered behind Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto held up a hand in greeting to the band and shouted, "Kick ass show!" Receiving a fair amount of raucous approval, he beamed.

"Sasuke, who's your friend?" Karin hollered with a hand on her hip.

Sasuke shrugged, his dark eyes fixing themselves onto the man's face. He really didn't know the answer to that question and he was settling to reply 'the groupie,' but before he could, the blond raised a brow. "Sasuke, huh?" It looked like Naruto was tasting the name as he nodded slightly, eyes locked with the singer.

"I'm Naruto." He called back to Karin, but cerulean eyes were still on Sasuke, who at this point, really couldn't help himself.

"Naruto the Groupie." Sasuke amended.

Taka seemed to get a kick out of that and Naruto shoved at a muscled shoulder, miffed. "Damn it man, stop that. …I feel sorry that you have to work with such an asshole!" He called to the band and almost instantly received an 'I like him!' from Suigetsu.

Naruto turned back with a cocky smirk to Sasuke and shifted his weight. "Well, I just wanted to prove to you that I came."

It was Sasuke's turn to quirk a brow. "You really came backstage just to show me that you were here." He clarified.

"Yep. I'm a man of my word."

"And your friends?"

"Friend, actually." Naruto corrected, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Anddd he's headed to a bar on 42nd. I'm supposed to meet him." There was a slight pause as the blond tilted his head to the side. "…Wanna come with?"

Sasuke debated, glancing between Taka, the instruments and Naruto. He shrugged, finding no reason to decline. "Why not."

Two hours later, Sasuke was effectively buzzed. Naruto sat beside him, pretty wasted, and had prodded and pestered him for the past ten to fifteen minutes about dancing with some girl. "Naruto, I said no."

"What the helllll!" Naruto drawled, grasping Sasuke's bicep and attempting to shake some sense into him. Or something. "Look at those legs, man. What's wrong with you!"

Sasuke shrugged him off and downed his second shot, chasing it with beer. "I don't need any more groupies."

Really, the joke was old and Sasuke had tired of it an hour ago but Naruto's reaction was far from unamusing. "Fucking hell!" Naruto slammed his glass upon the tabletop dramatically. "You!" A tanned hand flew to point an accusing finger right at Sasuke's face, even though he sat a mere foot away. "You're just jealous!"

Sasuke nearly choked on his drink, eyes wide in surprise. "Of what, moron?"

Naruto drunkenly ran his hands along his puffed out chest. "My body."

The deep chuckle that slipped past the raven's silken lips was something he'd attribute to the alcohol.

Somehow, despite how obscenely opposite Naruto seemed from himself, Sasuke found he was bizarrely comfortable around the blond. It sort of irritated him because he couldn't understand it, but thanks to the buzz and such an amazing night, he filed the thought away to brood over later.

"Fine then. If you're not going to, I will." Determination set upon tan features and Sasuke smirked as the blond strode only slightly wobbly over to the girl.

Sasuke glared at his back for a moment before rolling his eyes and heading for the bathroom to take a leak. After he finished washing his hands and muttering darkly at the empty paper towel dispenser, he fished his cell from inside his pocket and lazily checked his messages.

He was surprised to see that he missed two calls and immediately frowned. He could just imagine the angry messages from his parents about where he was and why he wasn't home. Retreating into the far corner of the bathroom by the sink, he found a signal and dialed voicemail, mentally groaning.

The first was from Itachi, congratulating him on both the turn out and the quality of their show. Which meant he had been there. The raven closed his eyes and smirked at the sweet feeling of triumph. Praise from Itachi was truly the best in the world.

Moving slightly so he stood in front of the mirror over the sink, he absently fussed with a strand of his hair as the obnoxious computerized woman took her sweet time moving onto the next message.

"Hello Sasuke. This is Tayuya with Sound Records and I'm calling in regards of an agent of ours that scouted Taka's show tonight at the Square off Main Street. He would like to set up a meeting with you to discuss a label deal, so please contact our branch office there in Myrtle Beach at 567-3784 to set up an appointment as soon as possible. Thank you."

Sasuke nearly dropped his phone in the sink.