Chapter Two is here!!
Before you start reading, I just want to thank my lovely reviewers because YOU, YOU and YOU... really are my support and drive to keep on writing :)
Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
This chapter is dedicated to my inspiration: Darcey Bussell, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Tamara Rojo. If I could turn back the time, I would definitely go back and continue Ballet.
Chapter 2: Juliet
After steadily dating Haruno Sakura for three months, Sasuke could confidently discern three important things about her. The first one would be how surprisingly active she was in her life. She had to do her hours at the teaching university three times a week, head of dragons medic twice a week, classes three times a week, receptionist twice a week, pole dancing once a week and lastly, ballet twice a week.
His pink haired girl had told him once that she loved being active because it gave her less time to procrastinate on jobs and assignments. It also made her feel like she's a big part of the world. "I know I'm not 'famous' like you, Sasuke. But being active really made me feel like I contributed a lot to the world, you know?" she once said in her trademark sassy air of hers.
For Sasuke, balancing his MBA degree and working in the family's business was hard enough.
Sasuke also noticed that Sakura, although kind and compassionate, her other side showed that she's a secretly ambitious girl whose determination and feistiness really helped her become who she was today.
But the most important thing about his beautiful and sassy green-eyed girlfriend would be the fact that she had been one of the strongest persons he had ever met in his entire life. Sakura never let the fact that her being orphaned, or that she was living alone and currently going through one of the toughest degree in the world of academia, get to her. She never used them as excuses or let them be her weaknesses. His girlfriend would just persevere and let every aspect in her life flowed naturally, like a strong current in a calm river.
One of the most beautiful things about her was how she utilize the memories she had of her loved ones not as a Saturday sob story, but her drive in life. When he found out the reason why she decided to go back to Ballet after quitting for three years, he was speechless.
Little Haruno Sakura hated ballet. It's boring, tedious and extremely tiring.
But everything about ballet reminded her of her mother. The journey that her mother had to make everyday to take her to ballet class, or the money her mother spent for her lessons and her ballet shoes and the beam in her mother's face every time she saw Sakura grace the stage. And so, after her mother died, Sakura decided to go back to Ballet, initially because she didn't want to let her mother's thirteen years of effort went to waste. Unexpectedly, she ended up enjoying it more than she thought she could.
Sasuke remembered wishing if he could do something for her. He then insisted on her that unless she stated otherwise, Sasuke would be the person to drive and pick her up from ballet practice. Now, sitting at the university theatre, he couldn't wait to see his 'fruit of labor'.
The Konoha University performing arts community had put together a show they called "Love Monogatari" where different acts or scenes from different romantic ballet stories would be performed. Sakura had been in rehearsal even before she and Sasuke got together.
After thinking about it, Sasuke never knew how good Sakura was in ballet until one day, after the dragons' practice, he and Naruto playfully taught Sakura a style of their sword fight. They did at first just for fun but mainly because Naruto wanted to make fun of Sakura. It turned out that Sakura copied Naruto's movement almost perfectly well. Her stances were strong, her footwork needs slight improvement but quite fast for a beginner and she had a graceful air in the way she moves with the sword. Suddenly, a girl came walking to their directions, with her little sister in tow who shyly asked for a picture with the 'Sugar Plum Fairy' from last year's production of the Konoha Urban Ballet.
"She actually thinks that you are the sugar plum fairy, because of your hair," Sasuke recalled what the big sister told Sakura. When he asked about it, Sakura modestly waved her hand, as if saying it's not a big deal. "The K's Urban Ballet is a small company, Sasuke. I think the main reason why I won the part is my hair," she had jokingly said.
Sasuke refused to believe her because after, Naruto told him how wonderful she was and also how much he loved the show (but that really has got nothing to do with Sakura). "It was a ballet about food, Sasuke! Personally I would add the dance of the Ramen in that show," Naruto told him.
"TEMEEEE!!!" Naruto's actual voice caused him to snap his attention back to the university theatre. He clutched Hyuuga Hinata by her waist, the shy girl gave Sasuke a small smile. "She's not here yet?" Naruto asked him.
Sasuke exhaled as he shifted slightly in his seat and shook his head. "Well, she better be here by…when's Sakura-chan on at, again?" Naruto stirred his head while opening the program book again. "She's the third one," Sasuke answered fast, having already read the program book from cover to back, three times, since he came into the theatre, twenty minutes ago.
"Well, enjoy the show, teme. We will be sitting right over… there!" Naruto said, pointing at the direction of his and Hinata's seat.
Sasuke waved the couple away, telling them to hurry over to their seats. From where he was slouching at, he could spot several members of the dragon, scattered throughout the theatre. He could even see Kakashi-sensei with his nose, stuck behind his orange book sitting in one of the dress circles.
Another gong resonance throughout the whole theatre as the light began to dim. Now, Sasuke was beyond anxious. Where is she?!?!
Just as he about to reach his mobile phone, a presence came and sat next to him and scolded in a hushed voice, "For god's sake Sasuke, sit up right!"
He rolled his eyes but straightened his back and whispered, "Where have you been?"
"Traffic, dear. Now, let's enjoy the show, shall we?"
Sasuke agreed mutedly and gave the person a fleeting look before turning his attention back to the stage. The first ballet was a scene from Swan Lake, danced by a tall blonde girl. 'Now she', Sasuke thought, 'is really… really skinny', to the point where he stopped watching the ballet and concentrated on her protruding ribs and collarbone. Sasuke clapped along politely with the rest of the audience as they finished their dance and the curtains closed for a while and opened again to reveal a similar but different setting.
Really, if he hadn't memorized the whole program earlier, he would have thought that this is the same dance and not a scene from Giselle. He watched them dance until finally they bowed, signaling an ending to their part.
Sasuke whispered, "It's Sakura now."
The curtain closed for quite sometime and Sasuke could hear the sound of props being dragged in and dragged out. 'How unprofessional,' he remarked silently. But then he reminded himself that this was just a casual university performance, its no Konoha City Ballet Company.
The curtain was finally opened and before the music even started, he could hear Naruto screaming encouragement for Sakura. The stage had been impressively turned into what looks like a balcony with stairs on the right hand side, and there was his girlfriend, standing at the balcony, looking as ethereal as ever with her pink hair being swept up in small glittering diamonds.
"Sasuke dear, now you didn't tell me Sakura is doing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet!"
Sasuke only smiled in return, for he didn't understand the significant of the scene.
He watched intently as Sakura took a graceful flight down a step of stairs and elegantly did a big jump at the end and finally meeting her 'Romeo.' Now before coming into the show, Sakura had warned him that whatever he sees up there is just an act. "Just so you don't throw a freaking tantrum in the middle of the show… Sai is gay," she had comforted him by telling him, her dance partner's sexual orientation.
He gazed in fascination as she leapt and turned and jumped and fall into Sai's catch. Every little move that she made was amazing. It was as if she was dancing from the tip of her dainty fingers to the end of her pointed toes. Her wispy white dress flowed beautifully in her body as she moves like a lithe little leaf. Her arms and legs extended beautifully but it was her moving heart and emotion that really moved the ice cube that is Sasuke. He was in awe and right there and then, he knew that he was really falling in love with his pink haired girlfriend.
But like a bus driver hitting the breaks to avoid killing a cat, Sasuke's train of thought came to an abrupt halt when towards the end of the scene, Sai gave Sakura a soft kiss on her lips. "WHAT?!" he whispered indignantly, causing a few people from his row to shot him deathly glares.
"It's no big deal, dear. The man is probably a…homosexual," she whispered.
Sasuke was annoyed but he clapped his hands for his girlfriend and stood up as the audience gave her a standing ovation. He sat down and watched the rest of the show whilst trying to calm himself down.
Finally, when the show ended, Sasuke made his way backstage along with his 'entourage' with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. The backstage was crowded and bustling with energy, nevertheless, it was never hard to spot the pink haired dancer from far away. On his way, Sasuke spotted Sakura's dancing partner, Sai, openly canoodling with… the male dancer from the previous scene. Somehow, that view, calmed him down as it confirmed Sakura's previous statement that the man was gay.
He couldn't help but smile as he neared Sakura, who was chatting enthusiastically with the skinny blonde Swan until the blonde girl nudged her to the direction of Sasuke. She turned around, making her dress twirls delicately and flashed him her brightest smile. "Sasuke!" she exclaimed as she skipped a little and gave him a hug.
The Uchiha heir had to bend down to hug her and nuzzled her nose in a rare public show of affection. He handed her the bouquet of flowers.
"How was I?" she asked, doe emerald eyes looking up hopefully for a sign of liking.
Sasuke smirked and pretended to give it a hard thinking, "Yeah, not bad."
Sakura let out her tongue, "Petty bastard!"
Sasuke laughed. "You were perfect," he said, purring the last adjective smoothly. "Look who I brought with me," he said, stepping aside.
"Sakura dear, you were wonderful!"
Sakura bashed embarrassedly for her previous display of affection to Sasuke for his mother was standing behind him all this time! Sakura had met Uchiha Mikoto for small periods of times before. She had never properly talk and see her in person.
"Uchiha-san," she bowed, "you really didn't have to come all the way to this little show!"
The poised Uchiha matriarch stepped with her walking stick and proceeded to give Sakura a hug. "Dear, call me Mikoto, please. You were definitely the belle of the ball tonight," she said, tucking a strand of Sakura's pink hair behind her ears before cupping her cheeks gently. A simple maternal gesture that brought tiny tears to Sakura's eyes.
She held both of Sakura's shoulder and rubbed them reassuringly, "You were great up there. I'm really proud of you and I'm sure your mother would think the same. Now let's get you out of this costume. You are sweating dear, wouldn't want you to caught a cold, right?"
Sakura wiped a lone tear from her eyes and nodded, "I will Mikoto-san, thank you very much. I really appreciate it."
"Sakura-chaaaan!!!!" Naruto's voice suddenly boomed backstage, "Picture time!" Naruto motioned for Sakura to stand in between Sasuke and his mother. As the camera flashed, it captured the unbearable happiness shining through Sakura's green eyes. It even captured a glint of pride and affection inside Sasuke's usually poker face and a warm motherly smile from the refined Uchiha lady.
Naruto then insisted for Sakura to do a ballet pose together with Sasuke. Sakura told her quiet boyfriend that she would do a position called the Arabesque and he only had to hold her by the waist. Sakura then told him that she wanted to try and do the 'fish dive'. Sasuke grudgingly agreed and told Naruto to take a faster picture.
As Sasuke failed time and time again, Sakura giggled and Sasuke blamed her, pinching her nose in affection. Uchiha Mikoto watched from the side and couldn't help but feel incredibly happy that his stone cold son managed to snatch a stunning girl with personality and talent. She was already happy that he was showing jealousy back when watching the show.
"Sasuke! Let's try again, steady hands this time!" she ordered jokingly. Sasuke pinched her cheek lovingly; "Ordering me around, now are you?" Sakura chuckled as Sasuke silently tickled her waist.
"Now, who's not being steady?" he teased.
'Ah… young love,' Uchiha Mikoto mused as she silently welcomed the latest and pinkest addition to the Uchiha family.
Yaaaayyyyy :)
Please leave a review or constructive criticism. I'd really really really appreciate it.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!