title: Sing
note1: All the attention this seemed to have gotten got me to crank out this chappie. I'm gonna say, I'm quite satisfied with it.
note2: I know it's a bit confusing, but Minato and Naruto are not going to be related.
"Are you okay?" A tall black haired man asked, his head turned in his seat as he stared at the three most important people in his company. He had watched their latest performance, and though it was great, it definitely showed an issue that they were having.
"The doctor said not to strain your youthful voice and lip-sync." The man continued, his powerful stare so intense that had his victim been anyone else, they would be cringing. However, his current victim couldn't seem to care too much, though he did bring his hand up to his throat, rubbing it slightly.
The pale man seemed to be barely legal, though the arrogance that was painted on his face was extraordinarily high. His expression was mostly blank, aside from the small crease on his forehead, which told everyone in the car that he was, indeed, irritated at something.
The man didn't bother to answer his manager, preferring to look out the window at the regular people going about their daily mundane lives. When a person had his talent, his drive, he couldn't afford to follow an order from a doctor. He had more important things to do. The doctor didn't understand, thus, he had no authority to tell him what he can or can't do.
With a low mutter of, "What good is a singer who can't sing?" the brooding pale man ignored the rest of his band-mates and his manager.
"It ended well, did it not?" Another man suddenly voiced, a large smile on his face "Though Sasuke's voice did waver at the end."
If Sasuke was annoyed by how his manager seemed to be scolding him, having Sai―the smiling man sitting beside him―voice his most embarrassing moment to the rest of the occupants of the van, he was now furious. His head whipped over to face Sai, and glared menacingly. His eyes narrowed, top lip rose slightly, leaving the pale man looking like an angered animal, baring his teeth at an enemy.
Completely un-phased by the typical reaction of his lead singer, Sai's grin widened and he turned to look at their manager and spoke,
"President Gai, I'm sure no one noticed." He finished his statement before returning once more to his phone.
"You're voice cracked, teme?" A suddenly loud blond exclaimed as he brought himself into the middle of their conversation. Unlike the other two members of his band, he bleached his hair and his skin was dark. He was clearly different than the others, though the two males around him didn't really seem to enjoy his input.
"Sasuke, you are banned from youthfully singing." Gai decided, moving his finger in front of the brooding man's face, and moved it from side to side as he spoke, "We are bringing in another youthful singer, as we planned."
Sasuke turned his head marginally and leveled a heavy stare towards his manager, "I have yet to find someone who sings my songs satisfactorily."
"Ah, but this youthful flower is not just anyone! He is signing today!" Gai replied, turning his body towards the front of the car as they pulled into the main building, "You will meet him then."
The three men quieted almost instantly and stared at the building that had become their home-away-from-home, knowing that the future of their band was inside the white walls.
"Excuse me?"
"One day. I just need you to sign his contract, and you'll be free." The blond man tried to reason with the skeptical girl. He made sure his gaze was fixed on her, trying to get her to break under the pressure he was willing onto her shoulders.
Sakura stared back at him for a good minute or two, half expecting the man to tell her it's all a joke her brother decided to play on her, before realizing that the man was in fact completely serious, and out of other options.
She violently shook her head and looked around desperately, trying to find some sort of well, something. What he was asking of her was ridiculous! She couldn't possibly comply with the request!
Why the hell am I even contemplating this? She questioned herself. She was clearly not in a proper mental state if she was seriously contemplating becoming her brother, if only for a day.
"Why can't he do it?" She countered his ridiculous idea. It seemed a bit ridiculous that her brother schedule to sign a contract that he's been dreaming of since they were kids, when he happened to be busy. Or better yet, what could be more important than his future?
"He's busy at the moment. All you gotta' do is sign the contract. Please?" He begged, his crystal blue eyes widened and his bottom lip jutted out in an attempt to what the green eyed girl supposed was intended to be an endearing expression. Sadly for him, he looked slightly constipated.
The girl thought about it. It was only one day….
Before she gave herself time to back out of her decision, she agreed rather reluctantly. It was just a contract, and she sure as hell was going to force her brother to pay her back for the favor.
She was leaving tomorrow anyway, what could go wrong?
"This definitely feels like fraud." Sakura exclaimed, trudging her way out of the bathroom. The strange city man, Minato she remembered, had handed her a bag with some of her brother's clothes along with a wig and shoes before he pushed her into the unisex bathroom and ordered her to put it all on.
She had been rather quick, considering everything, though she really hated how her pants seemed to be falling down her rear end.
"Manager, these pants seem to be a bit large." She continued just as the tall blond man looked her over. As soon as his eyes made contact with the small girl, his blue eyes bulged and Sakura had to remember that it was, in fact, impossible for a man's eyes to pop out of his head. His jaw moved up and down as he tried to form words before approaching the girl slowly.
"Identical. Perfect." He breathed as he circled around Sakura with a critical eye.
"Perfect? These pants are half-way down my butt!" She countered a bit loudly, pulling up her pants once more. She wasn't even walking and her pants were falling, how was she supposed to go places without flashing anyone who saw her?
"What?" He asked, brought out of some sort of trance he was in, "No. That's just the style right now."
Without contemplating anything any longer, the man took the girl's small wrist into his hand and walked towards his car, ready to throw the bag into the back seat and go into the building in which President Gai was waiting for them in.
Sakura let the blond drag her to his car, knowing that as soon as she signed the paper, she would be free to do as she pleased and return home. Just as they arrived at his car however, she noticed a large crowd of girls standing before the building with large signs and chanting. Even if she tried really hard, the women were waving the signs around rather vigorously, so she couldn't make out what they said.
"C'mon. They're waiting for us. We're a bit late." Minato hurriedly explained before grabbing her wrist once more and rushing towards the large white building.
Surprisingly, the girls didn't make any trouble for the pair as they made their way through the courtyard; instead, they seemed to separate and make a path for them while staring slightly in shock. Sakura, not used to the manner in which she was being looked upon, made sure her wig was on properly over her long pink locks and pulled her pants up, this time however, she didn't let go. She sure wasn't going to show all these women her underwear.
Once inside of the large white building, Sakura kept herself from staring at the modern, rich looking, interior as she was rushed up stairs and down hallways. She didn't really care to remember the way in which she entered for all she could worry about was that she not step on the man's heels or fall on her face. However, once Minato stopped rather abruptly in front of her, Sakura's face smashed itself rather painfully into his back.
"Ow~" She exclaimed a bit nasally, rubbing her damaged nose and glared at the blond, "Why'd you stop so suddenly?"
"We're here. Ready?" He asked, turning around and looking her over once more. Sakura decided that he seemed to be satisfied with his work since his face broke out in a bright, encouraging smile, and Sakura couldn't help but smile back; if only just a little.
"No. Let's get this over with." She replied .
He wasn't going to get a better answer than that out of her, and he seemed to know that as he merely patted her head (mindful of her wig) and opened the double doors.
As soon as she took a step into what seemed like a large meeting room to Sakura, she spotted a tall black haired man dressed in all green.
"Gaara!" The loud and boisterous man exclaimed, running toward her. His black eyes seemed to have gleam to them as he got closer, before embracing her in a tight hug. Luckily for her, she managed to put her arms in front of her chest just as the excited man's arms enveloped her in a hug.
Sakura's green eyes widened instantly and her gaze met with her 'managers', silently begging him to save her from the crazy man. She had no idea what he was planning, but the way he was holding her, he might discover her bust, which would not end in a pleasant conversation.
"He doesn't like to be touched." Minato quickly reasoned as his hands pried the small girl from the large man's grasp.
"You look much more youthful! Did you find the contents of the contract to your satisfaction?" He asked quickly, "I'm President Gai, by the way." His words seemed to rush out of the man's mouth at an alarming pace, and all that Sakura managed to comprehend was that the man's name was Gai, and he was the president of the recording company.
"Errr…" She muttered confusedly.
Noticing that Sakura was out of it, Minato jumped in once more and saved the bumbling girl.
"Yes. Perfect."
"Excellent!" Gai exclaimed, resting his arm around Sakura's shoulders as he led her to where their contract was.
She decided that the man was boisterous in any way that he could be. When he spoke, his arms flailed wildly around his frame, and she was sure that he didn't realize just how loud he was really being. He dressed in tight, bright green clothes, making him a bit impossible to miss, along with the strange haircut and ridiculously white teeth.
It's probably a city people thing, Sakura reasoned mentally. Where she grew up, people didn't care so much as to what they looked like, though, being in the business that they are in, she supposed looking the part was a necessity.
For what seemed to be the thousandth time that day, Sakura let herself be led to a desk on the far left corner of the room. She felt uncomfortable with the weight of the president's arm on her shoulders, but felt as though she was playing the part of her brother decently. He didn't seem to have had much interaction with her brother, for which she was glad about, and he seemed to be fooled easily.
"Here." The president exclaimed as he handed Sakura a piece of paper and a pen. She could see the man's fresh signature on the paper and she knew what she was to do now, however, she realized that she had never seen her brother's signature. She had no experience in signing anyone's name, and the feeling that she was committing a great error was back in her gut once more.
If anyone realized that she wasn't her brother, the contract that was before her would become void, and both her and her brother could be sent to jail for committing fraud.
"This is what your dream comes down to, Gaara. Just sign it." Minato's voice brought the worried girl back into reality. She looked at the tall blond man standing above her, and saw him nod encouragingly.
Picking up the expensive looking pen, Sakura stared at the paper, and before she could regret her actions wrote, Sabaku no Gaara in long, cursive letters.
"The springs of youth are just erupting!" Gai exclaimed, taking the paper as soon as the green eyed girl finished signing.
Just as the words left the presidents lips, the large double doors leading into their meeting room opened loudly. Sakura's eyes widened as she saw the tall dark haired man stride towards her. Not knowing what to do (and slightly stunned by his quite attractive features), Sakura froze in her chair.
"Ah, Sasuke! Just in time!" Gai said to the male as he got closer to the newest member of the band.
Sasuke completely ignored the obnoxious adult, more preoccupied by Sakura. By his expression, she could tell that he was not satisfied by her in any way, though he kept his face alarmingly close to hers as he got a good look at her. Sakura, instinctively shied away from his scrutiny and covered her face with the sleeve of her leather jacket.
Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and the contract before purposefully walking out of the room quickly. Finding herself in the same predicament once more, Sakura resigned herself to being dragged around the large building. Luckily for her however, their journey was not very long as he opened a wooden door and walked into what she assumed was a recording booth.
The medium sized room was not as alone as she thought at first, as she noticed a tall blond and slightly creepy smiling, pale black haired man. The man who had dragged her, Sasuke she remembered, pulled her wrist forward and thrust her towards the middle of the room, making her unintentionally run into the creepy smiling guy.
Almost immediately, Sakura backed up from him, not liking the close proximity between the two of them. However, she miscalculated how close the blond was for as she backed away from the smiling man, she ran into the blond.
"Sorry." She mumbled before distancing herself from all four and looking at the ground quietly.
"You're Gaara?" The creepy guy asked with a strangely monotone voice as he tried to get a better look at Sakura.
"Isn't he a bit short for a guy?" The blond exclaimed, taking his hand out of his pocket and drawing a line from his forehead to where Sakura had been standing not a minute ago.
Irritated by his band-mates, Sasuke rolled his eyes before grabbing the sheet music from the closest music stand and thrust it into Sakura's face.
"You. Sing this, or I won't accept you."
note3: Reviews? They make the world go round... :)