~Art's Most Valuable Form~
~Act No. 2~
Collage
Sasori had already gone through makeup, and dress, and even after a few months of being with Akatsuki Productions, he still didn't like it. They messed with his perfectly already ruffled-up hair, and literally put cosmetics on him. He knew that it was necessary, but that didn't meant that he enjoyed it.
So now he wore a dark red undershirt that went unbuttoned at the top, and was ruffled up lightly to his elbows, and black comfy dress pants, with black shoes to match. He had to admit, the stylists were pretty decent when it came to finding good outfits for the performers. The first time he came here they had also given him an apron of sorts for his performance, but at this point it was completely unnecessary. He could actually get out of a performance untouched by his media, unlike most people. It was true though that the process was very messy, but the result was a perfect one.
The Production started in less than three minutes. Luckily for him, he had the last showing, and didn't have to do the introductions for the performers. Every time they had a performance one of the members would have to do intoductories. It wasn't the most enjoyable aspect for himself, but some others like Tobi, Deidara, Yahiko, and even Hidan at times could really get into it, and really get the crowd going.
He sat at the left entranceway, backstage on a large, old, wooden box. He held a prisma jade colored pencil in his hand, as he stared down at the blank page. His thoughts roamed to the girl with pink hair. Somehow he couldn't forget her colorings, and he wanted to do the drawing all over again. Finding enough resolve, he once again began the drawing of a girl he didn't even know.
Curvaceous lines formed a perfectly round face, pale as a dove. Large jade eyes with long luscious obsidian lashes. Petal pink hair that descended down her back in long locks that blew in a spring breeze of a meadow. A smile as bright as the Sun from what he could imagine. Petite and slender body style. Colors of scarlet in her clothes that mixed with shadows. A girl that seems like she laughing happily in a meadow in the middle of spring as the Sun shined down upon her.
Without even realizing it he had drawn a cherry blossom tree in the background. The petals were gracefully scattering along the breeze toward the girl matching her hair color perfectly. He had once again drawn an amazing drawing that people would adore, but he still wasn't convinced himself. It simply wasn't good enough.
With a deep sigh he leaned against the black wall, and closed his eyes. What was with him? He always thought that his works were the personification of perfection. What has changed?
"Sakura?" Said a familiar voice, he knew.
Sasori popped his eyes open to again find Deidara watching him skeptically. With narrowed eyes he said flatly, "Cherry blossoms, correct."
"No, that's not what I meant, yeah," Deidara replied with a shake of his head. "I mean that you should call her that."
"Why?" He asked lazily.
Deidara quirked a brow at him. "Because you not only drew a cherry blossom tree with petals, but the girl has the same hair color, un."
Sasori gave a glance down at his drawing. It certainly did fit the description, but she wasn't a character he created on a whim. She was a girl that he didn't even know, that somehow had attached itself into his mind. How the hell that even happened is seriously beyond him.
"Sure," Sasori said with a sigh. "Why not?"
Deidara grinned, "Sakura it is then. That is, until you find out her actual name, yeah."
Sasori's head shot up to meet Deidara's lone blue eye. "I'm not going to, idiot. I have no reason to."
At that Deidara actually chuckled. He found this amusing? This day just kept getting more and more peculiar. That was for sure.
"Well, I'm doing announcements today, yeah," Deidara admitted with a smile, before walking away with a wave. "I'll see ya later, you Puppet Master."
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Their seats were in one of the upper levels in a their own suite. One of the five in the grand theatre. Sakura almost felt like she was in a baseball field because of that. Since when is their actually suites in a theatre house? It was just as peculiar as it was awesome. Instead of staying in the suite though she went to the balcony that had three rows of seats, five seats a row. They were in the very middle of the grand auditorium, and Sakura could see a lot from where they were. It was the best seats in the house other than probably the middle of the front row.
She raced to the railing, and gripped them tightly. The show would start soon, for the lighting was starting to dim more and more, and the silky red curtain was brushing lightly on the stage flooring.
People were still flooding in, getting to their seats quickly; anxious to watch the show of all shows. People talking bussed around the room combining all the sounds to one large noise. That just made Sakura even more anxious too.
Still she couldn't believe that the guy that she had landed on earlier this afternoon was Sasori Akasuna. The master of media in the art world. He was freaking famous, and she had completely forgotten just who he was! He was plastered on so many magazines it was crazy! He was the handsome, young, prodigy of the arts. Good God, how the hell had she not known. That's so bad! She gripped the cold railings even tighter after that thought.
Ino had walked up to her with a smile, but Sakura didn't even look at her. She was still somehow worried and embarrassed. She was a little apprehensive about watching Sasori now.
"Hey Ino," Sakura mumbled with knitted brows. "Remember when I said I fell on someone?"
The tone in her best friend's voice worried Ino. "Yeah?"
"He's one of the Akatsuki," Sakura mumbled even quieter.
Ino stared at Sakura, and straightened uncomfortably. "Which one?"
Sakura sighed, and finally met her best friend's azure blue eyes. "He's the Puppet Master."
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When Sakura had sat down, and told Ino of her predicament, Ino was about to respond, but the lights went out except for one spot light on the very edges of the middle of the stage. All of their friends quieted, and sat beside them, and above them, not speaking a word. They were all ready to watch the performances of a lifetime.
The crack in the curtain was opened completely and Deidara Iwa stepped out, looking as devilishly handsome as Sakura had remembered from the magazine. His natural grin remained on his face as he scanned the crowd.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen!" Deidara announced happily with open arms. Then he added with a larger grin, "I always wanted to say that, un."
The audience laughed at his childish comment, and he continued, "I am Deidara Iwa, your host of the night, but also one of the main acts. We deeply love our jobs as performers, and hope that you enjoy them as well. While some are a perhaps a bit more deadly than others, there are a few that mesmerize you with their talents of presentation, yeah."
His grin deepened as he bowed before the audience for a moment, "But enough of my undesired ramblings. I'm sure all of your are here to experience the Akatsuki's finest. So without further a dew, I present to you your first act of the night!"
The lights went out, and a cheer erupted from the crowd. Sakura was glad that they were higher up than the regular audience. Her ear drums probably would've blown out by this point.
The show commenced, and the curtain was drawn, forming a sky background with roaming clouds. From her seat, she could see a head with an orange spiral mask. She could hear a gruff voice swearing at the man, "Get on stage, damn it!"
Then the man, Tobi-as Sakura had remembered-was legit kicked onto the stage with enough force to send him flying a few feet in the air, and land in crumpled up mess, and Sakura could literally see the sweat-drop that Tobi emitted. Sakura, Ino, and Naruto burst out into laughter at this, while Hinata chuckled shyly, and Sasuke simply smirked.
Then Tobi got into a cross legged position, and shrugged, "I suppose I can't leave now can I...?"
There were random items on stage, one was a treasure chest, and when Tobi noticed it he perked immediately. He sprinted over to it, and rubbed his hands comically, and when he opened it, a huge spring with a red boxing glove shot out of it. Before Tobi could even react he was sent flying again across the stage again.
The crowd burst out laughing again, and Sakura was for sure. This guy was most certainly the Royal Fool.
Konan was next. She had entered from the back of the theatre on a large flying playing card as if she was surfing. Sakura couldn't see an extension cable, and neither had her friends. How she ended the show though was something Sakura will swear that she's never seen before. She erupted into a thousand different colored origami planes, and each one was scattered so high and far Sakura reached barely an inch to grab a pink one.
Kakuzu was third. He was holding onto a moderately large wired planet of Saturn, and that created a show in itself. He could just hold onto the edge like he was a feather, even though he was at least thirty feet over the floor, and the cable that the planet was attached to could move around the entire auditorium. He ended it by spinning it back all the way back to the floor.
Hidan was fourth in the lineup. He started by showing the crowd a tank of gasoline, before pouring it all over his head. The crowd gasped at his antics, and he was thrown ten burning torches by Zetsu. He ended up juggling them, but then he started walking to the edge of the stage. He started walking on a barely seeable tightrope that steadily grew in hight. Then he ran up the tight rope making the crown gasp again. Sakura could just see the huge maniacal grin on his face as he did this. Holding her breath the entire time, Sakura finally released it as he completed his task, and he walked away.
Kisame was fifth. He actually had a doctor on stage with an x-ray machine that showed the crowd that what he was going was for real. He had swallowed nine swords in his mouth. Then after he acted out an entire scene with that he was in ancient Japan, with a katana. The thing about it was though was that it seriously looked real. Sakura simply couldn't believe it, but it looked real. Itachi-from what Sasuke said-was often the villain in Kisame's little plays, and inevitably lost to Kisame in the end.
Yahiko was sixth. What he had done was probably worth an entire show just entirely for himself, and Sakura was absolutely astonished. It was a rather short one though compared to the other ones, but Sakura had to admit it was amazing. He was in a video game. His movements were so precise and fluid for the actions a video game. It was simply astonishing. His dancing skills were used incredibly. He was seriously laying on the floor, and without any help from his arms or anything at all, he just got back up to his feet. Naruto was absolutely going crazy, and catcalling at his work, and so was the rest of the crowd. That was so the show of the night!
Deidara was seventh. It started with just a ton of unlit sparklers at first, but after a matter of minutes he had stacked so many and created what looked like three demential letters. It ended up with saying Akatsuki Productions. It was a splendid display and was huge. How the building hadn't started on fire was a question that she decided was best left unanswered.
Nagato was eight. He did an amazing light show starting out calm then becoming more and more loud and exciting. It was certainly memorable.
Itachi was ninth. It started out where the room was pitch black and people were starting to jabber; questioning why the ninth act hasn't started yet. Then, a melody of a soft violin started to play, while projections of moving around the room showing the audience what notes he was playing. Itachi had been slowly walking around the room, and she could just hear the girls squealing over how close Itachi was to them. Light hadn't been shown upon him until got onto the stage. The sound was so very hypnotic, as if the intention was to create tranquility. When he finished he smiled softly at the crowd, slowly moving around until meeting Sasuke's eyes, who nodded.
"Your time to shine," Sasuke whispered to her.
Sakura just stared at Sasuke in shock. What...? What? What?! "Sasuke, you can't!"
He smirked at her, "Oh I believe I can."
"Your insane!" Sakura retorted in a harsh whisper.
"Happy belated birthday Sakura."
She stared at her friends who all smiled at her softly. They all knew of her talents.
The song started, and Sakura recognized it immediately. Beneath Your Beautiful. This was her favorite song! How? Oh God. They want her to sing...
The railing suddenly disappeared, and stairs started to form her way down to the floor. It was all so sudden, but Itachi started to sing to her, looking at her shocked face. Then Sasuke handed her a microphone out of nowhere. She grasped it tightly, and smiled sheepishly. This certainly wasn't expected.
He didn't have his violin anymore, just a microphone. He smiled so softly at her as he sang to her. Sakura could just feel her heart pounding. This was her moment. All she could do was give her friends a last grateful glance before she stared into Itachi's obsidian eyes. His voice was pure silk as he sang the song that she loved. Itachi always had been like the big brother she never had, Sasuke and Naruto as well. This song though was because he and his brother both know that she loved it.
"You tell all the boys "No"
Makes you feel good, yeah.
I know you're out of my league
But that won't scare me away, oh, no
You've carried on so long,
You couldn't stop if you tried it.
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But I'm gonna try.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, girl, take it off now, girl
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?"
The light started to descend on Sakura, who was slowly making her way down the steps. The audience was marveling at her. This was not apart of the show, but Sakura was beautiful. She smiled beautifully at Itachi, as she held her hand out; walking the way to meet with him as she sang.
"You let all the girls go
Makes you feel good, don't it?
Behind your Broadway show
I heard a boy say, "Please, don't hurt me"
You've carried on so long
You couldn't stop if you tried it.
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it.
But I'm gonna try
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, boy, take it off now, boy
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight, oh, tonight?
See beneath, see beneath,
I...
Tonight
I..."
Sakura walked up the final steps as she made her way to him. She felt like crying as she made her way onto that stage. Her friends. She loved them to death. To allow her to do this... It was an opportunity of a lifetime.
They sang together for the last few measures. He twirled her softly a few times as they went. The spot light was only on them. It was amazing.
"I'm gonna climb on top your ivory tower
I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out
We'll be falling, falling but that's OK
'Cause I'll be right here
I just wanna know
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, girl, take it off now, girl (take it off now, boy, take it off now, boy)
'Cause I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight, oh, oh, oh, tonight?
See beneath your beautiful, oh, tonight.
We ain't perfect, we ain't perfect, no.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?"
The piano played until the end, and Itachi pulled her into a tight embrace, and she felt like she was in heaven, this was a moment of a lifetime, and it was such a split second thing. It was so amazing.
The audience erupted into the loudest cheers of the night, and Sakura felt like she had just come off cloud nine. She felt like air. She smiled with unshed tears in her eyes, and she put a hand to her mouth.
"Thank you," Sakura mouthed as they pulled away.
He nodded with a soft smile on his lips. The lighting closed on Itachi as she made her way back up to the suit. All she could do was smile. This was simply amazing. Simply. Truly. Madly. Deeply.
The lights went out when she reached her friends and the state of the art stairway folded back into itself; as if it was never there at all. The crowd was still cheering after the sudden display, and Sakura just couldn't stop smiling.
"Sakura, you did so amazing!" Ino yelled with her hands in the air.
"Oh Sakura-Chan your so fantastic! I wish I was that talented!" Naruto bellowed grabbing her in a bear hug.
When she was released Hinata spoke with a soft smile, "Truly Sakura that was simply perfect. Pure and loving."
Then Sasuke just looked at her cooly, "Remember when I said I would get you something?"
Sakura grinned at him, "Yeah, I said that I didn't want anything."
Then his smirk emerged, "That was a lie on your part, Sakura."
She ambled back to her seat, shook her head in disbelief, "Oh whatever Sasuke. You know I can would never be able to give you anything like this in return, right?"
Sasuke just scoffed under his breath, "You give too much anyway."
She was about to respond, but Deidara reappeared onto the stage, the crowd back into a loud round of applause. "I hope you all enjoyed that little number. I'm sad to say that there is only one more act to do tonight. He's our newest member, but known worldwide for his talents in art. Now I introduce to you, Sasori Akasuna."
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Right before the start of Itachi's performance, Sasori was asked back into his dressing room by Konan. He hadn't really seen her all night since they came and went in different wings. She had simply been walking by and asked if she could get his hair back in order. Glad to oblige, he walked away with her back to his dressing room. The make-up artist always made his hair so that it was not so messy, which he thought didn't suit him. He preferred it natural anyway. Konan always agreed with him on that too.
He was slightly disappointed that he didn't get to hear Itachi's performance. He always did have a knack for calming people to perfect tranquility when he wanted. Originally they had speakers that were in every room so that the workers could at least hear the performance, but they had stopped working recently.
It was when Konan was almost complete with his hair that Deidara had waltzed in. "There you are!"
Konan just gave Deidara a blank stare, "Deidara, this happens every performance. You should know this by now."
It was true. Ever since his first showing, Konan would always find him around and redo his hair. It was practically a ritual by this point, albeit he didn't really believe that. It was more of a small enjoyable habit that anything.
"I would think a change of pace would be good," Deidara responded firmly.
"Hn," Konan responded with a roll of her eyes.
Deidara just raised his brows, "Do we have another Itachi in the building?"
Konan smirked at the comment, "Yep."
Neither Sasori or Deidara had known that the real 'Sakura' was there.
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When Deidara had given the introduction's he left the vicinity, Radioactive started to play for the artist on the stage. The velvet curtain was drawn and Sasori was shone, standing there, his head down with a lone light on his head. He didn't move until the large boom in the beginning of the song came.
Lights flashed around the thing and the background was visible. A large ten foot circle, was in the on the stage, about ten feet across. It was moving around clockwise. Paint. Clay. Colored pencils. Spray paint. They were spread across the large canvas in at perfect times. Tiles of many different sizes. Sasori moved on time with the beat, creating perfect showmanship. He even seemed to dance slightly as he went. The moment the song ended, the picture was complete, and it stopped perfectly how it should. Sasori stood on the side showing them what he created for them, not dirtied at all from his work.
Sakura's jaw dropped at it. It was perfect. There wasn't a trace of bad craftsmanship. So this is what the infamous Sasori Akasuna can accomplish so easily in a matter of minutes.
The background was a black, with a red cloud. The main picture was the ten Akatsuki members head shots all in a circle, while in the middle was Akatsuki Productions in amazing graffiti type lettering.
"Wowza," Sakura whispered to herself in astonishment, right before the crowd gave Sasori a standing ovation. His face was nearly blank, but there was a small smirk at the corner of his lips. He bowed before them, and the rest of the Akatsuki stepped onto the stage, all bowing in usion.
The curtain was drawn to a close, but Deidara had a few more words to say before he was done. With one final grin he spoke to them happily, "I hoped you all enjoyed our show tonight, but now I must bid you goodbye. I hope to see you all again!"
The applause was loud, and Deidara loved it. He threw down his hand, the smoke-bomb detonating, letting smokescreen envelop his form,"Goodnight!"
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After the show ended, and everyone had left, Sasori found himself back in the same spot he had been in earlier that evening. The theatre was empty at this point, and the retractable roof was open, letting the evening stars be at least a little bit more comprehensible.
The theatre was really old. At least a hundred years by now, by additions and changes have caused the place to be a cross between the old and the new. The place looked like the inside of a castle. The walls were created with a golden color with light, but beautiful drawings were spread across the entire venue. The ceiling-when the retractable roof was covering the area-was a picture of some of the God's of the Olympus.
Apparently, Yahiko's decedents built the theatre, and wanted it to be used for many different performances back in the olden days. Well, it was certainly used quite often. Akatsuki Productions was one of the many that held events here, but the owner of the Dawning Theatre House was inevitably Yahiko. He declared more than once that the place was from his family's property and would never sell, not even to the most wealthy of people.
He had also created Akatsuki Productions a few years back. However he wasn't exactly the owner of the organization; Nagato was. Yahiko had entrusted Nagato the rights to the organization if Yahiko himself got to oversee a few things and was apart of it all until it ended. Nagato reluctantly accepted the offer, shocked that he wanted him to be the owner.
Apparently Sasori was technically the replacement act for someone else that had gotten fired after a huge mishap almost a year ago. That being said, being the replacement was getting the organization a lot more publicity; good publicity, than it had before. He hadn't asked who the last member was, but he didn't exactly care to figure it out. There wasn't really a point in the matter.
He could hear cop cars in the distance, and music that casino's around the area where playing. He could hear the shouts, and curses from people outside. It wasn't very endearing.
Sasori had never gambled in his life. Never. To him there was never a reason to. He had always found it rather annoying and unnecessary. To be hooked on gambling, tying to gain money, but only to fail in the end. It didn't exactly sound like a very enjoyable thing. It caused debt, loss, and failure in his eyes.
Then again, Vegas was that place in the world. The world where people come to spend money on nearly hopeless odds. To see amazing sights of street performers, artists, strange people, wannabe's, among other things. This was not the place for him to spend the rest of his career, but only partial, never completely here.
Sasori sighed deeply in his chair as he gazed up at the night sky. Tomorrow was a day off, no showings were tomorrow night. He would have to get some of the portraits done before the end of the day. In all actuality he didn't have much to complete for tomorrow. He could do some photos done for his website tomorrow if he went sight seeing. That's probably what he'll do.
With one last glance at the sky, he grabbed his messenger bag, slung it over his shoulder, and began walking over to the stage. He would have to close the rooftop before he left for the night. With a leap that was easy for him, he made his way on the stage.
He flipped a few switches, and the sky becoming a gigantic mural once again. He exited through the front doors, and locked them up for the night.
The night sky was marred with lights of living casinos, and fancy restaurants. Luckily for him, everyone after the show had left for the night. It had ended around ten, and by now it had to be at least midnight. There wasn't anyone in the courtyard for the time being, but he knew that something would happen within the early hours of the night. This was Vegas, after all.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and pulled his jacket hood over his head, letting the shadows consume him. There was no need for trouble to commence, not at these hours. Night was never safe here. Never. It would be nice to get a taxi, and not waste so much time, but for some odd and peculiar reason he decided to walk his way back to the hotel.
He mostly stayed within the comfort of the shadows, going undetected by people in the area. He just had a strange knack for them; as did Itachi. People bypassed him without a glance. It was a pretty good talent when it came to getting away from overactive fans and paparazzi.
His thoughts finally drifted to his issue with the girl he had met. He didn't really care enough to find her, and even if he did, what would he ask? Deidara may have said to find her, but for what purpose? There wasn't one. Even if he gave her the drawings he created that would just be kinda awkward.
'Sakura.'
The name that Deidara had given her. It did fit really well, but then again that was just physical appearance. He had seen the dormant fire in her eyes. It could just be the opposite. He couldn't made a solid hypothesis on the name with just physical appearance. He just didn't know her well enough, and he never would anyway.
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Sakura leaned across the balcony of her hotel room. Ino and Hinata lay asleep on the comforts of the luxurious mattress in the bedroom. Naruto and Sasuke had headed back to their rooms for the night as well little over an hour ago. Sakura, on the other hand wasn't tired enough to fall asleep yet.
A soft breeze past her. Her hair was flying within it's invisible strands. She stared at the vibrantly alive city that was below her. The city lights were so amazing at this time of night since the Sun had gone down. She hadn't gotten much of a chance earlier this evening, but now she could enjoy it fully.
She had gotten to sing in front of an entire audience. A huge audience at that. She couldn't even describe it. It was...magical. That was the only real way to describe it.
Luckily, tomorrow the group had wanted to go sightseeing before heading down to the casinos when night fell. Sakura however, didn't really care to go and spend money on something so pointless. Her friend's though really wanted to go, and why not? They were all so wealthy; they could do things like that. She didn't want to be a burden to them.
Her thoughts drifted like the wind, changing now to her encounter with the handsome, and crafty Sasori Akasuna. He had shown true love when he was performing his art. It was so mesmerizing, just as most things she's seen so far. She's only been here for less than a day, and already it's been truly so fun. Somehow she wondered if she would ever see him again, but she doubted it. Their lives were so different. She would probably never even see him again anyway.
With a sigh, she left the balcony closing the door behind her.
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Art's Most Valuable Form
Author's Note:
Created: August 15, 2013
Hey guys! Happy to see me back so early? I just uploaded the first one yesterday night! Tehe! I mostly decided to go on a writing splurge until he weekend is over, since after that I have vball tryouts then next Thursday High School officially starts for me!
Next chapter Sasori and Sakura meet again!
A few of the performances were based off of acts I have seen on America's Got Talent, such as Hidan's, Kakuzu's, Sasori's, and Yahiko's.
I have a huge desire to go to Vegas when I'm 21. My best friend and I planned it that we would go there, and I want to so bad! I think it would be amazing. So yeah!
Please review! They are taken into serious consideration, and highly appreciated.
Ja-ne!
-Cassandra