Song's mentioned : When i'm gone - Simple Plan, The unwinding Cable car - Anberlin and over and over - three days grace
Chapter 19 – The party
Sasuke stood in front of his full-length mirror, taking in the tuxedo and black bow tie around his neck. It wasn't much of a Halloween costume but if anyone asked then he'd say he was James Bond.
It was finally time for the dreaded Halloween party his father was hosting, and if that wasn't bad enough then the fact that the place was crawling with the media was just as haunting. They had somehow found out about his break up with Karin so they were no doubt going to be hounding him like a dog, and what made it worse was that he was taking Sakura as his date, not escort.
He sighed at his reflection for what seemed like the twentieth time that night before checking his watch, noticing that it was about time to head over to his parents Mansion where they were getting picked up. He walked out of his bedroom and down the hall, making sure that he picked up his car keys before pressing the button to open the lift doors.
The ride to the Uchiha mansion had been too fast for Sasuke's liking, he'd never really enjoyed these sorts of events, if it was up to him he'd much rather just stay home. He pulled into the driveway and parked his car next to Itachi's, ignoring the fact that his car was the newer version of his own, and headed inside where he was greeted by his over exited mother as well as his brothers other half who seemed to be just as riled up.
"Sasuke! You're here!" His mother beamed as she ran over to him at the door. It was weird actually, ever since she'd found out about him and Sakura she'd acted like a little schoolgirl, and Taya was just as bad. Apparently the Uchiha linage had weird taste in women, his father and brother went for excitable bubbly balls of joy and he went for creatures of the night…
His mother jumped over to him with her long silk light blue dress swaying with her movements, she had one of those sequined encrusted masks that you held up over your eyes in her hand as she clapped them together and smiled. Taya was soon behind her and was dressed in a dark purple kimono that had black swirls and complicated patterns flowing up from the bottom, her hair was pulled up in an elegant bun and her makeup was simple. They both looked amazing.
Sasuke looked behind them in hopes of locating Sakura but could only see his brother and father who had the same idea of costume as him, obviously. He rolled his eyes and straightened back up again, he should have known that was coming.
"Where's Sakura?" He questioned, pulling his mother out of her excitable babbling. A smile stretched across her face when he asked and Sasuke wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
"She's just coming, don't worry dear. It's so sweet that you're so impatient to see her!" She all but squealed. Sasuke rolled his eyes again and lent against the wall, waiting for Sakura to come down so he could get this stupid party over with.
Mikoto watched her son with interest as she stood back over beside Fugaku and wrapped her arm around his, resting her cheek on his shoulder. It was hard to believe that she was even looking at the Same Sasuke, his eyes never strayed from the stairs where Sakura would eventually descend from. He'd never been like this with Karin, or any girl he brought home for that matter, he'd always been sort of distant with them, like keeping a buffer line between them. But so far she hadn't noticed that when he was with Sakura, he seemed to be completely open with her.
The first night she'd found out had been a surprise though, to find out that he'd broken the engagement with Karin and then found out that he was dating Sakura had certainly confused her for about half a second before she fangirled…
Now she was just happy that he'd found someone to smile at when he thought nobody was looking.
Sakura walked along the corridor that led to the landing, all the while trying to slip on a pair of black dolly shoes. She was running late and could seriously kick herself for taking so long, it had been awhile since she'd so much as picked up an eyeliner pencil let alone use it, in fact, she'd never even used eyeliner. But for once she was glad that Ino was in the room with her, she'd been kind enough to do it for her, even though she doubted that the pig would let her forget it.
She finally rounded the corridor and ran down the stairs, not even bothering to look around her as she screamed out her apology.
"I'm sorry! Sorry! Quick, lets go!" She shouted. Everyone in the room took that as an invitation to either laugh or roll their eyes at her antics. Sasuke of course just stood there staring amazement.
She looked gorgeous, she wore a simple white lacy dress that stopped just above her knee, it was almost like the sort of dress you might see some virgin sacrifice in a horror film wear, if only a little shorter. Her hair was pinned up in an intricate bun with shining black stones laced through and her usual thick bangs that hung at either side of her face had been pinned back except two thin ringlets that framed her face perfectly. Her eyes were in complete contrast the rest of her, they were surrounded by dark thick eyeliner that could almost be considered gothic and in complete contrast with her white dress, her lashes were long and sent shadows down her cheeks. The green in her eyes appeared to illuminate the room around her as she looked around, the thick black eyeliner only serving to make her best feature stand out the most.
She then opened her mouth to speak to Sasuke as she came closer and he noticed the two long white teeth behind her rosy lips…
She had her fangs out! The idiot! Sasuke screamed in his mind as his eyes shifted over to Itachi who was looking a little shocked too, apparently he'd noticed her fangs too. His eyes were a little wide as he looked back around to Sakura who had a small-amused smile playing on her lips. What the hell was she thinking! He screamed again, all thoughts of her appearance flying out the window now that she was walking around with her fecking fangs out!
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side as everyone began to walk out the door, all chatting happily as if they haven't noticed a thing wrong. Sakura raised an eyebrow in his direction, wondering if he had a problem with her current look.
"Why the hell do you have your fangs out you idiot!" He hissed, talking low enough for his voice not to carry too far. Sakura snorted at him before stepping closer to reply.
"It's a Halloween party Sasuke, nobody's going to notice if they're real or not. Plus this was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't be annoying to buy." She finished. Sasuke only frowned down at her, he supposed that she might be able to get away with it but she really shouldn't risk it, you could never be to careful after all.
"I still don't like it, you need to be more responsible." He ordered with his frown still going strong. Sakura laughed at that, a light giggle that carried through the room before she placed her lips on his once before turning around and grabbing his hand and dragged him out the door.
"Sasuke, I'm nineteen, let me be a little irresponsible now and then." She said as she walked, not making eye contact but he knew that she was most likely rolling her eyes at him right now.
…!...
The large hall they'd rented out was filled with people who had dressed for the occasion. The odd waiter or waitress walked around with either wine or some sort of treat on a nicely decorated silver tray. Sakura was actually surprised at the amount of coverage the party was getting. The media outside the main doors had hounded her with different questions as Sasuke pulled her through the doors. It had annoyed her more than anything though, they hardly asked her any questions about the band, it was all about her relationship with Sasuke, as far as she knew this was the first time they were being seen out as a couple, she couldn't help but wonder if a certain sloth had anything to do with that.
Sasuke tugged on her hand and pulled her from her thoughts and pointed over to were Tenten and Kiba had claimed a corner of the bar. She smiled and dragged Sasuke over before plonking down on a stool next to Tenten.
"Hey guy's, where's Naruto?" She asked. Kiba looked up from his pint and snorted out loud before pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.
"He's over talking to that Hinata girl, you know, the one who's that actor's manager." He sniggered. Sakura and Sasuke leaned back in their stool to look for themselves.
Sakura sniggered along with Kiba when she caught sight of him. His face was bright red as he stuttered over his words like a flustered teenage boy, he had on some form of kung fu outfit that just made him look childish, along with his blush. The Hinata girl he was talking to seemed to be dressed in an elegant ball gown that fell around her feet, it was an ice blue that complimented the colour of her hair perfectly. Her hair for once was pinned up in a complicated mass of loops and twists that left her eyes exposed since her straight cut bangs were out of the way, being held up by a matching ice blur hair band.
She looked to be enjoying Naruto's company, Sakura noted as she giggled behind her small hand, a light blush covering her snowy cheeks. Sakura wanted to so badly go over there and get revenge for locking her in that cupboard but resisted the urge, she had a feeling that Sasuke wouldn't let her.
"How long has he been talking to her?" She asked. Tenten snorted and looked around to face her, an impish grin on her face.
"About twenty minutes, a new record I think." She joked, making Sakura laugh a bit. For as long as Sakura had known the blond man he'd only ever managed to hold a five to ten minute conversation with the woman, he was either too nervous to find anything to say or she would faint. It was pretty hilarious at how hopeless they both were.
"Well anyway, enough of that." Kiba said taking a swig of beer as he did so.
"Are you ready for the stage later on? It would be annoying if you were to freak out in the middle of it, this is our first release after all, plus your toy boy over there needs us for income." He winked at Sasuke as he gave the man a mild glare, he was no fun, Kiba thought, wondering how Sakura could stand having Mr. stoic as a boyfriend, unless he was good in the bedroom, he couldn't blame her if that was the reason.
"Well I'm bored, I'm going to go find some more interesting company. Your man-bitch is starting to rub off on me." Kiba teased as he downed the rest of his beer. Tenten and Sakura laughed and Sasuke just glared, wondering why he employed this idiot in the first place.
"I don't think dressing up as a biker is going to attract much of the female attention." Tenten comment casually. Kiba grinned and tightened the red bandana around his forehead before pulling the collar of his leather jacket up, a wolfish grin plastered over his features as one of his long canines poked out.
"Don't lie Tenten, I know you want me, no woman can resist a bad boy after all." He teased and dodged as Tenten tried to whack his side. Both women rolled their eyes at each other, having been used to his flirty behavior for a while now.
"Who are you meant to be?" Sakura asked biting her lip with a fang as she looked over Tenten. She looked so out of character tonight. Her hair, for once, was out of it's buns and ran down her back in small messy waves and to strands at the front that were meant to frame either side of her face were pinned together at the back. She wore a simple long black dress that reached the floor and showed off her back and had a high neckline to compensate for the amount of back that it exposed.
Tenten laughed and shook her head lightly as if she was remembering something funny and turned to Sakura, picking up her champagne glass to take a sip.
"I couldn't think of anything else other that Chinese themed stuff so my Sister picked it out, I have no idea who I'm meant to be." She chuckled. Both Sasuke and Sakura lifted an eyebrow in an identical expression that made Tenten laugh harder than she already was. It was no wonder they were together, with expressions like that she wondered if they were identical in more than just looks.
"Okay…" Sasuke mumbled to himself, turning around to order a drink, needing to get at least a little alcohol into his system before attempting to spend any more time with Sakura's weird band members. And he thought Naruto was bad enough, it had been a bad idea letting them all group together, it was always safer to his sanity if annoying, loud and slightly out of the ordinary people didn't met each other often.
"So how was the ride here? Did you manage to escape the media?" Sakura asked. A pained look came over Tenten as she remembered, it had taken twenty minutes to walk up a bit of concrete that should have taken less than a minute! She was starting to wonder if they should even perform tonight, she could feel her private life slipping away the closer she got to show time.
"The next time someone asks me anything related to music please restrain me because there's a high chance of me strangling them." Tenten moaned out, taking another sip of her champagne. Sakura chuckled and ignored Sasuke when he started to grumble a little about having to sit through the 'stupid dress up night'.
"Your lucky, when I came they only asked about Sasuke and I." she rolled her eyes at Tenten in understanding, silently agreeing that the media were going to be a pain if the band ever hit the charts.
"Okay that's got to suck pretty badly too." Tenten laughed, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes behind Sakura who didn't see it. He wondered if he and Sakura were going to become one of those couples were the woman always did the talking and the man would sit in the background pretending to look interested, he hoped not, that would be dangerous for his sanity, like most things these days.
"I'm going to go talk with Naruto, it seems he's been cock-blocked." Sasuke commented, making Sakura and Tenten's head's whip around to Naruto where they found Hinata's cousin giving him a glare and dragging her away.
Sasuke got up whilst they were still gawking and hurried away from the scene, he'd meet up with Sakura later or something. Naruto stood there with a crest fallen look on his face as Sasuke walked over, he felt kind of sorry for him, he guessed, seeing as he knew very well what rejection felt like…
"Hey dope, stop looking like someone ran over your dog, it's creepy." He stated, causing Naruto to look around and take the champagne glass offered to him.
"Sorry. And don't even say that! What has Kyuubi ever done to deserve a comment like that!" Naruto yelled, his frown lifting and a more cheerful expression covering his face. That was the good thing about Naruto, he could get over rejection pretty quickly, Sasuke thought. It had been like that all through school as well.
"He urinated on my shoe, Naruto…" Sasuke drawled out, giving him a blank face, he had the decency to squirm a little at remembering that certain incident, they were good shoes too.
"He was only a puppy at the time! Let him be!" Naruto cried out.
"A puppy who you claimed had been toilet trained weeks ago." He deadpanned, shutting up Naruto in a heartbeat. He gave Sasuke a grin anyway and took a drink from the glass in his hand.
"When's the band on?" He asked, dragging the conversation away from his poor abused dog. Sasuke looked at him with a sarcastic eyebrow in the air, his friend was an idiot, no other way to put it.
"You're the manager, shouldn't you know?" He asked with disbelief clear in his voice. Naruto gave him a sheepish grin before scratching the back of his neck nervously, his eyes closing into half semi-circles and his cheeks turning slightly pinkish in his embarrassment.
"Lost the sheet that said it." He mumbled out. Sasuke rolled his eyes and let out an almost silent groan of pain. Sasuke was seriously starting to wonder why he employed the dope in the first place. Sasuke looked down to check his watch and noticed that it had actually gotten quite late, it was already ten, then again they had gotten here late so he shouldn't be surprised.
"You've got an hour, I'd start setting things up if I were you." Sasuke drawled out, noticing the small worry line in Naruto's brows. He looked over at Sasuke and nodded before taking his leave, Sasuke stood there and finished the rest of the champagne, feeling a little stupid standing there on his own whilst everyone else was speaking with one another.
"Screw this, where's Itachi."
…!...
Sakura stood behind the stage with her new electric guitar in one hand and the other over her heart trying desperately to calm down her growing nerves. Fugaku was just finishing off his speech and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she was up to bat.
She had never thought that performing on stage would be so nerve racking, she'd preformed on the streets for years and never once had she felt nervous. It was annoying really, how could she even think about becoming a musician when she couldn't even stand going on stage! She saw how everyone was staring at Fugaku, how all there attention was drawn to the one man, which was probably what did it. Back when she was homeless people wouldn't pay her any mind, the odd person might stop to listen but that was it, here however she knew that everyone was going to be looking at her, judging her voice and music, any slip she made would be remembered by the people listening, as well as the media who were recording it.
Naruto noticed her nervous disposition and walked over, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezing lightly, letting her know that he understood. Sakura jumped at the contact at first but was thankful for the small comfort.
"You'll be fine Sakura, trust me." He spoke in an almost whisper that was so unusual for Naruto that it forced her to look around, just to be sure that it was Naruto that she was talking too. He gave her one of his foxy grins that she couldn't help but smile back at, she was thankful that she had a friend like Naruto, he really was a nice guy.
"Thanks. But I'm not to sure if I'll be able to do it right, what happens if I screw up?" She muttered in a concerned voice. Naruto simply rolled his eyes and grinned down at her.
"If you do then I'll turn Sasuke gay." He joked. Sakura snorted a little in response.
"I'd like to see that one." She joked back, rolling her eyes as she said so. Naruto only grinned back before answering in a serious tone.
"I will, trust me. People have mistaken us as a gay couple in the past." Sakura raised an eyebrow but shook her head, turning back to where Fugaku was just finishing up.
"Look at it this way Sakura." She jumped a little at his voce, but listened to what he was saying regardless. "There are a lot of people who have worked really hard to get you this far, me included. The advertisement people had to work really hard to make sure that people knew about tonight. If you keeled over now it would waste all the effort they pit into this." He finished, his serious tone back in place.
Sakura took in a deep breath, she knew that he was right. People had been working their butt's off for tonight and it was all for the debut of Emerald Eye. She needed to suck it up and get out there.
"Sakura, you calmed down any yet?" Kiba asked from behind her. She turned around and saw him throwing his bass-strap over his shoulder, getting it ready for when the curtain went up. She nodded her head slowly before doing the same with her own guitar. Tenten was sitting behind her drum set whilst taking off her heels, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to play properly with them on. Everyone was so much more calm than her, which was most likely true, they'd both been in a band before this one and had played quite a lot, even though it had never really lifted off the ground like this one.
She took in a deep breath and walked over to the microphone and adjusted it for her height. She could hear the almost silent chatter of Naruto and the stage director behind the stage as well as the sudden applause outside in the audience.
Suddenly the curtain began to rise and the once dark stage was illuminated with white light. Fugaku was just exiting the stage as Sakura began to look around, finding herself the focus of attention. She took another deep breath and spoke clearly into the microphone in front of her.
"Hello. Um… As you might have already heard we're Emerald Eye and are a new band. I hope you like are music and enjoy your self as much as we're going to enjoy performing." Why hadn't she practiced! That sounded so stiff and corny! She yelled in her mind but pushed it away for the moment, there wasn't much she could do about it now.
"Okay well are first song is called 'The unwinding Cable car' so please enjoy!" She gave a nervous smile. She started playing the intro soon after which was followed quickly after by Kiba on his bass. They continued to play for a short while and then She began to sing. It was a nerve-racking thing, she was terrified that her voice might not come out or it would croak, but luckily it sounded relatively normal. Kiba and Tenten took over for a small line in the song before she began to sing again. Tenten didn't really have much to do in this song so just sat there and sung as backup when needed, it was only after they were two thirds of the way through that her part actually started.
As they continued to play Sakura began to relax a little more, her knees didn't feel so much like jelly now than they had at the beginning and before she knew it they were at their sixth song. It was safe to say that she was enjoying her self more now. The song she was singing now was 'When I'm Gone', she actually liked this song quite a bit, it was one of the one's that she could maybe jump about with and no one would think she was weird. Kiba had been jumping about like an idiot for a while now but he didn't have the restriction of a microphone so he'd been everywhere, jumping about like a moron since the second song started.
Sasuke watched Sakura on the stage from the bar with Itachi by his side, both equally bored. The only good thing about the night was Sakura, he'd been waiting for her performance since she'd left about an hour ago. Itachi was only with him though because Taya had ditched him and gone off with their mum.
He closed his eyes and listened to how Sakura's voice sent pleasant tingling sensations through his body. He really did love her voice, plus the songs she wrote weren't half bad either. She'd sounded so nervous when she first came out to sing but she seemed to have calmed down now so that was something at least, he thought. If she'd ended up panicking in the middle of the stage then he could say bye-bye to the lovely profit she was bound to bring in.
The night was slowly coming to a close as the last song finally came rolling in, it was 'over and over' from what Sasuke could remember. He actually liked the song, even though Sakura didn't write it, it had a good beat to it and he couldn't deny that Tenten had talent for writing. Sakura's words drifted through the room and all of the younger guests continued to enjoy the music. All of the older generation had drifted off a while ago deciding that it wasn't their cup of tea and Sasuke couldn't help but think it a bit rude…
"Sasuke, fancy meeting you in a place like this!" Sasuke stiffened as soon as that smooth, flirty voice hit his ears. He knew who it was without looking and felt the urge to run, but then that would be unfair to Itachi. He turned his head slowly to look at the person whose voice it belonged to and came face to face with Karin.
She had on some sort of smutty nurse get up with one of those brainless male underwear models standing next to her. Sasuke had to hold in the cringe that had been threatening to escape.
"Karin." He acknowledged with a carefully blank face, making sure to show her no emotion what so ever. Karin simply smirked at him with a firm hand on her hip that was stuck out in a perfect models pose. He idly wondered if she was maybe following him, if so then he'd loved to know how she got through the main doors.
"What are you doing here?" Itachi asked from beside Sasuke, he for one wasn't going to just sit there. Sakura was just finishing up her last song and he'd rather get Karin out of the way before she came back. It had taken a lot of convincing and bribery from his part to convince Sakura not to punch Karin's lights out. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to fall for the bait this time however if she found out.
"I thought I'd come and cheer little Pinky on, after all, it's her debut." Her dark red lip's quirked up in a sarcastic smirk that promised pain, even though he highly doubted that she'd be able to carry the act out.
"That's bull shit we both know that." Sasuke stated matter of factly, his blank face had broken out in a full out glare that caused her to flinch ever so slightly. There was cheering going on in the background and both brothers knew that they couldn't keep Karin here for long.
"Follow me. Keep the missing link here please." Sasuke ordered, showing his bad mood. Karin told her date to stay put and followed as the two brothers headed for a quiet corner of the room, not noticing the fact that Sakura had caught the whole thing and was currently on her way.
"What the hell are you doing here Karin, answer me." Sasuke growled as Itachi simple stood there, not wanting to interrupt when his brother was in one of his moods.
"Isn't it obvious, I want you back. We're engaged for Christ sake, you'll get over this little fling soon enough anyway." She stated, crossing her arms over her chest in that way that made it look bigger. Usually he would have been drawn to it but not now, he didn't love her, he had no physical attraction to Karin anymore and to be honest he didn't want it back.
"We're not engaged anymore Karin, you gave me back the ring." He said in a low, controlled voice. Karin huffed a little bit before answering.
"I didn't give it back, I threw it at you, there's a difference." She snapped, an angry look coming over her face. He knew that she wasn't used to not getting her way, and that this was most likely really getting to her, but he didn't care. It was her own fault after all.
"Karin, nice of you to drop by." The sound of Sakura's voice nearly made Sasuke jump, almost. He was hoping that he would be able to avoid this, but apparently not. He looked over past Karin and was taken aback again by her appearance, he was so used to seeing her in jeans and T-shirts that when looking at her when she looked so lovely was literally taking his breath away. Not that this was the best time for that of course.
The anger in her voice was clear and Karin was forced to give a thick gulp before turning around slowly. Sakura watched in deep irritation as Karin turned around with a sheepish look on her face, but she quickly recovered and simply glared at her, which was met with one of her own. They both stood there like that for a while until Karin broke it off in favor of speaking.
"Shouldn't you be playing pop star with the rest of your playmates." Karin mocked. Sakura simply smirked and closed her eyes, counting to ten slowly in her head before opening her eyes again and answering.
"Just so you know I didn't hit you last time because I had made a deal with Itachi but I am under no restriction tonight. So watch your mouth." The last part was spoken in a growl as her smirk left her face in the place of a death glare, her entire aura changing.
Karin didn't take much note of it, gathering that it was just empty words, she wouldn't dare hit her in a public place, which would be stupid. She gave an almost evil laugh and gave a smirk that showed no fear, her eyes twinkling with menace.
"You don't scare me little rat, so don't bother. We all know who's the better choice for Sasuke, and that's clearly me. All you two have a is a simple fling and he's going to end up coming ba-" She was interrupted mid sentence however when Sakura's fist collided with her nose. She fell back against the wall and slid down, her glasses falling to the ground.
Sasuke and Itachi looked between the two females in confusion for a few seconds before it sunk in and they both grabbed Sakura's arms, not trusting her one bit. They both knew very well that she had a small anger issue and didn't exactly want to stick around to see what would happen if they let her be.
"Don't you dare speak to me like your better, because your not. Sasuke choose me in the end, not you. You have nothing to do with him anymore." She growled out with so much acid it was frightening. Sasuke knew that if Sakura's fangs hadn't have already been out they would have been flying out by now. He also knew that this was the vampire Sakura talking, not the human one who liked to joke around and tease him.
"Let go of me." She growled and ripped her arms out of their hold and went marching off at an inhuman speed. Both brothers looked at each other with worry before Itachi broke the silence between them.
"I'll get Karin to a doctor, make sure her nose isn't broken or anything, you go look for Sakura and try and Calm her down." Itachi ordered and for once Sasuke didn't fuss about being told what to do, he just stalked off looking for the pissed off half-breed.
…!...
At the other end of the room a man sat and watched the entire scene unfold with his pale white eyes. A small chuckle left his lips as the pink haired girl marched past him, not even noticing his existence as he finished off his drink and stood up, running a hand through his pale blue hair and giving a blood thirsty grin, watching as a dark haired boy ran after her, clearly being of some close attachment.
"We've got you now, you little mongrel…"
...!...
woooo gooo Sakura punch her face in! Okay now i feel cruel... oh well... Thanks for reading people! I hope you like it and reeeeeview! They are like my food and i love food! It keeps me alive! And if i'm alive then i can update!