Opening his third bag of chips, Chouji continued to pace the dressing room with Shikamaru lying on his back in the corner. Kiba was styling his hair in the mirror while biting onto his fang-guitar pick in his teeth. Naruto spun his drum sticks back and forth in his hands, pretending that nobody saw him when he didn't catch them just right.
"It's no good guys; I'm a nervous wreck right now."
"Arf ghou gavin dis…" Kiba took the pick out of his mouth, "Are you seriously having another panic attack?"
A knock on the door was the ten minute signal before their set was scheduled. The District Talent Show was the big ending to the School Festival and the start of summer break. As many hours as they had put into practice, he still got chills at the thought of performing.
"Chouji, come with me." Shikamaru jumped up, grabbed the chips from Chouji's hands and threw them away in the trash. Moving towards the stage only heightened the tension in his muscles and the rush of sweat coming down the sides of his face. Walking past the stage crew, he pointed out to the stage from the side where the girls were waiting to start their dance routine after the first band finished.
Turning his head away from the crowd, Chouji looked across at the girls: Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino. It was interesting seeing emotions in others that were troubling his own heart, that mix of excitement and worry and panic.
His heart skipped a beat when they went out to dance, knowing that their turn was next. Naruto and Kiba were already behind the curtain reading their instruments. Kiba and Naruto looked like they were out of an 80s hair metal band, but it suited them. Chouji's own black velvet suit did not seem to match; he thought the stylist was going out of her way to make him look like Meatloaf.
The girls were all impressive; they had fit their styles together in an energetic mix of choreography. Sakura's cheer squad experience fit Hinata's ballet by helping her achieve insane height with her spin jumps. And Ino's break dancing meshed flawlessly with Tenten's martial arts, like an impromptu Caopeira. Though it all he noticed their eyes, they were lost in what they were doing, each one looking at something. In a flash his eyes met Ino's, and the realization that she was looking towards his side of the stage made everything else in the world seem to fall away.
It was the eyes that made him think. Here eyes were so clear, so distinct. Looking out on the crowd, their faces seemed to fade in the darkness, their eyes stood out, but only reflecting the lights from the stage. The audience had become a living sea of stars. Spinning the microphone in his hand, he smiled. "Now that's a crowd I can perform to."
The girls rushed off stage, but before he walked on he caught Ino by her hand and pulled her close to say, "Be sure to keep your eyes on me." Walking onto the stage, he plugged in his mic and got behind the keyboard as the curtain pulled back revealing the band. Shikamaru on the second mic and acoustic guitar gave him a smile and a nod before looking out to a specific part of the crowd. His heart was beating fast, but he realized all those eyes looking at him didn't matter, only one pair of eyes mattered and that was who he was going to perform for.