Sakura was caught in another whirlwind of press before her tour began, but Sasuke thought she seemed better this time around. Seeing Ino had clearly helped, and Sasuke was reminded once again of how little he knew about Sakura in some ways. Even though she'd become one of the most important people in his life, he'd known her less than a year.

Information passed between her and Ino like lightning. They clearly knew each other inside and out, to the point of anticipating what the other one would say in conversation. Sasuke hadn't seen Sakura nearly so comfortable with anyone else. With Ino her dry, sarcastic side was on full display, and that was often lacking from her public persona. Even with him she was different, for that matter. Not matter how close they were, time wasn't an advantage they possessed. And starting that day, they wouldn't see each other for a while.

They said goodbye early in the morning. Sakura's team was getting an early start to get to the location of her opening show, and Sasuke woke up with her.

"I'm sure this month will fly by," Sakura said, looking unconvinced.

Sasuke shrugged and nodded. The next time they saw each other would be at the end of June, when they would be at the same festival again. He tried not to think about how long this month would feel. "Enjoy it, I guess?"

"I'll try," she said, grinning. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I love you."

Sasuke leaned forward so their lips would collide. Sakura let out an amused exhale. He kissed her deeply but briefly, because footsteps were coming upstairs. Then a few people burst through the door. "Alright, let's get this show on the road!"

"I'll call you later," Sakura promised. Sasuke nodded. And then she was out the door.

Sakura's nerves were rocketing up and down. She could hear the crowd outside, and knew from her sound check how absurdly large the venue seemed. Even if it wasn't the biggest stadium, the endless rows of seats were enough to strike her dumb the minute she'd come out onstage for her sound check.

Her forehead was already wet with sweat, and Shizune darted in to dab it with a cloth. "You're gonna be great," she said, and all Sakura could do was say thanks. Her throat felt tight in a way that it hadn't since her first few performances, open mic nights back in freshman year of high school. Sakura swallowed a few sips of water and thanked Shizune again. She pulled down the hem of her tight silver skirt reflexively; it would've helped to have her guitar to fiddle with, but it wasn't going to come out until several songs into the show. Shizune backed off, probably to give her space. Sakura knew she was inside her own head way too deeply right now.

She paced back and forward, trying to breathe deeply. It was times like this when she really, really wished Ino were here to calm her down. Or Sasuke, she realized. Just having his presence there would immediately make her feel better. No doubt he'd say something about how she could do this in her sleep. And she could; she knew her music and the choreography cold. But this performance meant she was officially stepping up to the next level.

You're at home on a stage, she heard Sasuke say. He'd muttered it as she was leaving, when they'd embraced tightly before she got on her bus. It'll go well. Clearly he'd known how much she was anticipating this tour.

Years of hope had led up to this moment. Hope, and intense work, and determination, and luck. And now that she was here, Sakura couldn't quite wrap her head around it. She was sure her entire body was shaking with adrenaline.

"Standby. Fifteen seconds," a sound tech said. Orochimaru gave her a thumbs up, and Sakura nodded. The huge screen onstage was counting down from ten, just as practiced. The audience was screaming along, and suddenly Sakura felt a rush of positive energy. They'd all come here to see her, and damn it if she wasn't going to give them the same experience that she'd given to people at all the more intimate venues. She tapped her foot in time to the beat pulsing over the speakers. Three…Two…One…Sakura took one final breath, and walked out onstage.

The flashing lights were blinding, but her smile didn't falter. If she didn't know she had to sing, the sheer amount of people waiting for her would've struck her dumb. The crowd was deafening. With the first chord of her opening song, they picked her up higher than Sakura knew was possible.

"Thank you all for coming!" she said at the end of her first song, and there were huge cheers in response. "This is an awesome place to start my tour." She had a script to stick to, but she figured she could modify it just a little bit. "I'm not going to lie, this is the biggest audience I've ever played for."

There were more cheers. "I LOVE YOU SAKURA!" someone screamed, and the crowd clapped.

She laughed and then heard the first cues for her next song in her earpiece. She launched into it without any introduction, and immediately people began to sing along. By the time a few slower songs rolled around, she was close to tears just because of the emotion in the room. It was leaking from the crowd, and she felt completely overwhelmed.

The next hour and a half felt like it lasted both a minute and an entire day. After the comedown Sakura realized she felt naked without her guitar or a piano, but the energy just about made up for it. She felt like she was at the center of an orbiting solar system. People were singing her lyrics back to her with just as much passion as she'd had writing them. This was what she'd wanted for years, and there was nothing like it.

Three days later, Sasuke was immersed in tour preparation of his own. The band opened in Kusa in a week, and total strangers were running in and out of their apartment what seemed like every minute with last minute clothing choices and instrument recommendations. This was what it was like to be Sakura 24/7. It was only around tour time that they got a taste of the double standard, and this year wasn't nearly as bad as it had been in years past. The four of them could be trusted to keep up their typical image, so they needed minimal guidance.

Still, Sasuke would've holed up in his and Sakura's apartment if he could to get away from the bustle. But even he knew he owed a duty to his bandmates to be around in the heat of prep. It was also depressing to be there alone. Already he felt Sakura's absence. He'd watched illegal videos of her opening concert that had been posted online; it was probably ironic that the only way even he could see it was with glitchy audio and crappy resolution. Still, she'd sounded good, even though they had upped the pop-ness of the whole thing.

The only text she'd sent him afterward was a series of exclamation points, which he'd taken as a sign that she'd had a good time. Sasuke wondered if she kept the excitement to a minimum because she knew he'd roll his eyes. The thought made him feel slightly guilty, but he also knew Sakura wouldn't act according to any preference of Sasuke's. He didn't call her later that night, only because she was probably fast asleep. Tours took a serious toll on you physically, even if they boosted your mental energy.

Sasuke would have a new guitar for this tour, which he'd picked out a month or two previously. He tended to separate tour guitars from personal guitars, only because on tour instruments were liable to get worn down and beat-up because of constant travel. Especially if they belonged to Kiba, who had a tendency to smash basses to get the audience riled up. They were crappy ones made for that purpose, but still…sometimes it seemed like sacrilege, even if it came with rock band territory.

"Teme! We gotta be on the bus in twenty minutes! Are you packed?"

Sasuke jumped at Naruto's voice. He'd zoned out completely. "Yeah, I'm packed, dobe. Are you?"

"Just about!"

Sasuke shouldered his duffel bag. Most of his clothes were stowed away in the tour trunks, which traveled separately. He didn't really need much else. Shikamaru and Kiba were surrounded by people by the door of the apartment. A limo would take them to the random parking lot where their bus was waiting. Sasuke joined them reluctantly. "You look tired," Kiba remarked.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged. "Didn't sleep much last night. Too much noise." That wasn't true, and Shikamaru's smirk said that Sasuke wasn't fooling anyone.

"Alright, let's get a move on." Kakashi was checking his phone.

"You're actually making sure we're on time?" Naruto appeared, incredulous.

"Technically you were supposed to leave half an hour ago," Kakashi looked like he couldn't care less. The rush of wardrobe and tech people streamed out the door first. "I'll meet you all in Kusa."

The bus was brand new and extremely nice. Laughably nice, compared to their first tour bus. No matter how big a hit your first album was, management cut corners wherever possible to save money on tours. The bunks had been about two feet wide and four feet long, and all the furniture had been worn to nothing. None of them had complained; the novelty of it all overpowered anything else. At least until the first few weeks had gone by, when the strong aroma of old shoes couldn't be ignored and Shikamaru had gone on a desperate run to find them a cure for the stiffness from sleeping in a tiny bed. Kakashi had scoffed until he saw their accommodations, and then wanted to know why they hadn't said something sooner.

But they'd been used to getting things secondhand and in crappy condition, whether it was instruments or venues. Back in the desperate days when they'd played basement clubs and dive bars, Sasuke had been inherently distrustful of anything that looked perfect.

"Mind if I have a word with the four of you?" The man had appeared backstage as soon as their set had ended. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba were packing up their amps and instruments as fast as possible. The manager of the club looked on, tapping his foot impatiently so the next act could get onstage.

"Who are you," Sasuke said skeptically, eyes narrowed.

The guy smiled slightly, as if he was amused. It was hard to tell, considering he was wearing a bandana over his mouth. His hair was gray, but he looked young, probably in his early thirties.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. It's nice to meet all of you." He held out a hand, but even Naruto shook it doubtfully. Sasuke kept his hands on his guitar, but Kakashi didn't seem to be bothered by his lack of politeness.

"What do you want with us?" Kiba asked.

"I heard your set just now. And I'm interested in getting you a manager."

"Tch." Sasuke didn't believe it for a second.

Kiba raised his eyebrows. "Is this a joke?"

Kakashi looked amused again. "It's not a joke, actually. I think you have some real talent. I scout a few places around here, and I'll admit that you guys are the first ones I've seen in a long time who I think show actual promise."

Naruto was looking at the others, excited. Sasuke, however, was satisfied to see that Shikamaru also looked suspicious.

"We don't even know who you are," Shikamaru said.

"Of course. Good to know you have some skepticism."

Sasuke frowned as Kakashi pulled out a business card and gave it to them. He wasn't like many other people Sasuke had seen scouting before. There was a type: slimy, old-trying-to-look-young, proposing sketchy record deals and management contracts. He got a vibe from Kakashi that was completely different.

But he still didn't trust him.

Shikamaru passed the card around to all of them. "Can't argue with it," he muttered to Sasuke, who shrugged, knowing Shikamaru was right. He was from Hidden Sound Records, one of the biggest rock labels.

"What I'm proposing to do," Kakashi said, "is take you all out to lunch. I'll pay, because it looks like you four need it." He had a soft voice, but there was a sardonic note that Sasuke didn't miss.

Kiba's eyes narrowed, but he wasn't going to argue. None of them were about to turn down free food. Sasuke and Shikamaru exchanged a glance, and Sasuke thought Kakashi noticed the look.

"And I'll tell you what I think I can get for you," Kakashi said. "It'll be in words that you understand, no loopholes or double meanings. I'll be completely honest. You can decide whether you want to accept it or not."

"What's in it for you?" Kiba asked, raising an eyebrow. "If we accept, I mean."

"Knowing that I've caught up what could be the next big thing," Kakashi said. "Talking seriously, I think you could make it big. Fast."

The words stirred something in Sasuke that made him rethink his aversion to this. Music was much more important than any kind of fame, he'd always felt like that, but a deal like this could get them new instruments and the best recording equipment available. They were broke seventeen-year-olds with no prospects and no way out of dead-end dive bars that just wanted background music.

"Fine," he said, answering for the rest of the band.

Nothing would be the same after that.

Still, Sasuke didn't think he would ever forget what it felt like, five months later, to be standing behind the curtain at one of the biggest stages in the country. Before that day, he'd never felt that level of adrenaline and euphoria in his life.

"Ladies and gentleman…FIRESTYLE!"

Five years ahead of that moment, Sasuke didn't feel much as he waited for the curtain to drop at their opening concert. The crowd was deafening, particularly after getting pumped up by the opening groups, but three tours had prepared Sasuke for any pre-concert nerves. There was the excitement of playing new songs onstage, even Sasuke couldn't deny that, but he felt weirdly calm. Kiba had done a shot right before this, and Sasuke supposed he should've too. Being onstage, even without moving around, took a lot of energy. The first tour had been completely outside of Sasuke's comfort zone: they'd gone right to huge audiences, and without his careless façade, he would've had no idea how to deal with that.

Naruto clapped his back on the way to the drums. Thankfully they wouldn't be rising through the floor this time; apparently it was getting old. The stage was completely dark, and Sasuke heard 'five seconds' in the microphone in his ear.

A spotlight illuminated Naruto first, silhouetting him against the black background. Sasuke knew it would look cool, and wasn't surprised when the crowd screamed, and then screamed louder as one by one, three other spotlights shown on Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sasuke. The four of them were still for a moment, which seemed to cast a spell over the crowd. And then Sasuke played the first chord of their opener, and there was an explosion of sound.

"How're you all feeling?" Naruto yelled at the end of their first song, and received a roaring answer from the audience of thousands. He pumped a fist. "We've got brand new stuff for you tonight!" His voice echoed through the giant stadium. If anyone knew how to play a crowd, it was Naruto. "You won't forget this anytime soon!"

Shikamaru launched into the next song on the piano and immediately people started singing along with him.

"That crowd was fucking electric," Kiba said as soon as they were backstage after the show. He drained a water bottle in a few gulps and tossed it up in the air before collapsing onto a couch.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Naruto punched him on the shoulder. "Come on, teme. You gotta admit they were awesome."

"Just as enthusiastic as ever," Shikamaru said. "It's our best album, so I'd hope so."

"Pretty sure the fans liked Untitled better," Kiba said, referring to their second album.

"The most generic songs were on that one," Sasuke said. "Of course they did." He was drenched in sweat from the heat of the lights and sheer exertion of being onstage for an hour and a half. Still, he couldn't help returning Naruto's grin. Hundreds of performances couldn't quite put out the spark completely.

A/N: Guess what? I got plagiarized. If everyone could go over to wattpad and tell the user nalu_lovers to take down her plagiarized stories, that'd be a great help. She seems to be making a career of inserting Fairy Tale characters' names into completed Naruto fanfics and calling them her own. Commenting directly on her story Black and Blue would be particularly helpful, because it's my story Black (and Pink) and Blue. She blocked me, but spamming her stories and spreading the word is the best thing I can think of to do. Jfc people are assholes.