There was a huge crowd milling around on the sand and around elaborate fire pits. Sasuke and Sakura were offered glasses of champagne by a waiter as soon as they entered the fray. Sakura supposed this was the height of the celebrity industry; being plied with alcohol at lavish parties on the beach while photographers tried to get good pictures from behind a barrier two hundred feet away. Wow, you sound awful right now. She put it down to her deep desire just to go back to her room and sleep next to Sasuke.

It was kind of amazing to be here, though. Sakura hadn't ever really thought she'd be an accepted member of this circle, but people had been coming up to her enthusiastically since she'd arrived.

"I'm thirsty for anything other than alcohol," Sakura said, setting down her wine glass. Her throat was dry.

"Me too. I'll go find plain water," Sasuke said.

He'd barely disappeared before Naruto came up to her with a red-haired guy who Sakura recognized immediately as Gaara Sabaku,

"Sakura, this is Gaara," Naruto said.

"It's nice to meet you," Gaara said, nodding politely. "Your debut album was impressive."

"Thanks. It's nice to meet you, too. I've been listening to your stuff for years."

Gaara smiled. "That's flattering."

"Are your brother and sister here, too?"

"No, unfortunately." Gaara didn't offer any more of an explanation until Naruto coughed. "We agreed to split up. They're attending an important meeting. I can't say I'm glad I agreed to come here instead. Parties aren't exactly my favorite thing, which is probably clear."

"I'm surprised you came at all! I thought it was mostly pop people here!" Naruto looked around as if expecting to see another hard rock band.

"I believe it is," Gaara said mildly. He nodded to Sakura. "It's getting a little wild for my taste, actually. I think I might step out. It was a pleasure meeting you, though, Sakura."

"You too," Sakura said with a smile.

"Aw come on, one drink?" Naruto grinned at Gaara. "The bar's not in the middle of the crowd."

Gaara sighed and looked almost amused. "Alright."

"Yes! Want to join, Sakura?"

"No, I should wait for Sasuke, he'll be back in a minute."

"Okay. See you later!"

Someone tapped Sakura on the shoulder and she turned to find Sasuke, who gave her a glass of water. "Had to skirt around a mess. Someone's up dancing on a table."

"Oh, no." She took a sip. "I just met Gaara Sabaku."

"Gaara's here?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I didn't know he and Naruto were such good friends," Sakura said.

Sasuke shrugged. "We met them a while back, the three of them are good musicians. And Naruto loves making friends, obviously."

"He's good at making people feel comfortable," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"Sakura Haruno! Oh my God, hi!" Some girl with dyed purple hair was practically bouncing up and down.

"Hi!" Sakura said. "How are you?"

"So good, now that I've seen you! How's your tour going?"

"Great! I'm having an amazing time, it really is a dream come true."

"I'm so happy for you! Oh, I have to run, my publicist is calling!" She pulled out her phone and slid past Sasuke, putting a hand on his arm with a smile.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, raising her eyebrows. "Friend of yours?" Sasuke asked.

"I actually…Don't know who that was?" Sakura bit her lip. "Is that awful?"

Sasuke shrugged. "No. Didn't show, that's the important thing." This business was all about bullshitting it.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked around to find Kakashi standing behind him. "Sasuke, Sakura. Having a nice evening?"

"Thought you weren't getting involved with all of this," Sasuke said.

"Occasionally I can't resist. I'm not too old," Kakashi said, looking amused. "How are you, Sakura?"

Sakura's mouth twitched, on the verge of laughter. "I'm doing well, thanks. It's good to see you again, Kakashi."

"And you too, of course. I've been hearing great things about your tour."

"Oh, that's nice of you to say." She smiled. Sasuke almost rolled his eyes at her modesty.

"I said it because I'm sure it's true," Kakashi said. "Soon you'll be selling out bigger stadiums than this one." He jerked his thumb at Sasuke.

"Well, that's the hope," Sakura said, grinning. "It's a good thing we're not in direct competition."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Kakashi said. "Sasuke's army of preteen girls used to be about as big as yours."

Sasuke shot a glare at him, and Sakura laughed. "I'm glad of that, actually. Firestyle brought rock back into the mainstream."

"I'll drink to that," Kakashi said, holding up his glass of champagne. "So what's the plan for you in the fall?"

"Back to the studio, I think," Sakura said. "I'm hoping for a few days off, too. Parties are great, but…"

"We can only take so much enthusiasm," Kakashi said, smiling.

"Yeah," Sakura said, amused. "No one likes to admit it, though."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Got it in one. I'm going to go check on some of my other charges. Enjoy the night." He smiled mischievously.

"You too," Sakura said with a laugh. Sasuke would never admit it, but he envied her easy confidence talking to people. "He's great," she said fondly to Sasuke.

"Tch. He can be a pain."

She rolled her eyes. "The good kind."

"Does that exist?"

"Did we not just prove it does a few hours ago?" She raised an eyebrow and Sasuke coughed. "Ugh. Pretend I never said that, please."

"I will."

The two of them grinned and she reached out for his hand. "How much longer is this supposed to last? It's a mess, I feel bad for the people that have to clean up." Cups and other trash had been strewn all over the ground.

"People'll be out until dawn, probably," Sasuke said. "It's always like this."

"I kind of want to leave soon," Sakura said. "I know it's ungrateful or whatever, but…"

"It's not," Sasuke said immediately.

"Let's give it another half hour and then sneak away," Sakura said, eyes shining.

"It'll be hard to avoid the paparazzi," Sasuke muttered. "They're everywhere."

"Well, I think we're up to the challenge." She grinned at him, and Sasuke couldn't help returning it.

Sakura woke up groggy and thirsty. She hadn't drunk that much, had she? Just two shots and a glass of wine. But combined with five hours of sleep, the results obviously weren't ideal. Her phone alarm sounded loudly and she jumped. "Crap," she said, sitting up.

Sasuke rolled toward her. "What?" His eyes were barely open, and his voice was hoarse. God, she loved the way it sounded.

"I have to go to a meeting in twenty minutes. And as soon as it's over I go back on the road again." Their brief respite together had ended.

Sasuke sighed and opened his eyes fully, looking up at her. Sakura hadn't really realized it before, but morning Sasuke, his face clear of a frown or a smirk, looked almost vulnerable. "Jesus," he said, sitting up, and his face resumed its normal protection.

"I know." She ran a hand through her hair. "This wasn't nearly long enough, was it?"

"Hn." His grunt said it all.

Sakura swung her legs out of the bed and made herself get dressed, brush her hair, and put on some makeup. When she came back into the bedroom, Sasuke was pulling on jeans. Sakura knew she should go now if she wanted to be early. She shoved all of her stuff into her suitcase and yanked the zipper shut. Sasuke handed her the sandals that had been under the bed and she pulled them on. He stood up and she faced him, hesitant for a second. He leaned toward her and she allowed herself a five second kiss before breaking apart. "I have to go. See you…Soon?" She had no idea how long it would be. At least another month, probably.

Sasuke nodded. "Good luck." His face was expressionless. She left before she was tempted to jump back in the bed and stay there.

Sakura practically ran up the path to the main hotel, where she had a meeting with Orochimaru and a bunch of people from the label. Someone was waiting in the lobby to take her up to a conference room. Sakura couldn't help feeling slightly nervous, and she entered the room with a mounting sense of apprehension.

"Ah, there she is," Orochimaru said.

"Sorry, am I late?" Sakura had been sure he'd said eleven, but the room was full, and there were papers spread out on the table as if the group was already in the middle of a discussion.

"Oh, you're right on time. We just met up slightly earlier to talk about a few things. Logistical details, nothing for you to worry about."

"Oh. Okay." Sakura took the only empty seat at the table.

"So, this meeting is just a place for us to finalize some of our strategies," Orochimaru said. "Particularly regarding the recording process for the second album."

"I'll have some songwriting time, right?" Sakura asked, looking around at the record label representatives as well as Orochimaru. "With the tour I don't have much time for working on new stuff right now."

"Of course, of course," Orochimaru said. "We'll be recording as we go along, too. I think we'll have this one out in record time. Pardon the pun."

"We want to capitalize on the success of this year, have a new single out as soon as the buzz around Forward has died down," one of the label people said.

It's all a business deal, Sakura thought. The pit in her stomach was becoming bigger and bigger.

"And we're thinking of trying some more electronic styles," Orochimaru said. "It'll be an exciting new direction."

"Sorry, but what does that mean?" Sakura frowned between him and the other people around the table.

"You know. We've got a couple dance hits on this record, but we want to try for more. It'll up the edginess of your sound. Imagine synthesizers, higher production value. Guitar's been done before, we want to create something new."

"That's…That's a really different direction from what I imagined, though," Sakura said. "Guitar might have been done before, but there are plenty of people doing EDM-inspired stuff. I thought my style was new."

Orochimaru gave her a smile that Sakura could only describe as simpering. "We're doing what's best for your musical future, Sakura, I promise. You trust our experience, I hope?"

Sakura felt completely backed into a corner. If she argued, she would just be a spoiled, entitled singer. Maybe Orochimaru was right, anyway. "I—Yeah."

"Excellent. We're enlisting the help of some of the top producers in the industry, thanks to the success of the first album. I'm extremely excited for the recording process, and I'm not even the artist here." A few people around the room tittered.

Sakura returned Orochimaru's smile, but not without effort. "Me too."

"Alright. We'll have a September start date and then work into November. Production should turn it around fast, so we can probably expect a February release date. Material's already being worked on."

Sakura didn't even know how to begin arguing with that, so she said nothing. It was clear the break she'd been anticipating wasn't going to happen. The thought of this sped-up schedule made her want to throw up.

"So, the final item on our agenda: Sasuke Uchiha."

"What?" Sakura's voice was so loud, a few people started. "I don't see how my private life is relevant."

Orochimaru showed her his phone, which was open to a photo that had been posted online. It was a blurry shot of her and Sasuke's kiss in the hot tub. Sakura felt her face turn bright red. "Unfortunately, the fact that your private life involves Sasuke Uchiha means it's not private. But don't worry, I just wanted to say that it's only doing good things for you. The buzz exploded back in the winter, and the relationship has only served to bridge the demographics between Sakura and Firestyle's audience. Last night's events will only feed the fire. In a good way, of course."

Looking at the nodding heads around the table, Sakura felt like this shouldn't be real. "Um, great," she said, almost amused despite the sheer ridiculousness of this.

"So there's nothing public we should spread," said a woman who Sakura thought was on her publicity team (what did it mean that she didn't know people's names anymore?).

"I don't believe so," Orochimaru said with a smile.

"No engagement, no nothing?"

"No, that ties her down. We're selling achievable standards here."

Sakura looked between them, furious. "I'm sorry. Are you serious?"

"It's all about publicity, Sakura," Orochimaru said.

"An engagement?"

"If sales were flagging, it would boost your name. Obviously a hypothetical, considering your album has done extraordinary things for Cobra Records," one of the record label people said.

"Yes, popularity is not a worry right now," Orochimaru said, smiling. "This year has been one of my proudest successes."

"You're talking about an engagement as a publicity stunt?" Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows. "Is that really something you'd do?"

"Not without consulting Sasuke Uchiha's publicity team," Orochimaru said. "But put it out of your mind, Sakura. It's not something that'll be at all relevant in the immediate future. Or the long-term future, the way you're going." His smile was clearly supposed to be reassuring, but Sakura could feel her stomach sinking to the floor.

"So that's everything, then. We'll start setting up recording details for September," one of the record people said.

"Lovely," Orochimaru said. He checked his phone. "Perfect timing, because we need to be on the road."

"Good luck with tomorrow's show," someone said to Sakura, and she managed a thank you to them and the rest of the room.

Back the bus later that day, Sakura lay in her bunk, curtains shut. She felt like she had no control of her life. Did Sasuke feel like this? He never mentioned meetings that had gone like this; she knew for a fact that the band had full control over their own sound. Sakura tried to tell herself that it was just because she was new to the industry, but deep down she knew there was no end of the tunnel here. She was a girl, and in the pop world, which meant that she'd been shaped to hold up an unattainable and yet somehow achievable standard for girls. She'd never wanted to be complicit in the machine, but here she was. She'd saddled herself with a manager who would see to it that she became that machine's reigning queen, controlled by a team who would have no qualms about steering her music where it needed to go in order to consistently top charts.

And if that doesn't work, there's always fake relationships, she thought, feeling nearly hysterical. Orochimaru could probably make her break up with Sasuke. What had actually been in the contract she'd signed? How much personal control did he have over her?

The lights and the crowds had masked truths that she'd hidden from herself. She'd thought she'd been wise about the things that came with fame, but she'd been naïve as every other girl with dreams of singing on a huge stage. This meeting had shone a blindingly bright light on it all. Appearance, clothes, what she was allowed to say in public, and now the entire music process.

Sakura felt like the world was spinning around her, and she needed to talk to Sasuke.