Edit: April 11th, 2016

So here's chapter 2, rewritten as promised. I'm going to be adding a little more of the girl's normal life, so this is maybe like 1/2 of the original chapter 2. The other half is also going to be expanded and edited. I personally feel like I made my stories move way too fast, so I'm slowing down and adding more detail into their lives.

You know, when I was typing this up, I had kept going into the second half of chapter two, which will eventually become chapter three or four, depending on if I write a chapter about the girls' school experiences. But after I had finished the rough draft of the original rewrite, it was well over five thousand words, so I had to break it up. The next chapter will either be the second half of this original chapter, or a school chapter. Probably a school chapter.

You know, thinking on it now, I believe that I will do just that.

But I digress.

Again, first-timers won't know what it is I'm talking about, and hey, that's okay. You get to see some of my better writing. If you remember at all what my old chapters looked like, I hope that you like this even more.

There is a whole list of sewing terms at the bottom of this chapter, which is why its longer than normal anyway. You can just skip to the end of all of that and read my send off, if you so choose. It is there for your own convenience and curiosity.

On to the disclaimer: i musa ngumnikazi naruto (Zulu)

Sakura fell into her bed at close to midnight, wincing slightly as her back gave an uncomfortable twinge. She would need to stretch that out in the morning, and be careful how she slept tonight…

She rolled gently onto the side opposite of her new back pain and let her eyes slide closed, just listening to the soft sounds of the home she knew since forever. Temari was scrolling through something or the other on her phone, as told by the tell-tale glow that outlined the back of her form, eyes probably half-lidded and fighting to stay open. She knew Hinata was still downstairs, drying the last of the dishes and putting them all away. Tenten had her earbuds in and was listening to some soft rock just loud enough for Sakura to hear a bunk over. Miharu and Ino were both fast asleep already, completely exhausted from practice. Outside, cars rumbled past the store at random, some louder than others. A dog barked in the distance, and the club a few blocks down was gearing up for an intense night. Sakura sighed softly to herself and thought back on the unlikely turn of events that had occurred that afternoon.

The girls watched Tsunade and Shizune disappear into the night, none of them moving a bit for the longest time. Hinata – ever the sensible one – eventually woke all of her friends up enough to get the shop closed; all of the dresses were put away, the lights turned off, and she even managed to start dinner in their second story apartment by the time the rest came out of their stupors. Ino had just walked past the table where Hinata had left the sizes paper when she snatched it up and stared intently at it for the longest time. All of the other girls stopped whatever it was they were doing and waited for Ino to finish scrolling through her mental cache of celebrities, matching names to faces.

It took all of two minutes, and she was squealing uncontrollably, jumping like a child at a carnival who just won a prize. The rest just continued to stare at her, waiting for the episode to be over. Temari, noticing that Ino wasn't going to be stopping any time soon, stood behind the girl and led her over to the couches in their living area. The older blonde put two firm hands on the younger girl's shoulders and forced her to sit on the futon. Temari didn't move until she was sure Ino had stopped bouncing in her seat.

"Alright Ino, alright, we get it," Miharu sighed as she got herself a cold glass of water from the refrigerator. "They're famous, we know, and you probably have a ten page report ready for us, so let's hear it. Who are they?" she finished with a small smirk, flopping down on the couch. Hinata left the stove for all of a minute to come over and quietly swap Miharu's cold water with some room temperature water, giving the brunette the 'you-know-you-get-cramps-if-you-dance-after-drinking-cold-water' look before gesturing for Ino to continue. Said blonde took a deep breath and straightened up.

"Okay, so they're a band called LightningStrike, all one word by the way, and they are like the most popular boy band of our generation. I mean like Boyz II Men, *NSYNC, and Backstreet Boys were popular ages ago, and LightningStrike easily contends with them. There are six of them in total.

"Sasuke Uchiha is the lead vocalist, Nauto Uzumaki is the drummer, Shikamaru Nara plays the keyboard and does a lot of the technical stuff for their videos and concerts and stuff, Sai – who insists on having no last name, or not any that I can find, anyway – plays the guitar and does all of the artwork and backdrops and designs for everything, Neji Hyuuga also plays guitar and does backup vocals, and Kenji Nakamura plays bass and also does backup vocals.

"They all started as a garage band about four years ago, but have been friends and musicians long before they went pro. They played local concerts and small gigs until Tsunade found them playing in a bar and signed them on to Konoha's largest record company, Fighter Studios." Ino finally stopped and took a deep breath, a small smile of pride on her face.

Temari blinked at her. "Wow Ino. I do believe that was the shortest explanation that you have ever given."

Tenten sniggered behind her hand. "Yeah, I was fully expecting to be trapped here for the next ten hours, listening to your PowerPoint lecture on them." The other girls grinned, and a second later they all burst into laughter.

Hinata pulled her skillet off of the fire and started to portion out the light dinner she had made for them. "Alright you guys, dinner is ready. Miharu, you're on dishes tonight, and while she's doing that, the rest of us clear the living room for practice."

Of all the people to walk in on them goofing off – and being impressed by them of all things! – the Tsunade offered them a job doing the three things they loved the most. Sakura smiled slightly as sleep tugged at the edges of her mind. No, only three of the four things they loved. Being a seamstress had its perks. Making something tangible, that could be held and felt and worn out in the street for all to see was rewarding. Hmm… Maybe Tsunade would let them have their own fashion line… Sakura gave a slight giggle at the thought. Ino would have a field day designing, and Miharu would enjoy showing the clothing off. Temari and Tenten would easily be all over retail and sales, and Hinata would work with her on promotionals and advertisements. It didn't sound too bad at all.

The next morning, all the girls agreed that they wouldn't open the shop in favor of working on the suits, if only to get them out of the way now. Not that any of them would admit it, but each was secretly excited to be personally working on a celebrities' outfit. Each girl was assigned a band member's outfit; Sakura got Sasuke's suit, Hinata got Naruto's, Ino got Sai's, Tenten got Neji's, Temari got Shikamaru's and Miharu got Kenji's. They all got a copy of the measurements they needed, and went into the back to hunt for the fabrics that they would need.

"Hey, Hinata, don't we have any more of the green silk?" Temari called out from behind a rack of multi-colored silks. 'This could be a problem,' she mused to herself as she inspected the remaining length left on the bolt. About two and a half square yards were stretched out from the rack and held aloft by her hand. This could be enough, but Lord knew that it was always better to have extra than not enough, especially when it came to sewing.

Hinata's voice came from the far corner of the room, by the pastel-colored silks. "I think whatever's there is what we have left Tema, sorry. You gonna go out and buy more?" The pale-eyed girl emerged with a large bolt of light cerulean that she set down on her workbench. She grabbed a measuring tape and began to tug on the fabric, drawing it out to her desired length.

Tenten's head poked up from the rack of black cashmere, polyester, cotton, and flannel. "You're going out Tema? That's perfect, because we need more black linen to line the jackets with." She pointed to the black linen bolt, which was indeed running low.

"Wait, we do?" Sakura looked up from her measuring board with a slightly panicked look on her face, where she was creating the outlines of all her pieces on tracing paper. Pins were stuck through the sleeve of her tee-shirt so that she could grab them at a moment's notice.

"Unfortunately," Tenten answered, again gesturing to the near-empty bolt. Sakura's worried eyes turned to Temari, and the blonde sighed. Her eyes scanned over the rest of the fabrics in their store room, taking in all of the fabrics in abundance and those sorely lacking.

"Miharu dearest?" the sandy blonde called out. A muffled 'yeah?' came down the steps from their apartment, followed by a muttered curse and a series of thuds. Large spools of colored threads rolled into sight, and everyone rolled their eyes when they figured out that Miharu had tried to carry all of them down at once, instead of asking for help or making two trips. Said brunette came down the steps a second later, a sheepish grin on her face.

"Sorry?"

Temari sighed and helped her pick the spools up. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I've apparently been voted to go out and replenish our stock. Do you and Ino mind helping me make a list of what we need?"

Miharu brightened right up and gave a happy nod. "'Course, Tema-chan. Just give me a sec to get Piglet down here." Miharu turned on her heel and raced back up the stairs after tossing Temari the last spool of thread and nearly ran right into Ino, who was coming down with a ream stacked high with finishing tape and sewing glue.

"Oh, great, there you are Piglet, come on, Tema-chan needs us to do an inventory, cuz we're going supply shopping, so we need a list of everything we need, which is why we need your help!" Miharu practically dragged Ino back down the steps and skidded to a stop in front of Temari with a triumphant "here she is!"

Ino was staring at Miharu like she had turned purple and grown another set of arms, slightly gaping at the girl. She turned to Temari. "Am I like that?" she asked faintly. Temari grinned and nodded.

"Yep, or worse, depending on the topic. Now help me figure out what we need so I can go and buy stuff."

While those three girls were working on taking an inventory, Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata were busy filling bobbins with the colors of thread that they would need for their six projects. The radio was on again, just loud enough to be heard over the incessant whirrrr of three sewing machines, and the three girls were singing along to whatever played, adding harmonies and background vocals whenever they felt like.

Tenten hummed slightly under her breath as the musical interlude for Say My Name from Destiny's Child played. She finished filling the last white bobbin that they would need, give or take a bit, and switched the spool of white thread for a spool of black. She picked up another large bobbin and set it on the machine, looping the end of the thread around it so that it would hold. The foot of the machine came down, the stitch size dropped to zero, and the bobbin was pushed into position before Tenten pushed the pedal of the machine, making the bobbin turn quickly. She held the thread in her hand to keep it from getting tangled and guided it up and down the height of the bobbin steadily, singing another harmony with her two remaining friends.

She barely heard when Temari, Ino, and Miharu called out a good-by and left to get more fabric and what not, and gave them a half-concerned nod in their general direction. A minute later, that bobbin was filled with about a mile or two of black thread. Tenten glanced up to check if another black bobbin was needed. Apparently not, since Hinata had finished two and Sakura was in the middle of finishing the fourth. She got up and collected all of the completed bobbins and lined them up by color on the desk in the center of the room. She heard Sakura's machine stop, a few clicks, and she turned just as the rosette called out "here Panda-chan!" and caught the flying bobbin before it hit her square in the head. Tenten tsked and rewound the little piece of thread that had come undone when it was airborne, and set it down next to the other black bobbins.

"You know, it is quarter to eleven," Tenten pointed out later as she glanced at the clock. The other two girls looked up with surprise on their faces. "Miharu and the others should be back around-"

The lock on the front door to the shop turned, and the voices of the three other girls filtered through. Ino came prancing in on cloud nine, carrying four huge shopping bags that she dumped on the central table. Temari and Miharu walked in a moment later, more exhausted than the other blonde, but all the same dropped their own bags on the table.

"Perfect timing," Hinata commented. "We were just getting worried." The bluette got up and walked over to the pile of bags and peered inside them. Fabrics of all shades and types were folded up in almost all of them, with the exception of three that were piled high with more industrial spools of thread, sewing tape, and at least twenty packs of pins and another three of needles for their machines. Pale eyes rose up to look at the oldest girls of their group, eyebrow quirked high in questioning.

"Don't worry so much, Hina-chan," Miharu blew off Hinata's questioning gaze. "We stayed well within budget, and all of these are quality. Besides, that wedding stuff more than covers what we spent today. And we still have the payment for these suits as well, you know."

"Oh, good," Sakura let out a sigh of relief. She would rather not have to touch the savings accounts her aunt had left for each of them to make up debts created by over-spending. Fabric could last a hell of a long time, if kept properly. "Anyway," she continued, "its eleven o'clock, we – well, me, Tema, and Piglet - have school in the morning, and I am exhausted. I'm going to bed."

The others finally noticed the lateness of the hour and all agreed with the rosettes' sentiments. Miharu took the time to make sure the front door to the store was locked and that the security grates were down before locking the back room, and then locking the door that led to the stairwell up to their apartment on the second floor. By the time she had finished, everyone had already gotten themselves ready for bed. Miharu rubbed her eyes for a second before hanging the keys on a hook and going through her own evening routine. All of the girls were in bed and fast asleep by midnight, resting for the few hours they had before the school week started up again.

A/N: I like this a lot better than the original chapter. It's more relaxed, showing the hard/easy/fun nature of the girls' lives. And yes, I am using actual sewing terms. My mother happens to be a seamstress, with a degree - yes, you can get a degree in sewing - from Heartcourt Learning Direct in Dressmaking and Design. She's taught me almost everything she knows, which is where the original idea for this story comes from. But my mother is still alive, so is my father, as are my three brothers.

So to help you understand some of the terms I threw around in the chapter, here's a few quick thingies:

Silk: a type of cloth made from the cocoons of the larvae of mulberry silkworms (kind of gross) that is very light, soft, smooth, and highly reflective, giving the fabric a high sheen. It is one of the strongest natural fibers found in the world when dry.

Bolt: A bolt of fabric is typically a long, strong cardboard tube that fabric is wrapped around. The height can be anywhere from 45 inches wide to 108 inches wide. The amount of fabric wrapped around it varies, but the most common lengths are 40 or 100 yards.

Pastel: Pastel colors are often very light colors that have low saturation. For an example of this, compare the blue of the sky to the blue of a pair of jeans. The sky blue can be considered a pastel in this case.

Cashmere: a type of fabric made from the wool of specific types of goats. It is finer and softer than normal wool. It is strong, light, and extremely soft, making it much more preferable for expensive and comfortable clothing.

Polyester: a type of cloth made primarily from a mix of chemicals. This fabric is used very often from shirts and hats to furniture and draperies. The fibers can be mixed together with other fibers to make cloths with different qualities.

Cotton: a type of fabric made from the boll of the cotton plant. The seeds must first be extracted from the fibers before they can be used to make textiles. It is the most common textile used across the world.

Flannel: a type of fabric that is made from either wool, cotton, or even synthetic fibers that are woven together to create the textile. the textile then can be brushed to make it even softer.

Linen: a type of fabric made from the flax plant, and is known to be very cool and absorbent. The textile itself is very hard to make, which prices it even higher among the other fabric types.

Spools of thread: the concept is similar to that of a bolt, but smaller; the thread is wrapped around a cylinder about a foot long to make it easier to get to when sewing. In this story, the girls are using industrial-sized spools of about two feet long with almost triple the amount of thread.

Bobbin: a part of a sewing machine; a tiny cylinder, normally about a centimeter long, that is used to hold thread and feed it into the machine. It is only one half of the stitches that are sewn into the fabric. the other half comes from the spool. When filling it, the size of the stitch is dropped to zero to protect the needle, and the empty bobbin is placed on another part of the machine that spins it quickly to fill it up with thread.

Foot: a part of the sewing machine that is used to keep the fabric moving at an even rate; the needle stitches through a hole in it.

Sewing Tape: a special kind of tape that melts in heat only once, and bonds two pieces of fabric together without the need for stitching. It is waterproof, and mostly heat-proof (just don't put it in anything hotter than 200 degrees).

*When making any type of garment, the individual pieces are drawn out on large pieces of brown paper and then fitted together as if they were cloths. Normally pieces are made an inch or two bigger, to allow for alterations later on.

*Pins are like needles, but one end is covered with a small ball of plastic or a flat head to keep the pin in place in the fabric. There is also no eye on a pin.

So yeah, if you needed the information, there it is. If not, continue on your merry way!

Until next time, like, review, favorite, share, and all the rest, and stay safe!