Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the existence of Hikari and Morningstar Café. Everything else belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 3: They Were Pretenders

To act was to pretend.

And acting was Sasuke's second nature.

Memorizing lines and creating his role, Sasuke thoroughly enjoyed it.

While many actors only accepted roles that interested them, Sasuke was satisfied with getting any that could broaden his horizon. Sure, the plot can entice actors into performing better, but for Sasuke, he was enticed by the acting itself.

When actors and actresses act, they would imagine themselves being another person, but Sasuke knew it wasn't the true essence of acting. Imagining is the first step into acting, but if actors were to always remain within that scheme, they wouldn't be able to grow.

Itachi was the first person who had knocked him into that realization.

The two Uchiha brothers, Itachi and Sasuke, sat in front of the television screen, playing Drazt, the latest game created by their father's company, which wasn't even sold on the market.

"Yes! I finally beat you!" The seventeen year old younger Uchiha exclaimed boisterously with a defiant grin on his face.

He saw Itachi's eyes gleamed with amusement as he placed down the controller on his lap. "So little brother, what are your plans for the future? Are you going to take over Otou-san's company?"

Sasuke's onyx eyes scrunched themselves up and he looked at Itachi in uncertainty, "Why would I do that? Aren't you the heir who's going to take over the company?"

"You know I don't intend to take over the business, Sasuke."

While Sasuke heard that sentence too many times, he fully believed that it was Itachi's way to prod him into growing up and maturing. He had always believed that Itachi would follow his father's footsteps and take over the company.

"Yeah, obviously not," Sasuke replied nonchalantly, entertaining Itachi, "Because you're gonna bring your band to the national level," He had meant it as a sarcastic statement.

"Obviously, little brother," Itachi drawled, "How about you? What do you plan for your future? Are you going to take my place?"

"Of course not! I'm going to become the best actor in the entertainment industry!"

Itachi chuckled, "Foolish little brother, that's too idealistic of you. You can't become the top actor the way you are now."

"Why not?" Sasuke demanded, "I won the Best Newcomer award."

"You're not Kami-sama, are you?" Itachi quirked en eyebrow, "Even Icarus, who received a pair of waxed wings from his talented father, wasn't able to reach Kami-sama. Daedalus, who created the wings, knew that even with Icarus' talent and determination, he wouldn't be able to reach the place where Kami-sama resides. You won't get far with just determination and skills. You need to live it. You need to throw away everything just to reach there. Nothing must stop you. You have to delicate your life solely to the entertainment career."

"I won't lose onii-chan!"

That was his pledge.

Sasuke had decided on becoming the best actor in the history, and like his brother said, he wouldn't get far with just determination and skills. He knew that he already grasped the most important concept of becoming the best actor in the entertaining industry: that was to live inside that role, but to reach that point was the hard part. After all, he was much better at pretending than living.

"You're absent minded today. What's the problem?" If Sasuke had zoned out any further, he would've missed the comment that his manager, Hatake Kakashi, made as he made a right turn into another crowded road.

He didn't bother to make a reply to the incompetent comment. Kakashi had been his manager ever since his debut and the problem was glaringly obvious. After all, it wasn't every day that Uchiha Sasuke made the front page of the paper with a scandalous story.

"Your aspiration is to be at the top of the entertainment industry. If you can't get over this obstacle, you won't be able to reach it," Kakashi offered genuinely as he glanced at him, "You're good at pretending, Sasuke, and so is she. If you two play the correct cards in the first shoot, then perhaps the damage made by the paper can be mended."

Sasuke cringed slightly at the word, 'relationship'. Truthfully, he had always been doubtful on starting a relationship with anyone. In fact, before entering the entertainment industry, the word, 'relationship' didn't exist in his vocabulary.

It was due to the looks that the Gods above awarded him with.

As far back as he could remember, his relationship life with girls was never normal.

Starting the age of nine, the girls around his age looked at him with open innocent eyes whenever he walked past them with his nanny.

Starting the age of ten, he received a handful of gifts from girls for ludicrous holidays such as Valentine's Day or Christmas. Don't even remind him of his birthday.

Starting the age of twelve, he received anonymous letters of admirations.

Starting at the age of fourteen, the anonymous love letters became proclamations of eternal love. Sasuke literally had to hide from his stalkers.

At the age of sixteen, when Sasuke entered the showbiz world, he was hit with the news that he had a fiancée—Hyuuga Hinata, the heiress to the Hyuuga Corporation.

Two years later, to his guilt, he left the heiress at the altar on their wedding day, deciding that it was time to take charge of his future and stop being the pawn of his father. When he starred in his first romance drama with Summer Haven, he decided to give his co-actress, Arisugaki Karin, a chance in the romantic department.

Two days ago, at the age of twenty, Uchiha Sasuke broke up with his first girlfriend, Arisugaki Karin.

"You don't have to worry, Kakashi." Sasuke assured him, "I won't let personal affairs disrupt my professional career."

A rather imposing smile appeared on Kakashi's face and he said, "I admired your perseverance and work ethics, Sasuke. But even if you're able to put your personal affairs aside, how do you think our Lady Princess will act?"

"It'll be fine, Kakashi."

- MAELSTROM -

Morningstar Café.

A small café situated at the corner of an intersection, across Tokyo's central hospital, was run by a man named, Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame.

Sakura honestly didn't know why she gave in to the sudden impulse of applying for a job there, but she was quite bewildered when she received the acceptance phone call. She wasn't a high spirited person like Naruto, nor was she lively and cheerful like Tenten. In retrospect, she was definitely not suitable for working in the customer service department.

But this must be my fate, Sakura concluded as she willed herself into opening the entrance of the small café.

Everything about the café was the same as it had been five years ago. The walls were painted in different shades of blue, resembling a sky where the night was slowly fading into dawn. Small speckles that resembled stars were ornate in the background with one single visible star. The booths were electric blue, whereas the tables and the single armchairs were white. The fluorescent white lights and the furniture were what kept the café bright and glowing.

While her Sakura loved the café, she didn't know what to feel at the familiar prospect in front of her. She was so used to the whirlwind of changes in her life that she didn't know how to react to something that seemed to have frozen in time.

Morningstar café held too many agonizing memories that she would rather forget. While she hated changes, she loathed things such as reminiscences. Changes could make one's life turn 180 degrees around, it could also easily numb out feeling and make one forget about the past, whereas reminiscences triggered the unwanted and painful past.

The café was a place where people go for a coffee and sometimes delectable pastries, but ultimately, it served the purpose as escape from the reality. Like a time machine, it had the power to manipulate time, stopping the grains in the time capsule as if humans had all the time in the world. It existed for people to forget the time and concentrate on their work. It was the place where Sakura went to whenever she was having a nervous breakdown; whenever she felt as if her life was falling apart. It was the place that helped her calm down.

While all these reasons were valid reasons to which she provided herself into convincing herself why she applied, she knew she was running away from the real cause. She loved everything in her life, and she was frightened at the fact that one day, she would forget the vow she made.

She didn't have the right to love life. Even if she told Tenten she was trying to forgive herself, she definitely didn't believe in it. Truthfully, Sakura was afraid that she would forget the sins she had committed in the past if she continued living so.

Sakura refused to be forgiven.

While she was hiding from her past, she had to make sure that she wouldn't forget it. She needed something to connect her to the past; to haunt and remind her of her of her ugly, wretched self, but…

"Sakura-chan, there you are!" Ayame sighed in relief when she saw Sakura reluctantly walk through the front doors of Morningstar. "Can you change into your uniform and lend us a hand?"

A perfect smile that could very rival Mona Lisa's appeared on Sakura's face.

"Sure."

…it was all a façade. A complete pretence. As much as Sakura wanted to believe that her life was great, she could never completely cover her past.

Sakura was good at pretending.

She was good at smiling.

Even if her heart didn't hold genuine feelings, she could swallow down all the doubts and worries, pretending and smiling as if the world was hers.

- MAELSTROM -

"In all honesty, you two were selected because of your reputation."

Sasuke's jaws cringed at that statement, as he resisted the temptation to cast a murderous look at Ryuuzaki Koto, the director. The whole idea now seemed stupid and he was steps away from walking out on the whole drama production.

The only thing that stopped him was the name, Uchiha Sasuke. Uchihas don't walk out of their profession, and Sasuke was determined to go through with it. Hell, he set himself up for this challenge, so over his dead body would he back down from it.

"…hopefully your previous history with each other will assist you in this drama rather than creating more obstacles. I know you guys can manage it if Uchiha-san is here. His display of the professional attitude in the entertainment industry is remarkable."

Sasuke knew the whole procedure all too well. Directors would be kissing up his arse so that he could perform well and that would add to their reputation: Director so-and-so produced this so-and-so movie and won a Television Drama Academy Award.

While there were some co-workers who admired him, there were also others who hated him for his talent due to envy. The production of Broken wasn't any different; it was a competitive industry after all.

He felt his leading co-worker tensed beside him and he found himself tensing along with her; realizing that the woman, who was his ex-girlfriend, could still have an effect on him.

Hinata was right. Maybe he did love Karin even if their status together had been for publicity in the first place. Too bad it had one-sided all along and Karin only dated him because of his surname and his model features—the definition of a beautiful angel.

"I know you guys already know the plotline of Broken and that you've received the script—"

"Actually," Kakashi interrupted swiftly, "We haven't received the script. We've only received the general outline about a man who suffers from his past and needs to forgive himself in order to move on, and a woman who lost everything—her parents, her friends, her innocence, her identity, and ultimately, her past."

Ryuuzaki smiled, while nodding affirmatively, "Yes. It is based on the novel of Vita Winter's – quite a romantic story, isn't it?"

Sasuke wasn't familiar with the author's work, but he remembered some articles featuring the author in the newspaper. He also remembered seeing her books featured in the bookstores whenever he walked past them. He also remembered Karin's dreamy sighs every time she placed a bookmark in one of her ridiculous romantic books and he was sure that most of the works were written by the celebrated author. Sasuke had never read any of her books and he couldn't remember much about her except for—

"You mean the mysterious writer whose identity is unknown?" Kakashi questioned. His eyes widened in an incredulous manner, "How did you managed to get her permission?"

Koto smiled boisterously, as if he was quite proud of himself, "It wasn't that hard. I just contacted her publishing company and asked them to forward my message to her and she gave a favourable answer."

"Does this mean we get to see her?" Chio, who was another co-worker, gasped, but Koto shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. She said she won't be interfering with the productions as long as it receives promising reviews."

"That's pretty demanding of her, considering that she's not going to interfering with it." Kakashi mused, "Very intriguing, indeed."

"What do you think about her stories, Uchiha-san?"

"I've actually never read any of her works," Sasuke admitted.

The director laughed "Typical teenager boys. They don't concern themselves with girly, romantic novels, huh?"

No. It's just that I'm not fond of the popular in stuff.

He never liked the overrated stuff. There was something about it that irked him. The more people tell him to watch the latest movie or listen to the latest song, Sasuke ended up avoiding it.

"How about our leading actress?"

"Although I'm a fan of Vita Winter's, I didn't particularly like that book of hers," Karin confessed as her lips curved down, forming a frown, "It's much too depressing and angsty."

"But that's the point!" A co-actor whose name Sasuke hadn't learned yet interjected, "Broken is more realistic and darker than Vita's previous novels. It shows that Winter-san has matured as a writer."

Karin scoffed, "Well, I don't like it."

Sasuke found his lips curving into a smirk at Karin's infamous personality.

"Arisugaki-san, if you don't like this particular work of Vita Winter's, why did you agreed to star in this production?" Another minor role actor, Takeshi, questioned. His eyes narrowed as he frowned.

Karin merely smirked, "Simple. I got the offer as the leading actress."

A typical response for the Bitch Princess.

- MAELSTROM -

"Long night, isn't it?"

Sakura turned to find a perspiring Ayame, who grinned at her. The daughter of the shop was a jovial and sociable person, and Sakura found herself paling in comparison when she was around her. It was a mystery to her why the other girl still hasn't found herself a boyfriend yet.

Ayame skilfully placed the tray full of empty decorative glass in her left hand down, "I wish we could have more employees, but my dad is such a picky employer," Ayame frowned at her own comment. "But he took a liking to you, obviously."

Sakura stared at her in astonishment, in which Ayame paid no notice to, "I must say, I never liked you when I first saw you, but you proved me wrong. You're actually more humane than I considered you to be."

She didn't know how to reply to the other waitress' confession, so she picked up the previous tray and headed to the kitchen in hopes of avoiding the topic altogether. However, the daughter of the café followed her footsteps. In some ways, Ayame reminded her of Naruto, who continued to talk, oblivious to the stop signs that lit right in front of him.

"You don't talk a lot, Sakura-chan. It'll be better in this field if you speak up and smile genuinely at your customer. That way, the customers will feel more comfortable around you."

Sakura started washing the utensils and the glass cups.

"You should also change that hairstyle. Perhaps put it down to enhance your look."

I wonder how Naruto's doing with Hikari, Sakura thought to herself, unaware of a frown that was slipping on her face. He better not be teaching her anything weird again, or telling stupid stories, but then again, it's Naruto. I hope Hinata is there, or Tenten.

"…Want to know why?"

"Why?" Sakura responded promptly without missing a beat, pretending as if she was completely on topic when in reality, she had no idea what was going on.

"Because Uchiha Sasuke usually comes around this time!" A lovesick expression was on Ayame's face as she sighed dramatically, while Sakura momentarily froze, dropping the glass she had been holding. It fell to the floor and smashed into shards of crystals.

"I'm sorry!" She gasped as she bent down to pick up the crystal glass, only to be grabbed by Teuchi, who had walked into the room to check up on them.

"You're going to get cut like that."

Outside the kitchen, the entrance bell rang, indicating the presence of a customer.

"I'm really sorry!"

"It's okay." Teuchi nodded his head in acceptance of her apology, "Just go out and tend to the customer. Ayame-chan will take care of this."

Sakura nodded dazedly at the owner's directive and mentally hit herself. On the first day of work and she'd already caused problems for others. No wonder no one wanted to hire her before.

"If I knew you were going to react like that, I would've let you wait until you saw the real live being," Ayame teased with a wink. Sakura could tell that the other girl thought she was another fan of Uchiha Sasuke; the type of fan that idolizes the guy, but would never imagine she would be able to see the real life being.

"If you're lucky, it might be Sasuke-kun."

A normal Sasuke-kun fan would probably faint at that thought, but Sakura had other thoughts.

- MAELSTROM -

Sasuke didn't know what compelled him to talk to the woman in front of him. He was never the gregarious person, and he knew that the woman was equally surprised at his initiation of the conversation. After all, Uchiha Sasuke does not go around instigating conversations with people, much less asking a stranger to have coffee with him. Sasuke then concluded that he must have gone dim-witted from the discussion of the enigmatic writer, Vita Winter; and the woman in front of him, he decided, wasn't a complete stranger.

While Sasuke sipped his black coffee and stared at Sakura, Sakura was staring intensely at her tea as if her life depended on it. Rush hour at the café had passed and the café was now dimmed, almost dark as if it wasn't open; just the way Sasuke liked it, for it didn't attract attention to him.

"What do you want?" Green eyes blazed with fire and caution as she looked up and stared into his eyes.

"You don't have to be so cautious. It's not like Midori doesn't allow its students to have a part-time job."

"It's not every day Uchiha Sasuke waltzes into a café and asks a girl to have coffee with him. What is it that you're after?" As much as she was cryptic, she was also curt to the point that Sasuke found it somewhat alarming, especially because she gave off an impression of being delicate and somewhat broken, like the character of the girl in Broken.

"You know you look really familiar. I swear we've met before."

He didn't miss the glimmer of alarm that flickered across her exotic, green eyes. It was present for half of a second, before Sakura composed herself and lifted the cup of tea to her lips, pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.

Another few seconds passed before she put the cup down and smiled charmingly at him.

"I'm surprised you remember," She flashed him another smile that resembles one of his fangirls. "You actually gave me a hug at your concert six years ago at Tokyo Dome. I was one of the few the lucky ones who got to meet you. I'm so honoured that you still remember me."

If Sasuke wasn't a pretender, he wouldn't have been able to detect her lies. However, he was one – he lived to pretend— so just one word from her mouth, his inner liar detector went off.

He had to admit that she was good at lying, but she couldn't triumph him. On the outside, her lies were smooth and relatively realistic; she accomplished her feat of remaining calm and unperturbed, but he knew better than to fall for it.

He returned her a charming smile of his own and pretended he was Itachi. After all, if anyone had the power to manipulate someone, it was his brother. "Yes, I remember you. Wasn't your hair blond last time?"

She recoiled at his inquiry and blinked, "What?"

"Your hair. When did you dye it pink?"

She continued to stare at him as if she had seen a ghost. If she wasn't turning pale and was starting to look like she was coming down with a cold, Sasuke believed she would've made a good actress in one of those horror movie shows where the main character met her expected ghost.

"Never mind that then. What I'm more curious is about today's occurrence. You know, when Haku proclaimed the astonishing news that Haruno Sakura was supposedly dead." His lips curved up into an amused smile.

Haruno finally collected herself and said frostily, "If you didn't know, that Sakura is Sabaku Sakura. Didn't you watch the news, Uchiha? It was announced all over Tokyo five years ago."

He did hear the news. In fact, he attended her funeral. That Sakura was the youngest daughter of the Sabaku family; a prestigious family that owned a casino chain with its oldest son, Sabaku Gaara, as the heir. He remembered attending the funeral for the unidentified girl, due to their business associations. He remembered the picture of the fourteen year old girl looking very wild and innocent.

"Ah, but didn't the family also own the Haruno fashion line? Why is your name Haruno?"

Her eyes narrow, "I am not the only one with the Haruno surname, Uchiha. Your family might be powerful and prestigious, but the last time I check, Haruno isn't one of the family descended from a line of kings and queens. If you haven't noticed, I hate people asking about my personal information. Now if you don't have any other inquiries, I will excuse myself."

Before Haruno could fully stand up, Sasuke snaked out his hand and grabbed her arms, "Okay. No need to be so defensive."

He ignored her snort, "If you don't want to talk about yourself, then let's talk about me."

Haruno tapped her fingers on the table in annoyance, "As much as I don't like people learning about me, I'm not interested in knowing anyone. Besides, if I wanted to know anything about you, I could look it up on the net. I'm sure your fangirls could provide all the necessary information I need."

Again, she tried to stand but he was too fast for her.

"Since you're so unfathomable and inexplicable, I want you to know what you think of Vita Winter."

He didn't expect her to stay, especially since she said she didn't like other people know her. Even so more, he didn't know why he asked her opinion on Vita Winter. Perhaps, it was because the both of them are so mystifying and shadowy. Haruno was like a person that dropped from a sky – with no background or anything – while Vita Winter was like a ghostwriter. No one had ever seen her before; even her biography was a bunch of bits and pieces of ideas strung together into another story.

"What do you know about Vita Winter?" The girl asked.

"She's the renown mysterious writer; a Best Time Seller that has never been seen. All her stories are written in the romantic department, but I think they're a bunch of fantasies and romantic garbage."

At that comment, a range of emotions flushed through Haruno's face. She was shaking with rage, then it changed to anguish, then to resent, and then like the passing of a storm, she smiled.

"Why do you act?" Surprisingly, she was calm.

Too calm was the problem.

From her reactions, he would've believed she was another die-hard Vita Winter fan, but nope, she didn't lash out at him at all.

"I get to live as another person," There were a bunch of answers he could've given her, like he gave to the reporters, but he decided to answer her truthfully.

"Don't you think Vita Winter is the same?" Haruno inquired. "She lives as another person by writing. Whether if her stories are fantasies, romantic garbage like you said, or clichés strung together, they create another dimension - another reality - for the reader, and perhaps even for herself. You are starring in Broken aren't you? That's what her stories exist for – for you to live in another reality as another person. Now that's my opinion."

"That is debatable," he admitted begrudgingly.

"Do you know what the name Vita Winter means?" An amused smile passed through her lips as she asked him the question.

"In Latin, Vita means Life, and Winter could be referred to death—very contradictory."

"That works, but Vita could also be substituted with Vida, which has many meanings; one that means empty and hollow, like a void."

"But Vida could also mean Beloved."

Haruno shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't know. Only Vita-san would know. There are countless interpretations to how the name goes about. As far as my opinion goes for her, I think she's a coward, hiding behind her stories of fiction and romance. She's definitely a romantic. Perhaps, one day, she would show us who she really is. Now that I've shared my opinion, may I excuse myself?"

She stood up and tossed him a look that he couldn't decipher; something between bitterness and something else that he couldn't put his hands on. If Sasuke thought Sakura was like any other girl, he would've believed she was an ordinary girl who was very analytical, but something inside him told him that there was a more to them than she wanted him to believe. There was a concealed relationship between Haruno Sakura and Vita Winter.

Both were similar. Both were mystifying and hiding from something.

Truthfully, Sasuke wanted to know about the author so that it could help him with his acting. By analyzing the author, you can usually find the motive for characterization of the character in the book. From Haruno Sakura, Sasuke had gotten more than he bargained for – a lot more to debate and think about. However, what baffled him the most was Haruno herself. What was she hiding? She was definitely hiding something – perhaps her past. Whatever it was, Sasuke was determined to unveil it: the secret of Haruno Sakura.

Something told him that if he could unveil the secret of Haruno Sakura, he would get his answer to the mystery of Vita Winter.

After all, it took at least two to play hide and seek.

In this case, it was three.

(i). Sasuke's philosophy on acting comes from the words of Kuu from the manga, Skip Beat.
(ii). Icarus' and Daeldus' names are referenced from Greek Mythology.
(iii). Broken is an actual fanfiction story written by Inadaze22. If you guys want to know the plot of Broken, search it up. It's in the Harry Potter fandom. I've gotten rights from her to include it as the script in this story. However, the story only follows so much of the actual story. I suggest you read it. It's a wonderful story.
(iv).The name Vita Winter was taken from The Thirteenth Tale. Explanation of the name goes to Diane Setterfield.
(v). Thank you for your wonderful reviews and please continue to write them!

+K. Tram~

Publication: 09.12.10
Revision: 09.01.11