S.H
"Finished!"
Sakura glanced in the mirror to see her hairstyling had been completed by Miru, who currently stood to the side with her hands on her hips, looking proud of herself. The pinkette ran a hand gently throughout her hair, feeling the two dutch-braids merge into one ponytail which had been coiled up into a bun. A few strands of pink had been pulled out to make the model seem more natural.
"It's beautiful," Sakura smiled, struggling to be heard over the other three models getting styled. "Thanks, Miru."
"You're welcome," the hairdresser returned the smile. "I'll be back to dress you later for the shoot, but Naori will take over for makeup since we don't want makeup on your outfit."
As soon as those words left Miru's mouth, Naori herself walked into the dressing room. It had mirrors running along the side, a bench sticking out as well to serve as a table and place for products for models. Hollywood style lightbulbs lined the mirrors, giving the stylists bright light to work with.
"Hey Sakura," the makeup artist greeted. "I'm Naori Uchiha, and today I'll be your makeup artist." Glancing at Miru, she continued, "Ms. Nohara requested your presence. Something about showing you the outfits."
"Right," Miru nodded and promptly left the room, together with three other stylists.
Naori turned to the person sitting down on the chair in front of her. Frowning, she gazed at Sakura for a moment, as if thinking what products to use on her. Naori snapped her fingers, suddenly coming up with an idea. She swiftly pulled her purple hair into a messy bun, ready to work on Sakura. "We're going for a natural style, so don't worry about having too much make-up. I won't have you looking like a cake."
Sakura laughed at this, silently relieved as well. Naori's hand outstretched past Sakura and grabbed a few makeup products before sitting on a stool next to Sakura. "Face me."
Sakura obliged and turned her body towards the Uchiha, who dabbed a brush dipped in concealer lightly over her face, hiding all of her small freckles and what was considered imperfect on her face.
This was the part Sakura hated most of being a model. The amount of altering they do to your face and body. Not only is it giving out an absurd ideal look to pressured teenagers, but it's an insult to the model as well. Several times after a shoot had been published in which she had looked completely different, she had wondered if she was good enough.
"I wish I didn't have to change your face so much," sighed Naori, as if reading Sakura's mind. "No homo, but you're gorgeous."
Sakura felt a soft blush rise up, hidden beneath the makeup. "Thanks."
"No problem," Naori dug around for another product. "Heh, I know Sasuke would agree with me."
"W-What?" Sakura raised her eyebrows in shock. She must've misheard. There was no way Sasuke Uchiha, the person who treated her like a joke, would have said that. Unless it was to use her for something.
"Never mind that last part," Naori hastily added while uncapping a bottle of mascara, ready to apply to Sakura. "Anyways, speaking of my relatives, I heard you got invited to Izumi's wedding as a fellow bridesmaid. You coming to the wedding?"
"Yeah, Sakura. Are you?"
Behind Naori, two males appeared. One had straight, short white hair with a blue tint and purple eyes. The other was noticeably more taller and muscular, with spiky orange hair and red-orange eyes. Suigestu Hozuki and Jugo.
Sakura remembered them from her highschool days. Suigetsu was a slacker majority of the time like Sasuke, and Jugo was the only one in their group to actually concentrate. Those two contrasted each other greatly. Suigetsu was loud, while Jugo was quiet.
They were Sasuke's closest friends, but now, she wasn't so sure. Naruto probably replaced them, being in the Konoha division with Sasuke. Suigetsu and Jugo did model, but they weren't as active, so they didn't receive an apartment to share.
Back in high school, being in Sasuke's friendship group, they did suspect the...love happening between Sasuke and Sakura, even if it did turn out to be one-sided. Suigetsu relentlessly teased Sasuke about it, and Jugo supported it, but they never did talk to Sakura. So why now?
Keeping her eyes on the ceiling as Naori applied light mascara, she answered, "Why do you need to know, Suigetsu?"
"Just curious is all," shrugged Suigetsu. "So, are you?"
"I'm thinking about it," she glanced down as Naori finished with the mascara. "But it's not a definite yes."
"You're crazy if you miss it," Suigetsu stared at her like Sakura was some sort of weird animal. "It's the party of the year. Maybe even the decade! The heir of the Uchiha is getting married! How could you miss that? Imagine all the food, the festivities, the alcohol and most importantly, the girls! Well, probably not girls for you, but everything else!"
"Suigetsu," Jugo finally spoke up. "Not everyone goes to parties just because of food and alcohol. And don't forget..."
At this point, Jugo spoke in a hushed voice to Suigetsu so Naori and Sakura couldn't hear, but the pinkette had an idea what Jugo was saying.
"Suigetsu!" a loud voice sliced through the air. Sakura looked to the source to see none other than Ino shouting for the stylist. "Even though I'm better at your job than you are, that's no excuse to slack off! You're getting paid to do this!"
Suigetsu sighed tiredly, rolling his eyes. He began strutting of towards Ino. "Alright, alright! I was just taking a break! Jeez, let me live, woman!"
Jugo waved a goodbye and walked back to styling Naruto, who had tried to put on foundation and failed miserably. Naori chuckled before gazing at the products scattered all over the table. Humming to herself, she picked up a palette of natural browns and pinks and began to apply a soft blend of brown and warm pink onto Sakura's eyelids.
"I hope you do come to the wedding," Naori commented softly. "Izumi really wants you to be there and I think you'll be a wonderful bridesmaid."
"I probably will," Sakura shrugged. "Despite- never mind."
"You know, there's a lot more to that incident then you think," Naori slathered a layer of lip balm on Sakura. Sakura frowned. Naori knows about that? Of course, she's an Uchiha, but what does she mean about that? Is the Uchihas somehow connected to this besides Sasuke?
Sakura opened her mouth, ready to ask, "Wha-"
"Models, with me!" Tsunade barged into the room suddenly with an entourage of Tonton, Shizune, Rin, Obito and Kakashi. The room went quiet as the four models quickly scampered to the blonde. Naori gave a small wave as the group left the stylists behind in the room.
Great. There goes my chance to ask Naori. Even though Sakura was puzzled by what she had meant, this wasn't the time. She needed to do her job, and from the looks of things, they were behind schedule which lead to Tsunade's anger. Sakura sighed mentally.
The universe really hates me, huh?
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woosh
The salty wind whizzed past the group of twenty, blowing their hair not so gently. It was lucky for the models that Tsunade had went crazy and sprayed a heap of hairspray onto their hair. So for now, their not-so-natural hair style would keep up the natural look.
Despite the good weather, the wind was beginning to pick up, which only made Sakura's boss even more crankier than usual. Tsunade growled at the wind and barked, "All of you, get on with this shoot! I want to be finished as soon as possible!"
"Y-Yes!" everyone else chorused, quickly running to their place on the set. The set had been set up on the edge of the beach, right where the water was gently lapping over the sand. A few large rocks had been scattered over there, and Rin thought it would be good to get some sitting poses on those.
About two big lights were set up to the left and right of the scene. A camera was set on a tripod in the middle, along with a photographer holding a Canon. A big circle of what seemed like AL foil was propped up against a rock, probably for reflecting light.
A chair with the title 'director' was slightly in front of the other chairs that were most likely for Rin, Obito, Tsunade, Kakashi, the sylists and Naruto & Sai while they waited for their turn.
As for Sakura, her spot on the set was between the spot lights, directly in front of all the cameras and the director. The main attention of the shoot. The actual stage.
Ino instantly began walking towards the stage, delightful for the attention. Sakura wished she could as confident as Ino was. Ino looked like a natural born model with sky high confidence. She looked like she was born for this life.
Her baby blue eyes radiated joy, the colour complimenting the long cornflower blue chiffon skirt she had on. The bright skirt contrasted with the pitch black leotard Ino had on. Her long blonde hair had been done up into a high neat bun, with four small white flowers neatly pinned on it.
On her feet were shining pointe shoes, seeing as Ino did have quite a lot of experience in ballet compared to Sakura. Besides the pointe shoes, Ino's outfit was an exact copy of Sakura's, except Sakura's skirt was pink to match her hair.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura walked onto the set, the sand crunching underneath her ballet flats.
"Alright, I'm Genma and I'll be the director for today," the director introduced himself, a stick protruding from his mouth. He gestured towards the two photographers. "Izumo and Kotetsu. Now-" he clasped his hands. "You already know the concept we are going for. Try to maintain this throughout the whole shoot. Let's begin."
"Ah, Genma," Rin leaned forward towards Genma. "They both had experience in ballet, but Ino's skill is much higher. Hold off the harder poses until hers."
"Got it," Genma nodded, before facing the front again. He narrowed his eyes, obviously deciding what pose to start off with. "Hmm...stand on demi-pointe, you too Ino, in a fourth position, open leg. Face opposite sides. Arms in a low arabesque. A bit further from each other."
The two models obliged, and posed to create the image Genma had in his head. He nodded in approval before continuing, "Have your face looks a bit lost. This is the romance era of ballet, after all. You just got heartbroken, but everything is numb. Oh, and reach your back hand out and intertwine a finger with the other person's."
Heartbroken, huh? Won't be hard to create that face. All I have to do is think of him.
"Perfect," Genma smiled. "Izumo, Kotetsu capture that. I want a high, low and medium angle."
The familiar flashes started, white lights illuminating Sakura's face. After modelling for quite a while, she had gotten used to the bright light constantly shining on her face.
"That's enough," Genma interrupted. "Now, I don't think I can think of any poses for the both of you without making it look like you're in love with each other. Is it alright if we go straight into singles, Ms. Nohara? Ms. Senju?"
"Perfectly alright," Rin smiled, and Tsunade nodded in response. While taking a sip of sake.
That's not gonna end up good.
"Let's go Ms. Haruno first," Genma looked at Sakura. Ino gave an encouraging smile towards her best friend and sat down next to Sai. "Demi-pointe again, on a diagonal. Arms in a soft third arabesque, but to the side. Look bitter-sweet, like you and your lover are parting ways, but it's for the better."
The cameras set off again for a good minute.
"Now, a seated position on the rock," Genma instructed. "Point your feet and rest your legs out, looking down like you're mourning the loss of your love."
More flashes.
This kept on continuing, Sakura posing in different ballet positions, silently reliving her past in pain. Finally, Tsunade saw her flinching whenever Genma called out a scenario, and told her that that was it for today.
Sakura was eternally relieved.
She swapped places with Ino, who would surely have more photos taken than her. A mildly drunk Tsunade sat next to her, cheeks flushed with pink.
"Tsunade, you mustn't drink that much sake," a tired Shizune was trying to reason with CEO of Senju. "You'll end up doing something stupid."
"Aaand whyyy caaaan't I?" Tsunade slurred, gripping on Shizune's arm. "What are you, my mother?"
At this, Tsunade gave a loud laugh, distracting everyone on set. Shizune blushed in embarrassment and uttered an apology. "Shhh. Genma, Ino and the others are trying to work."
"Ugh," Tsunade rolled her eyes and gave a sharp sigh. "I hate work. Work sucks. Especially paper work. Guess what, Shizune? I'm gonna quit! I'm gonna quit being CEO!"
She started giggling outrageously, flailing in her chair. When Tsunade realized everyone was staring at her, she snapped, "What? Got a problem with me? Get on with your lives, humans!"
Everyone quickly averted their attention from the absent-minded blonde. Sakura sighed inside her head for what seemed like the fiftieth time today. She then felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, and the next thing she heard was Naruto whispering, "Sai, Sakura. Whaddaya say, go for a walk to escape old lady?"
"Oh, yes please," Sakura nodded in relief. Sai simply shook his head, much to her joy.
"I have to shoot with Ino soon. Solo and couples."
"Alright," Sakura tried not to look too happy at the male missing out. With a shock, she ten realized that this meant she would be alone with Naruto, a taken man. What would Hinata think?
That's stupid, she shook those thoughts away. Naruto was simply her best friend. They would never do anything to betray Hinata's trust. Naruto was the most loyal boyfriend ever, and Sakura never wanted to see Hinata broken like she had been. Naruto tilted his head to side. "Let's go then."
The two stood up in unison and began to wander off the beach telling Tsunade and Rin that they simply wanted to explore Coney without paparazzi constantly photographing them. Not that Tsunade was listening, anyway.
"So, how have you been?" Naruto first asked Sakura as they walked, bare-foot, along the sand, the wave just touching them swiftly. "You know, with the break up and everything."
Sakura paused before answering, wondering how to put it. "I'm fine, I didn't even really like Kiba. I was the one who dumped Kiba anyway."
"I heard he tried to hit on Hina-chan," Naruto gazed out into the horizon, clenching his fist in anger. "How dare he. She's so precious, and that mutt dare infect her with his presence?"
"Neji must've been mad when he first heard the news," Sakura said. "Hinata's like his younger sister that he never wants to grow up. It's kinda cute, actually."
Naruto shook his head. "Not for her boyfriend. The amount of times Neji has threatened me. But you know, I would've done the same thing if I had a younger female cousin. That, and spoil her with ramen!"
Sakura laughed at this. Of course the topic had to go back to Naruto's favorite food, ramen. "Silly, you'd have all the ramen to yourself."
"Fair point, Sakura," the blonde grinned. "Ramen is legendary, after all. Hmm, I should treat Iruka out sometime."
"I think Kakashi beat you to it," smirked Sakura, referring back to the hints Obito and Rin were dropping about their best friend's love life. When Naruto looked puzzled, Sakura added, "Didn't you hear Obito and Rin before? Kakashi's dating Iruka."
"Oohh," Naruto gasped in realization. "That's what it meant. Iruka and Kakashi are dating. Wait. Iruka and Kakashi are dating?! That pervy man better not change Iruka!"
"Gosh, can you imagine?" Sakura shivered. "I can never picture Iruka reading a book like Icha Icha Paradise. I took a peek once, and...I'm scarred for life."
"At least your god-father didn't write those books," Naruto shuddered. "Pervy Jiraiya is always going after things with breasts! Especially Tsunade, you should've seen the look on her face."
"I don't think I want to see your god father hitting on our boss."
The two laughed over the sound of waves crashing. To anyone else it would look like they were on a date, but Sakura knew better. They were only best friends.
"Shit!"
Sakura cursed as she stumbled over a rough rock sticking out of the damp sand. She had been too distracted laughing. As she fell, her hands instantly shot out to grab the closest thing next to her.
Which turned out to be Naruto's chest.
click
"Shit," Sakura repeated again when she realized that Naruto and her were in a very awkward position that friends shouldn't be doing. The two instantly separated, but there had been a moment in which they had remained still, as they were late to process what had happened.
And in that moment Sakura had heard an extremely familiar clicking sound. A sound that she never could seem to get away from. The sound of paparazzi stumbling upon new knowledge about somebody else's life before giving it to the whole world.
Oh no.
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i wanted to spice things up hehe
how do you think Hinata and Sasuke will react when the news leak out to the public?
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Word count: 2919