Kapitel 20: Chapter 20
-Hinata's POV-
Sakura kept moving around and it eventually woke me up, but all I could think about was how much I had to pee. My mind remained fuzzy even as I trudged to the bathroom. Once I was finished, I intended to return to my spot, but was stunned awake when I realized Sakura and Gaara were cuddling super closely.
My surprise and excitement nearly had me squealing out loud, but I managed to bite down on the sound before it could wake anyone up. Once I got a hold of myself, I quietly tiptoed into my bedroom with the intent of grabbing my cell phone so I could snap a quick photo of the cute pair. Sakura would be so embarrassed that it was a chance I didn't want to pass up.
When I blindly reached for my nightstand in the dark room, though, someone grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me strongly down against them on my bed. Another hand swiftly clamped over my mouth to muffle the shocked scream that I couldn't hold back. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when they finally did they locked widely onto Sasuke's amused ones.
The panic in my veins lessened substantially, but I remained incredibly nervous. His body was flush against mine beneath me and it took everything in me not to shoot away in distress. Even if we've danced together many times, we've never gotten this close.
His chest rumbled beneath mine as he chuckled before speaking at a barely audible volume, "I knew your sheets would be purple."
My entire body warmed with embarrassment and I struggled to bite his hand, causing him to snicker some more as he allowed me to pull myself off of him and lay on my side so we were facing one another. For some reason, I didn't even fathom leaving, automatically accepting the covers when Sasuke lifted them in a silent offer to join him.
Friends lay in bed together all the time…right?
With one hand under my pillow and the other in between us, I did my best to muster a glare, "Why are you in here?"
He scoffed and copied my body's position with a smirk on his face, "Those two were hogging the covers. Don't you do the same or I'll kick you out."
I playfully slapped his arm with my free hand, "This is my bedroom, Sasuke!"
There was a murmur out in the livingroom and he put a finger to his lips with a hint of a sly smile. I mirrored the action with a stifled laugh and we both remained silent for a moment so we could listen for any more noises. Once it was clear the sound had been a fluke, I re-relaxed and leaned closer toward him with a small grin, "They're cuddling out there, you know."
He smirked with a nod, "They pretended to be asleep when I got up."
We sank into a comfortable silence as we thought about the pair out in the family room, but after a moment he spoke again, "I'm surprised you haven't fainted yet."
My already hot face warmed further. I wanted to vocally agree with him because I, too, was shocked I'd opted to stay in bed with him, but was too nervous for a moment and couldn't bring myself to say anything so I just nodded.
"You must not see me as a man anymore," he said in a joking voice.
His eyes widened when he noticed that his words had brought a frown to my lips. All I could think about, especially as he lay before me in an extremely dark room, was the naughty dream I'd had about him the night we went to Masquerade.
A familiar sensation was starting to drop in my stomach down to my lower regions and I desperately tried to change the subject, "W-Will you tell me what I did that night?"
It was obvious he immediately caught on to what I was referring to and his sly grin returned, "Nothing in life's free, Hyuga. What will you give me in return?"
He scooted slightly closer to me as I frantically tried to come up with a response. Eventually I gave up, "Well, is there anything y-you want?"
The Uchiha feigned a comical thinking face before an honest to goodness smile stretched across his face. If he didn't seem so mischievous, I would've been stunned by how attractive he looked in the moonlight.
"You owe me one wish. If I ask you for something, you have to do it with no questions asked. Deal?"
I felt my face shift into a distrustful glare, "Just one?"
He nodded, grin widening further.
Most of my instincts were screaming at me to decline, but I remembered how odd he'd acted when I woke up in his bed that morning. Whatever I'd done had obviously not been in my character and that alone had me wordlessly nodding in agreement. To my surprise, he lifted the hand that was near mine in between us and stuck out his pinky. With a red face, I wrapped mine around his to symbolize that we'd come to a compromise.
I stared at him in silence as I waited for him to spill his secrets, but he simply returned the look. After a moment, I got annoyed, "Well? What happened?"
He shook his head, "I'll only tell you after you complete your end of the deal."
I sighed, "W-What's your wish then?"
"I haven't come up with it yet, so you'll just have to wait."
I sighed again, this time in defeat, which seemed to amuse him. It was obvious he wasn't going to budge on the issue tonight, so I changed the subject, "So, are you n-nervous about tomorrow?"
When I looked back up, I could practically see Sasuke slowly putting his wall back up. Disappointment crept up on me and I tried, and failed, to shake it off. He seemed to be opening up to being actual friends with us all, even showing more of his true personality in the past few days, but I'd obviously jumped the gun by asking him about his feelings.
The guarded look he was giving me as he rambled on about how he doesn't get nervous told me we had much further to go before he'd truly let anyone in. Every time he put his wall up like this, I was forced to wonder what caused him to be so cautious. Surely something big had to have happened to cause such a lasting effect on him.
"Are you even listening? You literally just asked me and then you zone out. Didn't Papa Hyuga teach you any manne-...Ahh..My bad..."
The topic switching to my father immediately tensed the atmosphere. A flashback of Sasuke awkwardly trying to console me at the hospital came to mind. He'd obviously been extremely unsure of what to say or do, since he even went as far as telling me to shut up, but his intentions were still good. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore his obvious unease, "D-Don't worry about it. Let's just get some sleep."
There was a very long moment of silence before I felt his calloused fingers intertwine with mine in between our bodies. My eyes shot open and I was surprised to see his guarded look had faded if only slightly. He didn't say anything, but I could tell he was, again, doing his best to let me know he felt bad. I timidly gave his hand a squeeze of gratitude before releasing it and truly attempting to get some rest. I must've been more exhausted than I thought because I fell asleep before I could even feel him move his hand away.
-Sakura's POV-
In the morning, I was the first person awake and immediately felt a blush dust my skin as the events from last night flooded in. Nervously, I peeked one eye open and nearly jolted in surprise when I realized Gaara's face was mere inches away.
Instead of him cuddling me like how he'd been when I fell asleep, I was almost completely on top of him. My arm was strewn across his chest so my hand could rest on his shoulder as he lay on his back and my head rested on the pillow right next to his. One of my legs was bent over his waist and one of his hands lay relaxed atop it. His other arm was stretched out under my neck.
For a moment, I simply stayed put as he slept peacefully. This was the first time I was seeing his face so relaxed. Sure, I woke up the morning after partying at Masquerade in bed with him, but he woke up before I could look at him. Instead of his usual controlled and reserved expression, he looked so cute and innocent. My inner mind disagreed loudly as my gaze swept down to see that his shirt had ruffled down a bit to show his collarbone.
With my face steadily warming further, I carefully removed myself from atop him and went into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. My gaze dazed over on his sleeping form as he let out a soft groan and turned onto his side, only to be pulled from my clouded thoughts by the water overflowing onto the counter. My brow furrowed as my blush heightened and I grabbed some paper towel to clean up my mess. With a shake of my head, I started the coffee machine so it'd be ready by the time I was done showering.
One thought has been replaying in my mind these past few days: I should get a boyfriend. Regardless of the drama Garrett has been causing my family, I'm still a young woman who has urges and if I don't find some type of outlet for said urges, I may slip up and make a mistake with someone I really don't want to lose.
My teeth grit together as I headed for my bedroom to gather some clothes, only for me to gasp when I recalled seeing Hinata and Sasuke both enter her room last night. I hadn't stayed awake long enough to sneak a peek at them. With a small grin on my mouth, I snatched up my phone from my nightstand and crept through the open doorway of my roommate's bedroom. It took every fiber of my being to hold in the loud laugh that tried to burst from my chest at the sight that met my eyes.
Sasuke was sprawled out and hogging almost the entire bed, leaving Hinata to curl into a ball with her back against his side, similar to how a puppy would sleep with its owner. Both were sleeping deeply despite my amused snooping. I snapped a couple pictures before heading back out so I could resume my mission of procuring clothes for a shower.
Since my eyes were trained onto the hilarious images on my phone, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Gaara suddenly spoke in a soft voice, "Good morning."
My phone bounced in the air a couple times as I tried to catch it and when I was finally able to grasp it firmly, I put it against my chest with a bright red face, "G-Good morning! There's coffee if you-"
"Can we talk for a sec?"
My mouth clamped shut at the serious look on his sleepy face. It was hard to stay focused when he'd just woken up and his appearance was still messy, making him slightly resemble a toddler who'd just woken up from a nap. I couldn't help but picture how we'd cuddled both last night and this morning as I quietly sat in front of him atop the makeshift bed on the floor.
He didn't hesitate too much before speaking in a slightly quieter voice. His eyes danced over my appearance in a calculating way as though he was ready to study my reaction to his words, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but are you nervous about seeing your family later?"
I had a pout on my lips because the cute, relaxed, face he'd had while asleep was gone, but it sank into a surprised frown once I processed his words. My eyes naturally dropped down to my hands for a moment as I tried to come up with a response, but my mouth opened and closed a few times before I gave up and met his eye again. This definitely wasn't the topic I thought he'd be bringing up after what happened last night.
The stern look in his pretty teal eyes softened just like his tone of voice did, "Even if it's just for today, please stay close by so I can make sure nothing bad happens, okay?"
Toward the end of his request, his cheeks dusted the slightest shade of pink, but he didn't look away. It was obvious he was serious. The blood in my body was rushing to my face and I fumbled to my feet as I stuttered out a reply, "A-Ah, yes, of course! Thank you!" In an attempt to hide my flustered appearance, I dashed into my room to finally get some fresh clothes.
There he goes again, catching me off guard with his selflessness. He was such a good guy that it was getting harder and harder to ignore.
I mumbled out as I walked from my room into the bathroom, "There's, um, coffee if you want some."
The young man didn't reply, but silently watched me disappear behind the bathroom door. Once the latch clicked, I dropped the armful of clothing I'd grabbed and stared at my bristled reflection in the mirror with my hands on either side of my face in an attempt to cool it. After taking a few deep breaths, I started the shower and sighed in defeat.
I really should get a boyfriend soon.
-Hinata's POV-
A warmth was pressed slightly against my back and I instinctively tried to curl up closer to it. Knowing today would be a big day, I tried to milk the comfort I was feeling for all I could and kept my eyes closed.
The warmth spread as something heavy suddenly wrapped around my waist and I felt breath against the back of my neck, making my eyes shoot open in realization. Sasuke slept in bed with me last night. That warmth wasn't my pillows. That warmth was a living, breathing, body that would tease me later for openly enjoying contact with it.
I tried to peel his heavy arm away, but that only made him squeeze tighter and pull my body flush against his. Heat erupted on my face and my grip on his arm loosened. If his arm moved just a few more inches upward, he'd have a firm grip on an area of my body that I definitely didn't want him near.
A knock suddenly sounded loudly from the front door in the living room and I felt his breath suck in as he was undoubtedly startled awake. The young man shot away from me faster than I could even pretend to be asleep to save us both the embarrassment. He coolly climbed off the bed and gathered his phone before leaving the room to silently answer the door, not even looking in my direction.
My gaze followed him out of the room with a pang of hurt stinging my chest. He looked absolutely aghast that he'd been cuddling with me. Was I gross or something? He must really not like me. It's not as though I was hoping he'd be attracted to me or something, I just didn't expect him to seem pretty much disgusted.
Slowly, I climbed out of bed to see who'd been at the door, only to have Tenten's panicked voice give me the answer before I could even smooth out my hair, "Are you guys just now getting up? We need to leave the building in an hour for your interview! Let's go!"
Her stressed words worked wonders to wake me right up. My phone said it was just before eleven in the morning and we had to be ready for our live pre-debut interview at the LMC studio by one. I shot back into my room to grab some clothes before sprinting past everyone in the room to take a quick shower.
Sakura and Gaara were sitting at the dining table drinking coffee with looks of amusement on their faces. They'd both obviously been awake for a bit since they appeared ready to head out. Sasuke either wasn't stressed or hid it well because he waved off Tenten on his way out of the room, "Chill out. You're more worried than us and you're not even debuting."
Tenten flipped him off, but he didn't see since he was soon out of the room and likely heading to his own so he could shower.
-At The LMC Studio-
Once our hair and makeup was expertly done, we sat as a group backstage and waited for the host to arrive. LMC is famous for consistently having guest hosts, similar to that of Saturday Night Live. We hadn't been informed of who would be hosting and sat patiently on two couches as we waited to find out which celebrity would be helping us through our big day. Tenten stood near the doorway, tapping her foot anxiously. Kakashi stood next to her with his usual handsome, and relaxed, smile. He would tap her arm every now and then to signal her to calm down, but she just ignored him.
The door finally crept open and the room was stunned silent by the appearance of Konan. She was the first solo artist to make it big from Evolution Entertainment, debuting two or three years before Tenten. I'm not sure of her exact age, but I think she's somewhere in between twenty-four and twenty-seven. She sings mainly rock music, but dabbles in some alternative and punk from time to time. Her sound is comparable to a mix between maybe the bands Paramore and Evanescence. Her vocal range is famous, as is her ability to give amazing live performances.
Everyone rose to their feet and bowed respectfully. Konan rarely appears at the agency, so it's rare for even Tenten to interact with her. Next to Tenten, Konan's one of the singers that I look up to. Our host bowed back to us and everyone sat down, her sitting on a plush chair facing us. She didn't smile, but I didn't really expect her to. In all her interviews and music videos, she's a serious person who rarely cracks a grin or laughs. That's just who she is, or at least how she's marketed herself.
Her voice was naturally raspy when she spoke, but not in an unhealthy way, "Let's get straight to business since we only have a few minutes."
The rest of us sat in silence with our full attention on the rock star. She wore leather pants that looked painted onto her skin, black pumps, and a matching leather corset with a blood red fur coat over her shoulders.
"There's not a lot of advice I can give you since the questions will be coming in live, but what I can tell you is to avoid saying 'um' or 'uh' too much."
Just as quickly as she'd sat down, she got up and smoothed out her fur coat, "Alright, kids, let's get this over with."
Everyone in the room besides Kakashi was confused. We'd been prepared to receive a bit of her experienced wisdom, but it appeared she didn't feel like offering it because she left the room and soon a few members of LMC's backstage staff came to usher Prestige toward the waiting area just off the set where our interview would be filmed.
Before long, the cameras were rolling and all was silent as Konan spoke expertly to the camera from her chair on set. The area was designed like most talk-shows, with two sofas angled slightly toward the chair the host would sit in. The furniture was modern and expensive with a coffee table in the middle with decorative magazines atop it to make it appear more casual and homelike.
I was surprised to feel nervous energy radiating from my bandmates as we were herded onstage so Konan could welcome us with an audience applause track playing in the background. Sakura and I sat on one couch and the boys sat on the other with Sasuke sitting closest to Konan as directed by Tenten since he's our "public relations expert". He'll be more likely to get questions since he was sitting closest to the host.
Once the clapping stopped playing through the speakers, Konan didn't hesitate to look down at the fancy tablet on her lap, "The questions are already rolling in from fans, Prestige. It looks like you'll be pretty popular!"
Konan still didn't smile a lot, but you could tell that she was putting in some effort to appear more energetic and match her job as host. We all smiled and offered bows to the camera in an attempt to thank those who were watching. Konan smirked at Sasuke as he sat comfortably and gazed at her with a cocky look, "I can already tell who's going to be causing trouble with this group. Look how relaxed he is, guys! We're just on the largest live show in the nation. No big deal, right?"
We all laughed and Sasuke gave a relaxed and confident smile. He really was a hell of an actor. I sat the furthest from Konan in hopes of not being asked too many questions. While I was excited to be on the show, I didn't want to accidentally say something stupid on live TV.
"Alright, guys, let's get the introductions out of the way so we can move on to some questions. You on the left, you start!"
I quickly rose to my feet and gave the best smile I could muster, "My name is Hinata. It's a pleasure to be here today!"
After bowing to the camera, I retook my seat. We were told to treat the camera as though it was the physical embodiment of our fans and not just a piece of equipment. Sakura got to her feet and introduced herself similarly to how I had, then Gaara, and finally Sasuke.
Once the introductions were complete, Konan wasted no time shooting questions at us. "This first question comes from Mariana from Spain: How old are all of you?"
Konan gestured for Sakura to answer the question and she did without hesitation, "Hinata and I are both eighteen. Sasuke is the eldest at twenty-one, and Gaara is the baby at seventeen."
Gaara chimed in when Sakura gave him a playful look whilst mentioning his age, "It's only a one year difference."
Sasuke nudged the redhead jokingly in the ribs, "Respect your elders, kid."
Gaara glared over at the Uchiha young man in a way that made it obvious he wasn't really upset.
Konan interrupted with another question, "Alright, Irene from Canada is asking what each of your roles are within the group."
She gestured for me to answer and I tried my best to answer clearly, "Well, Sakura and Gaara share the main dancer title and also share the main rapper title, but Sakura is our official group leader. Sasuke is the main male singer and I'm the main female singer."
Sakura added onto my explanation, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and squeezing, "And she's our visual, obviously." I felt a familiar heat pool on my cheeks and shook my head at my friend for teasing me on screen.
Konan kept the ball rolling, "Alright! Janessa from France wants to know who each of your celebrity crushes are."
She gestured for Sasuke to answer first, who did without a moment's rest, "Probably Konan." Everyone looked at him in shock, except Konan who simply scoffed with a smirk on her bright red lips. I couldn't believe how bold he was behaving!
"I'm not a fool for flattery, babe. Next!" Sasuke took the rejection like a breeze and laughed it off. It was obvious he'd been joking about his crush, but didn't want to answer the question so he used Konan as a cop-out.
Gaara answered softly, "I'm not sure, honestly...maybe Mei Terumi? My sister used to make me watch her movies with her."
Sakura and I let out small laughs at his bashful expression. Mei Terumi's a famous actress, popular for being the love interest in soapy romance films. She's about fifteen years our senior so it was odd trying to picture the two together.
Sasuke snickered, "She could be your mom, bro."
Gaara glared at him again, "She's still pretty!"
Sakura cut off their arguing with a clear answer, as though she'd expected this question and knew her answer well before being asked, "Sasori." We all looked at her in surprise, this time Konan included. Sasori's the drummer in Konan's band.
The host offered my friend an amused smirk, "I'll put in a good word for you, if you want."
Sakura's face went as red as Gaara's hair and she put her hands up in defense, "I really want to focus on my career right now. I'm flattered, though. Thank you."
Konan shrugged before motioning for me to continue. I froze. I'd been so busy listening to the others that I hadn't thought about my answer. I blurted out the first name that came to mind, "Kiba Inuzuka." Inwardly, I tried to somehow project an apology to my old friend for using him as a copout.
Sakura let out a low whistle, "Ooh that's a good one! Cute and smart. Can I change mine?" I glanced at her with a red face as the boys let out various sounds of amusement.
Konan didn't dwell on my answer, thankfully, "Alright, this one is from Alicia in Brazil and it's for Gaara and Sakura: Are you two related? Your skin, hair, and eyes are somewhat similar."
The two in question glanced at one another and let out small laughs. Sakura put her hands up in defense, "No, we are not!" Gaara nodded silently in agreement.
"This one's for you other two: can you confirm or deny the rumors about a Hyuga/Uchiha merger?"
My heartbeat quickened and I locked eyes with Sasuke for a moment before he tore his gaze away and answered the question smoothly, " We've been so focused on work that we haven't had time to keep in touch with our families much. I'm sure we'll find out at the same time as the public if something like that happens." I nodded quickly in agreement, giving him a grateful smile.
Konan nodded along, "Awesome. Alright folks, last question and it's from Konan in Konoha: Who's your favorite singer?"
We all let out laughs at her joke, gesturing to her as an answer. Sasuke spoke, "You, of course!" Konan stood and did a dramatic bow with a jokingly prideful expression, "Oh, how kind of you! I'm flattered! Anyway, that about wraps up this pre-debut interview."
She faced the camera head on and we all stood to bow to it as a goodbye, "Don't forget to tune in this evening for Prestige's live debut performance! Thanks again for watching and let's give a warm thank you to our guests: Prestige!" She gestured to us and the clapping audio rang through the speakers again as we waved goodbye and the camera slowly zoomed out for a few moments before I heard a man yell, "Clear!" and Konan's perkiness dropped.
She tossed the tablet she was holding onto the chair she'd been sitting in and raised a hand as she walked away, "Later!"
We watched in disbelief as she left the set, the sound of her tall heeled shoes clacking against the floor fading quieter the further away she got. Now that the pre-interview was complete, we just need to smoothly get through our debut performance and post-interview.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein