Chapter 4

Once the suitcases were placed atop the bed in my new room, we all sat at the large dining table. I gave Tenten my signed contract, which she delightfully snatched with a broad grin before standing before us.

"So you guys have obviously met already. This is Sasuke, and this is Gaara, the boys of Prestige. Sasuke's a singer, and Gaara's a rapper."

I glanced over at the dark-haired "Sasuke".

He was resting his chin on his hand with a bored expression on his face like he couldn't care less about any of this, but he had to have some kind of drive; otherwise, he wouldn't be here. He definitely rubbed me the wrong way during our initial meeting, but maybe if I keep things thoroughly professional, everything will work out.

I glanced back at Sakura to see her staring at me with a glare, which I met with a slightly confused look before looking over at Gaara, who was staring up at Tenten as she described the off-stage style that each of us would have with an attentive look. At least one of us was paying attention.

I quickly returned to doing the same.

She was saying that Sasuke would dress in mature, high-end clothes. Gaara will dress in "b-boy" style clothes which are generally more loose and easy to move in. Sakura would dress in sexy, girly, and colorful clothes. Finally, I'll be dressing in soft, very feminine clothes. Relief flooded over me. The style she described was similar to what I usually wear anyway.

After Tenten's fashion explanation, Neji interrupted our meeting to say his goodbyes. The two other boys used his interruption to leave so they could attend a dance lesson, leaving me alone with my mentor and female bandmate.

Tenten glanced at Sakura and me awkwardly for a moment before dramatically throwing her hands out from her sides, "What's the deal with you two?"

I gave her a look that said I didn't know either.

Sakura, however, seemed to finally give up. She sighed loudly before standing from the table and crossing her arms, "We've met before!"

Tenten and I both looked at the girl in surprise. The brunette pop star shot to her feet with a hopeful smile, "Are you already friends?"

Sakura glanced down at me, but her glare was replaced with a regretful frown, "No. We were bullied by the same person in school."

All the pieces came together when she ran a shaky, nervous hand through her shoulder-length pink hair. She's the girl whose hair Karin and Suigetsu chopped off!

I shot to my feet in shock, "Karin!"

Sakura nodded, her face red, indicating she was trying not to cry.

Tenten's phone started ringing, but the girl silenced it and waited for Sakura and me to explain.

Sakura's voice cracked as she filled Tenten in, "There's a girl named Karin at the school we both went to last year that would bully everyone with her boyfriend. They held me down and-" her voice trailed off, and a few stray tears fell down her cheeks, causing her to turn her back to us and wipe shamefully at them.

I continued for her, remembering the day clearly, "They c-cut her h-hair in the gym. She had to shave her head."

I thought about how Sakura had been standoffish all day and turned my gaze down to the table before confronting her, "Why've you been avoiding m-me if you know I'm not like her?"

Sakura turned slowly back to face us, Tenten observing us in silence as our conversation continued, "I know you come from the Hyuga family. Everyone knows who you are. Maybe you're a different person outside of school and would treat me the same as Karin did because no one here would stop you."

My face got hot and soon matched hers in color, "I-I-I would never do that!"

I turned to Tenten, "You would never allow it e-even if I did want to, right?"

Tenten looked uncomfortable under my gaze for the first time since I'd met her in person, "Well, you are a Hyuuga, Hinata. Just being a part of the agency is going to generate interest."

Tears leaped into my eyes, and I couldn't stop them. Her words shed new light on the situation.

"Are you telling me I'm only here because of my n-n-name?!"

Sakura's eyes shot over to Tenten with a surprise that matched mine.

The older girl put her hands up defensively, but her face held offense, "Absolutely not! Kakashi, and anyone working here, would never allow this company to succeed solely based on the family name of one of its trainees. You wouldn't be here if your audition didn't go well. All I'm saying is now that you're part of the agency, we're going to do as much as we can to keep you."

The part of me that believes the negative things Father always says about me also had trouble believing Tenten's explanation. What if I wasn't that great of a singer, and they were just looking for a chance to make headlines?

Looking at Tenten's hurt expression, I felt terrible for my negative thoughts.

They sounded like I held malice toward the company, but my insecurity made me feel that way. Every person I'd encountered that represented the company openly showed interest in brightening my future, not their own. Evolution Entertainment was known for having more "real" music than others. Artists are encouraged to write their own songs, help create choreography, and try out their hands in acting, modeling, and lots of other stuff. My upbringing gives me some experience in small portions of these things, so it made sense that they scouted me.

Sakura broke through my thoughts, "I'm sorry I was so prejudiced. I was just scared. Can we start over?"

I turned to the girl and wiped the remainder of my tears away, unable to fight the smile that shot to my lips, "O-Of course! I want to be friends. I'm Hinata."

I held out my hand, which she shook eagerly with an embarrassed grin hinting at the corners of her mouth, "I'm Sakura. I look forward to becoming best friends!" With all of the dramatic emotions out of her voice, she sounded much more normal. Her voice wasn't soft or shy but stern and attention-grabbing, like a natural-born leader.

Tenten squealed and trotted around the table to pull us into a group hug, "I'm so excited for you guys! You're going to be-"

Her cell phone went off again, and she sighed exasperatedly before answering, "This is Tenten!"

A quiet rumble on the other line signaled that someone was talking, but Sakura and I couldn't understand their words. Tenten seemed annoyed and stepped back from us to lean against a counter and shift her weight onto one foot, "Okay! Ok-... Okay, I get it! I'm on my way; just calm down. Jesus!"

She hung up the phone and gave us an annoyed look before gathering her purse and apologizing, "Sorry ladies, but it seems one of our other trainee groups broke one of the antique vases in the lobby, so I have some asses to chew. Let's all go out to eat or something this weekend, okay?"

Sakura and I glanced at each other before smiling as the older girl blew us kisses on her way out of the room. We heard her answer her phone again and immediately started yelling at whoever was on the line.

Tenten's a very busy young woman. She's four years older than Sakura and I, so she's twenty-two and already one of our generation's most famous artists.

Sakura turned and grabbed a green tea from the fridge before heading to the lounge and flopping down on one of the fluffy beanbags, a notebook and pencil in hand.

I felt much more relaxed now that the air was cleared with her. In fact, I felt as though we already had an understanding of each other solely because we've been through similar trauma.

I headed to my room to unpack my suitcases after my new roommate gave me another smile. The sound of the television turning on caught my attention, but the girl didn't watch anything.

She turned it to the higher-numbered channels that were music stations by genre, leaving it on the classical one and turning it up loud. She yelled, "Is this going to bother you!?" over the music, surprising me with the sheer volume her voice could reach.

I returned to the doorway of my room so she could see me shake my head before returning to the clothes piled onto my bed.

The atmosphere was so different from my normal at-home one that I couldn't help but smile as I placed outfit after outfit onto hangers. It's going to be nice to feel my housemate's presence.

I could get used to this.

After about an hour, the tv turned off, and Sakura arrived in my doorway just in time for me to zip up my last suitcase and place it under my bed for storage, "I'm gonna go get some dinner with a friend. Do you wanna come?"

I haven't been invited to a non-company-related dinner ever in my life. My father didn't deem any girls at my school acceptable enough to be my friend, so I simply didn't have any. The stigma that all Hyugas are stoic and unemotional, on top of my crippling shyness, sure didn't help encourage anyone to approach me, either.

I nodded eagerly and grabbed my wallet and phone before slipping on my shoes and following the pinkette into the hall.

As I waited for her to finish locking the door, I turned to notice Gaara and Sasuke walking toward their room, covered in sweat. They had left earlier to attend a dance practice, hadn't they?

My fears were confirmed that the company was trying to hurry along with my training.

I was scheduled for multi-hour training sessions, while theirs was only an hour or two at most.

I remembered how I embarrassed myself in front of the two earlier and wanted to make up for it by reintroducing myself as they came closer. Sakura turned around only to gasp at the sight of sweaty, attractive men approaching us.

Sasuke glared while Gaara simply looked uncomfortable.

I drew in my courage and managed to speak as they finally stood in front of us, "H-Hey! I just wanted to apologize for earlier and thank you for helping m-me."

Sakura looked at me as if she was surprised I spoke to them, but she quickly smiled and turned her gaze to them as well, "We're gonna go eat. You guys wanna come?"

There was a difference in the way we talked. I was very formal while she was relaxed. You could tell she was more comfortable speaking around men, and you could definitely tell that I was not.

Gaara opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Sasuke's deeper voice, "First of all, don't thank both of us for helping you earlier, Hyuuga. I wanted to leave your ass in the hallway. You seriously couldn't even take a joke without fainting."

I felt an uncharacteristic glare form with the usual heat rising onto my cheeks. Still, he continued, turning his glare onto Sakura, whose face remained impassive, "Secondly, I'm about to spend two years, if not more, with you three. I'm not about to spend my free time with you."

With that, he pulled keys from his pocket, offered us an annoyed eye roll, and headed to his room without another word.

Sakura turned to Gaara as if Sasuke's rudeness didn't faze her. It did bother me, though. In fact, the way he'd talked down to me reminded me of my father when he was angry at me. The thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

"What about you?" It seemed she'd hardened her shell to bullying after the hair-cutting incident. Sasuke's unnecessary remarks seemingly rolled right off her back.

Gaara's eyes widened as if he was surprised the offer still stood if it was only him and not the pair.

Sakura laughed light-heartedly, even making me feel calmer, "We don't bite, I promise!"

He looked a little skeptical, "I'm not sure if-"

My roommate threw her hand out and linked elbows with him, "Come on, Gaara-it was Gaara, right? We met that one time before. Do you remember? Let's go; I'll pay!" It seemed she wasn't taking no for an answer, so the young man gave up fighting and silently joined us.

Once we were in the elevator, Sakura removed her arm from his so she could press the first-floor button, "So, how old are you?"

His red hair was wild from his dance practice, but the look only added to his appeal. It wasn't that I had a crush on him or anything, especially since I had just met him, but even I had to admit he was attractive.

Sakura didn't seem to notice, or at least didn't give it away.

"I'm seventeen."

His voice was still soft, but it didn't waver or come across as weak.

Sakura grabbed my arm excitedly, "No way! Hinata and I are older than you! You're just a baby!" She joked.

I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh at the boy's bewildered expression.

"I'm only a year younger than you," he honestly seemed offended at her joking comment.

Sakura gently slapped my arm before letting it go and laughing twinkly, "Little Gaara! We'll take good care of you and beat up any girl who tries to hurt you! Right, Hinata?"

My cheeks heated slightly at the mention of my name, but I nodded in reply to the confident girl's question. It seemed she was teasing him on purpose to try and get a rise, and it was working.

The boy's eyes looked darker, and he stared blankly at the pink-haired girl for a moment as if trying to figure out what was going through her mind. He eventually just gave up trying to come up with a reply, settling for a defeated sigh.

The doors opened, and we all trekked our way through a few hallways and eventually an exit.

This time, I was prepared for the paparazzi and covered my eyes with sunglasses. Sakura simply pushed any photographers that got her way to the side, strutting ahead of Gaara and me to hail a cab confidently.

I glanced at Gaara, but his gaze remained on Sakura's back.

She'd changed into a pair of expensive-looking black overalls with a red bandeau underneath and red pumps. The girl had a good fashion sense that was clear to the eye. She looked and acted as if she were someone of great importance, which is probably why the paparazzi kept snapping photos of her even after she manhandled them out of her walkway.

I was pretty jealous of her confidence.

We all climbed into the back of the cab that'd quickly pulled over for the gorgeous pinkette. Gaara sat in the middle with a look that said he'd much rather die than be where he was.

After about fifteen minutes of light conversation, we arrived at a fancy restaurant called Mushu. I'd been there a few times with my family for business dinners but hadn't expected us to be going to such a high-end place.

Gaara must not've either, or he would've most likely insisted on changing out of his sweatpants and t-shirt. Even if he was dressed casually, the agency has its trainees dress in only the best, so he didn't stand out too much.

We stepped out of the cab only for Sakura to rush past us toward a leggy blonde waiting near the VIP line door, "Ino!"

The blonde woman had waist-length hair pulled up into a high ponytail, clear pale skin, bright baby blue eyes, a dark blue strapless dress that looked like it'd been painted on, and tall black stilettos.

It was Ino Yamanaka.

She's a very famous model, making her debut at only fourteen as the youngest girl ever to be a frontman for Gucci.

Gaara and I followed behind Sakura almost awkwardly as we were ushered past the line and into the VIP section. Once we were all seated and our orders were taken, Ino introduced herself.

"So you two are in Sakura's group, then? I'm Ino!"

I nodded with a smile, but Gaara just stared at her and sipped on his water.

Ino didn't need us to reply to resume speaking, "Sakura and I met about two months ago at an agency party. How crazy is that? You never know what can happen at one of those, right?"

I nodded again, but my red-headed bandmate still kept sipping his water. A very shy aura surrounded him, making him seem even cuter.

Ino leaned toward Sakura, who sat on the other side of our younger friend, lowering her voice only slightly but not enough to soften the abruptness of her proclamation, "You didn't tell me he'd be so hot!"

The young man started coughing as he choked on the water he sipped.

Sakura and Ino laughed, the pinkette lightly patting his back a few times.

There was a subtle pink tint to the quiet boy's cheeks, which the two talkative girls didn't seem to notice as Sakura replied, "You should see the other one! He's a god, I swear!" Gaara quietly stared at his drink, stirring it absent-mindedly with the straw, his jaw clenched in a firm line.

I was aghast that Sakura still thought Sasuke was hot even after he displayed such a terrible attitude toward us, but I decided not to say anything.

I didn't mind not being very active in the conversation. It was enough for me just to be there witnessing everything. I felt grateful to be invited, so nothing could break my happy mood.

The sound of a chair being scooted up to our table drew my attention.

I looked up to see Sasuke himself, who claimed he didn't want to spend time with us if he wasn't forced to, welcoming himself to the table, "Mind if I join you, ladies?"

Well, nothing could ruin my mood but that.