Chapter 7

After reluctantly replying to Suigetsu, if only to figure out how he'd gotten my number, I found out he'd convinced the school secretary to provide it. I didn't even want to know what he had to say to convince her to do something illegal like that. I didn't reply to his texts after that and set my notifications to silent before finally getting some much needed shut-eye.

My first official day of training had been a roller coaster. I definitely improved with my vocals, but needed to make sure I maintained what I learned.

I awoke with a start, before my alarm even went off in the morning, to a figure looming over me. I let out a frightened scream, which was quickly muffled with a hand before I noticed it was just Sakura and calmed down.

She rumbled out an invitation to join her for some yoga before we both had to leave to do our training for the day. I was holding a lot of tension in my muscles from the physical activity I'd done the day before during dance lessons and had no choice but to accept. If I didn't stretch out my muscles before the day began, I'd be a train-wreck during my lessons.

I climbed out of bed only to hear a knock at the front door. We both headed to answer and Sakura opened it to reveal an uneasy, yet wide-awake looking Gaara.

She squealed and jumped to hide her body behind the door since she was only wearing a t-shirt and panties, "W-what the hell, Gaara!"

I nearly laughed from beside the pinkette. Her face matched her hair and I could tell she was hoping he hadn't seen anything. He obviously had. The boy's cheeks were noticeably tinged even in the dim lighting, but he still spoke in his soft, calm voice, "I heard a scream."

We were both silent for a moment before I broke the awkward silence, "Sakura scared me, is all. Sorry for the t-trouble."

Sakura gave him a sheepish grin around the door before waving and shutting it. She then looked at me with wide eyes and opened her mouth as if she were screaming silently, holding the sides of her face dramatically.

I giggled at her antics. Witnessing her get caught in her underwear did wonders to wake me up.

Sakura sat out two yoga mats and put in a dvd that would lead us through a routine. I started up some coffee as she unrolled the final roll, "Gaara seems like such a nice guy."

I nodded, "Yeah, he comes off as serious, b-but I think he's just shy."

Sakura hit play on the dvd player and I rushed over to stand on the mat to her left. She didn't say anything else, but when I glanced over she appeared to be deep in thought. Either that or she was still trying to wake up.

After an energizing yoga workout, we both drank some coffee and got dressed. You'd think that waking up early to workout would make us more tired since we lost that hour of sleep, but it did quite the opposite.

I left first, throwing a wave at Sakura as she yelled after me jokingly about not talking to strangers. I came face to face with Tenten as soon as I shut the door behind me and jumped out of my skin as she forced me into a tight hug, "Good morning, little Hinata! Are you ready to visit the old man?"

I lightly patted her back as she smashed her cheek into my hair, being much taller than me, "Good morning, Tenten."

She pulled back and gave me a bright smile, "You didn't stutter! You must really like me." Her voice was flirty, even daring to throw a wink in the mix.

I felt a blush rise to my face, but it was solely out of admiration. Tenten was an amazing artist, and I was finding out quickly that she was an even more amazing human being. Why wouldn't I like her? I'm lucky that she wanted to be friends, much less even be in the same room with me.

The older girl gushed about how excited she was for her date with Neji all the way until we got to the practice room where we met Jiraiya. Apparently he was taking her dancing at the hottest dance club in town, Masquerade. Contrary to its name, its guests did not have to wear masks. They held an annual red carpet event that was a masquerade ball.

"I'm kind of nervous, Hinata! I've never been on a date with someone so polished before. What should I do?" The girl was waving her hands about as she panicked.

She stopped right outside the training room and swirled to face me, "I know!"

She grabbed onto my shoulders and I smiled uneasily at the insane look in her eyes, "You and Sakura should come to the club on Saturday so if I run into trouble with Neji I can slip away and consult with my best babes!"

Before I could even reply to her plan, she let out a haughty chuckle and tossed a hand, "God, I'm such a genius!"

She pushed the door open and motioned for me to enter, whispering so Jiraiya wouldn't hear, "Don't worry about not being twenty-one. I'll handle it."

The older man seemed pleased that Tenten was on time today and wasted no time getting us started on our warm ups. The lesson went very well, with Tenten and Jiraiya reprising and pushing even further on the lessons I'd learned the day before.

It wasn't easy to remember all the little things that were necessary to sing properly. All I could do was practice and hope it pays off.

Jiraiya even graced me with what he claimed to be his life motto: perfect practice makes perfect. If you don't practice correctly, then it won't be perfect. It was like a quality over quantity kind of thing.

I'd also learned that it was healthier for your voice if you drink room temperature water instead of cold water. The only thing that I knew was that any water was tasting great after the amount of singing I'd done during practice.

After that was over, Tenten had to head off to a photo shoot for some teen-magazine and I headed back up to my room to have a small lunch. I ran into Gaara and Sasuke leaving their room on the way and decided to put my best foot forward.

If I was going to be forced into one of Tenten's escapades, why not make it a team-bonding experience?

Gaara, who seemed to be slowly but surely getting more comfortable around us, offered a small smile when I approached, "Hello, Hinata. How are you?"

I returned his smile and nodded to signal my well-being before glancing up at Sasuke, who had an irritated expression. His pale lips were in a frown and he leaned heavily against the wall. Annoyance threatened to rise in my chest at his, once again, negative attitude, but I forced myself to be polite. "H-Hello! Do you guys have p-plans on Saturday night?"

Both looked surprised to different degrees. Gaara was more reserved, but Sasuke became sarcastic in a mocking way. He moved to dramatically place a hand on his chest as though I'd complimented him, "What could we, mere peasants, have to offer the Hyuga princess?"

My eyebrow quirked with irritation and my smile fell. Gaara looked as though he was trying not to laugh for my sake, but let a small cough slip behind his hand to mask his amusement. With a sigh, I gave up putting on a polite mask and spoke in a more blunt manner, "Tenten is sneaking Sakura and I into M-Masquerade and I didn't know if y-you'd like to come. It could be a good t-t-team building experience..or something…"

I trailed off toward the end as my courage faded. Sasuke's posture straightened and he leaned forward slightly to look me dead in the eye, "There's no way in hell I'm passing up a chance to see you have a panic attack in public. Count me in."

My mouth opened slightly at his confident teasing, but he walked right past me toward the elevator, "Gaara's coming too." I glanced at our redheaded bandmate who gave a sigh of defeat before trailing after the taller male.

While I nibbled on a light lunch, I flopped onto the couch and pulled out my phone to see that I had double digit notifications waiting to be read. I left the device in my room this morning so I wouldn't be tempted to mess with it during practice. Over half of them were from Suigetsu trying to get my attention with crude and inappropriate conversation starters. It looked like he gave up after a few hours of not receiving a response.

There was a single message from Neji, finally informing me he'd asked Tenten on a date and asking if I was comfortable with it. Obviously, I responded to him eagerly.

Finally, there was a message from Hanabi saying she saw a photo of me with a "super sexy model guy", as she put it, on the cover of a tabloid magazine. Our official group line-up hadn't been released to the public yet, only Sakura being a confirmed member at this point. Even then, she's only been on a few radio shows to promote our quickly approaching debut and no one knew what she looks like.

I was definitely no stranger to paparazzi, but the ones that loitered around the agency were a different breed. They seemed ready to do whatever it took to get the right shot. Growing up, I was always surrounded by security guards so no one dared get close.

I opened xstragram to try and find what she was talking about and quickly located it. The page for one of the most popular tabloids in Konoha had the photo pinned.

There I was, clinging to Sasuke's arm like a damsel in distress and looking up at him like the sun shined from his face. Of course that's now how it actually happened, but paparazzi know how to make things look like something they're not. This was taken after my hair had been pulled and I'd fallen outside the agency.

I studied the sharp features of Sasuke's face.

His eyes were focused slightly to the left of the camera with that stunning glare he often held and his jaw set in a firm line. His fingers looked long as they wrapped around my wrist and his arms looked muscular. This person looked like a model, a rockstar, and an actor all wrapped into one flawless bundle. If I hadn't met him prior to seeing this photo, I'd have thought he was a much different person. I couldn't deny my attraction to him, at least to how he appeared in the photo. I'm sure there wasn't a woman alive who wouldn't find him attractive, though.

Contrary to his perfect appearance, I looked like a hot mess. My hair was a bit messy and my face was red. My eyes widened and I sat up straighter when I read the headline.

"A Hyuga-Uchiha Merge?"

It was like a light bulb suddenly lit up above my head.

His name was Sasuke Uchiha!?

From the famous Uchiha family that the Hyugas often do business with? They're very successful business people. They're famous for taking everyday items and developing them further with modern technology which led to a lot of products that seemed like they came from a Sci-Fi movie. Where the Hyugas created normal technological items, the Uchihas would take it and see how they could improve different things to make it stand out from other brands. My father is very close with Fugaku Uchiha, the CEO of the Uchiha family's business, and the two companies worked together all the time, but I've never heard anything about a merger.

Again, I felt like a complete moron for not recognizing Sasuke's lineage. Everything about him practically screamed Uchiha: the arrogant attitude, jet black eyes and hair, and that oh so famous jawline that Uchiha men are often blessed with.

I'd never heard of Sasuke himself, but I have met Fugaku and his son Itachi. Itachi Uchiha's one of the most famous eligible bachelors today. He's in his mid-twenties, which is quite old for someone from a family like his or mine to be single. That being said, he's notorious for dating very beautiful, high-end women, but never settling down. To be frank, he's kind of a more elegant version of a playboy.

That, too, made me frown. The way Sasuke acted when he met Ino for the first time was very similar to how I've witnessed Itachi woo women at company parties. My new bandmate, however, wasn't quite as subtle. I wondered briefly if they were related, but had to shove the inquiry to the back of my mind as my lunch break came to an end.

Before I knew it, I was rushing to my dance lesson while simultaneously pulling my hair up into a ponytail. Somehow I made it without running into anyone. Tsunade immediately started barking orders at me as though she'd known exactly when I'd step through the door.

I scrambled to get into position and she clicked the music on. It wasn't quite as loud as yesterday so I could hear her shout directions at me, but I still felt the bass shaking my ribs with each beat. The singers on the recording were just samples to show us a cookie cutter version of what the song writers had in mind for how it should sound. I quickly recognized it from the sheet music I'd been given. It was the song called We Don't Talk Anymore and it's one of the co-ed songs for our debut album.

The steps I was being taught were contemporary with a bit of hip hop.

After showing me the footwork a few times, Tsunade pulled me to stand before her and showed me where my hands should be on my dance partner and then restarted the song so we could run through what I'd learned.

My face was bright red and I struggled to look her in the eye as I did my best, only making a few mistakes. The issue wasn't that it was Tsunade pretending to be my male partner, no, it was that she's taller than me so some very noticeable body parts were almost in my face.

After a few hours, we finally finished the song and she paused the music. I turned to face her, feeling quite gross as sweat dripped down my face. My bangs were sticking to my forehead and I'm sure I looked terrible. Her eyes were turned toward the doorway, I finally noticed. I followed her gaze and saw Kakashi smiling at me politely.

"What do you need?" My dance teacher didn't bother addressing the CEO formally.

He didn't seem to mind and stepped further into the room, "I wanted to check in and make sure Hinata's adjusting well. How are you, Hinata?" He turned his gaze from his colleague onto me.

I smiled as steadily as possible as I continued to try and catch my breath, "I'm learning so much! Tsunade's a w-w-wonderful teacher."

The woman in question gave me a slightly softer look, but quickly turned her attention back to Kakashi. "She's doing very well. As long as we keep this pace, they'll be ready for co-ed training by Monday as scheduled."

He seemed displeased, which made her raise an eyebrow.

"Do you think we can speed things up and have her ready by the end of the day Friday?"

Her eyes traveled over to me and she paused for a moment before sighing, "If she's able to squeeze in a few extra hours of training, then yes."

I agreed without hesitation, eager to do anything that could help my higher-ups. On top of that, if I keep myself busy all day, I won't have time to fret over things that make me anxious like Suigetsu having my number or that cursed tabloid photo. My father was surely going to be furious when he saw it, if he hasn't already. Going out with Tenten was also on that stressful list, but not nearly as much as the others.

After exchanging a few more words, the CEO bid us both farewell.

Tsunade explained that she, too, had a tight schedule and would only be able to fit extra training in between midnight and one in the morning. My daily tasks end at nine and I was unsure what I should do between that time and midnight, but agreed nonetheless. I'd either have to go to sleep and set a loud alarm for it or just stay up late. It's only a few days, after all. It wouldn't be the end of the world for me to be a bit tired. I was leaning toward staying up because I could use that time to practice or run errands.

After informing me she'd like to start the extra lessons immediately, tonight, she turned the music back on and made me dance through the entire song multiple times to make sure the training had stuck. Once she felt satisfied that I wouldn't forget the dance moves, we moved on to the next song, called Familiar.

This song made me nervous because some of it was in Spanish, a language I didn't speak in the slightest. What if we mispronounce something and it ends up offending listeners? I was in no way opposed to multi-lingual songs, though. They're popular these days because it's becoming more normalized to listen to music in other languages.

Regardless, the choreography she started teaching me could be described with one word: sexy, which meant I had my work cut out for me. It was like a modern, hip hop influenced tango.

All four of us would be dancing, but Sakura and Gaara have backgrounds in dance so they'll be capturing most of the attention during this performance while Sasuke and I focus on solid vocals. He and I would be dancing too, of course, but we aren't expected to go as hard as the others.

I blinked in confusion as a small wave of relief came over me when I was informed Sakura wouldn't be partnered for Sasuke very often, but quickly shook my head of the intrusive emotion. It had to be because I didn't want her to get hurt by the Uchiha man.

After learning the choreography for the first verse, very awkwardly because I had Tsunade as a partner, I ran through what I'd learned throughout the whole practice one more time before being released to go record with Sakura.

When I came through the door of the studio, Sakura was already in a booth recording. She sang a pop-sounding song with just a hint of an anthem feel to it.

I'd been told that we were all to have one solo song on the album, but had yet to look at the sheet music for mine. I'd been so focused on not standing out as the weakest link in Prestige that I didn't pay attention to what I'd do if it was just me alone.

Sakura was breezing through the song as if it were written specifically for her, which it very well may have been. Her voice painted the notes with passion and emotion. The way she'd sung when we practiced the duet in my room was nothing compared to how she was belting it out here. Her eyes were shut as she let out chord after chord, looking as though she was oblivious to the rest of the world.

Pride swelled in my chest. Her versatility was impressive.

As her song came to a close, she opened her green eyes and let out an embarrassed grin when she noticed me staring with stars in my eyes. Once the staff-member in control of recording let us know she was clear, I headed into the booth with her and couldn't help but gush at her, "You sound amazing!"

Her cheeks tinged a light pink and she giggled, "Really? I'm so nervous about doing a solo! I helped write that song, you know."

My mouth went slack and she slapped my arm with a laugh, "Stop! Is it good though, for real?"

I nodded with a smile.

We moved to record our only other female-only song, Heat. At the end of our scheduled time, the producers let us know that they wanted to record my solo and our parts in the song, Over and Over Again, tomorrow.

We thanked the staff before heading back to our room, exhausted after the long day's work. When we arrived, we went to our separate rooms for some relaxation. I didn't want to tell her right away about my late night training because she'd probably just worry. The pink-haired young woman was definitely the "mom-friend" type.

As I played the notes for my solo for what seemed like the millionth time, my fingers stopped when my phone vibrated. Sighing, I decided to take a break and stepped out of my room, only to see Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino sitting at the dining table setting up a game of Monopoly. Sakura shot to her feet and put her hands up in defense, "Wait! I was literally about to come get you. Wanna play?"

I nodded before grabbing a water off the counter and sitting between Gaara and Ino. The only other open seat was between Sasuke and Sakura and I wasn't about to get in the way of Sakura and her plan. Ino gave me a smile as I got situated, before returning to her task of preparing everyone's stack of money.

I checked the message on my phone as I waited. My eyes widened when I opened it. Suigetsu had sent a photo of himself in front of the Evolution Entertainment building, a peace sign up on his fingers and a wolfish grin on his face. The sky in the background was dark which meant he was likely outside right now and had taken it immediately before sending it. Karin must've told him I was here, not knowing he'd tried what he had at school.

I felt the color leave my face and had to place my other hand against my legs to hide the fact that my fingers were trembling from those around me. In the middle of taking a calming breath to try and keep it together, a loud knock suddenly came at the door.