Hello there, lovelies! :)

This thing is just an idea I came up with randomly while waking up this morning...I don't know, but obviously inspiration hit me hard.

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 1

A joke. A huge one, for the record.

She was going to make a fool out of herself for even trying this.

Why did she even agree on something, proposed by Ino?! Honestly, she did not know, but at the time she had thought that it sounded like a pretty good perspective. A pretty tempting one.

But now? Now that performing arts high school didn't seem like anything, except for an institute for weirdos. Once she stepped through the front door, her mouth dropped and she looked around while her eyes were slowly widened.

No regular school was that motley. Or that noisy. And there certainly weren't people dancing all over the main hall , or people singing at the top of their lungs at every corner in regular institutes. And the weirdest part was that everything seemed to be normal in that place.

" No." she said clearly and turned to Ino, who dramatically rolled her eyes and pushed her back forward.

" Oh, come on, Forehead! At least give it a go!"

" Do I seem like someone who wants to give that a go?!"

" Yes, pretty much, in fact. You know, you'd fit in perfectly with that pink hair of yours."

Sakura's hand consciously flew to the tips of her pink locks, before she could even open her mouth.

" My hair has nothing to do with this madness."

" It has to do a lot with it. It speaks on a spiritual level about you, as a person. And only an artistic person would leave it be."

" Ino, you can't really expect me to fit in here with all these-''

" The principal is waiting for you, Sakura! I arranged an appointment, so at least go and fail, if you really don't like it, but don't you dare make me look bad in her eyes!"

Sakura looked at her blonde best friend with a mixed expression from annoyance and stubbornness. Ino's eyes didn't leave hers, until it turned into something like a staring contest, which the rosette quickly lost after letting her eyes drift around the main hall.

It was really noisy, really chaotic, really different.

But if you looked at it again, from the point of view of somebody, who loved everything related to arts in general, it was actually quite cozy. Quite charming.

She turned back to only see Ino still staring at her and had to admit her defeat with a quiet sigh.

" Lead the way, pig..."

" Don't call me like that in here!" the blonde muttered hysterically, looking around, before straightening up again, this time, with a victorious smile. " It's right over there, come!''

Sakura was being dragged through the mass of students. She had some time to look around and take a better look at them.

They all seemed like normal teenagers, if you didn't include their current activities, which involved singing and dancing, or rehearsing at corners in little groups, reading scripts and playing guitars on the stairs. Sakura dared to assume, that it was lunch break now and when she questioned Ino, she only laughed.

" No, a normal break. Lunch break is after this class ends."

That statement only made Sakura wonder what the fuss would be once it began. She really did not want to know, actually.

She couldn't help, but also notice, that at every step, that Ino was making through the hall, some people were turning to her and greeting her, as if she were really important or something like that. But, of course! It was Ino, after all. She has always been a part of the group of popular kids, even in their elementary school, where Sakura and Ino had actually met. But that thing here seemed pretty impressive, how people were smiling at her, emptying her way.

It wasn't so different, after all, from normal high schools. The whole thing was a kingdom, and obviously, Ino was its queen.

Such thoughts were running through Sakura's head, until she realized, that Ino had stopped. Only in time not to bump into her. They were in front of a door with a plate, that read 'Principal'.

Ino looked at Sakura critically and stretched out her arms to adjust some locks on Sakura's head.

" You look good. Just...go in there and do whatever she says."

" Whatever she says? Am I not only supposed to go in there and sign some stuff and-"

" Silly girl!" Ino laughed, while retreating slowly. " No regular rules are of importance here! This is Konoha Arts, after all!"

And then, without any warning, she knocked and opened the door, while Sakura gaped quietly at her. Before she could say anything, however, Ino pushed her forward and then disappeared back into the crowd with a devious smile.

Oh that Ino! She was so going to pay for this!

" Are you going to enter or are you just going to stand there, looking thunderstruck?"

The feminine voice drew her out of her murder plotting plans. Her eyes adjusted to what she was seeing - a blonde woman, sitting on a huge chair, that reminded of a throne, rummaging around a drawer on the massive desk, that was staying exactly across the room. She wasn't even looking at her.

" Ah...yes, yes, of course! I am sorry."

Sakura stepped in and closed the door carefully after herself. The woman still wasn't looking at her, but looked devastated by the fact, that she was obviously not finding something. Sakura clutched her handbag and waited. And waited.

Until the blonde head snapped up and faced her with a partly annoyed expression.

" Why are you still standing? Do you wait for a special invitation to sit? Or maybe a map to the chairs?"

You know these moments, when you open your mouth and nothing comes out? That's exactly what happened at that moment. Sakura stood there for two more seconds, before heading towards the chairs in front of the desk, a slight blush creeping on her face.

And the woman was once again, staring intensely at the drawer, that she was searching, before closing it with a loud bang, that made Sakura slightly tense up in her chair.

" So you must be the Haruno girl Ino told me about."

It wasn't a question. It was rather a statement, that she made, before standing up from her chair and heading towards the cupboard on the side of the room, which she opened and started looking at.

" Ah, yes, that would be me."

" She said you had talent."

" I...I suppose."

" Prove it. Show it to me."

Sakura's mouth opened again. Mostly, because the woman was not even looking at her, but was still searching the coffers and dressers around for something.

" I...umm...I..."

" There's a script on my desk. The first paragraph."

Sakura turned up to the woman once again. What was she? Crazy? Sakura couldn't do something just like that. She hadn't prepared for an...an audition, hell! And the fact, that was making her angry was that this old wench wasn't even looking at her! Was she that unimportant? That plain? Tch.

She knew, who she was, of course. Tsunade Senju was a name, wide known in the sphere of filming industry, and not only a name, that was written on the golden plate on the desk. And certainly, as Ino said, artistic people were weird. Obviously, that was a part of what this woman Tsunade was.

Sakura knew, that acting was something, that she loved. She loved the feeling to become somebody else, to think in a different way, to dedicate your all to be somebody else, because at times, she certainly did not want to be herself. And she knew, that she was good at it! She could totally own this granny right then and there, but still, there was something in the way, that she was neglecting her, that made Sakura feel extremely down. Was this place worth it, if people were going to treat her like that? Like she was invisible? It certainly was not.

But then, Ino's words ringed in her head as clear as crystal.

'Don't you dare make me look bad in her eyes'

She clenched her jaw. She was going to do it. Even if the old bat wasn't listening to her, she was going to do it, to get over with it as fast as possible. And then she was going to get the hell out of there and back into her old school, back into her normal classes, with her normal and ,most importantly, sane classmates and teachers. Yes.

She reached out for the only thing that looked like a script on the desk and looked at the cover.

With the blooming of the spring

by Hyuga Hinata

Sakura has never heard of such a play and she has never heard of such a writer, poet or whatever. That play and that name were completely foreign to her, and probably that was the point. It wasn't supposed to be something like 'Hamlet' or 'Romeo and Juliet', something that she would have known by heart. It was supposed to be something infamous. And then it hit her. The woman was trying to test her there. She wanted her to improvise with something unknown. Well, if that was the way people were enrolled in this academy, then there must have been plenty of broken hearts and crashed dreams.

Sakura quickly opened the script and looked at the first page, or rather, the first paragraph. She quickly read it, once, twice, thrice. There. Done. She stood up.

She did not wait for the woman to notice her, for that obviously wasn't going to happen. So she cleared her throat discreetly and lowered the script.

" Maybe it was my shyness, maybe it was the way I'd always start stuttering around him, maybe it was the way I always lost balance when I saw him. Maybe it was me, in general, the idiot, that I was. Maybe this was everything, that kept me away from him. Away from my dreams and from everything, that I urged to be. Maybe in order to complete my life I didn't have to be the coward, that I was." Sakura spared a glance at the woman, before raising her voice slightly, she started speaking more clearly, more powerfully. " I had to stand on my feet and face what life was throwing at me. And instead of being the shy little girl, that I was, I had to straighten up and repel the fate of constant hiding. I had to be stronger. I had to be independent. In order to get him, I had to break free of my own chains."

Sakura lowered the script and breathed out. She thought, that the drama in her voice had been fairly measured, that the shyness at the beginning was exactly the amount needed for that sort of text to be felt. All in all, she could say for herself, that it was a rather good representation of a text after only two readings, without any decors. A good improvisation. And when she looked up to see the woman's reaction, she was surprised to see, that she wasn't rummaging around, but was holding the door of the cupboard and was looking at her. Their eyes met for only a second. And the woman's eyes were simply, what? They were not empty by all means, but Sakura could not read what they were saying. There was something, that she, unfortunately, could not recognize.

Without saying anything else, Tsunade returned her attention to her searching, without saying a thing.

I was exceptionally quiet for a good of a few seconds. Sakura vaguely thought, that the hallway must have emptied by now. But her attention was mostly directed to the way, that this woman was not even reacting to her performance. If she were judging it would have been better than silence.

And suddenly, Sakura felt, that having this great and known producer scold the shit out of her would be better than having the same producer, a current director in a performing arts academy, completely ignore her. It was worse than the worse. It was disrespectful.

Sakura suppressed the feelings, that were about to pop on the surface, the anger, the sadness. She simply left the script back on the desk and picked up her bag.

" I..." she started, but shook her head. It was useless. She turned back towards the door and opened it. "Thank you for your time."

Then she got out and finally sighed out.

She had been right, after all. She wasn't cut out for this place. And she had been right about the hall being empty. Except for a single person, that was leaning against the front door and who jumped once she got out. Ino ran over through the hall on her heels in less than a few seconds, before catching her shoulders, a hint of hope sparkling in her baby blue eyes.

" So? What happened? What did she make you do?"

" I..." Sakura waited until they got away from the door of her office. " She made me improvise on the first paragraph of some play, a script."

" Hm...that's what most of the people do in here when she listens to them."

" Most of them? You mean, it's not a regular thing to do?"

" Oh, no..." Ino laughed. " She made me test out her sake, because she thought it might have expired. And then she made me sing a song, that I had never before heard in my life."

" Oh, lucky you..."

" Sarcasm that early in the day isn't healthy, Sakura! Stop sulking, what happened in there?"

" I don't know!" Sakura snapped. " She was just looking around and was not even looking at me, until I finished. She only stared at me for a second, before..."

" She looked at you?!" Ino gasped, grasping Sakura's attention at once.

" What?"

" She really looked at you?"

" Yes, but-"

" Damn, you lucky bitch!" Ino laughed and patted Sakura's shoulder. " I knew you'd make it!"

" What the hell are you talking about?"

Ino laughed sarcastically, before spinning the ring on her long middle finger vaguely.

" Being looked by Tsunade Senju is either a huge threat or a huge praise. And since I know what you've got in yourself, it certainly isn't the first one...You didn't get your shedule, did you? Of course you didn't, why do I even bother to ask, wait here!"

Before Sakura could say a thing, Ino ran down the corridor and returned back only a minute later with a piece of paper in her hand.

" There you go, Forehead, your classes! She asked me to tell you, that she, quote, does not tolerate forgetful little brats, that can't help her find her sake."

" Is that what she was looking for this entire time?!" Sakura shrieked, while taking the program. " Fucking alcohol was more important than me!"

" That's Tsunade. Alcohol is her top priority."

Sakura quickly inspected the shedule. It looked like a normal school program with the slight difference, that classes like biology were replaced by directing, and where maths should have been, acting was standing. But that wasn't important either.

" Ino...you said...what did you mean by that? About her looking at people?"

" The praise and the trouble looks? Well, apart from you, obviously, there is only one more student in our year to have received the pleasure of meeting her 'approving look' during his, let's call it a trial."

" Really? Who?"

" Uchiha Sasuke."

He was so tired of the same old directing classes. They were a pain in his ass. Always the same stuff...don't let your ego kill your talent, use the power you have for good, learn to trust your instincts, find a good inspiration.

He did not find these classes entertaining at all. Actually, he didn't find any classes entertaining, except for the acting classes. Because he was hardly interested in anything else, except for acting. He did not want to be a director, a producer or a screenwriter, he did not want to work for the technical support in movie theaters, he did not want to be a make up artist for the stars. So all these classes were stupid for him, in his opinion, useless. He wasn't going to be the one helping the star, he was going to be the star himself.

'Too much ego will kill your talent'.

That, too, was a pretty useless saying. He had his ego in quite a huge amount. And he did not think, that it could ruin his talent, because it was much above the average, too.

In other words, he could not think of a better actor in Konoha Academy for Performing Arts at the moment, KAPA for short, or only Konoha Arts. With the talent he bore and the help of his mostly famous teachers, Sasuke doubted, that anything could stop him.

So, naturally, staying in this stupid directing class was a complete waste of time.

Somebody poked him in the back and before he even turned, he knew who that was. Naruto seemed to be as interested by these classes as much as he was. And naturally, they would start chatting, until Kurenai would get too angry to keep quiet and would threaten to kick them out, which would only end up with slight smirks and snickers.

Sasuke turned around slightly and raised his eyebrows.

" What, Naruto?"

" Where's Ino?"

" Why the hell would I care?...Why the hell do you care?"

" I don't. I am just bored." Naruto leaned back in his chair, before sighing and looking down to his clock. And with a sly smirk, he turned up to Kurenai. The bell rang after only a few seconds and Sasuke gladly was the first one to stand up and get out of the classroom into the already full hallways.

It was lunch break, finally, and then he had stage fight class and then, finally, two-acting. But for now, lunch. That was his priority, for he was a boy and people just could not let a young man not eat for more than three hours.

A loud smack on his back indicated, that Naruto was already there next to him.

" Let's go! I am starving..." Naruto chided happily next to Sasuke, who walked with the flow of students towards the backyards of the school. It was still too hot for them to be moving to the inner cafeteria.

" So, what's your screenplay about?"

" Oh!" Naruto's eyes shone. " It's about a man who learns how to manipulate time and uses it to change his own life, to make it perfect, until he realizes, that it's a power, that could change the whole world and decides to use it for the good of his fellow people...I bet that this time I won't get an F!"

Sasuke's eyebrows raised slightly on his forehead. That didn't sound bad. And if Naruto had written it properly, then he wasn't supposed to have any problems.

" What about yours?"

" Same old. I came up with it on the street. Spies of the president, who're actually double agents for a mafia, that's planning an attack on the government." Sasuke shrugged. " And, of course, a bit of romance, cause that's what Kurenai likes."

" Oh right! I forgot the lovey-dovey shit!" Naruto slapped his forehead angrily, before sitting down on their usual table and taking his laptop out of the bag as fast as possible. " So, when do I include his, I don't know, confession of undying love? Before he faces an entire alien race in the future or after he avoids World War II?"

Sasuke froze for a second, before shaking his head slightly. That was Naruto, he should have anticipated this. And he simply was not evil enough to break it to him, that with such plots he would be lucky to receive a C.

" The second one." a feminine voice said and Sasuke turned in time to see Temari and Shikamaru settle on the chairs across of them. " And if you include some Hitler action it would be pretty awesome."

Shikamaru snorted loudly, because, obviously the genius boy found that advice hilarious. Those two were people to always surprise Sasuke. Temari was a pretty good actress when it came to drama and mysteries, which highly contradicted with her fair hair and light eyes, but it was in her. And Shikamaru. Well, the boy was a genius on such higher levels, that it was almost laughable. He wasn't much of an actor, or singer, for the record. He could not play any musical instruments, as far as Sasuke knew, but damn, could that boy write! His plays were always the best, almost every time chosen for the plays of the annual season performances. And whenever there was a school project, Shikamaru was in charge, for he always managed to choose the best people suitable for every job. His works were admirable.

And now, obviously, he did not approve of what he was hearing, but was too lazy to say anything about it.

After a good of ten minutes, the table was full enough for conversations to start. Kiba, the boy known for his amazing stage fights and average acting skills. Hinata, a shy girl, who had no people in her league when it came to design. She had also some decent writing skills. And her singing didn't suck either, but she definitely wasn't cut out to be an actress. Too shy. Tenten, another girl, who was probably the best female stunt Sasuke had ever seen and her boyfriend, Neji, was the Sasuke of their year. He was the best from the seniors.

" Oi, where's Ino, Kiba?" Temari asked, while the guy furrowed his brows.

" I am not her personal stalker, you know?"

" Well, you're her bloody boyfriend, you're supposed to know stuff like that!"

" I am?" he turned towards Naruto, who seemed to be clueless.

" You are?"

" He is!" Tenten stopped them and looked around. " Ah, there she is!"

Sasuke wasn't interested enough in Ino to look up. The girl was more than good. She had received all the rights to sit on that table. But what caught his attention, was that Naruto let out a small 'huh'.

" Who's that girl with her?"

" T-That would be h-her b-best friend she was t-talking about." Hinata said, before blushing intensely under Naruto's gaze.

Sasuke looked up at the direction all of them were looking at. And really, there was a girl walking beside the blonde diva. And that girl was definitely something interesting.

Something in the way her red shirt was falling on the short denim shorts. Something in the very hipster style of putting leggings under those leggings. Something in the way she was holding her bag. Something in the way she was looking around with fascination. Something in her irritatingly bubble pink hair, that was falling on her shoulders.

Something in her, that was making her look all dreamy, as if she were living in a parallel universe, as if she weren't there. That was the way all artists looked like, all people, who actually had something valuable inside of them.

" Hi there!" Ino greeted, before sitting between Kiba and Tenten. She greeted her boyfriend with a soft kiss, before peeling off of him and looking up to the newcomer. " Sit here, Sakura! Move your fat ass, Tenten!"

" Don't you give orders to my fat ass." said girl replied with a smile, but moved slightly away to be able to free a place for the pink haired girl.

" That's Sakura, everybody!" Ino announced proudly, as if this were something really, really important. " She'll be studying with us from today! And listen to that, I've got news, people!"

" It's not about the brushes in the makeup class again, is it?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes, while Ino gestured him to shut up.

" No, but since you bring it up, I'm still on-"

" Ino! The news?"

" Ah, right! Listen!" she smiled mischievously and the way she looked at him. Sasuke did not like it. Why did she look at him? Then she turned to her friend and squeezed her shoulder. " That girl here, Sakura Haruno! She received a look today!''

At first, nobody seemed to understand. Neither did he. Until realization hit him at the same time, that it hit most of his friends. The usually shy Hinata let herself gasp a loud 'WOW!', Temari leaned in to inspect the pink haired girl with huge interest in her eyes, Kiba seemed to be stunned. The rest of the people were pretty much with the same reactions. And he. Well, honestly, he was slightly taken aback. But only slightly. He did notice, that she looked like a complete arts ditz, didn't he?

The look, that Naruto gave him, though, he recognized as trouble. With the usual grin, the blonde laughed.

" Now, now, not the best around anymore, eh, Sasuke?"

That bloke Naruto. Friends were supposed to encourage each other, but now, he has settled on demotivation instead.

However, he was right. Obviously that girl had more to herself than the first impression she was giving away. So she received an approval? Sasuke never really felt the need to explain to anybody how psyched he was while Tsunade was making him improvise. He had to make up a monologue on place and at the end, she had looked up to him from some reports in her hands with nothing written on her face. Since then, however, he had come to realize, that Tsunade was very far from a heartless bitch, but a very, very useful tutor. She was motivating her students, she was praising them. And he has come to realize, that what she was putting them through on the first day was always a challenge, that they had to overcome.

And Sakura has.

Sakura Haruno. It sounded nice. A little edgy, but nice, melodic. A name he would easily remember.

" What did she make you do?" he asked and all the comments on the table stopped.

" She made me act out the first paragraph of a play. Improvise." the girl shrugged.

Her voice, he decided, was also melodic. It wasn't rough, it wasn't high pitched, it was nice. Every word she spoke was filled with something, that he interpreted as joy.

His friends started introducing themselves to her, obviously impressed by the fact, that they had the honor to know another person, who had received Tsunade Senju's approval.

And it was not only Sasuke now. It was now Sasuke and Sakura. And he did not like it.

He was the best one out there.

And he did not plan to let that little girl steal it from him that easily.

Welcome to KAPA, Sakura Haruno. May your stay here be as delightful as possible.

He reached out for his soda can with a smile on his lips. And that smile was a fake.

But nobody else could tell.

Well, I hope you liked it!

Reviews would be highly appreciated, mostly for the fact, that I want to read what you think of this..so make sure to leave your thoughts in the review section below! :)

Thanks for reading! Bye bye!

xox