and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii don't own naruto. *cries*

Chapter Three: Show Time!

"So what if you do around ten songs, and then I'll come," Avril suggested.

Naruto nodded in reply. "Sounds good to me," he agreed.

Avril smiled at him. "Perfect. See you tonight again, then!" She stood from the chair she was sitting on, waved at him and the trio behind him and walked away.

He turned to his friends, standing, too. "Well it seems that everything for tonight is settled then."

"This is so awesome, Naruto! Can't believe you really accomplished to do this," Sakura said with a smile on her face.

"Can't believe it either, you know." Naruto grinned. "This is such a big show."

Kakashi had, when Avril left, come to them. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It sure is."

Hinata clasped her hands together. "You'll do great, Naruto-kun!" A small blush was seen on her cheeks.

Kakashi let go of the shoulder and Naruto scratched the back of his head, laughing sheepishly. "Aha, you really think so, Hinata?"

She nodded. "Hm-mm, I do."

"If the lovebirds are done talking-" Hinata froze up from the word lovebirds, "-then we can maybe head out and go and eat somewhere in a fancy restaurant?" Kakashi suggested.

Naruto shrugged - ignoring what Kakashi called them. "I dunno, I'd rather enjoy some not so fancy restaurant but I guess it can be good to switch some times."

"I did some research to a few good places here," Sasuke started, and grabbed his phone. "There's a good one - according to the comments - close-by." Sakura took a glance over his shoulder, at the phone and her eyes widened a little.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"The problem is, though," Sakura said, pausing and taking a deep breath, "it's one of the most exclusive places. You can't get in it like that," she snapped her fingers and took a look at Kakashi. But to be frank, that wasn't the only thing bothering her. The prices of the food were immense! And it all seemed so little!

"But I'm Naruto." He pointed his thumb at his torso and the blonde looked at her like it was as obvious as day and night.

In which Sakura rolled her eyes. "That can be, you moron. But think about. Who's Naruto? Everyone can claim to be you."

Naruto wanted to reply a little snottily, but saw Kakashi raising his hand to shush him down a little, and already picking his phone to dial the place. Sasuke followed him, and sat down on a sofa that was placed there for comfort, in a sort of red-room.

"I... I think we should just try it out?" Hinata mumbled, fidgeting with her fingers.

But Sakura didn't even hear her. "See it like this, though. You're this new and amazing superstar that got stamped out of the ground like nothing. You're like Asia's Justin Bieber - don't start thinking that I like that dude, now - and that means that people will be there trying to imitate you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I think Hinata"s right."

"Hinata?"

"Yeah, Hinata. You should get dressed and then we'll see if we get in or not, Sakura," Naruto said mockingly, and smirked.

"It's settled!" Kakashi said, swinging his phone in the air. "I have reserved a table under the name of Uzumaki. We can come in anytime now, from now till around eleven o'clock. But since we have to back early for Naruto, we have to go now and be back before six-thirty."

They took the limo to the restaurant and where there in a whim. But in all honesty, Hinata didn't feel so good about it. She didn't want to go to the restaurant at all. Something was holding her back, she knew what it was, but she didn't want to talk about it. She hoped it would go unnoticed by the group, but it didn't for Naruto.

So when they got back in their apartment for a quick visit (some last things that were forgotten had to be picked up), the first thing Naruto did when they were alone, was confronting her about it.

Sakura and Sasuke had already entered their apartment, and immediately went to their own rooms. Sasuke would probably try to get his brother on the line. While Sakura would probably be engulfed in her own world, that consisted out of series and a lot of drama.

Naruto searched for Hinata. There was a thing he wanted to know. He noticed, while having dinner, that something was bugging her. And he just had to know what. Hinata was drinking a glass of water when Naruto entered the kitchen. Her back was facing him so he slowly approached her.

"Hinata." He tried to let his voice sound soft and kind, but it didn't go quite well. Her body shook and she barely dropped the glass.

She looked around and her face was in shock. "Oh! Naruto-kun!"

"Hinata," he said again, taking the glass out of her hands and gently placing it on the counter.

"What's… What's wrong, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked when her heartbeat had calmed down a little. She had no idea what he was going to ask, he could read that from her features.

"No need to panic, I can feel your heartbeat still rise with the second." He grabbed her wrist and carefully dragged her to the living room. Then he let go of her hand and sat her down on the couch and sat himself down on the opposite of her. "I know I don't have much time to say this but," he paused. It seemed that he didn't know what words he should use to not let it sound bad. "Weren't you hungry in the restaurant?"

Hinata's breath stopped in her throat. What was he implying on? "What do you mean?"

"I saw you weren't eating a lot, and yes, I know you aren't a big eater of yourself," he paused again, "but you barely had any to no food ordered." He put his hands together and bit on the inside of his cheek. This didn't go like plan, in his ears, he had sounded like a stalker just then.

Hinata laughed it off. "Ah, no. It was just like you thought; I weren't that hungry tonight, but still wanted to join you guys for dinner." Her posture loosened up and she stood from the couch. "Anyway, I still wanted to grab some things before we go back, so if you will excuse me."

He nodded. "Sure, same here."

Something was fishy in Naruto's eyes. He didn't know what, but what he did know was that Hinata had gone quite easily and just too relaxed, too airy about it. Like she was shrugging it off. Naruto didn't know what to think of it but Hinata just not being hungry.

Oh well, it would probably fly over soon enough. He remembered reading or hearing somewhere that women sometimes had a time that they didn't want to do anything, like not even eat and sometimes barely getting any sleep.

It would fly over, he reassured himself.

"Naruto, it's show time. This is your first big show, don't panic and just sing your songs. Maybe play with the audience a little. I know you can do it," Kakashi said, pep talking Naruto.

Sasuke and Hinata were nowhere to be seen, but knowing Sasuke, he would be somewhere trying to make something out of a new gig for Naruto. But Hinata… they didn't know.

But Naruto simply rolled his eyes. "Hey, Kakashi," he interrupted the man, "don't sweat it, I can do this. It's just a little different than any other show but I'll do fine."

Sakura laughed. "Kakashi, you're the one who's panicking." She looked around while Naruto got handed a microphone. "Say, has anyone seen Hinata?"

Kakashi and Naruto shake their heads. "Nope," Kakashi says. A red light started to shine and Kakashi went with his hand through his hair. "Haven't seen her since we got here. Anyways, Naruto, you're up! Break a leg!" Naruto nodded and stepped forward to get in his spot.

"Good luck, Naruto!" Sakura yelled. Now that he was just a little away from her, she was barely audible to him above all of the yelling fans.

He brought two fingers to his head and did them from his head again. He went to his spot: the spot where he had been bragging about for at least the whole day. It was a special spot to him. It would be a place on the stage where he would emerge from out of the ground, surprising the whole crowd.

He disappeared behind the wings, and Sakura planned on finding Hinata. It was Naruto's first big show that was sold out – even though the fans would come for someone else, they would still hear about him – and Sakura knew that Hinata wouldn't want to miss it in forever.

So she went on a little adventure. First, she looked nearby the vending machines, but without any luck. The machines were close to the food tables, and she wasn't there either. Then, Sakura thought that she could be in or around the toilets. But even that was without any success. Sakura paused for a second, over thinking the possibilities of where the dark-haired girl could be. The only option left was outside, and since it wasn't really a nice weather today, Sakura thought that that would be the last place Hinata was to find in. Nevertheless, Sakura still went outside hoping that Hinata would be there and that it would be the last place to search.

When she stood in front of the thick door that led to outside, Sakura heard a muffled voice – what probably would be the case because she was standing in front of a thick and closed door. The voice would rant and then be quiet again. After listening a little longer, Sakura could make out of it that the voice belonged to Hinata. She made a fist of her hand and threw it a little in the air as a 'Yes, I found her' symbol.

Sakura opened the door with a lot of effort, and she was greeted by a cold wind and a sun shining at her face. She had been right, Hinata was the person that was calling and had looked behind her with a slight scared face, what immediately calmed down again after she saw that it was Sakura who had come through the door. Sakura waited for Hinata to slowly make an end to her call, but felt it would take some time, so she sat down on the cold, hard ground.

"No, that was Sakura-san." Hinata pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hana- No, Hanabi, listen to me. If this would mean that Sakura-san was searching for me, then that would mean that Naruto-kun's show already started." Silence. Then Hinata gasped. "H- Hanabi!"

Sakura furrowed her brows and wondered what Hanabi could've said to make Hinata gasp that shockingly.

"No, Hanabi. I have to go now. If you're going- Ha- Hanabi, please be quiet when your sister is speaking, thank you. If you're going to visit Mom soon, tell her I love her. When Dad asks for me, tell him I'm fine." Hinata pinched the bridge of her nose again. "Su- sure. Got to go now, bye, Hanabi." And she quickly ended the call. "Ah, I- I'm so sorry, Sakura-san," she apologized, bowing politely.

Sakura smiled. "No problem at all. Another case of family problems, I see?"

Hinata nodded and bit her lower lip. "Yeah... Hanabi has gotten into problems again at school, and into another fight with Konohamaru-kun, which aren't exactly surprising points if you ask me."

"Kids," Sakura said, shrugging and laughing.

Hinata laughed too, "Mm-mm. She's maturing so much, I'm not even keeping up with her..."

"It'll be alright," Sakura answered. "Now that you are done and this is behind you, let's get inside and enjoy Naruto's performance." She turned around and faced the thick door. Luckily, there was a swing on it, what meant that the door could be opened from outside. Sakura pushed it and the door moved.

"You're right! I can't wait to see him!" Hinata excitedly said, clasping her hands together. Sakura laughed at her excitement and went inside, followed by Hinata.

Hinata smiled from ear to ear. She was more than ready to watch Naruto's first big show.

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