#sakusasu centric with a sprinkle of temashika

[x-emeraldsky-x]

Sasuke wandered confusedly through the hall, loud chatter and excited squeals ringing in his ears as he passed booths filled with merchandise; all with crowded lines waiting for a chance to at least see what was being offered.

His eyes narrowed as he searched for the bright blonde hair of the friend that annoyed him into coming in the first place, but amongst fans covered in merch and with hair that was dyed to match the musicians, he was no where to be seen. Sasuke scoffed. Naruto begged him to come to support a friend of his, and he didn't even choose to show? What a loser.

Sasuke pressed on, scanning past the branded shirts and faces covered in paint. "XO" was printed everywhere on every thing, it slowly started to become a blur of colours.

Purple, red and pink spotlights lit every room in the stadium, music from the band blasting from the speakers, every song was instrumental to tease the fans flooding in as the concert time grew closer. Sasuke's head spun with all of the stimulus.

Suddenly a strong arm wrapped around his shoulder, a familiar burst of laughter relaxed him just enough. He actually decided to show, hm? Could have come on time. Loser.

"Whatdya think, Sasuke?! This place is packed!- oh, I got you some freebies too. I figured you'd get lost, 'tebayo"

Sasuke scoffed, taking the bag from Naruto. It was similar to one of the showbags you'd get as a child, but featured a near gruesome image instead of a typical cartoon character. A skeleton covered in branches and cherry blossoms, it was posed like it was praying. He preferred the cuter stuff, the stuff that wouldn't give him nightmares.

"My friend drew that, yknow! She designs a lot of the merch stuff for the band. Oh! Also! You hear that drumming? That's her too! Oh, oh! And-"

Naruto continued to rant while dragging Sasuke off, assumingly to where they'd sit for the show. Naruto said something about VIP tickets and being close to the action a few days ago, so they'd be able to see and hear everything the best. A perk of being "The Lead Singers Best Friend and Little Brother Figure" he said.

The hallway leading to the entrance was just as packed as the room with the booths. Black shirts with a symbol of "XO" interlocking printed in crimson, similar ones with a purple moon cycle on the front, one fan even had their own shirt with a design drawn with bleach. Whoever this friend of Naruto's was, they were very good at drawing a crowd.

Naruto flashed a card to the bouncer minding the doors, and much to everyone's disgust and rage, they were let in just a few minutes early.

With no need to be mindful of others, Naruto raced down to their seats, while Sasuke paid closer attention to the scenery. The room was lit only at the seats, the stage was shrouded in darkness, the leg of a mic stand could hardly be seen poking out from under the curtain. Even if he squinted, there wasn't much to behold.

When he reached his friend, he looked at their slightly separated seats. Two more bags sat at their legs, each with unique designs. More freebies, he guessed.

Naruto jumped into his seat and urged Sasuke to join him. Sasuke sighed. Despite being nineteen, almost twenty, Naruto still acted like a complete child. How can someone with a drivers licence, fully capable of purchasing alcohol and cigarettes, be this obnoxious and shameless? He sat without argument, though.

Before he knew it, the doors opened and fans started pouring in. Sasuke glanced behind him out of curiosity; every seat was filled, and everyone was restless in their seats with excitement. Amongst them all, though, was the last person he'd expect to see there. Nara Shikamaru, a former classmate of theirs, was sitting in a signed jacket with an unfamilar glisten in his eyes.

"He's a massive simp for the guitarist," Naruto whispered, catching where Sasuke's eyes sat. "He fought off like, three guys for that jacket."

Sasuke snorted and shook his head, turning his attention to the stage when the lights shut off.

The stadium grew silent, the lack of light felt like a void. Sasuke's arms started forming goosebumps from the atmosphere.

A soft beat settled in through the speakers, the sound of the curtain reeling back made people inch closer to the edge of their seats. A hooded figure walked up to centre stage, bringing their arms up above their head and forming an 'X' with their arms in sync with the spotlight shining on them. Bright red illuminated the figure, revealing a punk-eqsue outfit with belts being a consistent theme, but their face remained unknown. They started a hard beat by stomping their boot on the stage, which was followed by fans clapping to it.

A second figure joined the first, cloaked much the same, but their guitar adding a much different silhouette. They pulled it off their back and lifted it up, the body of the guitar facing to the ceiling. The lights turned off and a purple LED light was shon onto it, revealing a fluorescent purple circle on the back. Together, their symbols formed 'XO'.

After a moment, music started pouring from the speakers around the stadium and a clear spotlight lit the stage, allowing full sight to the audience. They dropped their symbols and pulled the cloaks off in unison.

'O' was clearly the older of the two. A tall woman with lightly tanned skin, features sharp and almost deadly. Her hair was dry, parted quite messily into four parts, part of her bangs nearly covering her right eye. 'X' seemed much more friendly, smiling wide to the whole crowd. From the looks of it, she had no instrument. She lacked a mic on her earpiece as well.

The two women were dressed with a theme, both with their own symbolism. 'X' wore a red jacket with two crosses on her arms and black gloves. The small belts around her thighs were wrapped unevenly. Two on one, three on the other. 'O' was much similar, although her jacket was black, made from a thick leather and had purple moons running down the sleeves. Her jeans were ripped at the knees and her boots were covered in the same belts.

Sasuke furrowed his brows and squinted, focusing on the finer details of the first part of the band. Her hair was a familiar shade of pink, thick and clearly unconditioned, and her eyes were a deep emerald green. He swore he knew her, but he couldn't put the name to the face.

She pulled a microphone from a pouch on her hip, spinning it in her hand while more music kicked in. She raised her fist and everyone focused on her.

"Good evening Konoha!! How's everyone feeling tonight!?"

The audience roared in respose, Sasuke needing to take a moment to cover his ears. He glanced over to Naruto who sat unfazed. He too was focused on the woman in red. She must be the friend he always talked about.

"That's great to hear! Are you all ready to go?!"

Another roar came, but Sasuke took focus to her speech.

"Hell yeah!! That's what I like to hear! First things first though... Temari, sound check!"

Her voice was familiar too. Deeper than most women Sasuke had met, and rougher too, as if she'd had a broken nose before. However, there was a softness to it. A kindness. It almost sounded like...

"On it, Sakura."

Sasuke didn't hear the next sounds to come. He leaned back in his chair, staring blankly in the direction of the stage. Sakura? Haruno Sakura? That's her?!

Temari smiled at her partner, flipping the guitar so the strings faced their fans and pulled the strap above her head. The body was painted a shiny black with purple lightning like strikes going across it, a job clearly done at home, but not by her. She pulled a pick from her jacket and struck the cords, the sound alone made the floor shake, and the following cheer broke Sasuke out of his trance.

"All right!!! Sounds good! Lets get this show started, shall we?!"

The two women backed up to the middle of the stage, the lights dimming to prepare for their first song. A cold silence filled the room, the speakers dying down as sound technicians prepared the track, Sasuke squinted to take in more features.

Despite the darkness, the white of her teeth shone through. She smiled with a joy she never had during their highschool years together. Her academics were her highest priority, fitness came next, and lastly was her crushes. She'd always smile wide when her test scores were high, or she had scored big during extracurricular sports, but nothing compared to this.

A warm spotlight hit them as the music began, Temari's guitar the only live instrument. It was an up beat rhythm, vaguely following the rock genre they were going for. Sakura nodded and loosely danced as she found the rhythm in herself, her voice powerfully hitting the mic when she started to sing, although it was more of a rap than anything else.

Sasuke stared with his mouth hung loosely open. Sakura's energy grew with the song, her movements becoming sharper and more pronounced as she found moves to her words, her hair and jacket adding secondary motion that flowed so smoothly with her body. Sasuke's legs grew weak, sinking into his chair as he watched as closely as his eyes could. It was mesmerising.

Sakura's eyes danced over the audience. Her smile grew when she saw her close people in the crowd, Sasuke could only see Naruto, but he was certain someone like Sakura would have a lot of friends. Her eyes moved from left to right, eventually meeting his at the centre.

Her smile fell, but her voice didn't. Sasuke couldn't tell if it was disbelief, disappointment or disgust, but Sakura didn't stop her performance. She focused her gaze to the wall, finishing the song before meeting his eyes again.

He felt his cheeks begin to burn under her gaze. The soft shimmer in her eyes, the gentle curl of her lips... it had been many years since she looked at him like that. Sasuke missed it dearly, her eyes filled with adoration and love. He felt like a complete fool for rejecting her love once.

Their eyes locked for what felt like hours. Sasuke's focus never once leaving her eyes or her smile, even when she turned away. She was still working, afterall. Sasuke would have to wait, and he would wait an eternity just to have her look at him once more.

The second song began to play through the speakers, fans cheering and shouting as they recognised what it was, and although Sasuke was clueless, he was just as excited to hear it.