Chapter: Chapter 2: Hinata's little (love) confession, and the encounter with Naruto's "brother"

It took a while before Sakura finally opened the letter. She noticed that there was a stamp on the back of the envelope, "Yondaime Accept" with a smiling head of a man who looked somehow familiar. Sakura frowned briefly, but left it at that.
There were just too many questions in her head: Why did you write Cloud Noir of all places? And what did he and his label "Moon Star Entertainment" want from her - Sakura Haruno - a more or less insignificant person? But then she remembered the gig from yesterday evening. Haruno began to read the letter somewhat hesitantly.

Dear Ms. Haruno,
we, from Moon Star Entertainment and Cloud Noir (singer), would be happy to invite you to an audition or casting.

The audition will take place at Moon Star Entertainment Studio on October 14th at 12.30pm

You will find the documents and forms in the enclosed letter.

We look forward to seeing you soon.With best regards,

(very neat and clean signature)

Shouta Yakashima
(Secretary to the President of Moon Star Entertainment)

Sakura had to read the letter several times; she couldn't believe it. An audition with her?
"What does it say in there? Come on, tell me!" Ino, who was pestering her friend with questioning looks, shifted impatiently on her chair.
"Audition ... You invited me to an audition."
Ino's eyes widened. "Oh my ..., give it to me!" The blonde snatched the letter from Sakura's hand, read it through briefly, and with every line, her face seemed to brighten even more. “Crazy!” She happily jumped around her friend's neck and hugged Sakura once. "Can you believe that? I bet someone, probably one of those talent-seeker types, saw you perform last night and ... tadaa!" Ino held the letter in front of her. "Will you soon be the big star of tomorrow!"
Sakura's cheeks flushed slightly."Oh nonsense! It's an audition, maybe they won't even take me."
Ino grinned. "And if you do? Fortunately, you also have the opportunity to meet Cloud Noir."
At the mention of this name, Sakura just looked at the floor in embarrassment. Granted, she would like to see "him" once. See what he's actually like ...

"Well, I would say you prepare yourself for it now!", Ino said and pointed to the calendar that was hanging to the right of the closet. October 13th, the audition would take place tomorrow.
"What, tomorrow?" Sakura startled a little excited. Tomorrow was the casting! How should she prepare at all? What kind of song should she sing?

"First relax." Ino, who had noticed how panicked Sakura had become through this realization, grabbed her shoulders and smiled gently at Haruno. Sakura calmed down again and looked her friend straight in the eyes.
"Thank you," she said, also smiling.Sakura was happy to have a girlfriend like Ino was.

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The rest of the day went by in a flash.
Sakura had rehearsed and rehearsed one of her favorite songs. Ino was of course very enthusiastic and assured her that if "Moon Star Entertainment" didn't take her, then she would walk around in monkey costume for a whole day. That made Sakura laugh, but Haruno wasn't sure what to think of the whole story. Maybe she wasn't good enough for the label. After all, the performance was just a spontaneous idea - which came from the head of the Yamanaka - which didn't mean that Sakura could just become a famous singer.

But Sakura resolved to go through with it and do her best (which inevitably reminded her of Naruto that he would always do his best).
As she was about to fill out the forms, the doorbell rang.Ino, who shouted a short: "I'm coming!", Ran quickly to the door and opened it. It was Hinata and Tenten. They greeted Ino happily and immediately went into the living room, where Sakura was crouched on a cushion at a low table and looked up at the two guests in surprise.
“Congratulations !!” Both Tenten and Hinata hugged their friend and handed Sakura the little bags that the two girls were carrying. "A couple of small gifts from us; they will surely bring you luck." Tenten took out a small soft toy pendant and held it out to Haruno, who was now even more surprised.
"Thank you! That's really nice of you!", Sakura took the stuffed bear and smiled gratefully at her two friends.
Hinata had even brought cake, so they, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten spent the afternoon chatting and talking about all kinds of things. So too about guys.

The girls had made themselves comfortable on Ino's bed; next to them lay several bags of biscuits, pretzel sticks, and a half-eaten nut cake."Tell me, Hinata ...", Sakura began and glanced over at the addressee. "Could it be that you have a crush on Naruto?"
Silence.
Hinata, who blushed like a tomato at this unprepared question, stuttered: "Um ... well ... I-I ..."
Ino, who looked a little surprised, gave Sakura a meaningful look. Apparently Naruto was doing the opposite more than they'd speculated. Tenten, who was apparently hearing this assumption for the first time, stared at the dark blue-haired woman in disbelief. "Hinata and Naruto !? Is that true?" She looked around questioningly.

Hinata just got redder - if that was still possible - and sagged more and more. "So ... I ... well ... N-Naruto ..."
"Oh dear!" Ino, like Sakura, now slid closer to her friend, who had now fallen silent because she had noticed that she couldn't get a complete sentence out of her stuttering anyway.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Sakura tried to calm her down a little."That was a stupid question for me."
But Hinata shook her head. "No, it's okay..."

Meanwhile, Tenten had moved closer and was now sitting cross-legged in front of Hinata. She leaned over to her friend. “You're in love with Naruto, aren't you?” The Hyuuga nodded, wrapped her legs around her and buried her crimson face in her knees. "Yeah, I'm in love with ... Naruto ...", the three girls heard Hinata's muffled confession. Suddenly Ino and Sakura began to grin, Tenten smiled too. So Hinata Hyuuga was really in love with the clumsy but extremely lovable Uzumaki.

"Tell me, why did you fall in love with Naruto of all people?" Came from Tenten, who grinned at the Hyuuga like a honey cake horse.
Hinata, who carefully peeked out of her seated posture, replied embarrassed: "Well ... he's always so determined and above all honest ... I also think he's ... cute and ... handsome ..." This time a slight blush flashed over Hinata's cheeks.Ino cocked her head. "Hmm, Naruto and handsome ..." Apparently the Yamanaka was looking for a logical connection between these two words. Naruto and ... handsome?

Sakura pinched Ino on the side - behind Hinata's back, of course - whereupon this scream and something incomprehensible murmured, which the others did not understand. Especially not poor Hinata, who was now looking back and forth, confused by Sakura, on her right, and Ino, on the left.
Sakura, who had noticed Hinata's irritated looks, waved him off: "It's nothing, Ino has something again." Tenten snorted. She had seen exactly how Sakura had pinched the Yamanaka by the side, and when Ino was still glaring angrily at the pink-haired woman, Tenten couldn't help but laugh.

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Hinata and Tenten stayed until half past nine and promised to come back as soon as possible. In return, Sakura assured the two of them to inform them about the casting immediately.It was ten past eleven, and during that time Sakura had filled out all the paperwork the label had sent her and sang her song again. When she tried to put the forms and the invitation back into the envelope, she noticed the red stamp again. "Yondaime ..." Who did this man remind her of? Anyone she knew ... just who? This hairstyle ...

"Sakura?" The addressed looked up. Ino, who had apparently already changed and was now wearing pajamas, was leaning against the door frame of the living room. "Are you finished? I wanted to go to sleep now, which you should do too, after all, tomorrow is your big day."
"Ok, I was going to lie on my ear anyway."
“Well then, good night and have a nice dream!” Ino turned away and went to her room.
"Good night!", Sakura called after her, put the papers carefully in the envelope, turned off the light and went up the stairs to her room.The letter was face down on the table. The stamp's face smiled rigidly into the darkness.

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Sakura felt strange.
Where was she? Why was everything around her completely white?
Sakura took a step forward, and suddenly the white wall around her faded. The girl suddenly found herself in a wide meadow.
The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a single cloud to be seen in the sky. When Sakura looked around, she recognized a boy in the distance. His black hair was blowing in the light breeze from the wind. His back was to her, so she couldn't see his face.

That boy ... that's ...

The black-haired boy seemed to notice the presence of Sakura as he slowly turned his head back. The pink-haired woman felt his cool and appraising look on her. Then he turned to her. Now they faced each other.
Two pairs of dark eyes met hers involuntarily and Sakura's heart began to pound wildly.There was a strange silence between them; only now and then a breeze blew past them. Sakura opened her mouth to say something: "Sas ..."

"Good morning, dear listeners! It seems to me that it will be a beautiful autumn day today! I can already see the slowly rising sunbeams, although it is still quite cool at the moment, but ..."

Click.
Groaning, Sakura rolled over on her other side.
What kind of dream was that? The only thing she could remember was that she had met "him" ...
"Sasuke ..." The Haruno sighed. Then she turned back around,