Chapter 4

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"I don't want to hear it, Sai." Sasuke dipped his paintbrush in the water cup, and tapped it before swirling it on his palette. It was the last period of the day and he was tired of hearing about the events from earlier. He wanted to put it behind him and get on with his life, but apparently Sai wasn't going to let that happen just yet.

"Besides, where were you when all of this happened? Last I checked, you fled the scene before everything went down."

"Oh, I have my ways of finding things out." Sai placed a finger to his lips and gave a sly wink, which in turn earned an eyeroll from the other. "Besides, it's the talk of the school right now."

Sasuke didn't acknowledge Sai and continued to stroke his canvas with his paintbrush. That is, until he felt a tickle on the back of his neck. Smacking Sai's paintbrush away, Sasuke gave him a sharp glare.

"Can you not?"

"Alright, I'll let you be. I have some business to handle in the darkroom anyway." Sai shrugged, grabbing his camera from the nearby table before making his exit.

Sasuke adverted his gaze back to his canvas, thinking of how he would proceed with the painting, when his phone started to buzz in pants. He set down his palette and fished it out of his pocket.

It was his manager, Orochimaru.

"Hello."

"I've got a gig for you booked at 3:00. So I took the liberty of excusing you from the rest of your class. It's a 'Uprising Talent' interview to accompany the shoot you did yesterday. There's wardrobe specialists on set, so don't worry about changing on your way here. Do you need a ride?"

"No."

"Alright, I'll text you the location information right now."

Sasuke hung up the phone, and placed it into his pocket as he began to pack his belongings. As of late, he's been getting more modeling gigs than ever and as a result began having to be pulled out of classes frequently. He's been gaining popularity with the masses rapidly and honestly Sasuke didn't know how to feel about it.

He had only meant for modeling to be something to cover his financial needs until he was eighteen and got the assistance of what was left for him in his parents' will, not as a career path.

He had dreams and aspirations of his own which didn't include flaunting his body to fulfill the voids of male eyecandy in women's (and some men's) lives by fulfilling their fantasies via an alternate persona. But right now, his values and morals weren't nearly as important as his salary.

Otherwise he wouldn't be afford to stay enrolled in the private high school he attends. or stay living in his family's estate, for that matter. The latter of which, he'd lately been having trouble with recently. Bills definitely weren't cheap. Since his brother decided to flee the country, the property was put in the hands of a bank and in order not to lose it he had to pay rent monthly.

But luckily, he may have just dodged a bullet by having a sudden increase of gigs. As long as he didn't let his influx in stardom get to his head, Sasuke was content in staying like that for a little while longer.

Sasuke was getting the last of his television makeup applied, when he was approached by his manager.

"So, you're sure this interview is about my career and nothing else?"

"Of course, I've told them to keep it strictly professional and not to go too personal, so don't worry your pretty little head."

Orochimaru held a smug smile upon his features as he ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair before pinning one side back with some bobby pins. Sasuke brushed away Orochimaru's hand away. His manager, while being very efficient in his job, could get a little touchier than Sasuke had liked. If he hadn't have known any better, he'd have been suspicions of the elder man's feelings for him. And whether his actions were endearing or predatory. But for the most part, Sasuke ignored his advances. As long as Jugo was around, his safety wouldn't be compromised.

"Today's a big day for you. She's very well known upon the masses so this can make or break you in this industry. I suggest you don't fuck it up."

"Pft, do I look like an idio-ACK!." At this remark, one of the stylists had accidentally sprayed hairspray into Sasuke's mouth, causing him to gag and go into a coughing fit. She apologized profusely as Sasuke shot her a glare.

"I don't know about that. But, that ass is looking spectacular." Orochimaru gave a sly wink and a flick of his unusually long tongue before walking off, switching his hips along the way. Sasuke shuddered before he was led to the set on stage.

There was a light blue loveseat sitting across from another one with a small glass coffee table in front of them, garnished with a vase of white Gardenias. Sasuke had a seat, crossing one of his legs over the other, as the interviewer sat across from him, playing with her hair while looking through her compact mirror.

"And we're rolling in 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" The director mothed zero as the interviewer stashed away her mirror and turned her head to smile at the camera.

"Hello, everyone. It's Miyu Tachibana, and we're back with a whole new episode of 'Model Watch With Miyu'. Today our segment is about new and uprising talent, shining their way into the spotlight and into our hearts." She made a heart symbol with her hands an held it up to her chest.

Sasuke had to resist the urge of scoffing at the cliche'd gesture.

"Today we have a young man who I know many of you have probably already heard of and know very well. Sasuke Uchiha!" She let out a squeal at the end of his name, as the camera panned over to him. The tape recording of a crowd screaming and cheering played, and Sasuke waved , as if to an audience, and gave a bright smile.

"Thank you for coming!"

"I'm glad to be here, Miyu."

"Well, lets get down and gritty. We've seen you do numerous shoots throughout this year of your debut. From fashion magazines to advertisements, your face has been adored by many fans. Would you ever consider pursuing a career in acting? I'm sure we'd all love to see you live in action~" Miyu inched to the edge of her seat, giving all of her attention to the young man before her.

"I'm flattered, but no, it isn't a future plan or an interest of mine at all. I don't really think I'm cut out for that kind of thing."

"Aw, okay. Hopefully you'll give it some thought! How about your life at home? What are your parents like? Do you have any siblings?"

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced around the set briefly before back to her.

"I'd rather not speak about that. I am, however working with Calvin Klein on an underwear shoot next month."

"Is it true that your parents are deceased, and are victims of homicide?"

Sasuke's jaw tightened. "Can we please change the subject?"

"And it is rumored that your older brother, Itachi Uchiha is a suspect in that murder. How do you feel about that?"

At that, Sasuke snapped. He took the vase of flowers on the table and tossed them at a nearby wall and kicked over the coffee table.

"I SAID I DIDN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT!"

Sasuke stormed out shoving anyone who was in his way. He was sick of this. Knowing Orochimaru, he was probably in on it too.

"Sasuke!" Jugo called out, trying to catch up to him. Sasuke kept walking, picking up his pace even more. He walked across a busy roadway, various cars and trucks honking at him along the way, and stopped when he was dead ended in an alleyway.

His back against the wall, he slumped down to the floor. His shaky hands reached into his pants pocket, fishing out his pack of cigarettes. He lit one of them hastily and shut his eyes.

Nothing's changed since then. He was still that scared little boy, running away from his issues and living in fear. He cursed himself for letting his brother have that kind of power over him. But his brother was gone. After killing their parents, Itachi had fled the country and was no where to be found, leaving Sasuke, who was at the tender age of 10 years old at the time feeling hopeless and having to find his own means of survival.

"Sasuke, get up." He opened his eyes to see Jugo towering over him. Sasuke glowered when his cigarette was snatched from him and stomped into the ground by the other.

"Just leave me be. I'm sick of you people pretending like you give a fuck! Just go!"

Jugo didn't falter, instead he grabbed Sasuke's forearm to lift him to his feet.

"Let me go, you fucking faggot! Leave me alone!" Sasuke began to pound away at the Jugo's chest and aimed a few shots at his face, although he missed.

Jugo wordlessly wrapped his arms around Sasuke tightly, cradling his head over his shoulder.

"Stop! I said let me go." Sasuke's beating died down as the embrace didn't falter.

"I'm here, Sasuke."

"I fucked up…" Sasuke let out a quiet sob as he buried his face deeper into Jugo's shoulder.

Sasuke took the rest of that week off school to get his head in the right place. With everything that went on in the interview, the press was too far up his ass for him to go anywhere. He flipped on the television in the kitchen before continuing to chop tomato slices for his turkey sandwich.

"-Uchiha who violently reacted to accusations of his brother being a murderer."

-click-

"'YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT! YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT! YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT!' As we can see, Sasuke Uchiha has no blatant care for people's feelings. Who knew this guy was such a sexist piece of-"

-click-

"Consider Sasuke's career over."

-click-

Sasuke shut off the television this time, wishing he had never turned it on in the first place. He sat on the couch in his living room, dressed in a tanktop and sweats, sandwich in hand.

He had been expecting Jugo to be over pretty soon to bring him his school work and guide him through it.

Honestly Sasuke didn't know what he'd do without Jugo by his side. If it weren't for him, he'd be dead by now, for sure.

Sasuke crumpled the papertowel that once held his sandwich, and disposed of it in the trash can in the kitchen. Glancing at his wristwatch, he read the time.

3:00pm

A half hour before school let out. Sasuke took this as a chance to do some excersise. He walked down the long narrow corridor of the house until he reached the sliding door leading to the backyard. He stepped into his running shoes which he convenietly kept there and tied his hair into a short ponytail to keep it out of the way.

Giving himself sometime to stretch, Sasuke went on with his activities.

He took a jog around his backyard, alternating between standard running and knee-highs. Now that he was warmed up, he stepped into the shed in the back that he had turned into his own personal weight and cardio room. He went to the punching bag first, bouncing on his toes in a boxer's stance.

He threw the first jab, before alternating fists in a three hit combination move. He then went on to practice his front, side, and roundhouse kicks. Already he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Excersising always seemed to have that effect on him, that's why he tried to do it more often than not. Not that he had much of a choice anyway. His line of work demanded that he stay in the best shape as possible.

His motions came to a halt as he heard a loud crash coming from his home. Bursting through the shed, he hastily flung the back door open and stepped into his home cautiously.

"Hello? Who's there?"

He heard the front door slam then. Sasuke walked quickly down the corridor but came to a complete stop once he saw the condition of his once pristine living room. The further Sasuke stepped in, the worse the scene got. The couch was slashed, it's stuffing hanging out in various areas, and the vase of flowers he kept on the coffee table was now shattered on the floor. His flat screen television, now sporting a rather impressive amount of cracks, hung on only one end, dangling against his wall. His family pictures on the wall were spray painted over, and some ripped up on the floor.

A bright yellow post-it hung from the front door. Sasuke stepped around the shattered glass to pick it up. What was written on it was the simplest of phrases, yet knowing from who it came made Sasuke's stomach curl.

'See you soon.'

A/N: And the drama begins~ I'd like to take the time to thank each of my reviews for taking the time to tell me what you like and dislike about the story so far. I want you to know that I read each of them and that they encourage me to continue and write more. Thank you!

Also I'd like to give a shoutout to my homie (Luciferism). If you're into NaruSaku, or stories with a lot of drama in general, check out her recent ongoing fic: Deception

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(Paste that part after fanfic. net)

Until next time~