It's been a while! Sorry it took me quite a while to get this out.

So... enjoy! :)

Chapter 2: First Impressions
. . .
Love at first sight is possible, but it's always a good idea to take a second look.
. . .

. . .

Haruno Sakura stifled a yawn before patting the palms of both her hands to her cheeks gently, in a desperate attempt to keep herself awake.

Gazing around the wide expanse of the first floor lobby in the main building of Itsumademo Advertising, everything seemed quite familiar to her. Having been her not too long ago (particularly on the scheduled day, last Monday where Naruto had handed her the papers and contracts for signing), the place seemed quite... commercial to her. It was unlike the first impression she had when she entered the building for the first time.

Emerald orbs swept over to the huge clock hanging by the wall above the receptionist counter. Half an hour past 8 in the morning on a sunny Saturday. Why was she here at such an ungodly hour on a weekend again?

Oh right. All the models were to report to the building today. In just a few hours, she'd be meeting all the other models she was tasked to work with for this particular company project. Briefing, questioning, etc. Those were on the agenda for today.

"Haruno-san," the brunette behind the receptionist counter called.

Standing up and smoothing out the creases on her skirt, Sakura slowly made her way over. "Yes?"

After apologizing for the wait, the brunette gave her the particular instructions needed to reach her destination for today.

Going up a few floors, a few turns down the hall, Sakura ended up in front of double glass doors. She gazed at the sight at the other side. A dark marble counter stood at the opposing side of the door, plush couches were situated on the eastern side of the room, and a female figure seated on one of the said plush leather couches. Said female had her long blond locks tied to a rather familiar ponytail.

"Ino?" Sakura could only mumble to herself as she pushed the glass doors open.

The blond ponytail swayed to the side, before completely leaving Sakura's sight as a pair of azure orbs stared back at excited emerald orbs.

"Sakura?" left the woman's lips as she blinked a few times.

No more words were exchanged, for the two girls were already hugging.

A smile appeared on Ino's lips as she pulled away and analyzed the girl before her. "Sakura! It's been such a long time!"

"It has, hasn't it?" replied the roseate. "You won't believe how excited I was when I first heard from Naruto that you would be one of the people I was going to work with."

The two then engaged in idle chatter as the clock ticked by. Before they even knew it, another figure joined them in the room.

"Oh, Sai!" Ino exclaimed in surprise as her eyes landed on the artist.

Confusion rose within Sakura as she looked from Ino to Sai, and then back to Ino. "You two know each other?"

A sheepish smile appeared on Ino's lips as she attempted to explain, "Well, we dated in the past. That's all to it." she stated, nodding in his direction.

"A pleasant morning to you then, Sai-san," Sakura greeted with a simple nod as well.

"Ahh, I'm quite the lucky fellow,"

Sakura and Ino exchanged glances before settling their eyes on Sai. It was Ino who spoke their silent question, "And by that you mean...?"

"Well, I wouldn't say a lot of models out there - male models, that is, had ever experienced the pleasure of working with two gorgeous models as yourselves,"

"Skip the sweet talk, Sai. I'm no longer interested, and I'm sure Sakura isn't interested as well," Ino deadpanned, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the dark haired man.

Sai merely raised his hands in defense, and gave out a fake exasperated sigh.

Minutes later, the three spotted Naruto as well as a few other executive-looking people walk in.

"Ah, there you guys are! I see you're all acquainted," he commented with a bright smile on his usually perky face.

The three stood up and bowed at the executives in greeting, added to their individual morning greetings, that is.

"Eh? Where's Sasuke-teme?" Naruto questioned aloud, scanning the area.

Sakura could only wince yet chuckle at the same time. Naruto's casual habit towards other people in times of formality really did amaze her.

"Not here yet, that's for sure," stated one of the executives. "Why don't we all proceed to the meeting room then. I'm sure — "

"Excuse me, Kanagawa-san," the girl behind the front desk called out.

'Kanagawa... as in, Kanagawa Keito? The owner of the whole Itsumademo Advertising?' Sakura thought to herself.

"Uchiha-san's manager called in early this morning. She informed me that they would be running a little late today, for a few meetings were bumped up on his schedule today," the girl continued.

"Well, that can't be helped then," Keito murmured. "It'd be best if we all proceeded to the meeting room anyways. We have a lot of things to accomplish today."

The rest followed Kanagawa Keito towards the meeting room. Once each of them were inside, they proceeded to seat themselves on the chairs tucked under a huge mahogany table. Sakura spotted the white screen pulled down, and a projector was placed in the middle of the table.

"Now, I'd like to formally welcome all of you to the first magazine published under Itsumademo Advertising; Ullzang. As you all know, 'Ullzang' literally means, 'Best Faces' in Korean. No, we are not trying to take favor in the Korean market. This term is widely known. Chinese, Taiwanese, and even Japanese use the Ullzang term when referring to a good looking male or female over the internet. This magazine will have themes for each issue. A particular theme for a particular issue revolving around the concept of Ullzang. Of course there will be guest models for each issue. We won't have the same set of people for the same set of issue. We have chosen the four — three that are present at the moment, that is, to remain our main models. Like take for example, "Kumikky" and "Tsubasa" of Popteen. You see them on countless covers and pages of countless Popteen issues, but they aren't the only models there. We picked the four of you in particular, for we know that with your help, we can attract a lot of younger buyers. That is ensured with your help."

The meeting was going well, that is, before their attention was completely focused on the people that just entered the room.

A gust of wind burst inside the room as in came Uchiha Sasuke and his manager.

"Uchiha-san, nice of you to join us," Keito stated in the middle of explaining.

Although a playful yet stern comment was thrown his way, Sasuke merely nodded and took grabbed the empty seat beside Sai before situating himself and gazing straight up at the presentation before him.

Sakura had to check if her jaw had hit the floor when he came waltzing in as if nothing happened. As if he wasn't late. She had to admit, he was good looking. Possibly the most good looking man she had laid her eyes on (and she had gazed upon many, being in this line of business). He was like a porcelain doll. His skin was flawless. His cheekbones were perfect, and his jaw was well defined. His eyes, they were the color of the dark night. Onyx. Whilst, his soft-looking ebony hair stood up at the back with messy raven locks.

He was... gorgeous.

But enough of that, his attitude clearly wasn't. Possibly.

She doesn't know the guy. Not personally, anyway.

Though one thing was for sure, he seemed so... unrealistic. As if he was hand sculpted by the God, Adonis.

Inwardly shaking her head and ignoring the elbow nudging her at her side (courtesy of the one and only Yamanaka Ino), Sakura focused her emerald orbs on the white screen ahead, completely oblivious to the onyx orbs that secretly eyed her.

She looked... interesting. He thought.

Her strawberry pink locks seemed natural. Very much unlike the dyed ones that belonged to girls he had met before.

Her eyes, a strikingly emerald color that seemed to stare down to his very core. With those wicked orbs, it was as if she could see right through him.

Her skin, ivory in color and not a flaw in sight.

And her lips, not too plump, not too thin. Perfectly shaped.

Perfect in Sasuke's opinion, that is.

But these thoughts surfacing from the back of his mind. These were dangerous thoughts. It was the first time Sasuke pondered over the appearance of a girl, after all. This was just another job of his, and she was just another person he would be working with.

He'd keep that in mind whenever these type of thoughts resurfaced.

Turning his direction to the front of the room, and directing his attention to Keito, Sasuke blocked out all alien thoughts that weren't related to the topic at hand: the first photoshoot.

"Everyone knows that the first shoot is always the most important. It's like that quote, 'First impressions last', and whatnot," Keito started to explain. "So in this case, we are going for the theme that interests everybody: Love."

This caught all of the models' attention.

Love.

Of course.

"Love can be interpreted as anything. In general, if you refer to love, it could be something like your love for your family, friends, even pets at home," at this statement, Keito had already focused solely on the models. With his hands on the desk, the four knew he meant business. "But what we are going to be focusing on," he paused, "Is the love shared between two lovers. Relationships, the typical boyfriend-girlfriend scenario type of thing."

At his last statement, the four had surprisingly all stiffened. Others less conspicuously than some, and some, more visible than others.

Sakura's shoulders were so tense that she had to remind herself over and over again that this was all a job. She was being paid to do this, and nothing more. It wasn't as if a budding relationship was going to be formed between her and whoever she was going to be paired with for this shoot.

Taking note of her friend's stiffened form from the corner of her eye, the blonde female smiled fondly at the idea. It was quite the theme, after all. Memories flooded back in her mind as she recalled her High School days. If a teacher brought up that topic, most students looked quite intrigued. It was the only time they had fully paid attention to their sensei for that subject. Others seemed as if they weren't bothered at all by the topic at hand, but Ino knew (all too well), that they were also very much interested in the subject.

Ah, yes. The topic of love did, in fact, intrigue the young minds in her class.

"This magazine is focusing more on the young adult readers. The teenagers, if you will. This magazine will be promoting fashion, as well as highlight on certain themes for each month. This will be the first ever issue, and our aim is to at least catch half the population we are focusing on selling our copies to."

Silence filled the room after Keito had explained. He had noted their stiffened forms (except for Uchiha Sasuke who merely looked aloof, as always), and had wondered if they had wavered in their decision to stick with the company.

"Can I count on you guys to help us?" he questioned sincerely.

Silence filled the room once more. Although this time, it was a comfortable silence. As if understanding flowed between the four corners of the meeting room they were in.

A sigh was heard, before a response. "You can count on me."

All eyes turned towards the rosette sitting in her seat, with a posture of confidence.

"You will definitely not regret picking me as one of the models for this magazine." Sakura stated. Sincerity visible in her jade orbs.

Ino's eyes closed for one moment, as an amused smile appeared on her lips. "Well, if Sakura's in, then I'm definitely going to go for it as well."

"Well I certainly will not go back on my word. You can count on me." Sai added.

Keito had looked at the three with grateful eyes as he turned to the last model that he waited for approval.

"Hn,"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ino scoffed.

"Ah! Well, in Uchiha language, that means 'yes'," Naruto had abruptly added in.

A smile appeared on Keito's lips as he stood up straight and straightened out any form of wrinkles on his business suit.

"I'd like to thank all of you for cooperating. Your cooperation is a very important factor to the success of this project," simultaneous nodding rounded the table.

Taking the binder from his assistant, Keito had flipped a few pages before stopping. His eyes read the material on the page before turning back his attention towards the models before him.

"So for the first shoot, which will be 3 days from today, I expect you all to be here around 11 a.m. We are going to be shooting 2 major scenes for this shoot. Mainly focused on introducing the models. The shoots will take place in the studio itself, and the other, which is outdoor. Your make-up and hair stylists will be here tomorrow, so no need to bring one of your own, or do it yourself. Are there any questions?"

No hands were raised.

"Alright, thank you all for coming today, and I am looking forward to working with everyone."

The four bowed in respect, as they slowly filed out of the room. Once they were almost out the door, Keito had called them one again, an additional announcement, probably.

"Oh, and did I mention that the reviews from the first issue after it is released will determine the specific person you will be working with? It's either Sasuke and Ino, Sakura and Sai, or Sasuke and Sakura and Ino and Sai. Interesting, isn't it?"

A flurry of emotions rushed through Sakura as statement circled in her mind again and again.

This was another job she had taken. That was it.

That's all there is to it.

Or... that's what she'll keep telling herself if ever that unfamiliar feeling swelled up in her chest once again.

To be continued...

Wow. Managed to get out 2 updates today.
- well, given the fact that the 2 documents were things I had been working on in the past, and didn't quite finish till current.

But yeah... so, I hope you guys enjoyed. More things coming up for this story. I have big plans for this fic.

Hopefully you guys will support this fic as the plot develops!

Do leave reviews! They are appreciated! :)