~cherry red vans and some ripped black jeans~

Hidan glared from his spot on the edge of the couch, arms crossed and lips curled in a sneer through the sheer disgust of it all. "You're so fucking stupid."

~smilin' like a treat, I'm trippin' over my own feet~

"I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS!"

"It-It could be about anyone!" Sakura protested, but her face still burned all the way up to the tips of her ears and she half-hid behind the sad, lumpy frog squishmallow that had only gotten that way from the years it had been subjected to being the first thing used as a projectile.

"This is so gross!" Deidara groaned as his head fell back on the recliner's armrest. More blond strands slipped out his half-assed bun and his sprawl nearly knocked a water bottle off the side table. "I've listened to this song every day for the last week and this whole time it's been about you, yeah!"

"It's not!" Her voice almost dropped into a pitiful whine. "It's just—we—we kept running into each other and—"

~sky's rollin' over night and day and it's like I can't catch a break~

~she's like a warm sunrise, sweet like a candy pink shake~

Sakura buried her head in the squishmallow.

Kisame hummed. Stretched out on the couch, his feet hung over the side and dangled in their black crocs. "I feel like I'm supposed to know who this is."

Deidara squinted. "Literally how old are you, hm?"

"If you expect me to keep up with every twenty-something pop band I see on YouTube—"

"I know good and damn well you know 5 Seconds of Summer."

"Everyone knows 5 Seconds of Summer."

"No? They don't? What the hell—"

"Can we all fucking focus on the fact that Sakura has a pop princess boyfriend and didn't fucking TELL US?!"

Sakura screamed into her plush sanctuary before she peeked back over at them. "They're just backstage passes! It's not like I got married at an Elvis chapel in Vegas!" She waved an accusing finger at the rest of the room. "First you're all nag, nag, nag about how I should be making more friends and the one time I actually do I just get more nag!"

"There's a pop song about you, yeah!"

"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!"

Hidan launched himself off his perch, grabbed the squishmallow to wrestle Sakura down more into the other couch, and sat on top of the pile with a purpose.

~cherry red vans and some ripped black jeans~

"ARGH! Get your fatass off!"

"Sculpted isn't fat you bubblegum-pop loving The Band CAMINO-ass fangirl—"

Kisame snapped his fingers. "I know who The Band CAMINO is!"

"But you don't know who the hell Raccoon City is?!"

"Are they like Owl City?"

"No they're not like—fuck who the hell's phone's hooked up? Guess we have to play their whole discography before I never listen to them again." Deidara slid off the recliner and started rooting around the living room for wayward phones. "Gods, couldn't have made a song about like, Ada Wong, but noooo it had to be our fucking drummer, UGH."

Sakura successfully flipped Hidan over the back of the couch where he managed a loud SHIT before she smacked the squishmallow into his face and dove down after him with a wordless war cry.

~smilin' like a treat, I'm trippin' over my own feet~

Kisame plucked an abandoned soda from the cans scattered atop the coffee table as he dug his own phone out from between a couple cushions and typed,

racoon city

First Result -

Raccoon City

Pop Band

Raccoon City are an American pop rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Leon S. Kennedy, lead guitarist Rebecca Chambers, bassist Claire Redfield, and drummer Piers Nivans.

Origin: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Albums: Hide & Seek, Panic, Ivy, MORE

"Huh." Kisame scrolled down the page as he sipped his drink through a green silly straw. "Since when did you like blonds?"

He rolled off the couch to avoid the sad lumpy frog that soared his way.

Sakura scowled as she held Hidan in a headlock; it wasn't like that! Really! It was like, a month or so ago that they met at—

::

RACCOON CITY

DANCE 'TIL WE'RE ZOMBIES TOUR

with special guests MAD MIKE and HUNK

TONITE 7, DOORS 6

An uproarious muted cheer drew Sakura away from the poster as she quickened her pace from the front of the venue and towards the back entrance. She flashed a pass as she slipped inside and waved back at the couple of the local stagehands who recognized her from the night before. She stuck to the side to keep out of the crew's way and hopefully she wouldn't be here too long and could avoid the swarming fans at the end of the night. Deidara should feel so lucky she volunteered to pick up the bag he'd forgotten at their show last night—and he was extra lucky the venue people called about it before they had to start driving to the next city tomorrow morning.

Red vans were quick to hop over wires and dodge equipment cases as she milled around backstage to try and spot the manager who called her earlier. They had to get up and running at around four and she should be at least half-ansty to get the bag and head back to the hotel, but the couple hours on her own felt just like stretching out her legs. Not that she didn't love her band and the traveling to absolute death, but she usually started day-dreaming about her bed back at their house in SoCal by the middle of a tour.

Her back pocket started to buzz.

[ pop princess hold my hand ]

(pyro)maniac: is she dead [11:02 pm]

(pyro)maniac: oh my fiuckkng god shes dea d [11:02 pm]

Baby Shark: evryday we tell u not to forget your little clay sculptrues and every dya u forget your little clay scluptures so one fo these days you're just gona have to lear n [11:02 pm]

(pyro)maniac: WHATS WRONG WITH MAKIGN LITTTTLE GUYZ?/? [11:03 pm]

Me: the new group name is stupid :( [11:03 pm]

Me: and i don't have the verdict yet give me a sec [11:04 pm]

Asshole: after ur verdicc can ou get ice cream [11:04 pm]

(pyro)maniac: 2 ice cream [11:05 pm]

Baby Shark: 3 pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee? [11:05 pm]

Baby Shark: love u <3 [11:05 pm]

(pyro)maniac: love u more <3 [11:06 pm]

Asshole: <3 [11:06 pm]

Me: fuck you guys but love you too or whatev

Something crashed right at her feet and her own foot caught on the bulk in the middle of her next step and she tipped forward. Her arms pinwheeled one, two until she crouched to land with a small oof right by the obstacle instead of crashing straight into a couple chairs.

"Ohmygod I'm so sorry, are you okay?!"

Sakura sat up, more bewildered than anything else, and blinked at the talking tripping hazard.

Which turned out to be a panicked guy in washed out jeans and a dark henley tee. Sweat dampened his dirty blond strands and the lights were pretty low backstage but his eyes, whatever color they were, were wide and panicked as he held out his arms in front of him from his awkward position on the floor. Her legs splayed out on top of his and he looked afraid to move, his cheeks faintly flushed.

She stared for a moment; she'd definitely seen him on more than one article thumbnail.

"Did you fall?" She asked. "Like, right in front of me? And that made me trip over you?"

For some reason he only got more red.

"Uh, yeah. I'm so, so sorry, let me just..."

She pulled her legs in and popped back up to her feet in not much effort at all before she offered her hand to help him up. He stared at it owlishly for a moment before she helped him to his feet where he landed only half a step away from her.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated. He glanced down at their still joined hands—wait, they hadn't let go?—and pulled his back with a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"Don't look so nervous, I'm not going to sue you for insurance money," she laughed as she dusted off the back of her jeans. "Are you fresh off the stage?"

"Yeah! You um, you weren't here for the show?" His head tilted a bit, stringy strands peeling off his forehead at the motion and looking every bit like one of those little birds she liked watching on the birdfeeder Kisame hung up on . His gaze flickered to the badge around her neck and at yesterday's date printed on it. "Or...?"

"I was here last night and came to pick up something one of my friends left behind." Sakura peeked over his shoulder and spotted someone slowly looking around with a beat up teal backpack hanging loosely from their grip. "Ah, and there it is! You're probably tired and got a bunch of fans waiting for you, huh?" And he probably did with a face like that. She knocked his bicep with the back of her hand as she started towards the bag. "Don't let me hold you up."

"Wait!"

The flush on his cheeks died down to a more manageable pink—that was good! He probably just cooled off by now, especially if he was headlining, and the lights on stage made summer touring feel like she was an egg in a frying pan.

"Hm?"

The more she looked the more she saw just how blue his eyes were, bright and a bit mischievous as they crinkled at the edges along with his growing smile.

"Did it hurt?" He asked.

"When I fell?"

"Straight outta heaven," he beamed.

::

"UGHHHH," came the resounding chorus of her band lined up on the couch. Sakura crossed her arms from her spot standing in front of them.

"Can you all shut up and let me finish?"

"Is it gonna keep makin' me gag?" Hidan drawled, distinctly unimpressed.

"Is it gonna keep makin' me gag?" She mocked. He stuck out his tongue. She stuck out her tongue even harder. "Do you guys want the story or not?"

"Fine," Deidara sighed. "Just keep the 'ew' factor on low, hm."

"Nerd."

"Fangirl."

"You were saying?" Kisame prompted, pushing Deidara's face to the side.

::

"Not really," she shrugged. "But did it hurt you?"

He blinked. "When I fell?"

"Yeah." Sakura stuck a foot out and swiped at his heel, sending him stumbling back until he ended up plopped onto one of the spare equipment cases and she flashed one of her best grins, sharp and wide and straight out of Hidan's self-proclaimed 'Social-Flirting 101' lessons. "When you fell for me."

She winked.

::

"... you did the finger guns too, didn't you?" Hidan asked. Sakura finger-gunned him with a big smile. "God, shit, fuck, I taught you too well."

Kisame rubbed his chin. "I still don't understand how you can be so adorable and so awful at the same time."

"That didn't actually get him though, did it, yeah?"

::

He flushed so red it matched her shoes.

::

"Of course," Deidara grumbled under his breath.

::

But she really did have to go that night—the tour bus wouldn't wait for them to catch up on a few extra minutes of sleep and they all agreed they'd start workshopping ideas for their new album on their way to the next city. With a wave and a quick 'hope your show went well!', she met the manager, got Deidara's bag, and rolled back up to the hotel with two rocky roads, a mint chocolate chip, and a salted caramel and ended up staying up late anyway despite her best efforts.

(Leon S. Kennedy was his name, she found out when there were no noses over her shoulder to poke around her business. Raccoon City was pretty popular and she had a couple of their songs in her playlist, and she'd bet anything that she wasn't the first girl he pulled those lines with. But he was cute, seemed like a nice guy, and their tours actually crossed in a few cities where they played the days after each other. But what were the chances of her actually running into him again?)

Pretty high apparently, because the next time she saw him was up in Washington two weeks later after her morning jog. Deidara was up ahead somewhere scaring the shit out of some local wildlife and scouting out a good coffee shop, Hidan had taken to sleeping in the rest of the morning, and Kisame went out to an antique shop they passed on the way in to see if he could find a replacement for the flamingo lamp they got in Texas that unfortunately popped a non-changeable bulb.

::

"I still miss Sergio," Kisame sighed.

"We know."

::

A couple clouds hung in the sky, winding thin stretches past the sun and pouring shade over an already beautiful low-80s day, and Sakura sighed as she stretched out on a patch of grass overlooking a glittering, rocky shoreline. The scent of sea salt filled her nose and besides the few other joggers along the trail, it was a blissfully peaceful morning to rest her muscles after the show yesterday. She'd lost five drumsticks and Kisame picked her up and tossed her into the mosh pit at the end of their encore where she lost a black converse and both her hair ties, so he better bring a replacement along with the new lamp they'd have to tote around for the rest of the tour.

But still, she loved moshing. And crowd surfing. And all would be forgiven once she was back to an even number of shoes, so he was lucky she loved him so much. Maybe tomorrow she'd get Hidan and Deidara to help her toss him out and even if he was built like a brick shithouse, she could probably hold up at least most of him.

Faint screaming echoed down from the direction of the beginning of the trail, and Sakura perked up enough to peer over the slope she was on, but couldn't be bothered to move. It sounded like... concert cheering? It didn't sound like murder screaming—at least she hoped it wasn't murder screaming—but real-murder wasn't on her to-do list with the amount of fake-murdering they did on stage, so.

She shut her eyes in the wake of a fresh streak of sunlight and sighed again.

Deidara would be back with coffee soon, and if the chai at this place didn't taste like potpourri—

A second of a darker shadow flew into her vision before she squeaked and got a lap-full of something warm and solid and held herself up on her elbows to get a better look.

No fucking way.

::

"No fucking way," Hidan growled.

"Yes fucking way," Sakura said.

Deidara threw up his hands. "He was there and I missed him?!"

::

"I am so sorry," Leon apologized. "I was just running and I wasn't keeping an eye on the trail and well, just my luck there was a high school field trip nearby and they saw me and did you know teenagers could run so fast? Because they can and," He finally looked up at her, hair swooped over his dark sunglasses and hood pulled up tight over his head, "and... Hi. Again. Nice day out, huh?"

Sakura snorted. "Hi," she smiled. "You know, I'd offer you a seat but it looks like you already picked the best one in the house."

He glanced down and found himself still sideways in her lap and exploded crimson as he gingerly scurried off and straightened himself out beside her.

"I'm—"

"Sorry," she finished, a teasing quirk to her lips. "I got it. But now that I know you're a serial clutz, you can just say it this one last time and it can be a blanket apology for every other time you trip and fall."

He rubbed the back of his neck and returned her smile with a small, sweet one of his own. "Sounds like a plan." He kicked his legs out in front of him, leggings under basketball shorts, and pulled the cords on his short-sleeved hoodie to keep it scrunched over his face as he sunk against the slope. The screaming passed them by in the distance but didn't get any closer, and he'd bought himself a good couple minutes. Maybe even five. "It also sounds like you're telling me we'll keep running into each other."

"We're two for two in two different cities." Sakura mused. "Unless you get cured of being clumsy, but I've heard there's no medication and it's fatal if left untreated."

He pressed a fist to his mouth to stifle his laugh and turned his head more towards her, his cheek resting on his knuckles while he leaned forward just a smidge. "I think I'll be alright if you're always there to catch me."

Oh, he was good. She fought down the blush threatening to spill over his cheeks, but before she could wrack her brain for a line to put him in the dirt, the screaming came back close enough for Leon to shoot up in a crouch to search the trail behind them with a wary eye.

"Time to beat your mile time?"

Leon nodded once. "Yep." He watched as she reached into the fanny pack around her waist and pulled out a band-aid to hand it over. Baby Shark was all over it. "Thanks?"

"I don't know when I'll see you next, but you might end up with a scraped knee if you fall for me a third time."

He opened his mouth, closed it, opened his mouth, and went pink as he laughed. "I'll keep it around in case of emergencies." He started to stand, but changed his mind at the last minute and crouched down again. "Before I go, um, we're playing tomorrow night and if you're still in town...?"

She frowned apologetically. "We're actually heading out early this afternoon, so I won't be able to go." Her eyes tracked a brief droop of his shoulders that wisped away so quickly she could've imagined it, so she brushed it aside. Actually, it's been a while since she'd been to a concert where she wasn't part of the line-up, and seeing a pop band live for the first time would be fun! "But if you're down in LA near the end of the month, I could probably make the time."

And like a flipped switch his face lit up like all the neon signs decorating the recording studio in their basement.

"I'll hold you to that."

He launched himself up the slope and onto the trail where he darted down a lot faster than she thought he'd run. A minute later, she was passed by a horde of teenage girls that nearly sideswiped Deidara and his two coffee cups as he ambled back down the trail to collapse in a heap at her side.

"One iced strawberry matcha latte with soy milk," he presented.

"Thank you, it looks so pretty!" She exclaimed as she grabbed it. "No chai?"

"It tasted like potpourri and I couldn't do that to you, yeah."

::

"I can't believe this guy literally fell for you and decided to write a song about it."

Kisame cocked a brow. "So you like him too?"

"I didn't say that!" Sakura exclaimed, her face betraying her when it darkened a few shades.

Hidan only crossed his arms and scowled.

::

And sure, she liked him well enough, but she was just being friendly, okay? Yes he was cute and yes he was sort of maybe charming—

::

Kisame nodded. "Yeah, that tracks."

::

—in a FRIENDLY way and, wildly enough, it was another couple weeks before she inevitably saw him again. Her and the guys were starting up in NorCal for the last week of tour on their way to their last show in their home city of LA, and she was fully reinvigorated. After this it would be up to a year of studio work and one-off shows and the start of the Non-Music-Related-Things-To-Do-For-Fun list they started writing up three cities ago.

And here in Sacramento, Raccoon City just happened to play at the same venue the night after their own show again. It was a swimming kind of night, so once it hit late evening when most people in the district would be at the bars, her and the guys would be drunk on the rooftop pool on one of those huge Barbie car floaties, admiring the view and throwing snacks at each other's faces. She still had a couple hours to kill until then, so she'd thrown on one of Kisame's work-out hoodies that fell to her knees, slipped on her vans, and walked a couple blocks past the back venue to a milkshake place and admired the lights on the way back to the hotel.

When she was about to pass the back of the venue, she slowed at the slowly growing familiarity of Leon in the low-light. That night he wore brown boots, blue jeans, and a white tee with the short sleeves rolled up. A mix of leather and beaded bracelets hung from his right wrist, swinging as he scrolled through his phone leaned against the brick wall.

"Hey, your hand looks kind of heavy," she greeted as she sidled up next to him and bumped his shoulder with hers. He jumped and swiveled his head towards her, and she smiled before taking a small sip of her milkshake. "Do you mind if I hold it for you?"

Their eyes locked under the glare of burnt yellow building lights and he grinned, easy and dimpled as she held out her free hand.

::

("She really likes him too, hm," Deidara whispered out the corner of his mouth. Kisame nodded slightly and risked a peek over his head for an eyeful of the other side of the couch. Hidan... had only gotten quieter the more of the story he heard. Tightened up. Was thinking so much because he cared so much and he'd do anything for any of them. Careful was one way to put it, but overprotective was probably the better word. "How are we gonna make sure Hidan doesn't lose it?"

"We're just cockblocking the cockblock," he murmured back. "How hard can it be?")

::

"Go ahead." Leon slid his hand onto hers, twining their fingers and raising them so he could brush the barest swipe of his lips on the back of her knuckles. "But only because it looks like the gaps between your fingers were made for mine."

An absolute burning heat exploded across her cheeks as she hid her laughter behind the bulk of her milkshake. "I bet you've been waiting to use that one for a long time." She swung their linked hands—what could it hurt? "It's pretty early, are you about to head on stage?"

"In about fifteen. I wanted to step out for some air for a sec, and I guess it was meant to be if it got me running into you again." He winked, and Sakura snorted another laugh. "How about you? Doing night runs for strawberry shakes?"

"This one's actually called Candy Carnival and I don't think there's a single fruit in it." She took another sip. "It tastes exactly like Circus Animal cookies."

His nose scrunched. "Is it good?"

"Nope." A longer sip. "But I'm committed."

He opened his mouth with no doubt another classic line he had locked and loaded, but his phone chirped one, two, three times with three successions of text bubbles brightening his screen.

Leon sighed. "They want me back in for a final check before our set starts. I hate to leave so early but..." He slipped his phone into his pocket and slowly let go of her hand to pull out some passes from a different pocket. He handed them over, the cards' glossy fronts reading,

RACCOON CITY'S DANCE 'TIL WE'RE ZOMBIES TOUR

with MAD MIKE and HUNK

AFTER-SHOW BACKSTAGE PASS

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

20XX

"Still think you can make the time?"

Bubbly cartoon zombies gnashed their teeth on the deep purple lanyards, and she flipped the cards over to read that they doubled as floor seat tickets and early admission into the venue. They were so much cuter than the passes at her concerts with their blood splatters and cultists, at least on this latest one.

(She didn't know why her heartbeat was picking up or why the tips of her fingers were starting to sweat where they were pressed against the mass produced plastic. Kisame was going to tease her. Deidara was going to tease her. Hidan was going to tease her, realize this was different and more involved than other stupid crushes she had over the years and go on a week-long rant about how none of these guys were good enough for her. But it wasn't like that, okay! This stupid crush was going to go away like all her other stupid crushes and she'd just be friends with the cute guy in a cute band who had cute swoopy hair and a stupid cute smile.)

((...))

(((Shit.)))

Sakura looped the lanyards around her fingers so she wouldn't lose them and tapped her chin as she pretended to think long and hard about her answer. "I should be able to fit you into my schedule."

"Great! I hope we'll be able to get through our set that day. With you in the crowd, I..." Leon trailed off gazing straight at her, lips still tipped in a small smile and his eyes so soft she was almost too embarrassed to keep looking into them. She raised a brow at his silence, and after a few more seconds he finally shook his head. "Sorry, I don't remember what I was going to say; you're just so beautiful you made me forget my pick up line."

She burst out laughing again, flushed and delighted as she stepped to the side and nudged him towards the door. "Get out of here, Casanova, you need to get ready for your show. "

"That's the only thing keeping me away from you tonight," he said, and she suddenly felt underdressed in her stolen hoodie. He cracked open the door and hesitated, then turned back to her again. "See you in LA?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there. Oh, and make sure your laces stay tied when you're on tonight." They glanced down at his boots and their double knotted laces, and when their eyes met again, she grinned. "I wouldn't want you falling for anyone else."

Sakura waved and started down the alley to head back to the hotel, but not before hearing one last round of his pink-cheeked laughter as he disappeared into the venue.

::

"—and now here I am with backstage passes asking if you guys will go to Raccoon City's concert with your best friend in the whole world?" Sakura shrunk a little at the three dead stares leveraged her way. "Please?"

"Aw, you know we're gonna say yes regardless," Kisame waved off. "When is it? Tomorrow night?"

"Doors at six, show at seven, and we're in GA so we can get there whenever," she chirped. "We'll probably stay near the back anyway since Kisame's a) taller than God and b) doesn't know a single song."

"I'm enacting a dress code," Deidara added. "Ah, ah, ah!" He pointed at Sakura until she closed her mouth and scowled. "You say we're going to a pop concert so I call dibs on the fit which is perfectly reasonable and is already in everyone's closet, hm."

She planted her hands on her hips. "And?"

"And the dress code is cherry red vans and some ripped black jeans. Obviously."

Kisame threw his head back and laughed.

"You guys are the worst," Sakura huffed. She blew a few stray hairs off her face as she faced Hidan who settled into a calm, stony silence by the end of her recount. His bed-head was just as bad as it was from when he first got up, maybe even messier from wrestling earlier, and it attested to how laser-focused he was on the conversation that he hadn't tried to run his hand through it once. She knew he wasn't mad at her, but... "Hidan?" She prompted gently. "That means you too, right?

Hidan's dark gaze searched her for a few heartbeats. "You could do better."

Deidara shoved his side and Kisame mad-dogged him from the other end of the couch.

"Fine, fine!" He snapped. "Of course I'll be there in dress code so we can see your stupid fucking pop princess." His arms opened automatically when Sakura beamed and hopped over the coffee table to squeeze him into a hug. "But don't expect me to be nice to him or any of that shit."

"We'll teach you manners later," Kisame said as he stood up and stretched, popping both his shoulders and checking the time on the nearest phone. "Come on, we gotta head out. Sound check's in an hour and we don't want to be late to our last show. "

:: ::

Leon Scott Kennedy was not a man in love.

He just liked that pink-haired girl. A lot. Despite never getting her name all the times he saw her.

... Okay, maybe he was a little in love but oh man, could you blame him? The night he first saw her he'd slipped through the backstage fans with practiced ease, signing every shirt and poster and posing for selfies in record time before he could catch his breath somewhere in the back where it'd be harder for Claire to find him and rope him back while Piers and Rebecca talked with the fans, and he'd been thinking—

Well, he couldn't remember what he was thinking because the world shut out when he saw someone else already in his temporary hideaway, someone with red vans, ripped black jeans, a cropped old rock shirt, bubblegum pink hair in a ponytail and pursing her bubblegum pink lips as she texted someone on her phone and. And.

And he didn't know he'd been making his way towards her until he caught his foot on a wire and ate shit at her feet.

He'd been so convinced it was over before it began that when he'd let loose the cheesiest pick up line of all time, he figured it'd end one of two ways: a pitying laugh or an eye roll, and if he ended up trending the next day for being a different type of bad artist, he had it coming.

Then she tripped him on purpose and hit him back with an objectively worse line that punched him straight through the heart and left him breathless.

"Thinking about your mystery girl again?"

"She's so pretty, and funny, and thinks I'm funny." He signed and leaned half his weight against Rebecca. "I can't stop thinking about her."

"If she's real," Piers scoffed.

"Why would I make her up?!"

"Yeah," Claire piped up with a smirk, "like he needs us thinking he's any more of a loser than he already is. He wrote a song about her in four days and put it out before we could even officially record it."

"Hey!"

"I know that's the best point we have on his side," Piers said, ignoring the second indignant 'HEY' behind him, "but he's got no name, no picture, no idea what she does or if she's actually a crazy fan that's been stalking us in every city—"

"There's a good chance she's part of some other band's travel crew because she had a pass for the day all those metal bands were playing."

Rebecca perked up. "Maybe she's helping out at this show! Snow Storms & Snake Wine were in a couple cities with us before ending here in LA." The merch line moved up and she could barely contain her squeal as they got closer to the table. "This is so exciting! First you guys agreed to go to this concert with me and now we might get to see mystery girl a day early!"

Leon smiled down at her before taking another look around the venue. He'd been to a couple rock concerts before, but definitely not to one this far into the scene. It was an ocean of black, leather, and fishnet as far as he could see with rainbows of hair colors skimming the top. Rebecca was really the only person he knew who listened to metal and heavier rock and punk and had no care in the world as she blasted her music when it was her turn on the AUX, but the one thing he did know for sure was that Snow Storms & Snake Wine was her absolute favorite band. Their song lyrics were on her phone wallpaper and she had at least three other tour shirts lying around, but the most he'd ever seen of the actual members was a picture of the lead singer drenched in the fake blood that poured over him on stage.

The line moved up again and Rebecca practically bounced in place.

"You guys should know there's actual mosh pits at these shows," she said as she peered at the merch displays. A good handful of them showed a snake curled around a snow storm trapped in a wine bottle. "Like, we should probably stay away from the front-middle of GA because that's where they usually start and if you're not ready to push people in and maintain the barrier, you're going to end up inside."

"And you're, like... pushing each other around?" He asked.

"Uhuh! You might get a couple bruises but you'll live, and don't worry about falling down; everyone's usually pretty respectful and we make sure no one gets hurt. But if anything serious happens then Hidan, the lead singer, shuts it down real quick and stops the show until the all-clear."

Huh. That was pretty cool.

"But it does look like the pits are going to be crazy at this show," she added, jerking her head towards a group of fans at the bar dressed in black and white referee shirts.

Piers tilted his head. "Wait, they actually ref the moshing?"

"It's a lot more fun than you're thinking."

"Either way, sign me the hell up!" Claire cheered. "I've appointed myself as your mosh buddy for the night, and if that means moshing in every pit, we're moshing in every pit!"

Rebecca did squeal this time, partially because they'd made it to the front of the line.

"And I know you're not doing it," Claire pointed at Piers, "because you're a pussy," she pushed away his face as he sputtered, "and you're not doing it," the finger moved to Leon, "because your face is our best commodity and we're not risking it while we're still on tour." She paused. "And you're also a pussy."

Leon flipped her off. She blew him a kiss before jumping into an argument with Piers.

That left him looking back around the venue. He wouldn't call himself anything near self-important, but it was crazy to be at a venue where most people didn't recognize him or if they did, ignored him and treated him like every other concert-goer here, and it was nice.

It'd be nicer if his mystery girl was here too.

"Come on!" Rebecca tugged the blood red tour shirt over her head as she started leading them to the floor. "We won't make it to the rail but we should get close!"

::

The two opening bands were insane and Rebecca was going to explode in excitement before the headliner actually came on.

The first band, BOUNTY, started two separate mosh pits on their own and the second band, Explode Your Corpse's, last song had all of standing GA headbanging and rocking forward until the rail almost upended, so now it made sense why the security looked bulkier than the ones that took the Raccoon City shows.

Leon could taste the anticipation in the air as the venue filled in even more than he thought possible. Shoulder to shoulder, almost touching back to front, and he and Piers made sure they were always next to each other and Claire and Rebecca were always in front of them so no one ended up separated.

(And if he'd been double-taking at every pink-haired girl that he saw in the crowd, that was no one's business but his own.)

Like he said, she probably worked with the crew in the back. No way she'd be out here during the show.

The lights blacked suddenly, and an ear-shattering cheer rode out in waves over the fans as the stage slowly lit up four separate silhouettes in dark red light. Two sets of white spotlights glowed between the front of the stage and the raised platform where the drummer sat, illuminating three people in red cult robes to the left, and three people in red cult robes to the right. The screen behind them all flickered with the image of a bleak horizon every now and again overlaid with a staticky summoning circle.

A thrum of a bass, and another spotlight opens up over one of the silhouettes. He was enormous in his leather pants and red sweater vest and played on a guitar that looked like a great white shark was gnawing on the strings. The bassist flashed a sharp grin beneath the updo of his navy blue hair.

"That's Kisame!" Rebecca shouted above the restless chants of the band's name.

Another guitar added to the dark melody as the second spotlight flicked on, this time shining on the person at the other end of the stage. Long blond hair was braided save for the thick cut of bangs that hung over one half of his face as he strummed. Red flames climbed up the legs of his black pants and the demon mouth tattoo on his chest could be clearly seen through his mesh top.

"Then there's Deidara on lead!"

Drums, the third spotlight, and then Leon's heart caught in his throat.

She sat up there, bubblegum pink hair pulled in two space buns as she kicked the bass drum and spun one of the drumsticks in her hand. A red lace corset top sat over her fitted black tee and she was already bobbing her head to the beat, eyes brighter through her smokey black make-up and lips as red as the lace that hugged her close.

"Sakura's the drummer!"

Sakura.

She was electric on stage wearing a grin that spelled nothing but trouble, dangerous and promising and everything else that made him want more. Sweet or devilish it didn't matter what she'd give him—any of it, all of it, as long as it was all her she'd let him have.

God, just look at her.

She'd never even given him a chance to steady himself on his feet before he fell for her all over again.

And the three spotlights shut off and so did all the music, and the cultists dropped to their knees.

~shoulder the load of a sinning~

The last spotlight, and it was already a stark sight not to see him—Hidan—covered in blood. Black pants and shirtless, the dried black paint dripping down his face and torso was offset by the crude white smears that molded him into a living skeleton. He stood close at the stand, cradling the mic like it was something precious as he sang high and haunting.

~that was never mine~

All the lights flashed on again, illuminating the stage as Hidan leaned forward and roared so raw and guttural it sent an uncomfortable shiver down his spine.

~BURN THEM ON THEIR PEDESTAL~

Rebecca jumped up and down and screamed, Claire soon following suit, and Piers still to his side half bewildered and moving his head to the beat. But Leon only had eyes for the drummer completely lost in the song under the warm burn of stage lights, every strike of her drums like another thump in his chest.

So maybe he'd been right at the start and it was over before it began, because he would trip over his own feet every day if it meant falling into her arms.

::

"He lit her drums on fire," Piers stressed as they waded through the after-show funnel out the venue. He trudged like a man coming down from an out-of-body experience but wasn't quite sure what to make of it: come back for more or avoid it like the plague. "And she played through the rest of the song."

"And that was after the cultists murdered the bass player and then got murdered by the singer and the bass player wardrobe-changed and revived with the knife sticking out of his chest!" Claire's hairline crowned with sticky-sweat flyaways as her eyes burned with fervor despite moshing through the entire night. "What the hell are we doing at our shows? Theirs was so sick!"

Rebecca wheezed as she watched Leon try to dig the keys to the rental out of his pocket. "I can't believe you tripped into the pit!"

"I was." Leon thought of the way Sakura leapt off the drumming platform and single-handedly lifted and pitched the blond guitarist into the screaming crowd as retribution for her smoking drum set, the hazy orange stage bathing her in the color of a west coast sunset. "Distracted."

He kept a steady pace toward the car despite his missing a shoe.

::

(Kisame was almost done wiping the fake blood off his chest when Deidara grabbed him and yanked him down.

"Did I see the pop princess trip into the fucking pit, yeah?!" He hissed.

"You're lucky it was that and we didn't have to salvage his body from the Wall of Death."

"Please, it would've been his own damn fault if we had to. You saw him, hm, he had no idea where the hell he was."

"Sure he did, and it was in GA watching Sakura the whole show," he replied. He glanced around for her and spotted her happily munching near the snack table.

"Simp," Deidara snorted. "You think Hidan saw?"

They peered to where Hidan stood talking to a group of fans, all completely enamored by his cool expression and smooth politeness—almost the complete antithesis of the sailor-mouthed asshole he only let the band see. The fans didn't notice the rigid square of his shoulders or the faint twitch of his finger held in the crook of his elbow, but one look from Kisame and Deidara told them everything they needed to know.

"Of course he did, yeah," Deidara sighed. "When does anything get past that motherfucker."

"He just needs to cool off."

"Well yeah, but how're we going to—"

Kisame picked up the water bucket Sakura used to put out her drumsticks and strode away.

SPLASH

"Ha!" Sakura barked as she wandered over with a piled-high paper plate. Her and Deidara watched as a soaked Hidan chased Kisame out of backstage shouting expletives into the distance, the latter cajoling him the whole way. "Happy last tour date."

"It was getting too cozy around here anyway."

She hummed and held out her plate. "I got you your nasty oatmeal raisin cookies."

"Oh, fuck me up, hm.")

:: ::

"We look like groupies."

"Good," Deidara bundled the hem of his shirt and used one of his spare scrunchies to tie it off at his waist and flipped the tail inside. The polaroid picture graphic of Raccoon City sat softly on heather gray cotton. "'Cause that's exactly the point, yeah."

Kisame finished rolling the sleeves on his own band shirt—deep green with a raccoon poking out of the breast pocket—and poked his head through before tucking the ends into his jeans.

"Because we're also awful." He reached out to tousle her hair and smiled wide at the puffed up, angry pout he got in return. "And we look great in cherry red vans and some ripped black jeans."

"Do we?"

"At least you do if he made a song about it."

Hidan face pinched like he swallowed ten lemons after he'd been wrestled into a white tank plastered with a pair of dancing zombies, and he only lasted a few more seconds before turning on his heel and bee-lining straight for the nearest bar.

Sakura sighed in her own black shirt with Leon—and only Leon—on the front, an acoustic guitar in his hands as he sang into the mic. She had no choice in picking the shirts either, and when they'd first thrown it at her she had to fight the urge to bury her face in her hands and hide the rest of her life.

"This is the worst thing you've ever done to me."

"So you forgive me for the drums, yeah?"

"This is the second worst thing you've ever done to me."

"No, this is the worst thing we're doing for you," Kisame corrected as he slung an arm over her shoulders. "How much do you want to bet he'll sing your song because he knows you're in the audience tonight?"

She blew a raspberry at him. "Fat chance. He's not going to change the setlist over something like that."

::

Leon pushed his hair out of his face as the final notes of the previous song were lost to the cheers of the venue.

"I hope everyone's doing alright," he said as he took a swig from his water bottle. "It's hot as hell out here, LA, you better stay hydrated." He took another sip and stored the bottle back somewhere behind him. "And actually, we're going to change some things up tonight if you guys don't mind."

Another whooping cheer jumped up through the crowd and when he flashed a bright smile, they only got louder.

"I knew I could count on you guys." He adjusted his guitar. "This song I actually wrote on this tour and I just couldn't get her—it out of my head. Maybe you've already heard it?"

And as the tune to cherry red vans started up and flowed to the back of the floor, Sakura burned crimson in the wake of Kisame's smug face.

"You suck," she sniffed. "What's the bet?"

He held up their clear bag filled with water bottles and a single white converse, and grinned.

:: ::

Rebecca volunteered to scout for Mystery Girl while the others were busy signing and taking pictures and making sure Leon didn't get kidnapped by a horde of fans. It was pretty ridiculous that Piers had no faith in their friend. No one had ever caught his attention like this girl did, but she guessed she could see where he was coming from; someone who flirted back with the same cheesy lines with no name and popped up around the same places Leon happened to be?

Alright, maybe it sounded a little fishy at its worst, but if she was able to make their lead singer all gooey and starstruck, they should be supportive! It wasn't every day you tripped your own soulmate when you first met them—

She turned the corner and gasped as she stopped short.

"Sn-Snow Storms & Snake Wine!" She exclaimed. The group who had their heads bent together as they quietly talked—argued?—all straightened and swiveled their heads her way. "What are you doing here? Not that you're not allowed here since you played in LA last night at a venue not too far from this one and you might be here on your own business and—I mean—" She was messing this up so bad in front of her idols oh god— "and—" She rubbed the back of her head and pinkened sheepishly— "and I'm a big fan."

"Oh shit, really?" Deidara beamed. She nodded vigorously. "That's awesome, yeah!"

He held out his fist and she bumped it with hers, barely keeping herself from vibrating in excitement.

And that was when she noticed the shirts.

"You were at our show?!" She blurted.

"Ah, yeah." Sakura laughed a little and seemed a bit embarrassed herself. "Um. Leon invited us."

"Leon did?" Rebecca mused. "Huh. When did he get around to inviting you guys? I thought the only person he invited was that girl he really likes."

Sakura froze, and twin grins overtook Kisame's and Deidara's faces as they caged her between them. Hidan massaged his forehead and if Rebecca had to strain to hear him mumble how he hadn't drunk enough for this.

"There's a girl he likes?" Kisame questioned.

"That's some news, hm," Deidara added.

"He talk about her a lot?"

"He wrote cherry red vans on tour, right? Was that song about her?"

She couldn't see Sakura's face through their bulks, but she nodded all the same. "Yes, yeah, yup, and uhuh. It's kind of an open secret though, so." Kisame and Deidara mimed zipping their lips shut. "I think he met her a month or two ago after one of our shows. It's kind of funny now that I think about it. He's met her a handful of times and he doesn't even know her name."

"You talking about Mystery Girl?" Piers wandered over to them, an orange gatorade spinning in his hands. "Did you know he wrote that song in, like, four days?"

"Four days?!" The entirety of the metal band repeated.

Deidara covered his mouth and turned around, shoulders shaking as he braced himself against Hidan and with him out of the way, Sakura half-peeked out from Kisame's side. Her cheeks dusted pink and that was kind of odd, it was almost like she was—

Rebecca's gaze trailed down to their matching red vans and ripped jeans.

Her eyes widened.

OH.

"Hey, we were at your show last night!"

Claire waved as she too made their way over to their little group with Leon in tow, the latter growing more and more mortified with each step he took. Rebecca didn't know if she was going expecting a lot of stammering of a lot of lame lines that were going to make her kick her feet in amusement and disgust in equal amounts, but she definitely wasn't expecting for Sakura to slip the small, clear bag off arm and pull out the shoe that went missing in mosh pit last night.

"So," Sakura called out, holding up the white converse. "Did you need a new pair of shoes?"

Leon blinked. "Oh, uh, I guess not anymore?"

"That's too bad," she shrugged. "I thought you'd be more worried about wearing down the soles because of how often you've been running through my mind."

She winked and finger-gunned with her free hand.

And as most of Sakura's bandmates doubled over in howling laughter—Hidan was doing a very good job at hiding his smile under his shirt as he pretended to cough—and the rest of Raccoon City could barely start to process what was happening, Rebecca saw the metaphorical bullet shoot straight through Leon's heart as she covered her mouth with her hands to stuff down her own laughter.

Oh no, she thought. Leon practically melted into some heart-shaped blob and a giggle escaped through her fingers. They're terrible.

:: :: ::

real songs the fake songs were based on:

cherry red vans - dirty white chucks by nightly

Snow Storms & Snake Wine's opening song - Circle With Me by Spiritbox