Influenced heavily by 'guess this must be the place', a XiuHan by intherubble.

Enjoy

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< I will slit your throat with one of my business cards >

Naruto stared at the text message on his phone and bit his lip, pausing just long enough to pop a mint into his mouth and then turned back to his phone.

He didn't doubt that it was possible. Sakura's business cards were Grade A stock quality which had professionally printed her full name and was written in black text. The sleek and strong card with the company's logo on the left-hand corner always caused him to roll his eyes when she sat straight and slid it over to any potential producers and managers of the idols that wanted Naruto to dance for one of their music videos.

Naruto fiddled with the small keychain that he had received for his birthday from Killer Bee, a small fox with nine tails. He knew that Sakura wouldn't actually do it, well, perhaps she would yell at him and then punch his chest lightly for making her worry, but she wouldn't end his life. Her whole career depended on how well Naruto does as a dancer.

His fingers quickly ran across the touch screen phone as he typed back to her, < How will that make me want to come back exactly? > he slipped the phone into his front pocket and exhaled.

To be honest, Sakura should be used it by now. Naruto had wandered off too many times to count, even though Neji was his 'handler.' One of the only reasons that Neji got the job was because he wasn't shy and physically threw Naruto over his shoulder and manhandle him back to the set.

The arrangement worked well enough for Naruto because Neji was usually surrounded by females that (Neji didn't know but) wanted to get his phone number. The long-haired male usually shook his head and gave a lecture to these girls about their too-short skirts and too-low tank tops. This was perfect time for Naruto to escape and cackle at Neji's obliviousness, with his cap pulled low over his bright blue eyes.

He obviously knew that he was testing Sakura's patience. She had a fight with him while she was arguing about the whole project. Their company 'SHINOBI' was doing a tour and having concerts in each city, but they stopped for a while in Hokkaido to take a break, since one of the idols; Karin, had fallen ill, and so they decided to film a charity event which was going to be filmed for a duration of six weeks with some of the best idols and dancers in Japan – she said it was 'beneath him' and he 'could do so much better', but Naruto liked Hokkaido. They had halted the tour for a while to make space for the charity event. Sakura obviously didn't enjoy Hokkaido, so he made a note to himself to get the hotel manager to send her some of her favourite dango from Tokyo to make her feel more comfortable and more at home.

Naruto didn't see why he even needed to be in the hotel for the day, he had nothing scheduled at all, the company was only working on the places that were going to be filmed and making sure they were all booked for the right amount of time and the like. It wasn't exactly something that he had to rehearse for, he knew the choreography that he himself created and all he needed to do was dance silently and talk to his fellow dancers, everything was natural.

He saw nothing wrong with spending the day in the town, wandering around and feeling free from schedules and work.

He pulled his hood down further to cover his natural blonde hair, looking around, he shoved his hands into his pockets, agreeing to himself that it would be better that he looked more like a high school delinquent than anything else.

Answering Sakura's text proved to be a mistake. In the time that it took for Naruto to stop and answer the threat from his manager, a teenage girl with her hair in two short pigtails tapped his arm and nervously bowed, finally raising her phone in request of a photo with him.

Naruto tilted his head and smiled softly at her, reminding himself that he shouldn't turn away in case of bad comments on articles of him for being rude to fans. They were the reason that he was this successful in his career after all. With an arm around the petite girl's shoulders and flashing a grin with a peace sign over his left eye, his instincts itched more violently.

He liked to think of it as a game. Naruto had to take on another persona and hide from the people who knew his famous self. He had been absent-minded and the girl who caught him had beaten him at his own game, gaining a photo with him as a reward.

Naruto didn't want to make his ego larger than it already was, but it worked out.

Seeing the girl take a photo with a man wearing a hoodie to cover his face obviously sent out an alarm to other people who could recognise him. Soon enough Naruto had to pull his hood over further his head and clench his teeth; hearing the snaps of cameras and seeing bright white lights.

Naruto knew that it was a bad idea to stay there for any longer, Sakura would kill him if he was caught doing something scandalous. His footsteps seemed to get louder and quicker, it was as if the blurs of shouting people and flashes made him start to feel sort of dizzy. His heartbeat was loudly pumping in his ears. He just-

"Hello."

Naruto's head snapped up and he had a mini heart attack as he stared at the black-haired man's amused eyes. He was always vigilant after encounters like that.

He realised that he must have stumbled into the small coffee shop around the corner while running. The flashing lights outside had stopped, meaning they couldn't find him. He must have burst inside as if he was being chased by the police, but he was a quick runner; he was a dancer, after all.

Naruto nodded in greeting to the man and walked past him, trying to ignore the eyebrows that were raised as if Naruto was a source of entertainment for him. The onyx haired man then quirked his lips and looked down, going back to flipping the pages of his textbook.

The blonde observed the small coffee shop, there weren't many people to speculate his little... arrival, only a middle-aged woman sitting in the corner who was silently reading a book with a cup of tea poised in front of her.

There was a shelf of magazines in the back of the store, Naruto saw that there was an area of buyable goods in case of small emergencies; such as umbrellas and sunglasses.

Naruto picked up thick black rimmed sunglasses and pushed them up the bridge of his nose, blowing the tag away from his nostril and huffing when it only fell back into place.

He didn't have a reason for being in the coffee shop, but maybe if he stayed there long enough (an hour maybe?) Sakura and Neji could come and pick him up, even though Sakura would probably gut him and Neji would give him a lecture for wandering off in the first place.

He tried to casually walk over to the magazine shelf and yet it looked like he was hobbling to the back instead. While he was aiming to flip through a few chapters of new manga from Shounen Jump, instead he scowled when he received his own dancing form thrown back in his face.

It was about one of his recent performances, he was called a 'DANCE PRODIGY' in the article, and he wasn't really sure that he liked it. Dancing was a hobby that he just luckily made into a career; he loved the feeling of the wind caressing his hair, the music beating through his brain, the feeling of flying through the air. Naruto didn't like people who danced just because it was their job, a way of making money, no; to be successful they needed passion.

He was being photographed and interviewed in the concert in Tokyo while SHINOBI was touring. Some of the people touring with him were Hinata Hyuuga (who was actually Neji's cousin), a recent debuting idol who already had many fans, and Gaara; a musician who was also one of Naruto's personal friends.

He felt that it was unacceptable to see his face on magazines right now, so, as slyly as he possibly could, he turned all of the articles around and shoved them behind booklets about gardening and cars.

"Don't like magazines?" He heard the amusement in the voice of the cashier and turned with a slow and awkward glance. He felt ridiculous wearing a bright orange hoodie and massive sunglasses with the tag still hanging around the bridge.

He waited for the black-haired man to widen his eyes and have a 'oh shit, it's you!' moment, but it never came. So, in the end he had to say something in order to not make himself look like an idiot.

"Mm, more like this one guy, he looks like a fox." It felt strange insulting himself, he walked towards the register and looked over the menu of different drinks. "His face kinda pisses me off."

The man raised an eyebrow, "Huh, I don't know much about famous people these days." He shrugged. The statement made Naruto blink, the man was certainly an enigma.

"Oh." Naruto gazed at the mess of the turned-over magazines that he made. "Sorry about that by the way." The man made a noncommittal noise before walking back behind the register.

The male smirked, "That's fine, its Kiba's job to sort out the magazine shelf anyway."

That just made Naruto laugh.

The man looked up at him as if he only just noticed than Naruto had his elbow over the counter, it would have been long eye contact until Naruto sniffed and blew the tag on the sunglasses he was wearing again.

The man raised an eyebrow, allowing Naruto to look down his plain navy-blue shirt and at the name tag saying 'Sasuke'.

"So, do you want to buy those sunglasses? Or are you running from the FBI?" Sasuke asked with an amused expression.

"Well." Naruto started, "Sasuke," He tested out the name with each syllable rolling off his tongue. "What if I was? Would you bait me out?" He asked with a smirk.

Sasuke plucked the menu from Naruto's fingers. "Don't tempt me." He replied. "What do you want to order?" He asked.

Naruto opened his mouth and realised that he didn't properly look at the menu and decide what he wanted to drink. "Um." He looked up and pointed at the first photo he saw. "That one."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow again, "That's Irish Coffee." He mentioned.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "I know, that's what I want."

"If you're trying to act older than you are, it's not working. Irish coffee has alcohol in it, you aren't over 20 years old." Sasuke told him, bemused.

Naruto's jaw fell open, "Excuse me?" He squawked. He felt offended that he didn't look over twenty years old. "For your information, I am twenty-one. What are you? A high schooler? Is that your freshman grade statistics homework?" He questioned with a sharp tone.

The man just laughed, "Well, I'm sure you wouldn't mind backing up your claims." He leaned forward and intertwined his hands and rested his chin on them. "Care to prove it?"

Naruto was half annoyed that Sasuke still didn't believe him and half entranced by the pale and smooth skin on Sasuke's face. "Ah!" He jumped and shoved his hands into his different pockets, feeling the sunglasses slip down so he shoved them back up, not wanting to itch his nose from the tag again.

He froze for a second and then it dawned on him that if he took his ID out, the hot barista may know his real name, and then realise who he was. And all the hard work that Naruto went to would have been all for nought.

However, his pride was too strong for backing down now. He pulled his driver's licence out of his wallet and placed it atop the table. Sasuke smirked and lifted the card to eye level. "Well you see, Naruto." Sasuke drawled the name out. Naruto found himself liking the raven haired man saying his name. "You know I can't really tell if this is you with the..." He gestured to the hood covering half of Naruto's face.

Naruto rolled his eyes, and pulled the hood back enough for Sasuke to see his face and a couple of locks of his blonde hair, and then pulled it back over his heard. "Happy?" Naruto questioned.

Sasuke nodded, "Very." Naruto stared at him for a couple of seconds until he snapped out of the trance as Sasuke said, "Would you like to pay by cash or card?" He asked.

Naruto yipped as he remembered that – yes, he had to pay money – he pulled out his wallet once again and replied, "Card." He grinned. "Sasuke."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow once more, "You should cover your head a bit more, has anyone ever told you that your hair colour is blinding?"

Naruto's grin only became wider, "Frequently."

~*~*~

When Naruto snuck out of his hotel room once again the next day, Sakura was less than impressed. It was more than enough that Neji was once again distracted from doing his job and making sure the blonde dancer doesn't stray away far from the hotel which inhibits the group of people partaking in the charity event, but Sakura also didn't enjoy Naruto eating street food or too much caffeine, these would interrupt his normal balanced diet which made sure that he stayed fit and healthy for his job. But the more days that Naruto snuck out, the more times he consumed – and Sakura, Temari and Neji were beginning to notice. Temari even pinned him to the wall and observed his face, frowning at what she saw, then proceeded to tell Naruto about the disadvantages of food which are high in sodium, and too much caffeine intake.

However, Naruto barely cared; as long as he could continue leaning his hip against the counter on the other side of Sasuke, sipping his café latte in a slow manner which would give him more time to talk to the pale man. At first, it was only Naruto asking questions and wanting to find out more about Sasuke's life, but then Sasuke became comfortable enough to call him 'dobe' and 'usuratonkachi', which made Naruto beam and smile that they were slowly but surely becoming closer.

Sasuke eventually noticed that whenever he himself attempted to ask a question about Naruto, the latter drove the conversation away from him and to something else, he found this strange, but respected Naruto's privacy, registering that whenever he asked if he worked in the area, Naruto said he was 'only here for business.'

He found out that Sasuke Uchiha was a business major and used to always make his older brother coffee, which is why he decided to work part-time in a small coffee shop near his University. He found out that whenever the coffee shop became quieter, he slipped out his business book and read it with a hand under his chin, his onyx eyes scanning the words and committing them to memory. He thought that Naruto was joking when he said that he thinks that becoming a businessman would be pretty cool, because he could have never done anything like that; so Sasuke just smirked and poked Naruto's forehead. Naruto usually looked down at his coffee and tilts his head, imagining what it would be like if he went to University, or if he went to University with Sasuke.

Naruto liked to watch Sasuke engage with other customers too, seeing his eyes light up just a little bit when he makes coffee, and he found himself happy that Kiba, whoever he was, hadn't cleaned up the magazine shelf yet.

~*~*~

A couple of days later, Naruto walked down the high street, carefully dodging any teenager – because it's usually teenagers who were able to recognise him – and made sure that his head was kept down and avoided any eye contact, because he was sure that he knew the way to the coffee shop off by heart.

He looked up and pushed open the glass door, breathing in the scent of coffee beans and a strange mix of lavender. He hadn't smelt the lavender before and wondered what the smell was coming from.

Naruto entered the store and as tactfully as he could, looked around the room; there was a middle-aged man sitting in the corner reading the newspaper, and an elderly couple on one of the couches drinking tea and chatting with smiles on their faces. Deeming that it was safe for him to enter completely, he walked inside and set today's newspaper onto the counter, staring at the spot where Sasuke was meant to be.

He tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips, snatching the newspaper off the counter and tossing it in the newspaper rack (for it was only going to be used as a conversation starter with Sasuke, he didn't actually care about the rise in the stock markets in China) and scratched his cheek in confusion.

Looking around, he shrugged and walked towards the staff room behind the counter. Naruto slowly opened the door and peered into the room.

"Uh, hello?" There was one male and one female in the room, neither of who even looked at Naruto. He cleared his throat and asked again, "Do you know where Sasuke is?"

"Uh huh." The male said, he had brown shaggy hair and a red upside down triangle on each cheek, making Naruto believe they were tattoos, he was leaning back on a chair with his phone in his hand, holding it landscape and making quick motions, it looked as if he was playing a racing game. "Customers aren't allowed to be in the staff room. It's in the name, a 'staff' room." He said, his eyes not being drawn away from his game, he had the name tag on his shirt, printing in block capitals the name 'KIBA.'

"Ah, I see. I know but, I was just wondering where Sasuke was..." Naruto repeated sheepishly, not quiet knowing how to exit the room after this, but also not knowing if he should stay.

The female had long platinum blonde hair which the fringe covered one of her eyes, she was filing her nails with her tongue stuck out in concentration. When Naruto spoke again, she huffed and slapped her filer down, turning with an angry expression at Naruto. As she stared at him, her eyes slowly widened and she tapped Kiba, rather quickly and vigorously.

"Ow! Ino, you're making me fall behind in the race, what is it?" Kiba grunted out and paused the game, looking at the girl's wide eyes and shocked expression and back at Naruto; his jaw dropped and he raised his hand to his mouth.

"You know what? It's okay, I can come by tomorrow-" Naruto took some steps back and raised his hands, laughing awkwardly.

"Holy shit, no way." Ino squeaked out, her filer disregarded on the side of the table, which she bumped when she scrambled up from her seat, making it fall to the ground with a quiet 'clack.'

"Ano... Hello, I'm Naruto?" The sunny blonde boy said, or rather asked, ruffling his messy hair and biting his lip.

"Yeah, we know." Kiba spoke, dropping his hand to his side and blinking multiple times, wondering if this was a dream or reality.

"I have so many posters of you in my room." Ino breathed out, then realised what she said and Naruto's timid expression. "W-Wait, I-I mean-"

"You're so creepy, Ino." Kiba muttered, stealing a glance from Ino and then looking back at the frozen dancer.

"I-It's okay, don't worry about it." Naruto waved his hand in dismissal, allowing Ino to relax and laugh with a slight embarrassed look. He gave a wide grin, "I appreciate the support from that." He continued.

Ino stuttered and struggled to say anything else, so she just blushed and lowered her head, fiddling with her fingers. "I mean, I got them from eBay so I don't think you got any of the money from that..." Her head snapped up, "But it's just because I don't have that much money to spend on posters! I didn't mean-"

"No." Naruto tilted his head, "You're right, the prices nowadays for simple things like that are obnoxious. I'll talk to my manager." He nodded towards her and noted the comment to his mind to bring up with Sakura, if a part-time worker like Ino couldn't get a couple of posters, then maybe he should look at the prices of his merchandise. Ino looked like she was about to faint.

Kiba blinked owlishly and shook his head, composing himself from looking like a fanboy to a puzzled look directed at Naruto. "... Wait, did you ask where Sasuke was?"

Naruto slowly nodded, "Uh, yes." He replied, not knowing where this was heading, but also not wanting Kiba or Ino to report to Sasuke about a famous dancer asking about him.

"He was ill and went home early." Kiba answered the question which Naruto was thinking, Ino had picked up her phone and was typing something, trying to act discreet but failing to do so. "He won't be back until tomorrow, if not later."

Naruto raised his head and slowly nodded, "A-Ah... Well then, I'll be going..."

"Wait." Kiba's voice stopped him from turning and walking out of the room with his metaphorical tail between his legs. "Why do you want to talk to Sasuke?"

Naruto bit his lip, "Well... It's a long story..." He tried to stray away from the conversation.

Kiba scoffed, "I've got time." Naruto was pretty sure he saw a flash and the sound of a camera.

"Um..." Naruto began, wondering how much he had to do to keep this quiet and not in the tabloids. "Do you like concerts?"

~*~*~

It had cost Naruto two tickets to the next SHINOBI tour concert and two backstage passes to meet some of the idols. It turned out that Kiba was ultimately in love with Hinata Hyuuga and her music and knelt on one knee with a bouquet of roses when he met her backstage and asked for three hours of her time for a date on any day of her choosing. Hinata was left blushing and with a phone number by the end of the day, burying her head in Naruto's chest in a mix of embarrassment and happiness while Rock Lee struggled to hold Neji back from attempting to attack the dog-like man for even glancing at his cousin.

Ino seemed to love the whole group who worked for SHINOBI, but instantly clicked with Sakura, who found the blonde girl somewhat cute and funny. Naruto definitely was glad that Sakura was feeling more comfortable in Hokkaido.

When Naruto asked the two coffee shop employees not to tell Sasuke anything about himself or his famous persona, Ino smiled and nodded simply while Kiba rolled his eyes, accepting the request as he already scored a date with the Hinata Hyuuga, and shrugged.

"The magazine shelf is a hassle to sort out anyway."