Disclaimer: Naruto is drawn and written by a fantastically splendid, wonderfully cute, and very talented manga artist: the Masashi Kishimoto. (And Kishimoto-san, if you are, by the slimmest chance, reading this and somehow understanding the English, please elope with me; I will bring the bags of onigiri.)

Chapter Rating: PG-13 (Hey, it's only chapter one)

Author's Note: I am still sated with the old-school Naruto cast so, yup, I'll just have to admit it, I'm not hip. GYAAAH! B-but, despite this, I do hope you enjoy my newest fic. Cheers!

My E-mail: rosesareblue at ymail dot com (Write me with any comments or suggestions. Remember, there's nothing like feedback that improves an author's moral/writing and keeps the chapters coming.)

/ D E A D / L A S T /

By Rosesareblue

Chapter One: Uchiha Sasuke

The raven-haired girl pushed a long strand of hair from her onyx eyes and neatly tucked it behind her ear, twitching her lips into a dark frown.

"A concert?" Sasuke echoed, staring incredulously from Sakura to Hinata. "You two are going to a rock concert?"

Sakura nodded, beaming, as Hinata blushed prettily.

"Of course, Ino's going too." Sakura announced.

"Huh," was all Sasuke grunted in reply, disinterestedly returning to stuffing her books into her schoolbag.

"Oh please, Sasuke-chan! Come with us, neh?! A chance like this doesn't come twice in a lifetime! I mean, front row seats to a Dead Last concert!!"

At the pink-haired girl's shrilled words, the entire classroom seemed to freeze. The silence was soon broken by the high-pitched shrieks of girls as they suddenly swarmed towards the threesome.

"Dead Last? Did you actually say Dead Last?"

"You guys are going to their concert?! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!! I'm going to DIE of JEALOUSY!"

"And you'll get to see h-him up close, neh?!"

"Give the tickets to me?! I, I'll trade you my cell phone! And, and, here! You can have my credit card!"

"GYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

Sasuke forced her way through the crowd of girls, her head ringing with noise. It never ceased to amaze her how loud girls were, no matter how much time she spent with them. Shaking her head wearily, Sasuke hitched up her heavy book bag and started for the classroom door.

Of course, Sasuke mused as she headed for home, the reason loudness seemed to naturally find its way to her might have something to do with the fact she somehow found herself hanging out with the three most popular girls in school. Before Sasuke had transferred, Haruno Sakura had placed number one in every single school exam and Yamanaka Ino had unanimously been voted the prettiest girl in Konoha (what with her Cosmo-Girl figure and flawless complexion). Hyuuga Hinata was heir to Byakugan, a monstrous international conglomeration that made everything from pencils to high-tech submarines.

On Sasuke's first day in school, after she'd breezed through that morning's practice exams with perfect scores and after she'd received random love confessions from three boys during lunch break, a glowering Ino had accosted her with a red-faced Sakura and a timid Hinata trailing close behind her.

"Hey! You are the new girl, right?" The blonde had snapped.

Not at all intimidated, Sasuke had shrugged.

"And you really are an Uchiha? From that family that owns the dojo that, like, takes up a fourth of the city??"

At that, the raven-haired girl had vehemently glared, confirming Ino's question with the way she clenched her milky jaw in annoyance at being reminded of a fact that she seemed to desperately want to forget.

"I-In that case, I want to inform you that," Ino stammered on, a little bit taken aback by the dangerous vibes that suddenly radiated from the much, much taller girl. "You are a threat to me, and to my friends here."

"So?" The Uchiha had hissed curtly, not really caring at all of the reply.

"What do you mean 'so'?" Ino had snorted in reply, balling up her fists tightly. "There's only one thing we can do in this situation, obviously!"

Sasuke raised a dark aristocratic eyebrow in mild interest. "And what could that be?"

Ino smirked and, in a flash, thrust her hand mightily forward:

"Let's be friends!"

And that incident had been Sasuke's very first lesson in how absolutely strange the members of the female gender were.

By that time, the Uchiha had reached the sprawling gates of the dojo that she, unfortunately, called home. Sighing, the raven-haired girl pushed through the heavy doors and, ignoring all the chants of "Okaerinasai, Sasuke-sama," made her way down the long halls to her bedroom. Soundly closing and locking the door behind her, Sasuke stalked towards the full-length mirror plopped up against her far wall.

With glowing eyes, the raven-haired girl scrutinized her own reflection: Long midnight strands of hair spilled down her back and swung against her slender hips. The cursed black pin she was wearing effectively swept her long bangs from her face to reveal her ivory features. Anyone could see the delicate cheekbones, the high bridge of her nose, and the long black lashes of her eyes. Clad in the tailored sailor fukuu that hung loosely from her frame, Sasuke looked every centimeter a handsome schoolgirl, maybe a tad broad-shouldered and long-limbed for the normal female teenager, but undeniably attractive nonetheless.

All in all, Sasuke felt like a whore playing dress up.

Reaching up, Sasuke fisted a lock of glossy black hair and yanked off his wig, letting it drop to the floor. Quickly unbuttoning his shirt, he ripped off the padded bra and kicked it under his bed where he wouldn't have to look at it for another second. Unzipping his skirt and stepping out of it, Sasuke straightened up before his mirror again.

A milky-skinned young boy with tousled raven-hair glared back at him vehemently.

Two months ago, Sasuke remembered, he had finally told his father that he did not want to inherit the dojo. In fact, he'd added, he didn't want to have anything to do with the Uchiha name. Not at all. Instead, Sasuke wanted to move faraway from Konoha and, if at all possible, pursue a career in the theater (so he could spend the majority of his life pretending to be anybody else).

Sasuke had predicted his father's reaction to his sudden confession; Itachi would die laughing and/or decapitate Sasuke's head with a katana. Much to the raven-haired boy's surprise, his father did neither. Instead, Itachi had curtly asked:

"Are you any good?"

"What?"

"Are you any good at acting, foolish child?" Itachi had glared.

And Sasuke had confidently smirked in reply, "Of course; I'm really good at everything."

To which Itachi had grinned (freakishly) and hissed, "Prove it to me."

Promptly after this conversation, Uchiha Sasuke had been plucked out of his faraway boarding school (in which he had studied his ass off to get into in the first place on full scholarship so he could be away from the damned dojo) and had hastily been coerced into a (shudder, shudder) local high school. His mission? To live out the rest of his high school years as a girl without anyone discovering his (degrading) secret. After all, Itachi had sneered, if Sasuke had any talent in acting, the mission should be relatively easy.

Relatively.

That was why one misogynistic Uchiha Sasuke, who had always religiously detested girls (they swooned and made a fuss over everything, not to mention they were generally dimwitted) found himself impersonating one.

Looking into the mirror again, Sasuke noted how he abhorred his slender build, too similar with Itachi's; he detested his long tapered hands, also Itachi's; and, most of all, he couldn't stand the way his obsidian eyes gleamed black red when caught in certain lights, freakishly identical to Itachi's. Summary: He hated everything and anything that had to do with Itachi (aka that bastard). Possibly, he hated his father even more than he hated that goddamn padded bra he had to wear, which, really, was saying something.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Sasuke's angsting.

"Sasuke-sama! Your friends are here to see you, should I admit their entrance?"

"Wha?! NO!" Sasuke bellowed at his maid. "Don't - "

"Sasuke-chan? Why did you leave without us?"

The raven-haired boy swore fluently under his breath as he heard the pink-haired girl's distinct voice echoing in the halls. Skidding towards his bed, he unearthed his bra and hooked it on (the Uchiha felt his skin crawl when he realized just how good he had become at putting on this article of clothing). He was just filling in his last button of his shirt when he heard the knock at his room door.

"Are you... by any chance... mad at... at us, Sasuke-san?"

Damn, so Hinata was here too. The raven-haired boy hurried to the door, hissing, "No, I'm not completely, utterly, devastatingly pissed off. I... "

And stopped, realizing that he was missing his wig. Doubling back to retrieve it and jerking it on angrily, Sasuke swung open his room door.

Expression coerced into a tight (and hopefully feminine) smile, the Uchiha heir hissed, "What do you want?"

A tattered Sakura waved a slim black (slight tattered) ticket in Sasuke's face, "Is that the thanks I get for risking my life to save this ticket for you from our classmates?"

An equally disheveled Hinata smiled shyly. "We're here to... to take you to the Dead Last concert."

The short-haired girl was blushing prettily at merely saying the name of her beloved band aloud. Sasuke almost rolled his eyes. Like hell he was going to dress up as a girl for longer than he had to in order to hang out with more-than-average (shudder, shudder) infatuated girls.

Sasuke swallowed his annoyed smirk and shook his head briskly. "I'm not interested in concerts. Plus, I've never even heard of this stupid group."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sakura and Hinata gasped, round-eyed (Sasuke was surprised that Hinata's pearly eyes didn't pop out from the strain.)

"How did that happen?!" Sakura bleated, as if Sasuke had just confessed to her that he had leukemia. "They're only the hottest band that exists in... in every corner of the universe, if not all of eternity. You're definitely coming with us!"

"You'll regret... Sasuke-san... if you don't hear them play... at least once!" Hinata nodded, unusually passionately. "Dead Last is... Dead Last is... the best thing that could ever have happened to Konoha!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrows doubtfully. Correction: The best thing that could ever happen to Konoha was if a bomb dropped onto the Uchiha dojo and killed off Itachi. The raven-haired boy would have (scathingly) refused the girls again, when Sakura plowed into his room and headed for his closed wardrobe.

"I'll help you pick something to wear to the concert! That'll make you more excited, Sasuke-chan?!"

In his panic to head her off, Sasuke made the second biggest mistake of his life (the first being his own birth). He said:

"I'll decide for myself!"

Slowly, the pink-haired girl turned around with a huge grin on her face, recognizing the indirect promise at once. "Terrific, Sasuke-chan! Hinata and I'll go get changed too and come pick you up here in an hour, 'kay?"

And that's how one Uchiha Sasuke came to jeopardize his chance to fulfill Itachi's challenge and risk his freedom from the clan.

"So, these Dead Last people... they are really popular?" Sasuke asked, just to ask, as he tugged down on the front of his black t-shirt self-consciously.

Not having any other feminine clothing than his school uniform (since Sasuke hadn't planned on any extracurricular activities for as long as he was slave to Itachi's terms), the Uchiha had selected a big black t-shirt and black jeans. After tying his black wig into a high ponytail, Sasuke looked the average tomboy girl; the only reason he seemed so out of place was because he was walking alongside Sakura and Hinata.

The ends of Sakura's pink hair had been spiked every which way and her slim figure was flaunted by a dangerously low cut miniskirt. Her normally soft features had been painted in rouge tones, making her appearance shocking, either that or as if she'd recently been struck by lightening. Hinata, who Sasuke hadn't figured to be the type at all, had gone as far as to streak her short cropped hair with splashes of silver. Her sky blue dress lauded the curves of her body that her generous sailor fuuku had struggled to keep hidden. With the sparkles that'd been smoothed over Hinata's white complexion, the shy girl looked forbiddingly seductive (and alien).

At Sasuke's half-interested question about the rock band, both the overdressed girls exploded into a series of explanations:

"Sasuke-san... Dead Last was created... just last year..."

"Already on top of all the charts in Konoha, Sasuke-chan..."

"With... only four members..."

"The guitar, the bass, the drums, and, of course, the vocal..."

"The vocal!"

"All the boys in Dead Last are to die for!" Sakura finished with a squeal.

Sasuke winced at her loudness. "Ino likes this band too?"

"Are you kidding, Sasuke-chan?" The pink-haired girl giggled. "Ino's been head over heels in love with Dead Last's guitarist forever and ever and ever. Maybe even longer than that!"

"The guitarist... his name is Nara Shikamaru." Hinata added softly, reading the incomprehension in Sasuke's face. "He's the band leader and... and a true musical tensai."

"Yup, yup!" Sakura quipped lovingly. "I read somewhere that no one ever taught him how to play the guitar. He just plucked the strings a few times and, I don't know, rediscovered music for himself, I bet!"

As the two girls clasped hands and jumped up and down in unmitigated ecstasy, the cruel fact that he would have to suffer through a night with millions of rabid fan girls acting just as horrifically as his two classmates struck the raven-haired boy like a hammer to the head. Stress clawing his nerves raw, Sasuke managed to choke out in a more or less human-sounding voice, "So you two are both fans of this Shikamaru guy?"

At that, the two girls paused to share a meaningful look.

"Nuh-uh, Sasuke-chan." Sakura giggled, her cheeks flushing hot pink.

"You'll know who he is." Hinata nodded, smiling sagely. "Sasuke-san, you'll know as soon as you see him!"

At Sasuke's less than exhilarated response (the stoic boy was yawning), Sakura insisted, "There's not a single girl alive who won't fall for Dead Last. Before the night is done, Sasuke-chan, I promise you'll be in L.O.V.E.!"

"Wanna bet?" The Uchiha darkly muttered beneath his breath.

Sakura's and Hinata's lesson on Dead Last lasted through their pushing past a horde of girls and their being squashed into the front row seats. Even while Sasuke was wondering whether his head would really explode if he heard another 'They are so sexy, gyah/I love him so much, gyah,' the pink-haired girl and the Hyuuga heir continued to chatter about how the drummer could bench press over two hundred and fifty kilograms and how the bassist could instinctively replay any song he'd heard even once. When Ino somehow joined them by elbowing through the sea of savage female sharks, Sasuke was impressed that the blonde had managed the near miraculous feat without wilting off her outfit (which was sculpted out of dark purple roses). He was more impressed, however, that the feisty girl was somehow holding her tongue, till he realized it was because the blonde girl was nearly wringing her hands off as she stared towards the stage, starry-eyed and pupil-less.

By Ino's symptoms, Sasuke briefly contemplated whether, for once, Haruno Sakura wasn't over exaggerating.

Then, the lights in the concert hall dimmed even more and the Uchiha could no longer concentrate on anything but how loud everything was. The whole area erupted into shrieks and moans as a clashing electric cord screamed so loud it overlapped all the noise in the room. On the smoky stage, a filtered orange light spilled onto the shoulders of a slender brunette stroking a gleaming black guitar. Shaking back his shoulder length brown hair to reveal all the silver piercings he wore, the guitarist smothered his annoyed frown and dipped his handsome head in a shallow bow of greeting.

"SHI - KA - MA - RU!!" The auditorium exploded.

Sasuke saw out of the corner of his eyes that Ino had fallen to her knees, the strength having gone from her legs as she stared adoringly at her idol (who was now fiddling with the tuners of his guitar and somehow ignoring the bazillion rabid fan girls yelling out his name).

Soon, the second orange light illuminated long graceful fingers and smooth sturdy hands before slowly washing over the rest of the gangly figure till it alighted a shaggy haired boy with a summer tan and a playful grin. Red tattoos sliced down his boyish face and cut across the rest of his lithe body, as if the boy's entire being was a sacred seal that seeped out from his crimson instrument. With a beastly whoop, the bassist greeted the audience with a series of chords played so fast that they nearly sounded like one heart-stopping hum.

"KI - BA!!" The auditorium cheered and, when the brunette replied with a cocky smirk, Sasuke could literally feel the floor tilt from the number of girl's swooning.

Next, the third orange light revealed a much stouter boy's powerful frame, tracing the arcs of his toned torso and showing off just how glossy muscled arms could be. The rest of his body was layered in thick black bandages. The black make-up exaggerating his slitted eyes, his heavy jaw, and his spiky hair, the drummer was every centimeter the definition of scarcely suppressed power. When the big-boned boy brought his drumsticks clanging against his cymbals, Sasuke was sure that this was what it felt like to have one's head drilled clear through. The pain lasted only a split second, though, and, suddenly, even the stoic Uchiha was overwhelmed with just how much color the world had that he'd lived totally unaware of till that very moment.

"CHOU - JI!!" The fans cried, obediently swaying to even the drummer's practice beats. One girl tried to launch herself onto the stage towards Chouji, but was swiftly deterred by the other girls who (literally) stamped out her desires.

"Chouji?" The raven-haired boy yelled at Sakura and Hinata, hating that he had to raise his voice to be heard over all the noise. "Are you fans of the drummer?"

"No! We - "

But the pink-haired girl's reply was stillborn because, at that moment, the fourth light had flickered on. Instantly, the auditorium became silent. Out of the shower of scatter red-gold rays, a slim boy was stepping out. He wasn't dressed anywhere as elaborately as the other band members were - with minimum make-up and only one piece of jewelry. Even his entrance was simple; he just stalked out, casually leafing a hand through his messy hair, seemingly without a care in the world.

And he was singly the most glorious thing that Uchiha Sasuke had ever seen.

One second, Sasuke was peering uninterestedly at yet another poorly wired fan girl keel over and faint (and, hopefully, die there). The next, Sasuke was gawking at the reason why he'd suffered through almost seventeen years of life:

Taller than Shikamaru but shorter than Kiba. Blonde hair, very long. Not wispy white, but golden yellow. Falling all around him like rain; spilling down his neck, about his silky shoulder blades, and brushing against his unclothed back. He was slender, but definitely not fragile. He stood gracefully, while boasting a sort of defying arrogance of someone who was born to be one and only.

He had to be one and only.

The blonde stood up straighter so that everyone in the crowded hall could see that all he was wearing was a pair of pants that hung precariously on his hips. The boy wasn't even wearing shoes; beneath the black jeans, his feet were bare. The blonde's shirtless-ness, however, allowed Sasuke to fully appreciate the sun-kissed glow, the golden-smooth chest, the slim waist. The way his jaded necklace emphasized his naked neck and accented collarbone. The way one corner of his dewy lips lifted higher than the other in his beaming smile.

The way he was staring at Sasuke with eyes the color of electricity...

STARING AT HIM??

Sasuke almost jerked back in fright as his mind resurfaced from fawningly observing the blonde's body and screamed the crucial bit of information to his uncomprehending being: The. Blonde. God. Was. Looking. At. Him.

Meanwhile, the auditorium was beginning to chant, recovering from the spell the blonde's entrance had cast on them. "U-ZU-MA-KI-NA-RU-TO! U-ZU-MA-KI-NA-RU-TO!" Louder and louder, "U-ZU-MA-KI-NA-RU-TO!! GYAAAaaaaaaaaAH!!"

By Sasuke's side, Sakura was hysterical, jumping and waving frantically at the same time. Hinata was joyously weeping into her palms. And Uchiha Sasuke? As Dead Last's vocal lifted his otherworldly gaze from him, the raven-haired boy couldn't chant, couldn't wave, couldn't even cry. For god's sakes, Sasuke couldn't even think properly.

In that crucial moment, the only thing filling his mind was:

"I didn't know I was gay."

TBC

Please review.

Author's Note (in which Rosesareblue rambles because she's just so good at that): Lol. I'm glad most of you seem to like this. To tell you the truth, the fic was started just so I could stick in that last line: "I didn't know I was gay" (yes, I do strange things like this). As for W Juliet... really?! Lol. I knew it was about a crossdressing boy, but I didn't know it involved a dojo or an acting career (somehow I was under the impression it was about fashion - or, wait, is that Tokyo Juliet?) Actually, my inspiration for this fic came from a half an hour of reading Hana Kimi... But, either way, from what I researched (aka wikipedia-ed) on W Juliet, it's a lot about acting...? The focus of this fic is on Naruto and his band and not the acting career of a crossdressing Sasuke (who, did I mention, is a misogynist?); so I assure y'all that you'll have something original to read. That said, I hope you are looking forward to the next chapter!

P.S. For those of you who asked - it's SasuNaru. As some of my most avid fans know, I don't do NaruSasu (not to flame anyone's BL fantasy; just my personal mantra as a rabid yaoi fangirl). Why? Well, for one, Sasuke is physically bigger - in the manga and anime too. Two, since I like Naruto about five thousand times more than I like Sasuke (because Sasuke keeps picking on him by doing shit like drilling his hand through his lungs!!), I can forgive Naruto for showing favor to another guy but not Sasuke doing the same - and this leniency is usually granted the uke (biased - of course). Plus, I like the wolf goes after the fox setting; I'm traditional in that way, I suppose...

Lastly, why SasuNaru? Yukigakure - need I say more? Lol.

But the most important thing is, I hope you enjoyed reading this fic. Tell me what you think and feel; I'm here to serve. And, SasuNaru hearts to y'all as always, Rosesareblue.