Fire

Not a week had passed before Naruko was called to the Uchiha Works office for a briefing about the results of the audition. She wore her usual clothes, orange t shirt with blue jeans and a grey hoodie to combat the weather elements. But she chose to wore sneakers instead of flip flops or her flat shoes she had worn to the audition.

When Naruko arrived at the studio, she saw that there were a long line of girls at the security counter which was moving along. She thought that they might be there for security clearance seeing that the studio was not accessible to the public like a shopping center might be. The email had not notified her to bring any documentation so Naruko had plainly brought her wallet, a notebook and a pen just in case. Being a student had made her diligent about carrying a notebook and a pen whenever she remembered it.

Naruko queued at the security entrance and left her driver’s license for a security pass and left her details on a form. She followed the early comers heading towards a large gray building with plain white architecture. For a creative production company the buildings were boring and almost looked like factories. She wondered if the buildings were factories previously.

Naruko looked at the sky above, it was a few days of grey skies and cold win but it had not rained at all today. Some girls had brought along umbrella and some had hats with them. Naruko wondered which girls drove to the studio and which girls took public transportation. She figured that the prim and styled ones must have driven here, or were chauffeured while the ones dressed like her in jeans and flat shoes might be the ones who came here by public transportation. The studio was quite far from the train station therefore she had to get here by a taxi she had booked online. Naruko was careful when it came to travelling alone to a remote place, especially when she was not familiar with the place like Uchiha Works location.

She slipped behind a couple of chatting girls and entered the hall. It was large and the ceilings were tall. Naruko wondered if they shoot movies in here like in those science fiction movies where the backdrops were either props or green screen. But there hall was empty except for some white and green walls. Naruko thought the company would be hiding their props to preserve their production secret or something.

“Good morning everyone, now please take a seat,” a voice announced over a microphone.

Everyone moved forward to fill the seats, plastic foldable chairs in reds and blacks. Naruko choose a seat in the centre and three rows from the front. After a few minutes almost everyone were seated and Naruko looked at the stage before her. The stage was a simple ten by ten feet stage which was covered in blue carpet or cloth.

“Hi, my name is Shisui Uchiha, good morning everyone. Please fill the seats at the front, I won’t bite you. This is just an intro session. Newcomers sit at the front,” said a guy emerging onto the stage from behind.

Naruko looked at some giggling girls heading to the empty seats before her. Some were neutral faced while some were smiling confidently. She thought that she recognized one or two of them from the audition. She remembered Yugito Nii and wondered if she made it to the audition, and with that thought came a voice and a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey,” a voice from behind called. “She called you,” the girl said pointing to a blonde woman two rows behind. Naruko twisted her body to look at the person who called her and saw the person she just thought about.

“Well, you got in. See you around!” Yugito Nii said loudly as she walked to fill empty seats on her own row.

Naruko just managed to smile at her when Shisui Uchiha spoke from the microphone. She turned to the front as Shisui announced, “We will be joining the Head of The Campaigns Department, who will brief on what the program has in store for you and then we will proceed with the mass contract signing and your induction into the programme. Until then just chill and be ready for the briefing.”

Naruko did know who Itachi Uchiha was and so waited with anticipation what the man would reveal about the programme. Then some employees, Naruko knew from their T shirts emblazoned with large Uchiha Works words rolled a huge monitor on wheels to face the seated girls. They plugged in the wire and a montage was being rolled, it got snippet of Uchiha Works past project and productions.

After a few minutes Naruko noticed that the video was being played on a loop so she lost interest in it and started wondering about something else. She had foreseen lunch at the nearby Konoha East Park, where Shion had told her about a new ramen place. She wished she could brought Shion along but her best friend was suddenly taking a baking class from a friend of her mother. Naruko knew she and Shion would not be stuck together forever and with the end of their studies, SHion might likely start working somewhere else other than Sarutobi Toys. Naruko was not sure about her future either, coming back to Sarutobi Toys would be nice. But when she chose to further her studies, her mind had evolved and so had her dreams and wants. She wanted more for her future and Shion had mentioned of wanting to work with the Hyuga.

“Good morning to Itachi Uchiha, head of Campaigns who will be the patron of this programme, The Girl,” Shisui announced.

The large monitor began playing a video showing a promotional clip. It started with a silhouette of a girl, interlaced with well known figures such Tsunade Senju - Konoha’s mayor, Mito Senju - a well known doctor of Eye Surgery, Mikoto Uchiha, present President of Uchiha Works, Mei Terumi - a scientist who won a Nobel Prize, Chiyo Sands - Konoha’s longest serving nurse and also unknown young woman who changed the facets of Konoha daily. The video ended with a logo of ‘The Girl”, with a question under it, “Are you her?”

“Hi and thank you to all,” Itachi Uchiha spoke from above the stage. “How are you doing?”

“We’re good! Fine! Never been better!” were among the answers from the all crowd.

Naruko counted five people standing behind the stage and several more around the seated area.

“The Girl, is Uchiha Works program to bring the best of Konoha into society. You will not just learn how to work for the company but for society too. The programme will run for four months long where we will teach and observe how you girls work and grow on each scheduled week. As this is a weekend programme, we hope that all of you could be free on the weekend dates we have stated. The packs which our persons are handing out will state the type of class and situations you will be involved. “

Naruko nodded and was sure that she would definitely sign the contract for this programmes. Just as she was handed a pack which Itachi had mentioned, she felt the need to pee. But Itachi was still talking so she stayed as proper as she could.

“For the ones who agreed to participate please sign the contract and for those you can leave after this brief is over. We will cover the insurance cost for the dates you will be over at our rented rest house as along as you obey the written terms and conditions. As this project promised employment with Uchiha Works, we will need confirmation that you will quit your present job should you be one of the dozen finalist chosen at the end of the programme. Of all 90 girls here, only twelve will be offered employment with Uchiha Works. If you are a full time student, you will be offered to work freelance or on project basis. The contract will really be flexible. Good luck.”

“Thanks Itachi-san, now you can take your time in the remaining hour to ask our persons, in the red blazers about the contract. In forty five minutes we will conduct a tour around Uchiha Works and after that should you chose to sign the contract, please pass it back to our personnel. We have refreshments at the back.”

Naruko took the opportunity to stash the contract into her bag and ran out of the hall in a few quick strides. She looked for the arrow pointing towards the restroom and noticed that she was the only one rushing over there. She just rushed inside and bumped into someone at the main entrance of the toilet and…

“Ouch!” shouted the person. “Watch where you are going!”

“Ah sorry!” Naruko shouted an apology. She did not fall down but the other person did. The person was dark haired, wearing grey pant suit and had fallen onto a wet patch on the floor. “No, you’re wet!” Naruko said.

“Stupid you making me fall,” the person said and looked angrily at her.

“Shit!” Naruko shrieked. “Let me get in first, I’ll apologize later. She took off her grey hoodie and passed it to him wishing he would take it to wear outside his wet suit or something. Naruko left the man and went inside to relieve herself.

After her bladder was empty, Naruko looked at her reflection. She wondered whether she should just wait inside the angry person outside went away or just face the music. Deep in her thought she decided that just admitting her wrong was better than running away like a chicken. So unconfidently she slung her bag across her body and walked outside.

To her surprise the man outside was now leaning against the wall. “How could you end up as one of the finalists, I wonder,” he asked.

“Your juries like me,” Naruko replied back. What was his problem she did not know. Was he even in the programme. He had no right to say things to her.

“You may keep the hoodie, I’ll come back later to take it,” Naruko said. She stood there not knowing exactly whether to ask for more forgiveness, ask his phone number to get back the sweater or something.

“Since you spoiled my shirt, I am not going in there. You have to help me fetch my shirt from my car,” he told her.

“What?”

“You heard me,” he said.

“Why would I do that? You are already in your clothes and you should be able to get to your car.”

“Itachi expected me to be there, but I can’t enter and talk to the participants in a grey girl’s hoodie. I want you to fetch my other suit in my car in the building behind the cafe.”

“Where is that?”

“Just ask the security person at the guard house. He’ll know where it is,” the black haired man said.

Naruko felt like she should just dump the contract and went home, but this was silly and he was acting silly. But she did spoil his clothes and he must have been a guest of Itachi or something.

“Here take my pass and use it to enter the employee’s car park area,” he said while handing her a card.

“Ah?”

“Go now,” he said.

Naruko was just about to complain about the absurdity of the situation when the ground suddenly shook. She quickly crouched to the ground as her view shook violently. The dark haired man was suddenly covering her with his body. “What the hell is that? Let’s go to the open area, it can’t be an earthquake, there’s no sign of that.”

Naruko felt herself being pulled up and forward by the wrist, and she instinctively ran along with the pull. She glanced aside and it was still the man assisting her. She looked forward and it seemed like he was pulling her towards the hills a few hundreds metres away. The ground continued to shake as the air was filled with shouts and shrieks. More people were heading there too and then Naruko felt her wrist being pulled aside abruptly, but she managed to turn around and grab his hands and they stood with hands on each others wrist paused in running. They caught up with breathing and then she saw her fellow auditionee running past her. Her thoughts back on the event she was attending.

“What about the others? The program?” Naruko asked him.

Eyes wide with concern he frowned even more. “Security will take care of it. We have to save ourselves first,” the man said.

Naruko watched as security personals ran past them, true to his words the security personnel were ushering the participants towards the hills. She recognized some participants she saw earlier but couldn't see Yugito Nii amongst them.

And then a siren blared and she heard the dark haired man said, “Oh no, this is for real. Come on let's run to the shelter."