A/N: A marching band Naruto fic. I'll try to explain how everything works in band but if you have any questions about marching band I'll answer them to the best of my ability. Football questions are a different matter . . . I'm not very knowledgeable in that area . . . Anyways, I hope you like it. Flame if you want. Call me a band dork if you want. I really will try my best to make all the band stuff as clear as possible for those who aren't familiar (there will be a lot of Author Notes)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or YouTube.

Prologue

Drum Majors, is your band ready? The Konoha Marching Ninja's head Drum Major lead the salute and removed her hat and placed it on the corner of the podium she was standing on. She raised her arms and counted two measures off and then sound began to fill the stadium.

". . . and our star running back, number 61, NEJI HYUUGA!" the announcer practically screamed. The stands erupted into cheers. Neji felt his heart soar. This was why he played football, to bask in the limelight.

Chapter One

Encounters of the Sour Variety

She was later for her favorite class, he was pissed off.

Smack.

"Excuse you." she said rather annoyed.

"Watch it." He took in her appearance quickly, she was sort of pretty – it was hard to tell – her brown hair was tied up into two buns on either side of her head, and she was a wearing a pale green long sleeve shirt that read 'Konoha Marching Ninja' on the chest and 'Drum Major' down the left arm – what a loser.

"What makes you think you're so special?"

"Let me think . . . I'm not a band nerd."

"At least I'm not an arrogant bastard!" she stomped on his foot and turned on her heel, practically flying down the hall. He watched her petite figure racing away before getting nudged by someone. He quickly shot them a glare. That girl had some nerve

Eighth Period – Wind Ensemble

"Hey TenTen!" greeted her friend Sakura Haruno.

"Morning, Saki. Are you ready for the auditions today?"

"As I'll ever be, I really hope I make section leader. . ."

"You'll be great, I'm sure."

"Aww thanks Tennie. Coming from you it means a lot since you're a Drum Major and all."

"Yeah…no problem."

"What's up? You seem out of it."

"This football playing ass ran into me in the hall and was making fun of the band."

"Oh. Sorry." Sakura grabbed her flute case and music and closed her locker. "Are you coming Ten?"

"Mhmm, let me just get my music." She grabbed her music out of the locker and picked up her trombone from the spot on the floor where she had placed it. The two girls walked into the familiar band room.

"Tenten, could I see you after class?"

"Sure thing Mr. Bauer." She took her seat in the third row as first trombone and began to assemble her instrument. She blew into her mouthpiece for a moment to warm up the cool metal before reattaching it to the trombone. Pressing the instrument to her lips and adjusting the slide to third position she inhaled and then blew into the series of complex metal tubes. A low warm tone filled the room and was accompanied by the sound of multiple instruments which were also warming up.

There was a tap of a baton against a stand and the room immediately fell silent. "Tuba's a concert F please." The band tuned quickly, starting with low brass, adding on high brass (A/N: trumpets, French horn), tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinets, oboe, and finally flute. "Pull out Symphonic Danse Number Two." Mr. Bauer gave three beats and the piece began.

Tenten enjoyed playing Symphonic Danse; the melody was simple and had a moving pulse because it was in the time signature of a waltz. (A/N: 3 beats a measure and the quarter note gets the beat. Three-Four time) Mr. Bauer kept stopping the band to fix little things like a clarinet riff (A/N: a phrase of notes) or to get the trumpets to come in on 2 instead of the and of 2 (A/N: eighth notes are divided into 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and so, if you have a measure of only eighth notes, you have eight notes in a measure. So in this case the trumpets need to come in on beat number 2 and they're coming in between beat 2 and 3)

Neji Hyuuga pulled his shirt over his head and slipped into his gym uniform. He walked slowly into the gym and leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Hyuuga." greeted a friend of his, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Hm." He replied staring off into space.

"Somethin' wrong?" Sasuke asked.

Neji turned to face him, "It's nothing. This one band chick totally just freaked out in the hall at me. It was weird."

"Hey, if you're gonna hate on the band leave me out of it. My girlfriend's in it."

"Pff. Your girlfriend would be in marching band Uchiha."

"What's that supposed to mean? Have you even met Sakura?"

"Well, you're on the soccer team. It doesn't matter if you date or associate with bandies."

"Whatever."

"What a bunch of geeks." Neji muttered under his breath.

"Have you ever seen them march?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

Neji shook his head, "The team's always in the locker room while they do what ever they do out on the field."

"You should watch them some time. Actually, look up 'Konoha Marching Ninja' on YouTube. Their director likes to post videos of them; at least, that's what Sakura says."

A whistle cut the air of the stagnant gymnasium, "Gentlemen, 10 laps. Now." The voice belonged to their P.E. teacher, Mr. Reitman.

The boys began to jog around the track, Neji's hair swished behind him with every step. "You seem to know a lot about their little cult. Do you know what a Drum Major is?" he asked while keeping time with the soccer player.

"Um, I think Sakura said that they conduct the band or something, they're really important. Why?"

Neji cursed himself, he just messed with the leader of the band geeks . . . they would be out for blood now.

"What did you want to see me about Mr. Bauer?"

He paused a moment, trying to choose the right words, "To put it simply, a person has offered the Marching Band a very generous donation. In return, this person is insisting that their nephew join the band."

"Well," Tenten started, "that isn't really a problem. Marching Band is mandatory so if this kid is in band shouldn't he already be in Marching Band?"

"He doesn't play an instrument."

"Color guard?"

"No."

"Mr. Bauer, I'm not sure where this is going. . ." she said confused.

"Tenten, the condition of the deal is that the nephew would be made a Drum Major."

Tenten's jaw dropped, "Are you kidding me?"

"No. I've already talked to Chris about it and he thinks that it would be in the best interest of the band, as do I."

Tenten paused, "Who is this nephew?"

"Neji Hyuuga. He is Hinata Hyuuga's cousin."

Well, thought Tenten, if he's anything like Hinata, it wouldn't be too bad…The band does need the money for new uniforms. . ."If it's for the band's benefit. Sure."

"Great." Mr. Bauer leaned back into his chair, hands folded in his lap, "You'll meet him at our first summer rehearsal. Do you need a pass?"

"No thanks. I have study hall this period." Tenten left the office and closed the door behind her. Whoever this Neji guy was was in for a big surprise. Being Drum Major took a lot of work.

To Be Continued. . .

R&R

(A/N: The Konoha Marching Ninja aren't really on YouTube…)