Disclaimer: Polar bears are left handed, and I do not own Naruto
Warnings: Yaoi, yuri, rape, violence, drugs, sex, gangs, alcohol, language, suicide, character death, cutting
Pairs: Don't know all of them yet, but probably NejixLee, ShikaxIno, SakuraxIno, NarutoxSasuke, TayuyaxKankuro, AnkoxIno, KakashixIruka, GaaraxSomebody…haven't decided
Summary: Senior year is finally here, and everyone discovers what life really has in store for them, and they must decide what path to follow if they want to survive.
Chapter 1: The Last Day Pt. 1
The sun shone brightly through the young man's window and he cracked open one eye. He turned over with a grunt and pulled the covers high over his head despite the sweltering summer heat in his room. He was about to drift off into another dream filled slumber before the phone rang, the sound piercing his ears and jerking him awake. He grunted again and lugged his body out of his oh so comfortable bed and trudged over to his phone.
"Hn," was all he decided to say. Whoever was calling better not have expected a friendly hello, and instead a rude goodbye unless it was important.
"Dammit Naruto! Everyone is here already, where the hell are you. Don't tell me you were still sleeping!" A shrieking voice echoed through the telephone and the blonde squinted his eyes and pulled the phone away from his ear for a second before responding.
"Fine, I won't tell you." The young man gave a curt response out of annoyance. She of all people should no better than to bother him so early, it was only 12:45 for crying out loud!
The woman on the other end did not respond to his remark, but he knew she was fuming with annoyance as well. He cringed at the thought of her fist connecting with his head, so he decided to be pleasant, if only for the moment. "Whatever Sakura, I'll be there in a few, just chill for once." He grunted a good bye and hung up. Never said he succeeded at being pleasant. He rubbed his eyes and yawned while searching his messy room for some suitable outer wear. He spied a somewhat clean pair of jeans partially under his bed and pulled them out to smell them.
As he did this, one of his nudie magazines slid out with it and he smirked. He would have flipped through it for a minute or ten, but Sakura-and probably everyone else-would kill him for being late again and forcing them to stay out in the summer heat for longer than necessary. He shoved it back under his bed and out of view. Even though he lived by himself, he still felt it necessary to hide his…sexually suggestive reading material. He wasn't really sure why, perhaps just habit, or should he decide to bring home a girl, it would have been a necessary precaution to avoid a horrible ending of what could have been a promising night.
He pulled on the jeans after he deemed them worthy of recreational wear and pulled an undershirt and t-shirt out of his drawer. He glanced in the bathroom mirror and rubbed a hand through his messy hair before brushing his teeth. Before he left, he thought about making a pot of coffee just to piss Sakura off, but decided against it. He grabbed his keys and hurried out the door to his car. He was about to start it before he realized he left his radio in his apartment.
"Shit!"
He walked back into his apartment and grabbed it before heading back out, not even trying to hurry. He carefully secured his radio into its designated spot and turned the car on. He put a CD in and after setting on a song he liked, lit a cigarette and finally put his car in gear and drove off. God how he loved pissing Sakura off.
"It's about damn time, Naruto!" Sakura shrieked as Naruto stepped out of his car. He shrugged as he walked over to the group. Almost everyday since before they even entered high school, Naruto and a group of his friends would meet up at the park in the middle of the town and hang out there or decide what to do for the day. The group was so closely knit, that it was habit to show up there, even if nothing was planned. They usually coagulated under the ramada near the parking lot, never venturing much deeper into the park anymore.
"It ain't my fault y'all wake up so fuckin' early," he said after he sat down next to his friend with a messy pony tail wearing dark sunglasses, dark clothes, and motor cycle boots with a cigarette.
The man nodded and added, "Tell me about it, at least she's better than Ino about it," he took a drag of his smoke and muttered "troublesome woman" under his breath.
"Whatever Shikamaru, you're the one who chose to go out with her, although it was bound to happen sooner or later." Sakura rolled her eyes at her lazy friend. The woman had medium length pink hair (she never revealed its origin to anyone because it was hard to tell if it was dyed or not, only her closest friends knew the truth), and astonishingly green eyes. She was wearing some loose jeans and black converse with a black tank top. Her studded belt and wristband caught the reflection of the sun and would occasionally travel to someone's eyes.
"Come on guys, it is most youthful to wake up early. I myself wake up every day at six a.m. and run 8 miles. It is quite refreshing." Rock Lee, and energetic man with a bad hair cut and gigantic eyebrows that resembled caterpillars gave a thumbs up and a wide smile. He was wearing a tight green shirt that showed off his muscles and jeans with…sandals and socks. It wasn't just his haircut that was bad. The only reason he didn't get pummeled at school for his style was because he was a star athlete in track, gymnastics, and swim.
Everyone rolled their eyes and someone leaning against one of the polls gave a grunt and smirked.
"Well excuse me Sasuke for not having natural ability when it comes to athletics. Although imagine how good you would be if you trained a bit harder, you might be able to beat me in a race then." Lee smiled at his statement and Sasuke glared. Sasuke was a well sought after basket ball and tennis player. He was also on the track team with Lee, but was never able to beat his time in the 800 meter dash, or any dash, and didn't have a chance in the distance running so he switched to pole vaulting and, of course, quickly excelled. He was wearing all black with dark eyeliner and painted nails. He had his bangs combed in front of his face, and Naruto teased him relentlessly for being such an Emo Boy, which usually earned himself a punch to the head.
"Guys, it's hot out here, let's just go already. When does the movie start?" Naruto was beginning to grow impatient.
"Half an hour." The last member of the group spoke up from his spot at a table in the middle of the ramada. Naruto looked over to the man wearing a white collard shirt and jeans with converse, Neji Hyuuga. He was staring at Naruto with his pale eyes through his blue tinted shades.
"We should get goin' then, I wanna see the previews!" Naruto jumped up and headed to his car as he pulled out a cigarette. After he lit it however, Sakura reached over and pulled it out of his mouth and placed it between her own lips.
"Payment for being late." She winked and took a drag. Naruto rolled his eyes and lit another one.
"Wait, where's Ino?" Naruto looked around with a confused look on his face.
"She's gonna meet us there with Hinata. She had something to take care of with her mom I think." Shikamaru stood up and stretched. "She might be there already, I'll have to deal with her wrath if I'm too late. I'll head off now, peace out guys." He adjusted his glasses and got on his motorcycle. He started it up and pulled out of the parking lot quickly.
"I guess we should be leavin' as well, come on Lee." Sakura motioned to Lee who followed her to her car. They lived near each other so they often carpooled. Though everyone thought it was for other reasons besides living proximity.
After Sakura's red convertible left in the same direction as Shikamaru, Naruto looked over at his two remaining friends who simply shrugged and stood up. Neji and Sasuke weren't particularly close, but they had a lot of things in common, so they tolerated each other. They both stemmed from wealthy families, for example. This was confirmed when Sasuke and Neji entered their vehicles, a blue corvette and silver mustang respectively. Naruto always thought this was funny, Ford™ and Chevy™, always competing against each other, and everyone had a preference. He smiled as he got into his own car-a red piece of shit that barely ran-and followed his comrades out of the park.
"Damn that movie sucked!" the blonde haired woman shrieked as the group left the theater. Ino Yamanaka had her fish net covered hands to her head as she walked. "Waste of money that's what I think." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets after they were thrown off Ino's shoulder when she began to practically pull out her hair.
"That's what we get for letting Naruto choose." Sakura crossed her arms and half glared, have smirked at her friend with the unruly blonde hair.
"Ouch Sakura, that was cold." Naruto put his fist to his chest pretending to stab his heart. His green-eyed companion rolled her eyes and sat down next to Sasuke on the water fountain.
"It was pretty bad though, I mean, there was absolutely no plot, just guns, explosions, swearing, and the occasional confusing dialogue." Everyone looked to Hinata Hyuuga, Neji's cousin, and Naruto's ex-girlfriend. She used to be extraordinarily shy, but when she broke up with Naruto, she had gained some self confidence. That was actually why they broke up, Hinata didn't need Naruto like she did before, and they simply thought it was pointless to stay together in such a romantic, needy fashion. Perhaps this was the reason they still hung out.
Ino removed her hands from her head and sighed, "Typical guy movie." She rolled her eyes and laid her head on Shikamaru's shoulder, who pulled his hand out of his pocket and placed it on her shoulders seeing that she had calmed down.
"Hmph, why do you think he picked it?" it was Sasuke who spoke this time. "More like typical Naruto movie." Everyone reacted to the normally silent man's remark, even Neji gave a smirk. Naruto feigned hurt once more and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. You guys seem to forget who provides you with delicious alcoholic beverages." The whole group was silenced when Naruto said this and he smirked.
"Good idea Naruto, let us go raid your fridge!" Lee gave a thumbs up and grabbed Sakura by her elbow and dragged her to her car. She managed to give a half-ass wave as she was being pulled.
"What, at least wait for me, it is my home!" Naruto hurried to his car so fast he nearly lost his cigarette and pulled out of the lot right after Sakura.
Ino looked over to Hinata with a sorry look on her face. Hinata knew immediately what she meant and smiled back, "Don't worry Ino, I can get a ride from Neji." She walked over to Neji who wore a look of indifference on his face. They both walked to Neji's mustang and got in. They watched Neji roll down his window and light a cigarette before they pulled out, loud rock music heard long after the car had left the parking lot.
"Well Shika, shall we head off too?" Shikamaru visibly flinched at the use of his nickname in front of Sasuke, who smirked, and sighed.
"Yeah, yeah troublesome woman." He rolled his eyes and took a drag of his cigarette.
"You know you love me." Ino smiled and grabbed Shikamaru's smoke and took a drag. She turned over to Sasuke with a curious look on her face. "You gonna leave any time soon?"
Sasuke looked at her with a blank look on his face, "Hn."
The group had known Sasuke long enough to be able to interpret Sasuke's minor grunts, and this one was no different: eventually.
"See ya later then." She smiled at him and she and Shikamaru left to get into their respective vehicles.
The ebony haired man gave a small sigh and pulled out a cigarette and ran his fingers over it. He felt the small seam of the paper, the filter at one end and the tobacco at the other. A tiny bit of it detached and flew to the ground. There was no breeze to take it away to unknown and interesting places, and Sasuke pondered this for a moment, being a tiny piece of a tobacco leaf. He pulled himself out of his daze and lit the smoke and sat there for another short moment thinking, before he finally stood up to rejoin the others.
"Stop looking on my screen dammit!" Naruto kept his eyes on his television as he rapidly pressed buttons on the videogame controller.
"If it's the same TV, everyone's screen is fair game." Sasuke replied calmly as killed Naruto for the umpteenth time. (I'm not gonna say what game it is, but it starts with an H and ends with an alo…best one I could think of)
"Hmph, that's cheating." Naruto pouted as he went searching for Sasuke to reap his revenge, and got sniped in the back. His face fell, and Sakura smirked. When he respawned he forgot about Sasuke briefly and went in search of Sakura-and got sniped again. "Screw you guys, I'm done, here ya go Ino."
"Yay, you're goin' down Sakura."
Ino was fighting Sakura when Sasuke came up and both turned on him before Sakura realized something was wrong. "Where's Neji?"
Neji smirked right before all three blew up from a rocket blast. Game over. "This game sucks." The system was turned off and the channel was changed.
"Hey, turn it on Comedy Central, the new Bill Engvall special is on!" Naruto jumped over the back of his couch and landed in between Sakura and Sasuke, and didn't spill a drop of his beer.
"What?" Ino gave a look to Naruto after she got up to sit next to Shikamaru.
"Yeah, I've been waiting for this, I missed the premier. He's hilarious!" Naruto turned up the TV and proceeded to tune everyone out.
Lee stretched his back and stood up to take Ino's abandoned seat. He looked over to Hinata with a questioning look. "What is the matter, Hinata? You have been awfully quiet this afternoon?"
"I've just been thinking about tomorrow, that's all." She gave a somewhat worried smile before continuing. "I mean, it's the first day of our senior year. Kinda makes you wonder."
"I see what you mean, but it's nothing to really dwell on. It is something that has to be done. And we have each other if something should go wrong!" with this, Lee clapped Sakura and Neji on the back. Sakura smiled and Neji glared. "It is going to be a year of new developments and happenings. This is the year that I finally take first chair away from Sasuke!"
Neji rolled his eyes, but there was a glimpse of a smile, "You say that every year Lee, perhaps it is your destiny to be second chair?"
"Hn." You couldn't beat me if my arms were broken.
"We shall see! I have practiced during summer whenever I was not training!" Lee gave a thumbs up and Sasuke went back to watching the TV, though still not really listening.
"Shikamaru, are you up for a game of shogi?" Neji looked to his lazy friend and got a small nod. Both of the men stood up and went to the board in the back corner of the room and began to set up the pieces. It was strange that Naruto would have a shogi board, but he decided that it made him look smart if girls came over, and it provided something to do aside from video games and porn.
Sakura called back from the couch, "I'll take winner." Usually the winner was Shikamaru as the reigning champion. But both of the men were practically undefeated against anyone else, so this game could go either way.
Ino got up and sat next to Sakura. "You gonna join the team or somethin'? You seem to be playin' an awful lot recently."
"Meh, could be fun." Sakura merely shrugged. Shogi Team wasn't exactly the most nerdy thing she could do, but it was pretty high on the list. For some reason though, she didn't care. Maybe it was because she was a senior now, and it's not like she had to impress her friends or peers, they didn't care. She had been thinking about it, she liked the game and she was pretty good. Shikamaru and Neji were both on it, so she would have some friends to chill with.
"Shika said you should, they could use a player like you." Sakura smiled and Ino giggled when she heard Shikamaru sigh at his nickname.
"We'll see." She was distracted by a joke about free-range eggs and then stunned when she heard a small chuckle from Sasuke.
Wonder what I'm gonna do this year. With Itachi gone, things'll be nice and quiet. Maybe I should join the shogi team as well. Nah, that sounds like a distraction. Hinata is right, all of this is slightly overwhelming. Nothing I can't handle though, although it may be slightly troublesome. Now I sound like Shikamaru. Maybe I'll tell my parents this year, they should probably know about-free range chicken, what the hell? Why am I watching this, oh yeah, he's why. Damn him- free range egg, heh heh. Uh oh.
"Wow Sasuke, I didn't think you would ever allow yourself to laugh at this, at least when in the presence of people." Naruto was staring at him with wide cerulean eyes.
"Hn" I don't know what you're talkin' about.
"Oh, come on now, we all heard you. That was most definitely a laugh!"
"Hn" So.
"Haha, Sasuke thought something I liked was funny!" Naruto was practically rolling on the floor laughing.
"Hn" Do you want to die a horrible and painful death?
"Heh, sorry. You were the one that laughed though." Naruto ducked just in time to miss a pillow chucked at his face. Said pillow hit Sakura square on who gave a glare to put any Uchiha in his place.
"Sorry." Naruto started it.
"Whatever." Sakura went back to the TV briefly before she heard Shikamaru declare checkmate on Neji. She jumped over the back of the couch to take Neji's place.
"Guys, I'm starvin', let's order pizza or somethin'" Naruto rubbed his stomach and made a pathetic "I'm starving" face.
"What a great idea, I shall go get it!" Lee jumped up and went to put on his sandals.
"Um, Lee, you don't have a car." Hinata stared at Lee like he was crazy along with mostly everyone in the room except Shikamaru who was thinking deeply about his next move.
"It is no problem. It is only 2 and a half miles away. I shall be back shortly!" Before anyone had time to protest he was out the door.
"That man's got some stamina." Neji said with a smirk as he took Lee's spot.
"Checkmate."
"Dammit, thought I had you there." Sakura frowned and stared at the finishing position. Losing her third game in a row. They had decided to keep playing since Naruto kept picking what to watch.
"You did, but you didn't see it in time." Shikamaru got up and stretched and yawned. He walked over to the counter and grabbed another piece of pizza. Lee had moderately surprised everyone by returning in under an hour carrying nearly half a dozen pizzas and two 2 liter sodas. Some of them worried what would become of him if something happened when he went and did something like that. He had no cell phone to call for help. They joked, however, that he would walk on his hands if both his legs broke, and roll if all his limbs broke. Although it might not have been a joke.
"It is time for us to make our leave." Neji stood up and went to put on his shoes. "Your father would not be pleased if we came home late the night before the first day of school." Hinata nodded and went to get her shoes as well.
"See you guys tomorrow. Try not to get too drunk, okay?" Hinata smiled and followed her cousin out the door.
"What does she mean by drunk? This is only my third beer!" Naruto held up 5 fingers.
"Wow, seniors. Pretty trippy huh?" Ino looked over to her friends, who were all wearing confused faces.
"Trippy?" Sakura stared at her friend.
"That's her new word." Shikamaru sighed as he finished his slice of pizza.
"I like it!" Lee smiled a wide smile and began experimenting with his new word under his breath.
Sakura rolled her eyes at Lee and looked back to Ino, "Yes, pretty trippy indeed."
AN: Okay, I did a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, simply because it is the first, and I don't plan to do much in the remaining chapters. So if you like to analyze stories and look for hidden messages, have at it. If you don't know what foreshadowing it, ask your 5th grade English teacher. R&R if you want, and just for the hell of it FIRST REVIEWER GETS A REQUEST! -goes into Lee mode- I will finish this story this summer, and if I cannot, I shall do 200 pushups!
p.s. sorry for any errors at the end. I didn't realize what an incompetent typist I was so late at night…well early in the morning.