My Countdown Starts Now
xxxxxx
"Class, we have a new student joining us," Kurenai-sensei said with a smile on her young face. Her piercing crimson eyes shifted from her class to the young man next to her. Her smile softened to a reassuring type and patted his shoulder friendily. "Please, introduce yourself." The dark-haired teen nodded enthusiastically and grinned at the staring class.
"I'm Rock Lee. Nice to meet you!" He let them glimpse at his pearly whites for just second before glamcing at Kurenai expectantly. "Ok, well, there's been a desk prepared for you behind Tenten. Tenten, raise your hand," Kurenai ordered and a brunette bun-head raised her hand, grinning slightly at the boy. Lee returned the gesture and walked over to his seat without a word. Kurenai immediately dove right into the Literature lesson.
"Hey, Lee, good to have you back. You sure have changed," Tenten whispered as she tipped her seat back slightly.
Lee sure did change over the six years years since he'd left the Konoha public educational system. At sixteen, Lee wasn't as tall as he'd appeared in fourth grade when everyone hadn't grown to ther highest potential. He was now more of an average height, taller than the girls, but shorter than most boys his age. His hairstyle had evolved from the boring bowl cut to a more raggled look. His hair just touched the back of his neck in jagged locks, long bangs covered his eyes if he tilted his head down and two locks of hair, longer than the rest, framed his round face nicely.
He still wore his trademark green, but in the form of a slightly loose fitting t-shirt over a snug, long-sleeved fish net shirt. Today he wore snug-fitting black jeans with a black leather belt. He wore three rubber bracelets; one, livestrong and rock the arts. Around his neck he wore a black link necklace.
Besides that he still had those big round dark eyes, long lush eyelashes, and, ahem, slightly big eyebrows. Though his eyebrows now looked a bit slimmer, and at least exceptable.
Lee smiled and flushed a bit. "Yeah, alot's happened over the years." If Tenten had been looking she would of seen the glint in Lee's eye when he'd said that. She didn't, but Neji did. He turned back to the front with a thoughtful frown on his lips, the rest of his face perfectly stoic.
x
At the end of class Lee stood up and gathered his books and slipped them into his bookbag. "Ne, Tenten, do you mind showing me to my next class?" Lee asked rather shyly, well, shy for Rock Lee. Tenten grinned and bobbed her head twice. "Sure, its no problem. We have all the same core subjects and maybe even a few extras." Lee blinked and shouldered his pack. "How do you know that?" Tenten smirked smuggly and Neji rolled his eyes knowingly as he followed the two out the door. 'Teacher-mode...'
"You see, Lee-kun, each grade level is split into two groupings, depending on your average grade score. The one we're in is the higher scoring one, so our core subject are all the same. It seems that the office was pretty lazy, since it's probably the simplest method. Though, if they were a little more..." Tenten seemed to struggle for the word, her eye twitched. "Not lazy?" Neji offered, smirking when she gave him an annoyed glare.
"It might help us students learn better," Tenten finished. Lee nodded, and they entered a classroom set up like a lab. "Science with Jiraiya-sensei," Tenten told Lee as they sat next to each other. Neji sat behind them and grunted. "The pervert..."
Tenten looked back at him and Lee looked a bit confuzzled. Tenten rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest unconsciously. "He's the school's resident pervert, and he doesn't even try to hide it. You should of seen him last year when we had the 'reproduction' unit." Tenten flinched slightly, but continued. "He's always getting beat up by Principal Tsunade, but rumor has it that they're secretly in love or something. Ever since they were in school together." Lee smiled softly as he brought out his notebook.
"Alright class! Work on the problems 1-19 on page 121. I'll be at my desk, don't bother me," Jiraiya said as he burst in the door. Lee blinked blankly as everyone started automatically and Jiraiya brought out a bright orange book from his top drawer with a gleeful giggle. "Uh..." Tenten shook her head.
"I forgot, he likes to read porn while we work, there's an other rumor that says he actually writes his own series of porn novels. Most of the senior guys have them and likes to have him sign them. Let me tell you, senior-boys-favorite-teacher. He snarls if any kid tries to ask him anything while he's reading. Don't worry, I'll help you get up to date on this." Lee gave her a grateful smile and they started.
xx
"So where is our sensei for this class?" Lee asked as kids all around them were gossipping, not even bringing out their books. Tenten looked bored as she inspected her nails. "This is History with Kakashi-sensei. He's always late, and most of the time the school nurse, Shizune, brings him in by the ear, scolding him." She laughed slightly and gave Lee an amused smile.
"Of course, he just ignores her and reads his book like nothing is happening. He reads porn too, he's a huge fan of Jiraiya's, especially." And as if on cue, right as Tenten finished her explanation, a dark-haired woman in a white nurse's outfit pushed opened the door with a bang pulling a silver haired man by the ear and yelling things at top speed. She let go of him in front of his desk and waved cheerfully at the students before leaving.
The man silently got up and sat on his desk. Lee looked sceptically at the man with three quarters of his face covered, then glanced at Tenten. She smirked. "Don't ask, i have no answer." "Class," Kakashi finally piped up. "Chapter five, lesson three. All the questions for homework." Then he went back to his silent mode and turned a page.
"And he doesn't teach, just tells us to read." Tenten scowled at Kakashi and he turned an other page, louder. "He's worst than Jiraiya-sensei," Tenten said a little louder and turned a page in her text book louder than Kakashi had. Kakashi briefly glanced up and Lee thought he saw a small smile in his eye. Yes, eye...
xxxx
"So, what's the story with this guy?" Lee whispered to Tenten, who was sitting to his right, Neji to his left. "Asuma-sensei, Math teacher. Well, besides being a chain smoker, there's a rumor that him and Kurenai-sensei are going out." "Ahem." Both teens slowly looked up and saw a slightly annoyed, slightly bored Asuma looking down at them with a cig hanging dangerously from his lip.
"I see you're giving the new student all the school gossip now, huh, Tenten?" Tenten nodded bavely and didn't even look embarassed. "How about you do that on your own time, and pay attention to today's lesson." Tenten nodded and looked back at him blankly. "Sure thing, sensei."Asuma nodded and gave her a quick wink before walking back to his desk, confiscating notes from the more obvious students along the way.
Tenten grinned over a Lee and gave him a quick wink, much like Asuma's. "She has the teachers wrapping around her little finger..." Neji muttered. Tenten smirked over at him and laughed under her breath. "More than you know..."
xxxx
"So, want to sit with us, Lee?" Tenten asked as Lee, Neji and her walked down the hallway. "Oh, well, I was planning on sitting with Naruto and Shikamaru, that is if the freshman have lunch with us..." Tenten nodded twice, like she always does. "Yea, they do. The cafeteria is pretty small so we have four different lunch times. We're pretty lucky we don't have the latest time. Last year me and Neji did, and gosh, I was practically starved by then."
Neji looked over at her with a bored look. "That's only because you came early to school every day because of archery club, and had a really early breakfast..." Lee suddenly gasped. Tenten looked questioningly, while Neji just shifted his bored look from Tenten to Lee. "That's the most I've heard you say all day, Neji-kun!"
Neji blinked, as Tenten laughed heartily. "OH EM GEEE!" Lee exclaimed with an exaggerated girly voice. The two more lively of three laughed loudly, while, Neji just looked the other way with his lip twitching slightly.
Lee finally took a calming deep breath and grinned over at Neji over Tenten's head. "So, you guys want to come sit with me and the guys?" Lee asked as they entered the blue themed cafeteria, instantly finding his two friends. Tenten looked sincerely regretful, while Neji just walked over to the table where Sasuke, Ino and Sakura were already seated by the stretched window. Lee frowned and quickly glanced at Neji.
"Sorry, but I promised Ino and Sakura I would go over Chapter Four with them for the Science test they have after lunch." Tenten quickly grabbed Lee's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Tomorrow," she said, looking over at her table of friends. They were staring, well, the two girls at least. She gave one more smile before hurrying over to the table. Lee quickly shrugged and walked toward the other side of the room, next to the window, where Naruto was having a one-sided conversation with a dozing Shikamaru.
"Hey, Lee!" Naruto exclaimed breaking off from his rant about rock climbing. Lee smiled cheerfully and felt a rush of gladness of being with two of his three closest friends. "Hello, Naru-kun, Shika-kun, how were your classes so far?" Shika muttered an expected 'troublesome...' and Naruto made an annoyed sound.
"Well, our first class was History and halfway through the school nurse was dragging the weirdo teacher in..." Lee nodded and opened his bento box. "That was probably Kakashi-sensei, Tenten told me he's always late." Naruto rolled his eyes and sipped his soda loudly. Shikamaru lifted his head from the table top and sent him an annoyed glance, Naruto smiled cutely and shrugged with one shoulder.
Lee chuckled softly. "Ne, Shikamaru, aren't you going to eat?" Lee asked as he stuffed food into his mouth. "No, I want to catch up on the sleep I lost with that crazy smoker teacher blowing smoke in my face whenever I tried to sleep." Naruto chuckled and Lee smiled as the pair across from him had one of their weird fights. Naruto ended it with a warning look that promised something bad for Shikamaru if he didn't stop.
They fell in silence with Naruto eating Shikamaru's uneaten food and scanning the cafeteria. He suddenly stood up and smiled at Lee. "I'll be just back." Lee nodded and lookd at his sleeping friend. A few minutes later Naruto came back with four others. "Hey I thought we should have a full table, so I got some kids I remember from third grade." Naruto grinned and slipped back into his seat next to the brunette lazy ass.
A smiling Kiba sat on Naru's other side while Chouji sat next to Shika, munching on his chips. Hinata shyly slipped next to Lee, who gave her a polite smile that made her blush. Shino sat down next to her without a sound, continuing to eat, without a sound.
For the next ten minutes their table started to liven up. Kiba and Naruto were having a good natured argument about video games, Lee was talking to Hinata, trying to coax her out of her shell, Chouji was actually keeping Shika awake by talking about clouds or whatever, and Shino was even commenting on the Naru/Kiba argument. Lee mentally gasped every time the silent bug boy muttered a word. He actually had the urge to poke him, see if that'll help make him talk more. Maybe...
The bell rang and everyone started getting up, some throwing out their trash, others that had already done that migrated out the doors. "Come on, Lee," Tenten said as she hooked their arms together. "One more class together, than we have our extras." Lee grinned and realized they were heading toward the gymanium. "P.E.?" Lee wondered out loud and Tenten nodded as she pushed him into the boys' locker room. "Take care of him, Neji!" she threw cheerfully over her shoulder as she entered the girls' locker room.
Neji snorted and headed into the office and came out to Lee with a navy shirt and black shorts. "We have to change for this class." Lee nodded and didnt expect the clothes that were thrown at him. "Thanks, Neji!" Lee said cheerfully, and Neji rolled his eyes, opening his locker. "Whatever..." Lee frowned and opened an empty locker a few away from his. "Ne, you don't still hate me like you did when we were younger, huh, Neji?" Lee asked cautiously.
Neji pulled his own navy shirt over his head and looked briefly at Lee out of the corner of his eye. "I thought I was your 'eternal rival'." he said, rather than answered Lee's question. Lee started retying his black vans and frowned slightly. "That was so childish, I've gotten over that, I'd rather be your friend now," Neji blinked and their eyes met. "You say that now, and you probably do because you were away from that crazy gym teacher of ours, but now you-" "HELLLO YOUTHFUL STUDENTS OF MINEEEEEEEEEE!"
Lee looked up and saw a dark-haired, fuzzy-eyebrowed, blindingly-shiny-white teeth man at the door that lead to gymnasium. "Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed in surprise, wondering how likely one could have their old elementary school gym teacher also be their teacher in high school. Gai blinked once and instantly cried out "LEE!" when he saw him.
Lee said his name again, more because of the slowness his brain was taking it in than why he would have at ten years old. At the speed of sound Gai came hurling toward Lee and gave him a bear hug while crying 'manly tears of happiness'. All the boys chalked it up to their teacher being weird and Neji stayed behind to see what would happen. "Ne, Gai-sensei, you're crashing me," Lee said in a muffled voice. Gai let go after a second and took a step back as Lee tried to regain his breath.
"Have you been keeping up with your training, Lee?" he asked seriously. Lee nodded and grinned. "Good.." Gai said slowly. "75 laps around the gymnasium! Go!" Lee instantly took off and Gai turned to Neji. "You too, Neji! Hurry up!"
xxxx
P.E went on with the students being impressed by the new kid's awesome athletic ability and being horrified by all the crazy things Gai was telling him he should do to improve his training and his skill. Tenten sweat dropped as she finally got her chance to talk to Lee, right before they had to go back into the locker rooms to change. "Ne, you might of changed, but Gai-sensei sure hasn't. You know he started here right after we graduated from elementary. Anyway, meet me in the hall way and we'll find where you should go next."
Lee nodded back at her before going into the boy's room. Five minutes later Lee came out to find Tenten leaning against the opposite wall throwing a ball up and down. "Ready?" Lee nodded and took out his schedule from his pocket. Tenten looked down too, and twisted her head to see it properly. "So you're in drama, honors art, photography, and end with a free period. Hmm, extras always include people of different grades, so don't be surprised!" Tenten warned as she expertly wove through the crowds of rushing students who all seemed to be going the opposite way than them.
"You have photography with Neji, I know that. Free period you can pretty much wander around and do what ever. Most upper classmen with free periods at the end just ditch, but they tend to be harder on the lower classmen with these kinda things so I don't suggest it, ok?" Lee nodded, thinking to himself that he wouldn't do that anyway. Well, not without Naruto probably nagging him to.
"I suggest you use your free period to see if you want to join any clubs. They have the list and descriptions and ads in the library," Tenten finished before shoving Lee towards the doors of what obviously was an auditorium. Lee opened it a crack and looked in, seeing about two dozen students sitting in the seats closest to the stage. A brown haired man with a scar across his nose was checking his watch while holding a stack of papers in one hand in front of the student.
"Aa, you must be Lee, the new sophmore," the man said as Lee approached the crowd. Lee nodded and gave a small smile. The man smiled back with a soft kindness and introduced himself. "I'm Iruka, and I am the drama teacher and I am in charge of all plays we have during the school year. We actually just finished one and so we'll be starting on our next one soon. And does anyone know which play that will be?" Everyone was silent and Lee looked blank. Iruka sighed and muttered about uninterested teenagers, which was a bit silly since he looked only in his early twenties anyway.
"We'll be doing A Midsummer's Night Dream. Are you all familiar with this piece?" A few head nodded. Iruka frowned and put down the papers. "Well then we have no point in giving out scripts yet if don't know the actual story yet." He disappeared into the music pit and came back with a box. "Everyone grab a book and start reading the first chapter. When I tell you to, stop and no matter how much you've read we'll start going through it so you can grasp it better, alright? Good." Lee went up and looked at the books without any expression. When he went to grab one, the mother of all cliches, he touched an other persons hand and they both withdrew shyly.
He looked up and was looking at minty green eyes. "Oh, sorry," the pink head said and looked at him with a thoughtful frown. "Don't I know you?" she asked and he grinned. "I'm Rock Lee. I think I remember you, you're Haruno Sakura, aren't you?" Sakura blushed and nodded while grabbing a book.
Lee did the same and they went back to their seat, which coincidentally were next to each other. They hadn't noticed before. "Rock Lee, the boy that had a crush on me when we were in elementary?" Sakura asked. Lee blushed in embarassment and nodded. "Yea, uh, sorry for... yea..." Sakura laughed a little and opened her book. "We better start reading." Lee nodded and they began.
xxxxx
"Hey, Sakura-san?" Sakura turned around at the call of her name. "Yes, Lee-san?" They were right outside the main offices, which were a little away from the auditorium. "Um, you wouldn't happen to know where Honors Art is, would you?" Sakura looked thoughtful and nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure," said the one who had memorized the school map within the hour of getting it. They walked down the hall and up a flight of stairs and kept walking.
"Um, you don't happen to like me anymore... do you?" Sakura suddenly asked awkwardly, a bright pink blush staining her cheeks. Lee grinned, one that would of made Naruto proud. "Nah, ever since I turned thirteen I realized crushes are silly unless you really know a person. Looks aren't everything, so you shouldn't base stuff on that," Lee said with a small smile. Sakura nodded and grinned. "That's good. Er, no offense."
"None taken. And I think you should think about what I said, it might help with unnecessary heartbreak in the future." Sakura nodded again, and started to think. "That's good advice, Lee-san." Lee grinned wider. "Please, call me Lee. You've been so nice, I hope we can be friends," he said before entering the classroom filled with easels and other art supplies. Sakura stopped for a minute outside and took a step into the room. "I'd like that Lee!" she said with a bright smile before rushing out. Lee grinned happily and scanned the room.
"Ah! Hinata, we have a class together!" Lee rushed over to the quiet girl, who was sitting by herself in the back. "Oh, Lee, I'm g-glad to see you here," she offered a soft smile and got one in return. "So, are you an artist, Hinata-chan?" Lee said happily. During lunch he'd come to like Hinata as if she were a little sister. "Umm, I-I'm not sure if I'm th-that good, but I do like art..." she blushed in embarassment at her shy ways and Lee felt the need to cheer her up.
"I'm sure you're good. Anyone is an artist if they put their feelings and emotions into their art!" "And that, class, is the kind of thing I would like to hear around here!" Lee and Hinata looked up startled to see a women with spiky purple hair and a long jacket smirking proudly down at them. "Hello, new kid, I am the Art teacher, Anko. Good little speech there." Lee grinned sheepishly at the teacher and noted her likeness to Naruto.
"Thank you, I'm Rock Lee." Anko nodded once and walked over to her desk. "Now everyone, I would like you all to try experimenting with new mediums you don't usually use. People tend to stick to one kinda medium without actually trying anything else. That can be a big mistake." She scanned the room for reaction and smirked again. "Well, what are you waiting for? Move it!" The students slowly went to work. Anko was an especially fun teacher to piss off. Sometimes she came to class drunk, which made it even more fun. Or so Tenten told Lee earlier in the day.
Lee leaned back to look at his charcoal sketch of the school's courtyard, which he had a perfect view of from the window he was sitting next to. He had been in silent concentration the whole time, trying to capture the peaceful and calm look of the daffodils swaying in the breeze and the japenese maple leaves falling gracefully to the school's perfectly green lawn. Or so Lee was thinking in his mind.
Lee grinned slightly and thought about how charcoal was a fun but messy medium to use. He had a hard time trying not to get the picture all smudged. He looked to his right at Hinata, who was having a fun time with watercolors. He looked and smiled approvingly at her pretty painting of a sunflower. She did a good job of blending the colors and making it look lifelike. "What'd I say, Artist-chan?" he whispered affectionately and Hinata actually looked back at him with a sincere smile, her face free of any shade of red. "T-thank you, Lee-kun."
xxxxxx
"Hey, do you know where Photography is?" Lee asked Hinata as the exited the Art room. Hinata looked thoughtful but she slowly shook her head. "I don't have that class, so I can't help you there. Sorry," Hinata looked really bad. Lee smiled at her and then smiled bigger when he saw Neji coming down the hall right towards them. "That's alright, Hinata-chan. Neji has it, I'll just ask him, see you later!"
And he sped off after Neji, who'd passed them and was going downstairs. "Neji, wait up, I'm in Photography with you." Lee finally caught up and Neji looked at him just a second before turning suddenly into a room. Lee followed and was quickly attacked by a blonde ball of energy. "Yeay, finally we have a class together! Free period after this?" Naruto asked, refusing to let go of his raven haired friend. As soon as Lee nodded, Naruto stopped glomping him and dragged him over to a bunch of unoccupied seats.
"I wonder what this class is like-" "Shut up class and pay attention." Naruto was interrupted by a tall, muscular man with a bandage around the lower part of his face, and spiky dark hair. Naruto's mouth closed with a click. "Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked bluntly, though not as loud as he used to be. The man, obviously the teacher, turned toward Naruto and glared.
From behind Zabuza a boy with long hair stepped out and smiled at them. "Ne, this is Zabuza-sensei. I am Haku, the student aid. You must be new here, I'll explain all the basics we learned at the beginning of the year so you can be up to date." Zabuza seemed to lose interest after that and turned to the rest of the class while Haku sat in front of the two and started off.
xxxxxxx
Naruto and Lee walked out of the classroom slowly, both smiling and thinking happily to themselves. "Isn't it so cool that we get field trips for this class. I think this will be my favorite, I mean even though Zabuza-sensei is a bit harsh, he seems kind of cool," Naruto said smiling to himself. "Too bad Shika's not taking this one, I'm in all his other class after all. Oh, well, now we have free period with him. Wanna skip?" Lee sweat dropped, having seen this coming, but shook his head.
Then turning his head he caught sight of Neji. "Ne, Neji!" Lee called over and actually Lee went to him. "Do you have free period now?" Lee asked smiling at the stoic boy in front of him. Naruto stood behind him, silently waiting for his friend. "No," Neji answered quickly and started walking off.
"Oh, cause I was gonna ask if you'd like to hang out with me and my friends, but guess since your..." Lee sighed and gave up talking to Neji's back and turned back to Naruto. "Let's find the library," Naruto nodded. "Yea, I have a feeling Shika will be there anyway, probably realized it's the best place to nap." Lee laughed and they saw Kiba running down the hall. "Hey, Kiba, where's the library?" Naruto asked the brunette, who quickly pointed to the next corridor and hurried off, yelling "last on the left" over his shoulder.
Indeed they found Shika sleepying with his head a table in the back of the library. "Come on, Tenten said they have stuff here about clubs and whatever." Lee said impatiently, Naruto nodded and shoved Shikamaru off the chair he was sleeping on. Shikamaru glared at him from where he was on the floor, but Naruto just grinned and offered his hand.
It took them all the whole period to figure out Naruto wanted to join Ski Club, thus making Lee and Shikamaru join too, Shikamaru wanted nothing to do with any club at all though he was forced into the ski club..., and Lee decided he didn't want to do anything that would consume anymore time, seeing as they all pretty much had enough to do anyway.
Naruto joked that they didn't have much school spirit. Shikamaru just snorted and muttered about school spirit took too much energy, so therefore it was too troublesome. Which then started a mini fight session with the two freshman, Lee watched with an amused glint in his eye.
xxxx
When the bell finally rang, signalling the school day's end they were all glad to get outside. Lee quickly lead them all outside, and found Tenten and the rest of her friends. Sakura waved friendily at him and he smiled in return.
"So how was your first day?" Tenten asked. Lee smiled, and shrugged. "It was pretty good," he said and turned toward his friends. "Choose any clubs?" she asked quickly knowing her bus was leaving school, especially with Sasuke tapping his wrist watch impatiently.
"Us three are all joining the ski club," Lee said quickly and looked at his two waiting friends. Tenten nodded and smiled. "Oh, we're all part of that club! This should be fun. Well, I got to go, my bus is always the first, which sucks, but whatever, soon I'll be able to drive. See you tomorrow, Lee,"
"Bye, Tenten," He waved as she ran off and Lee turned to the two and they started walking off on the street.
"Lee." Lee stopped and turned to see Neji. "I'll... be your friend if you want," Neji said stiffly and Lee smiled in happy amusement. "Of, course!" Lee exclaimed and risked a quick hug.
"Ja ne!" he said quickly and ran off.
xxxxxx
A/N: Fun to write. Yeay. If anyone can figure out which pairings I'm planning so far I'll dedicate the next chapter to you.
I didn't feel like actually typing Hinata's stuttering much, too annoying, but w/e. you get the point. Hope no one was too OOC.
Go ahead and tell me if anything's wrong. Just try not to put it in a flame-y kinda way. constructive critisiumsp?lol.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else that might be mentioned.
