READ ME!

I'M SORRY! When I was going back to read what I wrote to get ready to write the next chapter. I realized that this chapter had NEVER BEEN POSTED and this filler is kind of, sort of important. Personally, I would recommend that you read this and the next and previous chapters to get a new understanding. GOOD NEWS – the newest chapter will come out within 48 hours! So there's the bright side!


BlackElement7 is retiring as my beta due to his status as a freshman at college! CONGRATULATIONS! So, I'm back on the prowl for a beta. THANK YOU AGAIN for beta-ing this chapter and the next newest one as well! I wish you tons of luck!


This chapter is dedicated to:

Blueberry-Waffles23 – thank you for your friendly reminder. The fact that you STILL remembered my story after my unforeseen hiatus is amazing! I've done that for my favourite stories so it's an incredible feeling. Plus, you were really sweet! Your friendly reminder was one of two reasons that I picked up my metaphorical pen again (that and the season four premiere of glee). Don't ever forget the power that a review might have on the author. After all, we should all understand the influence of words.


Playlist:

Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit – Scarbo

Yiruma's River Flows in You


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Glee.


So, here's what you missed on gLee:

What the heck is happening in Roots?! It's only been four days since Hinata's arrival and the school's flipped upside down! Rin's heartbroken (again) by Kakashi. Shikamaru and Hinata had an immediate connection – creating some major "AWWW~" moments. Queen B Sakura and Ino are planning to humiliate Hinata. Glee has around 24 hours to get the twelve members, a piano player and Danzo's approval! Yicks! Fingers crossed for luck!


Day Four: The Calm Before the Storm


Tenten groaned as she hit the alarm. It was barely four in the morning but she had to get up every day at this time. She lived on the outskirts of the town, so it took her a very long bus ride in the morning to get to school in time to practice her sports. The other girls practiced in the afternoons, but because of the drama between her and her teammates, to avoid conflict, Tenten practiced in the morning. She alternated between playing tennis against a wall and lifting weights and then running at night after getting home and finishing her homework.

Sluggishly, she managed to get ready. Drowsy with sleep, she tiptoed down the stairs. She did not want to make any noise that might wake up her grandfather.

Tenten grabbed the meat and vegetables that she had cut up yesterday and placed them in the slow cooker, adding in some spices. That way by lunchtime, oji-san would have some stew to eat with the rice. She reached into the fridge and grabbed the lunch that oji-san had made for her. It was a simple sandwich with some cut fruit. She stuffed it into her bag.

Stopping by the family room, Tenten kissed her hand and touched the two picture frames. "Wish me luck, Otou-san, Okaa-san and Onii-san. I love you."

She would have loved to say goodbye to her grandpa, but he worked late into the night as a blacksmith in order to pay for the necessities of daily living. The life insurance from her parents and her brother was being saved for Tenten's college fund. Her grandfather refused to spend it even though Tenten promised to get a scholarship. Oji-san was stubborn. He wanted the best for her education and he wasn't going to let financial problems stand in the way.

Tenten jogged to the bus stop, arriving there just as the bus pulled up. "Good morning, Tenten."

"Morning, Koji-san." Tenten smiled at the bus driver. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take a nap. I have a LONG day today."

Koji smiled at his favourite and only passenger during this time. "Don't worry about it, Tenten. I'll wake you up when it's your stop."


The memories haunted him. His feet pounded harder against the pavement. He could still remember the pain. He breathed in and out harshly, his heart beating a mile a minute. He could still hear the screams and the pleas. He ran a little harder. That harsh laughter still echoed in his ears.

He had to stop as his lungs started burning. He leaned down as a coughing fit erupted from his chest. Even though he had only smoked for six months, his lungs weren't handling the running as well as they used to. Which was one of the reasons why he had started running.

That, and he'd needed a healthier way to deal with everything.

Everyone had a family that was fucked up in some way. There was no such thing as a perfect family. Frankly, the more perfect they seemed, generally, the more fucked up they were. He knew this from experience.

On the outside, they were the stereotypical perfect family, living in a beautiful house with a white picket fence. That family dream that everyone wanted.

Ha. More like a fucking nightmare.

He and his siblings had managed to get out alive, but they were still scarred by everything. Whispers had followed them for a long time. "Oh look! It's them!" "Poor children!" "I can't believe they're here!" "Do you think I would get killed if I asked for an autograph?"

That last one had cracked him up. Internally. He hadn't shown his amusement then.

They each had a way of dealing. Temari turned out to music. She threw herself into guitar and singing. If he was being honest, she didn't have the innate talent, but her drive more than made up for it. She was still learning how to write their own music, but she liked nothing. It could be because she had no talent for that sort of stuff or she was just too much of a perfectionist. Both were equally likely.

Kankuro changed it up. He had many hobbies. Photography, painting and drawing, videogame design, writing and computers.

He was the only one out of the three siblings who felt those violent impulses. They had started around when he was thirteen. Thankfully the outbursts were small. But he still scared his family.

If it hadn't been for her, his life could have been so much different. He would have been a delinquent or even a criminal. He owed her so much. So if this was what she wanted, he didn't mind.

He didn't even care that it might be social suicide.


Shino was always the second person in the office.

The competitive side of Shino was always irritated by this. No matter how early he came in, he was always second. Once, he'd come in at four in the morning and he'd STILL been second! If he didn't know any better he'd assume that the guy never left.

The other side that didn't care only felt pity. Pity that this boy lived and breathed the school. That he had nothing else to really go home to, to live for.

"Morning, Neji-senpai." Shino nodded to his president.

"Good morning, Shino-san," Neji greeted without even looking up from his paperwork.

There was always paperwork on Neji's desk somehow. At times, Shino didn't understand how the school could create so much paperwork that Neji was always the first to arrive and the last to leave and yet there was still paperwork to be done. (He doesn't even get paid…)

Shino placed the coffee he brought on Neji's desk, who thanked him as always. Sitting down at his desk, he pulled out his textbooks and studied a little bit as he waited for the two hours to pass so that class could start. They let the silence settle between them, the only noises being the strokes of Shino's highlighter and Neji's scribblings with his pen.

He had already given Neji the work he'd finished yesterday. So while he technically had nothing to do in the office, a part of him didn't want to leave Neji alone.

Being the president was sometimes very lonely.


"STOP!" Kakashi yelled, his hand in the air. "Thank you for coming. Goodbye." He waited as the dejected piano player shuffled his way off the stage. (God, that was terrible!)

"Next!"

The man stumbled out, only to trip. (Did he just trip on air…?) His piano papers went flying.

Kakashi closed his eyes in dismay while the man scrambled around for the papers.

"He's a bit of a klutz," Asuma pointed out needlessly as they both watched the man rush for the piano sheets.

"That's an understatement," Kakashi murmured. If he weren't so desperate, he'd send the man out immediately, but so far no one had matched his standards. "What's up, Asuma?"

"I'm re-opening sensei's case."

Startled, Kakashi looked at him. "You mean the case that got him killed?"

"It was declared an accident, Kakashi." Asuma was staring determinedly at the piano player, ignoring Kakashi's scoff.

"That's bullshit, Asuma, and you know it!" Kakashi all but growled out. "They were murdered."

Asuma looked back at Kakashi, ignoring the way the piano player managed to slip on a stray piece of paper and lose the papers again.

"I know, but until I can prove it, I'm sticking with the official story." Asuma smiled bitterly. "You of all people should understand office politics."

"It's because of those politics that I got out, Asuma." Kakashi scoffed again. They stared in silence again at the clumsy piano player. "Are you sure this is a smart thing to do, all things considered?"

"All things?" Asuma asked just as softly.

"It got him killed, Asuma. Kurenai's pregnant – she's all the more vulnerable now." Kakashi was scared for his best friend. He was scared for his friend. He was scared for his future godchild. He didn't want to have another person he cared for to die because of that stupid goddamn case! (Too many have suffered because of this one case!)

"It's because she's pregnant that I need to do this, Kakashi." Asuma looked at his friend. "How can I tell my child that because I was scared, I looked the other way? This has been hovering over all our shoulders for a long time. We all need closure. More people than us have suffered. I want to give sensei closure. He died for this and I want to make sure it wasn't in vain."

Kakashi closed his eyes in pain. "You were always too damn honourable."

"Runs in the family." Asuma smirked.

Kakashi chuckled briefly. "Why are you telling me this?"

Asuma sighed loudly. "Just in case. I'm not officially re-opening the case because I might as well paint a large target sign on my back if I did. But because I am still looking into it, it might reach the wrong ears. So, I'm asking you - "

"Don't!" Kakashi tried to interrupt, knowing what was coming.

"- I need you to look after Kurenai and the baby. Don't run away from this responsibility. I'm not asking you to be a father or to marry her. But if she needs support, I need you to be there for her. She'll say that's she's fine and everything, but you are one of the few people who can see through her bullshit. It might be financial help or she just might need you to babysit for a night to recovery her sanity. But please - "

"Okay."

Asuma stopped his tirade. "Okay?"

"Okay." Kakashi sighed. "Because I can do that much for you. But this better not be a request from a dying man!"

"Don't you know, Kakashi? We're all dying."

"Oh my god – stop with the philosophical mumbo jumbo!" Kakashi groaned into the air.

Asuma just laughed. He clapped Kakashi on the shoulder as he got up. "Looks like your piano player is finally ready, so I'm going to go surprise Kurenai for a bit before heading back to the office."

"Yeah, you do that." Kakashi lazily waved as Asuma headed towards the exit out of the auditorium. He waited until his friend had left before turning back to the piano player. It might seem rude but hey! He'd had to wait for the klutz first.

"Are you finally ready?" Kakashi drawled, almost ready just to send the guy home and hope for a miracle to come through the doors.

The man flushed in embarrassment. "Yes."

"What are you going to play?"

"Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit."

Kakashi blinked, impressed by the man's guts. Gaspard de la Nuit was something that very few piano players touched because of its incredible technical difficulty. Kakashi had his reservations that this clumsy man could play it. "Which one?"

"Scarbo." Kakashi nodded. (Well, go big or go home…)

He wouldn't have believed it if he had not see it with his own eyes. The klutz man-child had transformed the moment his hands touched the piano. He lost himself completely in the music, and his body swayed as if the song was moving within him. He did not even look at the pages, playing instead by memory.

Kakashi's jaw remained dropped as he watched the man move through one of the most difficult pieces with ease. He allowed him to play the full piece.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi made sure to show nothing. "Okay, can you play this piece?" Lifting his hand, he pressed play on his remote. His iPod, which was attached to BOSE speakers, started playing Yiruma's River Flows in You. The piece was not as difficult as what the man had played before, but Kakashi had changed a couple things in the piece. He wanted a piano player who was talented enough to notice the small changes in a piece. He wanted someone who could play by ear as well. Most of the piano players who had auditioned beforehand had not noticed the changes.

But this man did. After hearing the songs once (ONCE!?) he managed to play the song perfectly and then told Kakashi exactly where the changes were and what the new notes were.

Kakashi didn't bother to hide his excitement this time. "Congratulations! You're in!"


OMG! Fixing this was a GIANT mess. I'm sooo sorry! I think ever one of my author notes has an apology in it.

Anyways, hope you like it. If you do, leave a review on this or another chapter.

Read & Review,

Ramen