A/N: Okay, boo people. no reviews. that sux. at the very least you could give me a review saying: 'update soon', or something equally as review-cliche. whatever... So, just for that, no true leads to the pairings just yet. Come on! (pouts) Okay... On with the fic!

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My Countdown Starts Now

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Naruto grinned at his mirror, tugging at his long sleeved, orange and charcoal striped shirt. No matter what happened over the last few years, Naruto would never give up his favorite color.

He brushed his long bangs out of his eyes. No longer the spiky mess of blonde, now Naruto had straight hair growing, shorter than Lee's, but alot choppier. He stared into the mirror, absently tapping his lip and finally leaned over to a box on his dresser, taking out a simple black choker and quickly putting it on.

A knock on the door interuppted his staring contest with himself, and he quickly ran out of his bedroom to get the door. "Ne, morning! I'm almost ready!" Naruto exclaimed, letting Lee and Shikamaru in before racing into the living room to get his things. The two friends sat in the cramped kitchen, Lee grabbing an apple out of a basket, and Shika leaning against the counter.

Naruto joined them there grinning as he put on his studded belt, seeing as his dark jeans were a tad too big and barely staying on his hips. "Ready!" He exclaimed just as Lee threw the apple core into the trash can and Shikamaru started toward the door.

Shikamaru was wearing dark blue jeans, his favorite grey, green-trimmed jacket over a tight brown band shirt and a leather, studded cuff on his left wrist. Unlike when he was younger, Shika wore his hair down, almost touching his broad shoulders.

All three were pretty fit , seeing as Naruto wasn't the only one in the group master of the almighty 'puppy-dog eyes' trick, coughleesdoingcough. Sadly Shikamaru was neither a master of nor immune to it, which he'd cursed over a hundred time in this week alone.

Lee was wearing practically the same as the day before, but with a dark green over-sized hoodie from his favorite band and his favorite graffitied pair of low chucks. Shikamaru and Naruto were wearing similiar shoes, but Naruto's with orange laces, and Shikamaru's without a mark.

Naruto jogged a bit to catch up with his taller companions. "So, I was thinking of getting my lip pierced soon. What do you think?" Lee grinned. "That would be cool, I myself was thinking of getting a tongue ring in he future..." Naruto chuckled and nodded his approval. He glanced at Shikamaru. "What do you think, Shika?"

Shikamaru frowned and looked at the blonde from the corner of his eye. "I don't know..." Naruto instantly pouted and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You're the one who's had his ears pierced since he was eight! Don't be a hypocrite!" Lee nodded in agreement and Shikamaru just scowled. "Do what you want, I don't care." Naruto looked pissed and entered the school gate still glaring at Shika.

Which is probably why he bumped into someone almost right away. "Oh, sorry," Naruto said quickly on reflex. "You better be sorry, dobe," Naruto looked up and scowled at the dark figure. "You! You know, we're both fifteen now, don't you think it's about time you stopped calling me that, you bastard!" Sasuke just smirked and walked away without a word.

Naruto glared sourly after him and he looked up to see Shikamaru with a relaxing hand on his shoulder. "Just let it go, he's an asshole who doesn't deserve your time." Naruto instantly brightened and gave Shikamaru a rare smile. "Yea, you're right," he said with his rare soft voice. Lee smiled at his two friends and was suddenly wrenched from his musings by sudden bear hug from around behind.

"Hey, Tenten," Lee groaned into the hug and she let go. He turned to see her, Neji and Hinata. Neji had a smirk on his face and Hinata had a warm little smile. "G-good morning, Lee-kun," Hinata said under her bangs. Tenten grinned at the younger, shy girl and patted her head.

"Come one, Lee, don't want to be late," Tenten said while grabbing/dragging the raven haired boy, her plaited skirt flying slightly with her speed. Today she was wearing a dark skirt, white knee-highs, a purple hoodie, and brown and pink Vans. Neji and Hinata hurrily followed them realizing the time. Naruto and Shikamaru had already gone.

xxx

"So, you'll sit with us today?" Lee asked Tenten as they entered the cafeteria. She nodded, and grabbed Neji's arm tightly as if not to let him wonder off . "Hey, Lee! We're sitting outside today!" Naruto yelled from across the cafeteria, next to the door leading from the cafeteria to the outside. Lee nodded and Naruto was instantly dragging Shikamaru outside with him.

They found Naruto and Shikamaru under a large tree with their lunch buddies from the day before. Hinata smiled up at them and Chouji waved. Everyone else were preoccupied; Naruto and Kiba were arguing once again, Shika was sleeping, and Shino was watching the ants walking one after the other into the ant hill. Quite fascinating, wouldn't you say?

Lee sat next to Hinata and started asking how her classes were, Hinata talked about the History class and somehow Tenten got into the conversation. So Lee left the girls to their talking, and tried to start a conversation with Neji. "So, what clubs are you part of here, Neji?" "Ski club, student government..." "Oh, so no sports?" "No." Not very much out of that.

"Do you mind if we eat with you guys?" The group all looked up, seeing Sakura had asked with Sasuke and Ino behind her. Lee smiled friendily and nodded. Lee immediately gave up on Neji and decided to talk to Sakura. "So, have you thought about which roll you want to be in the play, Sakura-san?" Lee asked politely.

Sakura pressed her finger to her lip and looked thoughtful. "I was thinking maybe either Hermia or Hippolyta," Sakura answered, a blush coming for some reason. Lee smiled. "I think you would make a great Hermia!" Sakura smiled happily and Ino giggled. Sakura gave her a warning look and Ino just rolled her eyes and returned to staring at Sasuke. Who currently was insulting a hardly restrained Naruto.

"So, dobe, that's a nice collar you got there, where's your owner, boy?" Sasuke snickered at his own joke and Shikamaru was having a hard time trying to stop Naruto from attacking the Uchiha.

"For your information, it's not a collar, it's a choker. And I don't have an 'owner', but unfortunately for you, I am taken. So back off, you damn ice block." Sasuke scowled and took a big bite of his sandwich, rather violently. "Oh, really, well who is this supposed 'girlfriend' of yours, or maybe it's a boyfriend?" Sasuke smirked viciously.

Naruto just glared at him coldly. "None. Of. Your. Damn. Business." said Naruto standing up. "Asshole!" Everyone watched as Naruto stomped away with a dark cloud over his head. Shikamaru and Kiba glared over at the suddenly victorious-looking Uchiha.

"Uchiha, you have to be the most troublesome fuckhead I've ever met," Shikamaru said, his lazy tone edged with anger, and left jogging after the seething blonde.

Lee frowned and shook his head at Sasuke while Kiba yelled at him and Ino yelled at Kiba. Sakura and Tenten looked apologetic for what Sasuke had said, while Neji just rolled his eyes. Hinata and Chouji looked uncomfortable, while Shino looked blank with his dark shades hiding any emotion.

"Ne, maybe you should go help Shikamaru-san calm Naruto-kun down, Lee-kun?" Hinata said quietly. Lee smiled weakly at her. "Nah, I think Shikamaru can handle it." The group ate in silence a little longer before Sakura finally broke it. "So what about you, Lee-kun, what character were you thinking of?"

Lee smiled and answered right away. "Well, I wouldn't mind too much if I got any of the parts, but I'd love to be Oberon or Theseus. I don't really want to be one of the love-tangled teenagers, it's a bit too much for me," Lee chuckled a little and Ino grinned.

"Hmm, wouldn't it be interesting to have Sakura play as Hippolyta to Lee's Theseus?" Sakura blushed in embarassment and tried to hit Ino, which ended up with the two to running around the grounds the remainder of lunch time. Lee simply chuckled and turned to Tenten, Hinata and Neji to talk about the upcoming basketball season.

xxxx

"Ne, anyone wanna come to the arcade with me and Shika?" Naruto asked the group as they walked out of school. Behind him were Shikamaru, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Hinata, and Kiba. They met up with Shino and Chouji at the gate, close to where Sasuke was waiting for his bus with his two fangirls.

Lee nodded quickly and Kiba made a loud show of saying he and Shino would come. Shino rolled his eyes behind his glasses, but shrugged none the less. Chouji exclaimed he was needed at home, as did Hinata.

Neji just shook his head and Tenten said she had practice in ten minutes. Sakura chirped in that she'd tag along, meanwhile Ino elbowing her with a grin, which she ignored.

Naruto froze and looked thoughtful. "Oh, yea, what time do we need to be over Kankuro's, Lee?" Lee slapped his forehead and looked sheepish. "Thank God you reminded me, Naruto, I almost forgot. We have to get there around four thirty. Kankuro woulda killed us if we were late."

Tenten quirked an eyebrow. "Who's this Kankuro guy? And why does it matter if you're late?" The others seemed to become interested and unconsciously listened up.

Lee sweatdropped, as did Naruto. Shikamaru blinked lazily and rolled his eyes. "Kankuro's a friend of ours from our old school and we're going over his house to get ready for our job."

Naruto looked relieved, but Lee still fidgeted a bit, like he was waiting for a chance to bolt.

"Aren't you guys a bit under the proper age for work, you know, according to child labor laws?" Sasuke asked suspiciously and eyed the nervous Lee and the now shifty Naruto.

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance and shifted his feet impatiently. "We work at this club for a few hours, child labor laws don't effect us because we only don't work so much a week. Besides, Lee is within legal age of it, we only have a year before we are. Now are we going to the arcade or not, we only have an hour left now. Gosh, you people and your questions... so troublesome."

Tenten looked down at her watch and yelped. "I'm late for practice! See you guys tomorrow!" Tenten yelled as she started sprinting toward the gymnasium.

The spell of suspicion was broken and everyone went their own ways, Naruto leading the small group to the nearby arcade.

xxxxx

When they got to the arcade they all split up. Kiba went to the car racing games, yelling at Shino to play against him. Naruto played Street Fighters for ten minutes before making Shika play air hockey with him.

Lee, who'd been playing with Naruto, went onto one player mode, but stopped when Sakura asked him to play Dance Dance Revolution with her. He did happily, even though he missed a few on the easiest mode, while Sakura was doing pretty good on a medium-ish mode. She giggled everytime Lee hurriedly tried doing moves just to be too late.

An hour later Naruto, Shika and Lee were saying good bye to Kiba and Shino, while Sakura walked with them until she had to take an other street to her house.

xxxxx

"Okay, so Kankuro can't complain, we're five minutes early," Naruto said looking at his digital watch. "Your watch is slow, we're a minute late," Shikamaru stated boredly and Naruto pushed him playfully into the door. "Yea, yea, whatever, genius boy."

"Late," Temari stated plainly when she answered the door.

"You know, you're here enough, you might as well just open the door yourself, it wasn't locked," Temari complained, going back to watching her show in the living room. "Yea, I'll remeber that, blondie," Naruto said as they headed for the basement. Temari just snorted and ate her piece of cheese cake.

"You're blond too, Naruto," Lee said as they climbed down the steps. Naruto looked up at him and grinned. "I'm blond, not blonde."

"Yea, right, blondie," Kankuro said boredly from his place behind his drum set. Naruto stuck out his tongue and reached out for his own instrument.

"Let's just start, shall we," Lee said neutrally, turning on all of the amps and microphones.

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A/N: Haha, the pairings are actually not really how they seem, not exactly. Keep that in mind. So come on people, review. It drives me crazy. Really, it does, and I'm sure any other author reading this would agree. Okay, besides guessing the pairings, I'll also dedicate the next chapter if you guess who has which instrument, besides Kankuro of course. Just for fun, give it a shot, kay? REVIEW! gosh!

Ja Ne..