Naruto pounded on Shikamaru's apartment door, impatiently rapping his knuckles against it and ramming the door with his foot. Somebody yelled at him from inside that it was open, and Naruto waltzed in, hands stuffed in his pockets, and leaned against the nearest wall.

Shikamaru's place was always a mess; not because his parents were slobs (in fact, only one of them was), but because his mother never had enough time for to clean up the messes he and his father left behind. In fact, Naruto noticed a good forty dishes set out to dry on racks beside the kitchen sink, and piles of laundry folded and awaiting a chance to be placed into dressers.

Shikamaru was currently rooting one of these neatly folded laundry piles, sending clothes flying onto the kitchen floor behind him, in need of a good sweeping, apparently desperate in his search for something.

"Dang, Shikamaru!" exclaimed Naruto, walking over to where his friend was, and looking over the discarded clothes, still warm from the dryer. "You're lucky your mom's at the grocery store, man. She's gonna kill you when we get home tonight."

Shikamaru grunted at him, but suddenly let a rare, wiseguy grin slid over his face as he produced a pair of jeans from the laundry basket.

Naruto surveyed the jeans with light curiousity; the knees had huge rips, and other parts of the jeans were threadbare and faded. They were dark, nonstretch denim, and judging by their size and length, clung close to Shikamaru's slim, lanky frame, but dragged on the ground in a sloppy manner. Naruto could honestly say he hadn't seen a sadder pair of jeans in his life.

Pulling them on over the pair of checkered boxers he was wearing, and nabbing an already-packed bag nearby, Shikamaru grabbed his black hightops off of the kitchen counter and pulled them on quickly, not bothering to tie the laces, and grabbed his keys from their hook beside the door, pulling Naruto out behind him.

"Jeez, man. You must be really excited about this." grinned Naruto, as both boys wandered out of the tall apartment complex and ran to catch a bus that had just pulled up. Shikamaru dropped his coins into the slot, paying for Naruto as well, and sent his blonde friend another sly smile as they took standing spots, hanging to grimy poles in the center lane of the crowded bus.

"I'm rushing because we're three hours late." said Shikamaru.

-
Sasuke glanced to the Emily the Strange watch latched around his wrist, and sent a death glare to the nearby umbrellas on the rooftop, grimacing when the wind shifted them again and disrupted the shade he had been enjoying.

"Stupid retarded idiots." he grumbled beneath his breath, refering to Shikamaru and Naruto, and adjusting his black hoodie so no sun could touch his face. Sunglasses hid his eyes, and he was dressed in long sleeves and pants. Haku sent him a strange look, arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't want to get skin cancer." the black-haired boy grumbled, turning the slightest pink in the cheeks and looking in the other direction.

"But it's ninety degrees out here. You're going to cook your insides." giggled Haku, trying to hide his laughter behind his delicately painted blue nails.

Sasuke said nothing, but scuffed his sneakers against the gravely rooftop, quietly looking over the view of humble downtown and it's rougher points; like the homeless shelter and some of the emptier, lower quality stores by the bus station. He had been to the homeless shelter many times... his numerous foster parents had tendencies to be anything but caring and dependable. He had met many interesting people at the bus stop, as well.

The soft chattering of the others, Tayuya, Choji, and Kiba, was barely audible to him, and it was easy to slip into thought.

Suddenly, the door to the rooftop squeaked and all heads turned to see Naruto and Shikamaru come running up the stairs, grinning widely when they saw what the others had prepared.

On the second story of the east side building, which housed the music store Tayuya's adoptive father owned, three large umbrellas were arraigned to provide shade from the heavy, noontime sun, a table and several plastic chairs assembled beneath them. A folding table was placed nearby, several gifts wrapped in styles varying from striped wrapping paper to brown grocery bags, were stacked on top, each one labeled with the name of the gift giver and Rock Lee's.

Who just came marching up to the rooftop.

"Hey guys!" he called, waving to Naruto and Shikamaru as he hopped up the steps of the inside stairwell, the two other boys still perched in the doorway. The blonde and Shikamaru exchanged glances.

Immediately, Naruto yelled out a greeting to Rock Lee and came down a few steps to him, laughing and talking about random subjects. Shikamaru gave the others on the rooftop suggestive glances and motioned that the boy with the bowl cut was here.

Kiba, Choji, Haku, Sasuke and Tayuya went running and hid behind chairs, tables, and the occaisional air conditioner placed on the roof.

Obviously put off by Naruto's nervous laughing and stuttering, Rock Lee pushed up to the rooftop, looking over the things placed there with confusion. "W- Where is everyone?" he asked, brows creased in worry. Naruto had called and told him how they were going to have a picnic lunch on the rooftop of the music store; but where... where was everyone?

Shikamaru shrugged as though he didn't care. "We were gonna have a surprise party for you. But you were late, and everybody left after the first half hour or so." he said, voice pleasingly deep and sarcastic, just like always.

Naruto almost died when he saw how seriously Rock Lee took Shikamaru's comment. Rock Lee's lips parted in a sad attempt to look for words. His eyes became glassy for a second, before he squinted them together as he forced a laugh. "Aa-ah. I get it. It is a Saturday, everybody only has a couple hours to spare anyways." he said, scratching the back of his head and trying his best to smile.

"Argh, you bastard!" roared Tayuya, bouncing up from her crouched position behind the presents table, and stalked over to Rock Lee, punching him harshly in the gut. He let out a yelp of surprise and fear, and then pain, clutching his stomach.

"What was that for?" he wheezed, groaning and pretending to be more hurt than he actually was, so that Tayuya wouldn't have to punch him again for improved emphasis.

"You made her feel guilty, idiot. DUH." smirked Sasuke, relighting an old cigarette retrieved from the depths of his pockets, and holding it to his lips, letting out an annoyed groan when some of his black lipstick rubbed off onto his sin stick.

"Happy birthday." chimed Haku and Choji meekly, both wearing coned birthday hats, and Haku waving a small flag advertising good wishes for the new year. Rock Lee, still squinting and holding his stomach, looked over to them, and began to forget his pain, grinning widely.

Tayuya ranted on about how annoying Rock Lee is, and how pissed off she was now, her arms flailing about and a nearby potted plant nearly being smashed by one of her hard fists. Haku began giggling again, wrapping his arm around Tayuya's neck and trying to soothe her.
It was all too much; Rock Lee broke out laughing, one palm pressed against his forehead, the other rested on his hips, and just laughed and laughed. The last time his family had money for a birthday party for him, he had been five years old.

"Aah! You guys. This... this means so much to me!" cried Rock Lee passionately, doing a strange mix of a jump and a spasm and yelling excitedly.

Tayuya dryly noted this to be a "damn Kodak moment", and began chewing at the tips of her rough nails, when the funniest thing happened.

Kiba grabbed a handful of cake and squished it into Rock Lee's face.

The black-haired boy stared at Kiba strangely for a moment, seemingly confused and obviously surprised. His thick brows suddenly arched themselves, his lips parting just a sliver, and he let out a roaring holler.

"YOSH! Kiba! I will never forgive you for this!" he shouted, pointing to the sky dramatically and springing on the foxy, brown-haird youth, tackling him to the ground and pounding him. Naruto let out whoops, egging on Rock Lee, before jumping in himself, shedding his orange jacket and his face squinting as he laughed.

Tayuya let out an annoyed shriek.

"Remind me to never hang out with you guys. Ever AGAIN!"