She looked beautiful, her short pink hair cascading in curls down her back.
He usually was more for strength than looks. Looking at her and contemplating the circumstances of her hair, Lee felt a spark of something.
"Hi," Sakura said shyly.
"Hello, Sakura-san! I am so glad you could come! This is truly the romantic endeavor of my dreams!" Lee exclaimed with enthusiasm.
He still couldn't believe she agreed to this. She barely even knew him! Girls usually nicely (or, in the case of Hanamori Ami, not so nicely) declined. And she said he was strong!
Lee was in shock. How was he strong, when she was even stronger, a beautiful flower of youth that would gladly sacrifi-
"This way Lee-kun." Sakura blushed. "I'm sorry, can I call you that?"
"Of course!"
"Thank you."
Looking towards a table set up with various flowers, she smiled. "Over here, Lee-kun. I reserved this table for us."
'Isn't that usually the man's job?' he wondered.
He let that thought escape from his head. This was Haruno Sakura here. Wherever she led, he would gladly follow.
The sweet aroma of the flowers greeted him as he walked closer and closer to the table. To her.
Abruptly, some pollen clogged up his nose and he coughed to get it out.
With worry in her green eyes, Sakura questioned, "You okay?"
Lee nodded vigorously. "Yes, I am! I'm fine. Yes, completely fine. Yes, yes, yes. Fine. That is me!"
Sakura giggled. "They must have not washed the flowers."
Sure enough, there were yellow specks on the red flower. Gerbera, if he remembered correctly. There was also one Gladiolus and two Daffodils.
Gerbera, Daffodils, Gladiolus.
Cheerfulness, new beginnings, strength.
Sakura.
"Uh, Sakura-san, did you choose these?"
"Yeah. Sorry if they're not the best quality, this restaurant uses its own flowers."
"No, no! It's fine. They're beautiful."
Just like you.
"Aren't they?" she beamed.
"That was amazing!" Sakura exclaimed after they'd finished eating.
It really was. While they ate, they discussed anything and everything. This ranged from her team to what gossip she heard at the hospital.
Food was something Lee rarely went "all out" on. It was worth it this one time.
"I can't believe I forgot to try the dango there!" Lee cried. He was so engrossed in the conversation that he barely ate anything at all!
"Oh well. We'll both try it next time, ne?"
With that, she waved goodbye, turned on her heel, and walked away.
Lee felt his heart skip a beat.
Next time.
I'm so bad at fluff. But this idea randomly came to me and I had to do something about it. This is neither professional nor is it meant to be 100% in the canon timeline.
If you stretch it a bit, it could be considered a "novella" of sorts in companion to "Through Time", if anyone remembers that.
I hope you liked it!
(edit: still horrifying. but I was peer pressured to post this by discord ppl.)