Title: New Season
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Rating: K
Summary: 'They walked on, across the bridge and back into the village. Sometimes their shoulders would touch, and Sakura held his hitai-ate in her hand.' (Sakura & Lee)
Authors Notes: Well, I asked SpiritualEnergy to write this for me a long time ago... I think it was fic request for a DA meme. But... she skipped right over the Naruto fandom and when right from Beyblade to Death Note. Oh well. I always liked the idea of why Sakura re-cut her hair (you can see it grown out in a flashback) and why she changed her hitai-ate (forehead protector) from blue to red. Anyway, I hope you all like it. And if you're like me, and you enjoy seeing Sakura become the village bicycle and pairing her with any/every one then check out the new LJ community I help maintain. It's called pinkcrack... should be easy enough to find. We're looking for new members, so come read the rules and post!

"Your hair's gotten long again." Lee said to Sakura one spring day, a year and a half after Naruto left her. Two years after Sasuke left her.

She touched the pinks strands, almost surprised to find them long and thick, and silky as ever. Despite the fact that she didn't condition anymore. "Oh." She twisted the strand around her finger, tugging a little as the hair pulled in her grasp. "I hadn't noticed."

Lee smiled. It was broad and wide, but secret still. He was hiding something. "You look nice with long hair." They walked together next to the river, and her hair blew across her face, covering her eyes. "You had long hair the first time I met you."

Sakura smiled lightly. It didn't reach her eyes, she can feel it. It hasn't reached her eyes in a long time. "Is that so?" She wondered and thought back to when she'd first met him. During the chuunin exams, it seemed so long ago. And she remembered when she cut her hair while the sound-nin Kin held fists-full of it, kunai drawn, and helpless. She was weak then, and she remembers it more like remembering a movie she watched when she was younger. It didn't feel like her life, or her memory. "I suppose I did." She pulled the strand out, and let it float away on the wind.

"Are you going to leave it long?" Lee asked, and Sakura could hear something in his voice she didn't like. Concern. She was grown now, and stronger than most people gave her credit for.

"I hadn't thought about it." Sakura told him, truthfully. She'd been too busy training to cut it, really. And the weeks bleed into months and years and she just never considered her hair all that much. "I used to wear it short when I was little." She remembered even less from those years, when Ino defended her against the other girls.

"Oh?" Lee asked and stepped onto the low bridge to cross the river. "Why did you grow it long?" he clasped his hands behind his back and looked away, like he already knew that the answer would hurt her, and he didn't want to see her hurt.

"Sasuke." She said, dry and even. She left off the honorific, and it tasted wrong, somehow on her tongue.

"Hmm." Lee still looked away and nodded at the setting sun.

"Maybe I'll cut it again." She said as her hair covered her face again. It was annoying, troublesome. "It gets in the way."

Lee turned to look at her finally. His round eyes sparkled and his lips tugged at the edges, pulling his face up, lifting it from the soul to the heavens. "I like it better short." He said and moved aside to give her room to walk next to him.

Sakura liked the smile he gave her. Because she knew, it was just for her. And she smiled and almost let it reach her eyes. Her cheeks lift and her teeth peeked past the line of her up-turned lips. "So did I."

"I can cut it for you." He said and Sakura laughed.

"No thanks, Lee." She nudged him in the ribs, gently. "I think I'll ask Ino to do it, she helped straighten it out last time." Sakura pulled her hair back and twisted it into a low knot on her neck, to keep it out of her face.

Lee stopped walking next to her and turned. His face as set, serious, and his eyes looked much deeper than they ought to. "I like when you pull your hair away from your face." He took a step towards her, and she didn't move. His eyes were so dark and they didn't shine they way they usually did. Instead, they smoldered. "I can see your eyes." And he reached a hand up, drinking in the space between them.

His hands were always clothed, always covered. She'd seen the scars there before, in the past. But the bandages he wrapped around his entire body were clean and soft against her cheek. He grazed a cloth-covered knuckle over her face, gently, and so lightly she didn't even think to pull away. And his eyes smoldered on.

"You wore it down today." His voice was deep and soft. It felt like the warm summer breeze against her face.

"My hitai-ate's all worn out. The fabric was tattered and torn." She spoke quietly too, afraid to break the spell he cast over her. "It fell apart." She felt strange, naked almost, without her hitai-ate. She'd had it for so long, years now. But this morning when he asked her to go for a walk, the metal protector with the leaf insignia clattered to the floor. It ripped from the faded blue fabric.

"Take mine," he said. He was still standing close. His hand fell away, to the hitai-ate around his waist.

"I can't take yours." She shook her head slightly, and a few strands of her hair escaped the knot.

"I want you to." He took her hand, and rested it against her palm. Her fingers curled around it, the metal was still warm. "I can get another one." He brushed her hair away, his fingertips just almost touching her temple.

Sakura only nodded, unsure of what to say.

"And when you cut your hair again, you can wear it."

It wasn't until then that Sakura really noticed how tall Lee was. He towered over her. And as his neck bent, and his dipped his lips to her forehead, it seemed to take an eternity. His bandaged fingers slipped into her hair, still bound at her neck and her nose rubbed against his chin as his kiss went on and on.

Finally, he pulled back, and she was sure his lips would be branded against her forehead for the rest of her life. "But it's red. Mine was blue." It seemed like such a silly thing to worry about. But still, she was used to the blue. "Won't the red look bad with my hair?"

Lee chuckled. It was a sound Sakura had never heard him make before. It made her think he was a man, not a boy. And she was a woman, not a girl. Her cheeks got hot and she tried to turn away. But his hands found her chin and he held her there, looking at her like there was a fire dying behind his eyes. "You will always be beautiful."

"Lee-san." Suddenly, Sakura's lips felt dry and cracked, liked if she didn't use them, they'd turn to dust and disintegrate on the wind.

"Red suits you better than blue." He picked up a strand of her hair that escaped and pinched it between his fingers, examining it. "Don't you think?"

Sakura nodded, because she didn't know what else to do.

"I'm going away on a mission tomorrow." His voice rumbled the air between them. "But when I come home, it'll be for you."

"Lee-san." Sakura gasped and pulled the hitai-ate tight against her chest.

"I promised you once that I'd protect you with my life." He smiled a sad, wistful smile. "But you don't need that anymore. You've become strong and more than capable of protecting yourself." Sakura blushed; no one had been around to compliment her so thoroughly. She was unaccustomed to that kind of praise. "So this time I'll make you a different promise." He pushed on her shoulders, just enough to fit the whole world between them. And he outstretched his hand, thumbs up and smiled that same 'nice guy pose' he'd inherited from Maito Gai.

"I promise I'll never leave you, Sakura-san." His smile faltered and the gleam of his teeth faded back against his falling lips. "I swear I'll come back for you. I'll always come back for you."

She believed him. She had no reason not to. Once Lee made a promise, it was canon. She nodded. A single tear, unshed dripped from her eyelid and disappeared in the sweet spring breeze. "Arigatou Lee-san." She held the hitai-ate to her chest and nodded, because she didn't know what else to do. "I'll see you soon then."

Then Sakura smiled. It was bright, and true, and reached her eyes the way her smiles used to when she was younger and not heartbroken.

They walked on, across the bridge and back into the village. Sometimes their shoulders would touch, and Sakura held his hitai-ate in her hand. He touched her face again before he vanished, leaving her on the corner of her street.

The next day, she asked Ino to cut her hair. Ino nodded and took her into the back room of her family's flower shop. She didn't ask why, and Sakura was grateful, ever grateful for it. And once her locks were chopped, and swept into a bundle on the floor, Sakura pulled the red-fabric of Lee's hitai-ate from her pocket.

Ino tied it, tight, and true. Sakura smiled and thanked her again and again. "For everything," she said as she left the shop.

Tsunade didn't mention her hair cut, one of the few people who didn't, and that made Sakura think that maybe she was one of few who understood.

A week later Naruto came home.

A week after that, she saw Lee again. Her eyes found him next to Gai, his own hitai-ate around his waist, just like away. She stood on the river in front of the akatsuki hideout and he had the same, smoldering expression.

He smiled, and she touched her hair. And the spell was broken.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-san!" His face split into a wide grin, the kind she was used to.

"Everyone, you were one step ahead of us, weren't you?" Sakura looked at Lee when she spoke.

And just before Gai screamed "Team Gai, let's go with the full power of youth! Scatter!" Lee gave Sakura a tiny, almost-not-there, barely-visible nod. Then, he was gone.

He wasn't going to protect her; he knew she didn't need that. Instead, she heard his new promise echo in her head.

I'll always come back for you.

Sakura clenched her gloved-fists and destroyed the side of the cliff with her monstrous strength. No, she didn't need anyone to protect her anymore. But it was nice to know that there would always be someone waiting for her.

I wrote this in 20 minutes, between cleaning the guinea pig cage and finishing my River/Jayne fic for SE. (It's almost done!)