It was morning in the village of Konoha and in a small, crumbling house in a forgotten edge of the village, a young blond kid with a mischievous look was already up and dressed, putting on his forehead protector carefully on his head, with the sign of a leaf in front of it signifying his position as a ninja of konoha. As he tied it securely around the back of his head, he remembered Iruka-sensei, his teacher in the ninja academy, who had been the first person to accept him for who he was. But recently he had found out that another person had also accepted him for himself, and it was for this person that he was up early. Even as he walked to the hospital he was thinking of how Hinata, the girl who had always resigned to being second best and stepping down, had stood up to her cousin Neji and refused to give up, even when she was on the verge of fainting. He also remembered how she had said she would not look bad in front of the person she admired. And it seemed like that person was himself. Naruto had never felt important to anyone else before and he did not know how to deal with it. So when he found out Hinata had fainted during his fight with Neji, he decided to go visit her every day before training. As he walked into the front room of the hospital, he was surprised to see Sakura, the girl he had long admired, also walking in from another entrance. He somehow didn't feel like shouting out his usual loud "Sakura-chan!", so he said quietly

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan"

Sakura, surprised by this sudden seriousness of Naruto, responded with a matching

"Ohayo Naruto."

She restrained her impulse to ask what he was doing here and instead told him

"Don't forget we have training today!"

and went her own way.

For the third day in a row since his adventures and narrow escape in what had started off as an innocent chuunin exam and ended up in a war between the ninja villages of leaf and sound, Naruto sat by the bed of Hyuuga Hinata, the girl who had tried to change herself and nearly died in the attempt. He was wrestling with the many emotions that she invoked in him, feeling himself lose control, something he had not felt since he was a little kid, when others had mocked him and despised him, and he had not known why. He was angry, not at anyone in particular, but at the words of Neji which sometimes seemed so true "It is fate. Everything is determined when you are born, fate cannot be changed." Then again, he had been able to do so, and he realized that the same went for her, even though she had lost. He touched her face gently, an adjective almost unusable for Naruto, and he silently prayed that she would be able to change as she wanted, and have the confidence to change fate.

Meanwhile in a room not so far away, Sakura looked upon an empty bed that was supposed to have held Rock Lee, who had been injured so severely by the sand kid Gaara during their match that it was doubtful whether he could fight again. Sakura considered going to find Naruto, having guessed who he was visiting, but instead she began to search for Lee, finding him eventually down in the hospital grounds, doing push ups with his one good hand. Though he was obviously in pain, his expression was one of determination, his teeth grinding together as he sought to suppress the pain. Sakura almost cried out when he saw him, the sight of his self inflicted torture arousing and indescribable emotion in her, a mixture of compassion, comfort and pity, and something else as well. Suddenly Lee cried out, his pain too much fo him, and Sakura rushed over to him, taking his hand and gently lifting him up to a sitting position.

"Lee-san! Are you alright!"

Lee looked confused, then a pained expression clouded over his face

"Sakura-chan, why are you here. I...I have to keep my training up, I can't be distracted..."

"Lee-san, stop torturing yourself, besides you don't even know if you can continue being a shinobi!"

She regretted her words instantly. Lee looked up at her with eyes full of despair, and she wanted to give him reason to hope. But she had no idea what hope he had, so instead she helped Lee back to his room, and made him rest for a while, insisting that he needed sleep to get better, even though she knew he would not get better without a miracle. Sakura admired his determination, but it was not good for him right now.

"Lee-san, please, don't hurt yourself anymore, promise me that you won't do it again, when you get better you can train as much as you like..."

Lee was silent, and his silence was an answer in itself.