Disclaimer: Don't own, not making money from this. Just playing in the sandbox. Also, I don't own Kelly Clarkson's song "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"

One day, Sakura woke up to the realization that she wasn't in love with Sasuke, just in love with the idea of Sasuke. She was sixteen then and he still hadn't come home. At nineteen, her training with Tsunade had progressed so far that she was sometimes referred to as 'mini Tsunade'; she could barely remember what she'd been like fresh out of the academy - smart, but helpless in battle and obnoxiously obsessed with Sasuke.

Then it happened. It was an average Monday morning, Sakura was making her usual rounds through the hospital when she was hastily dragged into Shizune's office.

"What's going on?"

"He's back."

Those two little words knocked the breath from Sakura's lungs and she slumped into the chair in front of Shizune's desk. It had been almost six years; she had almost convinced herself he'd never come home.

"W-where is he?" Sakura croaked, threading her fingers into her hair. Where's Lee or Naruto when you need him?

"He was immediately escorted to the Hokage's office by Ibiki and several ANBU agents."

Sakura nodded and took several calming breaths.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Sakura? I know this must come as a great shock to you..."

"Any chance I can go home early? I need to think..."

"Of course."

Despite overwhelming calls for his death, Sasuke was allowed to live, though it was decided that he had to be constantly monitored by no less than two ANBU agents at all times and he was required to wear chakra inhibitors.

Sakura managed to avoid Sasuke for over two weeks, using all the tricks she'd gleaned from Kakashi to do so; she had to give him credit though, he was determined to find her and had almost succeeded on more than one occasion, even though he was stripped of most of his shinobi skills via the chakra inhibitors.

Even after all this time, she wasn't sure she was ready to see her former teammate and childhood crush, which is why she avoided him like the plague.

It had been a particularly grueling, bloody day and all Sakura wanted to do was go home, shower and pass out and hopefully, Lee would be home in the morning.

"It's about time I found you. I'd like to talk to you."

Inner Sakura jumped a mile in the air, and Sakura looked wearily into the dark eyes of the Uchiha she'd been avoiding, "What do you want? I'm tired and in desperate need of a shower."

He produced a bouquet of cherry blossoms from behind his back, maneuvering himself so she couldn't make an easy escape, "These are for you...I thought maybe we could start over and maybe I could take you out to dinner sometime?"

"The flowers are pretty Sasuke," he smirked smugly, obviously thinking he'd won her over so easily, "But I'm going to have to decline the offer; you see, I'm already happily in a committed relationship."

"What?" He spluttered angrily, "I thought you loved me!"

Sakura rubbed her face and laughed slowly, "Once upon a time, I thought I did too. I just loved the idea of you, Sasuke... Did you really think that I'd come running back to you when you finally came home? You really don't know me do you?"

"I know plenty about you, we were teammates."

She added just a touch of chakra to her hand and slapped him for all she was worth, "That was six years ago, Sasuke! I'm not that weak little genin anymore; I learned a long time ago that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger; it makes you a fighter; makes you stand taller. And I certainly wasn't about to sit around and wait for a boy who clearly thought I wasn't worth his time and betrayed his village so easily."

Sakura took a deep breath and smiled when she saw the cloud of dust making a bee line for the hospital from the Konoha gates - finally, he was home. "I suppose I should thank you though, Sasuke. Thanks to you, I've got a new thing started, I'm not sitting around broken hearted and I'm finally thinking about me... You know, in the end, the day you left was just my beginning."

With speed she wasn't expecting, he grabbed her by the arm and squeezed hard, making her wince, "You'll regret this. No one says no to me."

"No, you will regret laying a hand on my delicate lotus blossom." The cloud of dust settling behind Lee was impressive, even by Lee's standards and his meticulously cared for bowl cut was slightly windblown. His eyes were narrowed in irritation and his lips were uncharictaristically turned down in a frown, "Remove your hand from her arm, Uchiha."

Sasuke hissed under his breath, but did as Lee ordered when his ANBU shadows took a step closer, ready to diffuse the situation. Sakura took the opportunity to eagerly race into her boyfriend's waiting arms, "I'm glad you're home, Lee."

He turned them away from the hospital, shyly brushing a bit of dust from his flak vest, "I missed you too, Sakura; I hope he didn't hurt you?"

"Of course not."

Lee hugged her against his side, "How was work?"

Sakura groaned, dropping her head wearily against his shoulder, "Worst day ever."

"Then may I be so bold as to recommend picking up dinner and having a nice long soak in a hot bath before bed?"

"That sounds heavenly. Can we go to your place? You have a bigger tub than I do, much more accomodating for two plus take out."

"Two? Are you asking me to join you?"

Sakura felt the rush of heat as it crossed her cheeks, "Yeah... I mean I totally understand if you don't want to, I know we've never done anything like this before..."

With a smile, Lee reached into a pocket on his vest and produced a slender scroll, "I found another one for our collection on the way home - it's a lovely pink lotus this time."

She laughed and plucked the scroll from his hand, "You always bring home pink lotus flowers, Lee."

"And you always bring home green rocks! Where you manage to find them, I'll never guess." They came to a stop in front of Lee's apartment building. "I'll go get dinner, you run upstairs and start the bath."

Author's Notes: First of all, I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on the series. I'm not. I haven't even finished it. I just like playing with the characters in the sandbox when a plot bunny strikes, so I'm allowing myself to take several generous liberties regarding character survivability and time frame. That being said, this is technically my first Naruto fic, since its the first one I'm posting, but really it's my third (the other two aren't ready yet), so don't be too harsh on me. :)

Second, this was written and published on my phone, while chasing my 15 month old around the house, so it's definitely not my best writing. To be honest, I'm just happy to be writing again after a two year bout of writers' block.

Third: Personally, I'm not a fan of the Lee/Sakura pairing (I think?), but they just seemed to have the right fit for this fic. And Sasuke really just annoys the crap out of me. It was inspired by the song mentioned in my disclaimer and Sakura's big speech to Sasuke is actually snippets of lyrics. But I digress: I realize Lee seems unusually mild tempered, it was done purposefully. In the area of my brain known as my imagination, I decided that Lee and Sakura have been together for a year or two and in that time she's managed to convince him to tone it down a bit; naturally, he would concede to her due to how much he loves her, although I can fully imagine he's just as intense as ever when he's training or in battle.

Thank you for reading and I hope to find myself in front of a computer again soon, finishing my other fics. :)