Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Shocking, ne?
A/N: Here's your challengefic, Rizera-san. Finally. Well, uh, it can be a Christmas present, right? XD
The 'victory' photo Lee finds in his research is an actual pic on dA, which I did not do. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!
}:{
Definition of Victory
}:{
"…Haruno Sakura and Rock Lee."
Sakura blinked in confusion and sat up a little straighter. Hearing her own name had effectively dragged her out of her daydreams. Me? Rock Lee? What's this about? she wondered frantically.
Glancing at the seat directly two rows behind hers, she saw that Lee was grinning like he had won the lottery. Of course, he was always enthusiastic; everybody knew that. You'd have to be blind, deaf, and stupid not to notice his boundless energy for all things school, and even then you'd probably figure it out at some point.
Lee, Sakura had long since decided, was what you'd call unusual. And that was putting it kindly. Very kindly, in fact. Looking at him for the first time, she hadn't known what to stare at first. Her options were plentiful: the guy not only wore garish green spandex and kept his black hair in a perfect bowl cut, but he had a creepy habit of looking at you without blinking, making you feel practically stalked; and he had the biggest, fuzziest eyebrows you could ever imagine finding on an actual human being. It was as if he had accidentally glued a pair of caterpillars to his head-which, knowing Lee, he just might have.
Sakura was all for not judging people solely by appearances-her natural hair color was pink, for God's sake; she knew what it felt like to be ridiculed-but once Lee opened his mouth she knew he wasn't just weird on the outside. He used honorifics with everybody, rarely used contractions, and tended to go off on long, passionate speeches about the glory of youth.
Oh, and the guy also happened to have a crush on her.
She sighed at the thought. It hadn't exactly been difficult to figure out-he used the honorific '-san' on her name, as opposed to the '-kun' he used with everyone else, not to mention the fact that he turned a violent shade of fire engine red whenever he so much as looked at her.
With all of these equally disturbing images floating about in her mind, Sakura started wondering, nervously, about why Sasori-sensei had used their names together in a sentence. There were so many terrifying possibilities, especially considering that 1. This was an art class, and 2. It was Sasori-sensei, for crying out loud. The guy made everyone nervous, although he was by no means the scariest teacher at Senju High.
Deciding that there was nothing else for it, Sakura timidly raised her hand.
"What?" Sasori rounded on her irritably. "You have a question?"
"Yes," she uttered, immediately thanking the gods that her voice didn't come out a squeak. "Um..I'm sorry, sensei, but-"
Realizing her mistake she stopped, already berating herself. How could I be so stupid? How did I think I was going to say this without sounding like a complete idiot?!
"I was just, er, wondering.." Think. This is Sasori. He likes pairing people up for projects. Maybe I'll luck out? "..wondering what the project was!" she blurted wildly, praying her guess was right and knowing she'd have about two seconds to compose her will if it wasn't.
Thankfully, luck was on her side this time. The redheaded teacher frowned, but he didn't look murderous the way he did when he caught a student not paying attention. He opened his mouth to reply but was cut off-as he frequently was-by the TA, Deidara.
"He was just getting to that," the blond exclaimed. "Patience is a virtue, yeah!"
Sasori smacked Deidara over the head for interrupting, ignored the younger artist's angry protests, and continued with what he had been saying.
"All of you will get together with your partners and work on a project that will be due by the end of the month. It may be in whatever medium you choose; but if anyone decides to listen to my idiotic 'assistant' here and create something of an explosive nature, I will ensure that neither of you-" he glared at a scowling Deidara "-are ever seen again."
The room collectively gulped. Sakura sank down in her seat a little, hoping Lee wasn't a pyromaniac on top of everything else.
"The theme of the project," Sasori added, "is 'victory'." The bell rang, and students started getting up perhaps faster than was strictly necessary.
"Due by the end of the month, do not forget," their art sensei concluded dangerously.
}:{
When Sakura joined her friends at their usual cafeteria table, they were already chatting away.
"Come on, Tenten, you can't torture us fore-oh, hey Sakura!" Sakura waved weakly at her best friend; Ino grinned and promptly returned to the task at hand.
"Tenten finally asked Neji out," Temari explained. "And now she won't say what the result was. I don't care, personally, but Ino's going crazy. What's wrong with you, by the way?"
Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Y-You do look a little upset, S-Sakura-kun," a soft voice observed from the other side of Temari. "I-Is something wrong?"
Sakura sighed. "Nothing, just another obscure, pain-in-the-neck art assignment," she replied.
"Gee, what fun," Temari stated, her tone dripping with the sarcasm she had perfected so well. "What is it this time?"
"A project, any medium, on the theme 'victory'. We're partnering up."
"Victory, huh?" Temari said thoughtfully. "Well, it could be a lot worse. The year Gaara took Sasori's class, the first project theme was 'death'. My dear little brother brought in this actual bloody, oozing-"
"Enough!" Ino yelped. "Some of us would like to keep our lunches down!"
"So you're partnering up?" Tenten chimed in, sounding interested. "Who're you with?"
"That's possibly the worst part," Sakura groaned. "I got paired with Rock Lee."
Temari laughed, Ino groaned sympathetically; but Tenten frowned.
"I've been matched against Lee a bunch of times in fencing club," she put in. "And he always seemed like a really nice guy. He's super polite."
"He's weird!" Ino exclaimed, voicing what most of them had been thinking.
"A little eccentric, maybe," Tenten conceded, "but nice. Besides, Sakura, you could do a lot worse. I had to do a science experiment with that Shino guy once, and he was just freaky. He never took off his sunglasses so I didn't know if he was looking at me, and he was always wearing this parka-this was near summertime, mind! It must've been a hundred degrees under that thing!"
"I got stuck with Shikamaru for a co-op English assignment last year," Temari volunteered. "Bad enough that he was my ex; the lazy jerk didn't help out at all. He did enough research for about a paragraph, maybe, and with his brain, he could've done the whole thing in half the time it took me to scramble around for material.."
"All right, all right!" Sakura cut in, picking up on the telltale signs of an imminent rant if she didn't intervene. "I get it. It could be worse."
"Much worse," her friends chorused.
Fine, she told herself. Could be much worse.
..But not that much.
}:{
Lee was waiting for her right outside the school doors. She almost groaned out loud when she saw him there, standing straight as a ruler and looking disproportionately excited, but remembered her manners and kept her composure.
"Hello, Lee-kun," she greeted him politely.
"Hello, Sakura-san!" he replied cheerfully. "It is a nice day out, isn't it?"
The weather. He's talking about the weather. "Yes, it is," she responded, feeling more ridiculous by the second.
A few awkward moments passed in silence. Sakura decided to put them both out of their misery.
"So, I guess we should discuss our project?" It came out sounding like a suggestion.
Lee nodded. "Since we are partners, that is probably the best course of action."
"…" Is he being sarcastic? she wondered. But..no, this is Lee. He doesn't know the meaning of the word sarcasm.
"Right," she said. "I was thinking that we should exchange phone numbers and do some individual research, then call each other every few days to talk about new information and make suggestions on the details of the project, like the medium. Then in the last week of the month, we should get together a few times and pull the thing together." Sakura finished and smiled, satisfied with her plan. It not only allowed them to get the project done in an efficient and stress-free way, but it also meant they would spend the least possible amount of time together. Foolproof.
Lee remained quiet for a few seconds, possibly to ensure that she was finished, and then spoke up. "I'd like to make a suggestion, Sakura-san."
It took a minute for it to dawn on Sakura. He's asking my permission. Jeez. Tenten wasn't kidding when she called him 'super-polite'. "Go ahead," she encouraged him, the feeling of ridiculousness rearing its ugly head once again.
"I was thinking that since we are partners-" He loves to reiterate that, doesn't he? Sakura observed "-it would be optimal for us to spend more time together. That way, perhaps we could offer each other advice, and both of us could feed off of the other person's ideas." He looked proud of his assessment, causing Sakura to swallow hard.
I can't just shoot him down, she thought. It would be like kicking a puppy. Hard. In the head.
"How often then, in your opinion, should we meet outside of school?" she inquired, trying to ignore her sinking feeling.
Lee's smile grew wider, if that was even possible. "Every day, at the least," he stated, apparently missing the brief look of horror that crossed Sakura's face. "We ought to put all of our collective youthful passion into this project, so that we-"
"Right!" Sakura exclaimed, determined to head off the inevitable youth speech. He came up with them on the spot, it seemed. "I agree. Totally. Perfect. Your place?" What am I doing?! her inner self screeched in disbelief. Am I out of my mind?!
But immediate self-preservation had won out over long-term logic, and it was too late to suck her words back in and swallow them.
"My place would be fine!" Lee exclaimed, looking overjoyed that Sakura had agreed with his plan, or at least with his thoughts about youth. "My youthful guardian, Guy-sensei, would be all too happy to-"
"Wait," Sakura interrupted again. "Guy-sensei?!"
Might Guy (yes, that really was his name) was the insane gym teacher at Senju. He was overenthusiastic to the extreme, thought 300 laps around the gym was a "decent warm-up", and was also Lee's idol. The boy had turned himself into Guy's Mini-Me at some point; they both sported the same hair, brows and clothes.
Trying to do a serious art assignment in the home of Guy-sensei? Oh, the horror.
Sakura fought down her instinctive shudder and attempted to do damage control. "On second thought, Lee-kun, my house is actually much closer. It'd be more convenient to go there after school." She had no idea if this was true, having never seen where Lee lived, but she didn't particularly care.
Luckily, Lee didn't seem to care either. "If that is your preference, Sakura-san," he replied brightly. "Shall we start tomorrow, then?"
The sinking feeling returned tenfold, but Sakura nodded and turned to leave.
This is going to be a long month.
}:{
Ino's laughter echoed throughout the cafeteria when Sakura broke the news to her and the other girls.
"You invited him to your house?" she exclaimed, wiping away tears of mirth as she spoke. "He'll know where you live! Do you have any idea how screwed you are?" Another stream of laughter.
"Thanks for your support," Sakura responded icily. "I feel so much better now."
"That's pretty bad, Sakura," Temari commented, looking like she was enjoying herself as well. "Getting paired up with the guy in the first place was beyond your control, but then to go and shoot yourself in the foot like that.."
Sakura groaned. "Can't any of you so-called friends find it in your hearts to say something supportive?" she asked, frustrated.
"L-Lee-kun doesn't sound like a bad guy," Hinata ventured. "M-Maybe it'll be all right."
"I agree," said Tenten, glaring at a still-snickering Ino. "Anyhow, I've just about had it with you guys bad-mouthing Lee. He's really kind. I don't know why you all have it in for him."
"Um, hello? Have you seen the guy?" Ino chortled.
"So it's all about looks then, is it?" the brunette countered.
"Not necessarily," Ino responded, frowning. "But having a bad case of acne or whatever is different from wearing green spandex 24/7. Come on, you have to admit that is freaky."
"But he's nice!" Tenten repeated, aghast.
"It is possible to be nice and really hot," Sakura pointed out. "Like Sasuke-kun." She felt the heat rise to her face.
Uchiha Sasuke. Aka boy genius, heartthrob, and arguably most popular student in the entire school. Half the girls at Senju had their eyes on him, but he never showed any interest in any of them. He mostly kept to himself; at lunch he sat with Naruto-a loudmouthed blond prankster-and a few other kids who were always getting into trouble. Karin, the only girl in the little clique, was the object of much jealousy from the rest of the female student population.
"Nice?" Tenten's voice cut into her thoughts. "Have any of you actually spoken to him?"
"I-I sat next to him for a while in Honors E-English," Hinata supplied.
"And?" Ino asked eagerly. But Hinata shook her head, looking only just short of terrified.
"Sakura-san?"
Sakura froze. That voice, that way of addressing her..they could only belong to one person. The look on Ino's face just confirmed her suspicions.
She turned and came face to face with Lee.
"Hello, Lee-kun," she greeted him, hoping she didn't sound as tired as she suddenly felt.
He nodded politely to her friends and then spoke to her. "I did some research after we parted ways last night," he explained, holding up a very thick folder. "And I think my notes may be of some use to our project. Would you like to discuss them before the bell rings?"
Sakura's brain had short-circuited after her classmate had said 'research'; as it was, she was too busy goggling at the sheer size of Lee's "notes" folder to process what he said afterward.
"Wha?" she managed.
Lee blinked, confused.
"She means yes," Tenten put in. "Hey, Lee-kun. It's cool that you're taking this project so seriously."
"Oh yes," Ino said dryly. "Very cool."
Tenten shot her a glare, but Lee seemed to take the words at face value. "Thank you, Tenten-kun; Ino-kun. Between myself and Sakura-san, I think we have the potential to highly impress Sasori-sensei."
He gestured to the empty chair on Sakura's right. "May I?"
"Go right ahead," Temari granted breezily, and the boy sat, opening his folder as he did so.
"I did an Internet search on the word 'victory'," Lee began, leaning towards his partner slightly. Sakura shook herself out of her daze and made herself pay attention. "And got over twenty million hits."
Sakura felt faint. Surely he didn't write down all of them.. Eyeing the size of the folder, though, was not exactly a confidence-builder.
"After sifting through piles of movies, motorcycles, and a refrigerator company, I found a few dictionary definitions that may help us." He pulled a thin sheaf of paper out of the middle of the folder and handed it to Sakura.
"'Defeat of an enemy or rival,'" Sakura read. "'Success in a struggle against difficulties or obstacles.' 'The state of having triumphed'…" She trailed off.
"Is there something wrong?" Lee inquired.
Sakura sighed. "Did you find anything a little..um..less literal than this?" she asked.
"Of course!" was the quick reply. Lee flipped through a couple more sheets of paper until he found what he was looking for. "I thought that maybe, since this is for an art project, looking at the work of other artist's on a similar subject might inspire us."
Sakura eyed the black and white printout with some interest. It was a photograph taken of a boy from behind, the sun facing the camera so that any details were blacked out. The boy's arms were raised in a way that could only be described as victorious, which Sakura supposed was the point.
"It's very nice," she said finally. "And I appreciate that you're doing all this research, but I think.." She paused. How to say this without sounding condescending? "..I think you're kind of..missing the point. Wait, that came out all wrong!" she hurried, seeing his face fall.
"What I mean is..well, Sasori-sensei and his TA are always going on about using our imaginations and emotions as the basis of any given piece, or else it 'isn't art'," she quoted. "I think we should focus more on what the word 'victory' makes us..feel, or something. I don't know." Her face burned as she realized she was making a speech. "Maybe just brainstorming would be a good idea for now."
There was a long pause, during which everybody stared at her. Then Lee spoke.
"That is.." His face broke into a huge grin. "..brilliant! Of course! Using one's imagination is at the root of all true art; Sasori-sensei has said it many times! Using literal things like these notes, or allowing inspiration to come in the form of someone else's work, would be so..so.." He winced. "..un-youthful."
Nobody quite knew what to say to that. Thankfully, the bell rang and saved them from having to come up with a response.
}:{
"Sakura-san!"
Barely stifling a groan, Sakura turned around on the stairs to see-of course-her overly eager classmate.
What does he want? she wondered dismally. I was just about to head home..
Home! Her heart sank to the very bottom of her shoes. Great. I told him we could hold study sessions at my house after school! She sighed. Her mother was out of town at a conference for an undetermined amount of time, time which Sakura had hoped to have to herself.
Lee hurried to stand next to her on the steps. "I was hoping we could hold a study session tonight," he stated.
Sakura bit her lip. "Lee..would you mind if we skipped it tonight? Sasori-sensei did give us a month to complete the assignment, and it's been less than a few days. I think we can afford to miss one night. Don't you think?"
Lee blinked. "Ah…I suppose you make a good point, Sakura-san, but wouldn't it be best to put every bit of effort we possibly can into this project? We want to show Sasori-sensei the full bloom of our-"
If Sakura heard him say 'youth' one more time, she couldn't be held responsible for what happened. She turned away, feeling only slightly bad about how rude it was, and started down the stairs again.
He grabbed her arm. "Sakura-san, your shoelace-"
Suddenly irritated, she turned slightly and wrenched her arm away with all the force she could muster.
It worked. Lee lost his grip on her arm and she flew backwards. She had just enough time to register flying through the air and berate herself for being so stupid before she hit the stairs again. And again. And again.
}:{
"Broken leg," was Nurse Shizune's conclusion. "And bruising. Lots of bruising. You're just lucky it wasn't worse."
She put a cast on the temporarily useless leg and gave Sakura a pair of crutches. "Try to stay off your feet as much as possible," she instructed with some sympathy. "And ask friends if they can carry some of your things in between classes."
Sakura left the nurse's office in a state of extreme irritation. Now, on top of everything else, my leg's broken..If I wasn't so aware of the consequences of Murphy's Law, I'd wonder what else could possibly go wrong.
Lee was waiting right outside the room, standing stock-still and receiving many odd looks. He hurried forward when he saw Sakura, and before she could say anything he was bowing so low it was amazing he wasn't falling over.
"I am so sorry, Sakura-san!" he exclaimed. "You injury is entirely my fault!"
With a deep, slow breath, the pink-haired girl restrained her temper. "Lee-kun, it's-"
"Therefore," he continued, apparently not noticing her attempt to cut in, "I will take it upon myself to ensure that your healing process goes as smoothly as possible." He raised his head and met her (suddenly fearful) gaze with determination. "I will help carry your books, walk you to and from school, and whatever else I can!"
People were openly staring now, but Lee was either oblivious or uncaring. He concluded his speech with a louder-than-necessary declaration of "I pledge not to leave your side, Sakura-san, until you are fully healed!"
Dead silence for a moment. Somebody snickered. People began moving again, possibly embarrassed for their classmate, probably off to spread the news to everyone they could.
Sakura felt like dying.
}:{
The remainder of the school day passed with what felt to Sakura like excruciating slowness. Most of her schoolmates seemed to be aware that the latest Lee spectacle wasn't her fault, but more often than not they didn't care. Small, muffled laughs seemed to follow her everywhere, to the point where she wasn't sure which ones were real and which were merely the results of paranoia. Her friends shot her empathetic winces when they could, which helped only slightly.
And the torment, thanks to some god that Sakura had evidently ticked off, wasn't over yet. She all but ran out the school doors and straight into Lee, who had been waiting for her.
"May I walk you home, Sakura-san?" he offered with his trademark toothy smile.
"I'm sure I'll be fine," she responded with more politeness than she thought herself capable of mustering under the circumstances.
"Please let me help you, Sakura-san," he pressed. "After all, it is my fault you are hurt. I could carry your books," he suggested. "Or.."
Sakura sighed. He's doing it again..working those puppy-dog charms on me… She realized what she was thinking and shook her head vigorously. Bad choice of words. Lee is..Lee. He doesn't have "charms". But still..
"All right."
Lee blinked. "I'm sorry?"
A small slip of a smile. "You can walk me home, and we can have our study session."
Lee beamed. "Excellent! Which way is your home? I.." His face suddenly lit up. "I just remembered something-you don't even have to walk! Guy-sensei was teaching us a new drill in gym the other day, and-"
"Ah, Lee-kun? Guy-sensei's 'drill' was..um, basically piggy-back rides," she pointed out with a slight shiver.
He looked confused. "Yes, I know."
Fighting the twitch that threatened to manifest itself, Sakura shook her head and forced a smile. "Lee-kun," she said the type of voice that can be read as either 'sweet' or 'psychotic', " please don't push your luck."
}:{
The study session went well-so well, in fact, that it was past ten by the time either of them thought to look at a clock. Sakura went to bed admitting to herself that maybe having Lee as a partner wasn't such a terrible thing after all.
Days passed, and she kept inviting him back. They were coming up with ideas all over the place, both feeding off the other's imagination, as Lee had mentioned they probably would. They hadn't singled out a particular idea yet or even picked out the medium, but that was all right.
}:{
"Coming in first at a track meet or other sporting competition. That would definitely make you feel victorious."
"Or perhaps simply beating one's best personal time at said track meet. That would also be considered a certain type of victory."
"I didn't think about that..I guess it would, wouldn't it?" Sakura scribbled the most recent ideas on a sheet of paper, her mind already working at finding the next one. Since arriving at her house that afternoon, she and Lee had filled up half a page with different interpretations of the term victory. Scanning the page with her eyes Sakura noticed that although none of them quite sang to her, she had to admit she had liked Lee's most recent suggestion of beating one's personal best. She circled it faintly.
"Sakura-san?"
She turned at the hesitant note in his voice. "What's up?"
"It's just that..We have come up with plenty of sport-related definitions of victory, which suggests that the feeling of 'victory' is closely related to different types of competition, whether it is against others or yourself."
Giving her notes another glance, Sakura shrugged. "I guess so."
Lee fidgeted a little, but continued. "I was just thinking that-well-there are different kinds of competition."
Sakura shrugged again. "You could say that. Of course, that depends on people's definition of competition as well..do you mean winning, say, an art contest is a different type of victory as opposed to..winning a football game or something?"
Lee's gaze averted hers slightly. Pink eyebrows knitted together as Sakura felt more and more that she was missing the point entirely.
"'All's fair in love and war'," Lee quoted finally.
"..What?" All right, I'm definitely missing something.
"That quote implies that war is a competition of sorts, does it not?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Of sorts, yes. I'd say it does." What's your point?
"Then..would it be strange to presume that love is also a sort of competition?"
…Is he..blushing?! "Looking at it from a certain angle, no, it wouldn't be that strange," Sakura rushed out, forcing a slight laugh. "Like, say you like someone who's very..desirable." Great, now she was blushing. "Looking at it that way, you could say that you're competing with other people for the object of your affection." How did we get into this conversation? She glanced away to re-gather her dignity.
After a second her partner gulped audibly. "Ah..Sakura-san?"
His voice sounded closer than it had before. She made the mistake of turning.
Lee was right next to her, face flaming, and-
Oh, my God, is he leaning forward?!
Sakura all but flew off the couch. "Is it just me, or has it gotten really hot in here?" she exclaimed in an exaggerated, utterly panicked parody of normalcy. "I'll go and turn the AC up; be right back!"
She ran for the safety of her room down the hall, pounced onto the bed and shut the door, realizing too late that the sound would alert her houseguest to what she was actually doing.
Wincing, she clutched her pillow to her chest and forced herself to think about what had just happened.
Okay, calm down, she ordered herself. You knew Lee liked you. You knew that from the beginning.
Yeah, but I was hoping he could keep his crush to himself until it went away! was the shrill response from the more panicky part of her brain. Instead he has to practically jump on me when I'm not even looking, and-
Sakura shook her head and touched her cheeks lightly. They were scorching. Ughh..I'm going to give myself sunburn. I wonder if that's physically possible? To give yourself a..a 'blushburn'?
Her mind was working erratically, the way it liked to do when she most needed to calm down and think.
But thinking was, for the moment, an impossibility. Her heart was pounding hard in her ears; it was all she could hear.
At some point she heard Lee packing up his things and leaving the house. She flinched upon hearing the door close..although she had no idea why.
}:{
The next week or so was awkward. Lee still showed up at Sakura's house bright and early to help her carry her things to school, despite her protests. He still insisted on walking her home as well. But they didn't make much conversation anymore, and neither found it possible to look the other in the eye without making themselves resemble a pair of sunburned lobsters. Their study sessions had been reduced to bi-nightly phone calls and brief note comparisons during Study Hall.
At some point Sakura found herself confessing what had happened to her friends via phone call, one at a time. Ino seemed to find it all very amusing. Tenten shrugged it off and commented that she'd figured something like this would occur sooner or later. And Temari, naturally, didn't appear to care. Luckily, the pink-haired girl discovered a somewhat more sympathetic ear in Hinata.
"S-So…basically, y-you ran away?"
Sakura winced. "Um, yeah, I guess so."
"W-Why?"
There was a pause while Sakura contemplated where she should start. "Uh, Hinata? It was Rock Lee. Trying to kiss me. What would you have done?!"
"W-Well…I guess that would depend o-on whether I liked him or n-not," was the quivery reply. "I'm trying to f-figure out whether you ran because you were freaked out o-or because you were..nervous."
Sakura was pretty sure her jaw hit the floor. "Waitwaitwait," she rushed out. "Are you saying that you think I like Lee?!"
"I-It's not a-any of my business," Hinata squeaked. "I was just w-wondering."
"Hina, I like Sasuke. I always have. You know that."
There was a hesitation on the other end of the line. "R-Right," Hinata eventually responded. "Okay."
They hung up after a time, but the conversation that had passed between them kept Sakura awake long afterwards.
}:{
Has every teacher caught the 'partner' bug? Sakura wondered the next day.
She had been sitting at her desk in math class, waiting for Kakashi-sensei to once again leave them to their own devices while he read his (suspicious-looking) orange book. It was his routine, one that never changed.
At least, never before today. Just as she was pulling out her notebook she heard the teacher clear his throat. Looking up, she saw with surprise that Kakashi was actually going to address his class. He waited until he had everyone's attention, and then began.
"I thought we'd try something a little different today," he said in the cheery voice that tended to mean trouble. Sure enough: "You're going to pair up with the person directly behind you. You and your partner will then quiz each other on the material we've learned this week-which, for those who don't pay attention, can be found on page two-hundred and thirty in your math books. Play nice and have fun."
With that he sat down and, predictably, opened the orange book. Sakura didn't notice this, however, seeing as she was acutely aware of just who sat behind her and was now trying to comprehend the implications of that fact.
And this was why now, two minutes later, she was sitting next to none other than Uchiha Sasuke, holding her breath and hoping she wasn't blushing too hard.
Ohmygod, I am actually being paired up with Sasuke. This is my chance to make an impression. She swallowed a little too hard.
Sasuke looked up from his math book and asked her the first question without preamble. She answered in kind and asked the next question, which he answered with the same bluntness.
By the end of a thirty-minute class Sakura was pretty sure she would never forget anything concerning Pi, but she knew nothing more about Sasuke than she had before. And she didn't think she'd managed to impress him either, if the frown on his face was any indication. Or maybe he was always frowning. It didn't matter; the point was she had blown her chance.
Or..wait, maybe I haven't. The proverbial lightbulb flashed on over her head.
What if I just asked him out? The bold notion made her heart start pounding. I mean, being his partner for one math class isn't much of an excuse to say 'We know each other now', but it's an excuse nonetheless. And besides, waiting for the guy to make the first move is so old-fashioned..if I say something first, then it'll show him that I am an independent and bold person.
She was scared stupid, but Sakura knew that if she tossed this opportunity away then she would kick herself for possibly the rest of her life.
She gathered her courage as the rest of the students filed out. When Sasuke left the classroom as well she trailed after him, the irritating image of a puppy following its master floating around in her head.
"Ah..Sasuke-kun?" she spoke up as they reached a relatively not-crowded area of the hallway.
He turned with a faint look of annoyance on his face. "What?"
Sakura gulped. This is it. "I was w-wondering.." Damn! I sound like Hinata! "Wondering if you'd like to go out sometime!" The words seemed to echo in the hallway.
Mentally, she winced. In an effort to avoid stammering any more she'd ended up practically yelling at the guy. Well, there was nothing to be done about that now. Sakura hoped the request hadn't come out too rushed-she didn't think she'd be able to force the words out again.
Sasuke was looking at her with an expression she was having trouble reading. When his mouth finally opened, her brain went into a frenzy.
Oh god, he's going to say yes! He's actually going to accept me! Ino is going to be so-
"No."
-jealous-wait, what?
"Huh?" she asked in confusion.
"I said 'no'. I don't want to go out with you." And he turned to start walking towards the cafeteria again.
Stunned only temporarily, Sakura hurried to catch up with him. "You-but-why?" she managed, realizing too late how sickeningly desperate she sounded.
He stopped walking and turned to her, annoyed. "Why? Because I don't like you."
"But-"
"No. My answer is no. Leave me alone already." He stalked off. This time she didn't chase after him.
}:{
"He's probably gay," was Temari's typically blunt reaction.
Sakura, who had just finished pouring out the whole sordid story to her friends, glared at the older girl from Ino's shoulder. "Don't say that," she muttered.
Temari's response was mercifully cut off by Tenten's. "I'm sorry he was such a jerk to you, Sakura, but at least now you know he's a jerk. Now you don't have to pine after him anymore."
"I do not pine," Sakura replied irritably. "I just…" Her voice faltered.
"That's what I thought." The brunette sighed. "I think that there is a bright side to this, though. Now you can fall for someone who actually deserves you."
A toothy grin and a pair of gigantic eyebrows popped up in Sakura's head. She shook them away with a frown, wondering where they'd come from.
I do not like Lee, she told herself firmly. I do not.
}:{
That night was the first night she wished her mother was home. The whole mess with Sasuke was something Haruno Suzuka would listen to patiently, allowing her daughter to rant to her heart's content. And Sakura would feel much better afterward, having gotten it out of her system without being judged.
That sort of comfort was one Sakura couldn't have that night, as much as she wanted it.
She sat on the couch, staring into space in a rather listless manner. The mental tape of her conversation-if it could be called that-with Sasuke kept replaying in her head despite her wishes to the contrary. Over and over she watched the scene with vivid clarity. Over and over she heard him say those words, as if on a loop:
"Because I don't like you."
"My answer is no."
"Leave me alone already."
A lump rose to her throat, making swallowing more difficult. Sakura wasn't sure what upset her the most. The rejection had been cruel enough, but the aftermath was worse in a way. Now she understood what Tenten had apparently gotten from the start: Sasuke was a jerk, a cold jerk. And she had wasted years of her life mooning after him. It was awful to think about.
Tears streamed down her face just as the doorbell rang, in typical Murphy's Law fashion.
Automatically she stood and went to answer the door, wiping the tears away but not bothering with any more effort. It didn't seem that important. She opened the door to a flash of blinding green.
"Lee!" she exclaimed.
Her classmate held up his thick research folder. "Do you mind if I come in?" he inquired. If I didn't know better, Sakura noted, I'd say he looked embarrassed. Wordlessly, she let him inside.
"Sakura-san!"
Sakura shut the door and turned back to him, frowning. "What is it?" she asked.
Lee hesitated. "Your eyes are red," he pointed out carefully. "Have you been crying?"
Silently she cursed herself for not doing a better job of cleaning herself up. "Uh…well.."
A pause ensued, during which both parties tried to find the right thing to say. As was becoming usual, Lee spoke up first.
"I spoke with Tenten-kun today," he said, "and she mentioned that you are upset. She told me about what happened with.." More hesitation. "..the object of your youthful affections."
"…" Well, what am I supposed to say to that?!
"And I was wondering," Lee continued, oblivious to her discomfort, "if there was anything I could do to help."
The trademark toothy grin manifested itself once more, though the effect was sobered somewhat by the tinges of red on his cheeks.
He's being so nice. The complete opposite of Sasuke, Sakura observed bitterly. Out loud she said, "Thanks, Lee. That's really sweet of you. Um, maybe we should just keep working on our project."
Her partner nodded, trying to cover up a look of what she tried not to acknowledge as disappointment.
}:{
The study session went pretty well, considering the memories of their last session. Lee's unfailingly cheerful presence took Sakura's mind off of everything that had happened, to the point where Sasuke was far from her mind as the hours passed.
It was past midnight when the pink-haired girl started nodding off and even the always-energetic Lee was looking a little glassy-eyed.
"We should get some sleep," Sakura said, hiding a yawn with difficulty. Lee nodded to her assessment and began getting his stuff together. Sakura blinked and held out a hand to stop him.
"Lee, don't bother. We'll be doing this again tomorrow night, after all."
He paused. "Are you sure you do not mind?"
"Of course. There's no point in you dragging your stuff back and forth every time we do this."
Lee smiled. "Thank you, Sakura-san."
She managed a sleepy smile in return. Neither of them made a move to leave the sofa.
Minutes went by. He of the giant eyebrows interrupted the companionable silence.
"Ah, Sakura-san?"
"You know you can drop the honorific, Lee."
He shook his head sheepishly. "I don't think I could manage that yet, Sakura-san. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure." Another hidden yawn. "Fire away."
"I was..that is, I have been wondering if..ah.."
The uncharacteristic lack of something to say made Sakura sit up. "If..?" she prompted.
Lee assumed the expression of one who has decided to just get the worst over with, consequences be damned. "I was hoping that you would do me the honor of going on a date with me!" His face was flaming, but he sat resolute.
"…" Sakura found herself blushing and scrambling for a proper response. Which to the Sakura of a few weeks ago would have been a polite but firm 'No'. But something had happened to make her reconsider.
After all, a few weeks ago she'd known Lee only as the bizarre boy with the green jumpsuit and ridiculously out-of-proportion eyebrows. And to be fair..he was still pretty weird.
But he was also kind, as Tenten had reiterated time and again. He was the kind of guy who would act lucky to be with her, which was more than she could say for certain other boys at Senju.
And if she was to be perfectly honest with herself, she'd admit that she would be very lucky to be with him as well.
It occurred to Sakura after her mental therapy session had concluded that Lee was still waiting for an answer, and that her dead silence probably wasn't encouraging (if the slightly pained look on his face was any indication).
"Um..Yeah," she said simply.
"I'm sorry if I-wait, what did you say?"
He looked utterly perplexed. The pink-haired girl found herself seized by a sudden desire to laugh at his expression.
"That was a yes," she explained. "It means we can go out, unless you've changed your mind."
"Changed-? N-No, of course not!" And she'd thought he'd been red-faced before. This was something else entirely. "It would be my privilege to-"
Another youth speech being imminent, Sakura decided to take matters into her own hands.
She kissed him.
After a second, he kissed back.
…And a light flashed outside.
Sakura pulled back in confusion. "Did someone just.."
"About that, Sakura-san." Lee sounded sheepish. "I sort of hoped that your answer would be yes, so I asked some friends to..well, suffice to say, I think we have sufficient material for our project."
He grinned and started to explain. As his intent became clear, Sakura shook her head.
But she was grinning too.
}:{
A Few Weeks Later
}:{
"Thank you, Hyuga." Sasori sounded bored. "Next up is.." He consulted his notes briefly. "Haruno Sakura and Rock Lee. Show us your project."
The words 'This had better be good' went unsaid.
Swallowing hard, Sakura got up off her seat and headed for the front of the room. She took a moment to glance back towards her friends; the route she and her partner had chosen was risky, and a little support would be nice.
They were all smiling, giving her thumbs-up, egging her on. Sakura smiled back with relief.
She'd gathered them outside the school to break the news that she and Lee were now an 'item', to avoid making a scene. Ino yelped "Eyebrow boy?!", for which Tenten promptly smacked her upside the head. But generally they'd been congratulatory, and even Ino had gotten over the shock eventually and supported her best friend.
Shaking her head, Sakura returned to the present and focused nervously on Lee as they stood together. He'd brought the completed project- a project which, depending on how you looked at it, was either the product of a lot of confusion and stress, or the product of a few second's impulsiveness.
Lee grinned at her, absolutely sure and unshaken. She found herself smiling back at her boyfriend-her boyfriend. It sounded so surreal.
"Well?"
Oops. Bad time to space out. Sasori-sensei's getting impatient.
"The project! Yes!" Lee cheered. "It was worked on and completed by Sakura-san and myself-"
"That was sort of the whole point, yeah," Deidara muttered.
Lee ignored him. "-and it is an excellent example of our combined youthfulness!" he concluded. He pulled the photo from out of nowhere and passed it to Sakura, who presented it to their art teacher.
Sasori eyed the picture with a frown as Sakura fidgeted.
"What is this titled?" the redheaded man finally sighed. He sounded grudgingly accepting, and Sakura got the feeling he already knew the answer. But Lee replied anyway, with the name the two of them had picked out.
"Nothing overly original, Sasori-sensei, but it is fitting. We decided to title it…"
His smile widened as he gave the photo-the photo of himself and Sakura kissing-another look.
"…'A Definition of Victory.'"
}:{
Fin
}:{
A/N: Cue halle-flippin'-lujah chorus! The thing is finished!! –does happy dance-
DOV took a grand total of almost three months. Lots of work, hair-tearing, and overcoming of writer's block went into it; I never write Lee, Sakura, or LeeSaku. Or romance in general. So…yeah. But I am happy with how it came out.
Four concluding notes. One: I am through with challengefics for the time being. Two: This is my longest posted oneshot by far; yay! Three: Thanks so much, DeathMax-kun. Couldn't have done it without you egging me on. xD Four: 60 STORIES, BABY! FREAK YEAH!!!