Title: Letting Love Blossom
Author: Selene98
Rating: PG ( K+ )
Challenge: Spring of Love
Pairing: LeeHina

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For Hinata, love was something that seemed to revolve around a very loud and boisterous blond named Naruto. For as long as she remembered, she had harbored feelings for him. And still, through the years, her childhood crush had developed into something more.

For Lee, love had involved unwavering declarations of love to his beloved Sakura blossom. It was love at fist sight for the eccentric youth, having asked the girl in question out the very first time she met him.

So for the both of them, love was something completely different. Where one started out slow, gently progressing into something known as love, the other took things to great lengths from the start, hoping to gain love immediately. Two people couldn't be more opposite really. And the two actually having something in common would be surprising. That is, until they both got the shock of a lifetime.

Hinata had been planning to go by Ichiraku ramen, hoping to see Naruto there, and possibly get the nerves to say something to him without passing out. And if Naruto wasn't there, she could always have lunch. But as the saying goes, you can't always get what you want." And today was defiantly not the day for her to get what she wanted. She pushed aside the flap and looked on with a gasp.

Lee had asked anyone and everyone where he could find Sakura. He couldn't wait to give her the flowers he had bought her earlier, and would stop at nothing to find her. So when Kiba said that he saw Sakura going into Ichiraku ramen earlier, Lee had sprinted off without hearing the rest of what Kiba had to say, shouting declarations of love as if Sakura could hear him from halfway across the village. As her ran into the small ramen bar, Lee noticed that Hinata was standing very stiff at the entrance. As he caught sight of the scene before him, he dropped the flowers to the ground and gaped.

There before the two almost strangers, were Naruto and Sakura. Now this would have been an ordinary sight, aside from the fact that Sakura was in Naruto's lap, his tongue halfway down her throat. The first to react was obviously Lee. But rather than challenge Naruto to a fight for Sakura's heart, as would be expected, he ran out of the ramen bar, faster than anyone would have thought possible. And that was saying something, seeing as Lee was one of the fastest ninja in Konha.

Hinata's reaction was also quite unexpected. Instead if crying, Hinata slowly walked out of the bar, dazed and slightly confused. She had always had the slight suspicion that she wouldn't end up with Naruto and that he would find some other girl, more specifically Sakura, to love. She 

walked at a snail's pace down the streets, her mind still not quite processing what she had seen.

She finally decided that she would go somewhere no one would be. Hinata needed to think, and having her younger sister bother her wasn't her idea of thinking. That was why she had gone to the training ground that was almost always empty. It was one of the older ones, and most ninja preferred to train in some of the newer, and closer training grounds. Hinata hadn't expected Lee to be there. But there he was, repeatedly punching a tree. Hinata felt her heart pang, Lee was going through the same thing that she was. She decided to leave, not wanting to disturb her cousin's teammate. Before she took a step away, Lee turned around, putting on a small smile, though Hinata could easily tell that it was forced.

Lee had planned one spending the afternoon alone, trying to beat his emotions into a helpless tree. That was until Hinata showed up. He had done his best to smile, to show his youthful spirit as Gai-sensei would have told him to do, but the firced smile was one he could hardly maintain.

The two of them may have been as different as could be; one outgoing, the other shy, but one thing had brought them together. And it was on that day that they learned that heartbreak was something best dealt with if you had someone there to help you along.

So it had become somewhat of a tradition for the two of them, to meet in the old abandoned training field where they had gone that fateful day. Their meetings were somewhat of a secret. Hinata felt that Neji would overreact if he found out that she was spending time alone with his teammate. Lee had agreed to keep the meetings to himself, and they continued to spend time with each other, slowly becoming closer with each secret get-together. It wasn't until the sunflowers started to bloom that they learned something neither would forget.

The old training ground had some flowers growing off to the side. Hinata had been the first to notice the small patch of sprouting plants. They had barely begun to grow the first day the two had met there, and after some time, a bud had developed. The two tracked the growth of the sunflowers together, waiting for the day that the flowers would emerge.

The two happened to meet three months later, and the sunflowers had bloomed. The two were amazed at the sight, but for different reasons.

Hinata admired the beauty of the plants. How they could grow so tall, and look so majestic with their bright yellow petals. Hinata looked up at her namesake, wanting to be able to stand tall as the flowers did, proud of their beauty.

Lee on the other hand, was amazed at the speed at which the flowers had grown, and at how sturdy the flowers were for being so tall. The flowers inspired Lee to train harder, to become stronger, and faster, just as the flowers were.

But the two had learned something more from the flowers. Over the three months that they had watched the flowers grow, they had learned something about love. Lee grabbed Hinata's hand, and they walked out of the small clearing together.


Hinata had learned that although love took time, it wasn't something to keep hidden.

Lee learned that love was not to be rushed. That it would take it's own course, and that sometimes you had to look more than once to truly fall in love.

The couple walked hand in hand through the village that day, having learned something they would cherish the rest of their lives. They learned to let love blossom.