"Tenten-san!" The familiar voice called out, causing the young woman to pause and glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, the trademark green and orange of her fellow shinobi and her prior teacher was moving down the street toward her. Flying, perhaps, would have been a better descriptor. Lee didn't really understand, even after all these years, the ability to walk slowly and take one's time.
"Lee-kun?" She settled her hands on her hips, sensing from years of working with the young man he had something on his mind. Lee rarely sought her out without a specific goal in mind. She learned that sixteen years ago, when he'd shown up on her parent's door-step demanding to see her, and then asking if she'd be so kind as to help himself and Neji in training. Tenten hadn't understood why, then. To her, Lee was no where near the same caliber as Neji. She certainly wasn't. How could he be?
The brief moment of excitement at being sought out had been firmly quashed. Lee was simply a talentless nobody obsessed with pressing himself on others and mimicking their teacher in embarrassing ways.
She didn't think of him in the same way now, nor had she for many years. Lee had grown.
So, she supposed, had she.
His eyes lit up as he came to an abrupt stop, raising one finger to jab at the air. "Ah! I'm glad to have found you up and about at such a wonderful hour, Tenten-san!" It was nine in the morning. Tenten raised her eyebrow. Exactly how was this a wonderful hour? "I have a question of utmost importance to ask you." His demeanor had turned serious, intent. Tenten recognized this face. Privately, she called it his "seriously intent" face. Fairly similar to "seriously pondering." The young woman spoke as she realized Lee was waiting for her to express some version of interest. Laughable, almost - two experienced shinobi, one jounin, the other chuunin, paused on a street in the morning and each waiting for the other to speak.
"Can I do anything for you, Lee-kun?" Apparently, she'd said exactly what he'd wanted to hear.
Lee smiled, the strange intensity of his features throwing Tenten off, his words more so. "Tenten-san," he asked, "How do you propose to a woman?"
For a good ten seconds, she was simply too shocked to say a word. Then she grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him like she had in their genin days. "Lee-kun," she drawled, "Why are you asking me?"
His hands rested on her elbows, stopping her abuse. It hadn't affected him in the slightest. "You're a lady. I was hoping you would know."
She was faintly touched, but more irked at the unexpected question. "Lee-kun, that's not something you ask a woman."
He looked slightly crestfallen and confused. Tenten, however, wasn't finished. "It's something you should know from being close to a woman. You build a romance, a love and relationship, learn all her little habits, have your bad ones picked apart, and then in a specifically romantic way, you present her with a ring and sweep her off her feet." She was surprised to learn the romantic part of her teenage years still lived on. "Or at least you're close enough to them to know when the moment's right. And appropriate," she added after a moment.
He looked serious again. "Specifically romantic way?"
Tenten sighed. Why, she asked herself, had she chosen her school-girl response? "Like dinner. Sunsets. Moonlight. Flowers. Candles. Surprises."
He seemed to be absorbing her every word. In a teen of fifteen, it had been one thing. At twenty-seven, it was another. "Ah - surprises. I see." He nodded his head, seemingly thinking something over.
Of course, at this point, Tenten was fairly curious. "Lee-kun, have you been dating?" She personally hadn't heard any rumors, but it was far from impossible.
He shook his head. "No."
"Then are you asking for a friend?" She was confused.
"No." He smiled.
She gave him a flat look. "Are you planning on proposing to someone without warning?" It didn't quite seem the wise thing to do. And it smacked of a fourteen-year-gone Lee, not the man before her now.
"Not exactly." He looked faintly sheepish, but mostly the same good-natured visage of their teacher. "I am just exploring the possibilities."
"Lee," she growled, strangely irked, "Are you planning on proposing to several women without warning?"
He looked offended. "I would never do such a thing! It would be unmanly."
Well that was something new. Tenten shook her head, letting go of him. "You're twenty-seven, Lee. You'll think of something, I'm sure. Just make sure not to give the poor woman a heart attack." Who is she? The thought echoed in the back of her mind.
Lee, however, continued to hold her arms loosely. "Do you think I could?"
Who is she? "Could what?"
"Give the poor woman a heart-attack." The idea seemed to strike him as something new, and potentially bad.
Who is- Fine. She'd indirectly ask the question. "It depends on who she is."
Lee nodded, savoring the thought. "Would you?"
"Would I what?"
"Have a heart attack."
She narrowed her eyes. So it was a kunoichi, was it? She had a sneaking feeling it was that one woman, three years their junior. Lee had been paying her some mind lately. "No." Tenten sounded irate.
"Ah! Good!" Lee looked pleased. This better not be like he was in his younger years, falling in love with whatever pretty face walked by-
He knelt down in front of her, letting go of one of her arms. He withdrew a small velvetine box from nowhere, as far as Tenten could tell. "Tenten-san," he said, solemnly, "I will protect you with my life." His voice and being burned with the intense inner fire she had come to recognize over the years. "Will you marry me?"
Tenten stared down at Lee, the ring, then Lee again. Her eyebrow twitched. "You idiot! That's not what I meant by surprise--!"
Tenten was torn between throttling Lee and, well, throttling Lee. "You--! Where did this come from?"
Lee was smiling broadly, noting despite her vocalizations (and the tightening hands on his shoulders, a sure sign of her immediate displeasure), she certainly hadn't said no.
That fact alone left Lee motivated to put extra bounce in his training regime that afternoon. And that evening. And the morning after. Actually, he temporarily seemed to forget while Tenten hadn't said no, she hadn't said yes.
Of course, had he thought about it, his likely response would have been one of eventuality. If they weren't close after seventeen or so years of working together as teammates and friends, then he'd simply have to turn all his efforts into showing her what she meant to him, and hopefully, allowing her to see what he meant to her.
Life, after all, was a vibrant, youthful event. Pursuing your dreams and goals with vigorus intent and open eyes was part and parcel.
"It came from my heart," he said finally.
She gave in to her urge, taking him by the shoulders again and shaking him - to what? Wakefulness? "No, Lee, you don't just randomly propose to women!" She frowned. "To me! You don't have any idea who I am," she added, trying to articulate her exact thoughts on the absurdity of his proposal.
"An intelligent, admirable, outstanding kunoichi?" He grinned, clasping her shoulder. "Insightful, beautiful, vocal?"
She felt a blush creep over her face. No. She was nearing thirty. She killed people for a living. She dealt with temporarily addled teammates professionally. "You have no idea what I like." So why had she said that?
"There're many things you like, Tenten-san," Lee said, nodding seriously. "Cats, early afternoon sunlight, manriki gusari, yakisoba even though you think it goes straight to your hips, tsukemono with fish, but not squid, gas lamps over candles, ice-cold water before you train-"
She interrupted. "When did I tell you that?"
"You didn't have to." He smiled. "We've been teammates for seventeen years."
She wasn't sure how to feel about that. "What about with Neji?"
"Meadows midway up the mountainsides, music made with a shakuhachi, bread lightly toasted, early morning birdsong, undisturbed lunch hours, egg and chicken domburi, a lack of split ends-"
Tenten sighed in exasperation. "You idiot! Are you planning on proposing to Neji as well? By your logic, you know him as well as me."
"We all are teammates," he pointed out, "Or at least often were. It's part of youthful energy to know those you work with as well as possible! Especially when one is your eternal rival."
"Oh forget it! You have no idea what you're talking about." She felt strangely breathless. She let go of his shoulders, shaking her head. They were beginning to attract attention.
Lee looked unperturbed. "My lady," he said, capturing one of her hands and bringing it up to his lips, brushing them softly over her skin in an extravagant bow, "By my life and my youth, I know exactly what I am talking about." He let her hand go, taking a step back and striking a very self-confident pose, giving her a large smile and thumbs up. Echoes of their mentor and his vivacity shined through Lee, especially in this moment.
And suddenly, Tenten wanted to believe. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she, too, was exploring the possibilities. And surprisingly, she was able to see how he'd always been there. Not center stage, not demanding unreasonable time or energy, just there... supporting. Just like she had been, for him. Only she hadn't noticed.
Yet he had. And with a small smile in her eyes, Tenten watched his back disappear down the road. Maybe it wasn't as random as she thought it was. Maybe this was exactly the sort of surprise she'd been waiting for. A surprise only Lee could think of.
Marriage. It would take time, but perhaps... Yes. Perhaps.
Perhaps indeed.