Maybe
It wasn't love.
She had told him that much, the first time she'd shown up on his doorstep asking to come in. She'd flopped down on his couch, and despite his protests they'd watched her favorite soap operas until she fell asleep.
It wasn't love when he turned up at the flower shop, milling about with nothing better to do until she got off, and they'd take a trip down to any one of the numerous restaurants or diners she loved to eat at, and they'd sit quietly, discussing life and the weather until dusk fell and she bid him adieu.
It wasn't love, that one time he'd found her out in the freezing rain, sitting, stewing in her own misery under the cherry tree she usually sat under. When he'd come to find out what was wrong, and understood without a word, and took her into his arms and rocked her gently, whispering that it would all be okay until her sobbing ceased.
It wasn't love, those many years ago, when he'd been so badly injured. When he'd felt like his life was a waste, but he'd awoken every day to a flower and a "get well soon" card, and one time, though he'd never tell her, to a sleeping blond head on his chest, heavy lidded eyes fluttering every so gently as she dreamed peacefully. She'd been so beautiful then, but he'd never tell her that.
It wasn't love, this fragile connection between two torn hearts. This brief sanctuary in a hurricane of mixed emotions and broken dreams, this duet of spurned lovers grasping desperately for something solid, a lifeline in the stormy seas of uncertainty.
As they sit now, watching the stars, hands clasped, he realizes she's right. It isn't love.
But maybe, just maybe…
…It could be.
A little LeeXIno oneshot, in response to an email I received urging me to do an original pairing. Well, I've never seen this one before, and I think it's sweet
Hope you like it.
Grum