Love Rebound: Depression, Spelled L-e-e
Rock Lee swung his legs back and forth through the air from where he was sitting on the edge of the balcony of his apartment. His face was contorted with emotions, quite unlike his usual peppy self. He leaned his head against the bars of the railing and sighed. It's not like it was divorce or anything . . . his mind whispered. Yeah, divorce would have been worse, had he ended up married that is. But he hadn't, had he.
Just shot down in a ball of burning flames and ashes when you proposed. His hand swung up and he smacked himself in the face with quite a bit of force. "Stop it," he whispered, "stop thinking about it!"
But that wouldn't make it go away, would it. They had dated for two years and he'd been . . . Denied in the end. The word screamed through his brain repeatedly, denied, denied, denied. "Shut up, shut up, shut up" Lee muttered in answer to his thoughts.
Two years. He'd enjoyed it. He could still remember the day Sakura had finally decided to go out on a date with him. How his mind had yelled with joy, and he had been filled with the awesomeness of youth and love. It had been good, hadn't it? Even on the days when Sakura had only come over simply to have someone nearby while she cried. He'd felt needed. Wanted. Why did it have to . . .
. . . Why'd it have to end . . .?
Lee pulled his legs up from between the bars of the railing close to his chest. His arms wrapped around them in a pitiful sort of self hug. He buried his face against his knees and sighed again. It really wasn't fair. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.
In Lee's mind, the day he proposed to his loved one, it was supposed to be a happy moment. She was supposed to say, "Oh yes! Of course I'll marry you!" and leap into his arms. Then they'd twirl around laughing and kissing and live happily ever after. That was how it was supposed to be. Lee mentally drew a line in his mind and labeled the sides "fantasy" and "reality" and placed that thought on the fantasy side.
Things don't work like that in real life. No matter how much he wished they did.
He could still see Sakura-san, looking as beautiful as ever even with that regretful smile on her face as she looked at the ring Lee had presented her with. And she had continued smiling when she'd said those words. "I'm sorry Lee . . . But I think we both know that it would never work out . . ."
Lee sniffed in outrage at the memory of a few hours ago. "Never work out"? hadn't they been together for two whole years? Why couldn't it work out for the rest of their lives? But his mind flew back to how they kissed. Not just the first time, but every time. Sakura had always, always looked away at the end like something was wrong. At first Lee thought it was just because the Kunoichi was missing Sasuke, but he knew better. There was something wrong with their whole relationship. When he'd asked Sakura why she wouldn't marry him, she'd said what he'd feared all along.
"It's superficial. For both of us, Lee."
Lee fisted his hands into his bowl cutted black hair. It really wasn't fair. "Superficial . . ." he whispered the word to himself as if trying to make it make more sense, but it wasn't working very well.
"What's superficial?" A voice said cheerfully, cutting into Lee's thoughts like chainsaw.
Konoha's Blue Beast looked up at the speaker, who was perched rather precariously on top of the railing. He was a boy of about eighteen, a year younger than Lee. He had strikingly bright blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He was wearing a white coat with a bottom borderline of red flames over his orange sweats and black t-shirt. Around his back he had strapped a rather messy bundle that could hardly be recognized as a baby backpack.
Lee stood up and pulled the child, that couldn't even be seen inside his father's lame attempt of assembling the contraption, out. "Naruto. Don't be so reckless if you're going to carry him around with you everywhere."
Naruto Uzumaki made a pouty face at his friend, his lower lip sticking out at an odd angle. "So mean. like I'd endanger the life of my precious," he scooped the baby back form Lee, "Minato."
Lee took the whimpering child back in a stubborn movement. "But you will make him catch cold if you stay out here." He motioned with a free hand towards his back door, and led Naruto inside. Without looking up as the blonde closed the glass door, Lee sat down on the bed, still cradling the baby in his arms.
The child had dark black hair, which was already just as spiky as his father's. his eyes were the same brilliant blue as Naruto's as well. But despite his resemblance to Ninetail carrier, he looked more like the original bearer of his middle name. "Minato Sasuke Uzumaki," Lee whispered quietly.
He could still remember how long Naruto had begged Tsunade to hand over the DNA. How the Hokage had insisted that it was only for the revival of shinobi who could use the Sharingan. And was not to be touched for another twenty years. He remembered how Naruto had begged and pleaded until the Godaime had given in at last. How they'd worked together with Sakura-san and Shikamaru for six moths to artificially create the child.
A child made of DNA from Naruto, and the deceased last of the Uchiha.
Naruto leaned his elbows on Lee's shoulders, which was just a little bit annoyingly painful. "Wow. How'd you make him fall asleep like that? Teach me, cause he won't shut up at night." The blonde's eyes glazed over briefly before he returned back to reality. "So . . . Um . . . I heard about you and Sakura . . ."
Lee didn't look up at this statement. But he let the word that had plagued him for the past few hours slip out. "Superficial . . ."
Naruto nodded, though he knew Lee couldn't see him from they way they were sitting. "So that's what you meant. Did she say that? She is rather blunt with the truth sometimes . . ."
Lee's head jerked around at this, "what do you mean by that! It wasn't superficial at all! I- we loved each other! We-"
"That's another lie, Lee," Naruto stated bluntly. He raised a finger to his lips, reminding Lee that he still held a sleeping baby in his lap.
"It's not-" Lee tried to protest weakly.
"The only truth in that is that you loved each other like friends," Naruto said evenly, wary of overtipping Lee's anger scale. "But you never loved each other enough to be married." He waved a hand airily in demonstration of the uselessness of the entire subject. "You loved her only because you felt like you had to protect her when no one else could. And she loved you because she needed that protection, if only for a short time. Because she felt vulnerable and alone after . . ." He stopped, and reached out unconsciously to ruffle the hair of the sleeping baby in Lee's lap, and didn't bother to continue the train of thought.
Lee watched the hand that ran through the child's hair dark hair for a few moments. He'd known that all along, hadn't he. He'd known that that was the real reason Sakura had agreed to go out with him, a few months after Sasuke had died. But why did that make Lee's love superficial as well?
Because you didn't give her the chance to stand on her own, his mind whispered in reply. You only wanted to protect her, and that's not how a relationship really works. You have to protect and be protected. Lee grimaced at the thought. A strong shinobi didn't let anyone protect him. That was just stupid.
Naruto watched the fuzzy eyebrowed teen solemnly. If he let Lee just sit around and mope like this, he'd just get more and more depressed. Which was very un-Lee-like and rather depressing in itself. What would Konoha be without it's enthusiastic Blue Beast hopping about in green spandex yelling about love and youth like it was a religion? Well . . . The love part might be left out for awhile, but it he still couldn't stand to think of a week where he didn't see (and hear) that sight. He sat up and gave the Jonin a rather rougher than hardy pat on the back, one that even made Lee almost fall off the edge of the bed. "Well then! Let's go!"
Lee righted himself, careful not to jar the waking Minato more than he had to. "Go where?" He asked indignantly. He really didn't want to go anywhere. Especially with someone who was so enthusiastic when he obviously was not at this moment.
"To Ichiraku ramen of course!" Naruto crowed in a rather annoying sing-song voice.
Lee groaned inwardly. The way Naruto ate . . . They'd be there all night. But whether he went with him or not wouldn't matter. After the blonde even thought of ramen, especially ramen from his favorite place, there was no stopping him. And he rather liked to down almost as much sake as ramen these days too. Which meant he'd be up at ungodly hours, and probably forget that he had a child to look after. Which was where Lee came in.
He couldn't just baby-sit, oh no. Naruto had even taken a years "maternity leave" from his ninja duties to care for the baby. And he never let the squirt out of his sight either. The one time that Kiba had jokingly hid the child form Naruto had been a disaster. Naruto had practically destroyed the village looking for him, literally on the verge of tears, his nine tail chakra going every which way around him. Kiba had learned his lesson, but Naruto had become even more overprotective than he had before. He probably would have decided on permanent retirement at that point if it weren't for his dream of being Hokage.
"So, you're coming . . . Right?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrows at him enthusiastically. "Right? Riiiiiighhhhttt???"
Lee sighed deeply and stood up, "fine. But you're paying."
Naruto scooped up the baby from Lee's arms and grinned, "of course! What kinda friend would I be if I didn't pay for my bummed out buddy!"
After Lee fixed the baby-backpack into a more recognizable, and safer, shape than it had previously been, they made their way to the ramen stand. Minato was fully awake again by this time and was gurgling happily as Naruto pointedly bounced down the street, singing some ridiculous techno sounding song.
"Woah-woah bah-dee-dah dum-dum baby! Woah-woah bah-dee-dah dum-dum baby! I'll never, I'll never, I'll never let you go . . ."
Lee poked the blonde in the side as they approached the ramen stand. "Stop that. You're making a fool of yourself. Do you know how late it is?" Stupid question, Lee thought. I don't even know what time it is . . .
Naruto glanced at his watch pointedly, before turning a very smug look at Lee. "Oh yes . . . It is soooooooo late! I can't believe it's already seven-thirty! Whatever will I do?"
Minato laughed and gurgled happily as if he understood the sarcastic remark.
Uncharacteristically, Lee's eyes narrowed at his friend, and he ducked underneath the cloth hangings and into the ramen shop. As he did so, he thanked the stars that there was no one else at the stand tonight. Naruto's loud voice would have the whole village talking by tomorrow night about Lee and Sakura. And it was best to delay that until tomorrow night as well, since it was unavoidable. Naruto might blab to any random shinobi within earshot while drunk.
They sat down, Naruto turning one of the stools into a highchair for Minato, and then promptly ordering ramen for the two of them without even asking what Lee wanted.
"Naruto . . ." Lee protested, a little annoyed, "I can order for myself . . ."
"Right!" Naruto slapped Lee on the back enthusiastically, "but it's one me, so I pick your first bowl tebayo!"
Lee raised one of his characteristic eyebrows at him at this logic. Naruto ignored his friend and ordered a few different bottles of sake, apparently planning on "sampling" some new kinds.
"You have a child Naruto," Lee chided as Naruto sipped at one of the bottles.
Naruto glanced at him with narrowed eyes, "god, Lee. You make it sound like I'm pregnant. I'm not giving Minato any."
The Jonin sighed, "that's not what I meant . . ."
The blond smiled, "I know," he paused to inhale half a bowl of ramen as it arrived, "but now that I'm older I understand why Jiraiah and Kakashi liked this shit so much." He twirled the already half empty bottle around on the table, "it helps you . . . Forget . . ."
Lee eyed the spinning bottle a little disapprovingly. He'd never really liked the stuff, it tasted completely awful. And it did funny things to Lee's head. And he could never remember what the hell he'd been doing for the last few hours after he drank any. Forget, huh?
Rock Lee needed to forget, forget this entire day. Pretend it never happened just for a little while, and remember a little later instead. Yeah, that sounded nice. To just forget his rejection for a few hours . . .
Without even really thinking about it properly, Lee reached out and snatched the bottle from Naruto and downed a humongous swig before placing it on the table again.
The blonde stared at him, dumbfounded. "Oh . . . Shit! Leeeeee!!!" Naruto waved his arms around wildly, "Lee! What did you do!?!?!"
"Drank shum sake . . ." Lee hiccupped cheerfully, ginning at Naruto with glazed eyes.
Naruto drew in a shaky breath. This was bad. Very, very, veeeeerrryyy, bad. Lee hated sake, so Naruto never had to worry about the spandex wearing shinobi stealing it from him before. "um . . . Lee?" Please stay sane, please stay sane . . .
Lee whipped the bottle up to his mouth again before Naruto could stop him. "Thish ish gooooood stuffs!" Lee said happily, as he finished off the bottle. "Maybe I should drink dish more oftenesh!"
"No you shouldn't," Naruto said squeaked, "that would be bad. Alcohol is bad for you Lee, remember?"
"Nonshensh!" Lee exclaimed, standing up suddenly, and overturning his untouched bowl of ramen. "I need to drink it alla time!" He turned and headed out of the ramen stand a little wobbly.
Naruto slapped a few bills down on the counter and scooped up Minato in one swift motion. "Lee! Where do you think you're going?" He put the baby into the backpack and hurried after the staggering Jonin.
Lee looked up at the starry sky as if pondering the question. Then, he raised a finger to that same sky defiantly, "to Sakura-san's house!"
The blonde groaned and put his head in his hands, "Leeee . . . You are really going to regret it in the morning if you do . . ." He grabbed the teen by the arm and hauled him backwards, "Listen Lee, you're not yourself right now, don't do anything stupid-"
"Snot stupid," Lee whined, pulling his arm away from Naruto, making his companion fall on his butt from the force of the action.
"Snot stupid?" Naruto muttered to himself. He turned blue eyes to Lee, deciding to take a different course of action. "Well . . . Maybe Sakura doesn't want to see you right now buddy . . ."
Lee's eyes narrowed, "Shut up. I'm going to go shee her whether she likesh it or not!" With that he turned and stomped off in the general direction of the pink haired girl's house.
Naruto slapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation. "Shit . . ." He stood up and followed Lee from what he assumed was a safe distance for the moment. The shinobi in question seemed to have forgotten the original plan and was poking a wall with a very serious look on his face.
"Shtop makin fun of my eyebrowsh you fat-head," Lee said groggily. He gave the wall a rather hard poke and Naruto could only watch as it crumbled to dust.
Naruto gulped, Oh Buddha and all that, I've created a monster! he hurried after the Jonin again as he made his way over to another wall. Apparently this one had offended him too. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered as he watched the Blue Beast destroy a third wall. Pretty soon the whole village would wake up from the noise of their buildings being turned to rubble.
The blonde crossed his fingers in his most commonly used hand sign. "You asked for this Lee. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Lee looked up at the smoke surrounding him as the puffs materialized into copies of Naruto. "Ohh! So you wanna fight?"
Naruto raised his hands in a "woah, woah" gesture, "No, we just want you to-"
"Okay! I accept your challenge!" Lee staggered rapidly around the ring the clones had created and jumped up into a rapid burst of a surprisingly successful Leaf Hurricane.
The blonde groaned as half his clone population poofed out of existence. This was not going to end well . . .
Lee laughed and bounced up onto the roof of a nearby building, "I am a most sssppleeeeeennnddiiiiiidd Shinobiiii!!!" he called, "Gai-sensei! Look at meeeeeee!!!!"
"I wish he wasn't away on a fricken mission so he could!" Naruto snapped form the ground.
The dark haired teen glanced at him lazily. "Naruto, you're it."
"Eh?" Before the blonde could question Lee as to what the hell that meant, the Jonin had taken off across the rooftops at high speed. Naruto stared after him dumbfounded. Finally, he raised a hand to his hair and pulled at it in frustration, "aarrggghhh!!! Lee!" He jumped up onto the rooftops to follow, Minato gurgling happily at this fun and exciting new game.
He wasn't that hard to follow, when he left a wake of smashed objects and buildings in his wake. Naruto followed the trail, trying to decide if he really wanted to catch up to the fuzzy browed drunk. He could just pretend that he had nothing to do with it when they found the mess in the morning. Oh wait . . . The owner of Ichiraku ramen had seen them together. A witness. Crap.
The blonde crouched on top of one of the still intact roofs of the area and peered down at where Lee was staring up at the monumental Hokage figures on the cliff face.
"What are you lookin at?" Lee said groggily, "Don't yoush know itsh not nicesh to shtare?" He pointed a finger at the five heads defiantly, "I shaid shtop it!" He leapt up onto the roofs again and headed towards the monument at full speed.
Naruto cussed under his breath and headed after him at an increased pace. Painting the monument was one thing, but reducing it to ruble was another. He skidded to a halt a few yards away from the Jonin. The later was staring up at the heads and shouting at them about manners.
"Umm . . . Lee? Let's just go home for today, okay?" Naruto said weakly, "You can get them in the morning for their rudeness, okay?"
Lee's head swiveled around and he glared at Naruto with half lidded eyes, "No. Justishe must be dealt out here and now!" He slapped a hand to the lower cliff in demonstration, which left a sizeable dent in the rock.
Before Naruto could stop him, he'd leapt up into the air, spinning into a kick aimed right for the stone Tsunade's face. Naruto covered his eyes with his hands. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead . . .
But the sound of crumbling rock never came. Instead, Naruto heard a rather familiar gritty hissing sound, followed by a rather surprised yelp from Lee.
Naruto peeked open his eyes from between his hands slowly. Lee was suspended in midair, caught around the waist by thick loop of sand. The blonde's head whipped around to see the Blue Beast's captor standing a few feet to his right. He had blazing dark red hair and bore a red mark of the character "Ai" on the left side of his forehead. He was dressed in the white robe over his usual cloths, typical garb of the Kazekage.
Suboku no Gaara glanced over at the blonde with his regular stoic expression. "What's all this about?"
Naruto sighed deeply in relief. "Thanks a million Gaara. You showed up a the perfect time." He waved a hand to where Lee was struggling in the sand's grip above them. "In case you can't guess, Lee had a rough day and got . . . Well . . . Stone drunk."
Gaara looked between Lee, who was slapping the sand repeatedly as if it would have any effect, and back to Naruto. "Is that so."
"Yup. Could you do me a favor?" He didn't even flinch as Gaara shot him glare at the notion, "can you just hang onto him until he passes out? Otherwise he'll destroy the whole village." At that moment, Lee complied to this, and slumped limply in the sand's grip.
Naruto ginned, "woohoo! Now help me get him back to his house!" He once again ignored the glare Gaara directed at him, and led the way back through the decimated left side of the village.
RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE
First chapter, out! Yay! I've wanted to write a really long, serious, Naruto fic for quite some time. And so after seeing "Seventeen Again" for the seconed time, I got inspiration! Inspiration form the word "divorce". Weird. But I can already see how the whole series is going to end from a mile away. And this fic will explain that as it plays out. But it's written in the event that that does happen, in which case all the Yaoi fan girls will bang their heads against the table in exasperation. So this is like, after the predicted ending. Two years after to be precise. There will be more chapters to follow, so keep reading dattebayo!
Whoa . . . This is seven pages . . . Anywho, the song Naruto was singing in case anyone wants to know is "Close My Eyes" by Astroline.
Chapter Theme Song: My Happy Ending - Avril Lavine
"You were all the things I thought I knew. And I thought we could be . . ."