Cotton Candy and Candy Canes
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
A/N: Oh, Felix. What can I say about Felix? He said it best himself: he rules. I was gonna say happy holidays, but seeing as how I'm a little (way) behind schedule on getting this up I'm gonna go with Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year!!
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The carnival stained the sleepy winter air with the taste of coffee and caramel apples. It was set up about ten minutes walking distance form the mighty wooden gates of Konoha, and the excited citizens of the ninja village poured into it, eager for fun. It never got cold enough in Flame Country for snow, so the trees still wore their robes of viridian leaves. Cheerful vendors waved customers over to display their cheap wares, and clowns knotted balloons as sword eaters swallowed knives to warm up. Children sat on their parents' shoulders to take in the wonders, teens gawked at the carnies.
Lee, Neji, and Tenten milled around the middle of it all.
"Neji," Lee sighed, "Romance is in the air. Can you not smell its youthful fragrance?"
"That's manure you're smelling, idiot. There was a horse here before us."
"Oh that my fair cherry blossom were here!"
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you ask her to come?"
"My youthful heart bleeds to say it, but Sakura-chan rejected my invitation."
Neji let Tenten loop her arm through his and said to his best friend, "She's been cooped up with Godaime-sama and Shizune-san for too long. You should bring her here; the woman needs a holiday."
Tenten nodded. "He's right, Lee. You wouldn't want your cherry blossom wilting, would you?"
"Certainly not!" the green beast's protégé cried, "Farewell, friends! I'm going to rescue my fair maiden from the dragon's lair!"
Neji rolled his opal eyes as the boy took off. "Godaime-sama would gut him for that. Dragon's lair indeed."
"Sakura would gut him for that. Rescue fair maiden my ass. That girl don't need to be rescued from no place."
"Terrible grammar," Neji sighed, and then she dragged him off to the Ferris wheel.
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Sakura muffled a shriek as Lee dropped into her path. She did, however, let her fist fly out to meet his nose. He dodged it with the expert ease of someone long used to dodging her punches, and smiled disarmingly at her.
"Would Sakura-chan like to accompany me to the carnival?"
"Didn't Sakura-chan already say no? How'd you get that broken arm to heal so fast anyway?"
"A little chakra goes a long way," Lee said, falling into step beside her, "And please, let me accompany you to the carnival. You've been working far too hard."
"Try telling Tsunade-sama that."
"She won't let you go?" he pretended to be appalled, "Such a crime to hold back a youthful girl from the seductions of winter!"
"Seductions of winter? Where the hell do you pull this stuff from?"
"When I'm around you, sapphire star of my night sky, poetry flows forth."
"That's cute, Lee. Cute and stupid." She stopped to put her hands on his hips, to squint at him in anger. "You tell me to be myself with you; my real mean bitchy yells-a-lot self. So why can't you do the same? Why do you act like a lovelorn prince from Camelot?"
Lee did a somersault for the fun of it, and then sat on the tarmac of the road to peer at his pink haired paramour.
"Y'know," he said after a bit, "Your hair. I wonder if it's the color of pink on candy canes or cotton candy?"
"Candy canes are red, doofus."
"Not the ones at the carnival." He sprung to his feet and dusted off his pants. "Sakura-chan, I do what I do because I love you and can't think of a better way to show it. Because I showing you this way. You know its genuine. You do know its genuine?"
She simply looked at him, and then sighed the sigh of a woman who knows she's fighting a losing battle. "Yes. I know."
"Why don't you go ahead to Hokage-sama's office? But be ready. I'm going to break you out."
"How the hell are you going to manage that?"
He bowed chivalrously to signal that she should pass him. "Trust in me, my gumdrop of divine threats, I have my ways."
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Sakura was turning to the cabinet to file away the papers Tsunade had just looked over when it happened. Lee had a flair for the flashy. Kakashi stormed into the room, sashayed across the floor, swept everything off of Tsunade's table, and before she could so much as swear at him, he'd leapt over the desk and thrown her on it, his lips crashing onto hers.
Sakura gaped. Lee tapped her shoulder.
"Fair lady, you look free. Allow me to escort you to a place of merry making?"
Well, the girl was as bad as the next when it came to charming males. She melted like butter on a warm stove and smiled, lifting her hand to meet Lee's. He took off like a shot, and she matched his powerful leaps easily, enjoying the way it turned to a race after a bit, the wind forcing her hair back like a banner, the way Lee kept stealing glances of her. She really did like him more than she'd ever let on. He lavished attention on her, but never let it get smothering. He was so sweet, and so strong. And despite her disapproving of the way he rarely showed any emotion but for enthusiasm, she'd seen his heart break when he thought he couldn't be a ninja any longer, way back during the chuunin exams. She'd helped him heal, and marveled at the way her rejections only made him more determined to have her.
Lee was so terribly strong, in body and mind. He was her perfect match, and she knew it. He was smart, like Shikamaru, only with the motivation to use his brains. He was cheerful, like Kiba, only not overbearingly loud. He pampered her, like Naruto, only he knew when to let her fend for herself.
God, she loved him.
She grinned to herself.
She really did love him.
The carnival wowed her with its utter thereness. The throbbing colors made her eyes hurt, and the vibrant faces of all those around her made her face crack into a laugh.
Lee beamed at her. "You like it!"
She nodded, and he looked far too pleased with himself.
"Candy canes, or cotton candy?"
"Cotton candy," she said firmly. He waked her over to a stand, where the vendor caught his eye. Lee held up a finger and the man nodded. Sakura reached into her pocket and surfaced with some change. Lee made no comment as she paid for herself, and she was glad—for the umpteenth time—that his chivalry stopped short of mollycoddling her.
Sakura offered him the stick of pink sugar, and he tore off a piece to hold up to her hair.
"Too bright," he declared, "Let's try the candy canes!"
She slipped small pieces of the stuff into her mouth as Lee walked with her to another stall. He produced a small bronze coin and plucked two canes from the strings. He stuck on in his mouth and compared the other to her hair.
"Too dull," he pulled a face. She gave him the cotton candy and popped the cane between her lips, savoring the peppermint tang that went so well with the crisp winter air.
"What now?" she asked.
He waved at the rush and noise around them.
"Now we sample the joys of civilian life!"
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There was a stall where several kids were gathered to play a game. You had three balls, and had to knock down a pyramid of coke cans with them. If you got it in one shot, you got a giant panda, if you got it in two, a sun bear plushie and gift vouchers for Slurpees, if you got it in three shots it was a snow-globe of Kobe. And if you couldn't get it in three shots…well, the vendor was giving the kids rueful smiles and convincing them to try again.
Lee looked at Sakura.
"What?" she laughed.
"If I asked you to let me win you one of those…"
"I'd laugh you into oblivion."
He sighed, and then perked up. "Will you win me the panda?"
She seemed taken aback, but pleased. "Really?"
"It would fill me up with nothing but the brightest and purest of youthful—"
"Alright, alright," she muttered, and forked out some money to the vendor. Taking careful aim, she fired off one sharp shot…
…and not a single can on the bottom row fell over. Sakura glanced bashfully at Lee, who shrugged and said, "I could go for a Slurpee." She cheated a little on her second ball, ramping it up with chakra, and let loose. The can didn't waver even though the plastic ball hit it hard enough to crumple it.
Sakura stared at the set up till something clicked. The vendor gulped as she swung herself over to the cans and pushed them. They were glued down to the crate they were on. She whirled around and grabbed the vendor's collar.
"You filthy cheater!" she began to shout, but Lee leap to the poor man's rescue by rabbit punching him in the neck, making him pass out.
"Raid him, children," he told the kids grandly, and with loud squeals of delight, the ankle biters obliged. He took Sakura by the arm and led her away. "He was not—"
"It makes me so bad!" the girl burst out, "To see a loser like that cheat all those kids! What happened to carnivals, I ask you!? When I was young the vendors were nice enough to give me something even if I didn't win, and these people—"
"When you were young, Sakura-chan, your father used to bribe the vendors to give you something and let you win."
She stopped and looked at him. "What?"
Lee grinned. "You were the talk of the sand box, but I don't think you ever noticed. Your father treated you like a princess."
She snorted. Lee rolled his eyes and took her arm again. "Sakura-chan I think that's where he went wrong. As a kunoichi, your training tells you to be independent. But all your life you've been surrounded by men who want to protect you too much. And now when I do something as harmless as open a door for you, you bite my head off! My beautiful biscuit of butter and cashews, you must learn the difference between gallant and overbearing. There are men who will splash out money like water to impress you and expect you to in return be gorgeous and lovely all the live long day. Sakura-chan, this green beast is not like that. I know you are flawed—heavens are you flawed—and I love you despite those flaws, I love you for them. I would just like the chance to pamper you a bit. It's unfair to think I'm trying to steal away your spirit by doing so!"
Sakura shook her head. "Lee, you spend way too much time figuring me out."
"Does it scare you?"
"A bit."
"Does it also strike you as romantic?"
"Pathetic, actually."
His dark eyes glinted with mischief as he held a hand to his heart. "Sweet cherry blossom, your words wound me so."
She laughed, and pressed her lips to his.
"I meant it as a compliment, I swear."
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Just to make it clear, they're already going out. 8D I realized it wasn't obvious after writing the whole thing.