My first attempt at romance... or something like it. Enjoy! :P
Disclaimer: Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto
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Sakura stood in the shelter of a small grove of trees, watching her love from a distance. This was one of Sasuke's favorite places; at least, Sakura assumed that it was. He always came here when Kakashi granted the team a free afternoon, and naturally, Sakura always followed. It was a small clearing in the woods that overlooked Konoha. In fact, it was located right above the exact spot that was once the Uchiha compound.
Of course, this piece of information was unknown to Sasuke's pink-haired admirer. All she knew was that as the young genin sat still on his log, the sun splashing gold across his raven colored hair and casting shadows over his beautiful face, he always looked so angry. Never sad. Never calm or peaceful. Always angry, as though just looking at his birth village filled him with pure loathing. Sakura couldn't bear the sight of him like that. She always wished that she could walk up to him and ask what was wrong. That he would appreciate her presence, and confide in her his deepest secrets. But she was afraid of being cast aside yet again. Then she remembered her favorite saying: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Taking a deep breath, the young kunoichi stepped out from the shadows and approached her crush. Sasuke obviously knew of her coming; he flinched ever so slightly when her foot snapped a twig. Otherwise, he didn't move a muscle. Sakura sat down beside him, and it was quiet for a long time. The silence, combined with Sasuke's cold aura, was less than comfortable. It was broken after a few minutes by Sakura's question:
"What's on your mind, Sasuke-kun?" She waited, and there was no answer. After a few minutes, she tried again:
"What's wrong?" To her surprise, Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Why is it your concern?" he asked coldly. Sakura blushed.
"Um I, er... I..." Sasuke looked away. "Y-you're my teammate; we have to be there for each other!" Sasuke didn't reply. Sakura began to grow frustrated.
"You always look so mad, like-, like you hate everybody! What did we ever do to you? Maybe if you started depending on people-" Sasuke shot her a glare, and Sakura shut up immediately.
"I don't need people." Sakura blinked.
"I need you, Sasuke." The Uchiha stared down into the bustling village for a long time.
"You're annoying," he finally said and stood up, walking away with his hands in his pockets. Sakura sniffled as her eyes filled with tears. Unknown to her, a third party watched from the shadows.
***
The next morning, it was as though the previous day had never happened. Team Seven was at the bridge waiting for their sensei, with Naruto making random comments, Sakura beating him up for them, and Sasuke brooding. As the pink haired kunoichi tried unsuccessfully to flirt with the stoic Uchiha, Rock Lee couldn't help but observe while running an errand for Gai-sensei.
He sighed, gazing longingly at the blush on his Sakura-chan's rosy checks, wishing that she would one day reserve her current loving expression only for him. But she kept running back to the Uchiha. Lee couldn't bear to see his little cherry blossom in so much pain all the time. If only...
"Hey, bushy brows!" Naruto's yell jolted Lee out of his daydreams. He smiled, happy for an excuse to approach Sakura.
"Hello, Naruto-kun! Hi Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled sweetly.
"Hi Lee!"
"Hn." Sasuke merely grunted.
"What have you guys been up to? I haven't seen you in a while." Naruto scowled, and crossed his arms over his head.
"Kakashi-sensei's been harder on us since we messed up on that last mission. I think it was Sasuke's fault-" at Sakura's glare, he laughed and continued, "Heh heh, just kidding, Sakura-chan! But we've had to do hard training every day, and now Kakashi-sensei's late again!" Sakura looked at her watch.
"He was supposed to be here two hours ago!" Rock Lee raised an oversized eyebrow.
"Really? I just saw him leaving the training grounds. I think he was on his way to the porn shop-"
"WHAT!?"
"THAT"S IT! I'm gonna go give sensei a piece of my mind!"
"Naruto, no! He'll be so angry! What if he comes back and you're not here!?" Sakura grabbed her blonde teammate's jumpsuit, before he took hold of her wrist.
"You're coming with me!" Lee's eyes widened, (yes, it's possible), and he took Sakura's other arm.
"She can't go there! It'll corrupt her youth!"
"She'll be fine!"
"No she won't! She's just a delicate blossom!"
"Ha! That's funny, bushy brows!"
"OW! You guys, stop, you're hurting me!" Naruto and Lee let go at once.
"I'm so sorry Sakura-chan! I couldn't let Naruto-kun ruin you!"
"Hey, guys," Kakashi said, appearing out of a puff of smoke. "I hope I'm not too late..."
"YOU!" Sakura had to struggle to hold Naruto back.
"Shut up you idiot!"
"Heh, sorry about that," Kakashi said sheepishly, "I had to help an old woman with her groceries-"
"NO YOU WEREN'T! THAT'S B.S.- LEGGO UF MUH!" Naruto squirmed as he tried to remove his pink-haired teammate's arm from over his mouth and nose. "OP IT 'AKUWA, I CAN' BWEAF!" Sakura released him, and Kakashi scratched his silver head in confusion.
"I have no idea what all the fuss is about..." At that moment, an irritated TenTen came around the corner.
"Lee! There you are! Come on, Gai-sensei won't start our lesson without you!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry TenTen-chan! I'm coming sensei!" With a wave to Team Seven, Lee and TenTen took off. Secretly however, Lee wished that he could stick around a little longer; he didn't trust Naruto with his cherry blossom.
***
After making completely sure that she didn't look any less than her absolute best, Sakura winked at herself one last time in her bedroom mirror, and then set out to find her beloved Sasuke. She would not fail this time! On her way to his clearing, she ran into Rock Lee- literally.
"Sakura-chan! Forgive me!" Lee's heart fluttered in his chest as he helped his not-so-secret love from the ground. He really needed time to prepare for moments like this...
"It's all right Lee; I wasn't looking where I was going." Sakura said, brushing herself off.
"Where are you going in such a hurry? You could trip and ruin your youthful beauty!" Sakura blushed and giggled.
"Oh, just to pay a certain someone a visit. I'll see you later Lee!" Lee looked after her sadly as she skipped away. It was obvious who that "certain someone" was. He sighed; he didn't understand why she always ran back to Sasuke with a smile. But he had to admit, her persistence was admirable.
"I will follow Sakura-chan's example!" he declared and ran after her.
***
"Sasuke?" Sakura could barely make out the Uchiha's silhouette seated on the log. She had arrived late; the sun was almost below the horizon. Sasuke was still there though. That was what mattered.
As she had the day before, Sakura invited herself to sit down on the log beside her love. Letting a few minutes of silence pass, she attempted to make conversation:
"You did well during our training session today." No response. Sakura thought it best to continue until she elicited one. "I know I didn't do that great, but I never was a weapons person. I'm better at jutsus... well, a little. You're great at everything Sasuke-kun! Maybe you could help me sometime?" She looked at him hopefully, but he continued to stare into space. Finally, he stood up and began walking away.
"Huh? Sasuke, where are you-"
"I'm going to find another place to think. You're irritating me." Refusing to just sit and allow him to leave as she had the last time, Sakura stood up as well.
"I'm just trying to understand why you're so distant!"
"People get in my way. It's best not to get close to them."
"But-"
"Goodbye, Sakura." Sakura watched him leave, tears of disappointment running down her cheeks. The sound of rustling that came from the bushes behind her caught her off guard.
"Oh, It's you, Lee," she said as the jumpsuit-clad genin exited the forest, picking leaves from his hair. "What are you doing here?"
"I came looking for you." Sakura gasped, a blush growing on her cheeks.
"Oh..."
"Tell me Sakura-chan, why do you keep coming back here?" The kunoichi looked at him curiously.
"How did you know that?" Lee's face turned red.
"Uh," He decided that the truth would be the best way to go. "I follow you- Wait! It's not what it sounds like!" He added quickly at the look Sakura gave him. "It's just that, I always used to see you in tears whenever I ran into you in town, so one day I followed you to see what was wrong..." There was silence for a while. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Are you going to answer my question?"
"Question?"
"Why do you keep coming here?"
"Oh..." Sakura looked off into the distance, and shrugged her shoulders with a small smile. "I don't know. I guess that I should be doing other things, like training, but the way Sasuke acts bugs me. I don't like to see him unhappy... I really care about him."
"But he always rejects you. Doesn't it hurt?"
"Yeah. A lot... but I just can't give up on him." Rock Lee took a deep breath.
"I- I really care about you, too." Sakura looked up in surprise.
"Wha..?"
"I don't want you to be unhappy either. It hurts me when I see you cry." He swallowed. His nervousness was making him shake, but his words were the truth. "When I said that I would protect you until I die, I meant from emotional pain as well as physical. Don't do this to yourself, Sakura. Please?" Sakura didn't know what to say. Lee stared at her intently, concern written all over his face. Sakura had known for a while that Lee liked her, everyone did. She also knew that she didn't return his feelings; not in the same way, at least. She couldn't get over Sasuke that easily, but she could make Lee happy. She smiled.
"I won't bother with Sasuke anymore. I'll keep myself happy, I promise," She leaned over and hugged her fellow genin. "Thanks for caring about me." Her promise triggered something within Lee, and he crushed her into a youthful bear hug.
"You're welcome, my cherry blossom! I will never-"
"Lee, I can't breathe..." Sakura squeaked. Lee released her immediately.
"I'm so sorry Sakura-chan! Please forgive me!"
"You're forgiven." The pink haired girl stood up and looked at her watch. "It's late, I should be going home now."
"Then let me walk you home." Sakura shook her head.
"No, you don't have to-" at Lee's pitiful reaction, she changed her response: "Well, I mean, you can... if it isn't too much trouble..."
"Of course not! Anything for you, Sakura-chan, my beautiful cherry blossom of youth!" With that last exclamation, Lee took Sakura in his arms and dashed back through the woods to Konoha.
Later that night, as was customary, Sakura lay in her bed, pondering her love life. This time however, her thoughts weren't focused on Sasuke Uchiha, but a certain bushy browed, green jumpsuit wearing shinobi. It was true that Rock Lee was occasionally irritating, and even a little creepy at times, but wasn't Sakura, in Sasuke's eyes? Besides, he would obviously love her unconditionally, if given the chance. Sakura made a mental note to find out where Lee's favorite place was, the next time Kakashi gave Team Seven an afternoon off.
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Eh, I think it turned out okay, though Lee seems a little OOC to me... but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things, so I really can't take my word for it. I'd appreciate some reviews! Gracias!