Of Spandex and Shuriken

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Drabble 4: Konichiwa, Sakura-san

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Rock Lee sat beneath a large oak tree. It happened to be 5:50 in the morning, a brisk Monday morning, so of course, he was at Team Gai's training area. The only problem was that the rest of Team Gai was nowhere to be found.

Now, this would normally have upset the ever-punctual Green Beast, but today, he knew better. After all, his sensei had had a good reason for being late the day before, so... he must have a good reason today! Perhaps he had lost yet another battle to his eternal rival and was running a thousand laps around Konoha. That made sense.

But, it didn't explain his teammates' tardiness. Lee thought some more. Well, it was Tenten's day to bring drinks, so... being the horrible procrastinator she was, she probably hadn't gotten them yet.

'Yeah,' thought Lee. 'She's probably at the store right now.' And Neji? 'Probably still brushing his hair!'

That made Lee grin, and for a while, he actually believed it was as simple as that. After about twenty minutes, however, he realized something was wrong. Rare was the day that even one of his comrades was late, let alone all three. And none of them had ever been this late.

Had Gai canceled training today and not told him?

Had they all decided to play hooky?

As illogical as those thoughts were, what other reason could there be?

Lee waited for another fifteen minutes, then left. Sure, he could have just trained on his own, as he'd done many times before, but... for the first time in his life, he just wasn't in the mood. As he headed out to town, he wondered, sadly, why the most important people in his life had ditched him... on his birthday.

Or, had they?

About five minutes after Lee's departure, the rest of Team Gai appeared, carrying a cake, presents, and wearing party hats!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEE!!" Gai screamed, causing his other pupils to wince and cover their ears. "On this fine day, you are one year closer to reaching your beautifully blossoming manhood! Yet, you're still at the cusp of your youth!!" And, with that, Gai promptly burst into tears.

Neji sweatdropped and wondered what cruel fate he had upset to be assigned to the most psychotic of senseis.

Tenten was actually the first to notice the obvious.

"Wait, where IS Lee?" she asked.

Gai stopped crying and looked around.

Alas! His favorite pupil was, indeed, missing!

"Oh, Lee, where have you gone?" he cried, throwing up his arms in despair.

Tenten sweatdropped. "We are awfully late, sensei. Maybe Lee thought that training was called off or something."

"Right you are, Tenten!" said Gai. "In that case, I have a new mission for you two!"

"Now you've done it," muttered Neji, scowling at his teammate.

"Your mission is to find and apprehend Lee, so that we may resume our celebratory activities!!"

Neji's expression was a cross between exasperation and extreme discomfort. "Um, Gai-sensei?"

"Yes, Neji?"

"Until we find him, can I... take off this hat?" he asked, pointing at the ridiculous, green party hat Gai had forced him to wear.

"Certainly not!" said Gai. "In honor of your teammate's birth, you will wear your hat for the rest of the day!"

Neji swore under his breath, but didn't argue. He learned a long time ago how futile that was.

"Well, be off with you, then!" Gai bellowed.

"Aren't you coming, sensei?" asked Tenten.

"No," said Gai. "I've decided to make this a competition between you two!"

"... Come again?"

"The first one to find Lee will get... a corner piece of the cake!"

Neji sweatdropped. "...Gai-sensei, the cake is circular. There are no corners."

"Just go and find Lee!!"

Neji sighed, but did as he was told. He supposed that even running around Konoha in a silly, green party hat wasn't as bad as listening to Gai scream about youthful manhood. And, again, trying to argue would be pointless.

Neji and Tenten ran along together for a while, but Tenten suddenly stopped short.

"Wait a minute, Neji," she said. "Wasn't this supposed to be a competition?"

Neji snorted. "I don't think Gai-sensei actually cares whether we compete or not. He just wants to scream about youth and manhood with his favorite."

"But, maybe if I find Lee, I'll be Gai-sensei's favorite for a while!" said Tenten, eyes sparkling at the thought of actually being noticed and appreciated.

That earned her another snort. "Yeah, and maybe the main house will benignly remove my curse seal... Of course, they won't because they think they're so much better than me, despite my superior abilities. Well, one day, I'll show them! Maybe I'll figure out how to do that curse seal jutsu... Oh, the possibilities!" Neji rubbed his hands together and seemed to come alive for a moment. But, then his face became blank again.

"No, I can't do that," he sighed. "My father's dying wish was that I protect Hinata-sama and the main house. Even though he's dead, I really should honor that... Still... I don't want to... blah, blah, blah..." he went on (and on), not noticing that Tenten's eyes had glazed over and she was starting to drool.

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Lee had been walking for a while now, with no particular destination in mind. He just walked for the sake of walking, because he was one of those people who derived comfort from motion. He found that he could think clearer and generally felt more at ease. Indeed, to be deprived of his mobility was to be deprived of his soul.

Rock Lee just lived to move.

So, perhaps that was why he ended up back at the hospital. No, he hadn't fruitlessly injured himself while wandering around Konoha; he just happened to end up there. Lee himself couldn't say why and, at that moment, he didn't particularly care.

He went over to that little bridge and just watched the running water, letting his thoughts drift with it. He'd spent a lot of time there during his rehab period, to sort of regroup after therapy sessions (and occasionally ditch therapy). But, in truth, Lee had envied the stream's ability to move so freely, while his movements were slow and painful.

That bridge had also been the place where Sakura had given him flowers and a few words of encouragement. He smiled at the memory. Sakura would probably never know just how her words had affected him. In fact, everything she did seemed to affect him.

But... what exactly was it about her that held his attention? Sure, he'd known her for a year or so, but they still hadn't hung out enough to even be considered friends, let alone potential lovers. Hell, they still used that formal "-san" when addressing one another!

But, it had never been like that with Tenten. The first time Lee had called her "Tenten-san," she just gave him this look that seemed to say: "are you serious?" Then, they'd both burst out laughing and agreed to just screw the honorifics. Well, that's what Tenten had said, because Lee was, of course, too damn polite for such crude terminology.

Around Tenten, Lee had always felt free to be himself--his polite, goofy, but ever-youthful self. Still... Tenten had never been there for him when he was injured. And she wasn't with him today... on his birthday.

The second Lee thought that, he felt a sharp pang of... something. 'That, made no sense,' he told himself. Neji was his friend, too, but Lee wasn't nearly as bothered by his lack of support.

Before he could give the matter more thought, however, a clear, female voice rang through the air: "Oh, there you are!"

Lee spun around expecting to see Tenten, but--

"I was looking for you, Lee-san," said the girl pleasantly.

It was Sakura, meeting him again at the very bridge where he had once contemplated his mortality.

He smiled, spirits suddenly lifted.

"Konichiwa, Sakura-san."

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A/N: Ah, Sakura. She makes the whole LeeTen thing complicated, doesn't she? Yeah, I know I already missed Lee's birthday, but, for this drabble's purposes, just pretend it's Nov 27th. This one is a multiparter, because it started to get too long, but, I guess that's the beauty of "varying theme and length!" I feel bad about updating this before finishing ch 6 of TR, but, if I wait too long to do a Lee birthday drabble, it would no longer be relevant--I've already missed his b-day by a week... Anyways, comments and such are always appreciated!

-Andrea