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Symbols of Femininity

Part 3

In Which Sakura Dates

Haruno Mizuri was horrified when her daughter walked into the house a mere 20 minutes before her planned date for the evening. Sakura's pink hair was dirty, her clothes torn in a few places; her face was covered in dust, and her hands..! Her daughter's fingers were swollen and had raw patches worn into them. She hadn't had hands like that since her calluses had formed from the Godaime's training.

"Sakura! What have you been doing? I thought you had a date tonight!" Mizuri placed a half folded towel down on the ironing board and gazed at her offspring with some dejection.

The female in question looked up over the refrigerator door, a carrot hanging out of her mouth. Looking thoughtful, she put back the juice she'd been about to pour and asked, "What's today?"

Her mother sighed, "It's Friday, dear. Don't you remember, your date with Lee-san is tonight?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she whirled to look at her foggy reflection in the oven door. "Oh, no!" Mizuri watched her desperately try and smooth a tear at her shoulder, only to make it worse. "I was with Naruto and lost track of time." She threw a grimace over her shoulder. "He's been kicked out of his apartment, so I was helping him pack and clean."

"You were alone with Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked as Sakura walked by her to search through the clean clothes. "All evening?" Just because they were on the same team since they were twelve didn't mean Mizuri had to trust the boy… or boys as the case may be.

"No, Mom, we weren't alone. Sasuke was there too. It's his apartment Naruto is moving into, so of course he was there." Sakura paused in her search. "In fact, this gesture is mysteriously nice and tolerant of him… I wonder if he's sick." She continued much slower than before, clearly thinking of the boys she had spent most of the day with.

This wasn't the first instance that caused Mizuri had to worry, as her daughter was the lone girl on one of Konoha's highest rated ninja teams. Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Hatake had all been to the house at various points over the years but it still made Mizuri uncomfortable to know her lone child was alone with those men on some nights. Being close to such talented and dangerous shinobi was surely to put ideas into her daughter's head that didn't need to be there.

Ideas like remaining a kunoichi for all her life. Sakura's mother did not want that lifestyle for her daughter. She would fight for Sakura to have a nice civilian life.

"Why not wear the green top, sweetie? It brings out your eyes and gives contrast to your hair." Mizuri forced herself to continue folding towels.

Sakura grinned. "That's a great idea, Mom! I'll just take a quick shower and be ready when he gets here." She grabbed the shirt, along with some jeans that were in her pile and a towel from her mother as she ran to the bathroom.

Mizuri closed her eyes against the sight of her daughter's hands. They would blister tomorrow and be sore for certain. Maybe Sakura could get something done tomorrow at that hospital she was always working at.

Lee wasn't set to show up for another ten minutes when the doorbell rang and Mizuri opened it to find the young man, freshly cleaned, smiling, and holding a single flower, ready to wait for her daughter.

Finally, she thought, letting in the man, also clad in green, maybe now my daughter will settle into a good life.

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It was grossly humid and her hair was practically standing on end. The dust from the road was rising to choke her and cover her clothes, turning her red shirt a dusky pink. The sun was setting and they had finished their mission for the day. It had been an easy C-Rank for a break. Someone reported seeing dangerous large wild cats out in the woods and wanted to make sure it was still safe for the children.

The cats had been there alright, along with the poachers that were encroaching on the Hokage's territory. Team 7 had no problem making the woods safe for children again. The cats were relocated, and the poachers… well, no one would ever be hearing from them again… or all the little pieces the team had left behind.

Sasuke had been especially vicious today. Perhaps it was residual behavior from having Naruto move in with him? There had been a small talk of a boy's party last night while she'd been on her date. They'd most likely gotten on each others' last nerve and were dealing with it. For Sasuke it was violence. For Naruto, it should have been curiosity about the mission, but-

"He didn't try and kiss you, right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as his eyes scanned the road before them. "I suppose you going on a date will be okay, as long as he didn't try and put the move on you." He put his arms behind his head, trying to appear nonchalant, but Sakura almost tripped over the sudden tension his question created. Kakashi and Sasuke also appeared highly interested. Well, they appeared that way to people who had been with them for years. For everyone else, the two quieter teammates simply had a line of tension run from the base of their necks to their hands.

Sakura felt a blush rise from her chest to cover her face. The sun seemed to intensify its light merely to make her miserable and put her on the spot.

Her date with Lee last night had been surprisingly nice and really, she should have come prepared to answer Team 7's questions. Although, even if she had been ready, the medic doubted being able to aptly counter this one. What might mean one thing to her could mean something entirely different to the men in her life. Ino-pig had told her this one many times before.

"There was a kiss, yes." Her evasive answer didn't work to make the blonde pass it over and go on as she had wanted. In fact, far from that desired effect, all the males stopped dead in the middle of the road, a cloud of dust rising up. Sakura imagined that she could hear all their teeth grinding in horror and feel the death threats radiating off them.

"Where did he kiss you, Sakura?" Kakashi's voice was deceptively gentle. She heard the inlaid threat in his tone. The one that said, Tell me so I can go cut it off of him.

"Ah, no. He didn't-" She bit her lip not quite knowing what to tell them. She walked a small way away from them and tried to study a line of trees.

Slow footsteps came toward her and Sasuke's soft voice came over her shoulder as he said, "Did you kiss him then?" There was no hidden steel in this question. Oh, no. The steel was out in the open and incredibly demanding. In fact, it was close to cutting through the invisible boundary they never spoke of. Looking over her shoulder and up, she met his dark gaze and winced at exactly how dark it was. Naruto wasn't between them so act as a buffer. He was standing beside Kakashi, hands on his hips and a slight frown on his face.

"N-no… it wasn't like you think." She turned to look at all three. Telling herself not to act like Hinata, she pushed her shoulders back a little and forced the words to come out. "It wasn't even a proper kiss."

Naruto's eyebrows raised high and he smiled, slow and wide. "Then what was it?"

The medic sighed and resumed walking. Naturally they followed.

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"Ah, Sakura-san! You are a beautiful blossom of youth tonight. I feel such luck and pride at having you on my arm this starlit night."

The young woman looked sardonically at the sky, full of clouds and not a twinkle in sight. "Of course, Lee-san. Thank you so much for tonight. Dinner was great and this walk is very refreshing." This was actually the complete truth. Lee had behaved himself, keeping proclamations of youth to a minimum and only expounding on her beauty and youthfulness once at the restaurant. He'd even given her a gift to 'commemorate' their date. The bracelet sparkled smartly on her wrist as they walked together. The walk they were on now was a nice sedate pace through the training grounds they used when Lee helped her with taijutsu.

Looking around, Sakura had to smile as she remembered that time a few weeks ago when she kissed her boys before coming to practice. It had been worth every drop of sweat Gai's student dragged out of her to see Sasuke with a slightly dropped jaw and Naruto with a real blush on his cheeks. The Uchiha certainly wasn't known for his emotional response range and for Naruto, after hearing all his perverted stories of traveling with Jiraiya-sama, it felt exhilarating to get him a little flushed.

"Sakura-san?"

Snapping her mind back to her date, Sakura looked at the spandex-clad man in question. "Yes, Lee-san?"

He gazed at her searchingly for a time and she felt nervous under his scrutiny. It didn't escape her that he suddenly seemed a lot more observant and knowledgeable than usual.

Sakura was opening her mouth to ask if everything was alright, when Lee raised a hand to cup her cheek and smiled sadly. "Ino lied, didn't she?"

It took the medic a second to realize he was referring to Ino saying Sakura had feelings for him and the pink-haired woman suddenly knew without a doubt that she had more power over Rock Lee than any opponent could hope to gain. And with that power followed the ability to absolutely crush him if she wanted.

He was looking at her with understanding, no censure at all.

Returning his gaze with thoughtful eyes, she tried to picture Sasuke or Naruto in his place. If she gave herself reference, maybe she could let him down easy?

It didn't work that way.

If Naruto were here, they wouldn't have gone to a nice sit-down place, they would have gone to the Ichiraku; and instead of a sedate walk through the training grounds, the fox container would have had her chasing him for some reason or another, either in anger or happiness. The night would have ended with him trying for a kiss and her brushing him off until they were both laughing when they parted.

If Sasuke were here… this probably wouldn't have happened. The boundary between them was too great for that. Small steps were better. She'd been afraid that the chance she took kissing him would ruin what they had healed already, but the day after the incident he'd acted like it never happened. She knew it was okay then, whereas if he'd ignored her (more than normal) and been vicious during training, then she would have known it hadn't been welcome.

There was no reference for this situation. Sakura had no clue what to do. Maybe if she had some way of measuring her feelings for Lee, some basis of comparison…

Before she'd really come up with a working plan of action, Sakura found herself closer to Lee, framing his surprised face with her hands and pressing her lips gently to his.

It was shorter than the tentative kisses she'd given her teammates and as she stepped back she could see Lee's eyes becoming slightly wet with understanding.

As she stepped back, Sakura nodded to herself. Then she looked up at Lee and gave him a full smile unhindered by distractions. "Good night, Lee. I'll see you on Wednesday for taijutsu?"

Smiling back, the Green Beast nodded in affirmation. "Yosh! I will continue to help you until you are better than I am, Sakura-san! If I can't get you that good, I will challenge Neji 100 times more!"

Laughing, Sakura turned with a wave and headed in the direction of her house.

Lowering the fist he'd pumped in the air, Lee allowed a tear to escape as he let her go. "Good-bye, Haruno Sakura. Go to them soon."

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"Sakura? What was it?"

Jolted out of her thoughts, the medic-nin smiled lightly and looked beside her to meet Kakashi's eye. "It was thank you," –for everything- "and goodnight." –goodbye-

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.

"That's all it was, then?" Sasuke's voice had lost a lot of the hardness and he seemed much more willing to forgive.

Sakura nodded, happy they didn't look like they were going to lynch the enthusiastic shinobi anymore.

"So does that mean fuzzy-brows got two kisses?"

Naruto's question brought the group to a halt again. The lynching looks came back. Sakura gazed longingly at the gates of Konoha, visible through a few trees. Just a few hundred yards away!

"No, Naruto." Surely he wasn't jealous that Lee may have got one more kiss than him? He had to know, they all had to know, that they meant more to her than anyone else. "It just meant two things at once."

Kakashi nodded and propelled the group forward again when he began walking. "Yes, boys, girls' kisses can mean many different things."

Sasuke appeared unruffled by this, but Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and nearly pulled on a full pout. "You wore make-up today, Sakura-chan. Are there lots of reasons behind that too?"

Make-up? Ah. She must not have gotten all the eye liner off last night. "No, Naruto. There's just one reason for that."

Kakashi pulled his orange book out of his pocket and hid his face in it. Sasuke kicked some pebbles that dared to cross his path. Naruto bounded up until he walked right beside Sakura and he looked at her with his blue eyes full of curiosity. "What's that?"

Fluttering her eyelashes at him, and feeling very Ino-ish, she replied, "Why, to see if you guys would notice, of course." Here she resisted the urge to skip ahead to freedom and simply smiled and started to hum. She really was happy.

It didn't matter that her clothes were covered in road dust, sweat, and some blood stains. It didn't matter that she would have to wash her hair three times to get all the gore and dirt out. It didn't matter that she must have raccoon eyes because she'd slept in her make-up last night.

All that mattered as she walked through Konoha's gates was she was satisfied with her work on the job today. And her team thought she'd worn make-up just for them.

"What's that on your wrist, Sakura-chan?"

Lee's bracelet would never pass as a scrunchie, even to Naruto!