Chapter Seven
Lee walked out of the hospital, wondering where Sakura had gone. When she had left before, his initial thought was that she had been mad about the kiss…but he had put that idea aside quickly enough. Why would she be mad if she had done it? He thought, laughing at his own foolishness. No, there had to be another reason for her storming out.
Lee hardly noticed the entirely unoccupied streets, and moved towards the Hokage Mansion-after all, Sakura was her pupil, and she could very well just be visiting with Tsunade-sama.
But as Lee grew closer, he began to realize that he could hear noises. Loud, cheering and complaining voices rose and fell like a wave pool. Out of curiosity, Lee sped up and was there in less than three seconds, on the roof of a building. He was dumfounded by the immense size of the audience, and quickly realized that it must be everybody in Konoha.
Then, another group caught his sight. Making their way through the crowd were Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Sakura. Lee grinned happily at the sight of his cherry blossom, and jumped down towards her; he was eager to be near her again.
"Move out of the way!" Sakura screamed, and people scattered to make way for the Kazekage and his siblings. Gaara was striding up in that cool way he has, not noticing any of the stares from the citizens of Konoha. Kankuro and Temari looked around a bit more, interested. Sakura simply shoved a path through the people.
"Ah, Kazekage Gaara. So glad that you decided to come," Tsunade said in a rather drunk voice. Sakura hadn't expected her to act more so after losing her sake.
"Well, I received a message that our allies in the Leaf were in trouble; I figured if it was that bad I should come as well…" He replied, looking around in question, "So…what is the trouble?"
Everyone started talking at once, but the loudest was Shikamaru who hopped up and down screaming, "TOMATTOOOOOO! TOOOOMMMMAAATTTTTTTOOOOO!"
"…..Tomato?" Gaara inquired. Sakura hushed the citizens with one of her famous death glares.
"Ignore him. Our real problem is…well…" Tsunade struggled for a way to explain it, "We have somebody among us, we don't know if they're from the Leaf or not, who has been going around performing dangerous and irritating 'changes' on people. We need some help to stop it since most of us have already been affected, and it's next to impossible to work," Tsunade specifically looked at the bubbling Shikamaru while saying the last part.
"I see…so somebody had been going around and changing people?" Gaara summed up, and the Hokage nodded grimly, "I think I can be of assistance…We'll have to-"
"Sakura-swaaaan!"
A green-suited figure suddenly bounded down and attacked Sakura from behind…in a hug. He grabbed her so suddenly and tightly, that out of reflex Sakura sent him flying into the Mansion. The pink-haired Kunoichi then spun around in horror, "L-Lee?"
Rock Lee emerged from the rubble that she had created, apparently unscathed. "Sakura! I have been looking everywhere for you!" he cried, youthful tears running down his face.
"Lee! W-what are you doing?" Sakura cried, horrified. Everyone was staring, and Gaara had been cut off.
"But, Sakura-chan! I needed to know; why did you leave me like that?" Lee asked anxiously.
Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but closed it in thought. She then lowered her head slightly and replied in a lowered voice, "Lee…I'm sorry but I wasn't in control when I kissed you…there was some kind of jutsu that the Editor cast before…and I don't know…"
Lee's face turned red, and his happy tears mysteriously morphed into sad tears. He looked like he was trying to remember the night.
"I'm really sorry, Lee," Sakura stated, and gave him a comforting hug.
"That is okay, Sakura. It was my own foolishness that caused this but…I think I know who the Editor is."
It took Sakura three seconds to comprehend Lee's last words. He turned towards the crowd, and began to speak.
"Everybody, when I watched Sakura and the mysterious person fighting, I knew I had seen it before. The jutsu's, the movement, it all looked familiar! Sakura has just confessed my last important piece of evidence, and that is why I believe that the Editor is-"
But Lee didn't have time to finish talking. A second before he could say the name, a dart flew at his neck. Lee quickly blocked with his right arm, but it was no good. Sakura looked horrified as Lee fell to the ground, quivering from the fast-acting poison inside the dart.
"Lee!" Sakura cried, running towards her friend.
"It…is…" Lee tried to say, but couldn't get it out. His eyes looked up at Sakura, trying to get her to understand, but in a minute he was out cold.
Sakura pulled the dart out and inspected it. Being around such drugs all day, she could smell the poison and instantly knew what it was. Lee would be out for weeks, if not months. It was a coma-inducing poison.
Sakura stood up and looked at the audience. Her face was red in anger, and her eyes were tearing up. She could stand for a lot of things (hyper Shikamaru not being on that list, for he was at that moment rolling in a flower garden), but one thing she couldn't stand for was somebody injuring a good friend of hers.
"Who…threw…that…dart…" She cried out through clenched teeth. Everybody started looking around, but nobody had any clue. Sakura growled angrily, and turned her back on them. "Sorry for interrupting you, Gaara-sama, please continue," she said in a very nasty voice and walked to stand next to her sensei.
"Um…alright," Gaara replied, still a bit shaken from the sudden dart that flew not three feet away from him, "I have a plan, and after seeing what I just saw, I believe we'll have to put it into effect very soon. However…" The Kazekage scanned he audience, "I think I should tell Hokage-sama in private."
Tsunade nodded brusquely and said, "very well." She rose from her seat, wobbled around a bit, and walked with Gaara into the mansion.
"Okay, everybody! Go back to what you were doing! Nothing more to see here. And remember, if anybody knows who threw that dart, you should tell us immediately," Shizune called behind her, and the audience of Konoha citizens disassembled.
*****NOOOOOOOOOOOO! LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SAY IT AIN'T SO! SAY. IT. AIN'T. SO!
Wow, you'd think I'd have more control over a story that I'M WRITING, but most real writers out there should know that the best stories write themselves.
BUT I PROMISE I'LL SAVE LEE AS SOON AS I CAN! !
(cough! Anyway, early update! Thanksgiving and all, you get the idea)
Oh and by the way, if anybody has any IDEAS on who the person is yet, don't say them unless u wanna spoil the story for everyone else! Though I do believe I've dropped in quite a few clues *wink wink*
