May 2008

Title: Tweezers
Author:
Fatcat648
Rating:
PG ( K+ )
Challenge:
Spring of love
Pairing: LeeHina

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"Oh Leeeeee-kun! Come out already and don't be soooo shy!" squealed a maliciously smirking Sakura.

Trembling Lee fought every fiber of his spring love that screamed to stop his ridiculous hiding and proclaim his happiness and love to Sakura for the fifty-seventh time….that is until the ominous clicking of the metal utensils in her hand reminded Lee why he was hiding in the first place.

His eyebrows scrunched in pain and worry at the sight of tweezers.

The sweat and admiration of his beautiful eyebrows – so alike to his hero Gai-sensei yet so much thicker that Lee himself believed that one day he could surpass beloved Gai-sensei in skills and eventually eyebrow mass.

Lee freely allowed the tears of a not-so-distant dream to fall.

His attention snapped back to his delicate flower Sakura as she cursed very er… sailor-like before Ino trampled through the bushes shouting, "Have you found him yet Forehead?"

"Not yet Pig but we'll get him," huffed Sakura.

Ino rolled her eyes tossing her long pale hair across her shoulder, "Kami I hope so. You don't know how long I've been dying to pluck those monsters he calls eyebrows!"

"Me too!! Every time I see him I can feel my perfectly thin and fine eyebrows twitch at the thickness he wears it!"

"I know, seriously! I just want to hold him down and practically shave those caterpillars off his face!"

"For real!"

"Totally!"

The conversation between the ditzy girls continued, lulling poor Lee into a false sense of security and hope until the mindless chatter suddenly stopped. His heavy round eyes shot open as the bushes were pulled back to reveal a surprised TenTen. For a moment in the world, everything was all right.

Tiredly Lee asked, "What brings you here TenTen-"

The words stopped as Lee watched in horror the grin grow on TenTen's face. In a high-pitched singing voice she called out, "Oh girls! Look who I found!"

The pink and yellow harpies immediately descended, their weapons of tweezers gleaming in the light that glared even brighter than a tag-team smile of Gai-sensei and himself. Lee gasped in horror as he rolled out of the bushes the girls attacked with ferocity of plucking that left the limbs abhorrently bare.

Lee gasped as he scrambled to run before TenTen determinedly circled him, wrapping a link of metal chains tightly around his legs.

"Girls! Hurry! The Eyebrows! Pluck the Eyebrows!!!!" she screamed.

Lee struggled against his bounds but calmed at the touch of his beloved cherry blossom's hand stroking his cheek.

"Oh Lee-kun," cried Sakura, "Please stop fighting us. It's for your own good. Please, do it for me?"

For a moment, Lee was left stunned by her maiden blossoming beauty and the tears of youth freely fell from his circular eyes.

"Oh Sakura! How foolish I've been!" he shouted.

The maidenly beauty nonetheless transformed into the nightmare of the Boogey Man when the tweezers came into view – causing the tears of youth to run salty burning his eyes with the tears of petrified fear.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Lee.

The revenues of strength surged forward as Lee ripped through the metal chains and took off running through the village.

The girls were left blinking owlishly in the dust, their tweezers strangely bent at odd angles.

It was Ino who first snapped out of the daze of Lee's Lotus Gate Power and quickly snapped the others out of their own daze – more specifically slapped.

"Darn it Forehead! I thought you said you had him on a leash!"
"Shut up Pig!"

"Wasn't it you who said, Oh it's sooo obvious that Lee is totally in love with me! He'll do whatever I want! If I asked for it, he'd shave his whole head off for me!" mocked Ino in a high whiny and nasal voice.

Sakura's cheeks angrily flushed dark red. In a fit of rage, her fist came crashing down uprooting the delicate flowers and bushes.

Ino squawked in surprise and TenTen carefully did a back flip to land gracefully on a sturdy tree. The Weapons Mistress sighed at their antics, "You know we'll never find him if you two keep squabbling."

The other girls turned a menacing glare at TenTen, effectively shutting her up as their petty argument continued.

A squirrel scurried by in a scare, catching TenTen's eye with an eerie suspicion.

-

Lee ran.

Lee ran hard. So hard he must have circled the village twice within the span of three minutes.

And though Lee ran hard, he didn't miss spotting the scared squirrel well ahead in his path. With the quick movements of the Green Beast, Lee jumped over the squirrel tossing it a happy thumbs-up never quite noticing the flower bush that happened to pop out from nowhere.

Lee landed in the bush with a noisy crash.

For a bewildered moment, Lee sat around dazedly staring at the pretty flowers smiling back at him. The small lilac petals tickled at his skin, irritating his nose. Lee wrinkle his nose before he felt the air tremble around him. He squinted his eyes as he attempted to pacify the irritable nose with the backside of his hand, but it was too late.

The bush shook at the great 'AAAAACCHOOOOOOO!!!!' Lee bellowed out.

Lee winced at the sound and mentally slapped himself until he heard a soft willowy voice shakily call out, "H-Hello? W-Who's there?"

Lee willed himself to become one with the bush but sadly his prayers were not heard. Instead the leaves were parted to reveal the curious face of Hyuuga Hinata. Her wide lavender eyes blinked owlishly and quietly she asked, "Ah Lee-san, w-what are you doing h-here?"
Lee uncharacteristically sat quiet, thinking of a way to escape from the cousin of his ultimate rival Neji. However the girlish shrills that seemed to be stalking closer forced the torrent waves of helplessness out of Lee's mouth as he cried on about the plot from Konoha's extremely hormonal population to pluck his eyebrows till there was nothing left. His story ended in more trickling tears as he recounted the escape and hiding in this bush.

For awhile, Hinata sat silently staring at the eyebrows in question. She was about to open her mouth to speak when another louder and shrillest voice interrupted her unheard words.

"LEE-KUN!! WHERE ARE YOU????!!!!!!!!" screamed Sakura.

Lee gave her a pleading look for her help to which Hinata returned with a small smile all the while gushing on the inside at the puppy look.

Hinata disappeared from his sight causing Lee great anxiety as he really couldn't hear what the young woman told the thorny flower about his hidden presence.

He held his breathe making a silent promise to himself that if Hinata kept him safe, he would gladly do 500 laps around Konoha backwards.

He tensed himself for betrayal just as TenTen had done, when he heard her soft graceful steps patter back toward the bush. The leaves were parted once more as Hinata's heart-shaped face popped out into sight. With a small smile she said, "D-don't worry anymore Lee-san. Th-they're gone now. It's s-safe to come out now."

"Is it truly safe, Hinata-san?" he questioned.

"Hai."

Slowly Lee climbed out from the bush, the mangled flowers sighing in relief at the lighter weight. Hinata giggled at the stray leaves and petals sticking to him at odd places as she helped brush them off his person.

Lee couldn't imagine a gentler touch.

Aware of the blush slowly eating at his face he stilled her hands to say, "Thank you Hinata-san. You have my undying gratitude for your help."

He bowed to her and made a run to escape from this new and uncomfortable feeling when he heard her soft voice call out, "W-Wait! Lee-san!"

He froze in his movements surprised at her command and turned toward her with a nervous smile.

"A-Ah, y-yes Hinata-san?"
She titled her head to the side looking hard at him as she asked, "Why do your eyebrows mean so much to you?"

Surprised at the stutter-free question and the boldness of it all, Lee stumbled to take a step back. Hinata only stayed still, patiently waiting for an answer.

"My eyebrows?"

She nodded.

"Well I must be honest to say it never really crossed my mind until today. But if I think about it, I must say that these eyebrows are just further proof of my adoration of my hero, Gai-sensei. I plan to grow up to be exactly just like him. Eyebrows included!" he flourished with a glinting smile and a thumbs-up.

Hinata let out a small giggle, hiding her smile behind her interlaced fingers. She took a small step closer to the smiling shinobi in the green jumpsuit.

"I-I'm glad you admire Gai-sensei so much."

"YOSH! Gai-sensei has given me so much of the power of youth!"

"Y-yes, but I wonder… W-Wouldn't you mind being just a little bit d-different from Gai-sensei. I-I mean after all Lee-san is only Lee-san as Gai-sensei is only Gai-sensei."

Her words left him speechless, a baffled look plastered on his face that shot his eyebrows beneath his bowl cut bangs and made his circular eyes the size of saucer plates.

Hinata seeing his face panicked to add, "B-But whatever Lee-san chooses to be, I w-will always like Lee-san for w-who he is!"

The apple blush Lee had been suppressing bubbled to the surface as he watched in awe Hinata change from a pale moonlight-shade to the color of Gaara's hair.

"Hinata-san! I- no p-please don't think like that – I"

"THERE HE IS GIRLS!!!!"

The battle-cry snapped the two out of the cute and awkward moment as Lee saw the ambush of girls aiming straight for him.

Hinata quickly made a move to push him forward as she stepped in front of the female stampede.

"Run Lee-kun, run!" she whispered below her breathe, Byakugan activating.
Lee marveled at such strength as he jumped the mangled bush to freedom. And yet as he ran, the apple blush still stained his cheeks whenever his thoughts turned to a certain dark-haired kunoichi with a gentle touch.

Flowers, he thought, flowers would definitely be perfect for a new spring start.

-
End

A.N: I've never done a LeeHina pairing before so I hope this wasn't too er awkward or weird? Sorry for any mistakes and I hope this entry still makes the deadline!

Thanks for reading!