Einzazmunster: I want to see whatever you draw! (!) Gaara gets a big feature next chapter! Because I miss him. -.-

DemonRogue: I thought that too, but in the dub (:gags:), they call him "Rock Lee" too, so I got confused … maybe they just thought "Lee Rock" would sound dumb?

PIE IS FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS: I will keep up the good work if you give me an A! Otherwise, just to spite you, I shall become a very bad writer – and it will only be because you gave me a B+. -.-

… I'm sorry. I'm slowly losing my mind.

Book-manga-freak: Haha! Only I didn't get any. -.- :wants chocolate chip cookies:

Sasuke911: I believe that "Yes" is the agreement we've all come to. Still though – Lee Rock?

Surrender all the pain we've endured until now.

Sakura wished she could sit on the floor – but knew she wouldn't be able to get back to her feet if she did. She was locked in the last stall of the girls' bathroom, having lost all patience she had with Naruto and Sasuke.

She had a feeling that every kiss they snuck when Asuma's back was turned had been for her benefit, because Naruto was looking increasingly flustered by Sasuke's affection, as if he didn't understand why he suddenly wanted to be sweet in public.

But Sakura knew that Sasuke was trying to drive her crazy because she was going to give birth to his nephew, the child of a brother he despised. He hated her for that, and she didn't blame him. She hated herself for it too.

She wiped at her eyes, refusing to free her tears. If Sasuke saw her cry, he would know she was weak and know she was in love with him.

Actually, he probably knew the latter already. Well – the former too. Over the years she'd spent as his friend, she'd made obvious to him over and over her lack of will, as well as her complete and total – and unreturned – adoration.

The fact that he was still getting to her disgusted her. Ever since she talked with Lee – told him everything – she promised herself happiness, and swore to Lee that she would try her best too.

It seemed she failed in both respects.

0

"Lee!" TenTen waved. "Come to lunch with me – I have a surprise for you!"

He smiled at her. "Sounds great."

0

As soon as they sat down in McDonald's (They didn't have time for a real restaurant; they both had one o'clock classes), she whipped out a bag, beaming. "I saw it in the store window and had to buy it. It screamed 'Lee.'"

He took it from her, peering into it, and laughed. "TenTen, where did you find this?" he asked, pulling out the green baby jumper.

"The Gap." She smiled proudly. "You like it then."

"I love it!" he leaned across the table to kiss her cheek. "Thank you, TenTen."

They settled into a comfortable silence – TenTen sipping at her soda and glaring at her biology homework more than doing it, Lee happily munching on his French fries and answering text messages.

"Neji says 'Hi.'" Lee commented.

TenTen snorted, not looking up. "I know Neji – he did not."

Lee chuckled. "You're right. Actually, he told me if I text him again, he's selling his phone to a rapist." His mirth died away. "Say, TenTen?"

"Hm?" she captured a fry from his hand, grinning before stuffing it in her mouth.

He smiled lightly. "When did you become so supportive of me raising the baby?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, closing her textbook and hissing at it before saying, "I figure my opinion doesn't matter – so I might as well be your friend and make sure you don't screw up." She fingered her straw, finding it suddenly very interesting, as she quietly added, "I don't want to lose you because I hate Sakura and you love her."

He stared at his cell phone, closing it slowly. "TenTen, your opinion means the world to me." He said softly, eyes averted.

She just smiled at him.

0

"Gaara." Umino Iruka's voice was sharp. "Put the cell phone away now, or I'm taking it away."

The quiet redhead showed no sign of heeding the warning.

Naruto laughed, slumping in his seat, arm thrown over the back of the chair. "C'mon, 'ruka, you know you're not going to."

"Besides," Ino added, reading over her boyfriend's shoulder, "he's texting with Lee – it's important!"

If it was a cartoon, steam would have been shooting from their teacher's ears. "This is psychology," he gritted his teeth, "not 'We-need-to-talk-about-our-love-lives' hour!"

The group stared at him, startled.

"You don't think Lee and Gaara are dating, do you?" Kiba, forever loud, asked the question everyone wanted to.

"I didn't say that!" he snapped irritably. "I'm saying that I'm going to find out all about whatever's going on from Naruto anyway, so we don't need to discuss it in here!"

Sighing like it was a bother, Gaara tucked his phone into his pocket, and Iruka – face still red – turned back to the board.

"What did he say?" Ino asked, her chin on the boy's shoulder.

Gaara lifted the free shoulder in a shrug. "He gave Sakura another chance."

The blonde sighed in relief at the same time that she rolled her eyes. "Good thing – I'd be the one having to deal with the girl if Lee dumped her. But if I were in his shoes, I would have dumped her."

0

It's not like Ino had known Sakura had just come back into the classroom and had managed to catch the entire statement. She really didn't blame her for the thought either – she really sort of wished that Lee had left her, because it was really what she deserved.

Vaguely, she wondered if everyone in their group thought that way, and she looked around at the familiar faces in her class.

Naruto supported her in everything and would probably defend her and Lee's choice to stay with her, just because that's how he was. He'd do anything to protect a friend.

Sasuke – well, she knew his feelings.

Hinata was forever kind – probably didn't have a mean bone in her entire body, and only wanted her to be happy, because that's how she was. She didn't care how she was happy, as long as she was.

Kiba probably wasn't paying close enough attention to have an opinion at all – or if he was, he was enjoying the rumor mill feel of the whole situation and didn't have an opinion because he just thought this was for his amusement.

Sakura couldn't read Shino. She had never been able to, probably would never be able to.

Chouji was unaware of most aspects of the situation, which was fine with her. She didn't care to have him know.

Shikamaru was too easily bored to have even really listened to the story in the first. Her guess was that he knew that it was not Lee's child and that was about the end of it – although she was fairly certain that he knew she was pregnant before anyone else did.

Temari called her a slut last weekend when she'd come into town. She'd never been a hard person to read, because she just said whatever she felt like at that moment – it didn't matter if it hurt someone.

Sakura knew Gaara's feelings – he had never liked her, had never thought she was good enough for Lee, and she wasn't.

Kankurou was another one of those people who was just having too much fun with the drama of it to really care what was going on. He was the kind of guy who pushed a kid on the playground and said someone else did it, just to watch the two eight-year-olds in question duke it out.

She sighed, laying her head sulkily on her desk. Overall, she probably had three people on her side. And that feeling really sucked.