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Back to Rock Lee stuff!
Legacy
Lee gazed at the ceiling of his tent for a long time. Chouji was fast asleep, allowing for some real quiet time for the youthful Shinobi.
He reached up and touched his chest, seemingly groping to find that heart of his... Absentmindedly he gazed down at his sleeve.. Perhaps he wore her heart there?
He let out a small sight as his gaze returned to the ceiling.
He shouldn't feel this way. He should feel HAPPY for Naruto and Hinata, right? They were together finally, just what everyone had been waiting for, right?
Right?
But why couldn't Lee get the girl for once? Was he not a perfect gentleman? Was he not a strong, and honourable Shinobi? Did he not play the hero properly?
Was Lee just not good enough?
He knew he was not the greatest looking of the boys, but he always figured that he would still get the girl some day..
But Sakura had basically told him that it would never be an option. Her words did not describe it but the look in her eyes and the sound of her voice... Lee knew what she had meant.
She had meant that he was not good enough for her in a romantic way.
He let out another sigh as he began to count the insects crawling up the outside of the tent, seeing the shadows pressed against the thin fabric.
"Damn it, Sakura-chan! Why must you torture me so?"
He groaned as he sat up and looked around his tent for something to take his mind away from the thoughts of Sakura. It was so hard to push thoughts of her from his mind, it was like... Trying to learn Kage bunshin.. He just couldn't do it, his body was not SUITED to it! Just as he was poor at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, he was extremely poor at controlling his emotions.
"Lee?"
He heard a voice from the side of the tent, and as he perked his head up to gaze out of the screened window, he saw two sets of eyes looking back at him.
One set was 1/2 open, lids lazily drooping even lower, and the other set flashed a hint of crimson.
"Sasuke? Shikamaru?"
"Uhn." It was the simple response of Shikamaru, basically translated into 'It's far to troublesome to come up with an actual response.'
"What about Sakura?"
The far more coherent response came from Sasuke, his eyes gazing at Lee as though trying to read his thoughts.
"Nothing, Sasuke.." He said, silently berating himself for speaking so loudly.. Of COURSE they had heard
him!
"You said something and I'd like to know what it was." His voice was firm, despite his tired eyes and sleepy disposition. Those dark eyes flashed their hidden crimson, leaving Lee feeling slightly put off.
Lee had to think fast.. He was a horrible liar, but he didn't want Sasuke to know what he had really said. He wasn't sure why he didn't want the other boy to know... Maybe if he told Sasuke, then Sasuke wouldn't like Sakura at all anymore, and then Sakura would know exactly how Lee felt...
It was cruel idea, Lee knew it... It wasn't in his NATURE to do that... But... Something propelled him to do it, that tiny part of him that despised Sasuke for being the lady-killer Lee wasn't...
"Well... You see... Sakura...Well she..."
Hatake Kakashi watched the boys converse through the windows of their tents for over an hour, leaning towards two before they fell silent. He had heard every word and was silently shocked at the things Lee had said. It was not his nature to be so... Manipulative...
".. Lee.." Kakashi muttered quietly, the word muffled into nothingness thanks to the flimsy mask covering his face. Any sound he might have made already carried away on the light breeze surrounding them.
He turned his head sharply when he felt the presence of another.
Maito Gai had emerged from his tent, gazing towards Rock Lee's as well, curious as to what had the lazy
Kakashi so intrigued.
"What's going on?"
This was not Gai, though.. It appeared Asuma and Kurenai were curious as well.
"Nothing... I just decided to stay up and watch the children... Gather some information for my game."
"Right." Gai said slowly, his eyes till locked on Lee's tent. He just KNEW the boy was still awake.. He could feel it in his heart, his very soul. Lee was like a son to him. They were so very similar, right down to the eyebrows.
"Lee-senses tingling, Gai?" Asuma asked lazily as he butted out his cigarette, tossed it over his shoulder, reached into his pocket and removed a new pack. Upon completing this action he removed another cigarette from the pack using his mouth, put the pack away, and then pulled out a lighter. He lit said cigarette and took a long drag, as though he had spent far too long without one...
Kurenai shook her head before she realized that all eyes were upon herself and the addicted jounin.
Immediately she pulled away from him, slipping away from the arm about her shoulder.
Kakashi grinned, but no response was forthcoming from Master Gai.
For his attention was back on Rock Lee's tent.
"Something is tormenting him.." Gai muttered slowly, and Kakashi silently agreed. It appeared that no one else had caught the two students in their dark conversation.
He scratched the back of his neck slowly, looking back and forth between the embarrassed teachers- Kurenai and Asuma, and the worried Gai..
"He was speaking with Sasuke." Kakashi decided to offer, wondering if his fellow teachers would catch on as quickly to the situation.
"... About Sakura?" It was actually Asuma who spoke this between puffs, as though he knew exactly what it was like to have the offending conversation.
Kakashi's only response was a slow, small nod, his attention brought back to the tents.
He could see the zipper undoing the flap to one doorway, and then another. Sasuke and Lee emerged from their tents and silently waded off into the darkness around them.
".. Gai. Shall we? They are our students..." Kakashi asked upon watching closely the direction they departed in.
Gai nodded swiftly and the two took off into the night.
"So... Now we're on kid-duty, right?"
"Hai."
"I remember a time like this."
"You mean when Gai followed me around and I followed you like a God?"
Asuma smirked for a response, looking back at the old, battered up tents.
"That was even my tent.." He nodded towards Sasuke's.
"Hm?"
"I can tell because of that bright orange patch on the door about 3 feet tall. I did that when I pushed Gai through it..."
Kurenai laughed, remembering that scene in her head so vividly well.
"We may have to get some new tents if history repeats itself."