She Will Be Loved – One

Today was no different from any other day. I walk up to Sakura, beautiful Haruno Sakura, ninja of many surprises. The soft silent footsteps of mine don't alert Sakura of my presence. Her red dress billows softly in the wind, as does my own hair.

"Sakura?" I ask. Sakura turns. Her eyes don't lie – she was hoping I was someone else, namely Uchiha Sasuke, male heartthrob of Konohagakure. She looks me over.

"What is it, Lee?" Sakura asks. Her hands are intertwined, close to her bosom.

"You still haven't changed your mind about me, have you?"

Sakura sighs. "Lee, I told you, I don't like you THAT way. I'm sorry, that probably sounds mean, but it's the truth."

My heart aches. I only have eyes for Sakura, but Sakura has eyes only for Sasuke. Ah well. Life stinks in that way. It doesn't matter what I do, or where I go, or who I meet – I will never be as good as Uchiha.

Doesn't Uchiha mean paper fan? How could you like a guy who's named Paper Fan Sasuke? That occurs to me as Sakura walks away.

I am left alone on this grassy hillside. I feel another tear in my eye. Another tear I shed for her. It's not unusual for me to cry for her – I have done so many times before, and I probably will many times again. I sit down on this hilltop, watching dainty Sakura walk away, my eyes lowering, my stance drooping, my heart breaking.

"Whatcha doin, freak?"

The voice that belongs to Uzumaki Naruto rouses me from my depressing stupor. The idiot is staring me straight in the face; a strange look on his face, lips puckering and eyes squinted.

"I got rejected again, flunky."

"Same boat, dork."

Naruto takes a seat beside me, his mouth now curling into the goofy smile I am so accustomed to.

Naruto Uzumaki has quickly become one of my best friends, now that the exams are over and we have all managed to survive. None of us can become the Hokage yet, but Naruto tries. A lot.

Naruto sighs. He, too, loves Sakura, but he met her way before I knew she existed. The look on his face suggests that he will get over it, something I cannot do.

"What'd you do today, stupid?" I inquire. Naruto laughs.

"I pestered Master Kakashi, I caught Sasuke by surprise, got rejected by Sakura for the fifth time this week, and I found a cool scroll thingy in Gai's office."

I smile. One of Naruto's new favorite pastimes (besides pestering Kakashi for no reason) was going through Master Gai's stuff. Last week he found two rubber bands, a copy of Make-Out Paradise, and a picture of Anna from Shaman King, confirming our belief that he likes mean girls.

"What was on it?"

Naruto shrugs. "It was something about a space-time continuum, and there was a complex spell on it, so I performed it, but nothing happened. Oh well. Total bust."

My happiness turns to shock. "What did it look like?"

"Ah. It was forest green with a giant red stamp on it. Said something in English, I couldn't read it."

I blanch. "It said 'DANGER', nimrod! You weren't supposed to read it!"

Naruto blinks. "Why?"

"That thing could change the passage of time!"
Naruto says nothing. But he is trying to. He suddenly throws up on the ground below. I scoot away, and then scream.

"Naruto! What's wrong?"

Naruto passes out on the hill below, unable to move at all.

"NARUTO!"

I feel my own body twinge. My eyes feel like they're about to pop out, and my head is killing me. Darkness eats away at the corners of my eyes, and I try to remember exactly what it is I'm doing. I can no longer think straight, and the last thing I remember is hitting the soft ground with a thud.

---

"Lee!"

Someone is trying to rouse me. I look up. It's Sasuke Uchiha – and Naruto is nowhere to be seen.

"Sasuke?"

"Good thing you came around," Sasuke smiles. "You looked pale."

I remember that I had most definitely been with Naruto earlier that day on the same hill. But Naruto isn't there. I had seen him throw up, and faint.

"Where's Naruto?" I ask with caution.

Sasuke looks at me like I'm crazy. "Why would Naruto be here? He's probably trying to ward off his fans."

I know that Naruto's only fan is shy little Hinata. I cock my head.

"You're acting really strange, Lee," Sasuke shrugs. "Oh well. Naruto gets all the attention. I hate him. Just because he's from the Uzumaki clan…"
"Uzumaki clan?" I repeat. I know I sound stupid, but I don't know what's going on.

"How bad did you hit your head?" Sasuke asks rhetorically. He sighs. "Uzumaki clan. The most powerful clan in the world, inheritors of the famous solid doppelgangers… and the uncanny ability to attract the ladies."

I realize that Naruto's spell had worked. He must have obviously messed around with the past, changing the future somehow…

"Man, what gives Naruto the right to have Hinata hang over him? I hate that," Sasuke grumbles.

Then I realize with a shock that I'm the only one who even vaguely remembers the past.

The real world, with darling Sakura and strange babe Ino hanging over Sasuke, Hinata silently pawning over Naruto…

I wonder if Kakashi's finished 'Make Out Paradise' in this new world.

"Let's go see Naruto," I say suggestively.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "Why? I hate him. He thinks he's so cool, just because he doesn't like the attention."

"WHAT?!" I yell randomly. Sasuke glares at me.

"You've been acting really strange, ever since Hinata rejected you again." Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "Come on. She's denied you at least five dozen times."

This Sasuke is still reserved, still the same good-looking introverted genius. He still has the Uchiha blood in him, and he has is headband still cocked on his head. I can't figure out why he's so stubborn now, like Naruto used to be.

I hear a crash. A girl that I know very well is running, laughing like crazy. Her pink hair flows in the wind behind her.

I stare, blankly, at my Sakura, who's wearing her headband over her right eye, carrying her shuriken on a leg holster, and yelling obscenities at her chasers.

"Stupid Sakura," Sasuke moans. "She did something again."

"What?" I whisper. Sasuke shakes his head. He doesn't hear me.

"She's so smart. Why does she act like such an idiot?" Sasuke asks himself.

I gaze in shock at Sakura. Now that I look closer, I can see her stomach. And tattooed on it is a large spiral, with many symbols around it. There's no doubt about it. The Fox Demon that terrorized Konohagakure was imprisoned in Sakura.

Normally, Naruto would be the one acting like an idiot. But I guess that Sakura acts like an idiot now.

"Naruto, you fart-head…" I murmur.

"What?" Sasuke says bluntly.

"Nothing," I respond. I realize I should probably watch what I say.

Sakura runs by Sasuke and me. "What are you two doing here? They'll run you over."

Sakura keeps running, passing Sasuke and me. Sasuke looks at the angry villagers, but in typical Sasuke fashion, I see no reaction. I, being typical Lee, stare at Sakura running away.

A villager I recognize as Iruka, one of Naruto's few confidantes, stops to look at Sasuke and me.

"I can't do anything about that girl, ya know? She's so intelligent, yet so idiotic…" Iruka moans. He looks tired.

"But she's so hot," Sasuke mutters under his breath as Iruka chases after his charge.

I guess that, in the same way Sakura loved Naruto in the real flow of time, Sasuke sees Sakura in a strange light now.

Too bad that Sakura looks like she's having the time of her life yelling random statements at Iruka and a stream of villagers.

Sasuke shrugs. "Oh well. Let's see what the others are up too… and what Sakura did this time…"

I nod and follow Sasuke, the man I hated only three minutes before.

---

Shikamaru slams down a chess piece. Ino slumps her head.

"How can you be so good at chess?" she groans.

Sasuke and I look at Shikamaru and Ino. Ino looks back at me, and smiles. "Hey, Lee. What's up?"

I do a double take. That is indeed what Ino said to me.

"Just seeing what everyone's up to," I answer. I was relieved that I spoke the truth… I think…

"Hello, Sasuke," Shikamaru greets. "Care for a game? Ino sucks."

Ino glares at Shikamaru. "Shut up. I need to get good at chess, so I can look smart for Naruto!"

My eyes grow large. I wonder exactly how different Naruto is in this world.

"Sorry. I think I should take Lee to a doctor. He doesn't seem quite up to snuff," Sasuke responds.

"Oh, let me guess. Hinata dumped you again. Just like she did with everyone else," Shikamaru spits on the ground. "I hate her."

I find it rather hard to believe that anyone could hate Hinata. She's very shy, sure, but she never hurt anyone.

"That little snot rag?" Ino snorts. "All she does is flirt with Naruto. I get the feeling he's like everyone else – he knows she's a waste of time that'll break your heart for the next guy she sees."

"That's not Hinata!" I suddenly yell. Ino, Shikamaru and Sasuke stare at me.

"You really should take him to a doctor," Ino finally says.

I start to breathe heavily. I know that none of this is right, not at all.

A warm hand falls on my shoulder. It's Naruto, the one person I wanted to see the most.

"Naruto?" I say blankly.

"Naruto?" Ino asks, her eyes becoming glassy and a smirk curling on her face.

"Come on," Naruto states flatly, and he drags me away. When out of sight from Sasuke, Ino, and Shikamaru, however, he begins to talk like the Naruto I know.

"You know something's wrong, right Lee?" Naruto inquires, his eyes not moving from the street. He's stopped dragging me, and I have to walk very fast to keep up with him.

"Obviously," I reply. "Sakura's gone nuts, Sasuke's unpopular, Ino's nice…"

"It's my fault," Naruto continues. "I performed that spell. I changed the flow of time, and now I have to change it back."

"How come you remember the real world, and I remember the real world, but no one else has a clue why I make such outbursts?"

Naruto sniggers. "I guess I changed time… who'd have thunk it, the dunce can change time."

"Naruto this isn't funny!" I cry. "Who knows what happened before now?"

Naruto does look downward, and stops in the middle of the sidewalk. "You saw Sakura, didn't you?"

I nod. I had been unable to get the brownish spiral image out of my mind… and to have Sakura flaunt it so readily was mind-boggling.

"I screwed up, big time," Naruto frowns. "Now we just have to figure out where that scroll is now, and reverse this. Just the both of us."

I grin. Adventure is eagerly beckoning to me, and I want to set out immediately. Naruto senses the fervor that wells up inside me and smiles widely.

"Let's find Master Kakashi. Maybe he knows what to do."

I nod, and Naruto and I weave through the streets of Konohagakure. The maze of people is claustrophobic, and it seems different from the city I once knew.

Naruto seems to know where he's going, and before I know it, we stand before the old school building. This building seems a bit foreign to me, seeing as I had been training with Master Gai, and more recently been in the Chunin exams, and hadn't visited in a while.

"Why are we here?" I ask Naruto.

Naruto still has a sardonic grin on his face; his ninja headband perched on his head. He says nothing and pushes the door to the school open.

Inside is an empty classroom, and at the edge of the classroom is a woman I never thought I'd see again.

---

"Anko?" I scream. "Anko? You're going to trust Mitarashi Anko?"

Naruto nods. "I've been told that she, not Iruka, was my old mentor. Oh well, they say that me and Iruka are still great friends."

I place my head in my hands. "This is great, Naruto."

Anko looks up from the other side of the room. "Ah. Uzumaki. What can I help you with?"

I gulp. I remember Anko, the nutcase that proctored the second part of our Chunin exams. She actually licked Naruto's blood.

"We need to see Master Kakashi," Naruto explains. "It's very important, Mistress Anko."

Anko raises an eyebrow. "Stop making stupid requests."

"What are you talking about?" I counter.

Anko looks down at the pair of us. I swallow.

"Kakashi…" Anko's voice is beginning to falter. "Kakashi imprisoned the fox demon inside of Haruno Sakura with the help of the fourth Hokage… they're both long dead, and you know that."

Naruto shutters, breathing in a heavy breath. His eyes are widening, his mouth is trembling, and he looks genuinely devastated. Not that I'm unaffected. I hold back a tear, and another, and lower my head.

I want to kill Naruto now. Shove a shuriken in his heart, beat him mercilessly, do something to him.

He killed Kakashi.

"You killed Kakashi," I murmur under my breath. Naruto looks at me. "YOU KILLED HIM!"

I punch Naruto in the face, knocking him to the ground. I feel something restrain me, and I realize that Anko pinned me to the wall using a three-pronged windmill.

"What on earth are you talking about, Lee?" Anko screams. "Pull yourself together!"
"He's telling the truth," Naruto moans. He rubs some blood out from the corner of her mouth. It leaves a red stain on his orange shirt.

Anko gives Naruto a strange look of misunderstanding. Naruto stands up shakily. I still want to smack him senseless, but I don't budge.

"Mistress Anko, you have to listen to us," Naruto says. "I screwed up the world, and we have to make it normal again."

Anko looks at us like we're nuts, but nods. "I have no clue what you're talking about, but… tell me what you mean."

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto...

Ren: So now you like Rock Lee?

Satine: No, not the way I like you...

(Ren blushes)