Thanks for the Chocolate!
A Naruto (Belated) White Day Special
Chapter 3
When one thinks deeply about it, one wouldn't think that Rock Lee, the thick-browed, beautiful beast of Konoha, would ever get a single chocolate before the year he met someone like Ten Ten, who was obligated to give him giri choco.
This was not true. In fact, he had received his very first chocolate at the very young age of seven.
This is, because Lee happens to have a tremendous amount of females working at his family's business.
Now what, of all things, could Lee's family could be doing that would allow Lee to be acquainted with so many teenage girls older than him? It wasn't a store of any kind nor was it a place that needed cooks or waitresses.
No! His family owned a hotel.
And every year, since he was seven, he always had a pretty decent pile of Valentine's Day chocolate. This year was even better, because he also received a gift from Hinata and Sakura. He simply adored Sakura's chocolate in a complete daze of foggy bliss. However, he found Hinata's chocolate a little strange. Not only did he barely know her, but she gave him honmei choco! Luckily, the decision of what to give her was immediately decided by Neji, the one who delivered Hinata's chocolate, who threatened all sorts of harmful encounters if he will not give her cookies. Lee humbly obliged, despite the urge to increase the amount of times he fought Neji.
This year, like every year, he will give all those who gave him giri choco the same gift. This, undoubtedly, did not include Sakura. He will give Sakura a gift once he finished folding all the paper cranes. Now with all the origami paper ready in front of him, he will begin folding.
Then, he realized the hardships of attempting origami with one arm. But instead of shrugging it off and giving up, he thought of it as training and said, "If I can't finish ten after an hour, then I'll have to make one hundred more after I'm done."
Two hours later, he had barely finished ten while he continued to add on to his workload. It as actually good that he kept himself busy this way; the medic Nin didn't need to keep a close watch on him from sneaking out. Unfortunately, Lee realized he was going absolutely nowhere with the rate he was going. Of course, it probably didn't help that he was folding with one hand and a hardcover book. Folding was rather awkward when the book gets in the way.
It was then that Gai walked through the door.
"Good morning, Lee!" he greeted with a grin. "What has you so focused today?"
"Gai-sensei," Lee replied. "Please allow me to continue my work. I have so much to do!"
"What exactly are you doing?"
"Making paper cranes!"
A long quiet peeked into the room and left as Lee continued grunting over the sheer effort of one-handed origami. And just as suddenly as silence came in, Gai burst into tears and embraced Lee.
"Oh, Lee!" Gai exclaimed. "How hopeful you are to attempt making one thousand paper cranes! Allow me to help you!"
"No!" snapped Lee. "I must finish this. Please, allow me to finish!"
Gai became shocked so much; he did not notice the arms grabbing him out from the entrance of the door. These same arms also closed the door after yanking him out of the room.
The arms belonged to the angriest nurse, who glared rather fiercely at Gai.
"Hey," the nurse growled under her breath. "Don't interrupt him. He's finally so preoccupied with something. We don't have to worry about him."
Gai, being very tense and alert at the sudden force that was pulling him back, relaxed himself and allowed the information to sink in.
"So why is Lee making origami?"
Soon, a conversation broke out on the story of Lee's reason for making paper cranes. The nurse told Gai how they amazingly received an enormous amount of giri choco for Lee on Valentine's Day, the same day Gai had to perform an important mission. Even days such as Valentine's Day needed to have missions completed. Well, on that day, Gai was out, several ladies gave Lee chocolate, and apparently, Lee's White Day presents to the girls were paper cranes made with one hand. Had it not been for the terrifying wrath of a nurse during the time of her PMS, Gai would have marched straight onto Lee's room and to give him one hell of a lecture.
So, Gai distracted her with a tiny eruption of chaos on the other side of the hall. But when Gai opened the door and surveyed the room's contents, he could only say the three words, "Lee is gone!"
In the forest, Neji was carrying Lee like a newlywed bride towards Sasuke's house. Halfway through the trail, Lee began a conversation with a question.
"Why are we going through the long, forest way to Sasuke's house, Neji?"
"Going any other way would be dangerous for either our safety or increase our chances of being discovered."
"Are you sure Sasuke has cookies? I mean, if there are no cookies being sold in the entire village, why would Sasuke have some?"
"That the favor Sasuke is asking us. We're going to be making cookies."
"What! What could I do, then, with one arm and one leg?"
"He was desperate and needed all the help he could."
"But -"
"Lee…"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Author's Notes: White Day is on March 14th. My goal is to have all the chapters out before then. Next up is Neji!