A/N: YAY! I'm back! And I won't be throwing a party due to my empty piggy bank! Please review neh! I LOVE REVIEWERS!ONE-SHOTFLUFF FOR LEETEN FANS OUT THERE!

DISCLAIMER: NO! GAWD! WHY WASN'T I BORN WITH AN IMAGINATIVE BRAIN SO AS TO CREATE NARUTO! WHY NOT ME! WHY? WHY? WHY!

A MAN'S EFFORTS

by DoCToR MeOwZiE

The afternoon was fine and sunny, as birds were chirping merrily and the trees swayed in a steady rhythm. In the forests that border the entire Village of Konoha, regular training of Team Gai was on.

Maito Gai, the team's jounin instructor and Green Beast Senior of Konohagakure, was sprawled on the grassy ground, apparently very exhausted. His favorite student Rock Lee, who looked exactly like him as a miniature and the Green Beast Junior of Konoha, resumed training, punching and kicking and whacking and smacking and murdering a badly beaten tree trunk on different angles. He has grown a lot and his muscles developed quite well from his intense taijutsu training.

Tenten, with her brown hair still tied up in two buns, sighed. Immense relief was written across her face a few months ago when her teammates finally came back from their retrieval mission near Otogakure. Unlike Gai, who had much confidence on his students, Tenten had been fretting and couldn't keep her feet steady on the ground due to her unfathomable worry for her teammates.

Now that Lee continued his training with much more effort and determination and Hyuuga Neji was completely and currently alive and respiring from last mission's injuries and was training under his uncle's supervision, everything was going on fine. Just fine.

But some thing's still bothering the weapon master.

And this doesn't involve any mission at all.

As Tenten watched Lee train vigorously, she can't help but worry AGAIN. The guy in a bowl-cut hair has spent his genin months doing excessive training, like doing extra laps around town and push-ups, and now he's doing MUCH MORE EXTRA HEAVY, EXTRA TIRING AND EXTRA HARD TRAINING!

But she can understand. She couldn't bear recall the look on his face when Tsunade-sama, the Godaime Hokage and the best-known medical ninja around, told him his broken bones and snapped muscles from the fight with Sabaku no Gaara will never EVER let him continue life as a ninja. So to avoid broken bones and snapped muscles for the second time, Lee decided to TRIPLE HIS TRAINING EFFORTS.

And knowing Lee as a Genius of Hard Work, he is willing to do it at all costs.

Tenten sighed yet again. She knew that's not the only reason why Lee's like that. Oh yes, she knew very well.

"I will protect you until I die!"

She can remember those words very clearly.

"I will protect you until I die!

The other reason was none other than that girl Haruno Sakura, probably the only girl in the world with pink hair. Since the day Lee has set eyes on her, he fell head-over-heals madly in love with her. Eventually, the pink-haired kunoichi became the object of his undying affections. He regarded her as the most precious person in his life and is willing to protect her beyond reasonable doubt.

The weapon master was thankful that Sakura was friendly and respectful to Lee, but sh at the same time felt somewhat extremely jealous. Sakura was very lucky that a guy like Lee would be her knight in shining green armor, not to mention having a very caring teammate like Uzumaki Naruto and a we-are-a-team-and-we-are-one-without-doubt sensei like Hatake Kakashi.

Tenten had to admit, she used to like Neji, thinking of him as a cool, strong, unbeatable genius and all that, but she was somehow turned off by his obvious disinterest in women. She then began to admire Lee, overlooking the thick eyebrows and bowl-cut hair, and saw the best part of him.

The brunette snapped out of her reverie when she heard someone calling her.

"Tenten! Oi, Tenten!"

Blink. "Uh... eh? N-Nani?"

Lee approached his teammate and commented, "Are you OK? You looked like a zombie..." Genuine concern was seen on his sweaty face.

"Iie – I'm... I'm OK, really!" Tenten stuttered out, grinning.

"You sure? You're kind of red..."

"Eh? I am?"

"Hai. Are you sure you're fine?"

"I really am! Nothing to worry about, Lee!"

"Hmm... since I cannot be sure of your condition... let's call it a day!" Lee cheered.

"OK... let's --- what?"

"Er --- I mean, let's resume training tomorrow!"

"Oh... OK." Lee's naturally sweet, truth be told.

"How about we stop by at Ichiraku? I'd like some warm miso ramen..." The taijutsu specialist grinned.

"Fine with me."

"YOSH!" Lee's eye's burned gleefully. He then turned to his idol and said, "Gai-sensei! Why don't we eat first?"

Gai slowly stood up and dusted his green vest. He cleared his throat then said, "Iie Lee, I think it's better for you two to go ahead. I need to meet with the other jounin! Do not restrain yourself from your desires, Lee! Youth is power! Youth can't wait!" He held up his right fist and tears fell down like waterfalls.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried in union with his sensei.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Then comes the sea and sunset and waves plus a little melancholic background music...

Tenten sweatdropped.

Gai finally wiped his dramatic tears with his left forearm, then did his good-guy trademark pose. "Lee! Tenten! I will go now! See you tomorrow, same time, same place!" He then disappeared with a 'POOF!'

"HAI, SENSEI!" Lee saluted in respect to his idol.

Tenten sweatdropped.

Lee and Tenten walked through the placid forest in peace. Tenten kept stealing glances at Lee, who had his arms folded at the back of his head and was humming a happy tune.

"Neh, Lee..." Tenten started.

"Huh? Nani, Tenten?"

"Uhm... do you plan to... you know --- if you don't mind me asking --- dou you plan to take the next Chuunin Selection Exams right away?"

Lee looked at Tenten and grinned.

"Of course I will! You will too, right?"

"Ha-Hai."

"And Neji's the type of person to do so too! Our team will take the next chuunin exams together!"

"Hai."

"Tenten... you sure you're OK?"

"Ha-Hai... nani?"

"Just making sure! The Chuunin Exams will starta few months from now and I don't want my teammate to be unconditioned for the tests!"

Lee grinned and his straight shiny set of white enamel-coated teeth sparkled with a blinding 'CHING!'

Tenten inwardly blushed at Lee's warmth. He was really a gentle man; just minus the lokks and he's perfect!

She was really lucky to have a teammate like him --- youthful, vivacious, exuberant and funny. Kind of like Naruto at times, but Lee is Lee, a more mature type of person.

I'll wait.

She decided.

I'll wait until you notice I'm just right here... in front of you...

She smiled.

To help you...

To be with you...

And to love you...

OWARI

A/N: How'd you like it? I hope it's OK. I avoided using too much words because there's something I learned just yesterday: CIRCUMLOCUTION, which is the art of using excessive words when using a few would do. It's like a murder for the English language, they say.

How'd you like it? I hope it's OK. I avoided using too much words because there's something I learned just yesterday, which is the art of using excessive words when using a few would do. It's like a murder for the English language, they say.

HEY, DON'T HAVE THAT LOOK ON YOUR FACE! I'M STILL THIRTEEN! I DID THIS FIC ALL BY MYSELF! YEAH, LIARS GO TO HELL, AND I'M NOT LYING!

So to cheer me up and inspire my expired rotting soul, PLEASE PRESS THAT PRETTY LITTLE 'GO' BUTTON BESIDE THE 'SUBMIT REVIEW' BAR BELOW AND TYPE OUT YOUR REVIEW!

And NO FLAMES.

Cheers for penguins and ja neh!

Dr. Meowzie