"You can't be serious. Lee, I know that you are one of the most powerful taijutsu users in Konoha, but to believe that you can handle such a girl is pure foolhardiness." Tsunade gave him a look that stated simply, 'what the hell do you think you're capable of?' Lee instead just watched the unconscious girl with a sympathetic look.

"I feel like I owe her protection. I did bring her here when she didn't seem to be coming in this direction." Tsunade put a hand to her forehead exasperatedly as she thought it out.

"There is a jutsu we were planning to use anyway, a sealing spell that prevents her from using chakra. It appears that she needs to use chakra to become so powerful, despite the appearance that it is natural strength like mine, so she should be safe once its on." She was silent for a few minutes before speaking again. "Lee, if you think you're capable of handling her, by all means, but I insist that you allow one of the jounen to watch you in case things get out of hand." Lee saluted with a determined look on his face. "Keep a low profile with her though. The last thing we need is Orochimaru's spies finding that she's safe and alive in Konoha if they tried to kill her." Lee took out a little notepad and scribbled things down as Tsunade was leaving. She paused in the doorway as Kakashi looked about to disappear as he normally did. "Kakashi, I expect you to keep a close eye on her. We still don't know her intentions." With that, she and Shikaku left the room, leaving the three remaining.

Lee sat down and watched the girl curiously before suddenly realizing that guarding her, would prevent him from training nearly completely. He had to cover his mouth to hold in the cry of anguish.

'Where… Where am I?' The girl attempted to sit up and rub her eyes but she only got as far as her elbows before her strength collapsed. She felt something on her neck and reached her hand up to touch it. "An explosive tag? No… Sealing probably…" she looked around the room and took in her surroundings, noticing a boy in a forest green jumpsuit, asleep in a chair at the foot of her bed. She wondered to herself why she hadn't noticed him by presence, but was once again reminded of the sealing tag. The boy started to stir and she tried to ready herself for an attack but found herself to be completely without energy. With dismay she was forced to simply wait for him to wake up without any defenses.

Lee opened his eyes groggily, looking as if he too had forgotten where he was for a moment before he saw that his protectee had awoken as well. "Oh you're awake! Do you need something?" The girl blinked, completely dumbstruck at his sudden peppiness, and confused at the friendliness of what the boy had said. She stared at him for a few seconds before noticing the marking on his headband.

"Konoha?" She thought aloud and Lee knocked his head playfully. "Oh right. My name is Lee. I was the one who found you in the forest. You were pretty beaten up. What's you're name?" Lee grinned brightly and the girl decided immediately that she didn't like him. She scowled a bit as she answered.

"Katsuo Michiko" She didn't know her real name so she gave the one that Orochimaru gave her. 'child of the pathway to victory' she had been so glad to join Orochimaru, Why had he betrayed her?' She was brought out of her reverie when Lee carelessly pulled her from the bed in excitement, putting her on his back to carry her somewhere. "Wait! What the hell are you doing?" She felt completely mortified having to be carried around, and from the sterility of the room she guessed it was a hospital, so shouldn't someone be yelling at him for removing her? Lee just grinned over his shoulder and said "Since I'm protecting you, I can't train as much as I normally do, so I think I'll take you to a place that has better breakfast than the hospital!"

"…

Is this supposed to be your idea of a joke?" Lee stopped slurping down noodles to look at her blankly, an expression on his face that was reminiscent of a confused puppy. He ate his mouthful before speaking thankfully.

"What do you mean? This place has the best ramen in Konoha…" Michiko wanted to scream but unfortunately any change in power immediately sapped her strength so instead she had to struggle to keep her temper.

"What kind of idiot eats RAMEN for breakfast!" A loud person suddenly blew his way into the ramen stand and the two cooks grinned at the customer like it was Christmas.

"Oh, Naruto-kun. Good morning." Lee smiled and waved emphatically, and Naruto grinned brightly before noticing Michiko. She had to cover her ears when he exclaimed. 'mo.. Is anyone in this village quiet?' Naruto didn't lower his voice as he continued to speak.

"Ehh! Who's this Lee? Did you get some guarding mission on a VIP or something? Man! I never get the good missions…" Michiko ignored him for the time being and asked for some water from the cooks. They seemed disappointed that she didn't have the love for ramen that the other two apparently did.

"I think this village is quite useless from what I've seen." She drank the water delicately, as if it were fine sake, though her eyes stayed on the two as they paused in their eating to stare at her. "Overenthusiastic morons left and right. I'm not surprised that the Hokage died so easily." The harsh words were met with silence and Naruto looked about to explode at her, she continued speaking before he could start yelling however.

"Ha ha, you're so sensitive. Don't you know anyone who's weak deserves the defeat they experience? Ninjutsu is an art which is kill or be killed. If you aren't the strongest, you don't deserve to be a ninja." She laughed to herself, a cold sound before she felt a hand close on her shoulder. Lee was standing beside her with a serious expression.

"I think that's enough. I should talk to you." Michiko's face sobered up into a blasé curious look, but she still grinned darkly back at the cooks and Naruto as she left with Lee. She gasped and grumbled again as Lee picked her up without notice onto his back and shot upward onto one of the roofs. She was about to argue when she noticed his expression and was quieted.

"Michiko-kun. You are a foreigner to this village, even an enemy, but your people harmed you and left you for dead. You would do well not to anger the company which provides for you despite these hindrances." Michiko made a soft 'tch' noise and looked away from Lee, down at the street instead.

"You shouldn't've saved me anyway. If Orochimaru deemed me unfit for his village, I will accept that as my reality and submit to his judgement." Lee was silent and the noises of the street below was all that was heard for a moment before he directed her attention at himself again.

"If you truly believed that, then why did you keep going after they left you for dead?" Michiko's eyes widened in surprise and squinted again, staring at the street below to avoid Lee's eyes.

"I wasn't in my right mind. It was my body that wanted to survive not me. Had Orochimaru asked I would have disemboweled myself before him without a moments notice." Lee felt shocked at her words. He himself had seen Orochimaru, even if it was from afar, and he didn't seem like such an inspiring man as to cause such words. Yet every person who worked for him had a dedication to him stronger than any other bond except perhaps love. Michiko reminded him of the pale man Gaara saved him from.

"Even so. Why do you insist upon being so hostile to everyone here? You're here now. That's what matters. No matter what your feelings are towards Orochimaru, he doesn't support you anymore. Konoha does. You should be more grateful." Michiru's eyes suddenly shot to Lee's and she stood up, walking towards him menacingly and forcing him to walk backwards.

"What makes you think you know so much about me! I didn't ask to be brought here. YOU brought me here. Orochimaru took me from a horrible life and gave me purpose. All you did was take a stranger from the spot they were supposed to die. You have no right to ask things of me! I --" Michiko suddenly collapsed and Lee caught her, feeling her forehead and finding her fever to have returned. He picked her up quickly and bound off, not realizing that he had been standing inches from the edge of the roof, over which the poles of a fence someone was working on were pointed directly up, which would have impale him had he taken a single step back.

Nik: Yo! Sorry to any of you who pay attention to my other stories, that I haven't been paying much attention to, but at the moment I'm going through a huge Naruto thing. I'm almost done with my beautiful gaara gourd! Its so pretty... Anyway, I hope you like the menace of this chapter. Don't worry. I don't plan on killing Lee. He's one of my two favorite characters you know! Stay tuned for the next installment!