A/N: Wow, over 100 reviews! I never thought this day would come. I feel so special to have gotten so much love for my fic. Each comment warms my heart. Thank you very much, my dear readers!

Chapter 19

The Time for Action

When Lee opened his apartment door the next morning after a knock he did not expect to see Hinata Uzumaki of all people.

"Hinata?"

Hinata bowed deeply, deeper than anyone had ever bowed to him. "Lee, I wanted to sincerely thank you for what you did from the bottom of my heart," Hinata said. She outstretched her hands towards him, offering a neatly wrapped gift.

Lee stared at her, taken aback and confused. "I am sorry, Hinata, but I do not know what I have done to deserve such praise. Please, you need not bow."

Hinata stood up and smiled sweetly at him. "For saving Hanabi yesterday."

Lee blinked, and upon finally connecting the dots together he grinned back. "Oh, you are welcome! However, I feel like I did not do as much as I could," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"She's alive thanks to you, and that's what matters," Hinata replied, holding out the gift more insistently.

Lee sheepishly took the gift. "Thank you, but it is not necessary-"

"Please, I insist."

Lee nodded. His thoughts flashed back to the previous day, and how tight-lipped every Hyuga was about the conflict. "If I may ask, what is going on with the Hyuga?" he said, lowering his voice.

Hinata's smile faded. "May I come in?"

"Could you please run this vial to figure out more about this compound?" Sakura asked Sho, the always dependable lab technician.

Sho took the vial in Sakura's hand, inspecting the few remaining droplets in the dim light of the lab. "Anything for you, Sakura. If I may ask, do you know anything about it?"

"It's poison," Sakura answered.

Sho nodded, needing nothing more. "There's not much left in this vial, so it might take longer for the analyzer to figure it out. However, it should have it figured out by tomorrow. Come by then."

"Thank you," Sakura curtly nodded, and strode out of the lab. She had to return back to her regular hospital duties. She couldn't let her personal matters distract her from someone who might desperately need her medical expertise.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura turned her head, seeing Shizune approaching from down the hallway. "Oh, Shizune! There you are!"

"I've been looking all over for you! C'mon, let's have our lunch break already! I'm starving!" Shizune complained.

Sakura giggled. "Fine, I'm sorry. Let's go."

Hinata sipped slowly at the tea Lee had offered her as they sat across from each other. She set the tea down on the kitchen table. Lee watched her quietly, letting her take her time.

"All of that conflict yesterday was about the Hyuga cursed seal, I'm pretty sure," Hinata finally said. "There has been a stir within the branch houses... they want the practice to stop and have the main house remove the seals off of those who have them."

Lee thought to Neji, on how bitter he had been over the cursed seal on his forehead in their early genin days and how hidden he kept it. "But it is impossible to remove the cursed seal once it is placed, correct?"

"Yes, as far as I know. But the branch houses demand that a way be found."

"I see. What will happen to those two Hyuga that were captured?"

Hinata was quiet for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed. "They... they will be tortured for any information they have and sentenced to death for attempting to kill the heiress."

Lee stared into the depths of his own cup of tea, not sure what to say.

"That's all I know. Father has been limiting my contact with Hanabi - he's afraid I'm influencing her."

Lee looked up sharply. "It is not right for him to do that! You are family!" Family was something precious that should be treasured, Lee thought, as someone whom no longer had any blood relatives of his own. He lamented the fact that he had been too young to remember his parents faces and had no records or photos of them to know who they were - all of that was destroyed when the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha all those years ago.

Hinata's posture stiffened. "He's doing what he thinks is best for his family and clan even if it's hard to understand. Even when he disowned me out of the main house, he refused to brand me with the cursed seal." Hinata frowned sadly, and began to twiddle her thumbs like she used to do all the time in her youth. "I... I think I should at least be grateful for him for that."

Lee held his tongue, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He did not agree that Hiashi should be given points for something as small as that. "...How is Naruto?" he asked, changing the subject.

Hinata's eyes brightened at the mention of her husband. "He is very busy, but happy. I know he doesn't get out as much as he would like but he wouldn't trade his job as Hokage with anything else in the world. But I admit he has been a bit troubled with Sasuke..." Hinata drifted off, but then shook her hands to dismiss it the topic. "But never mind about that," she said quickly. "How is... Guy and Tenten?"

Before Lee could answer, there was another knock at the door. "Please excuse me for a moment, Hinata," Lee said as he got up from his chair.

When Lee opened the door he saw a messenger-nin with the Hokage's symbol on her vest. She saluted at Lee and handed him a letter of summons. "Rock Lee, the Hokage requests your presence for an important mission."

Sakura spent her lunch outside chatting with Shizune, when a masked Anbu appeared before them.

"Sakura Haruno," the Anbu man saluted, a familiar voice coming out from behind the mask.

A smile crept up on Sakura's face. "Remove that mask, Sai. Is it really necessary?"

Sai removed his mask as requested and returned her smile - a genuine smile rather than his old practiced one. "It's good to see you, Sakura." He handed her the letter of summons in his hand. "You're wanted for a mission by Naruto."

"Oh wow, how exciting!" Shizune exclaimed, peering at the letter.

Sakura eyed the summons curiously. It had been too long since she had last gone out on a mission. "How did an Anbu like you get delegated to the lowly task of mail delivery? Do I need to threaten Naruto for you?"

Sai chuckled lightly. "Oh, when I heard you were asked for this mission, I requested that I deliver this summons personally to say hello."

"How sweet of you."

"How about we walk together on your way to the Hokage's office and catch up?" Sai suggested.

"Well, if you insist," Sakura said lightheartedly. She turned to Shizune. "Let Tsunade know I'll be out for awhile."

Shizune nodded with a smile. "Of course. I'll make sure to get your patients reassigned. Good luck."

Sakura waved goodbye to Shizune as she followed Sai back to the Hokage's office.

"So, Sai, is Anbu treating you fine after... y'know... Root was disbanded?" Sakura knew that Anbu always did things questionable things behind closed doors, but Root within the Anbu had been the worst offender. Public opinion of the Anbu had suffered after what Danzo did.

"Yes. Although, I may not be a part of Anbu for much longer. Naruto has recently coined a new rank for me. I am now a chubu. It is a term for those that will be in a newly created Konoha support division. We are admittedly still trying to figure out all the details of what that entails and what sort of talent we will want for that division, but I'm excited to see what we can do."

"Huh, very interesting," Sakura said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Whatever it ends up being, I hope you'll be happy there."

Sai smiled sweetly. "Thank you, Sakura."

A beat of silence passed between them. With every year Sakura new Sai, he gained a little more social grace. She wondered often if he had made friends other than Naruto and her. He never offered that type of personal information out freely. "So, Sai, have you found a girl yet you like?"

"A girl I like?" Sai looked confused at this question. "Well, I like you."

"No! I mean, a girl you have romantic feelings for."

"Oh, no."

Sakura was not going to let him off the hook that easily. "Well, what about Ino? You called her 'beautiful' that one time. That's the only positive nickname I've heard out of you."

"Oh, I only called her beautiful because it seemed to me at the time people did not like to be called nicknames based on truth. So I was experimenting with the opposite to see how people would react."

"Wait... so you're telling me, you actually thought Ino was ugly?"

Sai nodded. "Naturally."

Sakura burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? That's so funny! I can't wait until I tell her that! She spent years rubbing that in my face!"

Sai smiled. "Tell her if you wish, it doesn't matter to me. So Sakura, I happen to know you have been training frequently with that Rock Lee. Has he been teaching new taijutsu techniques?"

"What, how do you know about that?!" Sakura exclaimed, caught off guard. Had he been spying on them? How often?

Sai giggled at her outburst. "I'm Anbu. Do you really need any other explanation?"

Sakura glared at him before sighing. "I would expect someone like me to be considered a little more trustworthy by Anbu but whatever."

Sai smiled at her, but this time it was insincere. He didn't respond to her comment. "You're ignoring my question," he teased.

"Oh, sorry." Sakura bit her lip. "Well, he did teach me some taijutsu. I used to teach him genjutsu dispelling techniques..."

"Used to?"

A frown tugged at Sakura's lips. She looked to the ground as they walked. "Y-Yeah! We just learned all we wanted to learn from each other, is all. So we called it quits." She then smiled at him.

"Why are you lying?"

Sakura's eyes darted to Sai as he studied her, feeling the heat rise to her face. "W-What?"

"You're lying. Something about your training with Lee upsets you."

"Y-You don't just say things like that, Sai! It makes people uncomfortable!"

"I think that's silly. If something seems to be bothering a friend, I want to know what. And I don't like it when people lie to themselves. You happen to be the worst offender I know, Sakura." Sai smiled sweetly at her.

"Sai!" Anger, embarrassment, and pain swirled inside of her quickly, ready to burst.

"Oh, look at that. We seem to be here," Sai said cheerfully, pointing up at the Hokage building. "You should head in and see what Naruto has for you."

"Saved by our arrival. You have no idea how close I was to punching you across Konoha," Sakura muttered, cheeks still red. "You better watch your mouth around people, Sai."

Sai laughed. "Please, Sakura. I know what I said. I am no longer as naive as I once was." Sai slipped his Anbu mask on. "Be safe, Sakura. And please be honest with yourself, for your own sake," he saluted before darting off.

Sakura gave a halfhearted wave, clenching her jaw. Be honest with herself? What did he mean? Wasn't she already? Sakura shook her head, shoving the thoughts away. It was Sai who told her that. What did he know of her anyway? The man barely understood human interaction until he was properly introduced to it a few years ago.

Sakura entered the building, giving a nod to the assistant, and headed up the stairs to Naruto's office. When she entered the office she was greeted by a group of people. Naruto sat at his desk with Shikamaru at his side. Kiba and Shino flanked the desk and in between them... Lee. They all stared at her as she entered. The only reaction she noticed was Lee's, whose eyes darkened upon meeting hers.

"Sakura!" Naruto grinned. "You've finally made it!"

"Sorry for being late," Sakura said, stepping forward to stand beside the open spot next to Lee, not looking at him. "Sai slowed me down."

Naruto chuckled knowingly. "I'll have to scold him later for that." Naruto then folded his hands on his desk, his expression hard. "Now that you're all here, we can begin discussing your mission."

A/N: Sorry this chapter feels a bit meh and not much happens but since it's been so long since I've updated I wrapped it up and decided it was time to post it. Sorry! Hopefully next chapter will be a bit more substantial.

As a crackship, I always thought LeeHina could totally work. I also think SaiSaku is pretty cute. I liked how Sai could always see through Sakura's act and I tried to show that a bit here.