A/N: Wooo! 200 comments! Thank you so much guys for all the love I have received. I never thought this fic would ever reach this level. I love and appreciate all of you guys. Every comment brings me joy, and I love rereading them when I need a pick me up to encourage my writing. :')

Chapter 30

The Truth

When Sakura was released from the hospital the next late afternoon she headed straight home by herself, despite the protests of her weak legs.

When she walked up her street she stopped in her tracks at the sight of her home with a sour expression on her face. 'FUCK THE UCHIHA' was aggressively written in red paint across her doorway.

Sakura ran a finger down the graffiti. Dry.

Whoever did this picked a great time to do so while she was away on a mission.

Bastards.

Sakura set down her 'get well' gifts on the kitchen table, grabbed the often-used can of paint in the closet, and grumbled as she hastily painted over the graffiti until it was no longer visible. She tried not to think too hard on it. She was done moping over stuff like this. Things were finally looking up for her after all - Sasuke would finally have answers for her.

When she made it back inside she at least felt comforted by the fact that Sasuke's traveling gear was still draped out on the couch. He was going to be here with her for a few days. He wasn't anywhere inside though, so Sakura assumed he might have gone to visit Naruto like he always did.

She would have to wait for him. In the meantime, Sakura decided she wanted to get all her errands done before Sasuke returned.

She headed to the Hokage's office. When she entered she handed off Lee's jonin recommendation letter (signed by both her and Shino) to the front desk clerk and then was directed to Shikamaru's office as requested.

"Ah, Sakura," Shikamaru greeted, leaning forward in his office chair. He still had circles under his eyes. Another night of little rest. "Close the door and take a seat."

Sakura did as instructed. "Is Naruto in?"

"No," he said curtly.

Guess she wouldn't be paying him a visit then. Hopefully that meant that Sasuke wasn't skulking about the office either. Good. She decided to change the topic. "You wanted me to review those missing-nin reports?"

"Yeah. But something else first - I know Naruto gave Sasuke another low-rank mission. For just the two of you. Have you seen Sasuke yet? Did he tell you anything about this?"

Sakura's mouth twitched, thinking back to last night. "Yes. He did."

Shikamaru leaned forward in his chair, hopeful. "And?"

"He told me a little bit about the low-rank mission we're going on." Sakura paused before continuing, conflicted. "And he told me a little about what we will be doing on the side. It's true, what you thought... He has been doing things outside of the official missions he's been assigned..."

"And what's the goal of this side activity of his?"

"To... retrieve an object that he wants, from someplace guarded. That's all I know. He won't tell me more until we leave Konoha." Sakura decided to not tell Shikamaru that Sasuke was going to answer more questions later today. She wanted to be the judge of that information without Shikamaru's involvement.

Shikamaru's brow furrowed deeply and he let out a slow breath. "Okay. That's fine. This is a great opportunity to spy on him. Keep gaining his trust. When you come back to Konoha after your mission, report directly to me on what you discovered."

Sakura nodded glumly, feeling guilt swirling in the pit of her stomach.

'Betray Sasuke' was what Shikamaru was asking. (But to protect him, right?) If Sasuke discovered she was doing this she would lose all hope of her ever having the chance to truly connect with him. But if she didn't report the full truth to Shikamaru she would be betraying Konoha. For the life of a shinobi, their Village was always supposed to come first.

"Have you looked into Orochimaru yet?" she asked.

"After your mission report of the 'snake-faced Kage', I've assigned Yamato and Sai to hunt down Orochimaru's whereabouts. It's highly likely he's behind all of this Sound business despite some of the misdirects given by that genjutsu-user you fought."

"I see," was all Sakura said.

Afterwards Shikamaru gave her several binders of missing-nins from each Village. She flipped through them until she identified a few Sound-nin she fought on her mission. They all came from different Hidden Villages across the continent - all united under the banner of the Sound. She identified which ones she remembered killing, and Shikamaru documented each one for potential reward collecting from the associated Village.

Still, it was suspicious to see so many missing-nin from so many distant lands all uniting under the same banner. What was the Sound offering them? Safety in numbers from the hunter-nin? A cause?

She stumbled across Funai of Clan Yuki - the ice user that Lee fought. She almost didn't recognize him at first - his photo was that of a cheerful young boy rather than that of a bitter, battle-hardened man. She remembered what Lee said about Funai - that he had left the Mist not by choice, but because the Mist was exterminating his clan. According to Shikamaru and the Steam, Funai would have been freed along with the other Sound prisoners. Was his choice to join the Sound purely for survival?

Then she ran across Yumi, the genjutsu expert that was killed right in front of her. She lingered on her page. She originally hailed from the Land of Earth. Her photo was quite a few years old - and the most striking part of it was how thin she was and how dead her eyes looked. A bruise was blooming under her eye. She looked like a completely different woman. She had Uzumaki clan genes in her blood - and her dossier included a detailed description of her genjutsu abilities. Sakura pointed her out as deceased and Shikamaru noted it down.

When Sakura returned home she was shocked to see that Sasuke was already there, seated on the couch, oiling his katana.

"You're back," he said, running a rag down the blade. "I've been waiting."

Sakura felt a little unnerved in his presence, worrying as though he somehow knew that she had been informing Shikamaru on him. "I left to run some errands when you weren't home. What have you been up to today?"

"Settling some other business to prepare us for our mission."

"Ah. How was Naruto?"

"I haven't seen him today."

"Oh." Sasuke not visiting Naruto? Surprising, actually. "I'm sorry, you probably saw that graffiti when you came in. That's... not a great thing to come home to."

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever. Frankly, I don't care what others think of me."

Sakura sat across from him on the couch. "Sasuke. You told me you were going to tell more today. About the mission we're going on."

"Yes," Sasuke acknowledged hesitantly. "But first, let's eat?" He smiled faintly at her then.

Lee froze in the middle of the street when he spotted them.

Sasuke and Sakura were walking in this direction. Sakura had looped her arm around Sasuke's. They looked wonderful together, like they were meant to be together. They were a beautiful married couple. A hard lump formed in Lee's throat.

"What's with that dead look in your eyes?" Tenten asked him. She followed his gaze. "Oh," she said flatly.

It was too late to run and hide. Sakura locked eyes with him. They were still heading this way.

"Uh, hi, Lee," Sakura said, giving a small wave as they stopped in front of him and Tenten. "Hi, Tenten." Her grip on Sasuke's arm loosened and there was a conflicted flicker in her eyes as she found it hard to keep his gaze.

"Hello, Sakura," Lee responded in kind, mouth dry. "And Sasuke," he then added. When he caught Sasuke's eye, the Uchiha was giving him an appraising look.

"Hey, guys," Tenten nodded. "Long time no see."

"Likewise," Sasuke said.

Sakura met Lee's gaze then, and they shared a lingering look before her eyes flitted over to Tenten's.

Tenten broke the awkward pause and said, "So, where are you guys going?"

"Dinner," Sakura responded. "What about you two?"

"Guy-sensei's," Tenten replied.

"I see," Sakura said. "Then… wish him well for us, alright?"

"Will do," Tenten said.

"Well, we better go…" Sakura said. "Tomorrow we're still training, Lee, right?"

"Yes. Tomorrow."

Sakura nodded. "See you then, okay?" Sakura waved goodbye as she and Sasuke left.

"Yeah," Lee said as he stood there, watching them leave.

"Well, that was really awkward," Tenten commented. "It's really weird to see Sasuke in person too."

Lee was silent, jaw tight.

"She was kinda acting a little weird too. What gives? Didn't you guys make up?"

"We did."

Tenten gave him a look before letting out a sigh. "Jeez, I can see it all over your face. You really have it that bad, huh? A lot worse than when we were teenagers, frankly," Tenten said, shaking her head. "Come on. Guy-sensei is waiting for us." Tenten gave him a supportive pat on the back.

"Right."

Dinner was quiet and awkward. Any conversation that occurred was frustratingly sterile. Sakura was able to coax at least a few responses out of Sasuke that were more than a few short words. Sakura tried to blab a little bit about herself to fill in the oppressive silence, but Sasuke only responded with simple things like "I see" or just a nod.

Had it always been like this? Did she not notice before because she had been so damned starstruck with him? The thought nagged at her.

When they left the restaurant, the tension between them grew as they neared home. When they went through the door there was a suspenseful silence between them as they removed their shoes.

"So…" Sakura started.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, letting out a slow breath. "I know." Sakura watched him as he slowly walked over to the living room and leaned against a wall.

"So what can you tell me?" Sakura asked, standing in place.

"There are some things that would be better to show you than to explain so you can truly understand. I will save those for the mission. What I can tell you is this: we will be pursuing Orochimaru. He has what I want."

"Wait, so you know where Orochimaru has been hiding?" Sakura said, taken aback.

"Tracked him down, yes."

She couldn't stop the sudden giddy relief in her chest. If Sasuke was tracking down Orochimaru, then surely her good theories on what Sasuke was up to were true. Sasuke had to have been making himself a nuisance to Orochimaru's Sound and the Talons. It made sense why Sasuke was always away from home. He had been hunting down Orochimaru's whereabouts. She wanted to cry with relief. Shikamaru's suspicions and her own were wrong.

"Why haven't you told Naruto about this? We can send more shinobi after him so we'll have him cornered!"

"No."

"But why? We can stop him for good this time!" Sakura protested.

"They'll all just get in the way. And he's mine."

"And you don't want them to find what you're looking for," Sakura guessed.

"Exactly," Sasuke answered.

"Okay," Sakura said, letting out a slow breath. "Why? And what is it? Can I ask that?"

Sasuke stared at her, thinking. "It's a scroll that contains a jutsu that shouldn't be in Orochimaru's hands."

He didn't say why he was hiding it from Konoha.

"And you have use of that jutsu? What does it do?"

"I do. But it's just one piece of a puzzle. A forgotten jutsu created during the Warring States period before the Hidden Village system. It was meant as a solution to the violence, but its creator encoded its secrets so not anyone could use it. Its creator died before she could use it. Even I don't entirely know how it works without all the pieces. I intend to find out."

"So that's what you've been doing this whole time. You've been hunting Orochimaru and tracking this jutsu's secrets down as a vigilante. That's why…" Sakura gulped. "You've been mostly gone. But..." Sakura approached him then, hands drifting up to his sides. "After this, you'll be done, right? You'll come back home for good." She looked into his eyes desperately. She needed this. If only he could come back, she could forget all about her silly crush on Lee. They could try to figure things out. Iron out the chemistry issues between them.

Sasuke's eyes wavered and he glanced away from her gaze. He suddenly pulled her into a hug, saying nothing. Some part of her wanted to simply melt into his arms and live in the moment but she knew better now. She gently pulled away so she could look him in the eye.

"But why all the secrets? I just don't understand… Surely Naruto would be okay with what you're doing. You're doing good for Konoha, right?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "You told me you wanted to understand me in the way Naruto hasn't been lately. I'm… giving you that chance. Trust me and you will find out soon. Show me that I can trust you."

Sasuke was actually giving her the chance to surpass his bond with Naruto in some way?

"Okay. I'll trust you," Sakura answered, partly enticed, yet still unsettled and suspicious about the whole thing. Something big was going on if Sasuke was being this secretive. She just had to play along. She could figure out what to ultimately do when she knew more.

"When do you think you'll be ready to go?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"I'll make preparations."

Lee was wide awake way before the morning sun even peeked through his blinds. To distract his troubled mind he tried to instead focus on the aches and pains of his body from the lingering Gate damage.

Today.

Today he would finally confess.

He was absolutely terrified.

When the sun hit his eyes he knew he should just do something to distract himself. First he did his stretches (despite how much his body protested), showered, and took a painkiller with his breakfast for good measure. He then did his best to straighten up his apartment and clean off any offending dust he had missed. He didn't need to do much - his studio apartment was small - a single room and a bathroom. He made sure his training weights and weapons were neatly stashed in the corner of the room.

It unfortunately didn't take him long to finish, leaving him with little else to keep himself busy. (Tenten had called his apartment 'spartan' before.) He just hoped that the cleanliness was to Sakura's standards.

When the time neared that Sakura would arrive he found himself pacing, waiting for that dreaded knock. He tried to reassure himself - that everything would be completely normal between them after his confession. That Sakura would kindly acknowledge that his feelings existed, obviously tell him she didn't feel the same way, and then they could continue their friendship as normal, without any awkwardness.

But, there was still that lingering fear that Shino's situation with the person he liked was different, and that the same wouldn't work out for Lee and Sakura. That instead Sakura would suddenly become distant to him, no longer trust him, and feel uncomfortable spending time with someone who held feelings for her.

Then, there was the other fleeting fantasy that he made sure to keep deeply buried and feared to dwell on for even a moment. The silly, impossible fantasy that Sakura instead tells him that she felt the same way about him.

Knock. Knock.

Lee startled before striding to the door, taking a deep, steadying breath, and opening it.

Sakura smiled at him from the other side. "Hi, Lee." She was wearing civilian clothes unfit for physical training - a summer dress covered in floral print. Her hair was loose around her face - no bandanna. God, she was pretty.

Hi, I love you.

"S-Sakura! Hello!" he half-squeaked, leaning on the door frame as nonchalantly as he could manage. His elbow slipped a little before it found its place. Immediately he realized he had to move out of the way in order to invite Sakura in. Embarrassed, he stepped aside and then cleared his throat, trying to will his voice back to some semblance of neutrality. "Please, come in!"

Lee shut the door as Sakura stepped inside. She glanced curiously around his apartment as she toed off her shoes. Lee meanwhile hovered awkwardly in place, wondering if it was silly to her he was wearing his shinobi outfit. He had only just remembered Sakura implied that their training would not be physical in any way. Maybe he should have worn civilian clothes too.

"You are welcome to take a seat," Lee said, suddenly remembering his manners, directing her to the sofa. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure," Sakura said, taking a seat on one side of the sofa.

"Water? Tea?"

"Water is fine, thanks."

"Water it is!" Lee said, striding a little too quickly to the kitchen. As he filled her a glass he said, "I realized I did not yet ask how you were doing."

Sakura smiled politely. "M-Me? Oh, I'm doing just fine. I'm recovering well. But what about you? How are your injuries?" Was that nervousness in her voice or was he just imagining things?

"I am glad to hear you are recovering! My recovery is going well too. In a few more days I expect I will be back to one hundred percent!"

Also, did you know that I love you?

"That's great news," Sakura said.

Lee returned to her with two glasses in hand, handing one to her. She nodded in thanks, sipping at it slowly as Lee sat on the far end of the sofa from her, making sure to give her space. If he was going to confess, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable in any way. It might be weird enough at his apartment rather than on more neutral ground. A part of him wanted to jump on that excuse - anything to delay the confession. But he shoved those cowardly thoughts away. He had to get this done today. He said he would tell her before they started training again. He had psyched himself up so much to do it today that he did not want all that anxiety and loss of sleep to be for nothing.

Noticing the glass was shaking in his hand, he took a hasty gulp and placed it down on the coffee table. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his legs.

They spoke at the same time.

"Sakura-"

"Lee-"

"Oh! Sorry!"

"No, it's okay."

"Please go ahead-"

"No, it's fine, you first. What were you going to say?" she said encouragingly.

"Oh. Um," Lee glanced away.

Tell her.

His mouth opened, lips trying to find the courage to form the simple phrase.

I love you.

Instead he said, "So genjutsu training! How will that work in my apartment? I am very eager to know!"

Lee mentally cursed himself for his cowardice.

"Oh," Sakura said, releasing a slow breath, like she had been expecting something else. "Yes. Genjutsu training. Um. Remember how I mentioned Kurenai and I used to practice in her apartment? We would just sit next to each other, and she would weave simple visual genjutsu mostly. Nothing harmful or scary that would upset her kid. These genjutsu... they're more visual playthings than anything remotely meant for combat - you'll be able to tell you're under one immediately. I wanted to show you one." She smiled at him then.

Lee cleared his throat. "Oh? Really? I am excited!"

Lee assured himself that there was still more time to confess. He could still do it today.

"Um, word of advice - this genjutsu you'll feel activating in your body. Don't resist it. Trust me."

"I trust you."

After setting down her glass, Sakura formed hand signs and activated the genjutsu. The room blurred, and Lee's sense of balance spun for a moment. He felt a tingle from his chest to his toes as the room came back into focus. His room was no more. He stared in awe. The first thing he noticed was the large koi swimming at eye-level to him in the air - no, water - that surrounded them. Enormous green stalks sprouted from the gravel floor to the shimmering surface, poking through and forming wide lotus pads, large enough for him to sit on, with equally large pink lotus flowers blooming beside them. The sun filtered down through the surface, casting beams of light past the lotus pads, piercing through the bluish haze. It was beautiful.

But wait...

He was underwater.

Lee held his breath with sudden alarm, pressing his hands tightly over his mouth and nose.

"Lee," Sakura laughed beside him. "You can breathe. I promise."

Lee dropped his hands and took a hesitant breath. Yes, he could breathe just fine. Like nothing had changed. In fact, he couldn't even feel the water on his skin, nor even the buoyancy of his body underwater. It was like he never left his living room.

Forgetting all his troubles, Lee bounded up from the couch - or rather now a large, gnarled piece of driftwood - to inspect his surroundings in amazement. When he reached his hand out to a koi it swam around it, and his fingertips briefly brushed against its scales. When he poked the stalks of a lotus they lightly wobbled from his touch. When he looked a little closer he could see the outline of his living room. The walls of his apartment curved severely up towards the surface - the pond's edges. His other furniture were pieces of inconspicuous-looking driftwood or boulders. The surface of the water was approximately where his ceiling was.

All of this... it was incredible.

"We're under a pond, if it wasn't obvious," Sakura said, coming up beside him. "The illusion isn't perfected yet - there's still some sensory illusions I need to add to it like sound and a little more touch." As if to demonstrate, Sakura pushed against a lotus stalk - it bent slightly to her touch at first before her fingers phased right through it.

It was then Lee noticed Sakura's hair - it was lazily flowing and coiling around her shoulders with the water. It was absolutely ethereal in its beauty.

"Your hair," Lee murmured, in awe, reaching a hand out to touch it. "It is..." He dropped his hand self-consciously before he could touch it. "...beautiful," he finished.

"T-Thanks!" Sakura's face lit up in pleasant surprise and giggled bashfully. "Yours is floating around too, you know. The hair thing is one of the harder things to get right in this illusion actually."

Tell her now, his mind told him as his heart beat wildly in his chest.

"But what do you think?" Sakura said. "Of the genjutsu, that is."

"It is amazing," Lee answered, swallowing the nervous lump in his throat.

"I thought you might like the lotus," Sakura commented, eyes shining. "I thought, because of that phrase you said back then..."

"The lotus of the Leaf blooms twice," Lee recited, feeling the corner of his mouth curl upwards.

"Yeah. That one. And you certainly did, huh? You completely blew me away." Her eyes darted shyly away for a moment before looking back at him. "And even now, years later... you still find new ways to."

"I-I do?"

"Y-Yeah! By, um…" She smiled to herself. "Just in new ways, is all." Redness tinged her cheeks.

Lee smiled tenderly at her, relaxing. At that moment he felt like everything would turn out okay between them.

"Thank you," Lee said.

She grinned up at him warmly then, having found her composure. "You're very welcome."

"Sakura..."

He paused for a beat as he took in this last moment before he would inevitably ruin it, and potentially change their friendship forever. He took in the way she was looking at him with such openness and affection. He took in the way the light rippled over her face, casting her in a beautiful blue hue as her petal-pink hair coiled around her neck. His eyes wavered for a moment before he collected himself.

"I am in love with you."

Her expression fell into shock. "What?"

"The thing I wanted to tell you," he said, breathless. "Is that I love you."

So it was true.

Her genjutsu broke then, putting them back to the reality of Lee's apartment.

Sakura stared at him, frozen, mouth parted, searching for what to say but her mind was blank. Part of her traitorous heart soared with the knowledge they both felt the same way about each other. The other part was terrified.

"Why?" Sakura finally said, voice barely a whisper. "Why would you even..."

"Why I love you?" Lee said softly.

Sakura nodded with a swallow.

"How could I not?" he mused. "Other than the fact that you are smart, beautiful, kind and also an incredible shinobi on top of all that?" He looked at her with such aching tenderness that tugged at her heart. "I love the way your nose crinkles when you laugh. I love how wild your hair gets after we spar. I love that you are fierce, yet also sincere and deeply sensitive. I love your raw strength of will to better yourself, despite your humble beginnings - like I try to do myself. When I'm with you I feel… understood. You take me more seriously than most do, and you also treat me with such... kindness and respect. I just… I love everything about you, Sakura."

Lee's vulnerable eyes searched hers, chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. His heart was laid bare to her and now he was waiting for her response.

Stunned, Sakura's eyes welled up with tears. Here Lee was, so plainly and honestly telling her all he loved about her and yet she didn't even know what Sasuke loved about her. (Did he even love her?)

Seeing her tears, Lee's summoned composure faded away. His brow furrowed with regret. "I am sorry... I never meant... I did not want..." He reached a hand towards her, wanting to somehow comfort her, but he then recoiled his hands away, clenching them and putting them back down at his side, refusing to touch her. He took a step back to give her space. He clenched his fists at his side, staring down at the ground. "I-I am not asking you to love me back. I am not asking anything of you - I would never insult you in that way. I just wanted you to know."

"No, it's okay. Thank you. For telling me," she said, choking up, arms held to her chest, hugging herself. "It's nice. To hear that I'm loved by someone."

Lee's head shot up to look at her with such sadness, with such concern, with such... yearning. But he said nothing as his jaw shifted. His whole body was tense, like a barely contained coiled spring, like he wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them.

Sakura half-wanted Lee to take her in his arms and kiss her then and there. To simply take the decision out of her hands. To show her just how much he loved her. So she could forget all about Sasuke and his suspicious mission, about all the uncertainties and insecurities surrounding her marriage, and just see where things lead with Lee. Sasuke was always so complicated and secretive while Lee was always so comfortably straightforward and honest. Sakura badly wanted something simple and straightforward for once.

"For how long?" Sakura half-whispered.

"I think I always loved you," Lee confessed, voice thick. "Only that I buried it deep, denying it was still there. I only just recently realized it. But…" he swallowed. "It is more than it ever was before." He shifted on his feet. "Back when we first met, when I was just a foolish boy wanting to show off my strength, I thought I could just waltz up to any girl I liked and just…" He grimaced, motioning awkwardly with his hands. "But… even so, you treated me with a kindness I didn't deserve. And when I was in the hospital after the exams, you were there for me during the times my team could not. With your daffodils and your company all while you and Lady Tsunade were helping me with physical therapy... I think then - that is when I can say I truly fell for you after I got the chance to know you better. And I knew then I always wanted to keep my promise to you."

"But why even tell me now? You know that I'm..." Sakura couldn't help the frustration bleeding a little into her voice. It would be so less complicated if only one of them had feelings.

"Married?"

Sakura's mouth twitched. "Yeah... that."

"I want... to properly apologize. My apology to you that night in Yu was incomplete. The real reason I was suddenly distant to you was because I was afraid... of these feelings."

"Afraid?"

"Yes, because I... treasure what we have. I thought the distance would be more... appropriate. And so I would not make you uncomfortable. I-I know these feelings for you are wrong. I was not thinking straight - I was so consumed by this fear that I did not stop to think how you felt about what I was doing. I lied to you." Lee suddenly bowed deeply to her. "Sakura! Please accept my sincerest apology! From the bottom of my heart - I am truly sorry. If you no longer wish to be friends I understand!"

Sakura smiled to herself at the formality of his apology. "I've already forgiven you, Lee. Of course I still want to be friends."

"T-Thank you, Sakura!" Lee's voice boomed, full of gratitude, bowing even deeper somehow. "I will accept whatever boundaries you wish! You have my word!"

"What if I told you I don't want to change a thing? I want you to treat me like you always have."

"I-I can do that too!" his voice cracked with incredible relief, with joy.

Fearing that he would never unbend if she didn't do anything, she gently touched his shoulder. Lee finally rose from his deep bow then, looking at her with appreciative wet eyes.

"Did you really think that? That I would so easily throw our relationship away over something like this? We did it before just fine, didn't we?" she smiled reassuringly at him.

Lee hastily rubbed his eyes on his sleeve. "You are right. We did. I shamefully underestimated the strength of our friendship. I am s-"

"You don't need to apologize anymore. It's okay. All is forgiven, which means we can move forward, right?"

Lee grinned at her. "Y-Yes! You are right!"

They went back to genjutsu training soon after. Sakura had Lee practice reversing his chakra flow, and he successfully broke through several illusionary jutsus. The whole time there was an odd air of bashful warmheartedness between them. Heart-to-hearts tended to that, Sakura supposed. Sakura left Lee with homework to work on while she would be on her mission.

"For how long will you be gone?" Lee asked her with a sad smile as they both stood by the doorway.

"I don't know. Days. Maybe a week or two. I'm not sure."

"Please stay safe." His eyes said it all. How did Sakura ever miss how obvious it was?

"I will."

Sakura felt an ache in her chest. She'll miss him a lot, she realized. They barely had any time to spend together since they got back after mending their friendship. And now she would be leaving before they had proper time to settle into this new normal - of Lee openly harboring feelings for her and her having to pretend she doesn't return them (until they fade away at least).

Sakura opened the door but then stopped, hovering in the doorway. All she had to do was say goodbye. But before then, she had to at least say something. He had laid his soul bare to her today. While she would never confess her own feelings to him, she just wanted to make sure he knew how much she truly appreciated him as her friend, no matter what her true feelings were. Her shyness had stopped her earlier; she wouldn't let it stop her now.

"Lee… I… I just wanted to say before I go that I really like you, Lee. A lot. You're sweet a-and funny and you always bring a smile to my face. I just… I don't know what I would do without you. You're just really great. And… and..." Her face prickled with heat.

Frustrated with her uncooperative tongue, Sakura hugged him instead. Lee's breath caught, and his hands hovered over her back hesitantly for a few seconds before he pulled her in tightly. He was always so hesitant to hug her like he wasn't sure he had permission to.

"Thank you, Sakura," he said softly. "I am lucky that you feel that way about me."

She pulled away slowly. Lee's hands fell from her in response. As Sakura's arms trailed down his side, she looked up at him. He was still so close. "Lee… I…" Her lips parted, and her eyes glanced momentarily to his mouth before meeting his gaze again. "I…" Her brow furrowed then.

Lee stood deliberately still, breath held as he studied her questioningly, a flicker of sudden confusion in his eyes.

Sakura completely pulled away from him then, and stepped out the doorway. "Bye, Lee. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Sakura."

Sakura left Lee there with that perplexed look still on his face.

Sakura almost ran home.

It scared her to think that she knew everything she loved about Lee, but she did not know a single thing that she loved about Sasuke. He was handsome, but what else? What else? She had just always loved him, like a habit. She never thought more on it past that.

When she burst through the front door of her home she spotted Sasuke by the window. Relief filled her. She rushed up to him and stubbornly kissed him, to remind herself of why. Sasuke was clearly startled to see her take the initiative for once, and he stiffly pressed his lips back against hers.

But nothing came to her. Not even a spark. She didn't know why.

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing Lee's awkwardness and trying to find the courage and the right time to confess. I can relate wholeheartedly - when I was trying to confess to my now husband it went about the same - except I chickened out last minute and sent him a confession text at like 2am instead haha.

I was debating on whether to scale back the intensity of Lee's confession a little but I decided against it. it may come off as a little too strong (especially when just wanting to tell her as an FYI out of respect because she's taken) but let's be real - that's a total Lee thing. He feels strongly and he's incredibly honest about his feelings. He's been holding back on these feelings for awhile so it just all spills out at once.

Sorry for taking so much longer with this chapter! Hope to update the next chapter sooner and I hope guys have been doing well in the meantime!

And for the Anon who left the comment wanting the embarrassing high school story: I'll give you the general gist - me and 4 others were hanging out outside of school. 3 of them were interested in me, and the other was conveniently asexual and also unfortunately turned into a 5th wheel the entire night (sorry, buddy!). One of the guys interested in me kept on boldly hitting on me all night (and in hindsight, to a creepy degree) which put the other two on high alert trying to compete against him, each pulling for my undivided attention. I hadn't ever had this level of interest on me ever before, and I wasn't exactly disinterested so I didn't rebuff anything but also I was kinda frozen in shock to a degree so I didn't know how to react to it all. It all culminated in us ending up at the asexual friend's home to watch V for Vendetta. The bold one decided to grab my hand and hold it and leaned his head on my shoulder. The other, who hated the bold one, acted dramatic about it and grabbed my other hand and leaned her head on my other shoulder in defiance. Then the 3rd meanwhile tried to convince me to move away from the other two and sit next to him instead. Meanwhile the asexual friend was in the opposite end of the room pretending none of this was happening. I can't watch V for Vendetta again without feeling that old anxiety and mortification from that night creep back up lmao.