Alright Guys, I'm sorry I didn't update the other day. I really am, I was sick with a stomach virus and my mom wouldn't let me near the computer… so yah. And to make it up to you, I shall do a double upload! I just hope I don't die, because next week is still going to be double upload week…

Enjoy!

Edit: I did some serious... simple math in my head, and Lee is actually turning twelve, so... Yah, my bad, now enjoy :)

Edit (again): sorry :( but I did some more math in my head, and as it turns out, he's 13... My bad

Chapter 10

November 29

It seemed like the week flew by as quick and lightly as cool air during winter. Asuka didn't 'demand' much out of Lee, just a few things here and there to keep her occupied. When she was finally released from the hospital, her arms fully healed and her chest and back didn't hurt too much, just enough to refuse to train with Lee, just watch and support. Lee still offered his assistance until she healed, which she didn't really need because Hatsuharu was around to carry her, but he still insisted to help. So she finally took him up on that offer for this specific day.

"Keep my headband on." Asuka ordered to Lee as she tied it around his eyes.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"Nothing, just for fun." she giggled as she held his hand and led him down a path.

"I don't understand your logic." He sighed and let his head hang.

"And I don't understand why you take notes of Guy sensei's advice." She countered.

"Because he is the most wisest and youthful sensei ever!" he cheerfully said as he held his fist in the air and jumped.

She giggled more, holding her chest as the pain started to set in again. Why does this have to happen now!? She sighed and shoved the pain down. Just a little further, just a few more yards and we're there.

She opened the door and gently pushed Lee in the room, turning the light on and closing the door behind her. She left to get what she needed and let Hatsuharu take off Lee's blindfold.

"Tada!" she struck a pose and Hatsuharu did a pose of his own, showing a big dinner in her home. "Happy Birthday Lee!" she hugged him happily around his neck. He hugged her around her waist and spun her around.

"Asuka! You shouldn't have." He smiled and his eyes sparkled at all the food she cooked for, mostly him.

"Go ahead and dig in, but don't pass out, I have other things planned." She poked him in the stomach and gave him a toothy grin.

ooOoO0OoOoo

"Asuka, you're a good cook!" Lee complimented. "How do you do it?"

She scratched the back of her head, "Well, that guy who owns the ramen shop taught me a few things." She sheepishly smiled at him as she opened the door. "C'mon, I have other things planned."

"As you wish." He exited her apartment with Asuka following shortly catching up to him, leaving Hatsuharu behind.

Gah! The pain! I have to hold out! I can't let Lee know I'm hurting again, or he'll want to call it a day for me, it's barely night for crying out loud! I have to hold out, I just have to. She took a few silent deep breaths and made sure Lee didn't notice her like that. With it being cold like this, it's not helping.

She briefly did a smug look before wiping it off her face. It hasn't snowed yet, but it has been getting below freezing sometimes, hopefully tonight isn't one of those nights. She untied her head band that was around her neck and tied it around Lee's eyes again.

"We're doing this again?" he asked.

"Yup! Another surprise." She cheerfully said.

He smiled, "I'm starting to like your little surprises." She held his hand and led him again.

She took him into the forest, leading him to the place she went when she wanted to sketch, or just be alone for a while. The pain in her chest and back turned to be unbearable now; shoving down the pain isn't going to help this time. Thankfully though, they arrived at her secret place. She laid him down on the plush, long, thick green grass and took off her head band, putting back around her neck where it belonged.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around to see they were in a clearing, a field with no trees around them; the trees were a couple of 10's yards away from them. She laid down beside him, about a foot away.

"Asuka, why did you take me here?" he questioned.

"Isn't it lovely? The grass here is soft to lay on." she brushed the grass, letting it slide between her fingers.

"It is quite beautiful, but what's the purpose besides viewing?"

"Look up." She pointed up. Thousands, millions of stars were brightly showing, a full moon was lighting everything up. The sky was clear, the breeze wasn't too fast or too cold. "Have you ever star gazed? I sometimes do it alone, so I thought I might take you here to join me."

He smiled and looked up, letting his eyes fill with the stars' beauty. "I am honored Asuka."

A cool breeze blew and she shivered; rubbing her arms to try to keep warm.

"You cold?" he asked, "Come here." He scooted over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders, brining her close and letting her head lay on his chest. She slightly blushed, but buried her face into his arm as she let her leg cross one of his. "What's wrong?" he rubbed his hand on her waist and moved the hair away from her eyes with the other.

"It's nothing, keep looking at the stars." She laid an arm over his chest, placing a hand near his collar bone and grasping his spandex suit in the rib cage area with her other hand, still trying to burry her face.

He gave her a questioning look before borrowing his free hand into the side of her face, grasping her chin and making her look up at him. Her whole face was nearly red, her pupils were nearly out of sight, and her irises were smaller than usual. She was embarrassed beyond belief.

"You're blushing? And I made YOU blush?" he chuckled, "The tables have finally turned huh?" he leaned in, letting the tip of their noses touch. "As one of the birthday boy's wishes, don't ever hide your face when you blush, your too adorable to do that."

She was about to hide her face again, but she did as he said and didn't. Instead, she just laid her head on his chest again, sighing as she nuzzled into his chest. "Okay, you're going to have to remind me though."

He put his arm behind his head and gently pulled her closer to him. "No problem."

Lee's actually being… flirty. Wait a minute! What's going on?! Usually he starts blushing by now and I blush later! "Are you Rock Lee?" she asked jokingly.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you Rock Lee? If you are, then you're acting different… I like it."

"Of course I'm Rock Lee… how do I know your not who you say you are huh?" he gently tugged on her hair and held her closer, not letting her escape his grasp.

She laughed loudly and started to tickle his rib cage. "Who's the faker now?"

He desperately held in his laughter and grabbed a hold of both of her wrists then rolled on top of her, pinning her down. "Looks like you lose Asuka."

"I'll get you next time Lee, just you wait!" she gave him a devilish smile; pain struck through her upper body. The pain… I can't hold it in anymore… I just can't! She tried to muzzle her mouth shut, but it did work. Her body started shivering in pain as she tried holding in her screams.

"Asuka? What's wrong?" Lee got off of her and propped her body up. Her spine was in more pain than she imagined. She screamed as Lee's gentle touch made contact with her body. He flinched, hesitating to do anything else to her. "Asuka?! Your scaring me, why didn't you say anything about your condition?" he got her onto his back, letting one of her arms drape over his shoulder and her head lay on his other one.

"I didn't want to ruin your birthday Lee, I wanted to make you happy." She gently breathed, trying not to cause any more pain to her chest.

"Well, doing this didn't help either." He stated.

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm more disappointed that you didn't say anything."

"Lee, is there one last wish you'd like to make before carrying me all the way back home?"

He stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. A few minutes past before he said anything. "Yes, when I ask you out on a date, you can't say no, unless there is a good reason, like you or Hatsuharu are deathly ill or something." He looked at her through the corner of his eye.

She nodded, "I can do that." She smiled warmly and kissed his temple.

"There's something I want to ask you, if you don't mind." he sounded a bit unsure.

"I don't mind at all Lee."

He took a deep breath and exhaled, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Where does our relationship stand? I know you say we're friends, but I keep getting mixed signs from you." Blush spread across his cheeks; he shook it off and continued. "You kiss me nearly everywhere on my face, and kissed my hand that one time I got stitches. You make me feel… fluffy around you."

She snuggled closer to him, rubbing her cheek on his neck, "Lee-"

"Let me finish please." That was the first time he EVER interrupted her when he was being serious on a subject.

She nodded her head and let him continue.

"I-I get nervous sometimes, when you hug me and tell me what's wrong when you get depressed and cry about your memory loss. I don't know what to do, but whatever I do, it seems to work more than half of the time, and I don't understand why. Then that one time I got depressed, believing I couldn't be the shinobi I've always dreamed of being, you always seem to be able to pick me right back up, making me believe again." Tears started to form in his eyes, she wiped them away for him, letting him go on. "Then when we were younger and there was a storm, you'd always stay at my place, or you invite me to yours, and we'd sleep in the same bed. We'd cuddle and tell stories about our youth." He took another deep breath and sighed. "I wanted to know, are we just friends? Or are we something more?"

She had also wondered this too, at times when Lee would make her feel better just by being there for her and listening. To her, kissing someone on the cheek was just a sign of friendship. A kiss on the forehead meant they cared, on the nose means their cute, the temple meant she was listening, on the chin meant she wanted them with her. If Lee feels mixed emotions about her, what will she do? They're on the same team for crying out loud! What would Guy sensei think?! How would Neji see their "destiny" end up at? Then it struck her.

She took a deep breath, "Lee, I'm only eleven, and you just turned thirteen, don't you think… we're a bit 'young' for… dating, or love?"

He lowered his head, "Your right." He choked out. He started to try to laugh it off. "We are too young huh? Sorry about that."

She placed a hand on his cheek. "No Lee, don't be sorry, I too have been wondering this for some time now, thank you for helping me clarify my feelings." She gave him a warm smile. "Maybe when we're older, and a bit more mature we can sort this out, how does that sound?"

He gave her a sympathetic smile, "That sounds wonderful." He looked up to find no glimmering stars out, but thick gray clouds covering them. "Looks like it's going to rain, better hang on." He tightened his grip on her legs and hopped onto the nearest tree and darted out of the woods; exiting from them, then jumping from roof to roof until he reached her place. He knocked on the door with his foot and Hatsuharu answered it in seconds. He let them in and it started to douse the village with heavy rain drops. He set her down in her bed, taking off her sandals for her and covering her body with the comforter before kissing her forehead.

She grabbed his hand, "Wait, Lee, if you go out there, you'll get sick, stay here tonight."

He blinked a few times in shock before answering, "If you insist, I'll sleep on the couch."

She didn't let go of his hand, "Lee, we used to sleep in the same bed when we were kids, what's the difference now?" she gave him a warm, puppy-dog smile. Lee felt guilty when she gave him that smile.

"Fine, as you wish." He crawled into bed with her, taking off his leg warmers/weights and sandals before getting under the comforter. "You cold?"

She nodded, "Yah, my feet are freezing."

"Let me see if I can't do anything about that." They snuggled, Asuka slept on Lee's arm; their legs intertwined and he was holding her close, making sure never to let her go.

Usually Hatsuharu slept with her when it rained like this, but he let his jealousy slide for his companion, and slept on the couch for the night.

ooOoO0OoOoo

It was dark, cold, with strangely thick eerie air that struck a chill down her spine. "Hello?" she called out, "Anybody here?" she looked around, but couldn't even see her hand right in front of her face. "Hatsuharu?! Lee, Naruto, Kiba?! Any of you here?" she kept frantically looking around for her dear friends, with no sign of them, she sat down and held her knees to her chest. "Am I alone?" she sighed. She cradled herself, rocking back and forth, taking deep breaths to calm down. She heard mumbling in the distance, "Hello?! Anybody there?!" the room seemed to light up a bit, able to at least see a few feet ahead of herself.

"I'm here, Asuka." A tall, lanky boy with white hair that covered his whole face except his mouth, skin nearly white as fresh snow, voice raspy and hard to understand.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, "W-who are you?"

The boy got down on his knees, sitting beside her and putting an arm around her waist, holding her close. He smelled horrible, worse than month old milk and rotten eggs mixed together. The hair in front of his face moved to the side, revealing a face with patches of skin missing, showing veins and muscle throughout his face. The white in his eyes were replaced with charcoal black, and the irises were orange. "You're loving brother, dear sister, YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!" he bit and tore at her face, muzzling her screams for help.

Within seconds, she was close to death, the skin on her face nearly completely gone, her so called "brother" stood over her near lifeless body. "Why… are you doing this to me… brother?"

He curdled a laugh, "Don't worry sis, this will all be over soon." He raised a kunai, aiming for her heart. "DIE!"

She shot up out of her bed, her face sweating and near hyperventilating. She held her chest, it still hurt. Lee shot up too, looking horrified.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She took a deep breath before lying back down. "I just had a nightmare." Her eyes were wide with shock, adrenaline pumped through her veins as she tried to calm down by gripping onto the sheets.

Lee scooted closer to her, setting her upper body to lay her head in his lap. "Tell me about." he brushed the hair away from her face and got a tissue and then wiped the sweat from her face.

"It was horrible, I was alone in this dark room for what seemed like ages, with no one around me. Then this man, claimed to be my brother, but he looked like… a dead person, but alive. He ate my face and I was nearly dead, he was about to deliver the final blow, then I woke up." She looked into Lee's eyes, he was listening. "What do you think?"

He smiled, trying to brighten the mood, "Glad that didn't actually happen."

She awkwardly giggled, looking away "Yah…"

"Hey," he stroked her collar bone, "don't worry, it was only a dream, that probably wont ever happen, and if it does, I'll be there for you." he held her hand, they intertwined fingers and laughed together.

"Your right, I'm still tired." She got out of his lap and lay back onto her pillow.

"Me too, I was trying to wake you up when you were breathing really hard." He lay down next to her, getting back into their snuggling position.

"You were?"

"Yah, if I hadn't of moved out of the way in time, I think you would have broken my nose."

She lightly punched his chest, he chuckled before settling down. "Whatever Lee." She kissed his chest, snuggling closer to him as he kissed the crown of her head and rested his chin on top of her head.

Alright, you know what to do. Review, tell me what you think please and thank you.

This might get on your nerves… but I was planning on Asuka and Lee to have their first kiss here, but then I though "Nah, I'll wait till later."… don't kill me.

Reminder: if this story get's a total of 15 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day.

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 11 *Unexpected Invitations*