Because of You
Disclaimer – Don't own it, don't own it, don't own it, don't own it
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The sun seeped through the windows and woke up the residents in Lee's house. Sakura was the first one to get up. "Ah, that was a really good night's rest." She murmured. She looked at the alarm clock that is next to the bed, it read 7:15 AM. Then she looked for Lee, but he wasn't anywhere in the house. "He's probably in the training grounds." She thought. Sakura went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, washed her face, and combed her hair. As soon as she got out, Neji and Tenten were just waking up. Soon, Naruto and Hinata woke up too. "Well well," Sakura told them, "the early bird gets the worm so I get to have the last ramen in the cabinet." "WHAT? There's only one cup of ramen left?" Naruto yelled in the top of his lungs. "Naruto, just calm down, I was just kidding. Look at all the instant ramen in the cabinet!" Sakura opened the cabinet to show a couple of other ramen scattered in it. Naruto sighed in relief, thankful that he doesn't have to go through a non-ramen breakfast.
After eating, Sakura told the rest of them to stay put so that she could find Lee. They all nodded in agreement. Naruto pouted when Sakura told him not to open the doors to strangers. "You're treating me like your own little kid!" he yelled. Sakura chuckled at the thought of Naruto being so loud and childish. Then she went out to the training grounds. Upon arriving there, she saw Lee punching at the frayed wooden stump. (A/N I forgot what they call it, so I'll just say it's a stump)Lee caught sight of Sakura from the corner of his eye. "You're up early," he replied. Sakura grinned, "I had a really good night's sleep and your bed is very comfortable." "What about the others?" he asked. "Oh, don't worry about them, they're doing fine." She assured. Then there was silence which was accompanied by Lee's rhythmic punches.
"Lee, remember our training?" Sakura reminded him. "Right, let me just finish up my training, get some rest and then we shall begin your training." Lee exclaimed. Sakura sat and waited on a bench, watching Lee throwing the remaining punches at the stump. He went to where Sakura was sitting and drank from his canteen. "Why do I feel so tense?" Sakura thought, "Lee's next to me and I just have this strange feeling in my stomach." She watched Lee as he closed his eyes and leaned back on the bench. "He looks cute when he's sleeping too." She shook the thought away, "No! I must focus on my training with Lee, then I tell him…" "Lee?" Sakura asked as she shook him awake gently. He woke up all of a sudden and grabbed her arm. "S- sorry Sakura, I'm always alert, even when I'm asleep." Sakura slipped her arm out of his grip and grabbed his hand, "C'mon Lee, we've got to get back to the others." Lee was blushing and Sakura could feel some warmth creeping in her face as well. Then they walked back to Lee's place still holding hands.
Lee knocked on the door, "Who is it?" a voice yelled from across the room. Sakura slapped her head with her hand and thought, "Damn it Naruto, you're not supposed to let strangers know you're around!" "Naruto, it's Lee." Naruto's muffled voice can be heard clearly from the other side of the door, "How am I supposed to know that it's you and not just any Lee imposter?" "Sakura is here too." Lee added. Naruto opened the door and was met with a fist to the head. "Owww, what was that for Sakura!" "Let's just say it's a punishment on the whole not opening doors to strangers thing." Sakura said angrily. Everyone else sweatdrops at the entire situation.
When Sakura and Lee walked in holding hands, everyone in the room was smiling because they were happy that a relationship may be unfolding in front of them. Lee cleared his throat, "Well, the sun is shining and the weather isn't that bad. So I would really like to thank you guys for coming over." Each couple left, but not after saying thanks to Lee, after all, he was the one who provided shelter for them. Sakura stayed of course, mostly because she has training but she also secretly wishes to spend some time alone with Lee.
Sakura and Lee started training immediately making sure to stay clear from the mud. Lee may be eager to train Sakura, but he is a very strict teacher. He had Sakura throw punches and kicks at a wooden stump and to ran laps until she got tired. After all the torture and the soreness that was beginning to creep around her body, she sat at the bench, satisfied by the rest and the cold water from her canteen which trickled down her throat. Lee sat next to her, watching her drink the cold canteen and splashing it onto her face. Lee blushed and gulped at the sight, when he just couldn't stand it anymore he just looked away. "Ready to resume training Sakura?" Lee asked. Sakura nodded and stood up as if she trains like this everyday. "Now let's do a little spar and see how much you know of your taijustu. But, there will be no use of genjustu or ninjustu." Lee said.
The sparring began with Sakura lunging at Lee with a punch she was sure would connect. He blocked it with his hand and attempted to twist her in the air. Sakura landed on the ground in all fours and attempted to trip Lee who easily avoided it. As she stood up she looked around for Lee, he had disappeared! "Behind you," a voice said. Sakura whirled around and was lucky enough to miss a punch to the nose. She took this opportunity to punch him in the stomach which she just narrowly missed. But at this moment she was falling into the mud, she desperately tried to twist her body so that she wouldn't fall on the mud face-first.
Sakura landed on the mud with her left side and parts of her back covered with it. Lee rushed to help her up so he offered her his hand. She took it and pulled him in. Lee was caught by surprise, but unfortunately he fell into it face-first. When Lee got up, Sakura laughed at his mud-soaked face while he wiped the mud from his eyes. "What did you do that for?" he said in-between spits of mud. "Oh, for no apparent reason," Sakura said innocently. They both got up and walked away from the mud and towards Lee's place.
While they were walking, Lee kept on trying to get rid of the mud from his face and vest. Sakura felt guilty since it was her fault that she put him in a situation so they, ironically, stopped under a cherry blossom tree. Sakura sighed and said, "Lee this is all my fault, here, let me help you wipe off the mud." She took out the napkin from her messenger bag and wiped away the mud from his eyes and his mouth. His eyes were closed and Sakura's stomach was doing a flip-flop. "This is it, I- I'm going to finish what we didn't get to finish at Ichiraku." She thought. She stood on her toes and brushed her lips on his. Lee's eyes snapped open in shock, but he recovered and kissed her back. They parted and looked at each other in the eyes, then kissed again. The next kiss was more passionate; Sakura put her hand behind Lee's head and pushed it closer for a deeper kiss. He gladly obliged and ran his hands through her hair, it felt so soft and silky. They parted, gasping for air then continued their walk to Lee's house, holding hands and with their bodies close together.
Once they reached his house, both of them got into the shower and washed the mud off of each other's body, kissing as they did so. Then they got out of the shower and Lee dried off Sakura then himself. He gave her some clothes and some for himself and both of them lay in his bed kissing furiously. Then Lee asked, "Sakura, why me?" Sakura looked deep into his eyes and smiled, "You were person who always cared for me and always appeared when I was in need for a friend. And you have a sweet and charming personality because you never force me to—" Sakura's words were cut short by Lee's kiss. Lee's breath softly caressed her cheek as he said, "I love you Sakura, I don't know what I could without you around. Really." Both of them smiled at each other and kissed one last time before drifting off to sleep. Today was the greatest day of their life.
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Final chapter to the story, I hope all of you LeexSaku fans enjoyed it. This is probably the best story I've ever made so I thank you for your support and reviews. If you really enjoyed this story and wish for another chapter as an epilogue to this one, then please PM me by Sunday, August 18, 2006. I will check how many people voted for it and if it's over 10 votes then I will write an epilogue and post it in the story as the final chapter. Until then, please review for the story! Thanks!