Separate, Yet Together

"Oh crap!" Pakkun darted his eyes around the room. The stalker was there and he has no clue how to tell where he was.

"Pakkun! Run!" Riku screamed. Her hands began to glow and wind gathered in her room. Pakkun wondered what she was doing. Her eyes were focused as she held her hands out in front of her. She was using her wind to feel out where this person was. She could feel him still standing close to the broken window shattered on the floor.

"Wait! You can't..."

"Go get Lee! He's not too far off!"

"I can't!"

"GO!" Pakkun didn't want to go, but he knew there was no way he would be able to stop this stalker. So he quickly jumped out the broken side of the house. Riku's mind was racing as she felt this person begin to walk against her wind and closer to her. She felt sleepiness beginning to wash over her. Great. What do I do? I can't pass out now.

"Riku! What's going on?" Niwa's voice and thundering feet came running up the stairs and down the hall. The door flung opened revealing Niwa and Daichi.

"No! Ge…" Before Riku could warn them, the stalker has raced over to them and knocked them out. Riku knew she had to do something and was going to try and attack the attacker, but she wasn't able to as she felt a strong hand grabbed her by the throat. Her body was slammed against the wall hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs. She grabbed the person's hand and tried to pry it off her.

"You've been a bad little girl! How dare you kiss him?!" The voice hissed. Her vision began to blur and her hands dropped down to her sides. She knew if she blacked out now it was over. She had no clue what this person was planning to do to her, but she knew it wouldn't be good.

The light around her was going dim then all of a sudden she felt her body dropping to the ground and air refilling her lungs. She came back to her senses just enough to see Lee kneeling in front of her. He was turn a bit to the side, but she could still see the hate in his eyes as he stared off somewhere. Riku's eyes drifted to where he was looking. There was a huge hole in her other wall now and the wall across the hall was damaged as well.

She watched as Lee brought up his arms in front of him. It as to block an attack, but Lee's head when flying back as blood flew from his bottom lip. Riku watched as Lee quickly recovered from the hit and grabbed this stalker's arm, she assumed, and flung him towards the broken window. The stalker's body hit the ground and slid to a stop. Lee leaped up and brought his fist down, but only hid the floor. He lifted up and looked around. "Show yourself, you coward! Stop attacking Riku and face me like a real man!"

"L-Lee," Riku gasped. "He's g-gone."

"How do you…" Lee started to asked, but stop when she brought her hand away from her red neck and flashed her glowing palm. He looked at her eyes and she nodded, signaling him it had to do with her kekkei genkai. He stood up and walked over to her as Niwa and Daichi were waking up. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Riku said. She reached up and touched his face, just to the side of his lips. "You're hurt."

"It is alright. Just a bust lip," Lee said as he placed his hand over her's and gave a light squeeze.

"Whoa…What happened?" Daichi asked as he looked around with confusion in his eyes.

"The stalker attacked," Lee said as he helped Riku stand up.

"Uh huh," Daichi said as he eyed Lee still holding on to Riku. A few minutes later Kakashi arrived with Pakkun. Kakashi sighed as he looked at the mess before him.

"I should have guessed this would have happened and taken measures to keep you safe," Kakashi said. "I'm sorry, Riku."

"It's not your fault, Kakashi. No one could have predicted what this person was or is gonna do," Riku replied. "This hasn't happened before."

"True. Was there something you two did that might have ticked this person off?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh…um…," Riku mumbled as she began to figure with her shirt tale as she blushed. Lee scratched the back of his head and looked sheepish. Pakkun had a couple sweat drops appear on his head and he kinda looked off to the side.

"What?" Kakashi asked. "Did something happen?"

"Um…that is…," Lee stuttered.

"Oh boy," Daichi smacked himself then gave his cousin an all knowing smirk. He shook his head and chuckled. "Riku, Riku. I should have know from the look on your face when you came home."

"What?" Niwa asked as Daichi walked over to Lee and Riku. He put his arms around their shoulders.

"Dad, Kakashi, we have love birds!" Daichi laughed.

"W-What?!" Niwa stuttered. Lee froze. Niwa pointed a blaming finger at Lee. "Y-You mean…Y-You two are…"

"Oh…well…that is…" Lee shuttered under Niwa's infuriated glare.

"What's going on?" Kakashi asked Pakkun.

"This coming from a man who reads the kinda novels you do," Pakkun sighed.

"You don't mean that they…" Kakashi blushed lightly.

"Don't be a pervert!" Pakkun yelled.

"Calm down, everyone!" Riku suddenly said. She was still blushing. "We just kissed! That's all! Just kissed! Ok?!"

"Uh huh," Kakashi said as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the room. "Well, we can't leave Riku unprotected now."

"But how are we suppose to protect her when we can't see this person?" Daichi asked.

"Neji and Hinata can see this person's chakra with their byakugan. I'll have Tsunade assign them to guard Riku until this problem is solved," Kakashi replied.

"I will be staying too," Lee said.

"Oh no you won't!" Niwa practically stomped his foot like a child. "There's no way you are…she's not going to…I mean…"

"Dad, chill! It's not like Lee and Riku are having sex," Daichi said very bluntly, causing everyone, but himself, to blush beat red.

"O-O-Ok. I'm gonna go get Neji now. Pakkun, say here," Kakashi said as he turned to the broke wall to leave.

"Bring Hinata! I don't want a bunch of boys guarding my little girl!" Niwa ordered. Kakashi just nodded and left.

"I can't handle this anymore," Riku said before passing out on them.

"Riku," Lee caught her.

"Hey!" Niwa protested and took her from Lee.

"I do not mean any harm," Lee replied a bit hurt as Niwa carried Riku out of the room.

"Don't worry about it, Lee," Daichi said as he placed a friendly hand on the ninja's shoulder. "A lot of dads are like that with their little girls."

"But Riku is not his daughter," Lee replied.

"True. But he views her that way since she has grown up here," Daichi explain. "And even thought Riku still calls him 'Uncle', she also views him as a dad. I guess everyone needs a father to look up to at some points in their lives."

"Yes. That is true," Lee nodded, thinking of his relationship with Guy.

"Just give dad sometime. He's always been a bit over protective of Riku. I guess we all have. Having you in her life…in a romantic way…It's going to be quite a change for us all," Daichi said honestly.

"Do not worry, Daichi! I will never push my relationship with Riku! I respect her! And I…"

"Love her?"

"Oh…um…well," Lee blushed again and looked away. "I do think it is still a bit early to say that…I mean I do care very much for her…It is just that…"

"I know. You don't wanna rush things," Lee nodded. "That's a good thing. Too many rush this kind of relationship. They're always in such a hurry. In a hurry to do what? I don't have a clue. I guess people are just afraid they'll end up alone and would rather assume they are in love with a person than actually wait and see if the person they are with at the time is really the right one."

"Hn…Well said, Daichi," Lee smiled. Daichi smiled back at him. "So, what shall we do with the broke window?"

"We have some boards outside. We can place them over the hole for now," Daichi said as he headed towards the door with Lee following. "We'll call in a repairman tomorrow."

…..

Riku stared up at the ceiling. The thoughts of the day wouldn't leave her head. When she woke up earlier she found that Neji and Hinata were now at the house, Lee and Daichi has temporally patched up the hole in her room and Niwa was busy laying out the house rules for the three new teens that were spending the night, even though the rules were mostly directed at Lee.

She sat up in bed and looked at Hinata. The girls and Pakkun were in the guest bedroom, sharing the large bed, as the boys were in Daichi's room. Niwa suggested for Hinata to always be there and tried to pass it off as wanting someone in the room with her at night and to follow her into places boys shouldn't to make sure she was always save, but they all knew that he just didn't want Lee to be spending anymore nights in Riku's room now that they were a couple. Even though it made sense to all of them. It was the right and proper thing to do.

Riku sighed and crawled out of bed. She couldn't sleep. She made her way down to the kitchen and began to look through the snacks they had. She smiled when she came across some chocolate chips cookies her uncle made that day. As she was pouring her a glass of milk she heard someone coming towards the kitchen. "Relax, Riku. It's just me."

"Neji," Riku relaxed. "What are you doing up?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Neji replied.

"I couldn't sleep," Riku replied as she grabbed another glass and poured Neji some milk. She sat their milk on the table then grabbed the cookies. Neji nodded a thanks to her and bit into a cookie. "It was one crazy night."

"Indeed," Neji said then the two went quiet. As they sat there Riku's eyes wondered up to the boy sitting across from her. She sometimes found it so hard to believe that he once didn't like Lee and thought he was a failure. She never would have guessed it seeing how close they are and how well they work as a team.

"Neji…"

"Hey! Where's my cookies and milk?" Lee asked in a bit of a protest. He had his hands on his hips but was smiling. Riku just blinked in slight confusion as Neji stood up.

"Don't take too long," Neji said as he grabbed his milk, another cookie and started to leave the room. In the process of leaving, Neji glanced back at Riku with a smile and a wink. She finally understood. Neji must have heard her leave her room and woke Lee up, telling Lee to give him a few minute before coming downstairs, obviously to make sure her uncle didn't hear her get up and come down to check on her.

Riku smiled and mouthed a silent thanks to Neji before he disappeared from sight. Riku turned her attention back to Lee. He had grabbed a glass of his own and was downing the milk already. She grabbed a cookie and took a bite of it. "Are you alright with this? The sleeping arrangement, I mean. With Neji…"

"Of course. Neji knows how I feel. And I trust both you and Neji whole heartedly," Lee nodded with a bright smile. Riku nodded and went to take a bite of her cookie. As she did Lee stepped forward. Tilting her chin up, he leaned in and took a bite of her cookie, brushing his lips against hers in the process. She was surprised at this move, so much so that she wasn't even aware that she had chewed up her bite of cookie and swallowed it. "You do not have to be brave around me. I know you were scared tonight."

Riku's pinned up emotions came pouring out as she put her arms around his neck and stood up. Lee wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close as her body trembled against his. He soothingly rubbed her back as she cried. "L-Lee…"

"I know. It is alright now. I am here now and nothing will happen to you. I promise."