Nothing Is Easy In Konohagakure

It hadn't taken long to find Sasuke, especially with Hinata's Byakugan. As soon as they found Sasuke training—kicking a tree, much like Lee did—Hinata left Naruto to his own devices to talk to Sasuke. The two ex-teammates did have a lot to work out, and, besides, if it was something that she could know, Naruto would tell her.

Naruto stood across from Sasuke, who was simply staring at him, as if seeing through him. "Uzumaki," he greeted informally, having froze mid-training. He knew something was up.

"Cut the crap, Sasuke," Naruto muttered, a glare present on his face.

"I thought we worked out everything when I came back," Sasuke explained. Their version of 'working things out' had been fighting.

"I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk," Naruto growled.

"Your fists are clenched. The day you can talk to me without fighting is the day that Sakura goes out with Lee," Sasuke muttered, turning back to the tree. He'd have to pretend to be uninterested.

"You never gave me the real reason why you left," Naruto accused.

"I got power, didn't I?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"No, you didn't. After Orochimaru died... You lost all of it," Naruto mumbled. "You nearly had some of your life-long comrades killed, and you return with nothing, as if that's all their lives meant."

"That's all any ninja's life means. Maybe not to themselves, or to their loved ones, but really, all a ninja really is is a tool—a weapon used to carry out missions, even if it means their life, just to gain money."

"That's not true. Everybody's life has a value."

"After all these years, you are still naive," Sasuke said, shaking his head gently, chuckling to himself. That comment had most certainly made Naruto angrier.

"What's even more worthless is a ninja who thinks his life is worth nothing," Naruto muttered. He turned around and left a stunned Sasuke behind.

'He didn't fight me...?' Sasuke asked himself in disbelief. Naruto was incapable of just talking. His anger, his emotions ruled him. Why had he suddenly become such a calm—well, maybe calm wasn't the word—person?

'Ch, Hinata really has done a number on him...'

----

"I see..." Hinata said from the seat beside Naruto. Their talk hadn't been too successful, in Hinata's opinion. But Naruto was happy because he did it, and Hinata was happy that Naruto was happy. That's all that mattered. After a moment of silence, Hinata turned to Naruto, a strange look on her face—one which Naruto couldn't quite place. It looked... almost devious, if that was possible.

"So, you didn't fight?" Hinata asked for clarification. Naruto nodded and grunted in the affirmative. "Well, then that means today is the today that Sakura-chan goes on a date with Lee!"

Naruto's unbelieving face slowly spread into a smirk, then a smile. Hinata always knew how to cheer him up, definitely. Besides, Sakura had remained lonely for too long.

----

"Eh?" She asked, drawing the simple one-syllable word out. "No way!" Sakura exclaimed, waving her hands back and forth frantically.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan! I'll pay for it!" Naruto exclaimed pleadingly.

"Jeez, what brought this on?" she asked grumpily. Hinata made the connection between her tone and that of Shikamaru—she almost expected her to say 'how troublesome'.

"Well, I was talking to Sasuke..."

"Sasuke?" Sakura repeated softly.

Naruto didn't catch the sadness in her voice. "Yeah! And he said that the day I talked to him without fighting him would be the day that you and Lee go out, and so... And so it didn't sound like a bad idea, see. I mean, you've been all alone, and Hinata-chan and I are spending more time together, and Shino and Kiba are starting to run off more and more..." Naruto's entire conversation sounded like a run-on sentence.

"Fine," Sakura said, stopping him from continuing on with his sentences. "You're getting on my nerves. Besides, it's time I give him a chance," she muttered aloud. "I'll pay for it myself," she muttered gruffly as she walked by Naruto.

Naruto smirked at Hinata, a sort of 'We got 'er' type of look. In the middle of the grin, however, he froze. He then turned back to Hinata, an even more devious look on his face. "We should probably make sure she's doing it, and that they get along well, ne?"

Hinata, if she had been in her right state of mind, would have protested. But, currently, she was too happy about their 'victory' to do anything except nod and say, "Hai!"

----

Naruto was somewhat surprised Sakura actually asked Lee out without any sort of provocation. Naruto, however, knew that Sakura knew that he was watching her—the way her eyes flicked back at Hinata and himself was proof of this. The first time she had even glared at them, annoyed they were following her.

'What made me want to do this, anyways?' Sakura asked herself as she and Lee walked to the restaurant Lee had decided to go to. 'I mean, it's not like I had to do this or anything. I don't even really like Lee. I just... Well, I feel kind of like I'm being left behind, somehow...'

Lee came to an abrupt stop, after having talked nonstop for the past few minutes about Sakura, his training, Gai, Sakura again, Neji, his rivalry with Neji, Sakura, and then a brief mention of Tenten.

Sakura twitched at the sight of the restaurant. Of course—it's name was Ka-ka-ka Curry! And, somehow, it fit Lee all too well.

"Shall we?" Lee smiled softly, offering her his arm. Sakura nearly froze at the sight of his smile—she had never seen his smile not be a full out, ear-to-ear grin. 'Is he really happy, or is he faking it when he does the huge smiles...?'

"Uh-huh," she nodded numbly. She could hardly believe it herself—maybe it was from shock—but she felt her knees go weak after he had... coolly offered her his arm.

As they were walking inside, Lee tripped over the step inside. Sakura laughed a little—Lee was still Lee, after all. "Ahh, it must be Lee-san!" she heard a deep, booming male voice call from inside. "How's our best..." the man froze, staring at Sakura.

"Ahh! We're entertaining a lady friend of our Lee-san!" she heard a waitress say. Sakura blushed lightly, and the man from before laughed.

"Ha-ha, it seems so! Finally!" he exclaimed, and motioned Lee towards a booth. "Hear, best seats in the house!"

"Arigatou!' Lee proclaimed loudly, his grip on Sakura's arm becoming tighter. "Oh, ah, this is Sakura Haruno-san," he introduced. "And this is Jiro-san and his wife, Kameko-san."

Sakura waved lightly at the pair while they belted out greetings. She glanced around quickly, and noted that most of the people sitting there were people eating alone, aside from the father and son who were sitting across from each other.

"My, I've seen him come in here with his teacher countless times, his other teammates a few times, but this is the first time he's brought a date," Kameko said, an odd look on her face as she gave Lee a small wink.

'Heh, just like Lee. He makes friends with all the shop owners of the shops he's a regular at, neh? This must be his favorite place...'

Lee slid into a seat in the booth and Sakura slid into the one across from him. Lee turned and called out, "Two regulars please!"

The owner nodded and his wife rushed off into the back room to make the food. "Regulars?" Sakura asked, slightly confused.

"Super-spicy curry," Lee explained with a smile. Sakura was somewhat surprised—she didn't mind spicy food, but she didn't particularly like it, either. Oh, well—she had the ability to eat it, and Lee was paying. But maybe next time she'd forewarn him not to get anything 'super spicy'.

They chatted for a few minutes about their friends and teammates. Lee asked about the status of Hinata and Naruto's relationship, and Sakura explained their position. Lee simply nodded as he listened, and Sakura was kind of happy he was a good listener. The only person she could really speak to was Hinata, and Hinata sometimes didn't understand everything she talked about. For instance, Sakura was sure that Hinata never felt anger that didn't involve Naruto in some shape or form.

"Here's your curry," Kameko said with a quick wink in Lee's direction—a wink so quick that Sakura herself almost didn't catch it. Lee however, ruined this by flashing her a toothy smile and a big thumbs-up.

Lee quickly grabbed his spoon and began eating away at the curry quickly. "Wait, wait!" Sakura commanded gently. Lee paused as soon as he heard the first wait, the spoon halfway up to his mouth. "Why are you eating so quickly?"

Lee blushed and set his spoon down. "Gomen... I, ah, usually eat here in the middle of training... I eat quickly and then rush back to work off the calories and then some..." Lee explained, a light blush adorning his face.

Sakura smiled and shook her head, dismissing his apology. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Lee-kun. Just don't eat so quickly, neh? It's bad for you," she commented before picking up her own spoon , lifting a bite of curry and rice, and bringing it to her mouth.

Whoa. When they said 'super spicy', they didn't mean spicy. They didn't mean hot. They didn't even mean super spicy—they meant hot like a volcano spicy. Sakura quickly swallowed the bite and gulped down half the glass of water, a stunned Lee watching.

"Is it too hot, Sakura-san?" he asked. She could tell he was kind of sad that she didn't like it.

"Well... I like a little spice, but I don't have the capacity for this..." she motioned to the curry as she said the last word, and Lee looked down in shame.

"Gomen, Sakura-san," he muttered.

"Ah... it's okay, Lee!" she said, waving her hands back and forth.

Suddenly, as if springing from the pits of depression, Lee jumped up and exclaimed, "I know! I'll eat that plate, too, and order you a less spicy one!" He reached for her plate and simultaneously raised his hand. "Ahh, Kameko-san!" he called.

She took the order of the mild curry with a quick nod and a small chuckle, before rushing off to get the order. Lee sat there, staring at Sakura and apologizing over and over, not touching the curry.

"Is something wrong with the curry?" Sakura asked, interrupting his string of apologies with her observation.

"Ah, iie, nothing's wrong. I just don't want to eat while you're waiting for your food."

"It'll get cold."

"I'm fine with cold."

Sakura knew that Lee was polite, possibly even overly polite, but she never knew that his politeness was coming straight from genuine kindness and concern for others. She was touched that he would think about her, even with two plates of his favorite food growing cold in front of him.

'Sasuke... Iie, no other guy... would be this nice to me,' she thought to herself, smiling inwardly at Lee's kindness at his own expense.

The mild curry soon arrived, as Kameko really did put a rush on getting food for her favorite customers, and Lee and Sakura began eating and chatting. Lee, even with Sakura's warnings, finished both plates of curry just as Sakura was finishing her first.

They continued talking, even after they finished eating and Kameko accepted the money from Lee. Sakura had offered to pay her half, included the plate of curry that she couldn't eat, but Lee adamantly refused to let her even pay the tip. Lee paid it in full, and even gave Kameko a ten-dollar tip—a tip that was grossly overpaid.

"Hey, Lee, what do you spend your money from missions on?" Lee's missions lately had all been B- or A-rank, and he had completed nearly all of them correctly. And you got paid a lot for one of those missions—and if they were only one day missions, then you were really raking in money. Most ninja got more money than they could really spend in the time they were home.

"Food. Basic bills. Necessities," Lee said with a shrug. It was true—Lee never spent it on anything he didn't deem unnecessary. In fact, he probably had a lot of money in his bank account, of which wouldn't be paid. "But, you do the same thing," he pointed out with a small smirk.

"Huh?"

"You spend most of your time at the hospital, helping people. They pay medic-nin a lot, ne, Sakura-san?" Lee's question had been more of a statement.

"Yeah, but I'm not risking my life for money that I'm not spending..." she mused aloud. "It's mainly the helping people that makes me spend a lot of time there."

"Sorry to disturb you and your date," here Jiro added a husky wink, "But we have to close the shop," he pointed to the clock, which read, unbelievingly, nearly 10:00. It had been about 7:30 when they came into the store, and they had finished eating by 8:45 (taking in account the time it took to make both sets of curry).

"Ah, it's already this late! I must escort you home!"

"I live in my own apartment with Hinata," she explained, just to assure him that angry parents wouldn't be yelling at him—not that, if she had been living with her parents, the curfew would be as low as ten o'clock. It had been midnight when she had lived with them before, and even then, they didn't enforce it.

"I... I wasn't suggesting that at all!" Lee exclaimed nervously, beet red, waving his hands back and forth. He did not want to mistaken for a pervert, of all things!

"Lee-kun, you're silly," she chuckled. "I meant you don't have to worry about my parents yelling at you."

"Oh. I see. Well, then let's go," he said, a lighter blush adorning his face.

'Huh... I actually fell for him...' she thought to herself. As they stood, and walked beside each other, their butts sweating from the leather of the booths, Sakura wrapped her hand around Lee's much larger one and leaned against him.

Lee smiled brightly and felt his heart pounding loudly, as if wanting escape from his chest. He gave her hand a soft squeeze as they walked out of the door, Lee just barely remembering to hold the door open for them. They exchanged farewells to Kameko and Jiro halfheartedly, not paying much attention to the older couple.

Meanwhile, outside, nearly the back of the restaurant, Hinata and Naruto jumped for joy as they watched the newly-formed couple walking out of the restaurant, hand-in-hand.