A/N: Ahh, sorry for the late update. Had a bad chest infection and couldn't breathe. But I'm sort of well again and my brain is functioning enough to write. Also, apologies on Kari's slight Sue-ishness. There is a reason for that which will be explained later on and it is actually crucial to the plot. But don't worry! Honeymoon period will soon be over ;)

Thanks again for the reviews, especially to those constant reviewers. Much love to you.

Disclaimer: If Naruto was mine, I doubt I'd share him with the world. Thank Masashi-sama for his kindness!

Catching attention

Somehow, no matter where he went, heads turned and girls' hearts swooned.

He got attention without even trying.

"HEY!" Kari screeched at the top of her lungs. All eyes of the crowd in front of them turned on her, including the bewildered team mates beside her. "You leave her the hell alone you baka!"

With her keen eyes, Kari had managed to see the little scuffle between TenTen and an unknown guy. From his energy signature Kari could tell he was a young adult male who was either chunin or jonin. Beside him was another guy with a similar chakra signature. Both were in a transformation jutsu looking like fourteen year old genin. They were being complete assholes, when TenTen had politely asked for the two disguised guys to let herself and the rest of the crowd of genin there pass through the door marked "301" the guy had harshly turned and punched her in the face.

"Delicate little girls don't belong here" the guy snorted, his eyes turning on the fuming blonde kunoichi. Kari growled under her breath, everyone always assumed she was fragile because she was small and slight. It got on her nerves to no end.

"We're just thinning the crowd. You won't pass anyway, so go home and play with your dolls" the other guy said to TenTen. Kari started stomping towards them, her tail bristling in anger under Kiba's jacket. Her team mates followed with a lot less rage, until the four of them (and Kita) were standing in front of the two guys.

"Real nice speech, now both of you step aside and let me through. And while you're at it, reverse the genjutsu. We can see through your illusion anyway, we're going to the third floor" Sasuke said confidently. Kari blinked. They were on the third floor weren't they? They needed to go to room 301 which was the room the two idiots were blocking. She looked round at TenTen who Lee was pretending to help (come on, they're way stronger than that! They must be disguising their strength like they were discussing yesterday).

"Well, well."

"You noticed the genjutsu huh?"

Sasuke turned to Sakura. Kari's heart thudded thinking he was finally about to declare his love for his pink-haired team-mate. They'll get married and have babies! Lots of pink haired Sasuke look-alike babies!

"Go ahead Sakura, I'm sure you saw it before anyone else did" Sasuke said. Kari's shoulders slumped, her wild daydream destroyed. But he was beingnice to her! It was the first sign of affection from Sasuke towards Sakura!

"Huh?"

Oh Sakura… you just had to ruin it didn't you…

"You have the best eyes on this squad and you have the best analytical skills. You must have seen it from a mile away" Sasuke said. Kari's hands automatically clasped together as her eyes shone. He complimented her! He even said she was better than he was at something! Kari struggled to hold in a squeal and fought back the urge to hug them both. That's so— HEY! She has the best eyes! She saw TenTen get hit from the other end of the corridor when there was a huge crowd of people in the way. Oh well, at least Shino and all of team Gai admitted she had unnaturally amazing eyesight. Taking a deep breath she smiled to herself. It was the first compliment Shino ever gave while on Team eight apparently. That was worth so much more than a mere compliment from Sasuke. Plus Shino said he'd give her a pair of his Ozzy Osborne style sunglasses today! She had flipped, ran and dodges away from his bugs for an entire hour yesterday and had impressed the bug user, so he had promised her a reward.

"I must have?" Sakura asked struck-dumb she was being complimented by Sasuke, her cheeks flushed a bright red. Kari grabbed hold of Naruto in a chokingly tight hug as she denied her urges to let out a loud high-pitched squeal. Kita lay on her head, away from her mothers crushing embrace. "Well sure of course I spotted it right away! This is only the second floor" Sakura said. Kari inwardly sighed at her own stupidity. Well, it's not like she attended the academy, so she couldn't be expected to know. Plus, Neji had explained her weakness was Genjutsu. Her taijutsu was higher than average, but she hadn't learnt any ninjutsu as of yet. She made a mental note to ask (or beg on her knees if she had to) Kakashi to teach some to her.

"Err… Right!" Naruto cried. Kari smiled as she continued hugging him. There's nothing like knowing Naruto is more of an idiot than she is to make herself feel better when she has a 'blonde moment' (she doesn't have them that often surprisingly, even if she is blonde herself). The sign changed back to '201' in a swirl of energy. Watching it made Kari feel a little queasy. Nope, she was definitely not a genjutsu person.

"Well aren't we the smart ones" one of the cocky guys mocked "You saw through an illusion, big deal. Now let's see you deal with this!" he cried, swinging a kick at Sasuke. Kari was about to explode at him, already annoyed by his arrogance, Sasuke went to kick him too, but all of them were stopped by Lee, who appeared in the middle catching the kicks. He pushed them away from each other in time to catch Kari as she jumped on him, joyfully shrieking "Lee-kuuuuuun!!" at the top of her lungs. Kita had jumped onto Naruto's head, sensing it before her Okaa-san moved.

"Kari-hime!" Lee cried in delight, spinning her round in a circle before stopping to squeeze her in a typical Lee-hug.

"Hey what happened to the plan? I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and don't let anyone see our skill level" Neji said, arms folded, scowl in place. Neji didn't like it when plans went wrong. He liked to be organised and in control of the situation.

"I know, but..." Lee said sadly, letting go of Kari to look guiltily at Neji.

"Never mind, it's over, forget it" TenTen sighed, trying to keep the peace. Kari appeared in front of her.

"That guy didn't actually hurt you when he hit you, did he? If he did I'm so gonna rip out insides and make him eat them with a spoon!" Kari said viciously. TenTen nodded, pleased Kari was taking after her with violent insults. Neji shook his head murmuring about how they weren't being at all lady-like. While TenTen was reassuring Kari the guy was a weakling and couldn't hurt her if he tried, Lee skipped over to Sakura. Kari noticed and stiffened, the colour draining out her face. He wouldn't dare… even Lee isn't that stupid…

"My name is Rock Lee; you are Sakura-chan right?" Sakura looked Lee up and down cautiously before nodding, completely missing Kari's wild gestures and over exaggerated miming of the word 'NO!'. Kari's heart was pounding at high speed as she panicked. Surely Lee was just introducing himself, surely he would know not to—

"Please be my girlfriend, I vow to protect you with my life!" Lee cried, striking his nice-guy pose; wink, thumb up, teeth sparkling. Sakura's face went blue. Kari started cackling uncontrollably, while TenTen slammed her palm to her forehead. Neji looked away, pretending he didn't know any of these stupid people.

"Definitely..." Sakura said stiffly. TenTen's and Naruto's jaw dropped, Neji and Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Kari choked violently on her laugh.

"Not" Sakura finished over Kari's violent coughs and TenTen smacking the wolf-girl on the back loudly. Sasuke, sick of the noise the blonde kunoichi was making, went up to her and did what Kari called the 'humping manoeuvre' and knocked the choked breath out of her. Satisfied with her quieter coughing, Sasuke let go of her.

"Why?" Lee whined childishly. Kari loved it when Lee did that, he was so adorably immature.

"Because you're a weirdo" Sakura said. Kari started another fit of hysterical giggles after awing at 'poor Lee'. Sasuke gave her a glare that said quite clearly 'I'm not helping you if you choke again'.

"Hey you, what's your name?" Neji asked looking round at Sasuke.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's" Sasuke said coldly. TenTen giggled and Kari turned on Sasuke, hands on hips as she glared up at him.

"Don't you talk to him like that!" she scolded, poking Sasuke in the chest. The Uchiha ignored her, looking over the top of her head at Neji. Kari, infuriated at the difference in height, went and stood beside Neji (which was rather pointless as Neji was even taller).

"You're a rookie aren't you? How old are you anyway?" Neji demanded, sounding an awful lot like Sasuke with that demanding tone and slight arrogance to his voice.

"I'm not obliged to answer" Sasuke said simply, glaring at Neji.

"What's that?" Neji said coldly.

"Uchiha Sasuke, aged twelve, my team mate, in denial about his love for Sakura, has kissed another boy, likes to injure poor innocent little girls like me, is a complete and total—OW!" Kari put a hand on top of her head, where Sasuke had just hit her to shut her up. Neji and TenTen folded their arms unimpressed. Gai had boomed a speech about how Kari was as good as a member of their team, that they would all love each other as comrades, that they would protect her, that she was youthful and full of life and— Kari then started having a discussion with TenTen on whether spears (which TenTen had been teaching her to wield that day) were bendy (she had been thinking of them sticks used in the Olympic games back in her world) TenTen had explained how they usually weren't, as the handles were usually made from either wood or metal.

"Come on Kari" Sasuke said turning and starting to walk away. Kari stuck her tongue out at his back.

"Good luck guys, not like you'll need it but anyway" Kari said smiling. They were both taller than her; everyone seemed to be taller than her.

"You too, I miss your ears, you don't look the same" TenTen said, her eyes focusing on where Kari's ears would usually be. Neji placed a hand on her shoulder, his pale eyes locked in a glare with Sasuke's contrasting onyx ones. Smiling and tilting her head to the side, she flashed a peace sign before walking towards a grumpy, impatient looking Sasuke. On her way, she passed two depressed looking Shinobi, heads down, leaning on their left arms, their hands against the wall.

"A weirdo..." Lee said depressed.

"No one wants to know my name..." Naruto said sadly. Kita was sitting between them, looking from one to the other, trying to figure out what on earth was wrong with them.

"Lee-kun you're wonderful the way you are, you're the sweetest guy I've ever met and Naruto-kun I wanna know your name!" Kari cried in an attempt to cheer them up.

"KARI-HIME!" Lee cried throwing himself on the smaller girl. "I am undeserving of your kindness! What in the world did I do to achieve the friendship of an angel so pure and wonderful?!"

"…I love you too Lee-kun… But... can't... b-breathe…!" Lee immediately released her, spurting thousand of apologies. She reassured him, patting him on the head (if she enjoyed it so much, other people must like it too).

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke, Kari let's go!" Sakura cried, heading towards the other end of the corridor where the next set of steps would probably be. Kita wagged her tail by Sakura's side, a little yip of agreement coming from her.

"Come on guys!" Kari said, grabbing hold of one of each of their hands. "Join on an end Sakura!" Kari said grinning as Kita jumped on the blonde girl's head. Sakura of course, grabbed hold of Sasuke's other hand.

"All right don't pull!" Sasuke said annoyed, deciding not to bother trying to free his hands. Sakura would never let go (judging by the way she clung to him when she was asleep) and Kari, for someone with small hands, had an extremely strong grip (he should know, he has to struggle to get his half of the cover each night).

The train was broken when they reached the stairs. Kari had her arm linked with Naruto's, deciding that she didn't actually want to let him go. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, planning a full blown interrogation on who those shinobi were and how Kari knew them.

"Hey! You with the attitude! Hold on!"

The four of them span round (Kita falling off Kari's head and onto her shoulder) and looked up on the higher level where they had just walked down from.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, folding his arms and looking up at Lee.

"Don't be so rude to Lee-kun!" Kari hissed, giving Sasuke a glare. There seemed to be an awful lot of glares between those two, especially scolding ones.

"I want to fight. Right here and right now" Lee said, looking down at Sasuke.

"You wanna fight me here and now huh?" Sasuke said cockily.

"Dude. No wonder you knew straight away he was talking to you when he said 'the one with the attitude'" Kari said, earning herself a familiar glare from Sasuke. Honestly, it happened as often as Naruto smiling at her – it didn't stop…

"Hai!" Lee said jumping down off the balcony. What an entrance! Kari made another mental note to get Lee to teach her how to do that without hurting herself or anyone around her. "My name is Rock Lee; you said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give their own name first, right? Uchiha Sasuke!"

"So you know me" Sasuke said, leaning back onto one leg.

"I told him" Kari admitted. Lee had a habit for good hearing; you'd have to, to be on Neji's team. When Neji's annoyed or angry (or when he's embarrassed which is rare) he mumbles under his breath.

"I challenge you!" Lee cried dramatically. "Everyone is always talking about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see if it is true! I figure you will be a good test for me! As well as this, I noticed that you injured dear, sweet Kari-chan, I am afraid that is unacceptable!" Lee cried. Kari grinned; Sasuke gave her an irritated look. She replied by sticking her tongue out at him.

"And also..." Lee turned to face the other kunoichi of the group, red blush present on his cheeks. Kari stiffened again, oh dear god no. PLEASE do NOT use any of Gai's 'Techniques to winning a young lady's heart'. "Oh Sakura-chan! Ai shiteru! Kari-chan did not lie saying you were beautiful!" Lee cried, admitting his love for the girl he had just met. Sakura screamed in horror while Kari pulled out every excuse she could think of, mainly 'It was Sasuke! He told me to do it I swear!'

"AAAH! THOSE EYEBROWS CAN'T BE REAL! NO! Your hairstyle is horrible too and those eyebrows are so bushy! YOU'RE SUCH A WEIRDO!" Sakura shrieked at the top of her lungs.

"You are an angel sent from heaven" Lee said, unphased by her insults. He winked and a heart instantly appeared next to his face, He gently blew it in Sakura's direction.

Now Kari is as romantic as the next person. If a guy appeared on her doorstep, spurting romantic randomness with roses and an extra-large box filled to the brim with chocolate, she'd turn to complete goo. Well, the roses would die by the next day, but she'd have a great time eating chocolate until she was sick. But this was just plain creepy.

Sakura screamed like a banshee, dodging it violently causing it to stick to the pillar behind her with an odd squelch. Undeterred, Lee brought a new wave of sticky wink hearts charging towards Sakura. She managed to avoid them all, including the last one which she had to literally bend over backwards to avoid (and hit her head on the floor).

"HEY KEEP YOUR CREEPY LITTLE VALENTINES TO YOURSELF! I WAS DODGING FOR MY LIFE THERE!" Sakura shrieked, her face pale.

"You do not have to be so negative Sakura-chan..." Lee said sadly.

"You've heard of the Uchiha clan yet you're challenging me? You must be even more psycho than you look. If it's possible..." Sasuke looked Lee up and down, taking in the green spandex, the bowl hair cut, the elmo eyes and the bushy eyebrows. "You wanna know more about my clan? Then I'll teach you. The hard way."

"You're so in for it… GO LEE-KUN!" Kari cheered, pumping her fist in the air, narrowly missing Naruto's cheek.

"Bring it on" Lee said, sliding into his ready stance. Kari had to hold herself back from sliding into her own battle stance. She was so used to training with him it was almost like a reflex.

"HOLD IT! I get him first this weirdo's mine!" Naruto cried. Completely missing Kari's 'No, no, no!' gestures.

"Go for it" Sasuke said smirking.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

"NO!" Kari shouted. They all turned and stared at her. "Er… umm… I want to fight him?"

"You can go next Kari-chan! Besides, it'll take me what, two minutes to have this guy begging for mercy!" Naruto cried. Kari sighed sadly in defeat.

"Iie arigatou, right now the only one I want to fight is Uchiha" Lee said, eyes focused on the Uchiha.

"I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, SASUKE CAN'T COMPARE TO ME! DATTEBAYO!" Naruto hollered as he charged at Lee. Kari's eyes immediately brightened as her mind immediately knew what Lee would do next, being completely used to his fighting style. As Naruto went to punch the older boy in the face, Lee simply pushed his hand downwards, causing Naruto to almost head butt the floor. Spinning on his foot and regaining his balance, Naruto aimed a kick at him. He dodged sideways and with a sweeping kick sent Naruto into a wall and knocking him unconscious. Kari looked at the poor boy sympathetically; the wall's got to be even more painful than a large, thick, oak tree…

"Just accept it you have no chance against me your skills are inferior -OWW! Kari-hime!" Lee whined.

"We have an exam in ten minutes and you go and knock him out?! You're a bad Lee! Bad, bad, bad Lee-kun!" Kari cried, poking him in the side of the head, as Lee held the bump on the top of his head. He suddenly straightened, eyes glistening.

"You have become so strong Kari-hime! You are flourishing as a kunoichi and I can not even begin to explain my pride!" Lee cried, grasping her hands in both of his. Sasuke and Sakura just stared at them, having no clue what was going on.

"Ten minutes Lee! No time to hear your youthful speech about youthfulness!" Kari said through her gritted teeth and forced smile, her eyebrow twitching.

"Ah yes! You see Uchiha, out of the top leaf genin I am the best! Fight me and I will prove it to you!" Lee cried confidently. Kari gave him a tired look; Neji wouldn't be too pleased to hear about that now would he… Sasuke smirked.

"This'll be fun, lets do this" Sasuke said, readying himself. Kari's tail bristled as she narrowed her eyes at him. Payback is oh so sweet… Should she tell Lee about the burns and bruises and cuts too? Get Sasuke's butt super-kicked? Nah, Lee'd go off the rails and tell Neji, and Neji would blow a casket. Even a tired, pissy Kari wasn't that mean.

"There's no time Sasuke-kun! We've got to register by 3 o'clock, that's less than half an hour!" Sakura cried. Half an hour, wasn't it ten minutes? Kari glanced at the clock. Oh. Never mind.

"Relax this will all be over in five seconds" Sasuke said confidently.

"Whatever but don't complain to me all day when Lee-kun beats you into next week" Kari said happily. She looked over to Naruto and looked sadly at Kita "Kita-ko you are the only sane member of this team" Kari said rubbing her soft ears, poor Kita had been told not to speak. Who knows what reactions people might have?! Besides, it could be a good weapon. Without warning, Sasuke charged. He went to punch Lee, but Lee was too quick. Sakura gasped he had disappeared, but Kari's eyes were instantly locked on her green senpai, easily keeping up with his speed

"Konoha Senpuu!" Lee cried, using his infamous leaf hurricane technique (which was a high powered kick). Sasuke ducked then went to block Lee's oncoming punch, but was kicked in the face.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura cried, her hands clutched against her chest. Kari shook her head. A fight for Sakura's love. Had SHE been in that situation (which she had many times) she would have jumped up to avoid his kick and brought the fight into the air. She found it easy to manoeuvre in the air for some reason and where Lee's attacks were slightly slower without the support of land to apply extra force, Kari's movements were hardly hindered at all. She supposed it was to do with having those wings (which she desperately needed to practice with).

Sasuke got up off the floor. He didn't look that annoyed, which caught Kari's attention. He smirked and she sensed a quick build up of chakra around his eyes.

"I've been waiting to try this out" Sasuke said, adding drama to the moment with a pause. He lifted his head activating the Sharingan. Kari deflated as Sakura gasped and squealed. That's it? But she's seen the Sharingan loads of times, even it is beautiful to look at and gorgeously contrasting with the paleness of his face and darkness of his hair. Oh pretty eyes… Almost as pretty as Naruto's and Neji's eyes! Sasuke charged, Sharingan ablaze, certain he would be able to defeat Lee now. Pfft, foolish little boy… Noticing a spaced out Sakura, Kari gave her a quick nudge.

"Sa-ku-raaah you're going through the greatness of Sasuke-kun in your head again" Kari sung. She ignored her fellow kunoichi, causing Kari to pout and turn back to the fight. Sasuke got kicked in the chin which sent him flying backwards. Kari subconsciously rubbed her jaw knowing full well what Lee's hits felt like. Poor Sasuke…

"You see my technique is not ninjutsu or genjutsu..." Lee said, explaining why Sasuke couldn't see any tricks with his Sharingan. Sasuke couldn't find a solution to Lee's physical ability; it depended solely on the comparison between physical strength.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cried in shock and confusion, he had just this minute regained consciousness, to see his team-mate flying in the air. Sasuke got elbowed in the rib, he winced holding his side. Kari was still calculating Lee's moves.

"You get it now? I am using taijutsu, that means no tricks Sasuke!" Lee cried. He suddenly appeared behind Sasuke. "It is martial arts, nothing more"

"Why you!" Sasuke growled trying to backhand him but Lee easily dodged.

"I know your technique, forget it! It will not work not on me! I know you can see through your opponent's jutsu, that the Sharingan gives you the ability to read his chakra and decipher his hand signs and movements. You can guess what he's going to do almost before he knows himself. The problem is taijutsu is a little bit different" Lee said. Kari was paying complete attention, none of Team Gai having the Sharingan, they hadn't really discussed it with her. Neji only touched upon the subject when explaining his Byakugan.

"Right so what's your point?" Sasuke said scowling.

"I do not try to hide or disguise my moves. I do not have to, even if you can read them, you still cannot stop them. You are too slow, your eyes may be quick enough to see one step ahead of me, but if your body cannot keep up, what good does it do you?" Lee asked. "Had you trained with Kari-hime, you might have noticed this beforehand" Lee said, causing Sasuke to send a scowl in the blonde kunoichi's direction.

"What?!" Kari said, sending a full-hearted glare back. He didn't use his Sharingan against her he just battered her! Well, she had been working mainly on defence (which she was still admittedly terrible at) so she hadn't been on the offence that much. She had been learning about the Uchiha's fighting style.

"You know what? This is what I believe" Lee said, Kari smiled, remembering how Lee had explained this too her after being defeated in a spar by Neji. "There are two different types of ninja. Those who are like you; born with talent and do not have to work at it. Then those like me the ones who have to train every day of our lives!" Lee cried dodging Sasuke's punch. Kari felt a swelling feel of affection for Lee, he had such indomitable spirit, it really inspired her. "The fact; is your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme taijutsu! Here is what I mean!" Lee kicked Sasuke sending him flying. In an instant he appeared underneath him.

"ROCK LEE! GAI WILL NOT BE IMPRESSED!" Kari scolded. It wasn't the only reason she was discouraging Lee. After getting into heated combat, a certain move left her in absolute agony. Lee had burst into tears and apologised, but it was still painful, she had to have a whole two pots of Hinata medicinal cream before the pain eased, and that was after at least three hours. She didn't want Sasuke to go through that, especially when he knew nothing about Lee's strength.

"Dancing leaf shadow…" Sasuke said.

"Good eye… Now I will prove my point; that hard work beats out natural talent" Lee cried as his bandages rapidly started to unravelled. "You're finished!"

Kari hesitantly reached for her katana. She didn't want to do this, but Sasuke could be really hurt by that attack. Besides the after effects wouldn't suit lee too much either. No, she had to step in. She started to draw her katana, the light gleaming off the silver metal of her blades.