Hey guys! I have another chapter for you and guess what? It's the longest one so far! It took me three days to write so I hope you all enjoy!

~BloodRedRoad~

Doubt

Kumato and Lee

Kumato shifted from one foot to the other, nervously fluttering her fingers over the door knob to Lee's hospital room. The exam preliminaries were over and, lucky for her, she came out with only a few scratches. But Lee…

Lee…

Kumato sighed as her hand fell from the handle. Thoughts of Lee running rampant. Why would he push himself so hard? Why didn't he forfeit? Why did he put himself, and her, threw that?

Another sigh tumbled out of her mouth, she knew all the answers those questions, but it never stopped her from asking them again and again.

Glancing down at the arrangement of flowers in her hand, she eyed them all warily. Ino had helped her pick them out as Kumato knew nothing about flowers. Ino explained that the Yarrow Tulips were for good health and Peony orchid symbolised healing. The Snapdragon Star of Bethlehem is for hope as the Gladiolus is for strength of character.

She believed Ino's description for all of those, the one that was bugging her was the Yellow Chrysanthemum. Ino said that it didn't mean anything, that it was there simply because it completed the bouquet. But she didn't believe Ino, all flowers had a meaning right? It also didn't explain why the Yellow Chrysanthemum was the center flower.

'Little too late to back out now'.

'Well,' Kumato thought. 'I could ditch the flowers and come-"

A large crash came from inside the supposedly dormant ninja's room, effectively cutting off her train of thought. Senses in overdrive, Kumato's body acted and her mind went blank. Forgetting about the flowers, Kumato let them fall from her hand as she ripped open the door, bracing herself for the worst.

She was expecting to see Lee fighting for his life.

She was expecting to see Gaara manipulating his sand to choke the life out of Lee to finish their battle.

She was expecting to find Lee dying and in pain on the floor.

She was not expecting this.

The window was half open, its white curtains drawn back to reveal a blue and cloudless day. There was a lump in the bed, buried in mountains of blankets and pillows. Kumato would have thought that that was Lee if he wasn't on the floor just below the window, looking dazed as if he had fallen over.

"Lee?"

The black bowled hair cut ninja looked up at her with wide startled coal black eyes. His pale cheeks flared bright pink as if he had just been caught red handed.

Kumato's mossy brown eyes flickered between the blushing ninja, the open window and the lump in the white hospital bed, slowly putting the pieces together to realise one thing…

... he had been caught red handed.

A smoking glare sharpened her eyes as she stood over the now panicked bushy brow.

"Lee…"

The culprit visibly gulped as his round three lashed eyes flickered around the room, looking anywhere but Kumato's fiery glare. "Y-yes?"

"Don't tell me…" She stepped forward. "...that you were…" Step. "...going to sneak out..." Step. "...and train." Kumato was now towering over the -for once- visibly shaken ninja.

Lee tripped over his words. "T-the power of youth-"

"Don't you "power of youth" me!" Kumato yelled, cutting him off. Lee scrambled to his feet, leaning all his weight onto his right as he clenched the crutch to keep himself balanced. "You're hurt Lee, you need time to recover." Bowing her head, Kumato let her russet brown hair fall into her tired eyes. "Please Lee, please. Rest." She glanced up at him, her eyes begging. "You just need to rest, to get better. Please promise me you won't train anymore. Please…" Kumato let her eyes drop back to the priscleen white tiled floor beneath her. "Don't hurt yourself anymore."

There was a small silence, so sharp that almost left Kumato breathless; but Lee shattered it before it stole all her breath.

"I understand but I am unable to keep that promise." With the breath knocked out of her, Kumato's mind scrambled; trying to desperately find a way to make him understand. To make him understand that he was hurting himself and that, every time he hurt himself, she would hurt with him.

To make him understand how much she cared.

To make him understand how much she needed him, that she can't bare the thought of Lee so hurt.

The thought of losing him.

Lee's voice cut off Kumatoes rampant thoughts. "I will not be able to live if I cannot become a shinobi." Eyes flickering over to the window, Lee watched as the world around him continue to move, as life continued on without him. "It is all I know," catching her eyes, Lee smiled, allowing that twinkle in his eyes to spark to life. "And I will not give up on my ninja way!"

Kumato watched in awe as Lee flashed his signature smile. Even when everyone was whispering about how he will never be a shinobi again, even with doubt creeping at the edge of everyone's minds, he never gave up hope. He never gave up faith.

Deciding to help him instead of doubting him, Kumato came up with a devious plan to sneak him out of the hospital.

~Time Skip~

"I can't believe that worked!" Kumato cheered as she and a newly dressed Lee made their way away from the hospital.

Looking over at the celebrating kunoichi, Lee couldn't help but ask why she had doubts about the plan.

That simple question was enough to bring her mood down as buried images that she never wanted to see again flickered at the edge of her mind. "Everyone always has doubts." Was the only answer she supplied.

Scrunching up his black bushy eyebrows in confusion, Lee regarded Kumato. He could sense that her words had a double meaning but decided against pressing her as he knew she would open up when the time was right.

Kumato, unable to handle to silence any longer, grabbed Lee's good arm and started to pull him in the direction of her desired location.

"Um Kumato?"

"Yes Lee."

Lee pointed in the opposite direction then the one they were heading. "The training hall is that way."

Glancing over at Lee with a hard glare, Kumato said, "I didn't sneak you out of the hospital to train, I understand why you want to continue training, even though I dislike it, but I don't want to witness you ruin your body so we aren't going to the training hall."

"Then where are we headed flower of youth?"

Gapping at Lee's name for her, she quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat. "We're going for a walk."

"A walk?"

Nodding her head, she let go of Lee's arm and started walking at slower pace. "Yup." Seeing the doubt on Lee's round face, Kumato challenged him to something she knew he couldn't resist. "Think about it like a training exercise."

Quickly continuing before Lee could question her sanity, she said, "I've noticed you've been mostly training your arms, push-ups and such. So that means you haven't been on your feet as much and haven't worked out your legs muscles so a walk would be a perfect way to work out those legs without straining them." Concluding with a smile on her face, Kumato's smile widened when she saw that Lee understood and accepted her response.

The two walked aimlessly around the docile village. Everyone was out and about, kids flew around them, laughing and playing silly games of ninja and bandits, shinobi jumped from roof to roof as the towns people strolled the path and just enjoyed the day.

It was so peaceful. So beautiful. Kumato was proud that she was able to call this place of friendly smiles and helping hands home.

Glancing over at Lee, Kumato let an easy smile lighten her face at the sight of his. Lee's round coal black eyes flickered between the children that laughed without a care in the world, an easy, open smile on his face as he recalled the time when he was a child, innocent, happy and free.

Kumato didn't know where she would be in her life without her friends. Without stubborn and playful Rin. Without hotheaded and protective Naoki. Without team 12. Without Lee.

Sighing, Kumato didn't realise that they were crossing a small wooden bridge on the outskirts of town until Lee brought her attention back to reality.

"Kumato?"

Kumato stopped and looked over to Lee. The two were at the center of the small dusty brown bridge that stretched over a little trickling river that flowed out into the woods.

Lee, taking her looking at him as a sign that she was listening continued on with his thought, asking her why she decided to help him instead of scolding him and tell the hospital staff.

"Um well…" Kumato braced herself on the railing that outlooked the lush forest that was bursting with life.

Looking over at Lee, who has also braced himself on the railing, she decided that now was a good time to open up to him everything.

Of her backstory that is.

Rin was the only one to know of her past, and she didn't even know everything. There were pieces, dark, horrible pieces that she kept to herself.

"Because I understand." Placing her elbows on the thick railing, Kumato leaned down and braced her head on her arms. "I understand the fear you have at the thought of losing the only thing you know how to do. Losing the only thing that keeps you motivated to get up in the morning and face another long and hard day. To face everyone's doubts and battle your own…"

Trailing off, she glanced up at Lee to find his eyes glued to her face, erging her to continue on.

Swallowing her fear, Kumato let her eyes retreat to the trickling water that lazily skipped over the stones. "My… my family isn't a family of ninja; I'm the first one in a long time but that's because… because my ancestors, my great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents, hunted down and killed dozens of a rare creature called Kurotama. They hunted the Kuratamas so much that it nearly drove them to extinction."

Scuffing and rolling her eyes, Kumato let sarcasm drip from her voice. "They thought the creature would bring strength and power to the Itaide name," letting her voice drop, she muttered, "but all it did was bring pain that will and have been felt for generations."

Lifting her mossy brown eyes, she let her gaze drift to Lee's and talked directly to him. "If you've noticed, nobody talks about the Itaide family anymore. My family has drifted to the background as fewer and fewer people of my blood tried to become shinobi. And it's all because my ancestors didn't know where to stop, where to draw the line."

Kumato stopped, fighting the growing anger that burned in the pit of her stomach. It was only Lee's calm voice that hushed the raging beast inside.

"What happened?" He tentatively questioned.

Kumato smirked at herself, this was the best part of the story. "The Kuratamas were sick of being hunted and pushed around so they did the only thing that they thought would stop the innocent bloodshed. They cursed us."

Lee's face exploded in surprise. "Cursed you?"

Nodding, Kumato allowed her head to hang. "They cursed my whole bloodline. Everyone. Anyone with a drop of Itaide DNA was effected, and we still are today."

Flipping around, she leaned her back against the railing as the clouds lazily drifted across her vision. "Humans have a natural darkness in them, some have more than others and some have less. Like you Lee, the darkness in you is so small so squashed that it's almost like it's not there. But you know that little voice that sometimes creeps in and whispers to you? Maybe about yourself or about others but it makes you believe things that might not be true. Like how if you missed the bullseye when throwing Kunai, even if you're off my just an inch, the voice in the back of your head whispers that you aren't good enough, that you failed. Or the voice or feeling that pushes you over the edge, that pushes you to the darkside, to the evil side.

"The curse the Kuratamas damned us with makes the natural darkness in us manifest into something almost like a being, like we have another thing, another soul trapped inside of us, sharing the same body whether we like it or not. This darkness, it has driven half my family mad. You see, if we don't learn to control it and suppress it, it will take over and...and…" Kumato faltered, images of searing heat and sorrow filled screams pierced her mind. Kumato shook them off, not wanting to remember.

Lee seemed to understand, he was bobbing his head and Kumato took that as a sign to continue. "I remember, when I was younger, how bad I wanted to be a ninja, how much I envied those who could choose whether or not they wanted to follow that path… how much I hated them because of their free will, something I never had at that age; something I still don't fully have. Once my family realised that the physical, emotional and mental demand of a ninja strengthened the creature and made us lose our grip on it, they banned anyone from becoming a ninja.

"My father must have saw something different in me. Maybe it was because I made peace with the creature in me at a young age." Kumato shook her head, getting lost in her train of thought. "I'm still not sure and I don't think I'll ever know, but whatever it was it made my father train me extra hard to keep my calm and learn to control and harness the darkness in me. But it all came at a cost, I got to sleep and wake up in fear everyday, the thoughts of 'is this the day, the day I lose control? The day I kill everyone I love?' are always following me. Because of this, this fear, the doubt everyone has about me screams louder than their words and it makes me doubt myself, makes me think that this is the wrong path and that, one day, I'm going to get everyone killed."

Kumato was so lost in her thoughts the she didn't see Lee shaking himself awake. "But then, I look at all of my friends, everyone who has ever had faith in me and I realise that it's all worth it, everything I go through is worth it because I'm on my way to a better me and that's all I can ask for." Finished with her mini monolog, Kumato turns and smiles at Lee, only to discover him asleep in an upright position.

Chuckling quietly to herself, Kumato shook her head in disbelief. Who can fall asleep in an upright position and stay perfectly still? She didn't even know when he nodded off, only that he looked adorable.

Snoring lightly, Lee slightly swayed side to side; his head bowed and eyes shut. Smiling at herself, Kumato decided not to wake him but instead carry him back to the hospital.

Stepping forward, she placed one arm around the backs of his knees and the other around his upper back and carefully picked him up. It was slightly awkward as Lee was taller than her so his head and feet dangled loosely in the empty air. Plus, she had to carry the crutch as well.

She started to move, but when he muttered some words, Kumato paused not wanting to wake him.

"I…" He muttered, still asleep. "I understand. I will not give up, just like you, Kumato, I will never stop fighting for my dream and I will never give into doubt…" He muttered something else about the 'power of youth' but Kumato wasn't listening. Her heart was pounding so violently in her chest that she thought it was going to take off without her.

Looking down at the sleeping boy in her arms, Rin smiled and whispered, "you'll make your dreams come true. You'll be an amazing shinobi. Never give up." Then, taking herself by surprise, she leaned forward and lightly brushed her lips against his pale forehead.

Satisfied that Lee wasn't going to wake, she turned and started back to the hospital, a smile never leaving her face.

~Time skip~

Lee's eyes fluttered open as he awoke from his slumber. Tentatively sitting up, Lee carefully stretched his sore muscles before realising something…

… he was back in his hospital room. With his mind racing, he looked around for some evidence that the day he spent with Kumato wasn't a dream when his eyes landed on a small bouquet that sat on a simple see-through vase on his bedside table.

How was it? I hope you all liked it! Remember to favourite and review! I would love to hear from you!

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Talk to you all soon!

Ciao,

~BloodRedRoad~