Chapter 41
The next day I awake early and headed straight for the training vicinity. This time no running off until I know I'm strong enough. I saw Gai-sensei and his squad there, Lee doing push ups, Tenten and Neji-kun both still seemed half asleep. Gai-sensei seemed like he had dropped something and was looking for it. I smile friendly and approach them.
"Good morning Setsuki-san!" Lee exclaims, first to notice me. He jumps to his feet, then suddenly hugs me tightly.
"Mo- ngh, too t-tight!" I exclaim, trying to take in air.
"Oh, s-sorry Setsuki-san!" Lee says while immediately letting go. "We have been so worried!"
"I know.. I heard.." I reply, scratching my arm.
"Where is it.." Gai-sensei grumbles to himself, carefully scratching his head, trying not to mess up his majestic hair.
"What's Gai-sensei looking for?" I ask, quietly. Lee got a serious face and leaned in close to my ear and whispers.
"I... don't know..."
"Okay.." I whisper back. "Should I ask him?"
"No.." Lee whispers, his head still close to mine, I could feel his body-heat.
"Okay... Hey Gai-sensei! Wha-" Lee whines and slaps his hand over my mouth.
"Shh!"
"Huh?" Gai-sensei looked in my direction. "Setsuki? Is that you? Where'd you go?"
I talk while Lee's hand still covers my mouth, however my words were incoherent. Gai-sensei blinks. "Lee, please take your hand away from her mouth."
"But Gai-sensei.. I fear that she will say something.." Lee says, his voice trailed off at the end trying to think of a word.
"Well of course she's going to say something!" Gai-sensei exclaims.
"Bad.." Lee concludes.
"What?" Gai-sensei asks.
"I fear she will say something bad!" Lee says.
"What would I say that's bad?" I question, though with his hand still over my mouth, my words were a muffle. I was getting annoyed by it. While Gai-sensei started an argument with Lee, I lick the flesh of Lee's fingers, he tenses up. Slowly, and unsurely, he moves his hand away, and he faces me with a creeped out expression. I return a blank expression and shrug.
"What's wrong?" Gai-sensei inquires.
"You licked me!" Lee says.
"Your hand was there!" I mention.
"But.. but you licked me!" Lee complains, his voice high pitched in astonishment.
"I was going to lick the air, but your hand was in the way!" I exclaim.
"Why!" Lee questions.
"Because.. Because I wanted to!" I say, my own voice getting higher.
"But! …. But my hand!" Lee whines, looking at his hand which he still hasn't wiped.
"It could be worse!" I mention. Lee blinks, I then notice Neji and Tenten anime fall.
"What do you mean?" Lee inquires.
"We-" Tenten and Neji suddenly tackle me to the ground, both their hands covering my mouth. Again, my cries of struggle were muffled.
"Tenten! Neji-kun! What.. are you doing?" Lee inquires.
"Nothing!" Tenten exclaims with a fake smile and giggle.
"Nothing at all.." Neji said, trying to make me stop moving. My muffles became louder, until eventually one word could be heard clearly – 'Help'.
"This.. must be a youthful hug of reunion!" Gai-sensei exclaims, suddenly he runs over and pounces on top of the three of us. We grunt from the sudden weight. They were so heavy! "Come on Lee!" Gai-sensei calls.
"..! Right!" Lee exclaims, then literally cannonballs on top.
"Get off you morons!" Neji hisses. I felt I was getting crushed, there was no way I could move.
"I FOUND THEM!" Gai-sensei screeches suddenly, making us all cringe, Lee fell off the top.
"WAH-omph!"
"What is it Gai-sensei!" I question. Gai-sensei jumps off, the three of us all take in a deep breath. I never expected them two to be so heavy!
Gai-sensei bolts away from us, we blink in confusion. Neji and Tenten both get off, and I sit up, suddenly a hand at my face. I look up, Lee was offering his hand, grinning goofily. I laugh and take his hand while he pulls me to my feet.
"Where is Gai-sensei going?" Lee asks.
"How the hell should I know what that looney is doing?" Tenten grumbles.
"Maybe he forgot something." I mention.
"Maybe. Setsuki-san." Lee says, facing me again, his eyes locked dead into mine. I blink, maybe even slightly intimidated. "What were you going to say before?"
"What?"
"When you said it could be worse, what exactly did you mean?" He asks, pulling out a small book and pencil, but not taking his firm eyes away from mine. I blink.
"Er, well I was gonna say, I-"
Tenten suddenly slapped her hand over my mouth. "Don't be disgusting!" She gushes. I blink, why doesn't anyone want to hear me speak today? I grab her wrist and pull her hand away from my mouth and look at her confused.
"I was going to say, that I could have bitten him, that's all." I say. Tenten's (and Neji's) face turns pale, her fringe covers her eyes like she was embarrassed. She muttered something under her breath, but I couldn't hear it.
"I have such a dirty mind.."
"Bite? Were you going to bite me?" Lee questions, his eyes wide like a puppy. It was so cute!
"No!" I whine. "I would never bite you!" I exclaim, my eyes becoming soft from the cuteness. His small sad expression disappeared, turning into a shining smile.
"That is good!" Lee says, putting his book away.
"What is that?" I ask, pointing at the book.
"Oh, it is my notes from Gai-sensei." He explains.
"Oooh! Cool!" I exclaim.
"THESE!" A loud voice roars, then suddenly a crash in the ground between us, scared the life out of us. We both scream and jump backwards. Gai-sensei was standing there, his arm in the air as though he just dropped something. We relax a little and walk back over. We look to the ground seeing metal sandals.
"What are they G-Gai-sensei?" Lee stutters, still recovering from the fright. My heart was still pounding.
"Yooosh!" Gai-sensei gives Lee a thumbs up, his fist an inch away from Lee's face. "These are my ultimate, flawless, one-of-a-kind, training shoes!" He exclaims. "I guarantee you'll never find a pair quite like this!"
"One-of-a-kind? Really?" Lee exclaims, all excited.
"Hey, wait a minute." Tenten says, observing them.
"Flawless?" I exclaim, now amazed.
"What is it Tenten?" Gai-sensei asks, frowning because she was not in awe.
"I saw those at the market on the way here. They were on clearance, half price." Tenten mentions. Gai-sensei growls loudly.
"Tenten.. be quiet.." Gai-sensei grumbles.
"Is.. is that true, Gai-sensei?" Lee inquires. Gai-sensei blinks then chuckles.
"No no no, of course it's not true! Tenten just doesn't know what she's talking about!" Gai-sensei says. "She lacks the youthful mind, you see."
"Ohh." Lee replies. Tenten growls and gets an anime vein.
"BAKA! I KNOW I SAW THOSE AT THE MARKET!" She shouts.
"Now now Tenten." Gai-sensei says calmly.
"NO!" Tenten shouts, swinging a punch to Gai-sensei who easily caught her fist. Tenten went to swing another punch with her other arm. Gai-sensei sighs and puts his palm on her forehead, keeping her out of range. She swings her arms violently while shouting at him, however Gai-sensei showed no interest at all.
"As I was saying!" Gai-sensei shouts over the top of Tenten. "I am giving these to you, Lee! I want you to train with them! Each shoe weighs precisely 20 lbs each! They will help you with muscular training in your legs!"
"Ooh! I see! I see!" Lee says, full enthusiasm and excitement in his tone. I wanted to try them!
"20 lbs.." Tenten grumbles under breath, then scoffs, she then shakes her head.
"I WANT TO TRY THEM ON!" Lee squeals, jumping up and down.
"Wait, Lee! There's more! I al-"
"THIS IS SO EXCITING!" Lee shouts, he grabs my hands and jumps up and down. I blink, but being overwhelmed by the excitement, I giggle. "WE SHOULD BOTH TRY THEM!" He exclaims.
"Yeah!" I concur.
"Lee." Gai-sensei groans.
"WE'LL BOTH BE STRONG!"
"YOSH!"
"Lee!"
"I AM GOING TO BE SO MUCH STRONGER!" Lee exclaims.
"LEE!"
I look at Gai-sensei, but Lee was still jumping up and down shouting. "I WILL BECOME SO STRONG!"
"QUIET!" Gai-sensei screams at the top of his lungs, then suddenly punches his student in the face, knocking him straight off his feet. Lee whimpers and scurries backwards in fear, rubbing his now bruised cheek. I take a step back, keeping my mouth shut. "Now listen to your sensei's awesomeness!" Gai-sensei says in a firm voice. Lee quickly scurries onto his knees and bows to him.
"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaims, looking up at Gai-sensei.
"The action doesn't stop with these sandals! Lee! I also have special weights for you to wear at the same time!" Gai-sensei exclaims, pulling out a pair of leg weights from his Jonin jacket.
"Can I have a pair? Please Gai-sensei!" I plead. Gai-sensei looks at me, a keen look in his eye.
"So, you think you have what it takes to wear leg weights, Setsuki?" Gai-sensei inquires. I grin largely and nod repeatedly.
"Yes! Yes yes I do Gai-sensei! I really do!" I exclaim.
"I am sure she does, Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaims. Gai-sensei grins.
"Well that's excellent!" Gai-sensei exclaims. "Because! Right here.. is a second pair!" Gai-sensei exclaims, pulling out, yet another pair, identical to the last pair he pulled out.
"They were also on that stand, Gai-sensei.." Tenten mentions.
"Nonsense Tenten! These are genuine leg weights! They cannot be found on such a common store from the market, Tenten!" Gai-sensei exclaims. Gai-sensei passes me one pair of the leg weights, and the other pair to Lee. I'm so glad I'm wearing my green training suit today!
"But! They were! I saw them!" Tenten snatches one of the weights from Lee and examines it closely.
"Hey! That is mine!" Lee says, trying to get it back, unsuccessfully.
"LOOK! This circular pattern right here! These are the same ones I saw on the st-"
Gai-sensei put his hand over Tenten's mouth and talks over the top of her.
"She was dreaming! She saw it in a dream! That's the truth!" Gai-sensei exclaims.
"That must have been quite a dream, Tenten!" Lee says, taking his leg weight back.
"Now, pick up the shoes Lee! It's solo training today!" Gai-sensei declares.
"Solo? Can I train with Lee? Please!" I plead.
"Hmm... very well! Setsuki, Lee you two will stay put! I will take these two off elsewhere! They need more training!" Gai-sensei exclaims.
"Hey!" Neji and Tenten huff with a fit of pique.
"Well it's true! You two are not nearly as youthful as these two! You both refuse to wear my ultimate training suits, therefore you need double training!" Gai-sensei shouts.
"Do not! I'll have you know, Neji is the strongest person on this team!" Tenten gushes.
"ONWARD!" Gai-sensei shouts over the top of her, and begins marching, pushing both of them off with him. Once they were out of sight I turn back to Lee, sitting on the ground, taking his shoes off.
"I even have weights for my wrists too!" He says. "I will be as strong as Gai-sensei!"
"No you wont!" I say, sitting down. Lee grimaces at me.
"I w-"
"You'll be stronger!" I exclaim, giving a thumbs up to him. Lee blinks a few times, his cheeks turn slightly pink and he gets a small smile.
"Y-you think so?" He asks. I nod repeatedly and move my hand closer to him. He smiles fully and scratches the back of his head.
"Th-thank you Setsuki-san!" He cries. I smile big, and put the leg weights on and remain seated until he had the shoes, leg weights, and wrist weights all on. He jumps to his feet, fire in his eyes. "Lets do this!" Lee says, clenching his hands into fists. I stand up and take a step back, my legs were incredibly heavy. I should have thought about this..
Lee begins punching the air, then moves around in all different poses. Once his foot touched the ground, a small crashing sound and dust rise up from the ground. Once the dust cleared, there was a rather large dent in the ground.
"Lee.." I mutter.
"Yes, Setsuki-san?" Lee inquires, continuing his various poses.
"... Please don't kick me, if we spar." I say.
"Huh?" Lee looks at the ground and sweatdrops. "I.. I wont hurt you Setsuki-san! I would never!"
I don't know why, but a smile came across my face, and I felt slightly shy for a moment. I then heard footsteps in the water, I turn my head to see Naruto carrying three unconscious people on his back, slowly heading back to the village. I tilt my head. Lee's eye twitched at the sight.
"No! Not yet! I am stronger than that!" Lee shouts to Naruto, who apparently wasn't paying any attention. "Setsuki-san! Come at me!" He says. I nod.
"All right!" I reply, then run at him.. very slowly. It was hard to move my legs. Lee seemed like he wasn't even going to try. I attempt to swing a punch, he caught my wrist easily. I tense up waiting for the counterattack... Nothing. I open an eye, Lee was standing up straight, one hand behind his back, the other still had hold of my fist. I blink.
"You look confused..?" Lee mentions, tilting his head tot he side.
"I was.. waiting for the counterattack.." I say.
"Oh." Lee shakes his head. "No, I will not attack someone with a handicap." He says, lifting his head up with pride. I blink.
"Really?"
"Mm! I told you a short while ago, I will not hurt you." He says. There it was, that shy feeling again. "I will allow you to get accustom to these weights, then we shall spar!" He exclaims. I nod, liking the sound of his idea.