Chapter 72

In fact, I did, I hastily threw my arms around him, I clung to him tightly, making him drop the syringe. I landed on the ground, out of harms way.
"Takashi!" I cried, burying my face into him. He wrapped his arms around me just as tightly.
"I was worried sick!" He said.
"W-What're you doing here?" I asked, looking up at him, without letting go.
"I came to find you.. and its a good thing I did."
"How did you know where I was?!"
"... I know that your mission was based here, and I have never forgotten the way here." He said. He looked around at disgust with the damage that Kei did to it. "Come with me.." He took my wrist.
"What about Lee?!" I questioned.
"He'll be fine. He just needs to rest. I'll treat his wounds before we leave." He said, then pulled me away. I followed him, into the ruins. The smoke had disappeared and the air was settled.
He took me to a particular house, there was only one wall standing, the rest was piles of rubble. On the outside was a table, and on it were 5 photo frames. Each one had small lotus flower shaped candles. Takashi stopped, and held his hand out, gesturing for me to go forward. I walked towards this table, my eyes widened. From left to right, a photo of my father, my mother, my sister Kaori, Auntie Megumi, and one that was face down. I hesitantly lifted it up, it was a picture of Kabuto. My heart felt heavy. Takashi must've came here recently and built this..
His hand placed on my shoulder. "I didn't want to show you this.. I've been coming here since that day... I built this many years ago.. the candles I lit way back then have never extinguished." He explained. Just seeing my parents' faces, and my sister.. it made my heart ache, my eyes burned and shed tears.
I prayed with Takashi. For a very long time. I felt a warm presence, like I was being comforted by the air itself.

When we eventually returned to where Lee was resting, I rubbed my eyes, and smiled. I had a strange feeling inside, that made me believe that my family was happy.
I knelt down beside Lee, I caressed his cheek. His hair blew gently in the breeze. He looked so peaceful. Takashi stood there and watched as I lowered my forehead to touch his. I closed my eyes, blinking out the last tear.
I kind of felt like Lee belonged to our family, and I believed that no matter what, I would be here for him. I moved my hand down to his chest, feeling his soft heart beat against my palm.
I felt a hand rest on mine. I opened my eyes quickly, not expecting that. Lee was staring right into my eyes, his expression still soft. He still had that small smile. My heart raced.
"Setsuki.." He said, his voice was calm, gentle, showing no signs of pain. I just continued staring into his eyes. "I'm glad you're safe.." His hand raised up, and cupped my cheek. He wiped a tear from my cheek with his thumb. His cheeks seemed to turn a light red. "I suppose.. now is the best time.. to say it.." He cleared his throat.
"Say what..?" My voice was croaky.. he moved his thumb over my lips, as if to shush me.
"I.. I love you.. Setsuki.." He said. My eyes widened.
"L-Lee.."
"I.. have for quite some time.. but.. I didn't know how.. to..." His voice trailed off. I don't know why, but I.. kind of felt relieved..? My stomach felt light and churned, my heart was beating so fast it almost felt like it wasn't beating at all. Is this.. what love feels like..? The feeling that I'm getting.. it's like I want to be with Lee.. I want to be close to him. I feel comfortable being close to him..
I closed my eyes, the smallest smile came across my face. I felt so happy. I felt Lee's other hand snake around my back, he tried to pull me down into a sort of hug. I sat properly and leaned down on him, but being careful not to lean on him too much, I didn't want to stir up his wounds.
"Setsuki-chan.. please.." He stopped to clear his throat, so his voice was even. "Please be my girlfriend.. I promise I'll protect you.. with my life.."
I opened my eyes again, looking into his. My cheeks felt hot. I opened my mouth to respond, but then two other figures approached, interrupting.
"Setsuki!" Daisuke's voice called. I slowly lifted myself from Lee and glanced over at him. He was covered in dirt and had some small scratches here and there, but otherwise fine, and the same with Tekuno-sensei.
Lee tried to sit up, but Takashi knelt down and stopped him. Takashi told Lee that he would look at his wounds and clean them up.
We sat around while Takashi was doing this, Tekuno kept giving Takashi a questioning look as to why he was here, but Takashi never looked in his direction. Daisuke explained to us that he and Tekuno-sensei saw a figure in a black coat sprint past them, almost knocking them out in a single strike, but they managed to barely dodge him. I knew they were talking about Kei.
"He destroyed more of the relics here." I said. "Daisuke-kun, Lee-san, Teku-sensei, this place was... where I was born."
Takashi remained silent as he bandaged Lee's stomach. Daisuke frowned slightly, and put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I continued to tell them about what I could remember as a child, the memories of Kabuto and I always getting into mischief, especially scaring off all of Kaori's boyfriends. I told them about mum and dad, and how dad was the best dad I could ever ask for.. Takashi mentioned that Kaori was mummy's girl and I was daddy's girl. I don't remember much of mum, I was always around dad. I don't remember the place being destroyed though, that's where I stopped talking.
"My wife, Megumi, she always hated me going away on my fishing trips.. but you know, I was naïve, I needed breaks from my job. I was one of the top doctors back in the day-"
"No, you were the best doctor!" I commented. Takashi gave a soft smile.
"Anyway, Setsuki decided she wanted to come with me one time.. she wanted to see what the water was like, and with permission from Shou-san, I took her with me. Kabuto wanted to come too, and I was more than willing to bring him along, but my wife refused." Takashi knotted up the bandage, and leaned back, taking his glasses off. "So, the two of us went off." He cleaned his glasses on his shirt. "Off fishing for a good 2 weeks. When we returned.." Takashi held up the glasses to the light, inspecting them before putting them back on. He was silent. "Home.. wasn't here anymore."
Everyone tensed. I felt my eyes water, I wanted to get the memory out of my head.
"We found no survivors... I had Setsuki sit there... while I buried them..." He was holding himself back from getting emotional. I could sense it in his tone. He cleared his throat and grabbed another gauze from his medical bag, and applied it to a cut on Lee's thigh. I tried not to picture the memory, I tried to let it pass. "But of all people.. the one person I could not find.. was my son.. Kabuto.."
There was a moment of silence. Takashi stood up. "After hearing that he's alive and well.. well that made me so much happier. I don't care if he is working for some psycho maniac, the point that he is alive is enough to satisfy me." He looked over at me, and I nodded in agreement. I stood up, Daisuke and Tekuno-sensei did too. I helped Lee up, and I helped him walk back to the village.

We reported our mission to Tsunade, and she sent out some ANBU squads to gather more intel on Orochimaru.
We had to force Lee to go to the hospital so he could be treated again, even though Takashi did a really good job of it. Of course Lee hated it, so he was trying to escape when he could.
Afterwards life went back to normal. Every day involved training and missions, in our spare time, more training or eating competitions.
For 2 and a half years, we continued our lives this way. Nothing huge happened again for quite some time. But the one thing, that I regretted, was that I never answered Lee's question. It had completely slipped our minds..