Chapter 76
"A job well done." Was all Tsunade said to us, two days later when the rest of them arrived. "You lot deserve a few days rest."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!"
"I can use this time to train even harder!" Lee exclaimed. We were holding hands, which made people suspicious, especially Daisuke.
"I reckon we should all have a party tonight!" Tenten suggested. We faced her, grinning.
"Yes! That does sound fun!" Sakura concurred. We all nodded, except for Neji and Susumu.
Later that night, I was getting ready to go out to the party, it was at the BBQ restaurant. Takashi was almost breathing down my neck, lecturing me on what to do, and what not to do. I told him it will be perfectly fine, because its a small, harmless party. He wasn't convinced.
I dressed into a nice light blue shirt, which perhaps showed a little more cleavage than I would have liked, and a knee-length black shirt. I also wore a leather jacket, one of my most expensive possessions.
I walked to the restaurant, and inside only two of us were already seated inside a booth, a table big enough to fit all of us. I sat down, and smiled at Tenten and Sakura. They flashed huge grins at me.
"You were holding Lee's hand, Setsuki~" Tenten smirked.
"Y-Yeah? So?"
"Are you two finally, together?" Sakura asked. I scratched my cheek.
"Er.. I... guess we are..?"
Their faces lit up with excitement. They looked like they were going to pounce me, but the table prevented them from doing so. I noticed Tenten was wearing a Chinese style dress with a golden dragon print on it. Sakura was wearing a nice long, strapless black dress.
As we continued to talk about Lee, the devil himself turned up without us even realising at first.
"Why are we talking about me?" He asked. We all jumped. Lee's eyebrow was raised high.
"Y-You're late!" I said, quickly changing the subject. Lee's jaw dropped.
"Late!? Me!?" He whined. "But I was sure I was on time!"
"Nah, I beat you here, which means you're late!"
"Aww.." Lee looked down.
The door opened and Naruto walked in with a strange boy behind him. We stared at the pale boy for a moment, as if trying to recognise him.
"Naruto-kun.. who is that?" Lee asked.
"This is Sai.." Naruto replied, as if he disliked him.
"Yeah.. he's our new member on Team 7." Sakura explained. "Tsunade-sama assigned him to our team."
Sai gave a fake smile. "Hello." He sat beside Sakura, and Naruto sat on the other side of him.
Daisuke walked in, dragging Susumu. "Its okay now, the life of the party is here." Daisuke said, throwing Susumu onto the seat. They were both wearing reasonably formal suits. All the boys were. Though, Lee looked the best!
"We're missing someone.." Naruto mentioned, looking at an empty seat beside me.
"Neji."
"Oh no he doesn't. If he's not coming to this party, then neither should I!" Susumu gushed.
"Oh shut up Dolly." Daisuke huffed. Susumu glared at him.
"Why does Neji always do this!" Tenten groaned. "He usually comes to our little parties... even if he does just sit there and do nothing.."
"Sorry I'm late." Neji said, just so happening to be standing there. He wasn't face any of us. He finally took the vacant seat beside me.
A waiter brought a bottle of water over to us, followed by food. We all had a great time, conversing, eating and laughing our way through the night. It was getting late, Sai, and Tenten had already left. Both Sakura and Naruto had fallen asleep at the table, and Lee kept insisting that we take them home. But no one could be bothered.
Daisuke ran over from wherever he went, holding a white bottle with no label. "Here I managed to sneak this out!" He said, putting it on the table. "Everyone should have a glass!" He poured us all a glass, and we drank. It tasted bitter, but also had a unique flavouring. I drank half of what was in my glass, Neji had one sip and he was done, but Lee drank the entire glass, and even wanted more.
"You two should have a drinking competition!" I said when I noticed Daisuke did the same as Lee. The two stared each other in the eye competitively. Daisuke poured them both heaps of glasses.
"Go!" Daisuke said. The two of them started drinking as much as they could, as quickly as they could. Susumu had two glasses and wanted another, so he stole one from Daisuke.
A while late both Daisuke and Lee had pink cheeks, and they were swaying a little. Lee's head fell and hit the table.
"Yeeeaaah! I winnnn! Loserrr~" Daisuke giggled.
I put my hand on Lee's back. "Lee?"
Lee lifted his head, and stared at me. He then smirked. "You look weally buuuutifal, Skuti-chwan~" He said. I tilted my head.
"Noooooo!" Daisuke grabbed Lee's shoulder. Lee glared at Daisuke.
"What'choo looookin' aaat? Dooon't touch meee!" Lee quickly grabbed Daisuke's hand, and threw him across the restaurant. I gasped in surprise. Daisuke hit the wall and cringed.
"You bastaaard!" Daisuke ran back. Lee hiccuped and stood up.
"Doooon't worry Skuti-chaaan! I wiiiiiill proteecctt youuuuu!"
"B-But Lee.."
"Nuu!"
Daisuke came running, and tried to punch Lee. Lee effortlessly leaned backwards to dodge it, but then he actually performed Leaf Hurricane onto Daisuke, causing him to smash through the wall. My eyes widened and I stood up. Lee swayed as he stood in his fighting stance.
"Lee! Stop it! What're you doing!?" I questioned. Lee only hiccuped.
"Great.." Neji huffed. "Lee's drunk. I did not need this tonight. Setsuki he doesn't seem to want to fight you, you might be the only one who can stop him."
"Stop him?" I asked.
"... You still don't know about Lee's Drunken Fist, do you..?" I shook my head. Neji sighed. "He's impossible to defeat.. even Gai-sensei and I, together, struggle to even immobilise him!"
"He's that difficult!?" I looked up at Lee.
"Lee! Stop it! Stop hurting my honey!" Susumu growled. Lee faced Susumu. Without warning, Lee smacked his fist into Susumu's jaw. Susumu stumbled backwards.
"Lee!" I stood up and grabbed Lee's wrist, tightly. Lee looked over his shoulder at me. "Stop hurting them!" I said, staring straight into his eyes. Lee tried to pull his arm back, but I didn't let go. "Please."
"Is it going to work..?" Neji muttered to himself, watching Lee closely.
"Noo no nooo! You do nooooot understaaand!" Lee exclaimed. He pulled me close to him. I lost my footing and fell onto him. We both fell. Lee closed his eyes, as if he had just fallen asleep.
"I think he's asleep, Neji." I said. Neji stood up and walked over.
"Don't be fooled so easily.. he will normally fake sleep." He said.
"Fake sleep?"
Neji activated his Byakugan. Lee suddenly stood up and took a swing at Neji. Neji only just managed to avoid it. That speed was incredible. I immediately stood up. Lee saw me.
"You are in love with Neji!" Lee exclaimed. I tilted my head, and suddenly Lee's fist smacked right into my jaw. I stumbled back, in great pain. I landed on the table, and smashed a plate beneath me, which cut into my back.
My jaw was insanely numb, it almost felt broken. I sat up slowly, holding my jaw. "L-Lee... what're you doing..."
Lee attacked Neji, and Neji struggled to keep up with the speed, even with his Byakugan activated. I pulled a shard of the broken plate out of my back and cringed. It was covered in blood. I don't know how deeply it stabbed into me.
Meanwhile, Susumu had crawled through the hole in the wall, to Daisuke who was laying on the ground outside. Susumu pulled Daisuke's head onto his lap.
"Honey.."
Daisuke's eyes opened halfway. "Dolly?"
"Why are you bleeding.. That's bad.." Susumu leaned down, and examined the bleeding. Daisuke stared into Susumu's eyes. He reached his hand up, and ran his fingers through Susumu's long silky hair. Susumu tensed as Daisuke pulled his head down towards him.
"I fucking love you." Daisuke said, before bringing Susumu down to kiss him, passionately. Susumu's eyes widened.
Neji managed to hit one of Lee's chakra points, disabling his left arm. But it didn't stop him.
I tried sending clones to grabs his limbs, but he was way too agile and avoided every single one of them, and quickly destroying them with a punch or a kick shortly after.
Neji and I were struggling. I had one last clone standing beside me.
"We can't fail." I said to her. She gave me a strange look.
"We will." She said. "He's unstoppable, like some sort of freakish monster."
"Freakish monster?" I looked at Lee. She was right. He was totally out of control, and he was going after the other customers, but Neji and I managed to protect them as they escaped the building.
Lee knocked Neji backwards, then turned to me quickly. A huge grin across his face. "Dooo youuu looove me noww?"
I blinked. "Lee.." But I couldn't finish my sentence. Lee came charging at me. Within a blink of an eye he was right in front of me. His fist penetrated my stomach, and I smashed into the ceiling light, and screamed as the electricity zapped me for a brief moment. I fell to the ground, laying on my stomach, cringing. I couldn't possibly move anymore.
Suddenly, Daisuke came charging in. "Suki-chwaaan! I heaard a screeaaaamm!" He chimed, he glanced at me, confused. "Suukii?" He then looked at Lee, and his expression dropped. Lee had death written all over him. A sparkle shined in Daisuke's eye. "Yoouu!" Daisuke ran forward, grabbing a shard of broken glass from the ground, which cut his own hand. He went to slice Lee with it, but Lee arched backwards, put his hands on the ground, and wrapped his legs around Daisuke's waist, before throwing him across the room again.
The loud smashing noise of Daisuke landing in the bar, smashing all the bottles, caused Sakura and Naruto to wake up.
"What's with all the racket, dattebayo!?"
"Naruto.." Neji grumbled, standing up, holding a gash on his arm.
"Ehh!? What happened!?" Sakura panicked, seeing us laying on the ground, and bleeding.
"Lee.. needs to be stopped.."
"Lee?!" Sakura turned to Lee, who was standing on the spot, swaying back and forth. Lee turned and faced Naruto and Sakura, and hiccuped.
"What's the meaning of this, Bushy Brows?!"
"He's intoxicated." Neji said. "He becomes an unstoppable fighting machine.. Setsuki and I cannot even immobilise him. He's too fast."
"Setsuki!?" Naruto growled. "Aren't you in love with her, Bushy Brows?"
Lee merely hiccuped as a response. I opened my eyes halfway, looking up at Lee. So he has no idea what he's doing, huh?
I tried to stand up, it was painful. I glanced over to where Daisuke landed, he was hanging off the counter, he was out. Shards of broken bottles were jabbed into his back. Sakura landed beside me.
"Your back is bleeding!" She said, before forcibly removing my leather jacket, to heal my back as quickly as she could.
"I'll stop him, dattebayo! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto created what seemed like thousands of clones, all in the tiny space of this restaurant. Lee burst out in laughter and spun around. Naruto sent his clones at Lee, who fought back and started destroying them, one by one.
"S-Sakura-chan.. Daisuke is.." I stuttered, even talking hurt. I gripped my stomach, that punch was very powerful. Sakura faced Daisuke and gasped.
"I'll go heal him, do you feel alright now?"
My back wasn't hurting anymore, but my stomach and jaw still hurt. I nodded my head anyway. Sakura ran over to Daisuke and tended to him.
Naruto's clones were running out at a rapid speed. I looked around the room, and found a frying pan. I grabbed it and unexpectedly ran to Lee at top speed. I smashed the frying pan across the back of his head. Lee fell over, and a lump quickly formed on his head. I sighed of relief, and panted. Neji and Naruto faced me, shocked. I dropped the frying pan.
"I think its time to return home, after some treatment." Neji mentioned. We nodded in agreement.
Sakura healed us the best she could, and stopped all the bleeding. She stopped the aching in my stomach and jaw, but I was bruising pretty badly, there wasn't anything Sakura could do about it. I told them I would take Lee home, and none of them disagreed. I picked Lee up, and held him in my arms. He was sleeping like a baby, hiccuping every now and then, it was kind of adorable.
As far as I knew, Naruto took Sakura home, Susumu took Daisuke home, and Neji.. well I don't know what he was doing. He went to speak to the owner of the restaurant, probably to apologise.
I went to Lee's apartment and went inside. The door was unlocked. The room was really clean, all the paintings and posters on the wall were perfectly straight, and everything was perfectly folded. I opened the door to his bedroom, the bed was messy, and there were dumbbells and nun-chucks scattered across the floor, and one of the lamps was broken. I shook my head and smiled as I laid him on his bed. He looked uncomfortable though. I removed his jacket and hung it on the coat hanger. I also removed his tie and shoes, placing the tie on his bedside table, and his shoes by the door.
He shivered, so I pulled the blankets up over him. I stared at him for a moment, he looked so adorable. "Good night, Lee." I said softly. He turned and buried his head into his pillow, and muttered something incoherent. I reached over his bed to turn the other lamp off, when suddenly his arm came up and grabbed my arm. I jumped. Was he still awake? Was he going to put up another fight?
I stared at him. He stayed like that for a while. After realising he was actually asleep, I went to pull my arm back, but he wouldn't let go. He pulled it down to him, and nuzzled it.
"Stay.." He mumbled in his sleep.
"Uh... L-Lee I have to go home.." I said. He groaned, but let go of my arm. I was beginning to wonder if he was actually asleep or not. I stroked his hair one last time, then went home.