"Sakura!" a boy with his black hair trimmed into a bowl cut, impressive eyebrows, and wearing a green workout outfit moved swiftly through the villagers of the Hidden Leaf Village to catch up with the girl he'd just called out too.
The pink haired girl, Sakura, sighed, clutching the medicinal books her mentor had handed off to her as her homework for the next few days, to her chest. Her red skirt swished around her legs from the gentle breeze that was moving through the area. "Hi, Lee" she greeted the boy, less than enthused to see him.
"Here, let me help you with those!" Lee offered his usual chipper, if not oblivious self.
Sakura could already feel her patience wearing thin, exhausted from her day training with Lady Tsunade, the current Hokage of the village. "I can carry them. Thank you, Lee."
"But you look exhausted," Lee stated, his gaze not missing the sweat on her face or the scuff marks on her arms. "It looks like you've been training intensely."
Irritated that her exhaustion was so obvious, Sakura tried to keep her voice kind, "Really, Lee, I'm fine. I don't need help."
"Don't you live on the other side of the village though?" Lee persisted. "At least let me carry them part of the way."
"Urgh!" Sakura barely managed to keep the worst of her irritation from showing, "Fine! But only part of the way!"
"That'll give you plenty of time to recover!" Lee stated brightly, easily carrying all of the books under one arm.
Sakura's irritation changed to frustration, even as her body silently thanked her for the reprieve. It didn't help her mood that Lee carried the books so easily. It should have been expected though with Lee being a Taijutsu specialist, yet it still made her mad.
She had to admit though, her frustration wasn't truly with Lee. It was with herself. Sasuke had gone off to train under that horrid Orichimaru while Naruto had gone off with Jiraiya to train, and then here she was training with Lady Tsunade. Sakura felt that she should feel on par with her teammates, as all three of them were training under one of the legendary Sanin. However, she knew that, deep down, she was still miles behind both Naruto and Sasuke.
Her gaze drifted to the ground as she walked, and she barely registered Lee's small talk beside her as they walked, will I ever catch up to them? How am I supposed to help get Sasuke back, or even be on par with Sasuke if I can't even do little things by myself…
"This is where I'll have to leave you," Lee's voice cut into her thoughts abruptly.
"Oh! Right, thank you, Lee," Sakura said, sheepishly taking the books back. She felt guilty for not really paying attention to him. Thankfully, Lee hadn't seemed to notice her lack of focus.
Instead, he grinned at her, "Anytime! I'm always happy to help!"
Still feeling bad, Sakura asked, "Are you heading home too?"
"Not at all! Guy-sensei still has plenty of training for me to do!" Lee announced proudly.
Sakura frowned, "But isn't your team's training grounds back the way we were?"
"Yes! But I can use the time to see if my sprinting time from this point in the village to there has improved!" Lee grinned at her. "Guy-sensei always urges us to find other ways to train! This is the perfect opportunity!"
"Right," Sakura laughed nervously, not sure what else to say. "Well, then I'll see you around, Lee!"
"Of course!" Lee said, before he took off at a sprint through the village.
Sakura sighed, "I'll never understand him."
So the days and weeks went with both young shinobi training, and running into each other. Lee offering Sakura help with both the biggest of tasks and the smallest of tasks. Sometimes his help was welcomed, but mostly, Sakura reluctantly accepted the help as she strived to become the ninja that she thought she needed to be.
Weeks turned to months, and a month into a year. It seemed the two ninja couldn't go a day without running into each other.
"Sakura!" Lee called out, having thought he'd spotted the lovely kunochi in the crowd.
Having spotted Lee seconds before he called out, Sakura darted behind a building & kept walking. She was not in the mood today to deal with Lee, especially not after her latest lesson with Tsunade. Her mentor seemed to be echoing Sakura's thoughts at her lack of progress, and though Sakura's body bore the marks of her struggles to meet her expectations, nothing seemed to help Sakura progress any faster.
Tsunade's words echoed in her mind, as the strong, well endowed Hokage with blond-hair had gazed sternly down at her, "You're not trying hard enough to learn this! If you want to be on par with Naruto and Sauske when you meet you have to learn this! And you need to learn it sooner rather than later so I can continue to teach you what I know!" Tsunade had looked away from Sakura, her frustration evident, "You have a quick mind, that much is clear with how quickly you've picked up on medical jutsu, but you are drastically behind in your physical abilities." Her gaze returned to Sakura with what looked like pity in her gaze, "We'll end our lesson early today. Hopefully the extra rest will help with tomorrow's training. We can't keep dancing around this subject!"
Her mentor's words had stung. Sakura continued to hurry away from Lee. He'd want to know what was wrong and how he could help, and this was one thing he could not help her with. No one could.
In her haste, Sakura tripped over a stone in the path, and as she was so lost in thought, she was unable to keep herself from falling forward. Sakura lay where she fell, this seemed to be a fitting addition to her day. Looks like nothing is going my way today… Sakura felt tears sting her eyes. She was trying so hard, and yet she was still so far away from her teammates. She needed to be stronger!
"Sakura! Are you all right?" Lee shouted, and Sakura heard him slide to a halt right next to her.
Making sure her face was hidden, Sakura started to push herself up from the ground, "I'm fine, Lee."
"Here, let me help you," Lee said, extending his hand.
It was too much. Sakura smacked his hand away as she shouted, "I'm fine! I don't need your help!"
Lee looked taken aback at her words, "You look like…"
"Like what?!" Sakura snapped. Getting to her feet, she gritted her teeth together as tears started to fall down her face against her will. "Like I'm a damsel in distress?! Like I can't do anything on my own?! Like I'll never be strong?!"
For once, Lee looked at a loss for words.
"Just leave me alone!" Sakura shouted, trying to dash the tears from her face. "I'm fine! Like I tell you all the time! I'm FINE!" She turned away abruptly, and ran.
Sakura ran, and ran, and ran. She wasn't even running home, she was just running away. Running away from it all. From Lee. From Tsunade. From herself. She just couldn't face herself anymore.
When she could no longer run, her legs shaking, her lungs burning and struggling to draw breath, Sakura stopped. As she desperately sought to fill her lungs with air, Sakura took in her surroundings. Her running had taken her to her team's old training grounds with Kakashi. She was relieved that her old mentor was not there. Sakura didn't think she could handle his disappointed gaze if he saw the state of her now.
Staggering forward a step at a time, she took in the memorial stone, the familiar landscape of Team Seven's first time together as a team. There was the stream that Naruto had leapt out of with his shadow clones to try and get the bell from Kakashi. And there was the clearing Sasuke had sparred with their jonin teacher. And here…she paused at a post that was in the ground. Here was where Naruto had been tied up after trying to steal lunch.
At first, Sakura felt a small smile on her face at the memories, but then that smile abruptly faded. All of those memories were of Sasuke and Naruto. What had she done that day? Tears ran down her face unchecked as she sank to the ground. She chased after Sasuke, getting caught in a genjutsu… She'd made fun of Naruto… She hadn't even been the one to offer comradeship to Naruto when it had been the very thing that allowed them to pass Kakashi's test…
She sobbed, feeling weaker than she had ever felt in her entire life, "What kind of ninja am I?!"
"A strong one."
Sakura gasped, but she couldn't bring herself to face Lee.
"You're intelligent, compassionate, and courageous," Lee continued, though his voice did not grow closer from where he stood several feet away.
"You're wrong…I'm none of those things," Sakura stated, unable and unwilling to stop the tears. She felt a bubbling of anger towards Lee that he'd followed her even after she'd made it clear that she did not want his assistance. She latched onto it, as she turned to face him, "Why are you even here, Lee?!"
Lee held out a small book of medicines that Sakura had had in her pocket, "You dropped this, and knowing how hard you're working, I assumed it was important and that you'd be upset if you lost it."
Why was he like this? Why was he so kind to her when she didn't deserve it? Why did he continue to insert himself into her life even though he knew he didn't stand a chance at winning her heart?
The last thought fell from her lips, the last sparks of her anger that Sakura desperately clung to, "Why do you do these things for me, Lee? You know I love Sasuke, and will only ever love Sasuke."
"Because we're friends," Lee said softly. His smile was so gentle as he added, "And it's the least you deserve…to have someone to support you as you push yourself so hard."
Stunned, Sakura was unable to think of a response, as Lee placed the book in her hand.
"You keep pushing yourself to catch up with your teammates, and I guess I can relate to that," Lee continued. "I too, pushed myself to make sure that I could stay even with my teammates." His usual grin came back, "I still do, really! I can't let them leave me behind!"
Those words resonated within Sakura, it spoke to her very being, her core. She couldn't be left behind. There was always that cry, don't leave me behind!
"So, I will always offer you any help you need!" Lee finished, giving her a thumbs up, though how he managed to do that as Sakura stood before him looking a mess, she could not figure out. "Anything you need at any time, I will do my best to help!"
"Thank you…Lee," Sakura quietly murmured, putting the book back in her pocket.
"Well then, I should get going," Lee said, starting to turn away.
"Lee!" Sakura could not let him leave, not yet. He turned to her, a questioning look on his face. "I'm sorry, for how I acted…I…"
"I understand," Lee said, that softer smile on his face again. "You looked like you had a rough day, and I wanted to help, but you were at a point where you didn't need it."
"No, you're wrong about that," Sakura said, walking to stand beside Lee. "I needed someone to help me…I just didn't want to admit it… Would you…want to walk together for a bit?"
"Sure!" Lee said, his smile the brightest she'd ever seen it as they started to walk back together.