Skating was just one of those things that Lee had a hard time grasping. The disconnect between the wheels on his feet and his perception of movement could not click. He remembered falling several times as a kid when he first tried to skate. Tenten used to skate circles around him.

He hasn't skated since. But unlike as he was when he was a kid, Lee wasn't so keen on giving up so easily. With Sakura's help, he started to get a hang of it.

Sakura herself seemed like a pro, her patience with him was astounding. She was skating backwards as Lee held onto her hands. "You're doing great!" She encouraged him. "I'm going to let go now..."

Lee felt her hands slip out of his grasp as she proceeded to gracefully swerve and position herself by his side. Before he knew it, he was cruising along. He broke out into a wide grin. "I am doing it! You are a wonderful teacher, Sakura."

Sakura smiled, eyes crinkling as she did so. "Only because I have such a great student," she replied. She was surprised that Lee didn't know how to skate, seeing as he has good at many other physical activities.

"Yes," Lee was laughing. "Which means you can teach me boxing!"

Sakura nearly forgot about that.

"Yeah, I guess I can—" Sakura could see Tenten and Neji enter the rink. She leaned in closer to Lee. "Don't look now but they're coming in... I said don't look now!"

Lee had made it very obvious that he was staring, turning his head and everything. He promptly turned his head away but his wide eyes gave him away. He watched as Neji offered her hand to Tenten as she tentatively took it in her own. They started off skating slow to compensate for Neji's lack of skill. The pair looked about as awkward Lee felt when he first realized that they would purposely hang out without him.

At first his kid self was heartbroken but once he learned that they like liked each other, he had been silently rooting for them from the sidelines.

So to see them act like this even now was even more heartbreaking.

Please no! No more of this!

Lee could not take any more of their nonsense. He now looked at Sakura with determination. "Kiss me now."

Sakura was flustered by his sudden abrasiveness to say the least. "Not that I'm complaining but... Why?"

"Are they watching?" Lee wanted to make sure that they could see them. "I need them to see what they are missing out on."

Sakura blinked at him. "Lee...?" She had no idea what he was on about.

Lee wanted them to experience the youthful passions of love that he has come to know. Furthermore, Neji was his eternal rival. He wanted to show off his girlfriend and flaunt the fact that he managed to get one before he did. It was one of the few things that Lee allowed himself to feel shallow about. In secondary and tertiary school, they were always compared.

Neji was smarter.

Neji was cooler.

Neji was more handsome.

Neji was stronger.

The score Lee kept in his head was leaning in Neji's favor but the amount of times he lost to Neji wasn't that much greater than the times he won against him. At least in terms of sparring.

Everything else was probably true.

Lee probably couldn't even fight Neji anymore due to his condition. He wouldn't be in top shape, it wouldn't be fair. Even if Lee won, it wasn't the same.

How was it possible to be so worried and spiteful at the same time?

He loved Neji, he really did. He was his best friend. Why did that have to happen to him?

Here Neji was, trying to fix his life in regards to Tenten and he was messing it up!

No wait, Tenten was messing up.

They both were.

Arg!

Lee gathered Sakura in his arms, planting a kiss on her sweet lips. Their feet got tangled up and they fell together onto the polished wood. Despite that, Lee didn't stop kissing her. He knew that they were making a scene, but that was what he wanted.

If Neji and Tenten could see how happy Lee and Sakura were, they'd realize what they were missing out on. At least, that's what he hoped.

Instead, they got a whistle blown in them and were told to get off the floor. There were children present for crying out loud!

They were just kissing... Honest.

ˏˋ ˎˊ

After that debacle, Sakura and Lee spent their time in the arcade. When Tenten and Neji decided to join them after a while.

Lee was wasting an embarrassing amount of pocket change on trying to win Sakura a prize from the crane machine. He saw a pink rabbit that he decided that she absolutely has to have. He still kept the stuffed squirrel Sakura gave him and Lee was just thinking about how Might Squirrel needed a girlfriend.

Neji observed for a while before coming between Lee and the crane game. "Watch and learn." He produced a few coins and used every turn to get him closer to his prize. Neji skillfully used the crane to his advantage, nudging the stuffed animal of his choice until he was able to grab it.

Once it was dropped down the chute, he handed it to Tenten. It was a panda. She was pleasantly pink in the face.

Neji was getting Lee back now, full throttle. He had a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips.

Sakura sweat dropped. "It's okay Lee... You don't have to get it for me."

"No!" Lee exclaimed all too abruptly. "I mean... I must, I cannot give up now!"

Neji scoffed.

Tenten handed her plush panda to Neji, asking him to hold it for her before she went over and grabbed Sakura by the arm. "They're going to be there for a while..." She began to pull her away. "Let's talk."

Sakura and Tenten found themselves behind an arcade cabinet when Sakura turned to Tenten expectantly. "What'd you want to talk about?"

Tenten let go of Sakura and sighed. "How do you do it?" She asked.

"Do... What?"

"Be a girlfriend."

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion. "I um. I don't know, you just do I guess."

Tenten groaned softly, obviously at war with herself. "Figures."

Sakura reached out and placed a hand on her arm. "Can I ask you something now?" When Tenten nodded, Sakura continued. "Are you... Finding it hard to be loved?"

"What?" Tenten was taken aback.

"Sorry, um." Sakura didn't know how to put it. She was silent for a moment, before finding her words. "Before Lee, I liked a boy. I liked him a lot but he didn't quite like me the same. One day he cut me out of his life in left. A mutual friend of ours... He liked me and I never understood why. At some point I felt like he shouldn't like me. How could anybody like me if the boy I liked didn't like me back? The only difference between my situation and yours is that you love Neji and you know that he loves you back."

Neji did a lot of things for Tenten, including getting hospitalized. He wouldn't do that if he didn't care.

"You have something good," Sakura told her, "don't be like me and get depressed about it. Now I have something good too." She smiled. "Lee and me? We seem like a good pair because we're not afraid of being ourselves around each other. You've known Neji for years, right? He's not going to stop liking you just like that."

No, of course not. That would be absurd.

"Gosh," Sakura giggled. "You should have seen the way he was looking at you when you put the hurt on Kiba. In the hospital when I looked after him, he always spoke warmly about you. He loves you Tenten. I haven't been around very long but even I can see that."

Tenten began to smile. "Yeah... I guess you're right."