You leaned against the railing, ignoring the sounds of battle from the center of the room. The preliminaries rounds held no interest for you. You couldn't see them after all. Head resting on your hands, you thought of the image of Lee you had in your head. If your hands told you right, and you assumed they did, then Lee was absolutely adorable. How dare that Sakura woman tell him differently?

You sighed. Why was life so complicated? Why couldn't you just be with the person you loved? Or beat Sakura to death? Honestly, either one was good with you.

Neji activated his Byakugan and watched you from where he stood without turning his head. You looked sad, almost defeated. Was Lee really ignorant to his effect on you? Or was it a willful ignorance? Either was, he was getting sick of it. Right when Neji was about to go to you himself, Lee walked up and settled himself beside you.

You leaned toward Lee, sighing at the warmth of him. "Hey."

"Hello."

Lee leaned against you too, and you held each other up.

"Umm... (Y/N)?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Lee."

You did your best to keep the sadness from your voice, like you always did when Lee said he loved you. You knew he only meant as a friend. But this time, you didn't manage to hide it as well. Or maybe he was listening for it. The tinge of pain in your voice had Lee's thoughts chasing its tail. 'Why does she sound sad? Did she always sound like that? How could I not notice?'

He gently took hold of your hand and you squeezed it. Lee looked at you, and for the first time he noticed that you really were beautiful. Far prettier than Sakura. He'd known you so long, he hadn't really noticed that you weren't a little girl anymore. You were a woman now.

Lee's heart skipped a beat. What did he do? Who did he choose? He turned his head to look where Sakura stood with her teammates. She was pretty, no doubt, but... She was cold. Cruel, even. When Lee spoke to her, she looked at him like he was some strange animal, something disgusting to be avoided. But you... When he was near you, you gave him nothing but love and warmth. Even your insults were made in a loving tone of voice.

You'd never once said anything with the intention of hurting him.

Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close to him. He could feel your heartbeat speed up. You tensed up for a moment, but then relaxed against him, resting your head on his shoulder.

Lee held you tighter and smiled, gently kissing your hair.

A little bit away, Gai was slapping at Kakashi's arm, trying to get him to look at you two. "Look at them, Kakashi, look how much cuter they are than yours."

"Gai, please, stop this."

"Never."