Chapter 55
You have no idea how long I've been waiting to write this.
Sasaeko found Lee leaving Hokage Tower. All around them, florets had formed on the cherry trees, tinting the scene faintly pink.
“Lee-san!” she called, jogging up as he turned toward her.
“Sasaeko-san,” he said, smiling. “Good afternoon. Are you enjoying the weather?”
“Lee-san,” she repeated, coming to a stop several feet from him. “I have a challenge for you.”
He stared at her, unsure of whether he had heard correctly. “Come again?”
“I challenge you,” she said.
He frowned, brows creasing as he tried to make sense of it. Had he upset her in some way? To the best of his knowledge, she did not have a rival as he did. Was she hoping to name him as a rival? He already had that sort of relationship with Neji. Can you have two rivals at a time? he wondered. Confusion was quickly replaced with alarm. He was, to put it gently, out of her weight class. They had worked together in the past. She had to know his abilities, and surely by now she had a decent grasp of her own as well. But if she did not, how could he tell her politely?
Sasaeko watched as all his thoughts crossed his face. “It wouldn't be an outright battle,” she said, and watched relief suffuse his features. “More like an advanced game of hide and seek.”
“I think I still do not understand, but I accept!”
She nodded. “In that case, meet me at training yard twenty-three in half an hour.”
---
Exactly at the appointed time, Lee walked into the training area. It was heavily wooded around a small clearing, a set of training posts and the surrounding trees pockmarked from years of weapons training. At the edge of the clearing, Sasaeko stood up, off of a tree long ago felled by some ambitious shinobi. She met him in the center of the clearing.
“Thank you for coming,” she said.
He nodded, unsure. She was often formal with him, and he had long since accepted it as simply part of her personality even though she seemed more at ease with others. Today, however, she seemed unusually grave, and he wondered again if he had inadvertently offered some insult. She reached into the sleeve of her outer robe and removed a small hourglass, holding it up for him to see.
“I should explain the rules,” she said. “You will close your eyes and count to a hundred while I hide. After that, you will have half an hour to take an item from me.” At this, she removed an envelope from her other sleeve. “During that time, neither of us may leave the training area, the boundary of which I have already marked. If you win, you make keep the envelope to do with as you wish, and I will owe you a favor. If I am able to keep the envelope from you for that entire time, then you will let me tell you something, without interruption.”
She tucked the envelope back into her sleeve. “Are the terms acceptable?”
“Yes,” he said, though he was more unsure than ever.
She nodded, and walked back over to the fallen tree, holding the hourglass just over it. “When I say go, close your eyes and start counting.”
“Yoshi!”
She turned the hourglass over. “Go!”
Lee shut his eyes tight and began to count aloud. “One, two, three, four...”
Sasaeko crept across the clearing and, using her chakra, walked up the side of one of the trees. Within moments, she disappeared into the canopy. Everything was where she had left it in the branches. She made a few adjustments on her equipment. Taking care to be quiet, she took a deep breath and formed several hand seals. Two clones of no substance appeared. With more hand seals and an effort so great that she felt dizzy, she formed a solid one. They shared a quick look, and the original Sasaeko disappeared into another treetop as her clones scattered. Once she had found a suitable spot, she settled in and began working on the genjutsu.
“...One hundred!” Lee called from below. He nearly followed up with the traditional 'Ready or not, here I come,' but caught himself when he remembered how serious his challenger had seemed.
When he opened his eyes, the training area looked unchanged. The sands of the hourglass had shifted slightly, but nothing else. He walked around the edge of the clearing, peering up into the trees, uncertain of how to proceed. A part of his mind still wondered what the challenge was about, but he ignored it, telling himself to concentrate on the matter at hand, and that all would hopefully become clear at the end of it.
Across the clearing, the bushes rustled. He spun, sprinting to the noise, and reached into the shrubbery.
“Aha!” he said, feeling something warm under his hands.
He pulled, finding less resistance than he expected. His hands emerged from the leaves, holding a small rabbit that struggled against him. Seeing its distress, he quickly put it down on the ground.
“I'm sorry,” he called after it as it hopped away.
Lee frowned, straightening, and scanned the clearing. He tried to remember Sasaeko's skills in more detail. The few times he had trained with her, she had asked him for help with her taijutsu, claiming it as her weakest skill. For all that she had been a determined student, he suspected she was right. When they had been on missions together, she had mostly used her survival skills, making camp and finding food. He tried to recall the rare occasions he had seen her fight. The lightning jutsu that had nearly killed her during his last chuunin exam had overshadowed most of her performance in the elimination tournament, and he had been unconscious when she saved him during Madara's attack on the village.
He made another circuit of the clearing, running his hands along the trees as he considered his options. A flicker of motion in the corner of his vision made him turn. Sasaeko slipped behind him. Out of instinct, he readied himself for a Leaf Great Whirlwind, but remembered who he was fighting.
“Leaf Gale!” he cried, after the moment's hesitation, and dropped low, aiming the weaker kick at her feet.
As he kicked, she dropped a smoke bomb. It exploded into a greenish gray vapor. His kick passed through her and she disappeared, leaving him alone to cough and choke in the cloud. He jumped to his feet and stumbled away from the smoke, eyes swimming. His surroundings lurched.
A clone, to disguise the source of the smoke bomb, he thought. The dizziness isn't going away. Did she drug me?
He staggered, disoriented, and fell up against a large stone. Something jerked. He struggled against the chakra strings that swept up around him, lashing him to the rock. Before they could close on him fully, he kicked as hard as he could, smashing the rock into rubble, and escaped through the space where it had been.
Lee frowned, leaning against a tree to try and steady the entire world swimming around him. She is quite serious, he thought. This is more difficult than I had anticipated. If I do not come with a plan to go on the offensive, I do not think I can win.
He looked around the clearing, scanning the trees again, for some glance of her hiding place. He took a deep breath and staggered over to one of the trees, rearing back for a powerful kick. It connected, and the tree fell with a deafening sound, forcing him to jump out of the way.
“Yoshi!” he yelled aloud, grinning. If I give her nowhere to hide...
He turned back to where the tree had been, and found it still standing. The ground where he had seen it fall was undisturbed. To be sure, he patted at it, feeling only the dirt and grass.
Genjutsu? he thought.
A second wave of vertigo hit him, bringing with it a hint of nausea. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, and slammed himself against a tree trunk. It felt solid, leaves shaking down around him as he opened his eyes. He listened for a voice or movement, or any sign she had been up among the branches, but found none.
He hit another tree, and another, moving in a spiral around the clearing. As he finished the closest ring of trees, he waded into the underbrush that had grown up around them. The bushes moved, and he paused, wondering if he had misjudged her plan. A rabbit leapt past him, out of the bushes, and fled. He kept going. Another rabbit followed, and he wondered if he had disturbed a warren, until more followed. Rabbits poured out of the bushes, more than could possibly have been there. Thousands of rabbits, swarming around and over him, obscuring everything.
He felt something move against him, something without fur, and the shock of the rabbits wore off. They were just genjutsu, no need to worry about hurting innocent creatures. He spun as fast as he could, and they dispersed. Something brushed against him, tightening around him, and he fell to the ground. The bushes rose up around him, and he struggled, finding a rope wound around him. After a moment, he realized no knots had been tied, and felt around for the end. With some patience and care, he worked his way free of it, though he was hard pressed to ignore the growing dizziness, made all the worse by his spinning.
Triumphant and free, he stood. Not far away, an ankle disappeared into the leaves of a tree. He jumped for it, grabbing, and pulled Sasaeko down into the brush with him. She struggled against him as he reached up her sleeve, feeling around for the envelope. When he did not find it, he reached for her other sleeve.
Something dinged. Sasaeko disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he stumbled. Behind him, someone dropped down from the trees.
“Time's up,” said the real Sasaeko.
He stood, turning to face her. She made a motion, dissolving the genjutsu, and handed him a pill. He took it, and the dizziness abated. She turned and walked to the clearing, and he followed.
“Congratulations on your victory,” he said, grinning. “You surprised me. What is it you wanted to tell me?”
“I love you.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand, forestalling him.
“No interruptions, remember?” she said, smiling for the first time. “I love you. I've admired you for a long time, and my feelings grew out of that, though it took me a long time to realize what had happened. You've inspired me to work harder, to keep pushing, far past what I thought I could do. And for that, I will always be grateful to you. I'm glad I care about you so much. My feelings for you have helped me grow in so many ways.
“But I've also done some foolish things because of them. I've been trying to be like you, and I can't. I'm not like you. Even though you're wonderful, I have to find my own way. I have to find my own strength. But still, I am grateful. Thank you for everything, and thank you for agreeing to my challenge.”
After a moment, he realized she had finished. That she was waiting.
“I'm sorry. I am... honored by your feelings, and surprised, but I promised long ago to always protect Sakura. I love her.”
“I know,” she said, and he was surprised to see her smile again. “I'm happy for you, that you have her in your life. I'll always be your friend, and I'll always try to help you.”
“I'm grateful, too,” he said. “I am grateful that you thought I was good enough, worthy enough, and that you care for me. I'm grateful to have you supporting me.”
“Good luck, Lee.”
“Ah, before you go, what was in that envelope?”
“You already know. I just wanted to tell you in person.”
He nodded, understanding. “It was a much more difficult challenge than I thought it would be. I did not know you were capable of many of these things. Was that a solid clone, at the end?”
She nodded, blushing. “I can only make the one, though, and not for very long. I don't have a great deal of chakra.”
He shook his head. “Still, I was impressed.”
“Thank you for saying so.” She smiled, walking past him, and paused for a polite bow before she left.
Lee let her have a head start, figuring she would want to be alone. For that matter, so did he. He had much to think about.
---
Later that afternoon, Shikamaru and Chouji entered the Yamanaka flower shop, surprised to find it crowded with kunoichi. Several of them were clustered around the counter, chatting with Ino, though no flowers were exchanging hands. Shikamaru frowned, not sure he wanted to know.
“You're awfully busy today,” Chouji said, wading over to Ino. “Is there a holiday I've forgotten about?”
“No, and I should probably kick everyone out, since they're here to gossip instead of buy,” Ino said, crossing her arms. “But I'll admit, I got caught up in the story.”
“Why? What's happened?” asked Chouji.
“Sasaeko challenged Lee,” Tenten said, and he noticed her for the first time.
“What?” Shikamaru asked, staring.
Chouji paled. “Is she okay? I mean, she's a good kunoichi, but her combat-”
Tenten grinned. “It wasn't a fight. I came in here to get the scoop, myself. No, she challenged him to hide and seek, and won. And when she won, her prize was to confess to him!”
“I... What happened?” asked Chouji.
Tenten shrugged. “He turned her down. I mean, he's in love with Sakura, so we shouldn't be surprised, but I was kind of hoping that when she finally told him, he'd be so flattered to have someone like him that he'd say yes.”
“It's not what I would have done, but I'll admit, I'm kind of surprised she had it in her,” Ino said.
“Yeah, I've always thought she was pretty shy,” Tenten said, nodding. “Good for her.”
Similar murmurs came out of the other kunoichi in the shop.
Chouji let out a breath. “I hope she's okay... I guess that explains why she wasn't at home when I stopped by earlier.”
The door chimes rang, and someone popped in. Kori's head peeked over the rest of the crowd as he stood on his toes.
“Have you guys seen Sacchan?” he asked, as the crowd made way for him.
Ino shook her head. “No, we've only just heard the rumor.”
“Us, too,” Kori said, as Shiryoku appeared at his elbow. “We're a little worried, actually. She wasn't at home or at Sensei's, and my aunt hasn't seen her.”
“We'll help you look for her,” said Chouji.
“Good luck,” Ino said. “I have to stay here with all these potential customers.”
They slipped past the crowds and out the door.
“You said you've already checked her place, Taki-sensei's, and yours?” Chouji asked, and Kori nodded. “Where else? Um, I guess I'll check the park.”
“She's probably fine,” Kori said, though he didn't sound convinced.
Shikamaru grunted and separated from the others. As he reached a crossroads, a thought occurred to him. He turned the next corner and walked down another neighborhood, slipping into an alley and up a flight of stairs, to one of his favorite rooftops. As he crested the steps, he saw her, lying on her back, her arms folded under her head.
“Were you waiting for me?” he asked.
She looked over, not sitting up. “Not really. Sorry, I just wanted a quiet place to think, so I borrowed your spot. I can find another, if you want it back.”
“What are you doing?” he asked, climbing up to sit next to her.
“Thinking, like I said.” She laughed a little. “Sorry. I think I'm a little punch-drunk. I wanted to wait until that passed, too.”
He scowled at her. “So, what? I tell you about Chouji's feelings, and you run off to confess your love to Lee?”
“I knew he'd say no.” She had gone back to watching the clouds.
“Why, then? Why tell him if you knew he'd reject you?”
She reached up one hand, blocking the sun as a cloud moved to uncover it.
“Closure,” she said after a while. “I wanted a definite no. I didn't want false hope hanging over me, keeping me from seeing things clearly.”
At that, she turned her head to look at him. She looked peaceful. More relaxed than he could remember seeing her in a long time. She pushed herself to her feet and brushed some dust off of her clothes.
“I'll let you have your spot back now. Maybe I'll try thinking about things while I take a walk.”
She slipped past him, her hand just barely brushing against his cheek as she walked through the narrow space. He watched her disappear down the stairs, feeling distinctly off-balanced.
Sasaeko found Lee leaving Hokage Tower. All around them, florets had formed on the cherry trees, tinting the scene faintly pink.
“Lee-san!” she called, jogging up as he turned toward her.
“Sasaeko-san,” he said, smiling. “Good afternoon. Are you enjoying the weather?”
“Lee-san,” she repeated, coming to a stop several feet from him. “I have a challenge for you.”
He stared at her, unsure of whether he had heard correctly. “Come again?”
“I challenge you,” she said.
He frowned, brows creasing as he tried to make sense of it. Had he upset her in some way? To the best of his knowledge, she did not have a rival as he did. Was she hoping to name him as a rival? He already had that sort of relationship with Neji. Can you have two rivals at a time? he wondered. Confusion was quickly replaced with alarm. He was, to put it gently, out of her weight class. They had worked together in the past. She had to know his abilities, and surely by now she had a decent grasp of her own as well. But if she did not, how could he tell her politely?
Sasaeko watched as all his thoughts crossed his face. “It wouldn't be an outright battle,” she said, and watched relief suffuse his features. “More like an advanced game of hide and seek.”
“I think I still do not understand, but I accept!”
She nodded. “In that case, meet me at training yard twenty-three in half an hour.”
---
Exactly at the appointed time, Lee walked into the training area. It was heavily wooded around a small clearing, a set of training posts and the surrounding trees pockmarked from years of weapons training. At the edge of the clearing, Sasaeko stood up, off of a tree long ago felled by some ambitious shinobi. She met him in the center of the clearing.
“Thank you for coming,” she said.
He nodded, unsure. She was often formal with him, and he had long since accepted it as simply part of her personality even though she seemed more at ease with others. Today, however, she seemed unusually grave, and he wondered again if he had inadvertently offered some insult. She reached into the sleeve of her outer robe and removed a small hourglass, holding it up for him to see.
“I should explain the rules,” she said. “You will close your eyes and count to a hundred while I hide. After that, you will have half an hour to take an item from me.” At this, she removed an envelope from her other sleeve. “During that time, neither of us may leave the training area, the boundary of which I have already marked. If you win, you make keep the envelope to do with as you wish, and I will owe you a favor. If I am able to keep the envelope from you for that entire time, then you will let me tell you something, without interruption.”
She tucked the envelope back into her sleeve. “Are the terms acceptable?”
“Yes,” he said, though he was more unsure than ever.
She nodded, and walked back over to the fallen tree, holding the hourglass just over it. “When I say go, close your eyes and start counting.”
“Yoshi!”
She turned the hourglass over. “Go!”
Lee shut his eyes tight and began to count aloud. “One, two, three, four...”
Sasaeko crept across the clearing and, using her chakra, walked up the side of one of the trees. Within moments, she disappeared into the canopy. Everything was where she had left it in the branches. She made a few adjustments on her equipment. Taking care to be quiet, she took a deep breath and formed several hand seals. Two clones of no substance appeared. With more hand seals and an effort so great that she felt dizzy, she formed a solid one. They shared a quick look, and the original Sasaeko disappeared into another treetop as her clones scattered. Once she had found a suitable spot, she settled in and began working on the genjutsu.
“...One hundred!” Lee called from below. He nearly followed up with the traditional 'Ready or not, here I come,' but caught himself when he remembered how serious his challenger had seemed.
When he opened his eyes, the training area looked unchanged. The sands of the hourglass had shifted slightly, but nothing else. He walked around the edge of the clearing, peering up into the trees, uncertain of how to proceed. A part of his mind still wondered what the challenge was about, but he ignored it, telling himself to concentrate on the matter at hand, and that all would hopefully become clear at the end of it.
Across the clearing, the bushes rustled. He spun, sprinting to the noise, and reached into the shrubbery.
“Aha!” he said, feeling something warm under his hands.
He pulled, finding less resistance than he expected. His hands emerged from the leaves, holding a small rabbit that struggled against him. Seeing its distress, he quickly put it down on the ground.
“I'm sorry,” he called after it as it hopped away.
Lee frowned, straightening, and scanned the clearing. He tried to remember Sasaeko's skills in more detail. The few times he had trained with her, she had asked him for help with her taijutsu, claiming it as her weakest skill. For all that she had been a determined student, he suspected she was right. When they had been on missions together, she had mostly used her survival skills, making camp and finding food. He tried to recall the rare occasions he had seen her fight. The lightning jutsu that had nearly killed her during his last chuunin exam had overshadowed most of her performance in the elimination tournament, and he had been unconscious when she saved him during Madara's attack on the village.
He made another circuit of the clearing, running his hands along the trees as he considered his options. A flicker of motion in the corner of his vision made him turn. Sasaeko slipped behind him. Out of instinct, he readied himself for a Leaf Great Whirlwind, but remembered who he was fighting.
“Leaf Gale!” he cried, after the moment's hesitation, and dropped low, aiming the weaker kick at her feet.
As he kicked, she dropped a smoke bomb. It exploded into a greenish gray vapor. His kick passed through her and she disappeared, leaving him alone to cough and choke in the cloud. He jumped to his feet and stumbled away from the smoke, eyes swimming. His surroundings lurched.
A clone, to disguise the source of the smoke bomb, he thought. The dizziness isn't going away. Did she drug me?
He staggered, disoriented, and fell up against a large stone. Something jerked. He struggled against the chakra strings that swept up around him, lashing him to the rock. Before they could close on him fully, he kicked as hard as he could, smashing the rock into rubble, and escaped through the space where it had been.
Lee frowned, leaning against a tree to try and steady the entire world swimming around him. She is quite serious, he thought. This is more difficult than I had anticipated. If I do not come with a plan to go on the offensive, I do not think I can win.
He looked around the clearing, scanning the trees again, for some glance of her hiding place. He took a deep breath and staggered over to one of the trees, rearing back for a powerful kick. It connected, and the tree fell with a deafening sound, forcing him to jump out of the way.
“Yoshi!” he yelled aloud, grinning. If I give her nowhere to hide...
He turned back to where the tree had been, and found it still standing. The ground where he had seen it fall was undisturbed. To be sure, he patted at it, feeling only the dirt and grass.
Genjutsu? he thought.
A second wave of vertigo hit him, bringing with it a hint of nausea. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, and slammed himself against a tree trunk. It felt solid, leaves shaking down around him as he opened his eyes. He listened for a voice or movement, or any sign she had been up among the branches, but found none.
He hit another tree, and another, moving in a spiral around the clearing. As he finished the closest ring of trees, he waded into the underbrush that had grown up around them. The bushes moved, and he paused, wondering if he had misjudged her plan. A rabbit leapt past him, out of the bushes, and fled. He kept going. Another rabbit followed, and he wondered if he had disturbed a warren, until more followed. Rabbits poured out of the bushes, more than could possibly have been there. Thousands of rabbits, swarming around and over him, obscuring everything.
He felt something move against him, something without fur, and the shock of the rabbits wore off. They were just genjutsu, no need to worry about hurting innocent creatures. He spun as fast as he could, and they dispersed. Something brushed against him, tightening around him, and he fell to the ground. The bushes rose up around him, and he struggled, finding a rope wound around him. After a moment, he realized no knots had been tied, and felt around for the end. With some patience and care, he worked his way free of it, though he was hard pressed to ignore the growing dizziness, made all the worse by his spinning.
Triumphant and free, he stood. Not far away, an ankle disappeared into the leaves of a tree. He jumped for it, grabbing, and pulled Sasaeko down into the brush with him. She struggled against him as he reached up her sleeve, feeling around for the envelope. When he did not find it, he reached for her other sleeve.
Something dinged. Sasaeko disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he stumbled. Behind him, someone dropped down from the trees.
“Time's up,” said the real Sasaeko.
He stood, turning to face her. She made a motion, dissolving the genjutsu, and handed him a pill. He took it, and the dizziness abated. She turned and walked to the clearing, and he followed.
“Congratulations on your victory,” he said, grinning. “You surprised me. What is it you wanted to tell me?”
“I love you.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand, forestalling him.
“No interruptions, remember?” she said, smiling for the first time. “I love you. I've admired you for a long time, and my feelings grew out of that, though it took me a long time to realize what had happened. You've inspired me to work harder, to keep pushing, far past what I thought I could do. And for that, I will always be grateful to you. I'm glad I care about you so much. My feelings for you have helped me grow in so many ways.
“But I've also done some foolish things because of them. I've been trying to be like you, and I can't. I'm not like you. Even though you're wonderful, I have to find my own way. I have to find my own strength. But still, I am grateful. Thank you for everything, and thank you for agreeing to my challenge.”
After a moment, he realized she had finished. That she was waiting.
“I'm sorry. I am... honored by your feelings, and surprised, but I promised long ago to always protect Sakura. I love her.”
“I know,” she said, and he was surprised to see her smile again. “I'm happy for you, that you have her in your life. I'll always be your friend, and I'll always try to help you.”
“I'm grateful, too,” he said. “I am grateful that you thought I was good enough, worthy enough, and that you care for me. I'm grateful to have you supporting me.”
“Good luck, Lee.”
“Ah, before you go, what was in that envelope?”
“You already know. I just wanted to tell you in person.”
He nodded, understanding. “It was a much more difficult challenge than I thought it would be. I did not know you were capable of many of these things. Was that a solid clone, at the end?”
She nodded, blushing. “I can only make the one, though, and not for very long. I don't have a great deal of chakra.”
He shook his head. “Still, I was impressed.”
“Thank you for saying so.” She smiled, walking past him, and paused for a polite bow before she left.
Lee let her have a head start, figuring she would want to be alone. For that matter, so did he. He had much to think about.
---
Later that afternoon, Shikamaru and Chouji entered the Yamanaka flower shop, surprised to find it crowded with kunoichi. Several of them were clustered around the counter, chatting with Ino, though no flowers were exchanging hands. Shikamaru frowned, not sure he wanted to know.
“You're awfully busy today,” Chouji said, wading over to Ino. “Is there a holiday I've forgotten about?”
“No, and I should probably kick everyone out, since they're here to gossip instead of buy,” Ino said, crossing her arms. “But I'll admit, I got caught up in the story.”
“Why? What's happened?” asked Chouji.
“Sasaeko challenged Lee,” Tenten said, and he noticed her for the first time.
“What?” Shikamaru asked, staring.
Chouji paled. “Is she okay? I mean, she's a good kunoichi, but her combat-”
Tenten grinned. “It wasn't a fight. I came in here to get the scoop, myself. No, she challenged him to hide and seek, and won. And when she won, her prize was to confess to him!”
“I... What happened?” asked Chouji.
Tenten shrugged. “He turned her down. I mean, he's in love with Sakura, so we shouldn't be surprised, but I was kind of hoping that when she finally told him, he'd be so flattered to have someone like him that he'd say yes.”
“It's not what I would have done, but I'll admit, I'm kind of surprised she had it in her,” Ino said.
“Yeah, I've always thought she was pretty shy,” Tenten said, nodding. “Good for her.”
Similar murmurs came out of the other kunoichi in the shop.
Chouji let out a breath. “I hope she's okay... I guess that explains why she wasn't at home when I stopped by earlier.”
The door chimes rang, and someone popped in. Kori's head peeked over the rest of the crowd as he stood on his toes.
“Have you guys seen Sacchan?” he asked, as the crowd made way for him.
Ino shook her head. “No, we've only just heard the rumor.”
“Us, too,” Kori said, as Shiryoku appeared at his elbow. “We're a little worried, actually. She wasn't at home or at Sensei's, and my aunt hasn't seen her.”
“We'll help you look for her,” said Chouji.
“Good luck,” Ino said. “I have to stay here with all these potential customers.”
They slipped past the crowds and out the door.
“You said you've already checked her place, Taki-sensei's, and yours?” Chouji asked, and Kori nodded. “Where else? Um, I guess I'll check the park.”
“She's probably fine,” Kori said, though he didn't sound convinced.
Shikamaru grunted and separated from the others. As he reached a crossroads, a thought occurred to him. He turned the next corner and walked down another neighborhood, slipping into an alley and up a flight of stairs, to one of his favorite rooftops. As he crested the steps, he saw her, lying on her back, her arms folded under her head.
“Were you waiting for me?” he asked.
She looked over, not sitting up. “Not really. Sorry, I just wanted a quiet place to think, so I borrowed your spot. I can find another, if you want it back.”
“What are you doing?” he asked, climbing up to sit next to her.
“Thinking, like I said.” She laughed a little. “Sorry. I think I'm a little punch-drunk. I wanted to wait until that passed, too.”
He scowled at her. “So, what? I tell you about Chouji's feelings, and you run off to confess your love to Lee?”
“I knew he'd say no.” She had gone back to watching the clouds.
“Why, then? Why tell him if you knew he'd reject you?”
She reached up one hand, blocking the sun as a cloud moved to uncover it.
“Closure,” she said after a while. “I wanted a definite no. I didn't want false hope hanging over me, keeping me from seeing things clearly.”
At that, she turned her head to look at him. She looked peaceful. More relaxed than he could remember seeing her in a long time. She pushed herself to her feet and brushed some dust off of her clothes.
“I'll let you have your spot back now. Maybe I'll try thinking about things while I take a walk.”
She slipped past him, her hand just barely brushing against his cheek as she walked through the narrow space. He watched her disappear down the stairs, feeling distinctly off-balanced.