And then, all of the sudden, the phone in her room rang.

"Hello?" she said, dubiously, as she picked up. Nobody called her anymore. The girls she had thought of as friends before she left the Academy were long gone, with nothing to remember them by, and she wished them good riddance. Everyone important was usually far too busy to see her, or knew that she would be too busy to see them.

The voice on the other end was instantly familiar, despite the fact that she hadn't heard it in a long time. "Sakura-san?"

"Lee-kun, is that you?"

"Yes! I apologize for my boldness, Sakura-san, but I asked around town for your phone number. I would have asked you directly, but I haven't seen you around lately."

Sakura pictured Lee going door to door through town inquiring as to whether the household might know the phone number of Haruno Sakura. It probably wasn't all that far from what had actually happened. "Yeah," she replied, "I've been training under Tsunade-sama."

"That's wonderful!" Lee sounded genuinely happy. "I'd heard rumours of that. She must have recognized your potential as a kunoichi!"

"I guess so," said Sakura. "She's tough a lot of the time, but she's a good teacher. I'm learning so much."

Lee sounded like he was grinning on the other end of the line. She could practically see the sun glinting off his teeth. "Are you focusing on medical skill, then, or is she also teaching you her legendary strength?"

They talked about Tsunade for a while, and then compared training techniques. It was probably the longest conversation she'd ever had with Lee. Frankly, it was the longest conversation she'd had in a year or so, barring her talks with Tsunade. Talking to Lee was nice. It made her happy.

"Oh," he said, surprised, as they were about to say their goodbyes. "I completely forgot! Sakura-san, if it isn't too bold of me... are you doing anything Thursday night?"

Sakura pretended to think for a moment. Then she decided to discard the pretense. Her date book was empty, her mission schedule memorized, and Tsunade spend most nights gambling and drinking. "Of course not. I'll probably be training, but it's not like I don't do that every night. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering..." Lee paused for a moment. "That is, if you'd like, will you come to dinner with me that night?"

It took a moment for Sakura to actually recognize that he was asking her out. "Oh," she said. "Oh, um, I don't know. Maybe?"

Lee couldn't disguise the disappointment in his voice, but he made a good try of it, anyway. "That's alright. If you don't want to, the last thing I want to do is make you feel pressured... it's really no problem."

"No, it's not that I don't want to," replied Sakura quickly. "I'm just not sure. Will you give me a little while? To think about it? I'll call you back tomorrow, okay?"

"Of course!" Now Lee sounded absolutely relieved. "I'll be waiting for your call with all my heart!"

"Good night, Lee-kun."

"Good night, Sakura-san."

As she put the phone back on the hook, Sakura wondered what on earth she would do on a date with Lee. For that matter, what did most people do on dates? It had never been an issue before she became a Genin, she was far too young back then. Now she had nothing but impressions of shopping and the movies, which didn't sound very interesting.

Maybe she should ask her mother, she thought, before discarding the idea. She felt a little awkward around her parents now. They didn't know anything about the things that were most important to her; anyway, it felt selfish to depend on her parents when most of her comrades didn't have that luxury.

It probably wouldn't matter. Lee was a nice boy. He wouldn't press her if she didn't want to go out. She could spend the night reading medical texts.

With that settled, Sakura turned back to the mirror and finished cutting her hair. The end result wasn't particularly neat or professional, but it would do.

"You call that a punch?" asked Tsunade scornfully, pointing to the wall which Sakura had been training against. "You didn't even dent it. Again."

Sakura dutifully punched the wall again, focusing on the momentum of her arm as she had been taught. This time the brick cracked and shattered around her fist. "Is that... better?" she asked, panting slightly.

Tsunade inspected the damage and nodded curtly. "A little better. But you're distracted today."

"Yeah, a little." Having caught her breath, Sakura laughed, somewhat sheepishly. "Lee-kun called me last night and asked me out. Can you believe it? I told him I'd think about it."

"Have you thought about it?"

"But it would interfere with my training schedule, wouldn't it?"

"I can give you a day off once in a while. It's not like you ever ask for one yourself." Tsunade looked her in the eyes in a way she once found vaguely intimidating. "The important thing is if you want to go."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, I don't know," she said nervously. "I mean, I like Lee-kun very much, but I don't know if I could like him as much as he likes me. And you know, I always thought I would..." She cut herself off before saying who she had thought her first date would be with. "It would be unfair to lead him on. If I'm not sure."

"But you do like him."

"Well, he's such a nice guy, and he works so hard. And he really, really," Sakura made a hand gesture, "likes me. The way I am. Anyone would be flattered by that, right?"

Tsunade sighed. "Listen, Sakura," she said. "I want you to remember this. We're shinobi. When we do our jobs, we put our lives on the line. Even you could die at any moment."

"Of course I know that."

"But do you know what it means? It means you may only have a very short time left to be happy. You can't wait to do something until you feel totally ready, or whatever it is you're waiting for. Imagine if Lee died. Wouldn't you regret that you didn't accept his feelings?"

Sakura frowns. "But does that mean I should just ignore my own feelings to make him happy, because he might die soon?" she shoots back. "I can't do that!"

"Of course not," replied Tsunade with a little growl of impatience. "That's not what I'm saying. Leading a guy on, even if it's for his own sake, is one of the worst things a woman can do. If you don't like him, turn him down."

"But..."

"But if there's a chance that you like him, even if you're not sure, you need to confirm your own feelings. So go out with him. If it doesn't work, tell him so. Being indecisive will only cause you regrets. You have to seize your own happiness before you lose the chance."

Sakura thought for a moment. "Thank you," she said, eventually.

"Now get on the floor and give me two hundred."

In the middle of her pushups, Sakura put one hand up like she did a long time ago at the academy. "Tsunade-sama!"

"Yes?"

"May... I have a day off this week?"

Tsunade gave her a rare smile. "Only if you can punch clean through this wall by the end of the day."

"Sure thing!"

Lee was so filled with happiness he thought he might explode. When he had called Sakura, he hadn't really expected her to accept his offer of a date, although of course he had hoped for it feverently. The fact that she didn't outright reject him was reward enough. The fact that she had called him back and accepted was almost too much for his mind to take in.

He was currently doing handsprings over a series of small trees in order to properly express his joy. Tenten, who had recently returned from a B-Rank mission, was spotting him as well as attempting to give him helpful advice.

"Dress down," she said.

"What?" asked Lee, who was by this time halfway down the other side of the tree.

"I said, dress down!" yelled Tenten again, as Lee reappeared next to her. "I mean, look presentable, but don't wear a suit or anything. You don't want to scare her off."

Lee nodded. "I shall impress her with my modern casualness!"

"That's the spirit!" replied Tenten, who had spent enough time around Lee and Gai to be thrown off by this way of speech. "Let's see... in the same vein, if you're going to do anything that takes money, let her pay her share. No, wait. Offer to pay for her, but don't push her if she doesn't want you to."

"I see." Lee did several more handsprings, a little less energetically. "Is there anything else?"

Tenten shook her head. "Nothing you don't know, I guess."

"What about..." Lee took a deep breath, preparing himself, and grasped her hands with complete seriousness. "Tenten-san, I'm aware that... that my appearance is less than desirable for girls such as Sakura-san, who are used to a more conventional style. What should I do to appeal to her sense of beauty?"

"Oh, Lee!" Tenten's heart went out to him. "There's nothing wrong with how you look!" She thought for a moment. "No, actually, there is. Just one thing that separates you from other boys."

Lee grasped her hands tighter. "Yes?"

"You have eyes like a fish."

It was worse than he had thought. Lee's face dropped sorrowfully, hands falling to his sides, devastated by this frank evaluation of his looks. Still, now that he knew the truth, he had to find the solution to his problem. "What can I do, Tenten-san?"

"Don't worry," said Tenten, in a voice filled with confidence. "I know just the thing."

Several days later, Lee stood outside Sakura's door and hesitated slightly before knocking. At the same time, Sakura stood inside the door and waited for him to knock so that she could open it. Sakura's mother and father sat in the living room pretending they weren't paying attention.

Finally Lee knocked, and Sakura opened the door almost instantaneously. "Hi!" she said.

"Hello!" said Lee back.

They spent several seconds sizing each other up. Purely by coincidence, they were dressed in almost identical t-shirts and jeans. Sakura hadn't wanted to do anything too fancy, but at the last minute she had slid a little barrette into her hair. Lee looked much the same as always, except...

"Lee-kun," said Sakura with a sigh, "You can take them off."

Lee said nothing. The afternoon light glinted off his silver wraparound sunglasses.

"I know they're there. They're watching me behind the glasses. It's kind of creepy." Sakura, realizing she sounded too harsh, gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "If I didn't want to see your fish eyes, then you wouldn't be here, right?"

Lee removed the sunglasses at once, tears streaming from his eyes. "Sakura-san! I'm so sorry! I've misjudged you terribly!"

"That's okay, that's fine," said Sakura with a somewhat weary smile. "Shall we go?"

Taking a quick glance inside the door, Lee shook his head. "Just one thing..." With that, he walked in and dropped to the floor to bow deeply to her parents.

"Thank you so much for allowing me to court your wonderful daughter!" he yelled. "I am very grateful!"

"Lee-kun, you don't really need to..."

"She will be in extremely good hands! I will treat her with kindness, honour, respect, and a sense of equality between men and women! I swear this on my life! If I do any less, I ask... no, I beg of you to end my pitiful existence with your own hands!"

"Oh, what a nice young man," said Sakura's mother with a smile. "Sakura-chan has excellent taste."

Lee's bow grew even deeper. "You honour me with your compliments!"

"Okay, that's enough of that." Sakura picked him off the floor and turned to her parents with a shy smile. "Well, we're off!"

Her parents hadn't told her to be careful or not to come back too late for a long time. It would be somewhat awkward to give that advice to a ninja. But they smiled and waved and told her to have a nice time, and she hugged them both in a rare display of affection.

Walking down the street, Lee took one last look at her house. "You have very nice parents, Sakura-san."

"Yeah," said Sakura, after thinking about it a little. "I guess I do."

Hearing something like that from Lee - who had no parents as far as she knew - made her feel guilty, but not as guilty as she'd thought it might. She made a mental note to try talking to her parents more often. Being independent was all very good, but she did miss them sometimes. Maybe she could try to find a middle ground.

"So where are we going?" she asked, as Lee led her down a street she'd never been on before.

Lee turned to her with an almost sheepish smile. "I wanted to find somewhere very interesting to take you, but I couldn't think of anything that would be worthy of the splendor of this evening. Is it alright if we just go to dinner?"

Sakura nodded. "That sounds great."

They turned a corner, and Lee gestured for her to follow him as he leapt onto a nearby building.

After bounding from rooftop to rooftop for several minutes, they finally stopped. "It's down here," said Lee, pointing to the little courtyard below, as Sakura caught her breath. They jumped down together.

The restaurant was small, more like a cafe than anything. The larger buildings around it shaded it from the sun. Flowers and grasses of all kinds were planted against the stone walls. The seating outside was far from crowded, but there were several people eating and talking animatedly to one another. In the courtyard corner two women were playing a duet on wooden flutes.

"It looks very nice," said Sakura truthfully.

Lee's cheeks went red. "I had hoped you would like it." He pulled a chair out for her at one of the closest tables. "I come here with Gai-sensei sometimes. The ginger sauce is really good - but do you like ginger sauce, Sakura-san?"

"Mm, I like it." Sakura pulled out a seat for Lee and sat down in hers. "But I don't cook very often. I don't have the time, and it doesn't turn out well."

Taking the seat Sakura had drawn for him, Lee shook his head. "I'm sure if it's food that Sakura-san makes, it must be delicious."

"I'll cook for you sometime to prove you wrong."

"Then I'll cook for you as well!"

"Lee-kun, you cook?"

"Of course! It's probably not as good as what you're used to, but I don't think I'm bad at it. I make my own bentou."

"Really? Wow, that's amazing. I buy mine. Do you make them at night?"

"No, in the morning, before I train."

"And you train at, like, five in the morning, don't you?"

"Early to bed, early to rise!"

A waiter in a white apron made a little "ahem" sound and presented them with laminated menus. They read through them, continuing to talk.

"Oh, this looks good. Maybe we should do hotpot?"

"That sounds excellent."

"On the other hand, there's the fish... ah, I haven't been out for dinner since last year! I feel like I want to get everything."

"You could."

"Are you kidding?"

"Of course not! In youth, anything is made possible!"

"...Lee-kun..."

And so went the evening. Sakura had promised herself at the start of the dinner that she wouldn't talk about ninjustsu; they spent all their time doing it, so why discuss it in their time off? That resolution didn't last very long. By the time they finished ordering - they decided, finally, on a combo meal - they had gotten into a lengthy comparison of various techniques from the Chuunin Exams.

"Looking back, I think, you know, Gaara of the Sand... his power wasn't as impressive as everyone thought at the time," said Sakura reflectively at one point. "Of course he's incredible. But who wants that sort of power with no control?" She looked at Lee and stopped. "I'm sorry-"

Lee shook his head. "No, it's fine! I don't hold a grudge against him! I actually respectfully have to disagree with you. The last time I saw him, his control had improved greatly. All it took was for him to realize the foolishness of his ways."

Sakura thought for a moment. "The last time you... oh! That was when..." She trailed off awkwardly into silence.

"I'm very sorry!" said Lee quickly. "It was shameful of me to bring it up."

Worried, Sakura shook her head. "No, it's not a problem! I was just thinking. It's not like... I don't like the way it's become some sort of taboo to talk about," and she had to pause for a moment, "Sasuke. I don't think he deserves that sort of respect."

"Sakura-san..."

"Do you think it's strange for me to say that?" Sakura asked, with an awkward little laugh. "I used to be totally in love with him. I still have feelings for him, but they're not what they were. Because, you know, I'm not what I was, so it's... it's all completely different now."

Lee looked at her as though seeing her through new, albeit fishy, eyes. He had thought she had continued to like Sasuke in the same way all this time. But if that wasn't the case, maybe there was hope after all... "No," he said, "I think I understand. A little."

"I'm glad," said Sakura, with a smile that warmed his heart. And then, "oh, look! Our dinner's here!"

He walked her home after dessert; they both felt too full to take the shortcut. Dinner had been delicious. It was getting a little dark outside. Crickets were starting to chirp in the forest around the village. One by one, the street lamps were turning on.

"It's a beautiful night," said Lee reflectively.

Sakura grinned. "Past your bedtime, though, huh?"

"A little." Then he laughed. "No, that was a joke!"

"I had a really good time tonight," said Sakura. "The dinner was really good, and it was really fun to talk to you, Lee-kun. This is my first date, you know. And it was nice. You were nice."

Lee's step faltered slightly. He steeled himself for the 'but' that he knew would come: she couldn't do this again, because she had to work, or Tsunade-sama wouldn't let her, or she just didn't like him in that way. At least he had tried.

But Sakura only kept talking, turning to him as she spoke. "I'd like to try this again sometime. I don't know when I could get a day off again, but maybe in another week or so? We can phone and talk about it tomorrow. I need your number, though..."

"Oh," said Lee, stunned.

Sakura gave him a look. "What? You thought I was going to say something else?"

Lee started to cry again. "Sakura-san! Yet again, I have misjudged you!"

"Oh, that's alright," said Sakura, with a little wave of her hand. "I think I misjudged me too." She leaned forward and kissed him impulsively on the cheek. "And anyway, you'll have plenty of time to get to know me better. Then you won't misjudge me anymore, right?"

"Right," said Lee, and was completely red all the way home.

END

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