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Characters: Rock Lee and YOU!! ♥
Location: Shibusen City Park
Rating: G to ?? (depends on the language of who stops by)
Time: mid-afternoon, April 17th
Description: Lee is still down from Gai-sensei and others disappearing earlier in the month. He needs some cheering up, or maybe just someone to distract him.

Lee sat on a park bench with his communicator in his hand. He wasn't looking at the device but rather out over the large park where some happy owners were playing with their dogs. Even then, Lee's gaze wasn't on anyone in particular. His round, dark, orb-like eyes remained fixed and mostly unblinking.

For a teenager who was often full of energy and shouting proclamations of youth, he looked rather somber. The fresh breath of spring was in the air, but for Rock Lee it was hardly a day to celebrate. With his sensei gone, along with Kakashi, several of his friends before them, and now even Temeraire, Lee just felt listless.

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Lee yanked back a little, confounded. His eyes flashed as mild irritation boiled to the surface. "No! That is not it!"

His arms flailed in an attempt to express just how frustrated he was that this conversation was still so confusing. Even though he was doing his best to be frank. Rubbing at his face, Lee attempted again to get his feelings across. He tried to not let his voice raise too high, but he could only do so much. "I know you do not find me attractive! The point is that... I am just..."

Taking a deep breath, he worked to bring down his temper. He wasn't make any sense. His shouldered slumped. Lee had not felt this pathetic in a long time. Shaking his head, he tried one more time.

"I know I am not attractive. In anyone's eyes here or back home." He drew a little further inward, feeling vulnerable. "And it is childish to feel this way, but it hurts to be reminded."

Neji shifted his vision back toward the streets, but kept his attention on Lee. His grip around Lee's wrist only tightened, rather than let him go. He didn't know where this was coming from, only that it had something to do with what had happened just after the invasion.

"Then you're saying that although you knew beforehand, the reminder upsets you," he parsed out eventually, taking Lee's words and simply rearranging them. "But if it was just a simple matter of your.. self-consciousness, Lee, this wouldn't be an issue and you never would've bothered broaching the subject, much less make an issue out of it. You're trained better than that. Which means that isn't the underlying reason for this conversation. So what is your issue with me, in regards to what happened then, Lee?"

Neji was trying to make sense of his feelings but Lee couldn't see them as being so clearly cut and logical. They were feelings. Though it was true, he should have been more disciplined than this.

Lee was conflicted. He wanted to pull away from Neji and just go home, but with his wrist so strongly held he felt compelled to stay and figure this out. Neji was trying, too. Lee sighed. "I do not know..."

There was one thing he could think of that might still be weighing on his mind. Warmth rushing to his face, Lee bit his bottom lip. This was so embarrassing. "M-maybe I am just... That time..." He swallowed. "... It was my... my first... k-kiss."

Neji blinked, slow and deliberate; attempting to process words he almost thought he'd misheard. After a moment, he let Lee's wrist go, and turned back toward the city.

It didn't quite rank as Neji's own first (although it was close), but he'd never put much stock into the sentimentality behind it like Lee might have, and so thought little of it.

"..Sorry," he said after a minute, sighing with a shake of his head. "If it makes you feel better, it shouldn't 'count' if it wasn't meaningful. I'm sure you'll have your chance with someone else soon enough."

Lee felt a wave of relief when Neji let him go, but there was also some reluctance in losing that contact they had shared. Even if it had been uncomfortable. The apology made Lee feel somewhat better, though. He released a breathy chuckle, though it wasn't quite as carefree as he might have hoped to sound. "I strongly doubt that..."

No one was climbing over themselves to give him romantic attention, let alone a kiss.

But enough moping. Lee gave Neji a half smile. "I appreciate the apology, Neji. Thank you."

He watched Lee in his peripheral, watched the half smile with doubts of his own, then shrugged.

"You're not.. unattractive, Lee," he said haltingly, frowning as he wasn't certain what he had planned to follow that up with. "And worrying about it isn't like you. It may sound ridiculous, but having someone that is interested in you because of the way you look isn't actually flattering. That's why I know when you find someone, it'll be a person that truly sees and appreciates you."

He opened his mouth, planning in insisting that Neji not speak lies just to make him feel better, but the more he listened the more he truly heard what Neji meant. Yes, it was probably true that someone who only cared for another because of their looks would no truly be able to love that person. Still...

"I think Gai-sensei being gone has me very knotted on the inside," Lee confessed. He felt so lost without that constant source of support. But he had Neji still, and Tenten, too. "... Maybe that is all that is really wrong."

It made sense, he decided. When Lee was ever unsure about anything, Gai had always been there to talk him through it. Though he might try to be encouraging, Neji knew his words would never outweigh their mentor's. Privately, he hoped it was something his teammate would grow out of, because if there was one thing he had learned during his six months in Death City, it was that it was time they made their own decisions. But Lee wouldn't take anything even sounding remotely close to those words well.

"Then get some rest, Lee," he settled on at length. "We'll pick up on our resonance again tomorrow morning."

Lee nodded. He could do that. Sleep and train and work towards ending this war. And someday, he would see Gai-sensei again and the world would start making sense again.

"Alright. I will see you in the morning, then." And before he could stop himself or let Neji stop him, Lee stepped close and threw his arms around his teammate. "... Thank you for talking with me, Neji."

Neji swayed with the sudden movement, pressing his hand to the cold stone wall to keep himself from falling over, and jerked his head where Lee's body pinned his hair between them. His hand came up to curl around Lee's arm like he was ready to pry it loose, but instead stayed there for a moment.

"Of course, Lee," he murmured quietly, never taking his eyes off the streets.

Holding his rival just a little longer, Lee gave him a tight squeeze before letting go. Feeling refreshed from that little bit of contact, he smiled much more like himself as he gave Neji a wave.

"I hope the rest of your shift goes well, Neji."

Neji swallowed with another nod, relieved at least, that Lee wasn't asking anymore invasive questions, and that he seemed to be more himself again. He watched him go, then settled back down with a sigh.

Tucked away in the shadows thrown off of adjacent rooftops, he prepared to keep watch for what would surely be a long night.

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