Escaping was too easy. With Tsunade checking up on other patients, Lee was able to sneak out without a second suspicion. One nurse asked him where he was going off to, but Lee just put an innocent face on and said Tsunade had released him. She gave him a smile and helped him out the door. He highly doubted the nurse would run back into Tsunade. A squad of ninja's had just come back from a mission, and some were banged up pretty bad. The hospital was terribly busy because of it.
Lee smirked at the hospital in front of him. A few Konoha residents ran into the hospital, a little bouquet of flowers in their hands.
Well, the "hard" part was over. Time to find Naruto.
He saw Shikamaru walk by him, his hands in his pockets. Shikamaru stopped before Lee could open his mouth.
"Hey, Lee! See you survived the surgery. Congrats."
He glanced at the wooden crutch that took its normal place by his side. "Still have to run around with that crutch, huh? What a drag..."
Lee nodded. "Tsunade said I can be off it in a few hours if I am feeling alright."
Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Good to know."
Lee returned the smile. "Have you seen Naruto-kun around anywhere?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Just wondering."
"Hmm, he's up at the training grounds. What a drag. I wouldn't be caught dead training in this weather." He sighed, then stuffed his hands back in his pockets and waved Lee a good-bye.
Lee knew Naruto pretty well. He wasn't surprised that hew as down at the training grounds. He had heard after the Chunin Exam preliminaries were over, he had trained as hard as he could, knocking himself out from lack of chakra, even. Lee was impressed. He wasn't entirely sure what the special new move was, (he had heard Sakura ranting to Hinata about it once before) but it was powerful, if he had heard right. He hoped to find out for himself one day. When his leg healed, he was sure to give Naruto a heads-up someday.
*****
As Lee walked down the streets to the training grounds, he tried randomly to walk crutchless. He tried once or twice before, with not much success. He knew he had to get his act together before meeting Naruto. As hard headed as he was, Naruto wouldn't let him go with him no matter how much he begged. But lucky for Lee, he was easy to fool. Despite this, Lee grimaced. He would just have to deal with the pain until either his body recovered or he just got used to it. Lee could take pain, of course. He shrugged to himself and continued, not too worried about it in the least.
When he finally approached the training grounds, Lee set his crutch by a tree, making sure it was out of the way. He looked at it for a moment, then sucked in some air and started for the logs.
Naruto was there, giving the one training post a whack then dashing up a tree the moment afterwards.
'I see. He is trying to improve his chakra. With that demon sealed inside of him from what I have heard, does he really need to?' Lee thought, wincing a bit as he stepped forward.
As Naruto slid down the tree he had fully climbed, he smiled as Lee came into view. "Hey, Bushy Brows! You made it!"
Lee smiled as Naruto dashed over to him. Naruto's grin grew even bigger as he noticed that Lee was crutchless. "And finally rid of that damn crutch for good! Welcome back to the Shinobi world, Lee!" He gave Lee a good smack on the back.
"Actually, I heard Tsunade was planning of sending someone over to the Village Hidden in the Mist with a very important scroll. I was thinking maybe you and I could take it!" Lee said, clenching his hands into fists enthusiastically.
Naruto's smile faded. "Did she really say you could go Lee? How long ago did you wake up?"
Lee shrugged, trying to keep a steady face. But how much did Naruto about all things wonderful and medical? Very little, if none. "She said I would be alright, as long as I do not push it too far."
Naruto nodded, his smile returning to his face again. "Alright, that's what I'm talking about! I'll go to the Academy now and--"
Lee quickly snapped a hand to Naruto's shoulder before he could finish. "No no no! Although Lady Tsunade said I would be okay, I do not want her to know I am going. She might suddenly change her mind and hold me back."
Naruto turned around, confused. "I can just tell them I'M going....But then everyone would be looking for you and that wouldn't be any better, would it?"
Lee shook his head. "No. Tell them I will be coming with you tonight. Maybe it will be easier then." Naruto nodded.
"Alright, I'll pack some stuff up. See you tonight, Bushy Brows! Believe it!" With that, Naruto was off. Lee sighed.
'I will have to be careful. Word will go around easy. I do not see why she would every throw such a fit. I feel perfectly fine now. Nothing to worry about.'
With that, Lee started off twords Konoha again. He paused once more, to stare at the wooden crutch that waited for him by the tree. He blinked once, and left it behind.
*****
Lee winced. His leg hurt.
'Maybe I should bring some medicine...other than the one Lady Tsunade made for me...It will not be easy walking around for so long, but I can take it. If I cannot complete this mission with no problems from my leg, then it is 400 push-ups!'
He added the medicine to his backpack. He went through the list again...:
Extra jumpsuit/leg warmers?
Check.
Food?
Check.
Medicine?
Check.
Water?
Check.
What else did he need? Lee couldn't help the fact that he needed something else, but he didn't really know what. He sat down and thought for a moment, wracking his brain. A light load was absolutely necessary; it was bad enough that his leg was slowing him down enough.
'Oh, my lucky kunai!'
Lee ran to his room to retrieve the kunai that lied on his desk. He picked it up and smiled.
The kunai that he held had helped him beat Neji...almost. A weak throw from him had got Neji in the arm...enough that Lee was able to get quite a few blows in. He almost landed the last blow when Neji struck Lee in the chest with his two fingers, sending him down for the count. Neji did have some troubles with his arm for a while though. But it was a serious injury. Just a bandage and he was back in the loop. Lee felt bad from his loss, but he was close
Lee gripped the end of the kunai, and slipped it into the pouch on his waist. He heard it clink as it tapped against the glass bottle that held his medicine. Lee had to remember to take it. He smiled; that finally completed his list.
With a last look around the small house, Lee shut the door and took off twords the Academy where Naruto waited.
*****
"About time, Bushy Brows!" Naruto said and waved as Lee approached him. Lee had started for the Academy and found Naruto at the gate instead. "I already told the guys inside the Academy that you and I were taking the mission. Believe it!"
Lee raised a black eyebrow. "And?..."
"They were perfectly fine with it. They're glad to have you back in the book." He said, giving Lee the thumbs-up. That always warmed his heart to the core.
"Alright! Let us go!" Lee said, pointing twords the Konoha gate.
"Right! I've already been there once...it was a major drag. Heheh, I'm starting to sound like Shikamaru!" Naruto chuckled and placed his hands around the back of his head. Lee laughed too, but where had he heard that before?
*****
Sakura watched as Naruto and Lee started exiting the gate. She was confused. Wasn't Lee supposed to stay at the hospital? All the talk of Tsunade letting him out early seemed fishy. He just had surgery! She wouldn't let him take any risks like that for at least a week. She thought she heard Tsunade talking to a nurse about him an hour or so ago. That wasn't what she said.
Something wasn't right. But she didn't know what.
[Reviews - 1]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: Thanks for the lone review! xD It's better than nothing.
Whoever rated this a five star is a bit too nice. A three would be a lot better suiting. O_O
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, end of story.
Chapter end notes: I didn't really like adding Sakura to the last part of this story. She's not really going to be of importance in this story at all, but hey. T_T
I hope this chapter was a bit better than the first. Review and tell me how it ish! :D