Just a short, cute, cliche one-shot. Feel free to critique, I will be happy to accept and consider any helpful hints you can offer. But comments like " I hate this pairing u stoopid" will be ignored.

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THE HEART IS A TRICKY THING

Haruna Sakura sighed as she walked back to her house. It had been three years since Sasuke had betrayed the village. Naruto had returned from his training trip with Jiraiya a week ago, and Sakura had only now found the time to go see him. Unfortunately, she had come just in time to see him kissing Hinata. She guessed Hinata had finally gotten up the courage to tell Naruto about her age old crush on him.

A slow tear slid down her face. Was there no one left for her? Ino had been getting closer and closer to Shikamaru lately. Tenten was currently dating Neji. It seemed that the only two guys she had ever liked, or had liked her in Naruto's case, were now taken or gone.

A gust of wind shook a nearby tree, and blew one of the leaves into Sakura's face, sticking to the wet tears. She reached up and peeled it off. Well, that wasn't entirely true.Sakura smiled, and brought the leaf close to her chest, cuddling it as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Lee-san still cared about her. He always had, since their first meeting before they'd taken the Chunnin exams for the first time. At first she'd avoided himlike the plague, but after he had saved her and the rest of her incapacitated teamates, she had begun to see past the huge eyebrows.

She had taken him fresh flowers everyday that he was in the hospital. When he had disappeared from his bed to try to train after losing to Gaara, the sight of him realizing he had truely lost his ninja way had broke her heart. Though she would never admit it to anyone, she had cried herself to sleep that night, mourning his loss. She had rejoiced when the news of his surjery had come back good.

Sakura let the leaf slip through her fingers. Lee had always come to rescue her in a flurry of leaves, and like an unspoken promise, when she looked up there he was, walking towards her as if to save her from her lonliness.

" Sakura-chan!" lee caled out to her, and for the first time in her life she whole-heartedly answered back.

" Lee-kun!" Sakura exclaimed and raced toward him. In her haste, she tripped herself, but the lightning quick Rock Lee was already there to catch her. She rapped her arms around him, giving his waist (the highest part she could reach at the awkward angle Lee had caught her) a tight hug.

"S- Sakura-chan, w-what..." Lee began to stutter before Sakura cut him off.

"Lee-kun, there's somrthing that I have to tell you. I just realized something that's probably been there for awhile." Her eyes shone as the light danced within her face, nearly bringing the infamous Rock Lee to his knees. He swallowed hard and nodded for her to continue.

" I realized that... I love you, Lee-kun!" Sakura exclaimed with a bright smile and a blush. Lee's face lit up cherry red and he began to stammer, again.

" S-Sakura-chan, I-I..."

" i think it started after the Chunnin exams, I started to feel something pulling at my heart and it just wouldn't give up or go away. But, I think I was blinded by what my heart usually told me. That I loved Sasuke, and might even have feelings for Naruto." Lee listened closely, for her voice was now muffled as she buried her head against his Chunnin vest. Lee figured that Sakura might be uncomfortable leaning at that awkward angle against his rough vest with only the one arm he'd used to catch her, to hold her up. He picked her up bridal style moved to the shade of a nearby tree; Sakura's head never left Lee's chest and her narrative never faltered.

"But I finally realized what it was, after I took the time to listen to what it was telling me. You know what I found Lee-kun?" Sakura asked as Lee sat down and leaned against the rough bark of the tree. He shook his head.

" No Sakura-chan, what did you find?" Lee gulped half afraid she was joking with him or that it was all a dream.

" That you were always the one for me! No matter what, you've always been by my side, you never faltered, never stopped loving me." she began to now. Lee held her tighter, wondering if she was crying, her face still pressed tightly against his vest.

" You always remained loyal to me, no matter if I was rude to you, ignored you, or chased after someone else. Lee-kun?" Sakura's head rose quickly, tears flying off to the side of her face to glitter for a second in the sunlight falling through the leaves, before disappearing from sight. Sakura's eyes narrowed as more tears fell. She reburied her face in Lee's vest and cried.

" Can you ever forgive me? I put you through so much, and took so long to realize what my heart was telling me all along." Sakura's sudden mood swing from being so bright and happy to bawling an dbegging for forgiveness confused her and Lee, But Sakura guessed that's what he did to her. Made her question all that she had been and want to make herself better, make amends... for him.

She started to say something else but Lee stopped her. He lifted her facefrom his chest to his face, and kissed her with all the "Youthful Passion" he could muster. And in this way showed her that all was forgiven and had been for a long time.

The heart was such a tricky thing, to drag her feeling around and play with her emotions before finally bringing her to where she belonged. In Rock Lee's arms with her mouth firmly pressed against his, and the both of them more in love than ever.

FIN

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AWW... Cliche? Yes like I said earlier, but R&R anyways

Please and Thank You