"Don't tell me you wouldn't want her on our team!" Tenten complained with a long suffering sigh.

She twirled a kunai around her finger with an air of boredom. Lee was currently kicking a woman's figure out of a tree. One time she joked with Neji that Lee should have been an artist instead of a ninja. The now chuunin had given her one of those small thin smiles. Most would assume it was a cold reception to her joke, but she knew the boy better than most. The genius had made a wry comment about Lee thinking about girls too much, and it was interfering with his taijutsu training. Lee continued to kick at the tree post viciously. Splinters of wood shaved off from the post, giving it a thinner figure.

"Of course I would like S-Sakura-san on our team." He always managed to stutter her name.

Tenten smirked knowingly. He did not know the meaning of subtle. Konaha's handsome green beast was still hopelessly smitten with the Godaime's new apprentice. She was still sore about that! Tsunade was her hero—her ideal! Then Sakura swoops in and becomes her apprentice! How exactly had that happened! Did she just go up to her and ask! Why had she not thought of that first?

"Theeeen…" Tenten drawled out. "Ask her. Or who knows who we'll get stuck with! I saw Asuma's team eying her. They need a third member too."

"Why don't you ask her?" Lee kicked the post again.

The weapon expert crossed her arms impatiently. As big a crush as Lee had on Sakura, he avoided her like the plague! With Sakura's genin team gone, she only had her work at the hospital and her training with Tsunade to keep her busy. Everyone knew how obsessed the girl was with Sasuke! Now that he was gone, Lee could swoop in and play the good guy part he was naturally born for. Bad boy breaks a girl's heart, and the good guy swoops in to put the pieces back together. It was perfect! Lee was too much of a blockhead to see it.

"She knows you better. We've barely spoken two words." Tenten explained logically. "If I asked her, it would be weird."

"But…"

"But what?" She growled. Why was he being so obstinate? Oh wait, he was Lee! That was excuse enough. "Everyone knows you like her! You blurted it out the moment you met her!"

"But… she…"

"She obvious thinks well of you. Didn't she bring you flowers?" She needled.

"That was…"

"So go ask her!" She commanded. "I heard she's pretty good at healing now. Go fake an injury or something to talk to her."

"I'm not going to—"

Tenten gripped her kunai tightly in her hand as she looked at her teammate with an evil grin. Lee's eyes widened with sudden fear. She was his teammate! She would not injure him on purpose! Would she? Every teenage boy in Konoha knew that the kunoichi of the village were notoriously bad tempered and violent. It was all that ninja training, and also that super secret kunoichi training that Gai mentioned. When he asked Tenten about it once, she had glared and threw a kunai at him. Tenten was not as violent as most kunoichi, but she did have her dangerous streaks. There were certain subjects that he and Neji learned never to bring up. She would not physically fight him over this would she?

"Okay, if you don't want to fake an injury…" She smiled, her brown eyes lighting up mischievously.

He put up his hands and backed up a step. Maybe if he viewed her attempts to kill him as training, it might actually be fun. The more he looked into her rapidly evil eyes, the more he discounted that theory. He had seen her with her weapons scrolls earlier. She had a few nasty surprises in there. Ever since her defeat at the last chunin exams, she added a few more weapons to her repertoire. He had grown stronger as well, and faster! Despite being ordered to gradually ease into his training, everyone accused him of going overboard. He could not help it though!

Sakura had obviously grown as well! She had learned how to heal, and he had seen her practicing taijutsu on one of the training grounds. He almost asked if he could train with her, but he had stopped himself just in time. Why would she want his help anyway? She was the Hokage's apprentice, and he could still remember her rebuking words when he asked her out.

He rubbed his thick eyebrows at the memory.

"Lee!" She growled. "Just go talk to her! Stop being so shy! I don't want to maim you, but I will."

"I'm not shy." He sulked.

"C'moooon. You straight up asked to go out with her. How hard is asking to be on our team?"

"She'll say no." He crossed his arms, sulking further.

"Do I have to get sensei involved in this?" She threatened. "You know how he feels about YOUTH and the experiences involved in YOUTH…which involve girls."

Konoha's handsome devil hung his head. Guy-sensei would be so ashamed if he saw how timid he was being about chasing the flower of his affection! When he had been recovering from his injuries in the Chunin Exams, his sensei had seen the flowers in his room. He managed to convince his sensei that it was Neji and Tenten who had left the flowers because they were concerned teammates. He hated lying to his sensei, but it was for her sake as well as his! She would get no peace from his enthusiastic sensei if he knew! This was doubly unfortunate as he could not ask his mentor for advice!

"No, please Tenten!"

"Then go! If you fail, it's a thousand laps around Konoha!" She tried to give him incentive. She could never understand his need to put himself in these kinds of situations like their sensei.

"Only a thousand…?" He bit his lip, looking disappointed that she dare suggest such a 'low' number.

"Ugh, just go!" She pushed him in the right direction.

Rock Lee had no choice but to seek out the rose-haired girl of his dreams. Rejection was not an option this time!

Tsunade was a harsh teacher sometimes, well most times. Improvement was hard won, and difficult to see. She either accomplished her goal, or she failed. Her healing had gotten better, but she had not learned a lick of ninjutsu or genjutsu because her teacher was more concerned with training her as a battle medic. That involved healing and evasion. The medic always had to be the last to go down to save her team. She understood the importance of that, and she was not complaining! She was beyond grateful that the Fifth Hokage had taken her as her apprentice. She had been hoping that she would learn some powerful new jutsu before the upcoming chunin exams that would help in a battle situation. If she made it to the third stage, she wanted to make an impression. Of course, being the Hokage's apprentice already ensured that she would be watched closely, and if Tsunade-shishou believed she was chunin level she would help convince the council of damiyos and ninja who decided if she advanced or not.

Damiyos were impressed by flashy moves. That was a reason why ninjutsu was so valued at this stage! Kakashi had taught Sasuke Chidori, and it seemed that everyone there had some sort of signature move. Aside from the substitution jutsu, Sakura could not say what her signature move at the last Chunin exams had been. Every teacher or mentor she had ever remotely known told her she was a genjutsu type of ninja. Had any of them even tried to teach her a speck of genjutsu? Of course not! Tsunade was not known for her genjutsu, Kakashi never had the time of day to give her any sort of training, and she only learned about genjutsu and how to break it at the academy.

She had incredible chakra control. Tsunade and Shizune had complimented her on it many times. That was why she was able to heal while many of her peers could not. While healing was beyond important, she was not sure it would be very helpful in ensuring she became a chunin. There were a few moves that might impress the judges as well as other genins, but she had not quite developed them to the bestial flair that Tsunade had. With intense concentration, she could crush rock into dust with her hands. Using that in a battle situation was trickier. If she was not careful, she could punch a hole through someone. She wanted to incapacitate, not kill.

Hopefully this year's chunin exam would be less dangerous. At least Orochimaru would not show up… right?

She needed to work on taijutsu. That was obvious. She was not fast enough. She had the bruises from her shishou to prove it. Her reflexes had gotten better, but she was not physically fast or strong enough to cut it. She needed help. As much as she was having second thoughts about this, she needed help and fast. She might just kill herself to get this kind of help, but she was desperate. She was seriously considering this. She was insane. She had to be absolutely insane! As insane as the person she was going to ask for help.

There was the all too real possibility that he would say no, and that would not be too bad. Actually that might be better than actually going through with this insane plan. If she went through with this, she was more likely to die before the chunin exams than during. What was she thinking? Maybe insanity ran in her family. She should ask her mother about that the next time she saw her. Although if her family was insane, would they know it?

All right. Time to be insane. Sakura Haruno was about to kill herself with training.

'All right! Time to kick butt at the chunin exams!' She mentally pumped herself up before she could realize how stupid she was being.

Now that she was pumped up on insanity, it was time to find the person who embodied intensity. She clenched her fists in further determination. She had one guess as to where to find her future training partner, and if she did not find him…well that was the perfect opportunity to back out!

She took the first step towards the training grounds, stopped, and then began to walk again. She stopped after a minute and bit her lip. This was so stupid! She would be fine without help. She was not the same girl she was a year ago. She did not need this kind of insane help.

"Pull yourself together!" She hissed at herself.

She stomped forward with determination. She was going to make chunin before Naruto. She had resolved not to be left behind, and that's exactly what had happened! This was her only chance to surpass her teammate! Who knows what he was learning from Jiraiya? She had to do something. She was not going to spend each mission on the sidelines. She wanted to protect the people she cared about; that meant she had to be strong. So now she was going to the strongest person she knew. Even nearly being crippled for life had not stopped him.

This might have been her stupidest plan yet.

She did not have to ask today. She suddenly stopped. She could wait a day or so… or forever. She was already losing her nerve. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked forward into an unmovable wall of flesh.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU—" She threatened, only to stop herself before cursing.

"Please f-forgive S-Sakura-san!" Rock Lee stuttered as he helped to steady her. "I… please forgive me!"

"Lee-san…" She tried to remember the speech she had prepared, but it all evaporated as Lee began to nearly convulse with apology.

She watched him with wide eyes as he continued to apologize profusely. With how miserable he looked, she wondered if he had accidentally killed a beloved pet instead of simply running into her. She supposed she was at fault…slightly.

"Lee-san!" She tried to get through to him, but his apologies continued. "LEE!"

He had proceeded to dropping to his knees and begging for forgiveness. As she watched him, she knew now why his sensei had to resort to hitting him. There simply was no getting through to him. He was attracting the attention of everyone on the street and almost everyone in the village. Growling with embarrassment, she used chakra enhanced strength to haul him up into the air and shake him by his shoulders.

"LEE-SAN!" She yelled and shook him harder. "Pull yourself together!"

A few rough shakes of the overexcited genin were enough to calm him down. Once she was sure he was calm, she set him back on the ground. He took a deep breath, and wiped at his eyes. The medic in training was having further doubts about both her and his sanity.

"Sakura-san, I did not mean to run into you. Are you all right?" He was now being capable of being understood.

"I'm fine Lee-san." She waved off his concern.

Training with Tsunade had made her a lot tougher than she used to be. One of these days, the Hokage might actually kill her! Not if training for the chunin exams killed her first.

"I…I have something to ask of you, and you can say no. Of course you can say no. I'm not forcing you and I know—" He began to babble and she decided to cut him off before she was further confused.

"Me first." She knew it was probably rude, but she did not think she could understand the strange genin further than she already did. She also did not want to lose her resolve. "I need your help."

His eyes widened comically. In the academy they were taught that shinobi should never show emotion. Rock Lee seemed the exception to everything she had ever learned there. He was loud, emotional, and he relied solely on taijutsu. Yet here she was, asking for his help. What had her world come to?

"My help? You need my help?" His shock was quickly transforming into that endless manic energy she associated with him.

"I was hoping…well…" She sighed sadly. She was going to regret this. "I've never been very good at taijutsu and—"

"That's not true!" He shouted, causing pedestrians to stare at them.

"Tsunade-shishou is teaching me…but it is more evasion than actual fighting…"

"Do not give into doubt!" He clenched his fists in front of him in determination. "Doubt is the poison of youth!"

"ANYWAYS!" She tried to keep control of this situation. "I was hoping… you could help me train. The chunin exams are coming up, and I'm going to need all the help I can get. I don't have a team to rely on anymore…and last time…"

She shook her head sharply. She would rather not remember what happened in the Forest of Death. If Lee had not shown up when he did, she would likely be dead.

"T..train…?" He seemed dumbfounded by his favorite word.

"You were supposed to be taking it easy on your training." She accused. "But I'm sure you haven't!"

"I…Umm…" He had promised her that he would, but it had been difficult to keep that promise.

She crossed her arms, losing her nerve quickly.

"Well?" She snapped. "What do you say?"

A/N: Going out on a limb and actually posting Naruto fanfiction here. Sorry if it's a little rough. I haven't posted to in ages... Everything is different. I feel so old school. Oh well.