[X] 10/10 for style, minus several million for good thinking
You swallow your anger. Lee may get beat to hell, but he wants to end this himself. You...
... keep swinging, keep moving, the blood will mat into your hair soon and it'll stop dripping in your eye, god why'd you have to get dizzy now, shit, is your nose broken or does it just hurt, fuck, there goes a tooth, new crown if you get out of this, which you will, you've just got to deal with this ugly Hulk-looking bastard first...
... understand, a little bit. You let out your breath, and loosen up your back a bit, then saunter over.
"Maa, maa, what's this?" you call to the boy bent over his fallen friend, forcing cheer into your voice. You point at Lee, who has made it back onto his feet, clutching his ribs. "It's rude to leave your dance partner before the music stops."
The boy looks at you, then at Lee. His eyes bug comically. "Wh-what the hell, kid?" he blurts out. "You tryin' ta die?"
"... no..." Lee whispers, and with a wince, he falls into a ready stance. "... trying... to finish..."
"What the hell's going on?" the tall boy on the ground asks dazedly.
"I got this, Muchi," the other one says, standing and lunging at Lee once again.
"I remember..." 'Muchi' says to no one in particular, "we were gonna give that little thick-browed brat a taijutsu lesson, and then someone hit me in the head..."
"Mmhmm," Ami says, leaning over him with a smirk. "That was me."
"... you-!"
"Ah, ah, ah," you cut him off, blocking his fist easily with your tessen. "Assaulting one of the judges is cause for immediate disqualification, you know. You don't want to make your friend lose on a technicality, do you?"
He shakes out his hand, eyes watering. "Judges...?" he asks, frown deepening.
You nod merrily, making all this shit up as you go along. "In the match between Lee-sempai and that other sempai."
Ami pulls out a kunai and glares. "We're here to make sure no one does anything as despicable as ganging up on someone younger than them."
"Isn't that right?" You pat the boy on his shoulder. "We'll just all sit here and watch the fight together..."
You smile at him. "... ne?"
It is not a kind expression.
He bites his lip, and nods.
The fight is hell to watch. You can hear Hinata's insides spiralling in distress, and it's obvious it's taking all of Ami's self-control not to jump into the fray herself.
Lee gets knocked to the ground again, and gets up, again.
Lee gets knocked to the ground again, and gets up, again.
Lee gets knocked to the ground, and gets-
"WHY WON'T YOU STAY DOWN?!"
The older kid is freaking out, and you can see why. Lee isn't going to need long-term hospitalization or anything, but he looks like he's been thrown from a horse; his arms are covered in a mass of purplish-grey, he's been socked in the eye so much the bruise on his cheek has started bleeding, and there are twin trails of blood trickling from his nose. Any other, sane kid would have run home by now, or just turtled on the ground, or something. They wouldn't be trying to hold a proper taijutsu stance on a twisted ankle.
"Because..." he wheezes, "I haven't won yet."
The boy stares at him for a moment, trembling, expression warring between fear and disgust.
And then he runs.
"Kato!" his friend calls after him, then looks at you and Ami.
You shrug, and Ami puts her kunai away. He gets to his feet and follows his friend, throwing one last look over his shoulder at you.
"Well, I don't know about you," you say, genuinely smiling for the first time in what feels like ages, "but when your opponent runs away like a startled kitten, I call that a win." You grin at Lee, who, while still on his feet, seems a little spacey. "Whaddya say, Ami?"
She raises one arm and brings it swiftly down in a fight-concluded gesture. "THE MATCH GOES TO... uh... NORI-SEMPAI!" she shouts.
"Ami-chan!" Hinata says, sounding indignant.
You giggle. You've never mentioned it, but Lee's eyebrows really do look two strips of nori over his eyes.
Lee blinks, very slowly. A look of surprise creeps over his face.
"I... won?"
"Did I win, he asks!" Ami says, rolling her eyes. "That kid is going to be having nightmares about you for the rest of his life. What the hell were you thinking, telling us to keep out of it? You look like a bum getting thrown out of a casino!"
"It's a guy thing," you tell her. "You wouldn't get it."
Lee's expression is like the sun coming up. All of a sudden he bursts into tears. "I... I wanted to prove I belong in the Academy... that I could be a great shinobi, even though I can't use genjutsu or ninjutsu... and I did!"
He attempts to punch the sky in triumph, only to let out an 'ouch!' and clutch his side again.
Despite yourself, you grin, and pat him on the shoulder. "Damn right you did, sempai! You showed that jerk what a real Leaf-nin is made of."
"Ino-chan... thank you..."
"What would that be, sheer bloody-mindedness?" Ami snorts. "I wish that didn't make all kinds of horrible sense."
"Ami-san, was it? And Hinata-san?" Lee manages a half-bow. "I am in your debt. If you hadn't held back Muchi-san, I might not have made it this far. Thank you."
"It was nothing," Ami says, waving a hand.
"... youwereverybrave!" Hinata blurts out all in a rush.
... oh that's what that was. You try not to let your grin turn into a leer.
Oblivious, Lee beams at her. "It was easy to be brave, with you three here."
"Well, you might need that bravery a little while longer, man," you say, "seeing as we're taking you to the hospital."
"I assure you, I'm fine!" He tries to laugh jovially, but the wincing kinda ruins it.
"Bullshit," you say cheerfully, stepping behind him and shoving him in the direction of the hospital. "Ami, Hinata, grab hold to make sure he doesn't get away."
By the time you hand Lee off to a medic, Hinata's face has turned so pink it's almost purple.
You smile knowingly at Ami behind her back.
Ami's eyes flick in a circuit between you, Hinata, Lee, and then come back to you with a look of astonishment.
"What could she see in him?" your purple-haired friend asks later that night, while Hinata's in the bathroom changing into her pyjamas. "He's so plain and normal."
"Were we watching the same fight?" you ask. "I don't think that kind of iron will to succeed is normal at all. Maybe among Kage-"
"Or Iga-nin?" Ami asks, raising one eyebrow.
Damn it, you knew you shouldn't have taught her how to do that. She's using her powers for evil! Time to rebuke her like a good sensei should!
"Shut up!" You tickle her furiously until the two of you dissolve into laughter.
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Summer vacation is coming up. Whacha wanna do for the most part? Pick one.
[X] Hang with Shika and Chouji. You three aren't like you were, but sometimes it's just nice to be together, y'know?
[X] Train with Hinata, Sasuke and Menka. Sasuke says if you want there's a whole scroll on tessenjutsu techniques in the family library that's just going to go to waste if you don't use it.
[X] Get into mischief with Ami and Hinata. Maybe even get some training in.
After the summer break, what do you want to do with your free time? Pick three.
[X] Dream a little dream (or two, or three) of...
-> [X] Fucking handguns! How do they work?
-> [X] Hinata and Dad made you promise to get a seal master to teach you. They didn't say who the teacher had to be. Maybe one of your dream guys knows something about seals...
-> [X] A funny short-legged gorilla-man in a trench coat and hat.
[X] Work on improving your sewing.
[X] Work on your koto-playing.
[X] Work on expanding your sensing range.
[X] Introduce Lee-sempai to Menka. You don't need to be able to mould chakra to be a great swordsman, after all.
[X] Well... there's another art you know that doesn't require external chakra-manipulation...
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... I said he wouldn't be picking up an Ino flag. I didn't say anything about Hinata or Ami flags. ^-^