Neji watched from the shadows a good distance away, the Byakugan working to track the far-off figures. One of the figures was Rock Lee, the other Sakura. He held in his hands a bouquet of red roses, bought just that morning from Ino's family store.

Lee had pre-arranged this meeting a week ago, although Sakura hadn't know what it was about. Now, in the middle of a beautiful grove of flowering cheery blossom trees, with the sun shining in just such a way to make the entire place seem to glow, Lee approached the girl.

From his position, Neji couldn’t see Lee’s face, but he was sure the boy was blushing just as red as those flowers.

Sakura blushed as well, her hand wavering over her mouth in a silent "o" of astonishment as Lee presented her with them. He rubbed the back of his head absently, an unconscious gesture of nervousness, his posture stiff and tense.

Neji's heart skipped a beat, thudding almost painfully against his chest.

Finally, Sakura lowered her head a little and spoke. The roses Lee were carrying fell to his side, untaken. Then, with a small nod towards her, he turned and walked away. Sakura watched him go expressionlessly, clenching a fist near her heart.

Neji shifted his perception towards Lee. Large tears ran down his face, and he bit his lip to the point where a drop of blood welled on his lower lip. It might have looked comical if Neji hadn’t known exactly how heartbroken the boy was.

It only took a few minutes for Lee to reach Neji's spot. He blinked as the pale-eyed boy stepped into the open, and hastily rubbed the back of his sleeve over his face. Lee smiled at his teammate, while the corners of his eyes turned wet again.

"...Neji?"

"What did she say?"

Lee shrugged. "That she was sorry, but she was in love with someone else." He lowered his head and smiled at the ground, through the tears that had started to fall down his face again. "I promised that I'd do five hundred one-handed push-ups if Sakura-chan refused."

"Ah."

Neji walked up to him, hesitated, and finally put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"After you do those push-ups, want to train for a little while?"

Lee jerked his head up, a surprised expression on his face. He rubbed the back of his sleeve over his eyes again. This time, the tears didn’t come back.

"Yeah..."