Wordless - The Path of... Pt 3

First Story: Rock Lee and Yakushi Nekomata
Chapter 2: The odd couple
Nearly two months had passed by since that mission. Gai was looking for his favourite student, he had invited his students for training; instead he met the others, Tenten and Neji.
“Neji-kun, did you see Lee recently?”
“Unfortunately not, Gai-sensei. He hadn’t been training with us for while… I wonder where he’s going for training, for I am sure that he is training somewhere…”
“That’s quite unusual for him, not telling us where he is,” Gai mentioned.
“I know where he trains.” Tenten grinned nastily.
“What?!” The two men seemed puzzled.
“Every day he is not on duty, he goes to the estate of the Yakushi clan, training with the eldest daughter of Yakushi Yamato. The girl is as fast as he himself. He may not realise it, but training at the centre of the estate is the closest idea of a date a Yakushi could have.  And don’t worry about Lee’s misbehaviour in front of women – she reacts to mistakes exactly like you, Gai-sensei: with a punch to his face, end of debate.”
(A member of the Yakushi clan leaves the clan’s home only in two cases: either he or she got expelled (literally kicked out) or in a black box (dead))
“Where did you get that from, Tenten?” Neji couldn’t believe his ears. Lee was dating a girl! And also one from the Yakushis!
“From Ino, who heard it from Sakura.” Tenten was close to crack up.
Gai ended the discussion before his two other students would start a fight on the main street of Konoha. “Well then, should we go for lunch, Neji-kun, Tenten-san?” he offered.
Neji sighed. “Okay, but it’s your treat, Gai-sensei.”
“Of course.”
While they were walking to a restaurant, Gai allowed himself a light smile. It looked like his favourite student finally found someone as unusual as himself. And from what he had heard, the young Yakushi Nekomata was as talented as she was beautiful. “Clearly, things are changing,” he thought.

It was already evening. After having dinner at home, Lee walked over to the Yakushi’s place for his evening training session with Neko-chan. He did not understand why he always did so since the day he had met her; it simply had become natural to him. And when they were not fighting, she was some odd but good company; he felt comfortable with her around (and uncomfortable if she was not there), somehow.
She already waited for him, sitting on the ground.
“Ready for another try? It’s been 47 draws by now.”
“Ready I am, Nekomata-san,” he answered with self-confidence.
They bowed to each other and took up battle stance: he in strong fist style, she in gods’ fist style. A fierce fight emerged, with no one getting an advantage.
Lee was thinking hard. Somehow, his heart had been changing the last month, his mind now circling around how to beat or impress Nekomata, the rough, unusual, proud and beautiful Nekomata. And somehow, the upcoming answer was as natural as fighting her. But that would need exact timing and a good amount of luck, and if it would not work, he would embarrass them both…
Lee changed the form of his attacks, attacking her now only with his fists. “Curious,” she thought. “What is he planning?” While dodging, she analysed his facial expression, activating her eyes to use the art of insight. “It looks like you are thinking hard, Lee. But I don’t think that you really think about battling me. So, what else can you being planning? Oh, no…”
The conclusion she came to was astonishing – and natural. “I knew it. Looks like I’m just as crazy as you are, at the bottom of my heart. But don’t think that you will get the initiative in that, boy!”
Following his thoughts, she also began to attack him hands only.
”It seems that I have to pre- read his movements in order to do it before he does. Sheesh, this will be hard…”
Punch (Neko), dodge (Lee), punch (Lee), block (Neko), punch (Neko), dodge by jumping (Lee)…
“Now,” Lee thought. He had reached for her head with his right hand as she suddenly broke through its defences with body flicker technique, grabbing him by the shoulders.
“What are you…?” Without a warning, Lee could neither speak nor breathe, for Nekomata was kissing him with fierce determination, effectively catching him off guard. (Lee vs. Nekomata: 48 fights, 48 draws, one kiss) For a few seconds, although it was like a wonderful eternity to him, there was silence.
But suddenly, her sense for challenge and her passion turned off, her seriousness and self-control kicked in and Nekomata jumped to the roof, scared. She began to tear her hair, cursing herself. “Oh no, what am I doing here?! I lost control!” she shouted.
Lee was still confused and attempted to apologize. “Nekomata-san, I…”
“Get out!”
“But Nekomata-san…”
“Get out! Gods, what did I do?!”
These words clearly marked the end of the training session tonight; so Lee decided to leave the place. The thought made him sad, and although she clearly kicked him out of the house, for a strange reason, he did not want to leave; but he also knew what would happen if he stayed… Lee sighed and made his way to the entrance hall. He was still surprised and confused by the incident, and the way she reacted made him depressed, in some way. Still brooding about all of that, he was so unaware of his surroundings that he bumped into Yakushi Yamato-sama in the entrance hall, who was returning home from hospital duty.
“Oh, I am sorry, Yakushi-sama.”
“Lee, what’s wrong? Where is Neko-chan?!” “Strange,” he thought. Usually she says good night to him, leading him out of the house…
“On the roof. Good night, Yakushi-sama.” Lee bowed to the medical ninja and left.

Yamato watched Lee as he left; his brain was working hardly in order to remember something. “When did I see such a scene the last time? Oh, no, did she really kiss him already? If it is so, then I must hurry!” The great medical ninja rushed for the dojo, a conclusion in mind. In spite of his concern, a dim smile appeared on his sorrowful face, knowing that he had reacted exactly like this to his first kiss.
Nekomata still sat on the roof, still tearing her hair. “What the hell I’ve been doing? I lost control!” she thought. “Aargh! Gods!”
Yamato stood suddenly the middle of the dojo, his veins burning with anger and sorrow, knowing exactly what would happen if he wouldn’t act by now: the boy would never return, feeling rejected, somehow. He fixated his daughter with activated eyes. It had been the first time he yelled at her since she had been 12 years old.
“First: come down here at once!”
“No, I don’t! Gods, what did I do?!”
“The same I did when I was in your situation. And I do now what my father did in that situation. You’re afraid because you lost control. I am telling you now something, Little Kitten (Chibi-Neko/Neko-chan): it is okay to lose control in private, even sometimes in public. But it is not OK to kick him out in such a rude manner.”
“And what do you expect me to do, O-to-sama?” Nekomata calmed down a bit and jumped off the roof, knowing that her father was serious, for he had activated his eyes on second level.
“This leads to Second: That you run after him and tell him the truth. Otherwise, you are probably missing the chance of your life! There are not many boys like him in this village or even in the world!”
“I’m a Yakushi! How should I…”
“I do not expect you to use words, daughter. Simply show him that you were serious about it. Here, take these.”
Nekomata’s eyes widened as her father gave her three packed-up sheaths (the ones you use in bed while “having fun”), but she understood the meaning of it: the dancing and playing time was over, time for serious business now. Neko-chan dashed out of the house, utilising her full speed. “I hope he is still on the hospital grounds,” she thought desperately.

Lee was clearly in a low mood as he was crossing the hospital gardens. Complete silence surrounded him, for night had fallen already. Without a warning, a shadow outstripped him at blinding speed, and the next moment, Yakushi Nekomata rammed him in the blink of an eye into the garden wall, kissing him. As she let him go for a second, his world was turning upside-down again. “What the hell…” he tried to think; but as he saw her eyes which were gleaming with serious passion, he knew that she seriously wanted him and no one else.
This concept was quite unexpected, even unbelievable for him: a girl as talented and beautiful as Yakushi Nekomata was longing for someone like him who could not even use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu; but he decided simply to react instinctively, for a nearly demonic creature was thundering triumphantly in his chest. So he put his arms around her and gave her the answer she wanted. That was not the plan he had, but well… so for a few minutes the two shinobi were busy with kissing each other close to the point of asphyxiation.
But Nekomata would be not Nekomata if she was not as consequent and crazy as her father expected; the moment she released him, she grabbed him already by his collar, dragging him back to the Yakushi home at high speed.
“So there is no turning back,” he thought, grinning. Somehow, the last two months they told each other everything they needed to know about each other up to this point, simply by meeting in combat. He was surprised, tired, confused, shaken – and happy. He did not know what she was up to do now, but by all what happened this evening, he believed that it had to be something good.
Just an instant later he found himself in her room – on a futon, snogging with her. Instinctively, both decided to simply turn brains off and passion on. Time for words and thinking would be later.
The great and honourable Yakushi Yamato-sama smiled as he sensed his daughter inside the house, and as he knew that she had taken his suggestion seriously, he re-focused his eyes and turned on the radio. “Have fun and live, my daughter”, he thought, grinning.