TobiDei Week 2023: Day 2 - Stars / Pining

TobiDei Week 2023: Day 2 - Stars / Pining

// @tobideiweek

🪭 teasing 🦌

I redesigned Rock Lee's next generation design

A little context for some design choices: After the war and losing one of his closest friends, Lee decides to grow his hair out as a way of remembering him. The gloves he wears as a nod to his past in the Anbu, which he joined a few years after the village recovered from the war

🌸🍋🐈‍⬛

🪭

The couch squeaked slightly from the pressure of Naruto's hand, the old springs digging into his palm through the degrading leather. His brows furrowed as he looked around the old apartment, now in ruins after Pein's destruction. Very little remained of the building, very little remained of the memories he and Sakura made while they lived together.

Footsteps crunched through old plywood and glass, a comforting hand touched his shoulder. Breaking his attention away from his sorrow.

"I found this under the door, looks like our friendship is indestructible after all, huh?"

Naruto stared up at Sakura, she laughed slightly at her own joke and smiled, despite sharing the same pain as he did. His eyes slowly dragged down to the item she spoke of; a framed picture they took from when they graduated. Two smiling children with their headbands tied on tightly, holding each other close while they celebrated. It had barely a scratch on it. Dirty, yes, but relatively unscathed.

Tears swelled in Naruto's eyes at the memories. It had been years since that moment, they had changed so much in that time. Sakura was now a Chuunin and he had yet to take the exam. Those two smiling children were now grown, those two smiling children were now standing in the pile of destruction that was once their home, but they were still together like they promised to be.

Sakura knelt down next to him, debris digging into her knees while she pulled Naruto close. He burst into a fit of sobs, leaning heavily into her hold. He felt her heartbeat thump against his chest. It was fast and irregular from adrenaline, but soothing in a way that let him know that it would be okay. After all that had happened, she was still here. Comforting him through thick and thin while keeping that same smile on her face.

"It'll be okay, Naruto. I always got your back."

Naruto smiled widely, squeezing her tightly. Their home was gone, but they still had each other. And they always will.

// end