Chapter Text
Lee had not seen the sand ninja until they were at the gates of the Forest of Death. He had heard whispers from the other ninjas and from Neji and Tenten as well. All of the whispers said the same thing: The Sand Siblings. From where he was standing, Lee could only see the two oldest. The one he assumed was the oldest had her hair tied back into four different buns and she wore a fan on her back. Her brother had a hood on, covering his hair and he wore face paint. He carried something on his back that was covered in bandages.
When Anko threw the kunai at Naruto, the trio standing in front of the siblings stepped back, revealing the youngest. He was a lot smaller than his two older siblings, his head didn't even come up to his brother's shoulder. His arms were crossed and he watched the scene in front of his with disinterest. Even from his distance, Lee could see that he had large dark circles around his eyes. On his back he carried a large gourd that was almost bigger than he was. Lee wondered how he was able to hold it up.
He didn't realize he was staring until Tenten elbowed him in the ribs.
“Lee!” She whispered. “What are you doing? You don't want to piss off those sand ninja. I have a bad feeling about them.”
“Sorry,” Lee said, rubbing at his ribs. “I was just distracted.” Lee glanced back over to the siblings, only to see that the youngest one was already looking back at him. The wind blew his hair and Lee saw for the first time that he had a marking on his forehead. There was no expression on his face as he stared back at Lee.
“We need to be wary of those three,” Neji said, causing Lee to look away. “The youngest brother has a massive amount of chakra, more than I’ve ever seen before.” Lee glanced back at the sand ninja but his eyes were closed.
“There's something about him that I can’t quite place,” Lee said to Tenten. “I can’t sense chakra but I feel some type of energy from him.” Tenten shuddered.
“Maybe it’s because he radiates pure evil.” Tenten crossed her arms.
“Tenten! That is not a nice thing to say about someone you have not gotten to know!” Lee gave her a disapproving frown.
“Give it a rest, Lee,” Neji said. “You don’t need to be able to sense chakra to notice that he is not good news.” Lee huffed but didn't say anything to him. He was handed the waiver and turned his attention to reading the paper, the Sand ninja gone from his mind.
~ ~ ~
It was nearing the end of the first day in the Forest of Death. Lee, Neji and Tenten were all resting at the base of a large tree. They briefly went over their plan: spread out, look for enemies, report back.
“And do not engage.” Neji said sternly, looking straight at Lee. The three of them went in different directions. Lee jumped through the trees, careful to not cause too much noise. He stilled on a branch to catch his breath when he noticed leaves falling slowly.
Alright! If I can catch all twenty leaves before they hit the ground, then Sakura is my soulmate! Lee thought to himself before throwing himself off the branch. He fell through the trees, catching each of the leaves. Nineteen! Lee thought. He was reaching out for the very last leaf when he heard something squeaking from the forest floor. Lee looked over and saw a squirrel rubbing its back on the ground, a paper bomb attached to him.
Lee pushed himself off of the tree branch towards the ground. He scooped up the squirrel in one hand and rolled to break his fall. He carefully peeled off of the paper bomb and crunched it one hand, the squirrel in the other hand.
“Just in time!” Lee smiled at the squeaking squirrel. “Who would do something like this?” The squirrel turned his head and wrinkled his nose. “That way?” Lee focused his attention in the direction the squirrel that motioned to. He could hear the sounds of a battle, but he couldn’t see who exactly. The squirrel crawled up Lee’s arm and sat on his shoulder. Lee gave the squirrel a little pat on his head and rushed off towards the battle.
When Lee made it to the edge of the clearing, he saw Sakura sitting on the ground, pointing a kunai weakly at the three Sound ninja. He saw Saskue and Naruto both asleep behind her. The three ninja all jumped forward towards Sakura.
She won't be able to defend herself against all three of them! Lee thought, leaping forward.
“Leaf hurricane!” Lee swept his legs and knocked all of the ninja away, leaving them confused. The Sand ninja jumped back and Lee stood between them and Sakura, his right arm extended out. “I am The Handsome Devil of the Leaf Village,” Lee said when asked who he was. “And my name is Rock Lee!”
“Wh-what are you doing here, Lee?” Sakura asked.
“I will always appear anytime and anywhere that you are in trouble, Sakura.” Lee answered, scratching the squirrel under his chin. He lifted the squirrel off of his shoulder and set him on the ground, saying a quick thanks and goodbye before the creature scurried off.
“But right now, on this test, I’m your enemy!”
“Sakura, I already told you,” Lee said softly. “I will protect you until I die!”
“Yes, thank you, Rock Lee.” Sakura said, making Lee smile.
Yes! She said yes, Gai Sensei! She said yes! Lee thought, tears running down his face. Maybe We are soulmates afterall! Lee didn’t have much time to rejoice before jumping into battle against the Sound ninja.
~ ~ ~
Lee’s ears were ringing and his head throbbed. It didn't help that he woke up to Tenten aggressively shaking him. He had not hesitate when he stepped in the fight between Sakura and the Sound ninja. Even though she had turned him down before, he still wanted to protect her and he had vowed to always be there for her.
He didn't retain most of what Tenten said, only that they were safe now. He looked around for Sakura and saw her walking over to him.
“Lee, I need to tell you something,” Sakura said, SOMETHING. “It wouldn’t be fair to keep it from you because of everything you’ve done for me,” Lee held his breath, preparing himself to hear what he already knew. “I can see color, I’m sorry I should have told you before.” Sakura bowed her head.
“Sakura,” Lee said, giving her a sad smile. “It’s alright. You don’t have to apologize to me,” She looked up at him, eyes watering. “Even though my affections can not be returned, I hope that we can still be friends, Sakura.” Sakura smiled at him.
“Thank you, Lee. Because of you I’ve become a little bit stronger.” Lee gave her the biggest smile he could muster in his condition.
“Come on, Lee,” Tenten said, throwing his arm around her shoulders. “Neji is waiting for us.”
“Right.” Lee nodded his head, jumping up into the trees with Tenten’s help.
~ ~ ~
Their team spent the first half of that morning resting up, mostly for Lee’s sake. Much to his chagrin, Tenten and Neji spent that time lecturing Lee.
“What were you thinking, Lee?” Tenten said, her arms crossed. “It was three against one!” Neji grunted in agreement.
“I had to step in, if I hadn't Sakura would have been killed!” Lee took a sip of water. “I could not just stand by and let that happen.”
“Of course you couldn’t,” Neji sighed. “Whatever, it’s in the past now. We need to focus on getting the other scroll now. With no other distractions.” He looked straight at Lee as he said the last sentence. Lee nodded at him.
“I understand. I am ready to go whenever now.” The three of them jumped from the trees, searching for another team.
It only took them a few hours to track down another team. The battle went smooth, the three of them easily overpowering them and taking their scroll. Lee felt ecstatic as they ran through the trees towards the tower. It was nearing night time by the time they finally made it to the tower.
Once they made it inside, they climbed up the stairs until they made it to a room where the other groups were at. There were benches stationed around and there were only two other groups there. Lee noticed that there was only one other Leaf team there, the one with Neji’s cousin, Hinata. There was one other group there, the Sand Siblings that Lee saw on the first day.
“Huh, I didn’t expect to see a rookie group here this early,” Tenten said, glancing at the group. “At least we're not alone with those Sand ninja.” Tenten lowered her voice.
“Tenten!” Lee turned towards her. “As I said before it is rude to judge someone that you do not know!” Tenten sighed and shook her head.
“Whatever, let’s just try to rest up now. You’re still recovering, Lee.” The three of them walked over to a bench well far away from the other two teams. Lee looked across the room to the Sand team to see that the youngest one was already looking at him.
He has a strong aura, Lee thought. I hope to go against him during these exams, it would certainly be an interesting and youthful battle! Lee felt someone nudge him and he turned to see Neji glaring at him.
“Lee, you should listen to what Tenten said; we don’t want to get mixed up with those three.” Lee huffed and sat down on the bench cross legged.
“Quit pouting, Lee!” Tenten said, passing him a canteen of water. “We can't trust anyone in these tests, this isn't the place to try and make friends.” Lee took the canteen and unscrewed the lid.
“Well, we have finished the second exam so I don’t see the harm in trying to be friendly.” Lee took a big drink of water. Both Neji and Tenten just sighed.
“You’re one of a kind, Lee.” Neji shook his head. Lee gave him a thumbs up and a grin before drinking more water.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Lee said, standing up. “I must go relieve myself!” He handed the canteen back to Tenten and made his way to the door.
The corridors of the tower were empty and were lit only from the windows. Lee stopped at one and looked out at the forest. He could see the edge of the forest just barley. Despite all of the dangers, the bloodshed that he experienced in the past two days, and the fact that he still couldn't see colors, the forest was still beautiful.
Lee turned away and continued down the hallway. He found the bathroom and closed himself in a stall.
Just as Lee was flushing the toilet, he heard another person enter the bathroom. He looked through the crack to see the youngest of the Sand Siblings. Lee waited until he was in a stall before leaving to wash his hands.
Lee looked at himself in the mirror. There were several scratches on his face and his eye was slightly swollen. He grabbed a paper towel and wetted it before gently dabbing at the cuts and dirt that caked his face. None of the scratches were deep enough to be bandaged so Lee just applied a little bit of healing ointment to them.
The sound of a toilet flushing made Lee look up. He saw the Sand ninja exiting the stall through the mirror. He glanced briefly at Lee before walking over to the other sink to wash his hands. Lee put away the rest of the ointment and rewrapped his bandages over his hands. Once they were secured, Lee turned towards the other boy and smiled at him.
“Hello! My name is Rock Lee from the Hidden Leaf Village!” The Sand ninja turned his head towards him slowly, no emotion on his face. “What is your name?” He didn't respond right away, but he didn't look away at all. He turned the water off and grabbed a paper towel, carefully drying his hands.
“My name is Gaara.” He said, crumbling up the towel and throwing it away. His voice was very deep and Lee found it slightly soothing.
“It is nice to meet you, Gaara!” Lee gave him a thumbs up. Gaara crossed his arms and stared at Lee. He was much shorter than he was so he had to look up at him.
“Why did you tell your teammates to stop talking about my siblings and I?” His voice was very soft despite it being so deep.
“It’s simple,” Lee said, lowering his arm. “We have never met you guys, it would not be fair to make assumptions about you without getting to know you first.” The corner of Gaara’s mouth turned down.
“That is foolish, you need to make judgements about your opponents if you are to overcome them.” Gaara narrowed his eyes at him.
“Yes that is important in a battle,” Lee fiddled with his bandages. “But in this case, we were not in a test. Just two teams from two allied nations. There should have been no reason for my teammates to pass any judgement against you and your siblings.” Gaara’s eyes furrowed more, but his eyes were trained on the ground now.
“Why should you care?” Gaara’s hands tightened on his arms.
“Why shouldn’t I care?” Lee asked. Gaara’s mouth parted silently and he looked up at Lee again. “Your feelings are valid and it is not fair for someone to make you feel bad when they don't even take the time to get to know you,” Gaara’s eyes widened with each word he said. “I know from experience that it is not pleasant to have others talk bad about you despite not knowing anything about you.” Gaara dropped his arms and turned around without a word. He opened the bathroom door and left without looking back at him.
Did I say something to offend him?
Lee thought. He felt his stomach drop slightly, he had done the opposite of what he was trying to do.
I will do 500 push ups for offending Gaara!
Lee looked at himself in the mirror one last time before leaving the bathroom.
Gaara, that is a nice name!