Naruto 1. The Aftermath

Chapter 1-The Aftermath

'Desert Coffin!' Gaara snarled, as, despite his near-paralysis, his hand contracted into a fist. Pain like Lee had never known before, not even during his most intense training, lanced through his left arm and leg as they were brutally crushed by the sand, and he screamed in agony as he flew through the air and slammed into the ground with a bone-shaking impact, landing amidst the rubble of his own furious battle with the sand-user.

As he slid to the ground before the horrified gaze of the onlookers, there was only one thought running through his mind as he was pulled into unconsciousness: 'I cannot lose here'....

A steady beeping.

Murmuring voices.

And the pain – a constant ache, all over his body, in every breath he took, searing through his left arm and leg.

Rock Lee opened his eyes.

The room was dim, but it still hurt his eyes. Blinking rapidly, the blurs gradually resolved into people... people bearing the uniform of the Konoha Medical Corps. The murmur of voices tailed off as the assembled doctors realised their patient had returned to the land of the living.

Just.

What was he doing here, surrounded by doctors...?

Then he remembered, the preliminary fight, the dropping of his leg weights, the lotuses, the sand, the wild, insane look in his opponent's eyes as he commanded the sand to engulf him, the pain, the... darkness.

And Lee remembered the despair that had filled him, the horror that he could not be ranked among the other geniuses, the fact that, despite his speed, despite his hard work, despite his relentless, gruelling training, he had failed.

Lee realised he was lying down on a bed, and the entire left half of his body seemed to linked up to a pulsing, humming medical machine. He realised it was the sound of the beeping which had pulled him to wakefulness.

Just like the sound of the stopwatch he had used to help him train...

The air was thick with tension; Lee could tell that even with the pain. As he slowly looked around the room, his throat thick with words that he could not form, one of the onlookers stepped forward.

Despite his pain, Lee's mouth curled in an automatic smile; it was his beloved Gai-sensei, the greatest ninja alive!

Gai smiled at Lee, but Lee could see the weariness in his walk, the tension in his eyes; even his smile lacked its usual amazingness....

'Lee'. Gai seemed to hesitate, and then gave Lee his amazing thumbs-up, the one reserved for when an absolute, unbreakable promise was being made....or when Gai was trying to inspire and uplift Lee to just break through one more barrier.

Gai hesitated for another moment, then visibly pulled himself together.

Lee stared at Gai anxiously....what could be so terrible that Sensei could barely even say it?

A moment later his question was answered.

Gai looked him straight in the eye.

'Lee, you...your injuries were too severe'.

'You cannot be a ninja anymore'.


	2. Life Goes On

Failing youth chapter 2

Chapter 2-Life Goes On

Konoha, despite its reputation for peace, was a place full of sound. Even during quieter times, the village was full of activity and bustle, whether it was Shinobi training among its streets, or people going about their daily business. With the main part of the Chuunin exams coming up and so many people from other countries wandering the town, things were especially busy, as the arena for the final test was readied and the entire village worked towards that goal.

Rock Lee stared out of the hospital window at the noise and the excitement, at the world going by, leaning on the crutch that would soon have to be a part of him.

He closed his eyes as he realised that he could never, ever be a part of that excitement and simple, youthful joy again.

The doctors had been clear about that.

Then he clenched his fist, despite the pain it brought him; what did a bunch of hopeless doctors' matter to him?!? He had never given up, NEVER! He-

Lee opened his eyes, breathing deeply. The doctors were right. No one had told him to give up; they had simply told him the damage, given him medicine. Being in the springtime of youth did not simply mean being free and joyous; it meant respecting others, no matter what they told him.

No matter that they told him what Gai-sensei already had; that he would never fight, could never lead the life of a ninja, again.

He sighed as he went over Gai-sensei's explanation yet again.

'Lee, your muscles were ripped by your Reverse Lotus, but they are healing. However', he had gone on hastily, seeing the sudden look of hope in Lee's eyes, 'the doctors tell me that fragments of bone are in your body...and they will not heal'.

Gai-sensei had looked Lee straight in the eye, and in that single, terrible moment, Lee had seen a face completely empty of the springtime of youth, no happiness, and no charm. Nothing.

'Lee...this is why you can never fight again. It...it will be impossible for you to lead a life in the shinobi way!' he had said in a flood of words, tears in his eyes, leaving Lee numb, with a pain far beyond any physical damage the sand-user had inflicted.

Lee was shaken from his thoughts by the hospital door opening and the now-familiar nurse sticking her head around the door with a smile, but Lee could see the concern in her eyes.

'Lee, you should be in bed! Those injuries will never heal if you're up all the time!'

Lee smiled back at her sadly. 'No, they will never heal' he murmured, more to himself than to her.

The nurse bustled around the room, tidying his bed and topping up the water jug, but Lee could tell that she was really there to check up on him. Many injured had come in from the Chuunin preliminaries, but Lee was by far the worse. Stories were already circulating about how he was doomed to never fight again....

Lee turned again to look out of the window as the nurse quietly closed the door behind her.

He would not allow his injuries to stop him from succeeding-and that meant he needed to train....

His body was a mess of pain. His entire universe had condensed to one, single point-the ground beneath him as it blurred in his vision. He gritted his teeth and blocked out the pain as he had done so many times before, concentrating on pulling and pushing himself down into the ground.

Up and down.

Nothing else mattered.

Dimly he was aware of people running towards him, calling on him to stop, but they were outside the point of his universe, and they could not be allowed to widen the tiny point everything had become. He called out to them: 'please do not interrupt me when I am training!'

Finally, with the pleading voices sounding in his ears, he could do no more, and the point of his universe faded into darkness.

Broken, ragged and bloody, Rock Lee lay sprawled in the dust.


	3. Determination V Darkness

Failing youth chapter 3

Chapter 3-Determination V. Darkness

No matter how they tried, they just couldn't keep track of him with their eyes. It was like trying to find a spot of dust in a hurricane.

A man-made hurricane.....

Rock Lee spun faster and faster around his startled opponent, effortlessly speeding amongst and through the tendrils of sand his opponent had hastily thrown up in an effort to stop him.

It wasn't even slowing him down.

He was getting closer and closer to victory, even though a nagging voice in the back of his head told him this was all strangely familiar....

With the encouragement his beloved Gai-sensei had given him ringing in his ears, Lee shot towards the sand-user at the speed of thought, raining punches at kicks at the thin shield to distract his opponent. As he saw the tiny, crucial gap in the shield his distraction had caused, Lee sped towards it, and just had time to register the startled expression of the sand user before Lee's fist impacted with his face with incredible force and Gaara flew across the arena to land in a crumpled heap.

Excitement filled Lee. He had done it! Truly the power of youth bloomed for those who waited!

But then, as the sand-user slowly got to his feet, Lee could tell something was wrong. The arena seemed to be getting....darker? Lee wondered if his or Gaara's attacks had somehow damaged the lighting-but this seemed deeper, as if it had a life of its own....

Lee gritted his teeth in alarm as he realised that the darkness wasn't just coming from all around, but seemed to be coming from Gaara as well-tendrils of darkness flowing around him as the sand-user stood motionless, seemingly unaffected by Lee's hard-hitting attack just moments ago.

Lee swiftly considered his options; it seemed most likely that Gaara was using some sort of Genjutsu, despite his obvious preference for sand. If that was true, then Lee only had a few moments before the trap was complete....

He shot into super-speed once again, but something was wrong; the darkness seemed to have quickened, combining with the tendrils Gaara was projecting; and they were fast!

_What is this?!_ Thought Lee as the tendrils chased at his ankles, moving almost as fast as was.

As he shot around the arena, looking for some respite from the fast-approaching darkness, he glanced up at the walkways, for some reassurance from his comrades.

And nearly skidded into the wall in shock.

Where a few moments before there had been scattered ninja from many nations looking down on the battle, now there were only blurs, which were being swallowed up by the darkness even as he watched.

Desperation filled Lee. This was no Genjutsu! This was some sort of attack, an invasion! All the ninja in the hall had been swallowed up...including his friends, his classmates, his teacher....

Lee skidded to a halt near the base of the giant statue which dominated the north end of the hall, itself being swallowed by the darkness. Determination filled him. This was no longer about the match, of progressing in the fight; this was about escaping, of informing the village-and the world, for many different ninja had been swallowed by darkness here today-of the horrible threat forming right here in this hall; seeming coming from Gaara himself, who by now was just a silhouette, and whose sand had transformed completely into darkness.

But as Lee prepared to sprint into action once again, looking for a high window or hidden exit for him to escape from, something tightened around his ankle. Glancing down, he saw a tendril of darkness firmly attached....and leading all the way back to the haze surrounding what had recently been a powerful ninja of the sand.

Without hesitation, Lee chopped at the tendril of darkness, severing it, but even as he did so a dozen more appeared and swiftly wrapped themselves around him. He struggled, but it was useless, the tendrils' grip on him was far too strong.

He looked up from his struggles in shock as a voice, slow and deep, emanated from the darkness.

'_What use is speed', _the voice said as tendrils coiled and tightened around Lee's waist, '_when you can't move at all?'_

'_What use is strength', _the voice went on, slowly and calmly, as Lee fought and writhed, '_when all the strength you have can't save you?'_

'I won't give up!' Lee screamed into the darkness, which by now was a razor-edged blizzard.

Mocking laughter was his only answer.

Lee resumed his struggles, but it was useless. None of the tendrils budged.

Lee suddenly became calm as the answer came to him. It was as if a flower of truth had blossomed in his mind, quietly but no less potent.

He would have to open the five Gates.

Doing this would severely injure him and make his eventual escape more difficult-but it was the only way out of here. He would punch his way out of the darkness as a passionate beacon of light!

But even as his closed his eyes and started unlocking the power within him, the darkness coiled around his arm and leg and constricted with crushing force. Lee screamed as pain lanced through him, but even through his agony, he had a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had been injured in this way before.....

Darkness coiled around his mouth and nose, brutally clamping his mouth shut and cutting off his screams. As the air drained from his lungs and spots appeared before his eyes, he vaguely realised he was being carried through the air. As his struggles became weaker and weaker, the darkness suddenly parted before him to reveal Gaara standing motionless, a manic grin on his face.

'Why....Lee tried to say through the darkness covering his mouth. The sand-user seemed to understand.

'_It is not me who has brought you to this death, this...failure',_ Gaara replied in the voice that had so taunted Lee that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

As lee watched through dimming eyes, Gaara's face shifted and morphed...to Lee's own.

'_Rather....it is you.'_

With that, Gaara-Lee turned to walk away.

'Wait!' cried Lee, feebly stretching out a bandaged arm through the roiling darkness. But it was too late. Gaara was gone, and the darkness had closed behind him.

Lee struggled defiantly one last time, but it didn't matter. The darkness closed in, taking Lee with it...forever.

***

'No-!' came the strangled cry, piercing the dark surroundings.

Lee realised that the cry had been his own.

He raised his arms in an instinctive defence-but then saw there would be no need.

He was not in some dark place of evil. No darkness pinned him.

He was in his room in the Konoha hospital.

He almost felt like smiling grimly into the darkness-not only had his body been crippled, now his very _dreams_ were turning against him!

His smile faded as he realised that his dreams-or nightmares- had to be formed out of his real concerns....

And considering there were still many hours before dawn and he was _very _unlikely to be able to get back to sleep again now was as good a time as any to mull over his dreams.

The presence of Gaara was no surprise; he had, after all, been responsible for Lee's injuries and had reduced him to....whatever he was now.

The arena was no surprise either; it was where he had so nearly triumphed, and where he had failed....Lee's hand clenched into a fist, despite the pain it brought him.

So that only left dream-Gaara's message....

'_It is not me who has brought you to this death, this...failure. Rather....it is you.'_

What did that mean....?

Could it mean that, so deep down that even Lee didn't know it fully, he believed that everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed, had only brought him to this....existence?

'I won't give up' Lee whispered to the city and wider world beyond the window.

Sighing wind was his only answer.

Slowly, without really realising it, and despite his earlier prediction, Rock Lee drifted off to sleep.


	4. New Tasks

Failing Power of Youth chapter 4

Chapter 4- New Tasks

Lee was awoken to a bright morning by what sounded like a scuffle outside the door. People seemed to be arguing outside as Lee struggled back to wakefulness. What was going on....?

Suddenly, the door burst open and Gai burst in, nearly taking the door off its hinges in the process. Lee blinked in surprise as Gai flew through the air, somehow managing to pull off a dramatic pose in the process, which turned to a startled one as he flew halfway out of the window in the process.

'Sir!' Lee exclaimed as Gai seemingly flew out of the window, before a hand groped through the gap and Gai pulled himself up, somehow managing to trip over as he gained his feet, before quickly getting back up and giving one of his famous smiles, which seemed to be a bit distracted as he was still trying to pull one of his legs back through the window.

Nurses and doctors were crossly spilling through the door that Gai had so dramatically entered through, no doubt annoyed by his wake-up call of one of their most crucial patients.

Seeing that everything appeared to be alright, and that Gai seemingly wasn't about to throw himself through the window again in the name of overly-dramatic entrances, they quietly retreated, by which point Gai had managed to pull himself through and assume one of his famed dramatic poses.

'Lee, my splendid student!' Gai boomed, showing none of the sadness which seemed to so affect him after Lee's injuries. Lee was happy about that. He didn't want others to feel bad about his suffering-he didn't want to cause others pain at all.

Gai went on; 'just because you have been hurt doesn't mean you cannot train! Let us go to the Leaf Restaurant, to consume many sour dumplings!'

To anyone observing this slightly madcap conversation it would seem that fire had been lit behind Lee's eyes. No sooner had the words left Gai's mouth than Lee was scrambling out of bed, all thoughts of pain and doubt instantly dispelled-at least for a while.

Inwardly, Gai smiled. It was good to see some of his student's old fire back, just as he had hoped it would return when he was pondering ways to at least raise Lee's spirit a bit.

Lee reached for his crutch without any hesistation. Gai grinned and pointed his finger dramatically towards the restaurant out the window.

'To the training!'

***

Lee breathed in and out slowly to calm himself before facing the challenge ahead.

He was almost literally facing a mountain.

He braced himself, before diving into to the mountain of sour dumplings, wolfng them down as fast he could. Gai watched quietly, smiling to himself; they may not be real 'Dumplings of Rejuvenation', but it was good for his student to eat something other than hospital food for a while.

His smile faded as he realised it would soon be time for his splendid student to return to the hospital. There to be endlessly checked and prodded and tested, all the time reminded that he could never be a ninja again....

Gai smiled again, faintly, as he watched his student wolf down the last of the dumplings. Maybe he couldn't help Lee get better, but he could help him with whatever path he chose to took now that he...could fight no more.

Because he knew Lee would never give up.

Lee looked up at Gai, his eyes shining in a way that Gai had seen so rarely recently.

'I completed the task, Gai-sensei!'

Gai smiled back at his student. 'Yes you did, Lee. Yes you did'.


End file.

Naruto, Friendship, Hurt-Comfort