Most didn't know the real reason behind his name, 'Prideful Green Beast of Konoha'. Sure, 'Green' was obvious, as was 'Konoha'. And many would call him 'Prideful'; those who didn't know the reasons for what he did. And 'Beast' might be a reference to how he fought - straightforward and hard, rough-and-tumble with no weapon but his own body.
"Kakashisensei!" the jounin paused and turned at the call, lowering his book as the green blur took form and stopped in front of him. Lee allowed himself a few quick breaths before straightening up. "M-may I speak with you?" Kakashi blinked slowly as Lee glanced around, a panicked look in his eyes. "...Privately?"
But the real reasons for his name became apparent to those who'd known him long enough. Nights he disappeared, days he acted harshly. Training sessions that left the area levelled. Enemies defeated and left with wounds the medic-nin couldn't explain from one who used no weapons.
"...You followed him." Kakashi's voice was perfectly level.
"--Of course I did--"
"...After he'd told you to go home."
"--He was acting strangely--"
"...When he hasn't had any real missions in weeks."
"--Not at all as he usually does--" Lee continued, as if Kakashi hadn't even spoken.
"...At night."
Rough noises from through the foliage ahead of him, none of the silent grace Lee was used to from his sensei. Then a yell, of anger and pain and something else - Lee raced forward to see Gai fall to his knees, clutching his head. Lee yelled Gai's name and the man snapped around, fingers still digging into his skull, eyes too wide and pupils contracted to points. His mouth was hanging open as he gasped for breath, he made a pained sound as he recognized Lee and then he was hunched over again.
"--I had to make sure--"
"...Do you have any idea how lucky you are?"
Lee's mouth opened and closed as he started to speak and stopped himself, eyes even rounder than normal. He stared at Kakashi for another few moments, emotions crossing his face almost too fast for the jounin to recognize them. Almost. Fear, worry, hunger for an explanation, guilt, mixing and mingling until one became the others. Lee turned his eyes from Kakashi's scrutinizing glare to the ground. "I was worried," he whispered.
Lee was slammed against the tree, Gai's hands crushing his shoulders, but that didn't matter - what mattered were the pinpricks digging into the backs of his shoulders that were rapidly becoming painful. What mattered was the look on Gai's face, with that horrible parody of his warm grin, this one filled with too-long canines. What mattered was how his hair was bushing out, like an animal puffing itself up to seem more intimidating to an enemy. What mattered was the way Gai's muscles were shifting under his jumpsuit that suddenly seemed too tight on his body, as if it were straining to contain it.
"Well, don't worry about Gai," Kakashi said quietly. "He can take care of himself." His visible eye said 'worry about yourself'. They stood like that for several moments - Lee staring at the ground and Kakashi slightly tenser than usual and staring at him - before Kakashi spoke. "...He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"Gaisensei?" Lee winced out, scared and confused. Gai's mouth was half-open in a grin, panting harshly through pointed teeth as his muscles continued to shift. His hands tightened on Lee's shoulders; Lee could feel his bones shifting and straining and the pinpricks in his back now felt like daggers. "Gaisensei, please stop - you're hurting me!" Lee struggled against Gai's grip, hands coming up to try to push the larger man away; it was like trying to shove a cliff out of his way. Tears of pain were welling up in Lee's eyes and he could feel blood trickling down his back. "Gai!!" he took one last look into his sensei-but-not-sensei's eyes and then swung his fist as hard as he could, snapping the man's head back.
"N-no," Lee mumbled, but automatically shifted his shoulders as a lance of pain reminded him. When he looked up, Kakashi met his eyes steadily. Lee hung his head again. "...Not badly, anyways."
Gai howled like an animal, releasing Lee to stumble back and clutch at his jaw. Lee stood rooted to the spot as Gai's legs suddenly gave out and he collapsed to the ground, body shaking horribly. His hands left his face to claw at the ground, Lee's eyes went wide as he saw the rough, bloody points Gai's fingertips had become. A low noise growled from Gai's throat as his hands clenched to fists and his every muscle seemed to tense. It repeated, and this time Lee realized what he was trying to say.
"...Rrrun..."
"Show me." It wasn't a question.
Lee bit his lip, then reached back with one hand to rub at his shoulders. "Here, and here," he mumbled. Then he was spun around and Kakashi was digging his fingers into Lee's shoulder, Lee let out a small cry of pain and shock and then Kakashi had unzipped Lee's jumpsuit to halfway down his torso - Lee was blushing furiously and trying to pull the cloth back up but Kakashi's hand was tight on it and Lee's arms were half-pinned to his sides by the material anyways. When Lee finally stopped struggling Kakashi quickly unwound the bandages covering Lee's shoulders with no care for Lee's pain or embarrassed protests.
Gai curled in on himself, trembling and growling. His muscles were twisting beneath his skin in ways that shouldn't be possible, so taut it seemed certain they'd tear away from his bones. That rough, barely-voice again, grating from Gai's mouth as he forced his eyes around to meet Lee's. "...Lleee...Rrrrunn..." His eyes were almost normal again but there was so much agony in them that Lee took half a step toward his sensei before watching the man curl in on himself with another growing howl of pain and anger. His spine was raising bumps against the straining material of his jumpsuit; this time his voice was muffled by gritted teeth, and Gai didn't turn toward him. "...Rrrunn...Plleasse..."
Lee didn't know Kakashi extremely well, most of his knowledge of him came from what Gai had told him. He had only gone to Kakashi in the first place because he was Gai's rival - and closest friend. But when he heard Kakashi's small intake of breath, he knew anything that made him react strongly enough to forget to control his emotions was massive.
"Hospital. Now."
Gai was rising unsteadily from the ground, on hands and knees at first, but then swaying almost drunkenly to his feet. His muscles were still tense and writhing, and his legs were bent all wrong - suddenly he twisted and one hand came across to bury its claws deep in the wood of the tree just next to Lee's head. Gai's face was just inches from his, eyes shifting back to animal slits, and something was twisted in the shape of his face as he growled, "Get ouut of hherrre," between pants. Lee paused only a second more to look in his sensei's eyes before taking off like a shot. He heard the tree ripped from the ground and hurled after him, but he was out of even Gai's range in the forest by the time it left the man's hands.
Lee sat on the hospital bed, legs between the sheets, and stared across the room. The doctors had finished their examinations, he'd been swarmed over by medinin in sterile outfits who probed him with fingers and questions, nurses had cleaned the wounds more meticulously - and painfully - then he thought possible or practical, and then his shoulders had been rebound and Neji and Tenten had appeared - Tenten all but crying and clinging to him and Neji quietly promising he'd find answers, then they'd all disappeared.
The only constant was Kakashi, who had dragged him to the hospital in the first place and then leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the room, alternately reading his book and answering medinin's questions. Now the only sound was the quiet turning of pages every minute or so.
A million questions buzzed through Lee's head. What's going on? What's wrong with Gai? Is he going to be all right? Am I going to be all right? Has he hurt anyone? What happened? Just as he opens his mouth, there's a knock on the door. It opened slowly, and Gai looked in. His face tensed upon seeing Lee looking at him and he almost backed out of the door, but he tightened his hand on the door and pushed it open the rest of the way. Instead of proclaiming the futility of wasting time healing in bed and demanding Lee come out and practice his forms with him, Gai half-shuffled toward the bed. He paused as Lee looked up at him, then dropped to his knees in a bow that brushed his bangs against the floor.
"Lee...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to--I never wanted...I wasn't...I wasn't myself, and I never thought you would--I should've warned you sooner..." Lee's eyes were wide and a blush spread across his cheeks at Gai's humbling himself before him. "...I'm so terribly sorry I hurt you...I'll...I'll do...I don't know what I'll do, but if it would help you to forgive me, I'll do anything--"
"Get up, you idiot," Kakashi said and kicked Gai's hip, though it was half-hearted at best. When Gai didn't move, Kakashi grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet. Lee was horrified to see there were tears in his sensei's eyes. "Clean yourself up, explain what's going on, set some ridiculous goal, then go out and train the kid like you always do when he lands in the hospital."
Gai's face twisted again in shame and then to gratefulness as Kakashi pushed on his shoulder to force him to sit on the end of the bed. Kakashi's hand lingered on his shoulder a moment longer, then the leader of team seven slouched off as if nothing had happened.