Set after Lee's fight with Gaara. Not my characters, I just play with them.
He could hear voices outside the door. Soft and low. Considerate. Depressing.
'Don't disturb the invalid,' he heard in those voices, if not their words. 'Don't wake him, don't depress him, don't look at him too hard.' He wanted to jump out of bed, to prove he was as full of vigor and life as ever. He had been trying to prove people wrong about him his whole life. What was one more battle?
Only, his leg. . . his arm. . . he couldn't feel them. He told himself it was nothing, but. . .
Lee reached out to the flower at his bedside, brushing one of the cheerful, yellow petals with his finger. Whoever had brought it, it made him want to smile. For a cut plant that would soon wither, it was an optimistic little thing.
It made him want to smile.
Only, Lee still couldn't smile. For now he could only sleep.