To Be Understood…
Chapter 1: Gai
If you asked anyone who knew Gai in passing, they would tell you that he was crazy and unstable. That he wasn't fit to be a ninja because he wasn't serious about his job. Those people would be wrong, and they shouldn't have judged him so quickly.
Gai used to be one of the most serious ninja in Konoha. He wore dark clothes to blend in and he didn't have bowl cut hair or bushy eyebrows. However, that all changed after he met Kakashi. He was 14 at that time, and Kakashi had been 12. They both had just become jounin.
He was with his sensei, who was taking him to meet the Fourth and his students for a combined training session. When he had been introduced to Kakashi, he immediately noticed that Kakashi had his headband over one eye and had a look of regret, sadness, guilt, coldness and anger in the other. He also noticed how tense and uptight Kakashi was. He had heard rumors about the mission they had recently went on, and how one of their teammates, Obito, didn't come back with them.
He and Obito had been friends, and used to hang out at the Academy together. So he knew of how Obito was and instinctively knew that although Obito's attitude would have annoyed Kakashi to no end, it would have also comforted Kakashi and taken his mind off of other, darker things. He made two promises to himself then and there that he would take care of Kakashi as Obito had done, and that he would never let what he did as a ninja shape who he was.
So he began changing himself first, wearing that horrid green jumpsuit, growing bushy eyebrows, and cutting his hair in a bowl cut style. Since he knew Kakashi would think he was trying to take Obito's place if he started acting like him, Gai began to challenge Kakashi to meaningless little fights. Even if he was dead tired from a recent mission, he would seek Kakashi out, usually at the memorial stone, and challenge him.
This happened even more often after Kyuubi attacked and the Fourth died. They were practically seen everywhere together after that, because Gai would follow Kakashi around and take his mind off of everything. In a way, this was how Gai coped too. With all the death around him from being a ninja, making sure that Kakashi was okay was his way of preserving himself to. By saving Kakashi, he was saving a bit of himself because then he knew he wasn't only good at being a killer, but also good at being a friend too.
He doesn't challenge Kakashi nearly as much now, because Kakashi has his own team to look after. Gai doesn't mind that one bit, because he has his own young people to keep sane and safe. And for now, he and Kakashi would be okay, because they had a purpose other than killing in their lives. He would keep that façade he put on to make Kakashi stay sane because it would help others too. Kakashi would sometimes invite him for a meal together, and that was all the gratitude Gai needed. Knowing that the other understood what he was doing and was grateful for it even if he never outright said it- that kept Gai going through all the hard times.