"I'll protect you!"
Well… he had protected him. He had protected him with all his heart and soul! So at least Sai-kun was alright. Gai-sensei would be proud of him for that!
But would he be proud of this? Being a zombie was turning out to be neither good nor bad, it was more in-between, and Lee was having difficultly determining whether to cry about being used by the enemy against his dear friends and special people or cry because he would get the chance to see them again and that was a happy thought at least! YOSH! Think happy thoughts.
Not many people got to think happy thoughts after death, he told himself. Be optimistic. It's not like I'm going to kill any of my dear friends and special people. I will run into someone first, someone who is stronger than me, like Neji or Gai-sensei or… or… Someone will most definitely come along!
He cheered himself up with thoughts like that. See? Being a zombie wasn't so bad, he would get the chance to say goodbye. Something he hadn't had the time to do before dying. He wondered who he would have time to say goodbye to.
"Hey, Bushybrows! Bushybrows, what the hell are you doing all the way out –…"
Ah. So this was why Kabuto had had him moving in this direction. Lee turned around, not by choice, to face Naruto-kun, or at least a clone of him, and Gaara-sama. His smile at least was by free will. "Sorry, Naruto-kun, I did not get to make it to the final stand with you and everyone else!"
"B-Bushybrows… What the fuck happened? What happened! You were with… you were only… how?"
"Yes! I am also infuriated, you see –" his hand flew out of its own volition, or more likely Kabuto's, and Gaara-sama in the same second caught a kunai in his sand. "I see that I have no time to tell you! To be short, Sai-kun is safe. I made sure of it with my dying will!"
"I can see that, thanks!" Naruto-kun's expression was twisted in anguish and it was so, so… so un-youthful. So not Naruto-kun! "This wasn't supposed to happen, you're not allowed to die, man!"
"I will try to remember that the next time around," he replied in all seriousness. Had he had control over himself, he would have even written it down in his handy-dandy notebook.
I can feel myself getting ready to attack, he thought to himself. There is so much I wish to say to both of you! Gaara-sama, I always wished we could become close friends and I never held any bad feelings towards you for the Chuunin exams, never! It was the greatest fight of my life, even now, and it seems like we are destined to fight one more time. Please forgive me. Naruto-kun… Lifetimes are not long enough for all I want to say to you. Thank you for always being my friend.
But he didn't say any of that, mostly because his mouth suddenly felt wired shut and even his own immense strength couldn't get him to pry it open. He was moving in, throwing a fist back, and Naruto-kun just narrowly ducked out of the way as he sent it rushing forward so fast it cut air.
"H-hey! Bushybrows, give me some warning, would ya?" He ran his sleeve across his face.
Lee's heart broke. Do not cry, he wanted to say. Please, not over me. And then he began to cry too because Naruto-kun had that affect on people. What he felt, everyone felt.
Even Gaara-sama looked a little glassy-eyed.
"Bushybrows! I'm gonna save you from yourself!" he snarled, when he finally got control over himself and Lee wasn't trying to kill him. "But don't forget! Y-you're… You're my friend. And I'm… I'll…" He stopped, looked down, and then looked back at him. His cerulean eyes were amber and his pupils were elongated. There were orange shadows over his eyelids. The power of Naruto, even as a clone… "You made it, Lee. You fucking made it."
He could at least still smile. He did so widely. Salty tears landed on his lips and he sucked in a deep breath. Alright. Time to fight.
"Lee." Gaara-sama commanded his attention like he did with everyone everywhere. Gaara-sama was powerful like that. Lee stared at him out of the corner of his eye. His head didn't seem to want to turn away from Naruto-kun. "You are my friend too. And I am honored to have known you."
The trickle of tears turned into a waterfall. Without really thinking about it, he wiped them away as best he could with his fist. Then his body belonged solely to Kabuto's will.
And Kabuto demanded that he attack his dear friends.
.
Trying to kill Bushybrow wasn't that different from sparring from him. The clone of Naruto told himself this over and over again till he believed it. That was really a shocker, that he could believe that Bushybrow wasn't a zombie, that this wasn't a war, and that the reason he and Gaara were trying (and failing) to get at Bushybrow was because they were just play-fighting.
Bushybrow went all out. That wasn't anything different, he always went all out. He was like… like Naruto, except he had more control of himself. Just barely. Yeah, they always understood each other. They weren't annoying to each other. Bushybrow was the weird kid who ran around in green spandex and Naruto was the demon kid in an orange jumpsuit. Bushybrow did really crazy things and Naruto said really crazy things and they were…
They were close. They were buds.
Naruto was going to have to kill his bud. His friend. The guy the real him met four years ago in the Chuunin exams. They'd come a long way, hadn't they? They'd had good times too. They'd fought together and they'd supported each other.
Kimamaro…
… Suigetsu…
Akahoshi…
… Gennō…
Saving Gaara!
It wasn't fair!
What made you think it was to begin with? The Kyuubi barked. Now kill him! He doesn't want to kill you but he doesn't have a choice in the matter. Don't make him do something he'll die to regret.
Geez, you almost sound like you care again, he thought angrily back at the nine-tails. Just shut up and let me deal with this!
That's the thing. You're not dealing with this, that other brat is.
Huh?
Naruto spun around as a wall of sand erected itself between him and the green blur that was Bushybrow.
The kazekage stepped forward and snagged Bushybrow's attention. Naruto stared as they fought. It only took about a minute for Bushybrow to beat through Gaara's first defense and from there Gaara had to do hand-to-hand combat. Sure, he'd improved since the Chuunin exams, but…
Naruto winced as he went flying.
No one was better than Bushybrow. Maybe not even Bushierbrow.
Before Gaara could hit the ground, Bushybrow was there to toss him back up and follow him in the air to land his knee in his gut. By the time Gaara finally did land on the grass, he was wheezing and his sand was boiling in outrage. His mom formed out of the grains and wrapped her arms around Bushybrow.
He was there long enough that Naruto could blast him. He didn't have that much chakra to begin with. The real him had been running around all day, fighting, trying to save his friends, trying to end the war, trying not to do everything by himself but everyone needed him. But a lack of energy wasn't what made his attack so weak.
This was Bushybrow. Sure, he'd gotten the news that the InoShikaChou trio had had to face off with their own sensei, but this was… this was… This just was! It was so wrong! Asuma had been dead for years, he hadn't been killed and resurrected in a day.
Bushybrow frowned at him as he broke free, spandex suit smudged and a mild burn along the right side of his face, and then hit him in the jaw. "Naruto-kun, where is your fire?" He stopped and blinked, like he hadn't expected that. "YOSH! I have my voice back! Good. Now, Naruto-kun, please be serious about this. No? Fine!" He posed, one hand extended, finger pointed in both his and Gaara's general direction. "I challenge you both to a rematch! Now stop moping and give me one last good fight, okay?"
"B-Bushybrow. THIS ISN'T TRAINING!" he screamed, because he had spent so long trying to convince himself of that that now he was pissed. "You're going to die."
"Naruto-kun… I'm already dead."
"That's beside the point. I'm not going to be responsible…"
"I will be." Gaara stood carefully to his feet. "I tried to kill you twice already. I'll try once more and this time… I will do it for you."
"G-Gaara!" Naruto glared at him. "There has to be another way, there has to be! We can't kill Bushybrows, he's our friend, he's…"
"I had to seal my father away today, Naruto. I found out that my mother and uncle loved me and then I had to kill the man who finally gave me love after many, many years of hatred. We don't get to choose who lives or dies today. We can only fight and hope for the best."
"Gaara-sama…" Bushybrow sniffed. "That is so wonderful! I mean, do not get me wrong, but I am happy that you know the truth. You have always been loved, that is amazing!" He wiped away his tears with a fist.
Naruto frowned. That was the second time he had done that. And the talking thing, he'd been shocked he could do that too. He stared into his friend's freaky eyes, black where white should be and white where black should be. Considering how dark Bushybrow's eyes had been before he had died, they were extremely pale now. But there was still so much emotion there…
He jerked. So much emotion because Bushybrow was Bushybrow! He was full of "passion" and "youth" and all those other words he and Bushierbrow kept throwing around! Why?
Naruto smirked. Because Bushybrow was a genius of hard work.
"Thank you, Lee." Gaara dipped his head. Then he ducked and Bushybrow flew over him for a length before rebounding off a tree and swinging back.
"No problem, Gaara-s – NARUTO-KUN! What are you doing?" Bushybrow collided with the earth a few inches away from Gaara and where Naruto stood defenselessly in front of him, arms outstretched and weapons gone. "Would you ever do during sparring? Then do not do that here! It's almost like you want me to hurt you!"
Naruto met Gaara's eyes over his shoulder. The kazekage's eyelids flickered in understanding.
He dropped the gourd and stalked away, putting three feet of distance between him and safety. Naruto did the same thing and Bushybrow stared at them both desperately, like he wished they would defend themselves against him. Because that was what he wanted.
But if he really wanted that, he'd have to work to defend them against him by himself. Because Bushybrow was a genius of hard work. Bushybrow could do anything if he put his mind to it. Naruto could guess that that meant anything, including this fucking Edo Tensei bind. Because nothing ever bound Bushybrow anywhere except his special people and his loyalties.
The last Naruto was aware, Bushybrow was not loyal to Kabuto.
Besides, Naruto observed, he stopped himself from killing me. He had the strength to miss me.
"C'mon, Bushybrow! What are you waiting for, an invitation?"
"W-what are you two doing? By the power of youth, defend yourselves! This is cowardly, attacking unarmed –" he came within inches of crushing Naruto's skull and ended up instead pounding his fist into the root beside him "– ninja! Oh, the shame of it, what would Gai-sensei think…"
"Yeah, Bushybrow, what will Bushierbrow think?" He wanted him to focus on that. What better way to get to him than through his sensei? Those two were like twins! Except for, uh, the age difference… "Is that all you've got?"
Bushybrow nearly sent his foot through Gaara's chest. "Naruto-kun! Please do not test me right now, this is very upsetting!"
"Where's your 'youth' now, huh? HUH?" In the depths of Bushybrow's creep eyes, fires sprung loose and burned.
As a matter of fact, it seemed to burn his eyes right. "I will show you! YOSH!"
.
Lee eventually stopped attacking them altogether, though that obviously wasn't the end of Kabuto's control over him. When his kicks and punches failed to land on them, his body naturally turned to the trees and the ground.
At one point, he started walking on his hands.
Then he was doing jumping jacks.
When he nearly killed Naruto with an uncooperative leg, he turned to sparring with lookalikes Gaara made for him out of sand.
And they waited, Gaara and Naruto together, to see if Lee could actually overcome what so many other men and women, men and women hundreds of times more powerful than Lee could ever imagine to be, no matter his goals, could not.
Gaara had his doubts. Then he reasoned with them and the truth was that this was Rock, Lee they were talking about. Lee could not fathom impossibilities and, when Gaara was around him, neither could he. He was a lot like Naruto in that respect. True, Lee was not as uplifting and, if rumors were to be believed, not as attractive either.
Gaara could not give an opinion on the latter point because he had no concept of what was beautiful and what was not. A sunset was pleasing. Love was good medicine. But what was beauty? Was it physically appealing or realized by the heart? He wasn't sure, so he didn't really focus on that for long.
As it was, though, Lee and Naruto were a lot alike. He knew for a fact that everyone had doubted that Lee would become a shinobi again after what Gaara had done to him years ago. Everyone had doubted back then that Naruto would ever become hokage too.
If there was one word that could not be found in both Naruto and Lee's vocabulary, it was "impossible".
So Gaara waited, though he admitted to still being slightly cynical of this plan. So what if Lee did defeat Kabuto's hold on him? He was still dead. He was still a zombie. Kabuto had the power to let go of Lee at any time and then Lee would just be dead. If Kabuto didn't do that, then Lee would just be forced to amble around till one or the other side won the war and the jutsu either ended abruptly or gradually wore off.
The chances of Lee getting free were slim enough as it was. To think to the future was actually depressing Gaara. He had considered them good friends, he and Lee. Lee had forgiven him for nearly killing him twice in the past, and for almost taking away his dream. Lee was kind and he had charisma.
Gaara sidled a glance towards Naruto. Those two traits seemed to attract him, he surmised. The people I find myself closest to aside from my siblings have "spark", he thought to himself. He almost smiled. "Spark". They more or less were their own wildfires.
And then, at last, Lee went still. He was balancing on his hands, having painfully run a trench into the ground as his body came in and out of his control. He trembled… and then he collapsed.
"Bushybrow!"
Gaara prepared himself for the worst.
.
There were a few people who weren't actually surprised that they won the war. One of them was Naruto. But no one was really celebrating. It was a bit traumatizing, having loved ones come back to life just to kill you. And they were exhausted. There was still a village that had to be rebuilt and the peace between the five kages was probably at risk due to the mizukage and the hokage immediately beginning the fifth world war between the two of them. They seemed keen on getting the other kages involved. Including Gaara, who smartly disappeared in a storm of sand once he realized he was being singled out in a fight between two full-grown women with everything better to do but still choosing not to.
And then there was Lee.
Once Naruto managed to rip the old hag away from her fight, they thought about what to do.
Lee wasn't dead. Okay, he was dead, but not dead dead. He was conscious and talking and he had control of himself, but there still wasn't a heartbeat and he wasn't breathing.
Tsunade pointed out that that was actually impossible. How was it possible to talk without inhaling or exhaling oxygen? Naruto, who was no science freak, just begged her to get on with it.
Bee rapped off something, bro-fisted Naruto, and then walked off with his brother. Ninja laid down and went to sleep wherever they could find the space to, some on top of each other and others so damn tired Naruto doubted they even knew where they were.
He wasn't much better off.
"Naruto-kun… Wh-what are you doing…?" Hinata stared with wide eyes down at him and he blinked up at her. What was she talking about? And what was with this awkward angle, like he was still standing or something?
Then he had an "oh, shit!" moment, because the very comfortable, very warm pillow he had miraculously found in his exhaustion was actually part of a living, breathing creature otherwise known as the strange and shy Hinata. He was still standing up, but had someone teetered forward till he was somewhat half-bent and Hinata had… well, she had obviously been right there, so now…
"GAAAAH! Sorry, Hinata! Really, really – huh?"
Her hands cradled the back of his head and petted back his sweaty gold hair. "I-if you're so tired… it's o-okay." Her face was flushed red. He worried that she might pass out, like she sometimes did, but she remained standing somehow. "You were amazing, Naruto-kun. I-I… um…"
"Hey, you wanna move somewhere better?"
"H-huh?"
"Well, it's just that you've been fighting this whole time too, and I don't think either of us can stand much longer. You wanna sit down?"
"Okay…"
So they situated themselves against a rock and Naruto, after a weary glance, reclaimed his pillow with the utmost caution. He really didn't feel up to a beating right now. But then Hinata kept petting him so he let his eyes close and, before he even knew it he was aslee-
…
.
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"ZOMBIIEEEEE!"
"GAH!"
"I WILL SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF, LEE!"
"Gai, Lee is in control of himself," Gaara intervened. Because he knew better than to reach for the sensei himself, he let a "tendril" of sand "gently" pull Gai away from choking his undead student. By "tendril", the grains were compacted into a very large, very solid club. By "gently", he was more or less tossed outside the tent where he was buried a comfortable distance in the ground, luckily with his head poking out of it. "There is no reason to kill him… again. Not yet anyway."
"Gai-sensei…" Lee completed his good-guy pose. "If Tsunade-sama can not save my humanity, then I would be honored to end by your hand!"
Gai sniffed. Then he started to, not to Gaara's surprise, bawl. "Oh, LEE! If I have to take your life, I'll take mine too!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"They do this often, I guess," Gaara commented. He sent a sidelong glace towards the copy-nin.
He flipped through his porn book. "You never get used to it. You just get used to the murderous rage you feel whenever you want to shut them up."
Gaara nodded because that made sense.
And then his siblings came for him, as did his ninja.
.
Since Lee was at least animated, Tsunade figured that they could start the rest of him up to go with his motion. What could it take?
As it so happened, it took five billion volts of electricity and a very spicy plate of curry. By the end of it, Lee was bald from the resulting fire (due to the curry, of course), his hands and feet were singed black (that time by the electricity), and he couldn't feel anything. That was hopefully just a side effect. Considering what he had been through, Tsunade would be shocked if it wasn't a side effect.
At least his heart was beating and he was breathing again. Slowly, the condition of his eyes started to regress. His sclera turned white and his irises were healthily, at least for him, as dark as his now normal pupils.
Tsunade took a step back and let the newly (truly) resurrected Lee rejoice with his team. Tenten cried into his throat and Neji clapped his shoulder with all the camaraderie of a man who was secretly relieved to have his rival and friend back. Gai… well, Gai was being Gai.
Gai was being so damned overjoyed that Tsunade was half-willing to take back everything she had done to give Lee his life back just so she could avoid his excitement.
They embraced with the power of two very strong bears coming together and cried on each other. Tsunade got the faintest notion of a tropical sunset behind them but that was just stupid and stupidity demanded alcohol. More alcohol.
She huffed and walked away. She was busy enough as it was, after all. She had a village to rebuild, people to reassure, and a buzz to reacquire.
Just another day in the life of a hokage.
.
Sai-kun reported back to Lee that, thanks to his sacrifice, he had succeeded in his mission. Lee had hugged him and Sai-kun had let him.
Then he had left, because Sai-kun had friends he wanted to find.
Lee watched him go and thought about the friends he would like to see as well. With a wide smile, he went off to find them.
At HQ, he found Gaara-sama, his siblings nearby but passed out while Gaara-sama drifted somewhere in-between. He looked up as Lee came in and stared at his eyes for a long moment. "So you're alive…"
It wasn't really a question but Lee had gotten into the habit of answering observations anyway. "Yes!"
"And you're bald."
He self-consciously rubbed a hand over his scalp. "My hair caught fire."
"I see." Gaara-sama squinted as if he could actually see the slightest outline of it. When he was satisfied he looked up and through the cracked roof, studying the sky and the luckily unclaimed moon. "Your hair caught fire?"
"It is a rather silly story, you see, there was…"
They spent nearly two hours awake, talking and reminiscing.
Later, he found himself fondly watching the gourd that was never too far away from Gaara-sama. The kazekage stared questioningly at him and he laughed quietly, trying not to bother the sleeping siblings and the ninja thereabout. "I was remembering the first time we met."
He rethought that, considering that there had been glimpses of meetings before they actually met. They had gone through the exams together, if not on separate teams. "I mean, the first time we fought."
"… Oh." Gaara-sama found the moon again and leaned back against the wall. "That."
"What do you mean? That? It was so much more than that, it was a magnificent show of fire and youth and strength! I get thrills just thinking back on it, you were amazing! Hah hah, um, in a… in a way." In a way that even Lee would have to admit was slightly psychotic. But awesome nonetheless!
Kanukuro-san grumbled and Temari-san glared daggers, or fans, at him as she turned over and shunned them with her back. Oops, he had gotten excited. He had the habit of shouting when he was excited, so he was told. He flushed just the slightest bit. "Sorry."
"In a way," Gaara-sama echoed as he too studied his brother and sister. "In a way, you were amazing too." His eyes slid in their sockets to stare at him. "You realize that, if you hadn't fought me first, Sasuke would have never defeated me? He copied your moves and made them his own. Had he not defeated me, Naruto wouldn't have stopped me in the time that he had."
Lee thought about that for the first time in his life. How awing! He was humbled.
"So you must be amazing too."
"I must be…" he agreed, mostly to taste the words and what they meant. He grinned. "Thank you, Gaara-s… Gaara-kun…" Lee eyeballed the kazekage to make sure he did not take offense. When there was the slightest quirk of lips, he went on merrily. "I am honored to be your friend!"
Companionable silence settled over them. So did exhaustion. Lee fought valiantly to keep his eyes open but Gaara-kun, who was relatively new to the experience of sleep, let it happen freely.
Seeing that he was awake alone, Lee shrugged. He might as well join him!
He collapsed sideways the moment he shut his eyes.
He would realize, hours later, that his head had landed in Gaara-kun's lap. That would be later, though. Hours later. But not now.
For now, there was peace.
Author's Note: I recently got back into the manga. Because I didn't want to start from where I had left off so long ago, I thought I would just summarize and skim through the last twelve or so chapters… well. That only made it more confusing. So I went further back! I'm still in the midst of understanding what the hell's going on, but I think I was pretty accurate here.