*Here's the final installment of the Fever Trilogy! It's a little different than the other two, both in structure and in style…longer too. Basically, This was originally supposed to be a oneshot…but then over 20,000 words later, I asked Hanai-kun whether or not he/she (don't know, not making assumptions) thought it was too long for one chapter, and overall, yes, yes it is. Anyway, be sure to thank Hanai-kun, because without her/him, you'd probably have to wait another 5 month for me to finish the entire story. I plan to update very soon, (possibly tomorrow) since I already have so much written for this fic. There're a lot of flashbacks in this, so it's probably going to go present, then past, then present, then past (and so on and so forth). Just in case, the past will be italicized. Anyway, please enjoy!
WARNING: Any medical knowledge that Kaiser attempts to portray is actually butchered information that she received from high school level Anatomy, high school level Psychology, and the Discovery Channel.
I sincerely apologize to any med students out there who spend this time laughing their asses off.
Chapter 1: Present—Lee and Gaara
Lee raced to the canyon in Tsuchi no Kuni, where he knew the most important person in his life to be. Gaara was sprinting at full-speed beside him.
They had finally found him, Uchiha Sasuke.
Shikamaru had wanted to get it right this time. All of the Rookie Nine, Team Gai, and Gaara and his siblings had gone to finish what they had started so many years prior. In the end, it had turned out almost as badly as the first time. Ino and Temari had been the first to be detained by an enemy. Then, Shino, Kiba, and Kankuro. Sakura and Hinata next. At this point, Shikamaru had begun to worry (never a good sign). He told Choji to go back and help anyone that he could. The Akimichi had agreed whole-heartedly. By then it had just been Shikamaru, Gaara, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, and Sai. It seemed like a skilled team, so the group still had hope. Tenten had even begun to joke. She was next, taking on a powerful enemy all by herself. Then, the unexpected happened. Uchiha Madara appeared. Naruto had no choice but to stay behind and fight, Sai by his side. Shikamaru, Gaara, Lee, and Neji…they were strong; they stood quite a chance against Sasuke, but not Madara. To fight him, Naruto's sage-mode was an absolute necessity. With a heavy heart, the blonde stayed to fight, while the other four went after Sasuke. But, they were separated. Lee and Gaara were forced to fight one enemy, while Shikamaru and Neji followed after Sasuke.
And now, here they were, heading towards the direction in which Shikamaru and Neji had gone, their enemy long since defeated. Lee looked to his redheaded companion, who had an indeterminable expression. He spent a particularly long time gazing at the redhead's right eye, now completely covered by his hair. The taijutsu-specialist shook himself out of his musings.
"Gaara-kun," he began. "Are you sure that you do not wish to rest? You have done so much already. I can go up ahead and find Neji and Shikamaru-kun." Gaara shook his head.
"That's all right, Lee. I'd like to be of more use to you," he replied in an end-of-the-matter sort of tone. Lee had to frown at that last statement.
"Gaara-kun, please do not speak of yourself in such a manner. I am not your father, nor am I the elders of Sunagakure. To me, you are Gaara the person, not Gaara the weapon." Gaara flashed Lee a rare smile. He had quite the friend in Rock Lee after all. Lee could not help but to smile in return.
However, Lee and Gaara had no more time to continue this exchange. For at that very moment, they had come upon a battlefield in the canyon. The damage was unreal. Cliffs decimated and ground into nothing but dust and pebbles. Even the earth was scorched. Shadows of all shapes and sizes, some formed like amorphous blobs, others like hands, and some even looked grotesquely human, all were burned into the walls of the canyon, imprinted there for eternity from when Shikamaru, obviously too stressed to think, poured far too much chakra into them. Blood littered the walls illuminated by the starlight above them, painted onto the walls of the canyon almost childishly.
"Oh God…" Lee uttered, eyes wide in disbelief at the horror of the scene. He felt a hand grasp his firmly, lightly squeezing it. He turned to find Gaara, gazing at him with empathy. The redhead nodded. Never letting go of Lee's hand, he led the taijutsu-specialist through the canyon, looking for signs of life.
"Do you see them anywhere, Lee?" Lee simply shook his head, too shocked to speak. If he looked very carefully at the towering cliffs, he could see handprints left over from failed attacks, Neji's handprints. Near them was his lovely Neji's blood, dripping down from the ghosts of his hands from when the coarseness of the rock scraped off his skin like sandpaper. "Lee, you're shaking. It's okay. We'll find them. They'll be okay. We just need to…to…" Gaara trailed off, for in the distance, across the desolate canyon floor, were three figures lying close together near a cliff. Gaara let go of Lee's hand.
And they ran.
And the closer they got, the more macabre the scene before them became. It was not until Lee and Gaara were mere feet in front of the three before the true horror of the sight began to sink in.
Sasuke was on the ground in front of them. His throat had been slit sloppily, done in someone's haste. The person must have not had the heart to watch as they did it. His bleeding had stopped, heart no longer beating. Sasuke's obsidian eyes were now glassy, staring blankly up at the sky, but then again, Sasuke could not really gaze at anything anymore. The deed, that terrible deed, had been done. Still, Sasuke's lifeless form was the least heart-wrenching of the three.
For Lee had looked at Shikamaru once, and could not bear to gaze again. Shikamaru, such a calm, placating force, one of the kindest people that Lee could ever hope to meet, was in the fetal position, alternating between laughing uncontrollably and sobbing his eyes out.
It did not take much thought to realize that he had gone mad.
And finally, to Shikamaru's right was the one person that Lee could not bear to see like this: Neji. Neji's body was covered in scorch marks and small lacerations, with one horrid, gaping wound in his stomach. It oozed out blood slowly, menacingly. His hair was strewn freely about his body, curse seal uncovered for all the world to see. He was paler than the moonlight that streamed down onto his still form, the dark circles under his eyes even more defined than usual. A small sliver of blood ran down from his slightly parted lips. It was difficult to tell if the brunette was even breathing anymore. And at the sight of him, Lee fell to his knees, eyes so very wide.
How did it come to this?