For Fru, who requested this about a year ago. Please note I wrote this in the span of about an hour, so yes, I know it's messy...But I hope you enjoy it anyway, honey bunch :3
Lee had waited his whole life to fall in love.
Since the early days of his adolescence, Lee's mind had been barraged with the ideals of love unfuelled by the temptation of lust. An intimate relationship based on respect, communication and affection; of true romance. Pure love.
Lee, as an orphan, had no other guidelines with which he was able to form his own set of moral values or beliefs, other than those of the only masculine father-like figure in his life. Unfortunately, or not, this man happened to be none other than one Maito Gai. And let's face it, to most of the Konoha citizens he's not exactly much of a role model.
So to Lee's virgin mind Gai only fuelled the flames of G rated moe, and even after Lee had grown to the age where he learned the real facts of life, he kept it that way. It was more special that way, wasn't it?
His first ever real crush was Sakura-chan, it wasn't like he ever tried to hide it. But in hindsight, Lee would laugh at how pathetic and shallow it was. 'Nothing more than puppy love' he would say when reminded of the ordeal years later. Now those feelings had evolved into a love more attributed towards a sister, or an old childhood friend. The war had forced a lot of people to grow up fast, Lee included, and during hard times wooing girls who obviously had no interest to begin with was pointless.
Even after that when he'd had that fuck-buddy thing with Ten-Ten a few years back, he knew it wasn't anything substantial. There was no passion, no love, no emotion of any kind at all except desire, which made him feel disgusted in himself afterwards. But he understood now that he had needed it. He yearned to feel needed and appreciated in any way he could, and this was one of the only options open to him in the midst of a war. That and it was good exercise.
But with the war long since gone and conflicts on the decrease, there wasn't much need for combat ninja, which eventually led to most ninjas sitting behind desks all day or becoming diplomats for neighbouring countries. Unable to share stories of new adventures they had experienced, the Konoha ninjas were reduced to telling nostalgic stories of their past in Ichiraku Ramen like old men.
Which is where Lee was now, sitting alongside Naruto now both aged in their mid-twenties, chowing down on bowl after bowl. They often ate together, after discovering a mutual affection for ramen a few years back.
They exchanged stories on a regular basis, boasting their successes and exaggerating certain failures to make themselves sound cooler. Since their first meal together it had been like this, and by now Lee and Naruto had definitely heard all of their stories, so they would request some of their favourites to be told over again, occasionally laden with lies and crack.
Lee had a favourite story, one that he would request over and over again until he knew every detail as if it were his own memory. His fondness for this particular story was not due to any kind of action-packed event that got his blood pumping, or a hilarious incident that left him in stitches for hours. Well, actually, his fondness wasn't for the story at all.
Lee had waited his whole life to fall in love.
He just never expected it to be with a character from a story.
A dead character from a story at that.
And a man.
In his own defence, even Naruto didn't know that Haku was a boy. And from the sound of it he was a pretty sexy boy at that, he was "even cuter that Sakura-chan". Mmm, he's gotta be hot.
But of course, having never met Haku before (and considering he died over a decade ago, he never will), one would be led to ask as to how Lee managed to fall in love with him in the first place, right? Simple.
Haku had died protecting someone very precious to him. Someone who had taken him in, trained him and raised him as a son. Someone whom he shared a very special bond with.
Sound familiar?
Lee had been raised on the very same principles, and anyone who died protecting someone they loved, even if they followed you shortly after, was granted Lee's eternal respect and admiration.
The first time Lee had heard Haku's story was at a party, and whilst everyone else was getting drunk (Lee was obviously banned from the bar) Lee sat quietly in a corner and reflected. Was that the ultimate end of Lee's path? Of course, death was inevitable whether you're a shinobi or not, but dying for the sake of another?
On many occasions in his short life, Lee had testified that he would die to protect his companions, and his 'most precious person'. Yet Haku's sacrifice had been in vain, had it not? Haku chose to trade his life so that his partner Zabuza would live, perhaps never knowing that just under an hour later he would also be dead. All those years Lee had been saying those words, he had imagined that his sacrifice would save his companion, they would escape danger and return home to build a memorial and name their first child after him. The thought that this may not come to pass had never entered his mind, the chance that Lee's sacrifice would be wasted, was enough to get him thinking if he had it in him to do it at all.
He never said those words again.
Time passed, missions were completed, and Lee had vigilantly protected his friends and companions as was expected of any proud Konoha shinobi. But when he returned home and listened to more of Naruto's stories, he would think back on the boy who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his partner.
'Why did he do it?' Lee would ask himself. 'Because he could? Because he wanted to? Because he was fucked up in the head?' Lee couldn't find the answer no matter how many times he heard the damn story. Until one day, he blurted out what he was thinking to an unsuspecting Naruto mid-ramen.
"Reh?" was his companion's intelligible reply. Lee asked again, and Naruto paused to formulate a more appropriate response.
"Well, because he loved him I guess" he finally answered.
"What, you mean they were married or something?" replied the sceptic Lee. Naruto shook his head violently, the noodles in his mouth showering his neighbours to which they glared daggers in return.
"No, you dickhead, not like that. You of all people should be able to understand why he did it…" Naruto looked pointedly at the confused Lee, who merely shook his head in response. Naruto rolled his eyes. "You were always rambling about your freakin' 'most precious person' back in the day, right? That's what Zabuza was to him. I mean, it's not like Haku was the type of guy who'd just die for anyone, if that were the case he woulda been killed ages ago for being a pussy."
"Yeah, I gathered that much, but-" Naruto interjected as though Lee never said anything.
"So basically, he woulda only died for Zabuza. It wasn't that long ago you used to go around saying you'd protect Sakura-chan until you died, but you stopped coz you probably understood that was bullshit, right? I mean, it woulda been all well and good for her but a fucking stupid move on your behalf. You're a teenager, your life would have been wasted."
Lee sat back listening.
"But Haku was different, man. His childhood was fucked up, he had nobody but Zabuza to love and rely on, and as much of a prick as he was they had a pretty good relationship. Hey, kinda like you and Gai-sensei, right?"
Lee nodded, deep in thought.
"So put yourself in Haku's shoes. You're in a battle, enemy ninja all around, you're fighting someone whose ass you could kick in 10 seconds flat and Gai-sensei's fighting, ah I dunno, Orochimaru. Gai-sensei's wounded, Oro-slut is about to deliver the finishing blow, what would you do?"
Naruto paused for an answer he never received, he could see Lee's mind ticking.
'Throw myself in front of Gai-sensei, of course!'
'But why?'
'Because…'
'Because?'
'Because…he's my most precious person…'
'And?'
'I'd do anything to protect him.'
Naruto finished the last of his ramen and ordered another. His fourth.
"I think he just wanted to do something for someone he loved. He probably even knew that he would have died after, he just…it was something he had to do. I mean, you don't know if you don't try, right?"
Lee smiled. "No…no you don't."
Years had passed since that day, and still he never tired of hearing Haku's story. Even now, as he stood at the foot of his grave, Naruto's words rang clear in his mind, detailing his face, his words, his story and his final act.
Lee smiled to himself, breathing in the cool air of the sunset as he sat beside the grave. He had been there for hours, reflecting on his life and his goals for the future. Now that he had so much time to himself, he was finally able to organise himself as a man and a shinobi, and he owed much of this to both Naruto and Haku. He took a moment to look around and take in the scenery, where he spotted a large piece of driftwood floating in a nearby stream. Struck by inspiration he went to fetch it, and sitting on the bank he pulled out a kunai and began to carve into the soft wood.
Eventually pleased with his work, he moved to return to the grave. As he rose, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a single white flower growing nearby. He walked over and picked it root and all, and continued on his way back. Silently, he placed the piece of wood behind the mound and buried the flower in the dirt.
He sat for a while longer, remaining pensive in his silence. It was getting dark and he needed to return to his hotel. He was on his way to the sand for a diplomatic meeting, they were considering him for a long term position as Konoha ambassador. Yeah, time to go home.
Doing nothing more than whispering a silent prayer, Lee left, never knowing if one day someone would pass and be bothered to read the inscription he had left on the driftwood. Never knowing if anyone would ask who the grave belonged to. Never knowing if the flower he placed would bloom and grow.
But hey, you don't know if you don't try, right?