Failing youth chapter 3
Chapter 3-Determination V. Darkness
No matter how they tried, they just couldn't keep track of him with their eyes. It was like trying to find a spot of dust in a hurricane.
A man-made hurricane.....
Rock Lee spun faster and faster around his startled opponent, effortlessly speeding amongst and through the tendrils of sand his opponent had hastily thrown up in an effort to stop him.
It wasn't even slowing him down.
He was getting closer and closer to victory, even though a nagging voice in the back of his head told him this was all strangely familiar....
With the encouragement his beloved Gai-sensei had given him ringing in his ears, Lee shot towards the sand-user at the speed of thought, raining punches at kicks at the thin shield to distract his opponent. As he saw the tiny, crucial gap in the shield his distraction had caused, Lee sped towards it, and just had time to register the startled expression of the sand user before Lee's fist impacted with his face with incredible force and Gaara flew across the arena to land in a crumpled heap.
Excitement filled Lee. He had done it! Truly the power of youth bloomed for those who waited!
But then, as the sand-user slowly got to his feet, Lee could tell something was wrong. The arena seemed to be getting....darker? Lee wondered if his or Gaara's attacks had somehow damaged the lighting-but this seemed deeper, as if it had a life of its own....
Lee gritted his teeth in alarm as he realised that the darkness wasn't just coming from all around, but seemed to be coming from Gaara as well-tendrils of darkness flowing around him as the sand-user stood motionless, seemingly unaffected by Lee's hard-hitting attack just moments ago.
Lee swiftly considered his options; it seemed most likely that Gaara was using some sort of Genjutsu, despite his obvious preference for sand. If that was true, then Lee only had a few moments before the trap was complete....
He shot into super-speed once again, but something was wrong; the darkness seemed to have quickened, combining with the tendrils Gaara was projecting; and they were fast!
What is this?! Thought Lee as the tendrils chased at his ankles, moving almost as fast as was.
As he shot around the arena, looking for some respite from the fast-approaching darkness, he glanced up at the walkways, for some reassurance from his comrades.
And nearly skidded into the wall in shock.
Where a few moments before there had been scattered ninja from many nations looking down on the battle, now there were only blurs, which were being swallowed up by the darkness even as he watched.
Desperation filled Lee. This was no Genjutsu! This was some sort of attack, an invasion! All the ninja in the hall had been swallowed up...including his friends, his classmates, his teacher....
Lee skidded to a halt near the base of the giant statue which dominated the north end of the hall, itself being swallowed by the darkness. Determination filled him. This was no longer about the match, of progressing in the fight; this was about escaping, of informing the village-and the world, for many different ninja had been swallowed by darkness here today-of the horrible threat forming right here in this hall; seeming coming from Gaara himself, who by now was just a silhouette, and whose sand had transformed completely into darkness.
But as Lee prepared to sprint into action once again, looking for a high window or hidden exit for him to escape from, something tightened around his ankle. Glancing down, he saw a tendril of darkness firmly attached....and leading all the way back to the haze surrounding what had recently been a powerful ninja of the sand.
Without hesitation, Lee chopped at the tendril of darkness, severing it, but even as he did so a dozen more appeared and swiftly wrapped themselves around him. He struggled, but it was useless, the tendrils' grip on him was far too strong.
He looked up from his struggles in shock as a voice, slow and deep, emanated from the darkness.
'What use is speed', the voice said as tendrils coiled and tightened around Lee's waist, 'when you can't move at all?'
'What use is strength', the voice went on, slowly and calmly, as Lee fought and writhed, 'when all the strength you have can't save you?'
'I won't give up!' Lee screamed into the darkness, which by now was a razor-edged blizzard.
Mocking laughter was his only answer.
Lee resumed his struggles, but it was useless. None of the tendrils budged.
Lee suddenly became calm as the answer came to him. It was as if a flower of truth had blossomed in his mind, quietly but no less potent.
He would have to open the five Gates.
Doing this would severely injure him and make his eventual escape more difficult-but it was the only way out of here. He would punch his way out of the darkness as a passionate beacon of light!
But even as his closed his eyes and started unlocking the power within him, the darkness coiled around his arm and leg and constricted with crushing force. Lee screamed as pain lanced through him, but even through his agony, he had a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had been injured in this way before.....
Darkness coiled around his mouth and nose, brutally clamping his mouth shut and cutting off his screams. As the air drained from his lungs and spots appeared before his eyes, he vaguely realised he was being carried through the air. As his struggles became weaker and weaker, the darkness suddenly parted before him to reveal Gaara standing motionless, a manic grin on his face.
'Why....Lee tried to say through the darkness covering his mouth. The sand-user seemed to understand.
'It is not me who has brought you to this death, this...failure', Gaara replied in the voice that had so taunted Lee that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
As lee watched through dimming eyes, Gaara's face shifted and morphed...to Lee's own.
'Rather....it is you.'
With that, Gaara-Lee turned to walk away.
'Wait!' cried Lee, feebly stretching out a bandaged arm through the roiling darkness. But it was too late. Gaara was gone, and the darkness had closed behind him.
Lee struggled defiantly one last time, but it didn't matter. The darkness closed in, taking Lee with it...forever.
***
'No-!' came the strangled cry, piercing the dark surroundings.
Lee realised that the cry had been his own.
He raised his arms in an instinctive defence-but then saw there would be no need.
He was not in some dark place of evil. No darkness pinned him.
He was in his room in the Konoha hospital.
He almost felt like smiling grimly into the darkness-not only had his body been crippled, now his very dreams were turning against him!
His smile faded as he realised that his dreams-or nightmares- had to be formed out of his real concerns....
And considering there were still many hours before dawn and he was very unlikely to be able to get back to sleep again now was as good a time as any to mull over his dreams.
The presence of Gaara was no surprise; he had, after all, been responsible for Lee's injuries and had reduced him to....whatever he was now.
The arena was no surprise either; it was where he had so nearly triumphed, and where he had failed....Lee's hand clenched into a fist, despite the pain it brought him.
So that only left dream-Gaara's message....
'It is not me who has brought you to this death, this...failure. Rather....it is you.'
What did that mean....?
Could it mean that, so deep down that even Lee didn't know it fully, he believed that everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed, had only brought him to this....existence?
'I won't give up' Lee whispered to the city and wider world beyond the window.
Sighing wind was his only answer.
Slowly, without really realising it, and despite his earlier prediction, Rock Lee drifted off to sleep.