Author's Note: I decided to go back and add some more meat to this, because it didn't seem like Lee had any propellant to suddenly spring into action before. Gai is great, but he's not that great of a motivational speaker without a story to tell! Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about Gai's "precious person." Working on adding new material to this story as well – stay tuned.

Chapter 21: A Vow

I woke to a pounding noise that reverberated in my skull.

"Lee? Are you there?" I recognized the booming voice outside immediately.

There was a gauzy fog cast over everything when I slowly opened my eyes. I forced myself up from the floor, fighting dizziness as I trudged into the living room.

"Gai Sensei?" I croaked. My throat was incredibly dry.

"Yes, it's me. Is everything all right? You missed training this morning." He sounded more worried than I had heard him in quite a while.

After what felt like years, I finally reached the door and opened it. The brightness of the sunlight made me stumble backward. I was able to steady myself, but only barely.

My teacher reiterated his concern. "Lee, are you okay?"

"I…" My mind was blank. "I do not know."

I sat on the sofa, wracking my brain for memories while my vision gradually improved. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What has happened to you? You're not acting like your usual, youthful self! Are you ill? Nobody slipped any saké into your tea last night, did they?"

The last question he asked was not as absurd as it would have sounded to an outsider. A medicine mishap after my surgery had revealed my Drunken Fist ability. Since then, my friends found novelty in attempting (and failing) to sneak alcohol into my food and beverages.

As those memories took residence in my mind, they were almost immediately pushed aside by a recollection of my last few moments of consciousness. I reached up to touch the side of my neck and found the tiny puncture.

"Sakura…"

"Sakura? What about her, Lee?"

The events of the previous evening came back with vivid detail: The white, shocked look on Sakura's face when she answered the door, the sinister glint in Sasuke's eyes, the pure, undiluted agony I felt as I watched her cry and listened to her tell me she loved him still, demoting me from "Lee-kun" back to "Lee-san.". Suddenly, I could feel the bare space in my chest where my heart had once been.

There was no sense in hiding or softening the truth. "She is gone… she left with Uchiha."

"Sasuke?" Gai Sensei placed his hand on my forehead momentarily. "My dear boy, are you running a fever? You're having delusions! There's no way he could sneak past the village's fortifications, much less kidnap your beloved Sakura. She is a lovely flower, but tough as well."

"She was not kidnapped."

I no longer cared that I had no moisture in my mouth and throat. In fact, the sore scratchiness provided me a strange, morbid relief; a miniscule distraction from my other pain.

My master looked at me as if I had said something crazy. Truly, it was crazy. I never would have believed it myself had I not witnessed and suffered it.

"How could this happen?" He stared in disbelief. "This must be the result of mind-control jutsu or coercion of some other kind."

I knew I was the one to blame for this. She had walked away from me because Sasuke was right. I was the same miserable failure I had always been. She had betrayed me and the rest of the village because I was not worthy of her love. I could not make her stop loving him and I could not convince her to stay.

"It is my fault. I was not strong enough to stop her. She is gone and there is nothing more I can do."

My mentor of six years regarded me stoically.

"My son," he said, surprising me with the familial term (despite our closeness, he had never used it before), "Have I told you about my precious person? Well, aside from you and your teammates, of course."

I looked up at him and furrowed my brow. "No, you never have spoken of someone like that."

"Well, Lee…" he folded his arms over his chest. "As you know, I have a manly, tough-guy reputation to uphold. I can't look too soft, so I don't talk much about things like this. I carry them in my heart and that is enough."

"How long has this person been in your life?" I asked. Despite my groggy, hollow state, I was intrigued.

"Well, he – uh, she… She and I met many years ago. We were about the same age you and Sakura were when you met, in fact. I loved her almost immediately and, as I saw you do, I began my youthful pursuit in the best way I knew how. I issued a challenge to impress her."

I felt a funny, flipping sensation in my stomach as I recalled the day I first saw Sakura. The reminiscent joy was tempered with the blood of the fresh wound she had left me with.

"However, I did not challenge another boy to be my rival – I challenged her, and she reluctantly accepted. "

My eyes were fixed intently on my mentor now. He gave me a warm smile, then his eyes drifted to the ceiling. His expression reminded me slightly of Tenten's "thinking of Neji" look.

"She has inspired and beguiled me ever since. Just as you adore your Sakura for all of her traits inside and out, I, too, cherish my precious person. She has an air of mystery about her, but I have come to understand her so well, it feels as though we knew each other before the Earth was born. She has wild, beautiful fair hair. She is quiet, but delightfully witty when she does choose to speak. She loves books. She is strong and swift of mind – my perfect counterpart in every way."

"Sensei, I am so happy for you!" I forced myself to grind out the sentiment with a smile, despite how wretched I felt. "I hope I too can find a love that wonderful one day." I struggled against tears.

"But, Lee… I did not tell you all of this to boast or to torture you; I have a good reason," Gai Sensei's eyes were back on mine and his features had changed from wistful to serious. "This story isn't the fairytale it seems."

I continued to listen expectantly.

"My love is, alas, unrequited. Even after all we've been through together, my feelings are very much one-sided. They most likely always will be."

Had it been present, my heart would have ached for my master. We were both losers who could not earn a woman's love. It was tragic. He must have sensed my despair, because he quickly continued.

"But that doesn't stop me from loving her still, and doing everything I can to assure she is safe and happy and has help whenever she needs it. She selected me as her second-in-command on one of the most important missions in her career – in mine, too, actually. Of all the shinobi of Konoha, she chose me, and I was fiercely loyal to her as I told her I would be. We have fought side by side many times. Our skills complement each other very well. She's a brilliant ninjutsu user. I consider it a blessing that I've been there on the rare occasions when her abilities have failed her. She was once so severely exhausted of chakra after a battle, she could not walk. I carried her home."

I had a strange moment of déjà vu. I thought I recognized a description of someone I knew. I assumed my impaired condition was playing tricks on me and refocused as the story went on.

"Another time, she was a hair's breadth from death. She's not much for romantic proclamations, but I had promised myself that I would protect her with my life if necessary. In this case, I did just that. I opened the Eighth Gate to defeat our foes and get her to safety."

"You almost died for this woman who does not even love you?"

"Yes... And I would do it over and over again. Love does not have to be returned to be real. Love is not a tangible object to be returned. It is a way of life – a way of youth!"

I sighed dejectedly. "I appreciate your effort to cheer me up with your parable, Gai Sensei, but…"

"Parable? This is no flight of fancy - this is real life! My precious person is just as real as yours is. If something like this happened to me, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to save and protect Kakashi. Even if I failed in the end or nothing changed between us as a result, I would at least know I gave it my all."

"I understand, but…"

I hesitated. Something he had said sounded very odd, especially given the familiarity I felt with the person he had described..

"What did you say her name was?" I was certain the drugs had not fully worn off and I had not heard him properly.

"Her name….? Oh! K-Kakami. Yes, her name is Kakami. But that's not the point. My point is that you made a promise to Sakura that you would always love and protect her, didn't you? "

"Yes, I did…" I replied, lowering my head in shame. "But it is over now. I did not fight hard enough. I failed her."

"No," Gai Sensei pressed, "not yet. You will fail her only if you give up, and I know that's not the kind of man you are! A splendid ninja NEVER gives up, especially when his precious person needs him most."

I felt new resolve growing inside me at his words. I could see clearly now, and I had gathered the strength to stand again.

It was of no consequence whether Sakura loved me or not. I would always love her, and I had promised to protect her with my life, no matter what. Whether she knew it or cared, she was in grave danger as long as Sasuke had her in his clutches. I had to go after them. It would be cowardly and dishonorable to do otherwise.

"You are right, sir. A splendid ninja never gives up, and he never leaves a mission unfinished. I must bring her back!"

"There's my prized student!" Gai Sensei cried in relief as he slapped me on the back. "Let us report to Tsunade-sama and assemble a team to retrieve Sakura!"

"Hai! Arigato, Sensei!" I jumped to attention, offering a salute before racing back to my room for fresh clothes.