Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's note: What an interesting year it has been! 25 chapters, 200+ reviews, and more than 60 of you added this to your favorites. You guys have all been incredibly patient and wonderful, and I love each and every one of you. Thanks for your kind support, and here's the final chapter.
A Portrait of Youth
"How did we get here?"
The sound of Tenten's voice, combined with the gentle touch of her gesturing arm across his knee, pulls Neji from his reverie. He sighs inwardly, upset that his meditation had been ruined-- he had been trying so hard to ignore her, and their present situation-- and opens his eyes. The tiled ceiling meets his gaze as he answers, "You became ill, remember? And we were forced to terminate the mission."
Neji feels Tenten draw away. When her rejoinder comes a moment later, it is indignant, the closest she has ever come to truly arguing with him. "You got sick, too. Don't make it out to be my fault. Anyway, I don't count us having to take sick leave as a mission failure."
Neji gives a little snort, then immediately regrets it as it causes his throat to begin itching. His next biting comment is aimed at Tenten's miserly ways in an effort to annoy her. "So you are not upset that you missed the chance to be rewarded by the daimyo himself?"
To be rich?
"It was my fate," Tenten throws back, further upsetting him. Neji decides that they are some battles not worth fighting, so he acts like an adult and lets the mocking remark slide.
They retreat into themselves for a very long time, each feeling sick and aggravated and more than a little embarrassed at their current circumstances. The shockingly clean, white porcelain room grows silent around them, becomes so quiet that they can actually hear the gentle ticking of Gai's favorite old clock out in the hallway.
Suddenly, Tenten begins giggling. Curious, Neji drops his eyes from the ceiling and finally allows himself a glance at her. She is sitting across from him, every bit as nude as he is, and because she is his friend and teammate he makes sure that he keeps his eyes on her face and not the much whiter skin of her breasts, the tops of which are just visible over the water line.
"You do realize that we are sitting in a bath of oatmeal, right?"
"Yes," Neji replies with as much dignity as he can manage. Which is not very much, given that his whole body is covered in unbelievably itchy, crusty red bumps, but still more than anyone else his age could have managed, especially given their current state of affairs. He arches one dark eyebrow. "Do you find this amusing?"
Tenten smiles and pulls her splotchy knees up to her chest, hiding her assets from view. "Very."
Neji says nothing, just stretches his cramped legs out. Inwardly, he thinks that Tenten has finally lost it, and he is not really surprised. He had always wondered about her sanity, what with her obsession with sharp, shiny, pointed things… Still, who would have thought something as simple as chicken pox would be her mental undoing?
I had always figured Lee and Gai would be institutionalized long before you…
Another titter. "Neji, your hair is falling in the oatmeal."
That is it. Neji decides that he is getting out. Now.
Turning away from Tenten's always inquisitive brown gaze, presenting her with a view of his red-splotched back, he puts his hands on the rim of the tub and prepares to stand up and step out. No sooner do the tops of his hips clear the bran-filled water then Tenten gives a shockingly loud little squeal and yells at him to sit down. Although he wishes to do anything but, the shocked Neji obeys her.
"Don't go walking around naked," Tenten pleads. Her face is bright red, and Neji can tell that it is due to more than just her illness. Still, if she was so embarrassed by his nudity, why had she not simply covered her eyes? After all, he had graciously looked away when she first climbed into the tub. And he had done his utmost to ignore her since then.
It is not as though I want to be naked in front of you… And I was here first.
Tenten sinks lower into the lukewarm bath, trying to hide her flaming cheeks. She only stops when the tip of her nose brushes the waterline. Her next words are distorted due to her mouth being hidden below the surface of the silky water. "Besides, you know we can't just get out and walk away. Lee stole our clothes."
Neji's next question is asked as much in disbelief as it is to be sure he has not misheard. "He did what?"
Tenten sits up so that she can be better understood. "Lee. When he shoved me in here, he stole my clothes. I'm pretty sure that he took yours, too. It's probably the only way he and Gai thought they could keep us here. So you see," she finishes, "we can't just get out and go home."
At least, not without learning more about one another than we ever wanted to know…
One the other side of the bathroom, the heavy glass door slides open. Rock Lee stands there, dressed in only his bright green bathing suit, a fluffy white towel thrown over his shoulder and a smiling rubber duck in his hand. He has obviously been planning to join them. "Neji, my rival, is everything okay? I thought I heard dearest Tenten scream."
"Oh sure, he gets a swimsuit," Tenten mutters, cutting her dark eyes at Lee while crossing her pimpled arms over her chest. "That's really fair."
Neji ignores both Tenten's sarcastic comment and the younger boy's question and gets right to the point. "Lee, where are our clothes?"
Lee smiles widely and hangs the towel upon a nearby rack, adjusting it just so. "Gai-sensei thought that it would be good for us to give them a thorough washing, especially since you both scratched your scabs off while wearing them. To hygiene!"
"This whole situation was orchestrated so that you could wash our clothes?" Neji is skeptical.
"Well, we had heard that bathing in oatmeal does wonders to relieve the itching and rash associated with chicken pox, so Gai-sensei and I thought that we should try it. Of course, you must be naked for the bath to really help… That is when we decided that we should wash your clothes while you were in the tub. By the way, is the oatmeal helping?"
"A little," Tenten admits.
"Not at all," Neji lies.
"In that case, I shall keep the two of you company until all of your itchiness has been soothed away!" Lee squeaks his yellow rubber ducky for good measure.
It has never been Tenten's dream to sit butt-naked in a bath with her two teammates. Not to mention… "Lee, I don't think that there is enough room in this tub."
"There isn't," Neji murmurs, turning away from her again. "I'm getting out."
"Neji!"
"Neji, my eternal rival, I do not think that it is appropriate for you to exit the bath in the nude! At least, not when our fair Tenten is watching. It is most unchivalrous!"
Tenten turns her face away from where Neji has paused his escape at the edge of the tub, choosing to focus on the hapless Lee instead. At least he is somewhat dressed, and therefore suitable to look at. "No, what's inconsiderate is you and Gai shoving us in here together in the first place!"
Lee blushes and glances at the floor, for once appearing quite sheepish. "Well, we did not have enough oatmeal for two baths. It was not our intention to embarrass either of you. Please accept my apology."
Sensing his weakness, Tenten rushes in for the emotional kill. She forces herself to take a page from Neji, to sound cool and condescending. "Would you please just go get our clothes then? I think Neji is ready to leave, and if I stay in here any longer I'll become a prune."
Lee senses that he will soon be forgiven, and as a result his sparkling grin returns. "Of course, Tenten! I shall bring them to you as soon as they finish drying. We hung them on the clothesline of the front porch, and the sun is strong there at this time of day, so it should not be much longer. Please be patient."
Great, all of Konoha can walk by and see our underwear. This time, Neji really does sigh, albeit quietly.
Apparently Tenten has the same thought. "You what?!"
"Darling Tenten, I said--"
"I can't believe you would do that!"
"But--" Lee is abruptly cut off when Tenten throws one of the wooden shower buckets at him. He manages to dodge the unlikely projectile, but in doing so he slips upon a bar of soap that had been carelessly left on the tiled floor. Feet fly out from under his thin body, and Lee reaches desperately for anything that might stop his fall. His hands connect with just one thing: the old plumbing which-- instead of arresting his descent-- promptly comes free of the wall, flooding the bathroom with a geyser of cold water.
"Oops." The word comes from both the fallen Lee and the guilty Tenten at the same time.
Neji simply begins to contemplate the stigma of returning to the Hyuga estate in the buff.
"I can't believe this!" Hunkered down in the dry ditch, Tenten has to yell to be heard over the violent shrieking of the wind.
Neji turns to peer at her, his watering eyes squeezed half shut against the gale. "The weather looked ominous before we made camp! It's not as though a tornado was out of the question!"
Tenten lifts her head for a moment and gazes at the twisting black shape on the plain before them. It reminds her of her Rising Twin Dragons attack, and it picks up their tent and hurls it toward them in the same manner that she throws her weapons.
Neji pushes her head down just as the fabric dwelling sails over them. "You should be more careful!"
Tenten takes a steadying breath and gives him one shaky smile. "Sorry about that! You know, I wasn't talking about the tornado!"
Neji gives her a questioning look, and Tenten points toward the crouched form of Rock Lee, just a few feet away. The Green Beast is beaming, eyes wide with excitement. "What about him?"
"His hair-- it's not moving at all!"
And it is not. Neji and Tenten can only watch as whatever hair gel Gai had given to Rock Lee proves impervious to cyclone-force winds.
"Tenten, are you alright?"
The sixteen year old weapons mistress shrugs out of the harness holding her heavy scroll to her waist, and leans weakly against the great open gate of Konoha. Very slowly, she turns her head to the side in order to view her green-clad friend. The sight of Rock Lee, standing tall and seemingly unaffected by their recent workout, grates on her nerves. Tenten rolls her chocolate eyes. "I'm fine, but did we have to run all the way back?"
Her other teammate, the recently promoted Jonin Neji Hyuga, fixes his eyes upon her. After so many years, the strange pearlescent orbs have ceased to bother her, but the message hidden in them is every bit as annoying as Lee's unaltered physical state. "The Land of Grass is not that far."
Tenten pulls a face at the unspoken rebuke, but she has always made it a point never to criticize Neji, even if he does so to her, and so she stays quiet now.
Lee, on the other hand, bursts into a huge white grin. After all, it is not everyday that the captain of their small cell agrees with him, and he cannot help but rub it in a little. Good naturedly, of course. He plants his hands upon his hips in an unconscious imitation of their teacher. "Perhaps Gai-sensei was right, Tenten. You are out of shape. You should be more disciplined."
"Out of shape?" Tenten's right hand tightens upon the top of the scroll leaning beside her, and she glares daggers at the village's Handsome Devil. If only her feet did not hurt so badly, she would do much more than that. As it is, she just promises she will get Lee back later. Maybe she will slash his gaudy orange leg warmers to ribbons…
The sudden appearance of a figure from inside the nearby gatehouse distracts the three from their tense situation. The day's guard-- one Kotetsu Hagane-- hurries toward them, his manner nervous and his bandaged face grave. He looks them over before pronouncing, "Team Gai, you're back much earlier than expected."
"We ran the whole way," Lee explains, feeling quite proud of his physical achievement. He cannot wait to tell Gai-sensei about the incredible feat and receive the man's adoring praise. How splendid that moment shall be!
"Is our returning ahead of schedule a problem?" Neji asks, eyeing the older shinobi up and down and searching for clues as to his oddly distraught behavior. He cannot put his finger on it, but something about this situation strikes him as horribly wrong.
Kotetsu shakes his scruffy head and glances back and forth between the three teenagers, trying to judge their emotional state. How do you give kids what might be the worst news of their lives? Oh, he thinks, if only Izumo had been on watch today. "No, not at all. In fact, it's a good thing. You see, your sensei is in the hospital."
"What?" Lee asks, his mouth dropping open and his ebony eyes growing wide with disbelief. "Is he--"
Worried, Tenten cuts her bushy eye-browed friend off. "Is he alright?" She has by now bolted up from her position against the gate and taken a few steps toward the guard-turned-bearer of bad news.
Kotetsu holds his hands out, palms up in a defensive gesture. "Whoa, now. I don't know all of the details. We guards were just asked to inform you when you returned from your mission. You might want to go right down there, though."
No sooner have the words left Kotetsu's mouth than Lee is hurrying down the main avenue, making a beeline for the hospital. Despite her exhaustion, Tenten is right behind him, trying to both run and tie her scroll on at the same time. Neji, however, pauses. "What about reporting in to the Hokage?"
Kotetsu shrugs. Protocol is important, but… "I'm sure your briefing can wait."
Neji nods, and hastens after his teammates.
----
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Tenten asks, struggling to catch both her breath and her bearings. "I thought the Intensive Care Unit was on the other side of the hospital."
"It is," Lee replies, thankfully slowing his breakneck pace as they pass an exit and turn down yet another featureless hallway. Tenten decides to take his word for it, seeing as her friend had spent quite a bit of his ninja career in the said ward. "But the nurse at the front desk said that Gai-sensei's room is in this direction."
So he isn't in Intensive Care… He can't be hurt that badly, can he? Unless they've made him comfortable, and are waiting for him to die.
Tenten's thoughts spiral slowly into darkness, one following another. She is so caught up in them that she runs smack into Lee's back when he stops short. Rubbing her now sore forehead, she tries peering around the Green Beast. "Lee, what is it?"
Her teammate points wordlessly toward the small sign next to the door in front of them, the one that has their teacher's name printed neatly upon it. It is then that Tenten truly recognizes that the awful situation is real and-- judging by the tears streaming down his face-- Rock Lee has come to the same conclusion.
He's really here. He's really hurt. It's not just something made up by Kotetsu and a mean-spirited nurse…
Tenten catches sight of Neji at the end of the long hall, forces herself to give him a little wave. Then she takes a deep, calming breath and places her hand on Lee's trembling shoulder. "Let's go in."
----
The room is small and sterile, and like everything else, it is mostly beige. There exists a sense of coziness, however-- a thin rug has been laid across the tiled floor, an extra blanket lies across the foot of the single bed, and the far wall is mostly a window, complete with curtains. Some nice person has even left flowers. All in all, Tenten thinks that it looks surprisingly like a hotel room, except for the person lying in the bed.
Gai does not look well. His usually shiny black hair lies dull and limp, while his face is shockingly pale, with sweat covering his brow. The white hospital gown is nowhere near as form-fitting as his customary green spandex, but even with this disguise, it is easy to see that he has lost weight. A steadily dripping IV is hooked into his right arm. Even so, he still turns to greet them. "Lee! Tenten, my flower! And Neji, how good it is to see you!"
"Gai-sensei!" Lee crosses the room with startling speed-- a green blur against a sea of taupe-- and throws his arms around the invalid man, accidentally knocking the IV over. Luckily, Tenten is right behind him, and she catches the cool metal stand before it hits the floor and detaches itself from her teacher's bulging vein. As she places it upright out of the way, her eyes methodically search for any dents in the steel, and this makes Gai smile.
No sparkle... Where's the sparkle?
"How are you, my peerless pupils?"
Tenten frowns, her brows drawing together in a sign of worry. " I think we should be asking you that."
While being smothered by Lee, something flashes abruptly across Gai's craggy face-- pain?-- and then he waves her concern away. "Was your vital, daring mission a success? You are back surprisingly early."
Lee loosens his grip, stands up and wipes his wet face across his long sleeve, causing Tenten to grimace disgustedly. There were tissues on the bedside table next to him, for heaven's sake! "It was, sir. We ran all the way home, in celebration of our great victory."
"Fabulous! Just what I would expect from the best, most fiery-hearted shinobi Konoha has to offer!"
Lee salutes his overly dramatic teacher, dark eyes beginning to water once again. "Thank you, Gai-sensei!"
Neji has been lingering at the entrance, looking for all the world like a ghost in his traditional white Hyuga outfit. Now that he has examined his teacher with the Byakugan and discovered no visible life-threatening injuries, he slides the door closed and comes to stand silently at the foot of the narrow bed.
The passionate, non-informative exchange between Lee and Gai has only served to upset the already unstable Tenten further. Crossing her arms and locking eyes with her teacher, she asks in a no-nonsense manner, "Why are you in the hospital?"
Rock Lee turns to face her as his second round of tears begin. "Is it not obvious? Gai-sensei is hurt."
Neji has picked up the clipboard attached to the end of the bed-- the one with Gai's medical charts and prognosis attached. As most of his attention is focused on perusing the extensive file, he corrects the younger boy only half-heartedly. "He's hurting, not hurt. There is a difference." Neither of his anxious teammates pay him any attention.
Tenten just cannot make sense of the situation. What in the world could have happened to Gai? All she can think is that her instructor must have somehow been injured in the line of duty. "You weren't scheduled for any missions when we left. Was there an emergency or something?"
Gai reaches out to the nightstand, where a large glass of ice water has been laid within easy reach. Even so, the sobbing Lee is there before him, and he holds the cup while his teacher drinks. "Ah, thank you Lee! My throat feels much better now! You know, you really would have made a splendid nurse!"
"It was a midwife," Neji murmurs, flipping a page and staring at a complicated diagram that has something to do with Gai's organs. While not a medical ninja, he has a fair understanding of the inner workings of the body, and he is pretty sure he can figure out the rest. "He also fainted, or have you forgotten?"
"I think my question has been forgotten," Tenten grumbles, glancing out the window. A nice, skyline view of Konoha can be seen, the Hokage Monument rising in the background. Today, the sight of her idol's visage does nothing to calm her.
"Ah, forgive me, Sweetheart! No, there was not an emergency assignment. I have been home all along, waiting on you fine, youthful students to return triumphant and tell me your grand stories!"
"So you're sick, not actually injured?"
Gai places his hand to his chin, deep in thought. How best to describe his ailment? He does not want to upset his students, for they are very dear to him, but to let them know the actual truth…. "No, I am not injured, nothing like that. But I'm not exactly ill, either."
"It appears to be a chronic condition," Neji explains, but all his teammates hear is that it is lasting, and they immediately begin to imagine the very worst.
"Gai-sensei," Lee wails, "are you dying?"
Tenten feels the odd burning at the back of her eyes that signifies building tears. She stares at her tutor with a look of disbelief. Gai is only twenty-eight years old, and although shinobi should never expect a long life, Tenten thinks that it is much too soon for him to die. And anyway, he seemed so well when they had left him last week.
"Let's not talk about that right now," Gai says, desperate to change the subject. "While I have been lying here, conserving all of my strength, I have done a great deal of thinking. In light of your most-deserved promotions last year, I should have imparted to you some priceless pearls of wisdom. Please allow me to do so now."
Oh gods, his last words.
"Lee, you have persevered through terrible hardship to become a splendid ninja, as well as the greatest of Ferocious Fist taijutsu masters-- save for myself, of course-- and I am very proud of you. If you have one fault, however, it is your eagerness to fight. Remember that true battles are fought to protect things that are precious, and treat them as such."
Lee nods and sniffles.
"Tenten." The kunoichi steps forward and takes Gai's hand as the first of her tears spill from her chocolate eyes. "My sunflower, you are a weapon's mistress without equal, and strong kunoichi. I am overjoyed that I have had the chance to be your teacher. And yet, I feel that I must point out your weakness; you rely to much upon your arsenal. You have a fine intellect, and many other skills. You must learn to balance them all."
"Of course, Master."
"Neji, your rank now speaks for itself. Thus far you have proved yourself to be a prodigy, the only one of your year mates to become a Jonin. As such, you could be a Genin team leader or even an officer for the ANBU Black Ops-- you certainly have the talent for the last! Still, you have a weak point, and it is not your blind spot. Although you have done much to remedy this, you still pay far too much attention to your battles, and not enough to either your foes or teammates. There is much to be learned from all people."
Exhausted, Gai leans back into his pillows and sighs. "Now, my superlative students, please promise to work hard and always improve."
"I swear to you, Gai-sensei!"
Tenten wipes her eyes, not wanting to appear weak. It is hard though, when the man who has been like your father is wasting away. "I promise I'll study harder."
"Good. Neji?"
No answer.
"Neji, my rival! Gai-sensei is passionately speaking to you."
The Hyuga flips a page, places his index finger on a line of text. He does not appear to have heard them.
Tenten's voice is harsh. "For heaven's sake, Neji! Our teacher is dying, and you won't even answer him!"
"He's not dying," Neji says, turning the clipboard around so that his teammates can see. "He is suffering from kidney stones, particularly one that appears to be about five millimeters at the widest point. If he ingests plenty of fluids, and stays on the medicine in that IV, chances are good that he will pass it naturally within a few days. The only reason that he is even here is for pain management."
"That is a lie," Lee says, glancing back toward his hero. "Is it not, Gai-sensei?"
Gai looks shamefaced. "Well…"
Angry, Tenten slams her hand down upon the mattress. "Damn it, Gai-sensei! We thought you were dying!"
Neji slips the charts back into the basket at the end of the bed. "Well, he isn't. You should be thankful."
Neji is right.
Tenten sighs and lets the anger flow out of her. At the end of the day, life is the greatest gift of all.
"Lee, that was foolish."
Rock Lee looks in askance at the Hyuga. Neji is still bedridden after his fight with Kidomaru, but he has taken to using resistance bands in an effort to strengthen his healing body. "I beg your pardon, Neji, but what was foolish?"
Neji takes a breath and pulls the band that Lee had graciously loaned him-- green, what else?-- and holds it taut for a few seconds. Then he exhales and release the tension. "You coming after us, when you were not even fully recovered."
"At least I had been discharged from the hospital!" Lee protests. He watches as his friend begins yet another set of reps, probably doing more harm than good. For a genius, Neji can be surprisingly stupid. "Besides, everyone else went."
"If all of the rookie ninja in the village were to jump off a bridge, would you do that as well?"
Lee grins. "No. I would be waiting at the bottom, to catch you."
Six months. It has been six months since they returned home to find their village wiped from the face of the earth. Much has happened in that time; battles have been fought, friends have died, and darkest secrets have become public. The whole world has changed.
It is all gone…
Watching the three teenagers clean up what little is left of their childhood training grounds, Gai worries about his students. With this last attack, their innocence has been ripped away. They have literally seen the very worst that life has to offer. He cannot imagine how this will affect their futures.
Across the field, the sun begins to rise, turning his students into dark silhouettes. As he watches, the thin one with the distinctive bowl cut lifts something from the ground. A voice, surprisingly eager, reaches his ears.
"Neji! Tenten! Look what I found!"
A more sensible male voice follows the first. "Lee, you idiot, put that down."
"But--"
The second figure moves menacingly toward the first, who leaps agilely away and tries to hide behind a third, bun-wearing body. The third moves quickly away from the first.
"Lee, that snake is poisonous! Put it down before it bites you!"
"Tenten, he was all alone, smashed under that heavy rock… We should keep him."
The next words are spoken in Neji's patient voice. "No, Lee. It's a wild animal, and it belongs out here in the forest."
"But the forest has been destroyed! Please let me adopt him. I'll call him Shino, and--"
My poor students! To loose everything at such a young age! How tragic!
"-- And he shall never have to live all scrunched under a rock again."
Poor, poor pupils! What ever shall become of them, now that they have lost their spirited youth?
The last figure picks up a hunk of rubble and begins tossing it up into the air. "I'll scrunch you under a rock if you don't put that thing back where you found it!"
On second thought, Team Gai will be just fine.
THE END
Please be on the lookout for
The Fiery Album of Life
The sequel to
A Portrait of Youth
Coming soon.