All was calm and peaceful. The flames of the campfire had sizzled down into dull, faint orange sparks and embers, and the sole source of light was the pale, milky gibbous moon and the softly glimmering stars set far above.

Only snores could be heard from the sleeping bags adjacent to both Neji and Tenten, bundled up together in a shared bag. Guy-sensei and Lee were loud. But this was not a problem for the two supposedly sane members of Team Guy. After so many years of being stuck on a team with the green jumpsuit-clad morons, they had developed ears of steel and become heavy sleepers. It would take an earthquake to wake up Neji and Tenten at this point, and besides, they had brought earmuffs with them for this express purpose. All was good.

That was what they thought.

Lee shuffled around in his bag and muttered something in his sleep. Of course, Neji and Tenten didn't notice, wearing sound-canceling earmuffs as they were.

"Sakura-san..."

Neji stirred slightly but did not awaken. Tenten was still fast asleep.

"I...am more youthful than Neji...so please accept my feelings..."

Even though Lee's muttering had increased in tone and volume to become his normal speaking voice, it still wasn't enough to wake up his teammates.

"I am...also more youthful than Naruto-kun. How do I know this, you ask? Well...I'll prove it to you...and fight them..."

He reached out with his leg and tried to deliver a glancing blow to someone. Whether it was Naruto or Neji was known only to himself. And the Sakura in his dream, apparently.

The sleeping bag Lee was bundled up in stopped the kick from colliding with anyone. It also tore cleanly at the seams with a loud noise, completely destroyed with the force of his kick.

This was when things went from "all was good" to "all was a nightmare."

Lee had become free from his constraints in real life, but his dream self had yet to realize that.

"Argh, these...stupid...ankle weights are blocking me!" he said, his voice progressing from his normal speaking voice to his normal yelling voice. "Guy-sensei! I'm going to take them off! This fight is for something precious to me!"

Somehow, in his sleep, Rock Lee removed his ankle weights from his legs and flung them far off into the distance.

The sound they made wasn't quite like an earthquake, but a tree went crashing into the ground and a plume of smoke rose into the sky, obscuring the star-lit night.

Neji and Tenten finally woke up.

"Uzzz...Lee, is that you?" Tenten asked, sitting up and rubbing her bleary eyes. "What's...what's going on?"

"Tenten, incoming!" yelled the previously just-as-confused Neji, yanking her down as a neon-green blur came racing her way. She had barely ducked her head when another crash echoed throughout the forest clearing. He might have, had he been fully awake, been mortified at finding himself sharing a sleeping bag with Tenten, but then Lee's yelling of "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" off in the distance arrested Neji's thoughts.

The frogs and crickets stopped talking and Tenten blinked, wide awake, frown lines on her face deepening.

"Is Lee sleepwalking again?" she asked, getting into a battle stance.

"Looks like it," Neji sighed. "Did you see him drink any sake at all for him to get in this state?"

"Ah, no, you know how careful we are not to leave any around him." Tenten shuddered at the memory of a destroyed restaurant, screaming customers, and the Drunken Fist. "There's no way this could have..."

She ducked again as Lee came crashing into the clearing with a Dynamic Entry, stirring up another cloud of dust in his wake. "Sakura-san, did you see that? I defeated Neji with my Lovesickness Fist!"

Lee's eyes were still closed, his posture wobbly, but a contented smile adorned his face just as a pretty rose tinted his cheeks. It would have been funny if it wasn't so strange, in Tenten's opinion. Then Lee giggled like a five-year-old and she decided that it was, in fact, completely and utterly hilarious. She couldn't help the incredulous laugh that bubbled from her throat.

"Lovesickness Fist? He thinks he's defeated you with the Lovesickness Fist." She chortled again.

Neji on the other hand, did not find the situation as funny as she did.

"I'll wake up Guy-sensei," he said frostily. "Will you handle Lee?"

"Okay!"

But as soon as Neji had turned in the direction of Guy-sensei's sleeping bag, Tenten couldn't help but laugh again.

"Kakashi..." Guy-sensei was muttering, legs flailing in his bag, just like Lee had done. "This time...I'll win the game of rock-paper-scissors...or maybe the fried chicken eating contest...but no using your Sharingan...zzzz..."

"He's not gonna be able to help," Tenten said. "It's us versus Lee."

Neji sighed. "It's always us versus Lee."

"Got a problem with that?"

Neji's face remained its usual pale, but Tenten observed a trickle of sweat running down his neck, and she realized that perhaps he may have been more traumatized by Lee's previous episode of Drunken Fist than he had ever let on. "I...I have no objections," he said as though trying to convince himself. "If anyone can handle Lee, it's the two of us."

Tenten grinned. "Think you can handle his Lovesickness Fist, Neji? He's supposed to have defeated you in his dream."

Neji scowled but said nothing.

"Sakura-san, watch me get rid of Naruto-kun now!" Lee yelled, unwrapping the bandages on his arms. "Then I can prove my youth to you!"

Alarm bells went off in Tenten's head.

"Neji, get out of the way, he's using Omote Renge!"

Neji spun into action with his Palms Revolving Heaven while Tenten readied an exploding note.

And then a devastating blast swept the earth.

"Kakashi...snort...I said no Sharingan...I demand a rematch!"

In the morning, when Lee woke up, he was pleased to see Guy-sensei up and about, packing up their sleeping bags and gathering their items together, looking perfectly content, well-rested, and humming a jaunty tune about youth and eternal rivals and winning competitions.

That was good. Lee was happy for his sensei, having also just had a dream like that. About youth and eternal rivals and winning competitions. But the details were fuzzy, and no matter how many times he scrunched up his eyes and concentrated, he just couldn't remember the exact dream. He only knew that Naruto was in it. And Neji. Of course Neji would be in the dream. They were eternal rivals! Lee was sure that it had been a great dream, if only he could recall it.

Only, the real life Neji did not seem very happy. Now, Neji was always a stoic individual, not nearly as bubbly and bright-spirited as Lee or Tenten or Guy-sensei. So he didn't usually look very happy. But Neji never looked particularly unhappy either. He was calm and content most of the time!

Except now. Lee just didn't understand.

For some reason, his eternal rival was sporting a large shiny black eye, what looked like bloody knuckles, and a particularly nasty gash on his cheek. When Lee raised his hand, clapped him on the back and said, "Good morning," Neji growled and retreated to the remains of the campfire.

Tenten looked perfectly fine, though, and had been cackling maniacally the whole morning. Oh, and there were craters lining the campsite and Lee's ankle weights were inexplicably gone.

It was so very strange. Perhaps...

"Neji...were you sleepwalking last night?" Lee ventured.

And then the morning went from "all was good" to "all was a nightmare" incredibly fast.

Tenten just couldn't stop laughing, though. Something about "Lovesickness Fist," and how she would use it on Neji soon.

For reasons unknown to Lee, Neji's cheeks became a soft rose at this comment.

Oh, well. He hoped his eternal rival got enough sleep, even if he had been sleepwalking.

Written for Day 23: Dreams, and a sequel to Chapter 21. Please review! :)