My mind does not function right late at night. That said, Neji/Lee, for your reading pleasure. Be warned it isn't my best work.
Disclaimer: Would if I could. But I can't… so I don't. um, yeah.
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Rock Lee had stopped fighting. It was possibly the first time in his short life.
He was tied to the bottom of a shallow cement pool, as water slowly but steadily poured in. Maybe it was the freezing water numbing his brain, or the complete immobility induced by ninjitsu strengthened ropes, but he couldn't find it in him to struggle anymore, as he had been for the past half an hour. It wasn't comforting to know that the rest of his team could be dead or still perusing and fighting the S-rank Missing-nin.
Tied flat on his back, the water reached to the bottom of his ears in a slow and simple death trap. It was icy, and bit through the thin green body suit. Lee twisted to the side trying to gauge the water level but a thick rope held even his head in place. Water filled his ears and covered his knees. He almost cried for a moment, but it wouldn't help to add to the water level. There wouldn't be a tearful promise of doing better next time anymore.
The strange thing was, Lee thought, he had a strange sense of déjà vu. It was as if he was reliving a dream he had when he first entered the academy, so far behind all the others. In that dream he had been swimming upward, trying to catch Neji, who's face danced right above the surface of the water. All the flailing of his arms and legs could never bring him to the surface and just as he thought his lungs would collapse, a finger tip broke through. The ripples shattered the image of the boy always above him, and he would awake from the dream frustrated and out of breath.
The dream had never been this cold. Water was sloshing against his cheekbones, so his eyes were not yet looking up through it. In his submerged ears, he could hear the dull roar of water splashing down, and feel the rippling waves close up against his face.
Water seeped into his eyes, and he quickly closed them. It was stealing his sense one by one, first the numbing cold, then filling his head with the sound of pulsing water. Now he closed his eyes with a feeling of finality, nostrils only barely above water.
Lee strained to tilt his face up for one more breath, before his last source of air was completely closed off. It was strange how little panic there was in his mind, replaced by an aching regret that he hadn't been a strong enough ninja to die fighting. Even worse that he wasn't a strong enough ninja to stay alive. The thought as water closed over the tip of his nose was of Neji and Gai-sensei, and the strength he would never get the chance to achieve.
The familiar burning in his chest started, only this time it was real, and fatal. He opened his eyes to fight off the dizziness, and almost thought he could see a familiar face staring down at him through rapidly darkening vision. It was the dream again, he thought on the verge of losing consciousness, and with that, he let out the last breath he had been holding, and surrendered himself to the bitter grip of the water around him.
He thought he was dead when heated lips sealed over his own, blowing deep and strong into lungs he was sure had withered. The bonds around his head and shoulders were cut as someone pulled his upper body out of the water. It was Neji, cradling him against his chest, checking his breathing and pulse, pushing water out of his hair. The other boy felt too warm- burning almost after the coldness of the water.
"You gave up. You didn't fight." There was something in Neji's voice making him accusing and saddened.
Lee reached up. He needed the heat and support to make it out of the pool. He reached up toward Neji, and this time there was no water in the way.
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And that's that. I'm still not sure if this one deserves any reviews. As I said, it is very late at night.