"A teacher opens the door, but you must enter by yourself."
Chinese proverb

Visiting Hours
Chapter Two: "Teacher"
Of all three of his students, Maito Gai was not ashamed to admit that Rock Lee was his favorite. The boy had a charm about him that Tenten and Neji couldn't seem to rival. His team had been a team of rejects: a village girl who'd taken it upon herself to study weapons, a boy with amazing potential that had been unlucky enough to be born in the wrong house of his clan, and a boy who was terrible with ninjutsu and genjutsu and had only barely passed the Academy exams. Tenten and Neji had a lot to prove, but Lee had far more because he'd had to prove to himself that he could be great. Neji and Tenten at least knew they were good. Lee hadn't had that luxury. And when his battle with Gaara left him so badly wounded that the Fifth herself told him that he would never be a ninja again, it nearly broke Gai's heart—more so than it would have if it was Neji or Tenten. Lee had come so far, mastering taijutsu to a point where he was strong enough to be a challenge even for some of the greatest prodigies of the Hidden Leaf. It was painful to think that he would lose all of that. And yet a successful operation had helped him regain it, propelling him to go out and assist Shikamaru's team with the mission to save Sasuke.

"It doesn't look like you'll have any problems," Tsunade informed Lee, giving him yet another checkup. "No complications from the surgery, although you are a bit beaten up from your battle with that Sound-nin, and you have a few scrapes from Gaara's sand. I'm also surprised at how quickly you sobered up after that mix-up with your medicine. I guess your metabolism used up all that sake during the fight." Lee smiled sheepishly at this as she handed him another bottle. "This is your real medicine—I labeled it clearly this time. Same instructions, take it every few hours. When things calm down again, I'll send someone to check on you."

"Thank you, Hokage," he responded politely. "And I'll make sure to stay on schedule with my medicine." She favored him with a small smile before leaving to check on her other patients, namely Neji, Chouji, and Naruto, who had taken the worst of their battles.

"Lee," Gai addressed, tears welling up in his eyes. His student showed the same sentiment. That was another thing he liked about the kid; not too man to show his emotions, unlike that Kakashi, who was always wearing some kind of mask—metaphorical or physical. "Lee, your actions today…"

"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei," Lee apologized, bowing dramatically, afraid his teacher was disappointed in him for running off to join the battle when he'd only just barely recovered from surgery. "I had to help Naruto fulfill his promise to Sakura and save Sasuke. He said it was the promise of a lifetime, and I knew he wouldn't be able to fulfill it if he was caught up in battle against that Sound-nin Kimimaro. I figured you would do the same."

"I'm not mad at you," Gai corrected. "I'm very proud of you. I was worried, especially when the Fifth and I noticed you'd grabbed the sake bottle instead of your medicine, but I'm proud of you for trying to help your friend. You've become a fine ninja." He then gave him a hug, being mindful of the boy's recovering wounds.

"Am I interrupting anything?" asked a low voice outside the door. Standing there without his gourd of deadly sand was Gaara of the Sand siblings.

"Gaara?" Lee asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Temari, Kankurou, and I are remaining as long as it takes for the Leaf to rebuild its defenses, and your Hokage wants me to rest from the exertion of our battle against the Sound-nin. I was going to visit Naruto to see if he was all right after his battle with Sasuke, but the Hokage's assistant told me he'd had enough visitors for today. I was going to talk back to my room when I noticed the Hokage coming out of yours. She said it would be all right for me to see how you were."

While Gai stared in open-mouthed shock, Lee answered, "I'm all right. The Fifth said I shouldn't have any problems after the surgery and the battle. I just have to take my medicine, but I'll be fine."

"Lee, what's going on?" Gai questioned.

"Gaara saved my life when we fought that Sound-nin," Lee explained. "He shielded me with his sand and kept me out of danger while he fought."

"He saved your life?" Gai repeated.

What happened next none of them saw coming, although they should have anticipated it by Gai's extreme affection for Lee. Before Gaara could even get his sand shield up, Gai ran up and smothered him in a massive bear hug, declaring, "Thank you for saving my student!" The shocked Gaara remained still as he looked toward an apologetic Lee; he didn't know whether to be confused or embarrassed, so he just settled for both. By the time Gai had finally regained himself, the young Sand-nin looked as though he never wanted to be reminded of this particular incident ever again.

"I am forever in your debt," Gai added, almost oblivious to Gaara's discomfort.

"There's no need," replied the son of the late Kazekage. "The Sand and the Leaf are allies. I protect my allies." Looking thoughtful, he added in a softer tone, "I've learned that from Naruto."

"I have to say there's no better teacher of that lesson," Lee confessed. "Not even you, Gai-sensei." He sounded almost ashamed to admit this in front of his beloved teacher, but Gai's expression was kind.

"I won't argue with you, Lee. I don't know the boy as well as you do, but I watched him at the Chuunin Exam. I saw him get through to Neji when no one else could—not even me. If he ever becomes a jounin and gets his own team, his students will be lucky."

"If we're as good jounin teachers as ours were, our students will be lucky too," Lee added. But Gaara's face was solemn.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he murmured, and Gai and Lee turned to him for clarification. "I've seen the relationships you Leaf-nin have between teachers and students. You care for each other as deeply as you would for family—sometimes even letting them replace your family, if what I've heard of Naruto's team is true. The Sound ninja Kimimaro was willing to risk all for Orochimaru's dream because of his bond to his teacher, just as you would gladly risk your lives for your teachers and teammates. An entire team is in the hospital recovering from injuries—three of whom are in guarded condition—trying to recover a comrade who willingly abandoned them. Your lessons are taught in love and tears as much as in training and missions. We don't have anything like that in the Sand."

Lee blinked in surprise. "You don't?" He didn't know very much about the systems used in the other hidden villages, but he'd always assumed that all five countries used the same idea for their genin teams. The closer you were to your teammates, the more synchronized your fighting became and the more easily you worked together. It was common sense.

"I can only speak for the Wind Country, but we view bonds like that as a weakness," Gaara explained. "If you get too close to someone, they become a liability. You can't afford to become attached when everyday your life is at risk. We focus on perfection of skills so that we can remain alive and advance. Shinobi are tools, and the jounin instructors must sharpen them to their fullest potential. Baki taught us that way. Kankurou was the only one he ever formed any kind of bond with because of my brother's temper and impatience. Temari was left to her own devices, so she's mostly self-taught."

"Your father, the Fourth Kazekage, trained you for some time, didn't he?" Gai remembered. The jounin senseis had been briefed by the Third Hokage when the Exam came. All genin from all participating villages had to be given a fair chance, and short of blowing bloodline limits and sealed demons, naming their extra teachers was as fair as it got.

Gaara nodded. "My father trained me to be the greatest tool of the village. He spoiled me, honed my talents, praised my skills…but he never could feel anything more than hate and fear of me. Love was something I was only taught once, by someone who hated me more than anyone else ever did." Lee noticed Gaara's eyes stray toward the floor. Neji would have pointed out that the Hidden Sand genin was remembering something unpleasant. Lee knew he would have been right.

"It's a shame the Hidden Sand believes this," Gai commented. "Rule Twenty-five teaches us not to show our weaknesses, but we shouldn't sever away any possible strengths as well."

"You're right," Gaara remarked softly. When he looked back up, there were traces of determination on his passive face. "My father is dead, and we need a new Kazekage. I've told Kankurou that I plan on training to be the Fifth. If I succeed, there are a lot of lessons I want to teach my village. This is one of them." Lee's eyes were drawn to the blood-red mark on Gaara's forehead, the character for "love."

"If anyone can teach that lesson to them, I'm sure you can," he affirmed. Gaara nodded in response.

"It's time the Hidden Sand learned a lot of new things," he decided. "And perhaps our friends in the Leaf can teach us some of these."

"I don't doubt that we can," Gai replied, and Lee nodded his agreement.

Shorter than the last, but sweet and to the point. Gaara's comments are taken from Baki's lack of interaction with the siblings in the manga, which is a world away from the intimate teaching Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma give.