After Lee, peoples, comes Gai. He is a very hard character to write. I hope I captured him well.

The Captain

Green. When someone thinks of Gai, they think of green. They think of a large, insufferable green jump suit, a black bob, and a shiny white smile. They think of the spirit of 'youth' and everything that connects around that spirit. And, ultimately, they think of Lee.

Ah, Lee, Gai thought of the young man as his son; the resemblance was very remarkable, one had to say. Especially for two people that were in no way related. Well, maybe they were, but it was unknown how exactly they were related.

Lee really was Gai's pride - a captain's pride. Gai was a captain, and was in charge of the security around the castle. It was a very important job, and Gai was very much looked up to, even if he didn't look it. No; to the outside world, he was just a wannabe jester, trying to copy Naruto's tricks. Not that public opinion mattered…much.

The problem was, that it did matter. It had always mattered. Gai was from a well-bred family, so public opinion was more important than his own. He supposed that he made a statement when he refused to be like his family. That was what, in the end, led his family to disowning him. It had been a large blow to his psyche. Luckily, that was when Kakashi found him.

Kakashi was random bloke he met, at a random event. Gai was immediately attached to him, challenging him to different events, establishing them as rivals. That rivalry eventually led to a very fulfilling friendship, one unlike any that he had ever had before. Since he was from a well-bred, snobby, family, there never had been as close a bond as the one between him and Kakashi.

Gai had never been interested in women. They had never appealed to him in the slightest; although he didn't really mind them. That struck most people as odd. He was, a healthy man of age, after all. Why wouldn't he want a female partner? However, Gai had never dwelt on those meaningless questions. Instead, he had focused on the more essential aspects of his life: his job, as a captain. His best friend, Kakashi, and his adopted son, Lee, were also part of that category.

While he didn't realize that his aversion towards women was strange, he did notice that he thought about Kakashi a bit too much, more than he was supposed to. He also began to feel new things around Kakashi; things that he hid, and tried to avoid, in response. He started to actually listen when people talked about love, and came to a startling, and slightly disturbing, realization: he had feelings towards Kakashi, romantic ones. While he tried to act normal, it was fairly obvious that there was something wrong.

He had never thought that this would end this way. He thought all those tall tales about men falling in love with other men to be just that - tall tales. It ended up being that those tales were disturbingly true, with Gai falling to be the first victim.

Oh! If his family saw him now. Not only would he be disowned, but they would deny any possible link with him (his mother especially). Like always, he would end up being the largest embarrassment to have ever lived. Not only to his family, not only to Kakashi (who would probably renounce all of the claims of them being best friends) but to himself.

Kakashi would never love him back. He was straight: straight as can be, straight as Gai wanted to be. Straight enough to giggle when reading one of his ever-present orange books. The one time that Gai had managed to see what one of them was all about, he had wanted to gag in disgust. How could grown men find that enjoyable? It would forever remain a mystery to him.

Not only would Kakashi never love him back, but he also loved someone else. Gai didn't know exactly when Kakashi had fallen in love; but he had. It showed in the way that his eyes sparkled, the way he seemed to have much more vigor than usual. In the way that his movements seemed rejuvenated, in every way.

Usually, Gai wasn't observant enough to notice such things. With the exception of Kakashi and Lee, he didn't notice these things; he didn't know the people well enough.

At least he knew who Lee loved. He was in love with the Princess, Sakura. As if it wasn't obvious enough: he announced his love to anyone who listened. Nevertheless, Gai was happy that Lee could share something like that with him. Lee had told him that it was hard for him to trust.

That was understandable. Gai himself witnessed Lee's mistreatment. Lee's parents were good friends with his own family, so he had seen many a time were they yelled at Lee for being the way he was. It was like reliving his life all over again. When Gai had taken Lee for his own, he had also learned of Lee's abuse at school.

Gai may have not had the easiest of lives; not with his parents, and whatnot, but he had never been touched at school. The children were too afraid of his family and their prestige to really lay a hand on him; still, that did not stop the nasty comments behind his back. As well as those, he had been isolated because of his looks. Nevertheless, he had excelled enough to be at the position he was now, and that was more than enough for him.

When he had first taken Lee in, he himself had observed the damage the world had dealt Lee. But over time he had managed to bring back the vibrant smile on Lee's face, and a semblance of happiness upon him. Parenting, had been told, was not easy - Gai had to disagree. With a child like Lee, parenting was a breath of fresh air, and it was not difficult, not at all. It only grew slightly difficult when one mourned along with the child, their hopes, fears and dreams. But even then, it was enjoyable. You had someone you could share your mind with, to trust. Gai had never managed to trust his own family.

Lee would be his first and last child. If his unrequited love stayed true to Kakashi (like he knew it would) he would be unable to have any other relationships, and a child would be impossible. It took a man and a woman to make a child, and in Gai's life, he doubted that there would ever be a woman.

Maybe his aversion to woman was because of his own mother, who had been the root of his fear during his childhood. He remembered being locked up in the darkness of the cellar multiple times: the cellar that was cramped, and where the rats nibbled at his feet. He had always been scared of rats.

His mother was a beautiful woman with long, flowing, black hair, and large, innocent black eyes. She was beautiful even with a cold sneer on her face, and she was the one who taught him that if someone or something was beautiful, they were not necessarily good or kind. So, Gai had strived to be good and kind, even with his horrible looks.

Yes, he knew that he was ugly: with bobbed black hair, and thick black eyebrows, who wouldn't be? At least he was youthful, and that was more than he could ask for. Gai had adopted the word 'youthful', as a way to annoy Kakashi (before he had fallen in love with him), as it was his least favourite word.

Kakashi. Everything managed to circulate, in one big circle, back to him. Just like Lee (with Sakura). But it was true; he wouldn't even have adopted Lee if Kakashi hadn't prompted him to. Kakashi, the victim of his everlasting, 'youthful' look. It didn't matter, he was just a Captain, anyway, and this was only a Captain's torment.

There. Gai was especially hard to write, but I hope I did ok. Thanks, Darth-Taisha, and sorry for the long wait! It was hard to bring out the dark side of a usually sunny Gai... shrugs

Review, Review, Review,

Aurora-chan!