The instructions Kiba gave him were simple. Go to the kennel, find the dog breed he wanted, pay the adoption fee, and sign some papers.
Easy.
Lee was on his way to do just that, walking out into the parking lot to get into his car when he saw a group of kids crowded around something. They were all aged from approximately nine to twelve years old. Residents of the apartment building he figured, having seen some of them before.
He hardly interacted with them before due to how busy he typically was. That and kids tended not to like him because of how funny looking he was.
Funny looking and funny acting.
Hopefully one day he'll change children's disposition towards him when he opened up his school. Once he earned all that money back, of course.
As Lee approached them, the group of children looked at him with wide eyes. "It's Mister Lee!" One of them shouted.
They knew his name? That shouldn't be too surprising with Guy Sensei shouting it all the time. It made Lee rather infamous. The neighbors probably enjoyed that he was gone for a time.
"Hello," Lee greeted with a small wave. He didn't know yet how to interact with children. Should be dumb down his words to converse with them or treat them like mini adults? He always spoke so formally, no matter to whom he was speaking with. "What is going on?" He asked, peering over them.
The sight before him was... A strange one. The children were gathered around a squirrel caught in a glue trap. One of them had a stick poking at it. His eyes could barely process the whole scene as being real because of how obsurd it was.
"Well... Y'see—" One of the children, a small boy toyed with the hem of his shirt as he spoke. "Ma bought a lot of glue traps because we live next to the bug guy."
Lee blinked, taken aback. "Glue traps? For bugs?" Those were typically reserved for mice and other small rodents.
"Ma said that he has some big ass bugs and thar they've been getting into our apartment," the boy continued.
Another child, a girl, slapped the boy on the back of his head and reprimanded him. "You can't say that, that's a bad word!"
"Ass is not a bad word," the boy retorted.
"Is too."
"Is not!"
Lee decided to interject, holding his hand up to silence them. "Just how did this squirrel get caught in a glue trap outside?"
The boy went silent and pointed to the oldest boy. "He made me bring them," he finally said once his finger was hovering in the air.
"Wha?" The older boy crossed his arms. "I was jus' curious about what would happen."
Lee gave a sigh. These kids were... Troubled, so to speak. Their morbid curiosity got the better of them and now this poor squirrel was paying the price for it. He squat down and scooped up the squirrel in the glue trap. It was still very much alive, promptly biting his finger in retaliation.
The bite force of rodents were fairly strong, but all Lee could do was flinch. Another scar that would marr his hands. No big deal. He held on firmly, not wanting to drop the squirrel and causing more harm to it.
Now, to figure out how to free it.
"Go home," he told the children. "And do not play with things you should not be playing with. I am sure that your mother won't be pleased to find out what you did with her glue trap."
The youngest boy sulked.
It would also probably be a good idea to warn Shino about such traps. Lee didn't blame the woman for setting them out, Shino shouldn't be letting his insects free roam. There were enough roaches to worry about in the first place.
If the building manager cared enough to hire an exterminator, they wouldn't have cause to be concerned.
But then again, it was fortunate for Shino that the building manager didn't hire an exterminator. He loved those bugs. Almost as much as Kiba loved Akamaru, if not more. He let those things crawl all over his skin and get beneath his clothes.
Thinking about it now, maybe Kiba wasn't the gross one.
Since Lee ought to go see Shino to warn him, Lee figured that he could ask the Aburame for help. He turned on his heel and marched back inside. He passed Kiba's door and went across diagonally to where Shino resided. Lee really hoped that he was home. He hardly saw Shino outside of when they mutually spent time with Kiba— something he hardly did as it was.
They were friends now, but not that close.
They weren't aware that he was beating up their family members on a near daily.
It was easy to hide if it never came up in conversation.
That sounded bad.
It was bad.
Maybe that's why Lee didn't spend much time with them; the guilt that came with it.
Lee shifted the squirrel to one hand so that he could knock on the door. He didn't know what to expect but Shino opened the door faster than he thought. "Shino! Oh I am so glad that you are home," Lee said with a sigh of relief.
Shino quirked a brow over his sunglasses. Even in his own home, he was wearing them? They all knew what his eyes actually looked like by now thanks to Tenten. However he never explained why he wore sunglasses. Some kind of medical condition, maybe.
"Are you really glad to see me?" Shino asked rhetorically. "You're just trying to flatter me because you need something."
"Uh... Yes." Lee presented the glue trap with the squirrel on it. "You see—"
"Vegetable oil."
Lee's mouth was still open, mid-sentence. "What?"
"Vegetable oil breaks down the adhesive," Shino explained. "Do you need anything else? You can use some of mine if you'd like." He stepped aside and opened his door wider. He never sounded enthusiastic about anything, but Shino was a real softie.
Maybe Lee ought to spend more time with him.
ˏˋ ˎˊ
After placing the glue trap on the only available surface in Shino's home, the floor, the two got to work in freeing the poor creature. While Lee poured vegetable oil into the cap, Shino held onto a spare terrarium so that when the squirrel was free from the adhesive, they'd trap it.
The last thing Shino needed was a rodent running around his bug infested apartment. The plan was to free it afterwards, preferably somewhere in the park.
Far, far away from those kids.
It took a few caps of vegetable oil for the squirrel to get free. But the rodent was too fast for Shino. Before he could place the glass over it, the squirrel dashed up into Lee's pant leg causing him to freeze. He felt the furry thing crawl up his leg, finding itself beneath his shirt and on his back.
The squirrel only revealed itself once more when it popped out of Lee's collar, perched on his shoulder.
"It must like you," Shino commented.
This revelation was elating.
Lee was positively beaming. "I believe I may keep it!" He had completely forgotten about getting a guard dog. He had a new friend now.
Shino was a bit bemused. "Well. There are certainly no building regulations against it if I am allowed to keep my pets."
Lee winced. "Now that you bring them up... You should know that the woman next door has been placing traps for them."
There was a pause before Shino responded. Lee was left staring into his sunglasses. "I see. Thank you," said Shino softly.
"You are most welcome, friend." Lee stood up and dipped his head. "And thank you. I will take my leave now."
ˏˋ ˎˊ
Lee wasn't fully moved back into his apartment but he hardly took anything with him for his two week stay at Guy's. At most, he'd have to do some grocery shopping in the near future. Passing by Sakura's apartment put a pang in his chest.
He figured that she'd come by to take her things and move out. Then the building manager would rent it out and someone else would move in.
Lee frowned.
He couldn't imagine anyone else being his neighbor. He'd treat them kindly, of course. But they wouldn't be Sakura. The person who lived there before her was a bit of a recluse. Lee hardly saw them. He wasn't even sure if the tenant was a man or a woman.
"I miss her," Lee murmured aloud. The squirrel couldn't understand him but it felt nice to admit such things outside of his head. He could talk to Guy Sensei about it, but Tenten and Neji weren't the type to discuss deep emotions. "I will get to see her soon though, do not worry. She is at school right now."
He took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his door. Last night after visiting Sakura, he did a little cleaning. "It is not much," he said to the squirrel. "But it is my home. You will find that it is comfortable for what it is." He cast a glance at his shoulder where the squirrel was standing on its hind legs, periscoping. Its beady eyes surveyed the apartment as if it was deciding if it liked the place or not.
"Let us go wash that vegetable oil off of you, hm?"