Waking up in the hospital was hard for Lee. His face was blank for a long while after he’d awoken, he stared off into the dark of the night, unbeknownst to anyone around him.
He laid silent, thinking and pondering his match. His chest and body aching as if he was still battling it.
The next morning he was visited by the nurse and she was ecstatic, she had a pitch in her voice and she told Lee how she would tell his sensei right away.
After she checked him she did exactly that, and his mentor was there in no time.
He smiled and talked with Gai for a bit, avoiding the subject of his injuries. It was a touchy subject, and Gai could tell.
“Don’t give up,” was what Gai told him, he said that the doctors didn’t know what they were talking about. That they were clueless.
Lee didn’t say anything, he just looked out the window to his right. The sun was shining brightly and the wind blew leaves in the distance. He wished he could be out there.
He should be out there.
Gai had left not too long after, leaving Lee with some food and encouraging words.
It didn’t take Lees mind long to wander after that. The silence giving him no other option.
His eyes traveled downwards, till they met the white of the hospital bedsheets, and slowly his hands. They were resting down on his sides, his left arm bandaged heavily. Beneath the bandage, a red string trailed out. Only Lee could see it of course, but he saw as it covered most of the ground. His soulmate was undoubtedly far away from him.
Soulmate.
Lee would always think happily of his soulmate when it would get brought up. He would think about how excited he was to finally meet the one destined for him. But they always seemed so far away. The string seemed never ending to young Lee. No matter how far he ran around the village, it was never enough, the string was almost endless.
He thought he’d never come across them. They were just too far, or perhaps they did not exist in the first place.
He was taunted by the string, yet he still held on to the hope that his soulmate would find him.
Lee was surprised when the string began to seem shorter and shorter, the once messy string was getting straight and he even felt a tug at one point.
He knew then, they had come.
Lee could not wait, he immediately told his team and cheered loudly. Tenten smacked him to calm him down and joked about how she hoped they could handle him. Neji just scoffed and told Lee that it was no big deal.
But it was, to Lee at least. He’d finally have someone to love him and he could finally show how much love he had to give.
He remembered how Tenten and Neiji recalled their meeting to Lee. Tenten said it was awkward, but Neji said he didn’t care too much. (Though he most certainly did)
Lee didn’t know how he’d react when he met his, how would they look or act? Were they kind? Would they be happy with who he was?
“Lee, don’t over think it ok? I’m sure they will be just as happy to see you as you are to see them!” Tenten smiled, placing her hand into Lees shoulder in a comforting way.
“I’m not too sure Tenten, but I will not let my fears stop me from having a good first impression!!!” Lee meant that when he said it, but he didn’t expect to meet his soulmate the way he did.
The chunin exams were a big deal. At first Lee was excited, he trained like crazy to become stronger. He stayed up for days and nights perfecting his taijutsu.
But when the time came to begin , he felt himself shake. It was as if he was fresh out of the academy again, shaking on his first ever mission.
“You can’t seriously tell me you are scared?” Neji teased him, giving him a taunting smirk. Tenten rolled her eyes, “Oh shut up, even I’m scared! Have you seen those people?” She muttered, referring to the other competitors in the room.
Lee had clenched his fist and shook his head, “of course not! I may be shaking but I am just excited that’s all!” He grinned, giving his teammates a thumbs up.
“Yeah right.” Neji scoffed. Tenten shoved him slightly.
Lee was very serious during the written exam, he did not let the difficult circumstances stop him from answering every question. And like everyone else he too anticipated the tenth question. He wondered what it could be, it plagued his mind the whole time.
His mind was so distracted that he didn’t notice how small the string had gotten, how his pinky was tugged at slightly.
Not even in the forest did he notice, he was too focused on protecting his friends.
It wasn’t until his heavily anticipated match during the preliminary rounds that he saw it.
Midair Lee realized he could see his opponent’s soulmate line. So brightly had the red shone in the florescent lighting.
Lee had almost fumbled his move, he let himself get distracted and that costed him this match.
The leaf ninja seemed to show mercy at the fact that Gaara, his opponent in this match, was his soulmate. The person he was the most excited to see.
It was a dream come true, however it had turned into a nightmare for Lee quickly.
It wasn’t long before he was being thrown around by his opponents sand, he could barely dodge any of his attacks anymore. He stumbled and tripped over himself.
He wondered for a moment if Gaara could see it too, had he noticed the string too?
“Why aren’t you fighting?”
Gaaras words made Lees head hurt, he felt the reason was obvious. The strings were so tight that Lee almost felt himself being pulled towards Gaara, towards danger.
There was no way he didn’t notice.
Lee didn’t have the time to answer as he was struck down.
“I see,” Gaara finally muttered, his eyes piercing through Lee. A shiver came down his spine.
He felt the red heads eyes travel down to his own pinky.
Before Lee could say a word back, sand was towering over him, a shadow forming all around him, he needed to get out and fast.
With his body at his limit, Lee knew there was not much he could do. He held onto that foolish hope that Gaara would spare him, he was his soulmate after all.
His opponent seemed to notice the desperation in his eyes, but still, he kept a cold gaze.
“you think I care that you’re my soulmate? Is that it?” Gaara seemed to growl, his eyes darkening as he balled his hand into a fist. The sand around Lee shot out in all directions, trying to grab him. He quickly dodged, struggling to keep up.
“Love,“ Gaara began as the sand caught up to Lee, “means nothing to me.”
Lees scream echoed throughout the walls of the arena.
He couldn’t remember much after that, he was sure he passed out immediately from the pain. But he couldn’t forget the cold eyes that stared into his as he did, the eyes he thought would be filled with love, were filled with hate.
And that’s why waking up was so hard. All he could see were his eyes, uncaring. Full of hatred and hidden sadness. And Lee felt he could do nothing about it.