Lee
Tenten had thought Lee would be a wreck on the morning of the Chunin exams. Neji had believed he would show up to put up a front to him, break under the pressure, and challenge him to a fight where he would inevitably win and mark the omega he’s been so enamored with for far too long.
Instead, Lee was his usual, optimistic self, “Good morning Tenten, Neji! I cannot wait to take these exams—then I’ll become a Chunin just like Iruka and hopefully I’ll inspire more omegas to become shinobis.”
Neji held his tongue, yet he did manage to remind him, “You’ll only become a Chunin if you pass the exams, Lee. You’ll only remain one if you get to beat me in battle, remember?”
Tenten seethed at the smug Hyuuga, her hostility towards him hardly hidden in her voice or her stance, “How can you bring that up to him now? Lee needs support here, not you rubbing what you did to him in his face like that.”
Lee spoke up for himself then, reminding her, “Tenten, it’s alright. The mark on my hand is nothing more than a motivator for me to give it my all so when I do battle Neji, I can win.”
She was about to argue with him when Neji beat her to it, “If you want to fight the inevitable so badly, then fine, be my guest and fight it. Just know that I meant it when I said it earlier: I will not baby you, Lee and in case if you couldn’t tell, I won’t go easy on you either.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She will never understand how Lee can be so upbeat about this whole experience he’s had, but she knows questioning him is futile at this point. If he wants to be positive about this, then she will let him be positive about this.
Their walk over to the area the first part of the exams would begin was uneventful (save for the gazes Neji will give Lee’s legs that Tenten is now viewing in a whole new light). It wasn’t until they were inside the building that Lee perked up.
Here he had been so excited to meet the other omega Genin he had heard about—Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki—that he almost forgot all about his strategy to battle Neji entirely at the sight of Naruto, “No way, you’re Naruto Uzumaki—the only other omega Genin aside from myself and Ino Yamanaka!”
He can tell he made Naruto feel special with this comment, and it makes him believe that maybe he’s off to a good start with the other omega, “Yep, I’m the one and only Naruto Uzumaki, in the flesh! Who are you anyway, bushy brows?”
“I’m Rock Lee and I’m so excited to meet you! I didn’t think any other omega Genin would be here except for me.” Lee admitted to Naruto, yet behind his smile is a wave of relief crashing upon him.
Neji’s mark…for all of the motivation it gives him…it also scares him at the same time.
He knows Neji always spoke lowly of Iruka for being an omega Chunin as much as he did Deidara, Ino, and Naruto for being omega ninjas. He firmly believes omegas are fated to be barefoot and pregnant. Because of this belief Neji held, he never felt comfortable coming out to him as an omega. Luckily for him, Guy sensei and Tenten seemed to catch onto this without him having to beg them to not tell him. The only reason why he did tell Neji the truth was because he figured he had finally become strong enough to be respected as an omega ninja by him—only to have him do something like that to him instead.
With Naruto being an omega, he feels safer to vent about what’s really on his mind without having to fear about Tenten starting a fight with Neji or Neji doing something that would end up in him being forced to mate him. His clan is nowhere near prestigious or wealthy like the Hyuuga clan is. If Neji really wanted to force him to be his mate using his clan’s wealth and power alone, he could. With this knowledge in mind, Lee has been bottling up quite a bit of stuff going on with him personally that he hopes he can get off of his chest with the other omegas around.
“Well, that’s where you’re wrong!” he was like a ball of sunshine and it made Lee feel safe to be by someone who he would definitely be able to get along with, “I am going to become the first ever omega hokage and I won’t let anything get in my way! Not even that stupid teme no one can stop obsessing over!”
It really did uplift his spirits to have Naruto here, but not enough to make his own goal at the sight of Uchiha alpha go away, “Naruto, I hope you don’t mind, but I want to face Sasuke in a fight before the exams begin.”
“Huh? Why? I thought you were happy to see me.”
“I am, but I just—ah!” he gasps as it feels like his body—no, not his body…his chakra…it feels as though his chakra is burning him from the inside out.
Naruto immediately is by his side as he looks over him in concern, “Whoa, are you okay bushy brow? You don’t look too good right now—is it because Sasuke’s scent is disgusting?”
The alpha Uchiha was about to comment on that when Neji came from behind and took his hand, “No, Lee. You don’t need to fight him.”
“You said you wouldn’t baby me, Neji. Why are you doing this right now?” he grit through his teeth as he fought through the pain, wavering slightly in his stance as he remained standing.
“Because I don’t need you anywhere near some alpha who could beat and mark you right before I get the chance to become a Chunin. Remember what Guy sensei said, if one loses, we all do. I won’t let you be the reason why I lost.”
It may come off as selfish concern, but Neji is actually doing this to better gauge whether or not Sasuke has any interest whatsoever in Lee. He has every intention to best the Uchiha in battle himself at first chance he can get, and if Sasuke does show interest in Lee…things could get ugly for him very quickly if he’s not careful.
It’s a bit of drama Neji would rather avoid if he can so as to not cause Lee or Tenten to speak out about the mark on his hand.
Sasuke, luckily for Lee, scoffed at the very notion Neji was hinting at, “I would never want to mark this omega. I already have another I’d much rather be with than anyone else.”
…How the blonde omega beside him could not get what he was practically admitting to for everyone to see is beyond the Hyuuga alpha, but he doesn’t pry or complain. Knowing his competition is secure for him to defeat, he decides to allow Lee the chance to go up against the alpha, “I see…okay, Lee. You can face him if you want, just don’t get too beat up.”
Lee smiles as the pain vanishes instantly, feeling more like himself in that moment, “Don’t worry Neji, that won’t happen with me!”
Neji has a feeling it will, but it’s Lee. Who is he to stop him from fighting an alpha who’s not interested in him?
While Lee does feel relieved to be able to take on Sasuke, he is a bit concerned about the pain he felt just now and the relation it has to the mark on his hand.
He did fight Sasuke and he almost won…except he got in trouble with Guy sensei for almost using a forbidden jutsu on the alpha. He was glad to hear Naruto pointing out how hard he trained, but he had a feeling the other omega caught onto his hand being marred by the mark Neji left on him before the Chunin exams started.
During the first part of the exams, it wasn’t too bad and it certainly was not anything he couldn’t handle. If of anything, it was pretty easy to catch on what the first part of the exams were about rather quickly for him and his team.
The only off putting part about the first part of the exams was the way the other alpha and beta Genin had reacted to his scent.
Unlike Neji, many of them seemed to have caught onto his omega status right away. As such, many of them kept trying to get too close to him with a few of them trying to scent mark him for themselves. Those few that did wound up leaving the exam due to a sudden bout of illness—which made Lee feel relieved at first, until he wondered if it had anything at all to do with the mark hidden by the bandage on his hand.
He had wanted so desperately to speak to Ino or Naruto after the first part of the exam was over, but he never got that chance. It was starting to get to be a bit difficult to bare since he had never known what all the mark on his hand could do or not outside of making him Neji’s mate should he lose to him in battle. Asking Neji himself didn’t garner him any answers or ease his concerns; no, all it did was make him far more nervous than he had to be given the vague response he received when he asked, “Neji, is there something more to the mark on my hand that you aren’t telling me?”
“If there is, you should be grateful for it. You are an omega worthy enough to be my mate; I’d rather die than face the shame of losing you to someone beneath me.”
“That doesn’t answer anything! All I want is for you to tell me if those people who left the first part of the exams because of some sudden illness became that way because of the mark or not. Omega or not, I am still your teammate and I deserve an honest answer from you.”
All Neji did was shrug off his concerns, speaking to him as though he were overreacting, “It’s nothing for you to worry about, Lee. Whatever happened back there, happened and you need to move on from it.”
When he had grabbed his hand to try to stop him from leaving and get him to answer his question, he was met with Neji shoving him against a wall in a harsh manner and kissing him with too urgency for it to be normal, with the final words he heard on the manner from him being, “Don’t think too much about it. What’s done is done and you need to accept that.”
It’s getting harder and harder to accept things as is.
He doesn’t want people getting sick or worse because of him. Lee wants to win on his own merits, not because of some stupid mark on his hand. To him this feels like cheating, but at the same time, he knows if he tells any adult about it, they will punish Neji and he’ll never get to live his ninja dream, let alone fight the alpha and win. Because of this, he keeps quiet about it all to the adults in the exam as well as to every other alpha and beta Genin at the second half of the exam.
The only people he felt any bit comfortable talking about this to were Naruto and Ino, but he figured they’d only talk to him in a civil conversation when they get to the tower in the Forest of Death. Which meant he would have to keep up his front for now, burying his anxieties and fears around the mark on his hand for the time being.
Before heading off to find someone to fight for their scroll, Tenten did pull him aside right after Neji left, concern bubbling underneath her skin as she looks him over, “Lee, are you okay? Is Neji treating you any differently?”
“Why would you ask me that?” he speaks with a smile that is forced in the hopes she wouldn’t notice it or ask too many questions he doesn’t feel comfortable answering to her, “He hasn’t acted differently at all and I’m just fine with that—I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong here, Tenten.”
He felt horrible for lying to his teammate, but it needed to be done. Knowing her, she would have confronted Neji over what he did and that’s the last thing their team needs if they want to pass these exams.
She appeared hesitant to buy it, with her hands on her hips and a small show of teeth on the bottom lip she was biting at his answer, “Are you positive about that?”
“I am.” Lee does his best to put her concerns at bay, though he knows it won’t do much in the long run, “Listen, we have to do everything we can get to the scroll we need so we can pass this exam and become Chunins. If we’re going to do that, we need to work together, okay?”
With a sharp inhale, she nods and gets ready to leave him behind, “You’re right…just promise you’ll tell me everything after we become Chunins together.”
He was stunned to hear this—that is, until he heard her talk, “I know you’re hiding something from me and I know you don’t feel safe telling me the truth for some reason or another. If you really don’t feel safe telling me because of the exams we’re in now, then I understand. All I want is for you to keep that promise. Can you do that, Lee?”
He agrees, feeling some weight taken off of his shoulders for the time being, “I can! I’m sorry I can’t tell you now Tenten, but I promise I will tell you everything after we’re all Chunins!”
He does intend to tell her everything after they are Chunins, even though he knows she will take it poorly. That being said, the fact he was able to put this off without any complaint from her had him feeling lighter after all of the weirdness that’s gone on ever since that mark came on his hand.
Because of this, he was able to make it through his first day there without letting it get to him too badly. As long as he kept telling himself to focus on passing this part of the exam, he found he could go on for quite a long time without thinking about it and to be fair to him, he did manage to do just that.
He even managed to do it when he found Sakura with a passed out Naruto and Sasuke, about to be attacked by these alpha creeps who he knows probably have it out for Naruto just because he’s an unconscious omega.
When he showed up just in time, he told her with all of the confidence within himself, “Don’t worry Sakura, I’ll keep you and your teammates safe.”
Unfortunately, the alphas from the Sound Village didn’t take this too seriously. In fact, he can safely say they gave him the most sexist reaction he’s ever received from anyone in his time as a Genin.
“You, an omega, protecting this worthless alpha and her worthless teammates? Yeah right! Who are you kidding? You’re an omega—don’t you have some alpha to be fucking right about now?”
“Yeah, I agree with her. An omega like you should be back home, making cookies for your alpha, not playing ninja like you are now.”
Perhaps the worst one yet was the one with the bandages on his face, his visible eye was taking him in, making him feel small and as though he were being viewed as an object as opposed to a person, “Looks like the little omega wants to get mated and fucked, huh? Well fine then; I’ll be sure to give you the marathon a perky young thing like you deserves.”
Lee didn’t let this stop him from trying to fight the alpha. He went all out with using his forbidden jutsu, but in the end, the fall was cushioned by the alpha man with the brown hair, “Nice try, omega. Maybe you should have thought twice before trying to get into an alpha’s line of work.”
The alpha with the bandaged face used his sound jutsu on him, making his ears feel as though they were hit with the worst infection ever and everything around him spin far too fast for him to control.
Before he knew it, he felt himself being pushed on the ground—though the ground looked like a swirling mess of green and brown that no longer resembled grass and dirt—with the alpha coming close to his neck, his body heavy on him and his words making it through the ringing of his ears somehow, “Don’t worry, omega, I’ll make sure you like it.”
He can vaguely hear Sakura screaming—it sounds like “Don’t touch him!” but he’s not too sure with the ringing being as intense as it is—and it’s when he feels the alpha’s hand on the skin of his neck that he hears it loud and clear.
The alpha on top of him lets out a blood curdling shriek as his teammates panic and rush over to pull him off of the omega, only to be shrieking as well for reasons Lee doesn’t quite understand given his position on the forest floor as well as the disorienting effect of the jutsu still going strong.
Soon after hearing these shrieks from all three Sound Village Genins, he feels them getting off of him, which is a great relief. Though he couldn’t figure out what was going on right away—all he could hear was a mixture of shrieks that were dying down and Sakura’s cry of, “Lee, what’s going on? What’s happening to them? Lee? Lee!”
He wishes he could answer, but right as the jutsus effect was wearing off, he felt the touch of Neji on the back of his neck, the alpha’s voice a simple command: “Sleep for now, Lee. There’s no need to worry about it; those alphas are gone for good and will never be around to harm you ever again.”
…He has a bad feeling about this, but what can he do about it?
Whatever it is Neji did with his mark, he will simply have to learn from Sakura when he wakes up. Though he wonders if he truly wants to know or not.