Lee
Fighting with Lee is interesting, that’s for certain.
Speed, agility, the force of his kicks and punches…it’d be a shame for this village to not have him in their arsenal. He can easily understand why Might Guy fought so hard to keep his clan in the dark—he must be a hard working student to be as excellent at this as he is.
It’s too bad it won’t matter much in the battle against him. Shukaku can be impressed all he pleases; he doesn’t want to mate him despite the rather impressive beatdown he is receiving from him.
Now, he doesn’t understand the big deal about an omega’s flexibility and resilience or why so many Konoha alphas and betas desire this in an omega. To him it’s strange because in Suna culture such a thing isn’t really a desirable trait for an omega mate. In Suna culture, they care more about an omega having the proper hip shape to birth as many pups as possible.
To him this is incredibly creepy…though he can admit he’s far from normal by alpha, beta, or societal standards. Due to his own admitted abnormal nature, he knows he won’t ever understand how or why others can so freely obsess over, fetishize, and sexualize omegas and their bodies without feeling creepy. It’s something that will forever escape him no matter how desperate his jinchuuriki is getting to make this omega his mate.
All of this being said, Lee is easily the most flexible omega he’s ever seen in his lifetime and his resilience is something to be reckoned with. Ever since he ditched those weights on his legs at his sensei’s orders, he’s gotten far faster than before too.
At that point it felt as though he could stand to put some more effort into it than he so far, yet what really caught him off guard about the entire fight was the way Lee didn’t act scared of him or his sand. He kept going without holding back, cowering, or making any defensive decisions. It was strange, just like everything else about him, and he couldn’t get it out of his head—more like, he couldn’t get him out of his head.
He used some lotus whatever technique and managed to increase his chakra by quite a lot, which was as impressive as the fact he managed to deal a rather powerful blow to him.
Though out of nowhere, he noticed the omega struggling to keep standing after using this technique. He noticed he was twitching, tense, and acting as though he were fighting a war within his own body.
After a minute or so of this, he fell to the ground unconscious, stunning Gaara and everyone in the room.
The referee checked Lee and ultimately came back with a declaration of, “Rock Lee is unable to continue on with the fight, the winner of the battle is Gaara!”
He doesn’t feel as though he actually won. No, he feels as though he got cheated out of a proper victory more than anything else.
His seafoam eyes capture the sight of a smug Hyuuga alpha in the stands and with a quick glance to Lee’s marked hand, he can see some traces of a lavender glow there that disappeared as quickly as he saw it. Suddenly he understands what happens…
He didn’t defeat Lee.
He lost to Neji.
Immediately when Lee was using the dangerous technique he did, Kakashi was about to criticize Guy’s decision in this since in his eyes anyone that young shouldn’t be learning such things. He was going to until Neji beat him to the punch with his own very sexist critique, “Guy sensei, why would you teach such a thing to an omega who hasn’t finished puberty yet? Don’t you know what damage it will do to his body when he’s of the age of his first heat and his body becomes weaker in preparation for it?”
Wow, he really worked in the sexist biology take there! Kakashi is amazed at how skilled in his sexism this young alpha is.
Guy doesn’t move his eyes from the battle, letting him know then and there, “Omegas are not inferior to alphas and betas in any way, shape, or form. You know I believe very strongly in this, Neji, which is why I taught Lee how to open his chakra gates. His body isn’t getting any weaker than yours or any betas will during the age of the first rut. If any alpha or beta his age could handle learning this, then so can he.”
Neji was about to argue when Kakashi cut him off, “I admire your egalitarian take on this, Guy. What I don't agree with is teaching this to someone so young who could use it recklessly in battle.”
Guy was about to argue back when Lee suddenly struggled to stand and not long after that…passed out.
Gaara was declared the winner, but not without an accusation being made by an angry Naruto who could not stay away, “You bastard!”
Neji rolls his eyes and Sasuke almost wants to hit him for doing that to Naruto when he spoke to him, “What is it now, omega?”
“You made Lee lose, I know you did! He was fighting so hard, working so damn hard, and you took it all away from him!” Naruto shouted with a finger pointed at Neji and his eyes intense with rage, “How dare you steal this away from him, he could’ve won for all we know but now he’ll never get the chance to because of you!”
“Lee was being reckless and he paid the price for it. You have no proof I used the mark to make him pass out—he’s an omega, much like yourself. You should know that biologically speaking, omegas are the weakest sex, particularly when they are of Lee’s age and starting to mature more into their fated role in life. Don’t blame this on me without evidence; blame it on Lee for not knowing when to quit.”
Naruto seethed and shouted for the referee to hear, “There’s no way this is right! That alpha didn’t win and I won’t ever accept him as the winner! I demand a rematch when Lee wakes up!”
“He already lost, there won’t be any rematch.” The referee loudly yet coolly announces, to which the blonde omega growls and directs his anger to the redhead alpha, “I hope you’re happy with yourself, because you just had a victory handed to you, alpha!”
Despite his calm façade, Gaara is as equally stunned as everyone else here. He does know the Hyuuga alpha handed him his win. He doesn’t know why he handed it to him, but nothing feels more humiliating than knowing that his very skills are being doubted all because of him.
An alpha who needs another to hand him his win isn’t a real alpha, as his father used to say.
He used to believe that to be pure stupidity, only to discover how true this all is in the moment. Having another alpha hand him his victory is the most emasculating thing to have ever happened to him in his lifetime. He could’ve tolerated losing to an omega or beta without any issue. Losing to Lee wouldn’t have bothered him one bit.
Having his victory handed to him by another alpha though? That’s what is troubling him the more he hears the omegas in the stands rant about how he didn’t deserve his spot in the Chunin exams…no, it’s not just the omegas saying this. It’s the alphas and betas as well.
Usually such things wouldn’t bother him. A victory is a victory regardless of how it's achieved, yet there’s something distinctly degrading about having an alpha like Neji Hyuuga hand him a victory he could have gotten on his own.
He’s not positive as to why it feels far more degrading and emasculating to have had his victory handed to him like this. All he can say is there's something about this whole situation leaving a sour taste in his mouth as the alpha in the stands seems to reap the rewards of his actions, much to Gaara's own growing irritation the longer he observes him from afar.
He doesn’t strike at him because he cannot afford to get kicked out of the exams in general, but it doesn’t stop him from wanting to with every fiber of his being.
In the stands, Ino is as fuming as everyone else is. She wants nothing more than to hit Neji for doing whatever it is he did to Lee. However, Sakura takes her wrist before she can do so in an effort to prevent her from making any rash decision, “No, don’t do it. I know you want to punch him out, but it won’t get you anymore and it won’t help Lee.”
“Then what do you want me to do? Nothing?”
“Not at all. What we can do is keep an eye him while he rests in the stands and keep the other alphas and betas away from him. I’m sure he’d want that right now more than anything else.”
Since Lee wasn’t injured, he was brought up to the stands to rest until he woke up by the referee, with the young man asking, “Who’s going to be watching over him?”
“We will.” Ino replied, taking Lee’s upper body into her arms with Sakura taking his legs as they moved him over to the wall to rest for now. Sakura took his right side while she took his left. She was about to talk to Ino some more when Neji’s fight with Hinata was announced and the beta girl had to walk past them to get to arena where she’d be fighting.
She smiled at Ino as she walked past them, with an oddly positive, “I-I’m going to win for Lee, Ino. Wish me luck out there.”
“I will, Hinata! I know if anyone can take that jerk down, it’s you!” she was very positive in this and it led Sakura to pry a bit out of her own insecurity when she was gone, “You and Hinata seem a bit closer now than before…when did that happen?”
“Ever since we saw Lee at the hospital together and spent time together after that. She’s madly in love with Deidara and I know if I have her with me, I can bring him back to her someday.”
Sakura was a bit pleasantly surprised, having expected Ino to have actually started some sort of relationship with Hinata, “Wait, she’s what? I thought she liked Naruto!”
Ino shook her head, meeting the alpha’s girl gaze with her knees pulled up to her chest, “She was using him to replace the hole Deidara left in her heart…she tried to do that to me as well, but I stopped her from doing that right away. She’s realized it’s not bad to love him even though he’s gone for now and we won’t know why until we get him home. It was a big thing for her to do; I’m proud of her for it.”
Now she feels a bit stupid over feeling threatened by Hinata in the first place. Oh well, she’s not going to complain about it one bit. As long as she still has her chance to prove herself to Ino, that’s all that matters to her.
“I am too…it would be hard to deal with a loss like that. I bet she really suffered for the longest time when he’s been gone.” Sakura looks ahead, her motivation clear enough, “We will make it better one day when we bring him home.”
“Right.” Ino is confident in this, which Sakura is fine with because she knows her well enough to know that when she sets her mind to something, she will pull through on it.
It doesn’t stop her from trying to do what Sasuke was able to do with Naruto, “Ino…I know I have a ways to go with you…but…can we possibly go out on a date sometime? Just something simple, nothing big or fancy.”
The idea of dating Sakura didn’t make her feel awkward like the idea of dating Hinata did. However, she is a bit torn on the issue because while she can acknowledge Sakura has changed for the better so far, she’s not sure if she’s ready for dating or not like Naruto apparently is.
She was about to tell her this only to be broken out of her thoughts by Gaara standing in front of them.
She didn’t know what the alpha was here for, but she figured it couldn’t be for anything good. Maybe he’s mad at Lee for fainting like he did, maybe he’s going to try to mark him again like he did the last time—
“Why are you two by him?”
Ino answered without any fear or wavering in her voice, “We’re going to stay with him until he wakes up to keep the alphas and betas away from him.”
He takes in the sight of them sitting by his sides, coming up with a plan of his own on the spot, “I can do that for you two.”
“Why would you want to?” comes the question asked in a defensive tone by Ino, “How can we trust you to not place another mark on his hand? How can we trust you to not hurt him in his sleep?”
“If I wanted to do such a thing, I could have during our battle…I could have done it before then when I saw him alone in the hospital. I’ve had many chances where I could have hurt him and didn’t. Why would now be any different, especially since hurting him would end in my expulsion from the exams.”
Sakura doesn’t take this too well, finding it a bit annoying he couldn’t answer Ino’s other questions, “You’re not addressing her concerns fully. Why do you want to watch over him? How do we know you won’t leave another mark on him in his sleep?”
“I won’t because I have no interest to. I wanted to ask him about whether or not the mark from the Hyuuga played a role in my victory today. I can’t do that right away unless if I’m by his side when he wakes up.” he hadn’t expected the girls to agree, wondering for a brief moment if he needs to use force to achieve this goal or not.
Of course, leave it to a certain someone to get in the way of his plans.
“Ladies, it’s alright. You two can go watch the battle; I’ll watch over Lee.”
Ino doesn’t hesitate to leave him with Guy, knowing full well he will keep him safe no matter what, “Okay Guy sensei.”
Her light eyes fall on Sakura as she stands up and offers her a hand, “I may not be ready for dating like Naruto is, but I would like to watch this battle with you.”
Sakura is almost speechless in her moment of joy meets bewilderment, “You mean that?”
“I do. You kept me calm when I was watching Lee’s fight with Naruto and I am really grateful for that.”
With this out in the open, Sakura takes her hand and they go over to the railing to watch the fight between Neji and Hinata.
Sakura cannot escape the feeling of accomplishment, even if she didn’t think she accomplished anything. As long as she is getting anywhere with Ino, that’s all that matters to her.
Of course, Gaara didn’t quite get the interaction himself. To him, it was a strange conversation to have, but he didn’t stress himself out over it. All he did was take a seat—
“No way, alpha!” Might Guy stopped him before he could, “Not around my kid. I’ve already made the mistake of letting one alpha get too close to him and I won’t let it happen again!”
This is pretty annoying, and yet Gaara’s desire for answers leaves him willing to tolerate whatever it is this man is trying to pull, “I only want to ask him about my victory and whether or not the other alpha played a role in it.”
Might Guy takes the young alpha in—leaving him to believe the man is the strangest alpha in existence with how intense he was getting—and within what feels like a second in time gives him his final answer, “Fine, you may sit next to him until he wakes up.”
With this permission granted, Gaara does just that.
He will admit he wasn’t expecting Guy to sit by his side, “What are you doing?”
“Sitting by your side to be positive you won’t do anything to Lee again.” His smile fades then and his face takes on a serious expression, a small snarl escaping the usually energetic man, “I saw what you did the last time you two fought and I’m not going to stand for you marking him like that ever again. Lee already has enough on his plate with his clan wanting to see him and Neji’s mark on him. He doesn’t need you to do something stupid that will make things worse for him. Try anything on him and I’ll make you regret ever being born.”
…He says that as though Gaara hasn’t felt such a thing for a good majority of his life.
Oh well, he’ll indulge the mother hen if it means he won’t interfere in his plans, “Understood.”
That is all he is willing to say to him for the time being. He doesn’t own him a conversation or forced pleasantries. He only wants to speak to Lee when he wakes up and that’s it.
It doesn’t mean he’s not curious about the situation surrounding his clan. He wouldn’t doubt if Neji made the move he did today because of whatever is going on with the omega’s personal life…he won’t know for fact until Lee wakes up, of course. It doesn’t stop him from thinking this could be part of the reason why he humiliated him so thoroughly.
Then there’s Shukaku, reminding him that the Hyuuga alpha doesn’t like him because he sees him as competition for the omega. He finds this be to be inaccurate no matter what the jinchuuriki says to the contrary. There’s no way an intelligent alpha like that would see him as competition, not when he’s made his disinterest as clear as he has so far.
Or so he thinks this is how it should go. One thing he’s learning about these Konoha Genin is to always expect the unexpected with them for they are always full of surprises at every twist and turn.