Naruto/Lee
Waking up in the hospital, he was greeted immediately with Iruka sensei by his side.
Naruto had never been happier to see him in his life until then, “Iruka sensei? You’re alright!”
Iruka sensei, from his spot on the chair by his bedside, smiled when returning the tight hug Naruto gave him, “I was worried over you, sensei. I-I was so afraid…”
“It’s okay, Naruto, you never had any reason to worry. I was safe the entire time with the students at the academy.” he tries to release calming pheromones to help Naruto’s worried mind, yet it does nothing when he himself is still so shaken by what had happened.
Before he knew it, Naruto was pulling out of the hug to ask with wandering eyes, “Where’s Sasuke? Is he okay? How about Ino and Lee? Are they alright too? No alpha or beta jerk tried to mark them against their will, did they? Because if so, then I—”
“Sasuke’s recovering in a room right across the hall from yours. Ino and Lee were not forcibly marked by anyone. In fact, Ino’s home now with her family and Lee…well…” he doesn’t know how to properly explain everything to Naruto because what happened is something he’s never experienced before in his lifetime until yesterday.
Naruto’s worried now; his back is straight and his eyes are trained tightly on him, leaving Iruka feeling oddly small in this moment when trying to explain the situation to him, “Naruto, what happened yesterday…it wasn’t something mild or small. It wasn’t a normal battle where there’s a clear victor or everyone comes out of it alive. This invasion took the lives of many in the village—we lost the Third Hokage to Orochimaru and Lee is one of the many who lost his clan to the resulting destruction of the invasion. All he has left is his mother now; I’ve heard that he’s with her for the time being.”
He knows his clan was horrible to him, but he knows at the same time that Lee probably loved them regardless of how badly they treated him because that’s the sort of person he is. If he can care about Gaara—wait…
“Tell me, what happened to Gaara? Did he really get away after everything he did?”
Iruka had never heard Naruto sounding so angry, so volatile before in his lifetime. His Naruto usually doesn’t act or speak in such a manner—with a monotonous yet quiet voice to try to hide the burning rage inside. It leaves him wondering if now really is the best time to tell him, “Naruto…”
“Tell me what happened to that bastard who hurt my teme and my friend!”
Looks like there’s no way out of it then. If he doesn’t tell Naruto, then he’ll march over to Gaara’s home himself and make him pay for what he did, which is the last thing the village honestly needs at the moment, “…Orochimaru had gotten in the village by killing the Kazekage and impersonating him. He manipulated Gaara, his siblings, as other ninja from their village into attacking us with the cooperation of the Sound. Currently, Gaara is at home with his siblings—they are probably going through a lot right now with their father having been the Kazekage—”
“I don’t care about that… What I care about is whether or not he ever apologized to Lee for all that he did.”
“…You’d have to ask Lee about that. I wouldn’t know if he ever did or not.”
Naruto is growling and it’s a surprising sight for Iruka to see because he’s never seen him this genuinely angry before, “That bastard…he didn’t ever apologize to him—I wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t. After all Lee did to show him nothing but kindness and support too! That stupid, stupid—”
Iruka decides to change the subject before Naruto possibly explodes from his anger, “Before you go off being angry at Gaara, there is something I need to tell you.”
He is listening but Iruka hopes he really has his attention now, “We lost our home in the invasion. I am trying to find us a new place now, but it may take a while.”
Naruto doesn’t appear to be too upset by this because his first idea is, “Oh cool, we can stay with Sasuke then!”
He cannot believe that is his first suggestion. Then again, he is going to ask either Guy or Asuma if he and Naruto can stay with them until they can find their own place so maybe Naruto’s not off for suggesting Sasuke as a potential option here.
Then again, he does remember being a young omega and he remembers what alphas were like when they were Sasuke’s age…needless to say, he doesn’t for one moment think this is a good idea.
“It’s a nice suggestion, but maybe we should stay with someone who has enough room for us. I was thinking about asking Asuma or Guy—”
“Oh, Kakashi sensei would be another one to ask! I don’t think he’d mind us staying at his place for a while!”
And right when this is suggested, like freaking clockwork, comes the voice of Kakashi himself ringing in the room, “So I hear you lost your home. Like Naruto said, I wouldn’t mind having you two over for as long as you need.”
He was about to reject the man when Naruto cheered, “Of course we will stay with you! Then I can train with you whenever I want and we can get ramen together whenever I please!”
He doesn’t mean to rain on his adoptive son’s parade but… “Kakashi, do you have enough room for us? I mean, Asuma and Guy have pretty spacious places clearly meant to house more than a single alpha bachelor."
"No need to worry, my place is spacious enough for the both of you to stay. Besides, Guy is taking in Lee and his mother at his place, meaning he has no room for you. Asuma’s only one got one spare bedroom as well that he’s not housing anyone in as far as I know. You two could stay with him, but would either one of you be willing to share a room with the other?”
“Yes.”
“Ew, no way! I need my space; I cannot share a room with my sensei!”
Iruka glances over at Naruto, his shock written all over his face, “Naruto, you’ve got to be kidding me. Sharing a room with me won’t be that bad and besides, there’s a lot you can learn from Asuma.”
His son crosses his arms against his chest, looking away while pouting, “Easy for you to say! I need my space and privacy, thank you very much! In case if you’ve forgotten, I’m a growing omega boy and I just so happened to have saved this village from Gaara’s attack, so I feel like I should have majority say in this decision. Here I won the battle and for what? The bastard to get away, to lose our home, and worry over my teme and friends? I think I deserve to have one good thing going on, sensei. Don’t you?”
Of course, leave it to Naruto to leave his otherwise powerful will to reject Kakashi at every twist and turn useless. He knows Naruto is going through a lot and he will have a lot to process the longer the news of the many losses that the village suffered kicks in. Going forward, he is going to have to do all that he can to make him happy and feel some semblance of normalcy as well as safety in his day to day life. It’s all he can do to make up for what happened to him during this invasion.
It is with a forced smile he quits in his opposition, giving in to Kakashi’s wish for the sake of Naruto and his happiness, “…Okay, we can stay with Kakashi until we find a new place.”
He can feel the joy radiating off both Naruto and Kakashi at his decision, though he is more now than ever to find a new place as quickly as possible to make this stay as temporary as it can be.
“Thank you so much, sensei! Now we can see Kakashi sensei’s exploding oven—hey wait, how are we going to eat if your oven is always exploding, sensei? Will we have to eat out all the time now?”
To this, Iruka turns around to face Kakashi, his eyes gleaming in the delight of catching the copy nin in a clear blatant lie, “Yes, Kakashi, how are we going to eat at your place if your oven is always exploding? In fact, how can we be safe there at all if there is an exploding oven waiting to blow at any moment around dinnertime?”
Kakashi is quick to come up with a way out of this, per usual and as expected really by all in the room, “Oh, that oven? I got it fixed while I was out training with Sasuke this last month. I understand your concern, but trust me, there’s no need to worry.”
“Okay, I’ll make ramen for dinner tonight then on the stove that is now fixed. How does that sound?”
“Great, actually. I’ve been in the mood for some comfort food after everything that’s happened.”
Leave it to Naruto to be excited over this without really reading the room, “Ramen’s for dinner tonight? That’s so great, thank you so much, Iruka sensei!”
“Don’t mention it, Naruto. You deserve a nice meal after everything you’ve done.”
He can say this with a real smile to Naruto and mean every word he’s spoken because, well, Naruto has survived through so much recently. It’s amazing he’s still here when he hears accounts of Gaara and his terrifying jutsus, to be here with him now feels more like a blessing than anything else.
Because for as much Naruto worried over him, Iruka worried over Naruto far more than the young omega could ever comprehend.
When he woke up, the stadium was ruined and he felt lucky to be alive.
Lee had thought he was going to get lucky for once—after all the bad things he’s endured so far, there’s no way it could get worse than being sold off at auction and never seeing his friends or sensei again. That had been what he had thought, anyway.
Then he saw the devastation of so many homes, businesses, and families in the village. It really hit home then that perhaps his situation wasn’t as bad as losing everything and everyone in one fell swoop as many did.
He had felt lucky and he wonders if that is moment of confidence is why he couldn’t stop himself from reacting the way he did.
Waking up in the stadium beside Guy sensei, his first words were, “Sensei, what happened? Where’s Gaara? Is Neji okay? How about my family, are they alright?”
His sensei—looking stern and hardened for the first time he’s ever known him—gave him a blunt, “We were invaded, Lee. The Sand and Sound Villages collaborated to attack our home and kill our hokage. Gaara…he’s nowhere to be found, though Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura went after him. Going by the silence and the retreat of the enemy, I can only assume they won. Neji is fine; he was in the recovery area of the stadium and that part wasn’t hit during the invasion. As for your family…I can’t say. I haven’t checked the village yet to be sure.”
Immediately, he was running out of the stadium with his sensei behind his heel in silence with no intention of holding him back.
Lee felt grateful for this but seeing the village in such devastation was a shock that left him feeling less and less optimistic as he saw all of these nice homes and businesses in ruin with the distinct cries of pain and loss thick in the air.
No matter how misplaced, he still felt confident enough to believe everything at home would be okay.
His clan’s home wasn’t in a nice area. It wasn’t even that deep in the village—if of anything, it was closer to the village gates, in what could be called a more rural area given how far their closest neighbors were. He had every right to believe his family would be okay. He had every reason to believe his family home would still be the one building standing, with his clan safe and sound.
Before he could see it, Guy sensei got in front of him, “Lee, wait, you don’t want to see it. I think it’s gonna be an ugly sight you don’t want to have in your head for any amount of time—”
“Guy sensei, please, I need to see it for myself! I have to know if they’re okay—they may have treated me badly, but they’re still my family and I deserve the right to know what happened to them.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to see it. I don’t want you to be scarred for life by this.”
His sensei is sincere and yet, Lee doesn’t stop himself, “I’m going to be a Chunin someday. Seeing death is just a part of the job, right, sensei?”
To be fair to his sensei, he really did try to prevent him from seeing it, but Lee moved away from his attempted grasp to see it for himself because he was so confident everything was going to be okay…until it wasn’t.
When he saw it, he collapsed to his knees, his eyes unable to focus on any one point at the collapsed building, his nose burning with the stench of blood in the air, and…is that his father? Is he okay—why isn’t he moving?
He tried to rush over to his side, but with that unique sixth sense his sensei has to predict when something will be too devastating for him to handle, he hits a pressure point on his neck before he can rush over to him, effectively knocking him out.
By the time he woke up again, he was at the hospital, with a medic nin telling his sensei, “He appears to be just fine, no scrapes, cuts, or bruises anywhere on him.”
“That’s a relief…what about his family? Is there anything left of his clan?”
To this, Lee stilled himself, waiting to hear the news he knew would devastate him far beyond anything else out there: “I’m afraid not… His clan’s home is gone and the only surviving members of it are his mother and himself. His family were all dead on arrival; there was nothing that anyone could have done to save them.”
“What of his mother? What’s her state, will she make it?”
“She’s recovering just fine, out of all of them, she’s the one who sustained the least severe injuries. I expect her to be out of the hospital in a few days at the most.”
“Okay…thanks for filling me in, but I should check on Lee now. I’m sure he’s going through a lot.”
The nurse was understanding and before he knew it, she was gone. Lee wished he could fake being asleep better, yet his sensei knew the moment he turned around, “You heard everything, huh?”
He nods, not able to talk right now because even though they did treat him badly, they were still his family and he had other omega relatives there he had been pretty close to. To lose all of them hurt more than he ever believed it would.
His sensei sits beside his bed and sighs deeply, taking his hand, he promises him, “Lee, everything will be alright. You and your mom can stay with me, it’s really no issue for me to have you over for as long as you need—”
He paused, giving him a moment of silence to absorb everything in. In the end, when Lee could talk—which felt like an eternity before he could—all he could think of was, “Is my mom okay? What about Neji, Naruto, Ino, or Gaara? Are they all okay?”
“Why would you ask about Gaara? Aren’t you mad at him for what happened?”
Lee shakes his head, firm in the viewpoint he has now, “I won’t judge Gaara until I have all the facts I need to make a decision on what to think about whatever role he could have had in this. Gaara isn’t the type to do something like this without good reason…he’s not the type to attack randomly and even if he did, I’m sure there’s something else driving him to do it. I know you may think it’s crazy but I cannot believe he’s a bad person because that’s not the Gaara I know.”
He doesn’t know why he is so willing to give Gaara the benefit of a doubt. It makes him wonder if perhaps throughout all of this, Lee had gotten closer to Gaara when he hadn’t either been around or paid enough attention.
All of this aside, he can give credit where it’s due: he can respect Lee’s decision to wait until all facts are known and given regarding this situation. He figures it’s the best call they can make for the time being and it’s the most mature one to follow through on given the current state of the village itself.
This being said, it does nothing to stop his tears for the omega student in his hospital bed and it does nothing to stop him when he asks, “Can I go see my mom, Guy sensei? I know she may be a bit much, but she’s still my mom and I want to be sure she’s okay.”
He really doesn’t get why he would want to see that woman after everything she’s ever put him through. However, he won’t stop him from seeing her. He supposes any person who lost their clan would want to make sure their mother is okay if she is the lone survivor of an attack outside themselves, “Sure thing. I happen to know where her room is—I’ll take you there and give you some alone time with her. I figure you’ll want it after…everything.”
“Thanks, Guy sensei… You really are the best.” Lee says with tears in his eyes as he sits up in his bed and prepares himself for the hardest part of all of this: facing his mother after she survived the invasion.