Sketches

This was just a quick little thing that I came up with months ago and decided to finally put into writing. It's not meant to be overly GaixLee, but you can definitely interpret it as so. Because it's while Lee's still thirteen, I like to see this as the process of the two of them falling in love and not fully realizing it until they're older.

This picture was actually inspired by Nene203 from deviantART's picture Empty Afternoons which you can see at this address: nene203./art/Empty-afternoons-76014633.

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Very few sounds perforated the room. There was the dull hum of voices from across the hall, the sounds of a light breeze coming in through the window, the distant beeping of machinery, light snoring, and the scratching of pencil on paper. The final two sounds came from the only two occupants of the Konoha hospital room. One was sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking chair, snoozing peacefully with his chin resting on his chest, the other sat with his good leg bent, propping up a sketchpad and holding it in place with his heavily bandaged left arm and drawing placidly with his good right arm. Lee smiled as his eyes flicked from his sleeping sensei to the paper.

These were secret moments for him. Whenever his sensei dozed off in his chair during his daily hospital visits Lee would whip out the sketchpad that he kept under his pillow, grab a pencil, and begin to draw his sensei. Lee had never been that skilled in the visual arts, but with a shattered left arm and leg that left him rather debilitated, nurses and his sensei hovering over him 24/7 to make sure he did not sneak out and train again and nothing better to do, he had taken it up as a hobby and a way to pass the time. He had first begun to doodle in a moment of boredom, but now it was nearly a daily activity. At first he had not known what to draw; the room? The view from the window? A squirrel? What? So Lee decided to do what he always did in a moment of lack of inspiration; he thought of his sensei. And his beloved teacher was now what he drew whenever the moment presented itself. Lee especially enjoyed drawing his sensei while he was asleep. He did not know why this was so, albeit it would not be a lie to say that his teacher was a handsome man. In fact, he was an incredibly handsome man, so much so that it left Lee confused at moments as to why he was so in awe of Gai's looks. His heart would beat a little faster and his cheeks would relish a touch of pink, leaving him a little stunned and flustered each time.

Forcing such thoughts to the back of his mind, Lee continued to work on his picture, sketching from memory. He became so engrossed that he did not notice the lack of snoring or the light breaths on his neck. That is, not until he heard the light chuckle next to his ear.

Lee let out a little gasp as he jumped and hugged his sketchbook to his chest protectively, turning to face his teacher who was peering over his shoulder, mere inches away. "S-Sensei! Wh-When did you-…"

"If I had known you were going to start drawing me, I would have struck a more glorified pose, Lee," Gai laughed light heartedly, smiling in that way that only he could.

"I-I'm sorry, sensei! I-I should have asked be-before I started drawing you! I'm sorry!" Lee's face was bright red, his little secret revealed.

Gai laughed once more, a little more boisterously this time, as he messed up Lee's hair teasingly. "Don't worry about it, Lee! I was just toying with you. It was actually pretty good… Could I see it again?"

That tone of voice, that sparkle in his eye; there was no way Lee could refuse him and he knew it. Bashfully, he relinquished the sketchpad to his teacher, refusing to look at him as Gai flipped through the pages.

"There's a lot of pictures of me in here!" Gai smiled, shooting Lee a cheerful look.

"W-Well, you're my inspiration, after all…" Lee replied in a quiet voice, glancing at Gai out of the corner of his eye.

Gai looked momentarily stunned, his eyes slightly wide. Slowly, his expression softened and he gently wrapped his arms around Lee, being careful not to hurt him. "And you're mine…" he whispered.