They had been sent to rescue and retrieve their fellow leaf shinobi from an A-rank-mission-turned-S-rank-mission-turned-wrong.

They had arrived at the enemy hideout not long before sunrise, and after nearly a full days worth of fighting, killing and searching, they found them. And Gai sensei found him.

They had been stuck in small rooms that made even the optimistic Lee feel….hopeless. Yet they had been in them for weeks and he only a few hours. Most of the eight man squad was outside keeping watch, Ten Ten and Team Kakashi, led by Yamato, while Neji was checking others rooms for signs that some of Leaf's ninja had survived…he found one.

Gai-sensei also found one.

That was why Lee had not moved and simply…watched. Even Neji, who was returning from taking the other survivor to the rest of their squad to receive medical attention from Sakura, was unmoving.

After all, there was a reason that Yamato was leading Team Kakashi.

In the room Gai and forced his way into lay a bloodied mess in the corner… and his Eternal Rival.

"Kakashi?"

Silence.

"Kakashi."

With what appeared to be the blink of an eye Gai had crossed the room. He gently lifts Kakashi so that he can support the wounded man against him. The cuts and bruises upon his chest and back were deep, raw…infected. It's enough to make Lee look away. Now he is facing Neji, who is also facing him.

"I'll tell the others."

"Are you sure?"

"Naruto and Sakura must be prepared."

Lee can't even find it in himself to say anything to his monotoned team mate. His own 'Rival', in a way. Instead he looks back at the scene before him.

Kakashi's eyes are barely open and just...staring. Not at him, but at Gai. As if trying to determine as to whether or not the man is real. Trembling, what once was a white hand now cover in the brown of dirt and dry blood and the blue of bruises, makes its way to another hand, one of the hands that is holding him. His hand makes contact with the other, as a consequence Lee feels suddenly out of place.

He just couldn't bring himself to move.

Gai however could. Kakashi was lifted so that his knees and back were delicately supported by arms that earlier had crushed a man's rib cage, and his head rested upon the shoulder that had broken the door.

It was then Lee looked towards his sensei.

As he began to leave the room, the Copy Ninja began to dye the Green Beast of Kohona red… and Lee felt like his heart would break. Gai sensei, the man he aspired to be like, was carrying his closest friend out of a dark, blood riddle room, with an expression so devoid of emotion. So dead, that he for a moment he thought that Kakashi had died. Only when the man coughed, splattering tanned skin and green cloth with small flecks, did he change his mind.

"Gai-sensei?"

"He needs to get Sakura."

"Yes, Gai-sensei."

Moving to the side so that he was out of the way Lee watched as Gai made his way up the stairs. Kakashi's head began to slip from its resting place; however before it had time to completely fall and Lee to call out a warning, in an act of complete mildness Gai had leaned down and placed the silver head back onto his shoulder, before continuing on.

It was then Lee thought about how there were certain things that made him aspire to be like his sensei, and the rarely occurring things that made him glad that he was not. This was one of those things.

The idea came to me late at night but no matter how much I cut and changed I just couldn't get it right. So any comments are appreciated. Thank you.