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Characters: Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara
Location: The park.
Rating: PG-13
Time: August 13th, afternoon
Description: Lee and Gaara have a sparring match in the park.

Gaara shut off his communicator and arrived in the park a few minutes later. He stood, arms crossed over his chest, and waited. As strange as this place was, there was something about the air that reminded him of Suna. Dry and hot, with a faintly dusty smell.

He hadn't sparred against Lee since the Chuunin Exams three years ago. Four years, for Lee. Rock Lee had been a difficult opponent even then, when Gaara had been in full possession of his powers. And Lee was probably even stronger now...especially considering that his abilities were pure strength and speed. Unlike Gaara, he had not been stripped of his primary defensive and offensive capabilities. He could no longer open his Gates, but even so, he was probably one of the strongest people here, whereas Gaara's taijutsu abilities were probably not much better than the average Genin's. He'd never had any reason to develop them, considering that hardly anyone alive could break through his sand shield. Of course, Lee had broken through it.

Gaara wondered briefly if agreeing to this sparring match had been a bad idea. But if he was going to fight in this war, he needed to increase his own strength and speed.

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It didn't take long after their conversation for Lee to arrive, attention shifting between the communicator and the landscape. Death City was strange. As a shinobi, Lee had done his fair share of traveling. He'd been in deserts, seaside towns, and places where snow never seemed to leave the ground. He'd never, though, seen a place quite like this. It wasn't the heat, as unpleasant as it was (though despite that, Lee's bright orange legwarmers were still firmly in place), nor was it the sheer variety of the people he'd met so far.

It was the way the city itself looked. The buildings were some of the strangest Lee had ever seen, with the continuing skull motif that seemed to match both Shibusen and the decal on the communicators, and Lee would've gotten turned around more than once if it weren't for the GPS. When he noticed a familiar splash of red, Lee tucked the communicator away and jogged over, smiling brightly. "Hello!"

Gaara nodded in response. It occurred to him that he should probably take his gourd off. Considering that the sand inside was now inanimate, it would be useless in a fight and only weigh him down. He loosened the straps and let the gourd slip from his back. It hit the ground with a thunk. He felt naked without it.

He took a deep breath and faced Lee, steeling himself. "Are you ready?"

The abandonment of the gourd was nearly as strange to Lee as it was to Gaara. It made sense, he supposed. The sand didn't work here, and carrying it was likely out of long-born habit, but it emphasized that this was Sabaku no Gaara without his sand.

Lee immediately decided that his weights would be staying firmly in place. He stepped onto the middle of the patch of grass and settled into a familiar pose: center of balance low, one hand behind his back, the other extended in direct challenge. Rather than answering, Lee simply beckoned with his fingers.

Gaara hesitated, staring at Lee. Apparently he was expected to make the first move. Gaara normally stayed on the defensive and waited for his opponent to come to him. But then, given the situation and the difference in physical strength between them, it was probably just as well that Lee wasn't attacking first.

Perhaps the best way to do this was to just do it. Gaara charged, and the movement felt painfully awkward and unnatural. He curled one hand into a fist and lashed out.

Lee felt a moment of surprise as Gaara's fist headed toward him. The movement was clumsy and unnatural, as if it didn't fit his body. The form was better than that of an Academy student, or a very new Genin, but far less than Lee would've expected from the leader of one of the hidden villages.

Though it made sense, if he took a moment to think about it. Gaara hadn't ever needed taijutsu. He'd always had his sand there as both offense and defense; in their fight, Gaara had hardly moved until Lee had dropped the weights. Lee let the blow land solely to see how much force was behind it and readjusted his thinking. A training match, then. Showing by example, the same way that Gai-sensei had always sparred with him. Lee threw a casual punch that should land squarely on Gaara's guard, at about a fourth of his normal strength.

Gaara saw the fist flying toward him and moved to block it, but he wasn't fast enough. Pain exploded through his chest as he sailed backward through the air, sky and ground flying past him. He hit the ground, skidded, and came to rest at the edge of the park. His ribs throbbed. He tried to draw a breath and couldn't. Panic seized him, and he struggled against the invisible pressure on his chest...then air rushed into his lungs, and he gasped. Fresh pain stabbed through him as he slowly, stiffly sat up.

Well, that hadn't gone well.

Well, that wasn't what he'd expected. Lee watched with a mixture of surprise and horror as Gaara was launched backward. Surely he hadn't hit him that hard? It should've been easy enough to block-

Then Lee's eyes set on the gourd propped against a tree, and it all made sense. Gaara had never needed to block.

Ever.

Lee was at his side in an instant, firmly ignoring the aura of untouchableness around Gaara in favor of putting a hand on his shoulder. His brows drew together and he leaned down, looking into Gaara's eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Gaara replied automatically. His voice was a little dazed, and his vision kept wanting to slide out of focus. Must have hit his head on the ground. But he'd caught his breath now, at least. He paused, looking at Lee's hand on his shoulder. He wasn't accustomed to being touched by anyone. It felt...odd. Not unpleasant. Just different.

He stood slowly, ignoring the wave of dizziness that rolled over him. "Let me try that again."

His brow drew together slightly, but Lee nodded. "Do you want to try defending, or attacking?"

Gaara hesitated. Attacking wasn't his strong suit. Then again, he wasn't sure he could handle another punch like that. "I'll attack." He paused, then settled into a fighting stance similar to Lee's, one hand behind his back, the other upraised. It felt awkward and unnatural. A strange, hot, prickly feeling suffused his face, like a sunburn. It took him a moment to recognize it as embarrassment. He hadn't realized just how weak he was without his sand. He felt like a fool.

Gaara shrugged off the feeling. Right now, he couldn't afford to dwell on it. He charged Lee again and swung a fist.

It was easily recognizable as a mirroring of his own stance, though the balance was off to make it ideal to launch from, Lee noticed. It was easier if he thought of it as working with a Genin than if he remembered the Chuunin exams, or Gaara's breathtaking display of power afterward in the fight against Kimimaro.

Lee let the punch through, but blocked the followup, slowly feeling Gaara out. Worry settled like a stone in his stomach. This wasn't good. If Gaara's taijutsu was at this level, he was nearly defenseless here.

Unless the Weapon and Meister things were stronger than Lee thought. Maybe he wouldn't need taijutsu any more than he'd needed it in Konoha, but somehow Lee doubted it.

Gaara could read the concern in Lee's too-open face, and his shoulders tensed. He might be weaker than Lee, but he wasn't so weak he needed pity. He pushed his attack harder, throwing punches one after another, frustration mounting as Lee effortlessly deflected them. Before long, he was panting for breath, tendrils of red hair clinging to his sweat-damp brow.

The attacks grew more reckless as Gaara pushed, Lee noted. Too many openings; of course there were. He caught the next punch and held up his other hand to halt the spar. Training session. Whichever.

He wondered how he was supposed to handle this, but Lee knew that he wasn't a very tactful person. He was honest. Sometimes blunt, always straightforward, and bad at lying or hiding things. So he wouldn't try any of those things. "They have classes for adults in the mornings. On learning how to fight physically." Lee paused. His bandaged fingers were still closed around Gaara's fist. "Or I could teach you." He let Gaara's hand drop, meeting pale green eyes with a serious expression.

Gaara stared up at Lee. The realization that he wasn't even strong enough to properly spar with him had begun to sink in. Gaara, who had been the leader of his village, the strongest ninja in Suna, was not strong enough to spar with a Chuunin. He lowered his gaze. The bitter taste of shame filled his mouth.

He could take the classes. But he doubted anyone in this world was more skilled at taijutsu than Lee. And--though it pained him to admit it--Gaara didn't want the others here to see how weak he was. Lee, he trusted...as much as he trusted anyone, anyway.

With an ease born of long practice, he pushed his emotions down and raised his gaze to Lee's again. "All right," he said quietly. "Teach me."

It was a strange position to be in. He didn't know Gaara well personally though he'd been a significant figure in Lee's life; before ending up here, Lee probably could've counted the number of times they'd interacted on one hand. And more than one of those times had been Gaara trying to kill him. Every time, though, stood out starkly in his memory. They weren't the type of events that a person forgot. Having half of his body crushed. Fighting Kimimaro. Seeing Gaara die, and then be saved at the cost of Chiyo's life.

It was logical in a situation like this to stick together. Konoha and Suna were allies, and they were in a foreign city with people expecting them to fight. Sasuke was a missing nin and a traitor. Naruto was there, but still a Genin. And not the way he'd been back home, when Genin was just a word attributed to him from lack of the official stamp from the Chuunin exams. Outside of the alliance between their cities, Gaara himself was the closest thing Lee personally had to an ally here.

And where before he'd been all-powerful, now he was vulnerable.

"Taijutsu is not easy to learn," Lee said. "It is about hard work and determination. It will not come quickly, even to a genius." Even Neji had to train daily.

"I can work," Gaara said. His voice emerged sharper than he'd intended.

He had to become stronger. He had no choice, not if he wanted to fight. And the idea of sitting out this war was unthinkable.

Of course, he'd never really had to train before...at least, not in the way ninja typically thought of training. He'd endured many difficulties in his life, and becoming the Kazekage had been an uphill battle every step of the way, but that had been due more to others' fear and distrust of him than anything else. Learning to control his own powers as a Jinchuuriki, bending the demon inside him to his will, had taken a great deal of determination and stubbornness. But still, this wouldn't be quite the same.

Gaara shoved aside his doubts. If he could master the bloodthirsty beast in his own soul, he could surely master taijutsu. It was a matter of practice, that was all.

"Just teach me." His jaw clenched tight as he glared at Lee, as if daring Lee to tell him that he didn't have what it took.

Edited 2010-06-13 03:50 (UTC)

Lee nodded. He knew that it wouldn't be that easy. The scars on his own hands were proof of what taijutsu would do to the body. He also knew, though, that it was necessary. He looked at Gaara, still slightly unsettled by the sight of sweat slicking brick-red hair down to his face. "The first problem is the way that you are dressed," Lee said. He nodded toward the restraining coat and the buckled leather vest. He wasn't certain how Gaara could stand to wear such dark colors and so many layers in the heat. Death City seemed nearly as bad as what he remembered of Suna.

"If you cannot move in what you are wearing, that just makes it harder."

Gaara glanced down at his clothes. They'd always served him well, but he supposed Lee was right. They would hinder his movement in a fight. He unbuckled the vest, slipped it off along with his coat, and lay the clothes near the foot of a tree, next to his gourd. Beneath, he wore only a simple, long-sleeved black shirt and matching pants. He faced Lee, arms crossed over his chest. "This should do."

Lee cast a considering look at the clothing. It wasn't much different from standard-issue uniforms for Chuunin and Jounin in Konoha, but there was a reason that he and his teacher both didn't wear that uniform. "A jumpsuit would work better. They are light and well-suited to the heat, and will not restrain your movement at all. It is important for a taijutsu specialist to be able to move quickly and easily."

Gaara blinked. A vision flashed through his mind: himself in a bright green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers similar to Lee's. His brain immediately rejected the image. "No. This will be fine."

"It would work much better, though! And it is easier to learn when you are..." Lee trailed off, halted by that glare.

"Maybe next time then." He'd have to see about finding weights as well. Not nearly as heavy as his own, of course. They could start off small. It'd probably work better to start training without them, then slowly get Gaara adjusted to using lighter ones. He wondered if he'd be able to find something similar to the weights he occasionally wore around his wrists when training.

Gaara's mouth tightened slightly. He was not going to let Lee get him into one of those ridiculous jumpsuits. But he had to admit, his body did feel lighter without the vest and coat.

Once more, he straightened his back and raised a hand in awkward mimicry of Lee's fighting stance. "Show me how it's done."

"Taijutsu does not work like that," Lee said. "It is not a matter of handseals." He looked at Gaara, trying to think of a way to explain it, but it was difficult. To Lee taijutsu was as natural as breathing. It was part of his life. In many ways it was his life- that Lee was still breathing rested solely on the strength in his battered fists. "You need to train before you can fight."

"Sparring is a form of training, isn't it?" Gaara asked, tension and impatience creeping into his tone. He needed to start getting stronger now. "How else am I supposed to learn?"

"It is," Lee replied, "but you need the foundation to work off of first to be able to spar." He could hear the impatience in Gaara's voice, but it simply didn't work that way. Lee studied Gaara's stance. "Your form is not bad for a beginner. Your center of balance should be lower, and you overextend on your punches. The biggest issue, though, is your defense."

Lee looked at him, brows drawn together slightly. "You do not have the sand to defend you here. You have to defend yourself. You need to practice dodging and blocking attacks before you can fight." He knew that Gaara likely wouldn't take that well, but Lee had no intention of sugarcoating anything. If he was going to train Gaara, it was best to start out the way that he intended to continue. Lee would do neither of them any favors by pretending the situation was any less serious than it was.

Gaara bristled at the word "beginner," but he said nothing. Lee was right, after all. In this, he was no different from a Genin. "Very well."

A taijutsu master needed to be supremely in tune with his body; he knew that much. Gaara was accustomed to holding himself rigidly composed and using a minimum of movements. He found it difficult to even imagine moving the way Lee did. But he had to learn.

He focused on the first thing Lee had said. Center of balance--his center of balance was off. He shifted his weight slightly. "Is this any better?"

Lee nodded. It wasn't the best place to start, but it was a start. He slipped into the position himself. It was as easy and natural to him as breathing, and the idea of trying to explain how to do something like that...

"Lower. You want to have your weight balanced on the balls of your feet. The benefit of this position is being able to take off quickly or fend off an attack. It is good to start a fight in or to return to if there is a pause."

Gaara nodded and adjusted his stance again. He could see what Lee meant, but being so conscious of something as basic as his center of balance was strange. He'd never given it much thought in the past.

"You said I need to work on my defense. But dodging or blocking punches is just a matter of speed or strength, I would think. I wasn't fast enough last time."

"It is more than that. You need to be able to track how your enemy will move, even if you do not know their fighting style." Lee thought for a moment, then glanced over toward the gourd. "Like with the sand. When we fought, it was always there a millisecond before my attacks landed."

Gaara nodded. He could see what Lee meant. But of course, the sand had shielded Gaara independently of his will. Using it for attacks required concentration and control, but blocking had always been effortless. He'd simply trusted it.

He needed to start thinking differently. Lee was fast, unbelievably fast. If Gaara wanted to block those punches, he would almost have to become a mind-reader, to observe his opponent carefully, to predict his opponent's movements and move before he did.

On some level, Gaara--like many ninja--had always assumed that taijutsu required less intelligence than ninjutsu or genjutsu. Already, he was starting to understand how wrong that view was.

"And you said I overextend my punches?"

Lee nodded. "How you carry through with an attack is as important as the attack itself. You need to recover quickly, or you will give your opponent too much of an opening. Part of it is speed. If you are worried about if the punch landed or how, you are doing it wrong. It has to be automatic. That is part of why taijutsu is difficult to truly master; fighting is as much in the memory of your muscles as it is in your mind."

Gaara nodded. He was beginning to understand why taijutsu training required so much repetitive movement--punching or kicking a training post hundreds upon hundreds of times, until the movement was so ingrained into your body and brain you couldn't forget it even if you wanted.

Lee was right. At this point, sparring wouldn't accomplish much; the difference between them was too great. Gaara had to start by re-conditioning his own body and mind. "I'll start setting aside some time each day to train myself," he said. "The next time we spar, I'll be more prepared."

In that moment, it was easy to see why Gaara was the leader of his village. In an unfamiliar city, expected to fight a war, and without the abilities that he'd had since birth, he was still determined to do everything necessary to return home. Even when that everything was completely relearning how to fight and putting aside his pride to do so from a Chuunin from Leaf. It was a solid determination to overcome that gave a brief glimpse of how the boy who had lived for the pleasure of killing had changed into the man standing in front of him, who had died to protect his village.

Lee smiled. "I am certain that you will."

At that bright, warm smile, some of the tension eased from Gaara's shoulders. That smile was an anchor of familiarity in this strange world. Lee might have grown taller and stronger since the Chuunin Exams, but on some fundamental level he hadn't changed at all.

Gaara had crushed half his body during their first battle--had nearly crippled him for life. If Lee hadn't recovered, he thought, that smile would have been forever dimmed, and it would have been Gaara's doing.

He lowered his gaze. "Thank you. For teaching me."

Lee flashed a quick thumbs-up, his beam brightening in reply. "I am glad to, and I am certain that with your determination, you will do well!"

He let his bandaged hand fall back to his side, and glanced up at the sky. The sun was well into setting now, tinging the sky with reds and oranges and relieving the worst of the heat. It would be a good time to train. "If you are ready to start, we will do twenty laps around the park! And if you cannot complete twenty laps, you will do one hundred pushups!" The numbers seemed fairly small to Lee- he'd taken a zero off of what he would've set for himself- but they should be a good challenge for someone unused to physical training.

"Twenty laps," Gaara repeated. He tried to remember the last time he'd run laps. Or the last time he'd run, for that matter. Running wasn't usually necessary when you could levitate on a platform of sand. Which he could no longer do.

He supposed now was as good a time as any to get started. "Very well." He walked to the edge of the park. The distance around it was considerable, but still, he should be able to manage twenty laps.

Edited 2010-06-14 03:59 (UTC)

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