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A is for Alien
That’s what they are to each other. An awkward mishmash of characters seemingly assigned with only the barest consideration of requirements. Hell, Lee even looks like one – a gawky preteen with bug-eyes framed by caterpillars. And that hair – frizzy, matted and simultaneously too short and long. Not to mention their sensei, sporting spandex and bowl cuts like there aren’t wrinkles crinkling his skin.
At least the other guy looks normal. In spite of the impossibly long stick up his ass.
Tenten feels as if she is on another planet.
B is for Bond
And yet despite this – antics and annoyance and frustration wrapped in stretchy spandex – they forge a relationship in steel. They bleed on this blade. Multiple times. Each time smirking, pushing through pain searing their bones, branding their marrow in that unbreakable mantra.
Stronger than you were yesterday.
C is for Changes
They grow into their skin like uneven grass, sprouting weeds and wildflowers under the blistering and suffocating sun of Gai’s care. Watered, of course, by his tears – shed wantonly with every accomplishment. Every mission completed. Every bit of their innocence faded.
Neji and Tenten don’t like to admit they thrived, but Lee hugs him enough for the both of them.
D is for Death
Grief comes in suffocating waves, pulling them under shadows until they can’t breathe. Except, an ocean is more predictable – there is no forecast for this sadness. No chart documenting the tide.
For Tenten, it crushes her lungs when she opens up her weapon shop, pulling her to the ground in a choking sob.
For Lee, it stings his cheeks during morning training – training he does by himself these days.
For Gai, it’s a permanent hollowness within him. He clenches and unclenches his fist throughout the day, chasing sadness away. His regrets. His weakness. Why wasn’t he faster? Why couldn’t he protect his precious student? Why why why?
E is for Envelop (e)
When the trio receives notice of their Chūnin Exams results, Gai wraps them all in a chest-crunching hug, comically large tears soaking their heads like salty rain. He blubbers platitudes of youth and spring and Lee joins him, leaving Tenten and Neji in this intensely uncomfortable storm. They endure it though. Gai deserves that much.
When Neji makes Jōnin, Gai flashes a smile and closes his arms around Neji, slapping his back with gusto, ruffling his hair. Neji’s chest fills with an unnamed emotion and he explains it away as gas.
F is for Father
Gai can’t have kids. He doesn’t remember the exact jargon the doctor uses – something related to his inability to mold chakra correctly – but he recalls his friends clasping his back, congratulating him on his get-out-of-jail-free card. It was better this way. The life of a shinobi was too unpredictable – the fewer attachments, the better.
Gai decides to throw himself into his work, forging the Will of Fire with his blood and sweat and tears. God, so many tears. His heart aches for his students every night, a thin worm of anxiety burrowing into his chest. He probably worries more than their parents – if that is even possible.
So when his students give him with a neatly wrapped present – green, hiding orange dumbbells signed with their names – and a card proclaiming their appreciation for their sensei (a teacher, they call him, like another parent), his chest swells with love for his kids, gushing in fat silent rivers down his cheeks.
G is for Gai
He is their rock, the steady and flashy foundation which supports their relationship. Through every bruise and battle, every crack and waver, he stands strong. And if they tumble, he is there to pick up the pieces.
It turns out he never really has to do that. Their team just works.
H is for Hyuga
Gai loathes everything about the family, from its outdated traditions to their arrogance. The thing he hated the most, however, was what they did to his student. He sees how they broke the student in his moments of vulnerability, ice mask cracking and revealing a scared little boy. A boy made to fear his own existence.
That’s why he marches into compound sometime after the Chūnin Exams and Konoha invasion, fire boiling his blood, with every intent to tear Hiashi Hyuga a new one. He finds him training in the back and before he could call upon his guards, Gai disarms him with one fluid motion, gripping his shirt in an iron fist. He spits poison words, full of nothing but sadness and anger, demanding the Hyuga Elder atone for his sins toward his nephew. He is completely unaware of Hiashi’s earlier apology.
And Hiashi accepts every bruising syllable, relieved that at least someone is watching out for the boy.
I is for Illness
Winter brings the flu in its chill, a merciless phantom worse than death. At least, that’s what Lee moans, half-delirious with fever. His teammates, vaccinated and exasperated, struggle to keep him contained, wrestling him into the bed every time he attempts to jump out the window. He must train with the springtime of youth! Life waits for no one! The rest of his blather is garbled with vomit, an acrid odor that has his teammates fighting back their own nausea.
They remain, however. They’ve been entrusted by Gai while he was away, an assignment he proclaims is much more important than whatever he will be doing in Kirigakure. Much more difficult. He was right – ill Lee is almost as bad as Drunk Lee.
It turns out television helps. The murmur drifts them all to sleep, the two nurses snuggled around their snoring patient. Light winks in the shadows like stars.
They awake with a scratch in their throats.
J is for Justice
Tenten is captured on their first real mission. An oversight from her temper, a reckless need to prove herself as powerful. Equal to her teammates. Her anger cools to cold dread, a shiver racking her spine as she stares up at her abductors. One man and one woman. The woman looks away with a smirk as her partner advances, lips curled in a lecherous sneer. She withers under his gaze.
His hand only grazes her cheek before it is crushed in a whirl of leaves. Gai stands over him, eyes flitting over to her tear streaked face, before he snaps the man’s radius with a growl. He frees her when the captors are nothing but gore and dust, allowing her alone time to slit the throat of the dead man again. Just for good measure.
K is for Kill
They make their first intentional kill that same mission. An impressive act of teamwork, Gai compliments, but a nasty mess. The enemy’s carnage paints the grass crimson, freckling their faces with blood. They appear unperturbed, relieved in fact, but Gai notes the tremble in their limbs. The flexing of their fists. Willing themselves to be strong. Willing themselves to move forward.
He treats them to dinner when they get back and a day off the next day.
L is for Laughter
It becomes a mission for Tenten and Lee: how do we make the great Neji Hyuga to laugh? They try everything – dark comedies, slapstick, even knock-knock jokes – but the prodigy’s expression remains solid as steel. Tenten and Lee begin to believe that their teammate may actually be a robot.
His mirth tumbles out of him suddenly one day, a long sonorous sound that reverberates over the grasses like thunder, decidedly too baritone for a preteen. It has Tenten and Lee sharing a look of confusion, amusement and wonder.
The great Neji Hyuga likes puns.
M is for Movie
It’s the flick of the summer and the team sees it between missions, sweat still sticking to their clothes and grime wedged under their nail beds. Neji and Tenten protest but today is the last day. If the packed theater is anything to go by, it is something not to be missed. So they wiggle into small seats and hope that no one complains about their overwhelming stench.
The team, including Gai and Lee, fall asleep within minutes, finally prodded awake by a confused attendant. They don’t care too much – it was the best sleep they’d received in weeks.
The group rents the movie a couple months later and they spend the night at Gai’s. Again, they fall asleep watching the film. They concede that maybe it just isn’t that interesting.
N is for Nuisance
Tenten and Neji never say it, but Lee knows. He feels it in their disparaging stares when he’s knocked off his feet again and they have to protect him. Yes, they call him annoying and loud and sometimes Neji sneers some words about fate, but they never tell him that he is weak. That they are tired of accounting for his inevitable blunders.
So Lee runs.
He runs and runs until fire blooms in his chest and sunlight burns his retinas. He follows Gai-sensei’s regime to the letter, pushing through soreness and pain until he is nothing but muscle. Until his strength is undeniable. Neji still beats him, but he is panting instead of frowning. Tenten struggles to touch him.
When he opens the gates for the first time, he relishes in his comrades surprised stares, mouths slack in awe. In horror.
Yes, he will no longer be.
O is for Orange
Before it means Gai’s leg warmers. A gaudy color that clashes horribly with the shiny green spandex. Gai isn’t extremely fond of the color either but he loved his mother. His father said that orange was her favorite color. It reminded her of summer.
Now it connotes something new. Still summer, in a way, but a different summer. One free of ghosts. A comrade, a new way of life. A boy with sunshine hair and ocean eyes. Whiskered cheeks rosy with hope, as if it hadn’t slipped between his fingers, transformed into revenge. Still, his nindo rings loudly in their ears in that trademark husky tone.
The trio stops outside a market and observes the circular fruit for a minute. Their minds wander to their mutual friend. They share a small smile – Naruto would be home soon.
P is for Piggyback
Lee gets them the most often. It makes sense; he is their sensei’s chosen disciple. A young man who pushes too hard on unsteady legs. He finds himself hitched on Gai’s back more often than not, half-conscious and disappointed. Gai’s praises lure him to sleep.
Neji gets them between his promotion to genin and chūnin. He is a young and thrashing thing, snarling like a wounded cat. It’s just a scratch. Home isn’t so far away. I can walk just fine, Gai-sensei. His last one is after his defeat at the first Chūnin exams, moments after their little discussion about his behavior. Neji doesn’t complain when Gai carries him back to Konoha, just expels shaky breaths into his damp locks.
Tenten gets exactly one. It is after Gai-sensei kills her captors and before the unspeakable happens. She still feels his anger, flushed on his neck, hard in his lungs. She says nothing the entire journey back to camp, willing herself not to cry. It doesn’t work. Gai doesn’t care.
Q is for Question
This is the most embarrassed Gai-sensei has ever looked. Even his rage during his multiple, dramatic losses to Kakashi-sensei couldn’t compare to amount of steam coming out of his ears right now. His face looks like it’s going to melt right off. It would be quite hilarious if it weren’t so contagious.
Neji and Tenten share matching blushes as sensei stutters through some vague explanations about youth and eggs and love. Rock Lee jots down every word, brows furrowed as they become less and less intelligible. This cannot be happening.
Later, they run into Kakashi-sensei on their way to dinner. Lee is talking about something about Gai-sensei’s explanation that doesn’t make logical sense. Kakashi overhears and decides to…ah…graciously clarify their little lesson with generous details and examples. He even uses anecdotes, some of which includes their teacher. And him. Together.
Neji contemplates death, Tenten resolves to buy a chastity belt, and Lee ends up redder than all of them.
R is for Ritual
It starts as an offhanded suggestion by Lee. A new curry place just opened, run by Kumo refugees. Tenten is sick of ramen and Neji doesn’t want to go home yet, so they go. It’s a dingy restaurant and reeks of trash. But, damn is the curry delicious.
The spiciest curry is served in a bowl bigger than their heads. They end up sharing the dish and it becomes a test of endurance. Who can last longer? Neji always knocks out early, the poor bastard, so it’s usually just Tenten and Lee until Tenten’s insides turn to ash and she can’t eat a single bite. Lee is inhuman, they decide.
Later times, Gai joins and it becomes a weird bonding experience between master and disciple, always dissolving into sobs and proclamations of devotion. Gai brings antacids so they cannot complain.
S is for Surprise
Tenten doesn’t care much for her birthday. She comes from a poor civilian family; she is lucky if she receives a cake. For her, birthdays represent benchmarks, years until she can enroll into the academy. Until she can graduate. Until she can enroll in the Chūnin exams again. Until she can be strong.
So when she enters her apartment late one evening after training, the last thing she expects is her team hiding in the dark. Confetti assaults her in the light. There are streamers and balloons and a long banner spelling out her name. There are presents. There is cake.
She doesn’t hear them. She just steps forward and wraps her arms around as much of them as she can. Her shaking hands just touch Neji’s elbows and rest on Gai’s stomach.
T is for Two
Neji is dead and Gai-sensei will never be a ninja again. A mass of darkness and grief clings to every mutual silence, a curse weighing upon their shoulders and whetting nerves. Memories billow and settle like hot steaming tea.
Eventually, melancholy gives way to nostalgia which turns to a light wistfulness. Recollections of missions, movie nights, and summers together. A time where their lives seemed limitless, the horizon of the farthest sky. It is just Lee and Tenten on this journey now. They will live for their fallen comrades.
They seal their promise with a kiss and taste the salt on each other’s lips.
U is for Underwear
Neji will swear up and down that it was a complete misunderstanding, but Gai is still suspicious and Lee none the wiser. And Tenten, well, still won’t let him riffle through her pack unsupervised.
The mission requires a prolonged period of Byakugan usage so by the time night falls, blood pounds behind his eyes and he is seeing double. Gai-sensei orders him to rest. There are painkillers in Tenten’s front pack. At least, that’s what he remembers.
The fabric is stretchy and silk, a simple practical black that shimmers in the candlelight. Thin flowery lace borders the edges, tiny tears from overuse. Not as raunchy as Naruto’s tales of Sakura’s drawers but fitting for his teammate. He pulls again and wiggles his fingers between the leg holes. The image of Tenten in the garment sears his skull but before he can stoke the flame, a fist splits his head in half and he is out like a light.
He wakes up well rested and a hundred questions to answer.
V is for Vacation
The sun is softer here. A light warmth shimmering along the cerulean ocean. The humidity is nonexistent. Just a salty breeze lapping at exposed skin like waves upon gold sand. Heaven.
Their objective is to schmooze a wealthy merchant and his daughter. A welcome change from previous assignments, allowing them to trade thin futons for luxury beds. The daughter had taken an immediate liking to Neji as well, cooing and simpering at everything he does until Lee saves her from a rabid crab and she is smitten. Neji only rolls his eyes and continues his katas in the water.
Tenten lets herself sink into the sand, hoping a quick nap will burn the memory of Gai’s speedo out of her brain.
W is for Woman
Her body is muscular and broad, calloused from training and missions. Decidedly masculine but she does not see it that way. Femininity, she says, can be strong.
She disparages her gender in the beginning, embarrassed that so many would rather discuss boys instead of jutsu. They are weak and will be the first to die. She will separate herself from them.
But then she sees a kunoichi slit a throat. Survive a mission while with child. Pick herself up when her teammates have died. There is a unique pain they share. A unique journey, filled with obstacles shinobi will never have to face. Tenten finds a role model in Tsunade and lets grace flow from her fingers as dangerous as a kunai.
There is strength in sisterhood.
X is for Xesturgy
Like a dulled shuriken, their formation is jerky. An imperfect team that constantly misses its mark, dragged by egos and tension. Gai sees potential but it is muted. Hushed under dirt and grit.
Their second week as genin, Gai sits them down and they are given a thousand stones to polish. A useless exercise, Neji comments, but Gai threats six thousand laps around Konoha so they don’t take any chances. They work by themselves in the beginning until an assembly line evolves. Lee sprays, Tenten polishes, and Neji organizes.
Gai chuckles. There is hope for them yet.
Y is for Youth
Lee admits that he doesn’t exactly comprehend what Gai means all the time. To him, being young is weakness. It is naivety and uselessness. Stationary.
There’s a pleasant ache in his muscles, one that only comes after a good workout. The sun dips behind the forest’s emerald canopies and a gentle wind chases sweat from his skin. The brook babbles, the only sound as the team eats the bentos Gai prepared for them. Their sensei had left earlier in pursuit of his rival and left them to their own devices. Lee was too tired to follow.
Quiet banter passes between bites of rice. Jokes, anecdotes, little bits of their history so far together. Dying light halos his friends but in that moment it seems immortal.
Lee smiles. He understands.
Z is for Zinnia
There is a field of them. Thrusting their unyielding blossoms to the blistering sun, bending in blustering winds. Never breaking. Never dying. A kaleidoscope of color, warm and fond.
They lay among the rainbow and let the grasses tickle their noses, no sounds except three heartbeats beating as one.