Broken Love

     Lee stared at the ground from his perch on a low wall on the outskirts of Konoha.  The moon had risen long ago and now shone down from between the stars, its light turning everything to ghostly shapes.  Lee didn't look up as he heard the footsteps crunching along the gravel toward him; his mind easily identified them as Gai's, and therefore not a danger.
     "Lee?  What're you doing out so late?"  Lee knocked the backs of his sandals against the wall he was sitting on, trying to come up with an answer.  "Neji told me you disappeared after your sparring match earlier."
     They'd fought, Lee had lost - not too badly, his pride told him - and while Lee was still sitting dizzy on the ground Neji had darted off.  "He's the one that disappeared," Lee mumbled.  Several moments of uncomfortable silence ensued.
     "You should get home; get some sleep."
     Lee nibbled at his lip.  "I'll be okay."
     Gai sat down next to him, looking up at the moon.  No words passed for several minutes until finally Gai said, "What's the matter, Lee?  You've been acting oddly for a while now."  No answer.  "...I'm worried about you."
     "There's no reason to worry, I'm fine," Lee said, tearing his eyes from the ground to look up at Gai with a smile.  "The moon's just nice tonight; I wanted to watch it."  The smile was forced, but on the outside anyone would've thought it was genuine.  Except Gai, who had taught him his smile.
     "For six hours?" Gai didn't even mention the fact that Lee had been staring at the ground.
     "I...must've lost track of time?"
     "Please don't try to lie, Lee.  It doesn't suit you."  The broken smile faded from Lee's face as he turned back to the ground.
     "I really did lose track of time," Lee said softly and turned back to the ground.  "Everything's just...a little...confused," Lee finally said, slowly, as if he were trying to tell the truth without revealing anything.  He took a deep breath.  The blush that had faded from his face came back as he half-looked at Gai, face turned toward him but eyes carefully not meeting his sensei's.  "What do you do whenyoulikesomebodyandtheydon'tlikeyouback?" the words jumbled together and came out so quickly that Lee hoped Gai wouldn't be able to decipher them, because then when Gai asked he could say 'nevermind' and wouldn't have to explain, and he could go die of embarrassment in peace.
     "Hnn..." Gai sighed, looking back at the moon.  "It's difficult, isn't it?  Like trying to pull the stars out of the sky," Gai's hand came up, reaching toward the sky and closing as if he were grabbing a handful of stars.  "You see something beautiful, but it won't let you near enough to hold it."  Sakura?  Is that who this is about?  The hand pulled back and when he opened it it was - of course - empty.  "Have you told them?"
     "No," Lee admitted.  Not Sakura, then.  "I tried to, a lot of times, but...they never even seemed to catch the hints."
     Tenten, maybe?  "How do you know she doesn't like you back?"  Lee flinched slightly - Not a she? - and didn't answer.  Neji...?  Of course, it makes sense now...  "Or...he?" Gai said carefully.  Lee blushed deeper and hunched a little further, as if to instinctively protect himself from a blow.  He flinched when Gai's hand clapped down on his shoulder, but when he looked up a moment later Gai spread a disarming smile across his face.  "Lee, love is a wonderful thing, and comes in millions of shapes and sizes.  Gender is a small barrier to cross, or not cross, as the case may be."
     The kiss was clumsy, faces too close so lips were mashed against teeth, awkwardly moving and trying to show too many pent-up feelings at once.  It only took Lee a few moments to realize that it was completely one-sided.  Gai's mouth was dead under his own, and when Lee opened his eyes he saw that his sensei's eyes were wide with shock.
     "A...aishiteru," Lee said as he pulled away.  His voice was broken and sounded almost pained.  He slid off the wall, trying to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.  Wasn't love supposed to be perfect, make all the pain go away?  Wasn't true love supposed to never be one-sided?  "Sumimasen," he whispered.
     Rock Lee never ran from anything.  The words 'I give up' simply couldn't be arranged that way, coming from his lips.  He didn't run.  Instead, he set his shoulders and hoped that from behind Gai couldn't see them shake.