THUD
THWAK
THUD
Hinata Hyuga kicked the rubber practice sheild Gai-sensei held in his arms. She began punching the red mass of rubber in front of her as Gai grunted, trying to push against the 13 year old girl. He had to admit, she had gotten stronger after she began training with he and his other student. Gai thought about the subject for a moment, grunting against her anger-filled strength. Then came the tears, rich and salty, with a grindy, griddy texture. Hot on his pale cheeks. He noticed she had gotten weaker too, though; since the accident.
Gai stared at the snarl on Hinata's pale face as she quickly struck the dummy with a powerful combo, nearly striking it raw.
Ever since what the two had called the "accident" had happened, they had both become weak with depression. They trained less, ate less, and saw their peers and families less. The two had fallen into their own Hell.

Gai remembered the horrid day as if it were yesterday. The sprint into the Konoha Hospital had been filled with anticipation. He ran, his feet barely touching the ground as if he were floating. He ran so fast. The blond woman at the counter of the hospital turned to meet Gai and his constant, stationary, jogging.
   "Hello, Gai..." She piped innocently, a plain smile painted on her tan face. She had that tan coloured skin all over her body. The woman looked to be about 20 or so, with blue eyes and blond hair. She wore her long, thick hair back under a small, white, nurse's hat. She wore a white dress with a red overcoat and had freshly manicured fingernails that sparkled along with her crystal blue eyes in the light above in the lobby.
   "Hi Linda... I'm here to see Lee!" Gai panted to the nurse. He had become the nurse, Linda Garland's, friend when Lee had been admitted to the hospital after his painful match with the horrifying Genin from the Sand: Sabaku No Gaara; and remained her company ever since.
   "Oh... Gai.. about Lee-" she replied as his face was covered quickly in a small layer of sweat. She looked down at her feet as she talked, her smile turning into a frown.
   "Gai? When did you get here?" Said an older, brunette nurse from the hallway to Gai's right, cutting Linda off in mid-sentence. Her voice was sharp but seemed sweet, like poisoned honey. She had kind, dark eyes that were normally half-lidded with exhaustion. She wore her dark hair in a high bun on her head. She had the same nurse's costume and hat on as Linda, but wore blood-stained gloves. Her skin was "normal", not pale, nor tan.
   "Hello, Angelina... I'm here to see Lee. Do you know where Tsunade-sama is?" Gai asked, still jogging in place. Angelina's faint smile, like Linda's, had turned into a sad frown.
   "Gai, listen. There's something.. about Lee.. th... that.. well, that you should know." She calmly said, walking to the man quietly and laying her gloved hand on his shoulder. He looked at it in worry, both about his late student and of the stain those bloodied gloves would leave.
   "Angelina Hinamori? Linda Garland? What is the meaning here?" said a strong, feminine voice.
   "TSUNADE-SAMA!!" Gai-sensei yelled, running to the large-chested woman.
   "Hey-hey-hey! What the-" interrupted a man of about 22 or 23 years of age as he walked out from an intersecting hallway. The man had brown, shaggy hair and green eyes that sparkled even behind his shaggy, long bangs and square glasses. He wore a red overcoat and a white dress shirt and pants. He too wore blood-stained gloves.
   "Derrick Styles.... please, get Gai and I a..... vacant room." Tsunade said to the young man. He led the two down the hallway quickly. The halls were very clean, perfectly white and sterile in every way. Gai and Tsunade's footsteps, though quiet, echoed through the halls and bounced off the walls. Until Tsunade spoke, Gai's attention had been averted to the sterile walls and doors, a look of awe and amazement on his face as a frown of the uncomfortable kind graced his lips.
As they walked, Tsunade talked, trying to switch the subject locked so tightly on Gai's mind.
   "Gai.. you remember my intern, Derrick Styles, right? He's been helping me lately. He aided me in Lee's surgery." She almost flinched painfully, instead; she kicked herself mentally, realizing she had been bringing back the subject that had been on Gai's mind.
The three reached a quiet room in the middle of the facility. The room was some type of lab. On one table lay small viles of blood, along with plastic bags filled with sharp needles that glistened in the reflection of the lights above. Other than that and a few lab tables, the room was nearly empty. Tsunade sat down and motioned for Gai to do the same. The only sounds were of Derrick closing the door behind him as he left, bowing as he closed the door, and of the two sitting down on stable stools near the table with the needles and blood viles.
  The walk home from the silent hospital was horrible and Gai found himself fighting the instinctal feeling to collapse on the ground where he stood, begin sobbing, and hold his shaking legs in his weak arms. He finally reached his apartment complex, fishing for his keys as he rode the elevator up to the 3rd floor to room 312. He listened to the horrible elevator music that reminded him of the fond memories that had been left there by Lee, himself, and the young lady, Hinata.
He found said lady watching television happily as he stumbled inside the old, 4 room apartment.
   "Gai-sensei! I thought you'd never get back!" She piped, her playful smile fading as she looked around the apartment for an invisible object.
   "Huh? Gai-sensei? Where's Lee-kun?" Hinata asked innocently enough. Gai lumbered over to the couch in which she stilly sat on and sunk next to her. His eyes began to tear up and his chin quivered as he sank into the green couch, grabbing Hinata's hand and tugging it lightly as he spoke the heartbreaking, yet honest, truth.
   "Hinata.... Lee's....... Hinata..... Lee's.... Lee d-d-died.... he never made it through the surgery. Tsu-Tsunade-sama said she did all s-she could..... b-but what she did.. it w-wasn't enough." Gai mumbled to the girl as tears welled in her ivory eyes. He fought back tears and choking sobs as he took her form into his arms and let her cry, almost silently, into his chest.

Now, over a month later, nothing had gotten better; and others could see that, too.
   "Faster! Hinata, combos! Hit the combos! Quicker!" Gai yelled to his only family left, his little girl, as she pounded the small practice dummy with a series of amazing hits.
   "I'm trying, Gai-sensei! I just don't want to.. I.... I.. I can't." she mumbled under her breath to Gai as she stopped suddenly and slumped to the ground. She sobbed into her knees as she sat on the cold grass, the only illumination coming from a darkening sunset. The rest of the sky was being engulfed in the darkness of both the retreating sun, and of quickly oncoming rain-clouds. Gai slumped down in front of her, taking her pale cheek into his bony hand, caressing it gently and lovingly.
   "I know, honey... I know... Now, lets have one more spar and we'll go back to the apartment." She nodded to his words. Small drops of cold rain began to sprinkle on the two weakened sparring partners. As they stood and began to fight, the rain grew harder.
The spar itself was fine, a mix of taijutsu flying throughout the clearing. Hinata jumped up, watching as Gai fought to look around the clearing for the distraught girl. She flailed out one leg and twisted around horizontally, kicking Gai in the face as he finally looked up to see her spinning right towards him. She dropped to the ground; Gai was behind her, he had used the substitution jutsu! He leaned in toward her, one clenched fist flying back and landing on her square in the jaw, knocking her off balance. She finally regained composure, using the Konoha Whirlwind technique on Gai. Suddenly,
SNAP
   "AHH!"
Hinata screamed after the horrible pop and snap. She fell to the frozen ground and clutched her left ankle, rain pouring all around her now. She remained screaming as Gai ran to her side.
Gai had cut off her Konoha Whirlwind technique with a defensive attack on her left ankle, nearly breaking the bones in half.
   "Hinata!" He yelled, instantly understanding what he had done. He picked the screaming girl up and ran to his apartment.
He laid her down on the couch in which he had previously told her of Lee's death on. He ran into the next room and grabbed a frozen bag of ice out of the freezer and laid it on her throbbing ankle.
   "No more training for you for a while." Gai weakly said to himself as he sat down in the chair near to her, watching her fall into a painful, seemingly impossible, sleep.  
                                                    ...to be continued (in ROA2)