sunshineverse | [Open, SUPER BACKDATED]

Who: Rock Lee and Everyone~~~
When: Backdated to mid-April through the rest of the month
Where: Several of the shinobi villages and their outskirts (all except Konoha and Ame)

Notes:After gaining leave from the hospital, Lee sets out on a journey to take some of his darker thoughts out of his mind. He decided to see the world, or at least visit all the other shinobi villages, and hoped he would find some solace while seeing old rivals and making new friends.

Sunagakure

The arid desert air was a relief to Lee. As much as he loved his home country it had been a harsh winter and spring, so the heat felt more natural despite the sand under his feet. With the warm atmosphere Lee knew he was bound to continue to grow stronger if he trained here. At the same time, he was also cautious not to grow dehydrated. When he wasn't out running the perimeter of the village or visiting with the family of the Kazekage, Lee could be found at local juice bars. Oddly, he seemed less inclined to greet strangers unless they spoke to him first.

Iwagakure

The land of earth was rugged but it felt more like home than the desert sands of Suna. Lee took to rock climbing with gusto; he was familiar with mountain climbing and pounding boulders with his fists but rarely did he get the chance to try his hand at the sheer cliffs he found around the land of Earth. The local cuisine was hardy yet simple and Lee found himself generally enjoying that.

Lee took to camping outside the village rather than finding proper lodgings. It was cold but he found peace in the solitude the quiet nights offered.

Kumogakure

With his wounds almost completely gone (though never gone forever, he had a hell of a scar) Lee thought it prudent to seek out the famous hot springs located in the land of Lightning. He splurged a bit, taking himself to some of the nicer lodges outside of the village. While he felt safe enough to travel by himself he knew there was still some strain between Kumo and Konoha. He did not want to incite any sparks due to bad blood.

Lee was starting to feel a bit more secure and smiled more often before he left.

Kirigakure

Lee was no longer afraid of damaging himself further now with his wounds closed so he made good on his promise to Naoki and visited the land of water. It was fun to play off the shore and swim all day then have a hearty meal of fish cooked right over a fire at the end of the nights. Lee finally felt like himself again and he wanted to take on the world, thought how he could advance was still an issue on his mind. At times he would lapse into silence but his smile was warm any time he caught the eye of a passerby.

[ooc: Lee will be visiting Ame during the attacks in May; he will return home after all of that cools down. Also, Lee spends 3 or 4 days in each given place but there's no need to specify any certain date.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kankuro had been prowling the perimeter and inward alley ways of the village for some time. Sheltered by his comfortable head-dress and the over-hanging porches he knew so well, he was reasonably cool... but watching Lee propel himself around and around the sandy expanse of Suna's boundaries was making even him feel hot. Lee continually stopped at a certain stop for a breather before starting up again, and on one round Kankuro moved to perch himself on the rim of a roof close to his respite spot, waiting for him to stop by again.

Once he did, Kankuro waited a moment or two for him to better catch his breath, and then jumped down to the floor level with a small cloud of dust at his feet.

"Rock Lee," he announced, giving the Konoha-nin a level look. "You're going to pass out if you keep that up, you know." Oh yeah, Tenten had told him about Lee's habits of pushing for 'just one more'. That wouldn't work in Suna.

Lee's chest heaved from his exertion but he refused to allow a little exhaustion stop him. He needed to work his stamina back up. Being stuck in a hospital bed was hardly good for his health. In Lee's opinion, anyway.

He hadn't expected to be watched but his strength had been sapped by the harsh sunlight, keeping his reaction level low. "Kankuro...-san," Lee panted, shaking his head. "I cannot just... stop. This... this is necessary training."

"I'm not asking you to just stop-" Because he was almost a hundred percent sure that Lee wouldn't even if he applied force. "-I'm just saying you should probably take a break. There's a big difference between pushing yourself and torturing yourself, and our climate isn't exactly forgiving."

He kind of liked the heat, but then he'd lived in Suna all his life and was probably very much used to it by now. He also just had a kind of automatic bias toward his village. Oops.

"You thirsty? Wanna get something to drink?" He gestured with a thumb over his shoulder. "I'll buy." Anything to stop Lee making him feel bad for his rather lacking training schedule.

Lee continued panting and took in the man's words, accepting for what they were. It was true he was unused to this level of harsh heat. And his water canteen was running low and lukewarm.

He nodded, still trying to catch his breath. "S-sure. Thank you, Kankuro-san."

Straightening up, Lee allowed himself to follow the Suna-nin into the village proper. Even a few shadows that passed over them cast from the buildings felt amazingly cool on Lee's heated skin.

Kankuro shrugged Lee's thanks off with a shoulder, sticking his hands into the pockets of his tunic as he started to pad across the sandy planes of his village with Lee trailing behind him.

For all that he'd been quite familiar with Lee's team-mates for quite some time now, he'd never actually gotten around to greeting him on a personal basis -- instead always experiencing him from a distance, or second-hand, or in a limited and formal setting where he couldn't actually gauge anything about the guy for himself in that handful of fleeting moments. So this was his attempt at doing exactly what his father had suggested of him. He was making friiieeends.

"You were taxing yourself pretty heavily back there. What was so necessary about that training, huh?"

Lee did not expect small talk from the eldest of the sand siblings. Indeed, Lee had always felt a bit distanced from Kankuro and Temari compared to how close Lee was to Gaara, but he didn't think that was necessarily a bad or a good thing. It was just how things were. But Lee could put that aside for now. If Kankuro wanted to get to know him there was no better time than the present.

"I must make up for my deficiencies," Lee responded, having caught up his breath a bit more fully. "I have been in a hospital for about a week now, so I am behind in my training. And that means I must not only train as hard as I was before, but I must make up for lost time."

Despite his current strength, Rock Lee had a hard time keeping on muscle. His natural frame was wiry and thin as a beanpole. Had he not taken on the goal of becoming a shinobi at such an early age, he would have looked quite a bit thinner. He still did not have nearly as much muscle as he would like, but he couldn't change how his body worked, just as he could not change his lack of ninjutsu and genjutsu ability.

Kankuro couldn't help but chuckle at that explanation. What a strange method of logic, was this guy for real? Kankuro gave him a side on glance and... yeah, probably for real; he could practically smell the naivety radiating from Lee's form. Suna didn't produce people with this level of untarnished honesty, so it was kind of refreshing to witness it now. He'd heard this and that about Lee's modus-operandi from the various connections they had, but he'd never have imagined the real thing could be so endearing.

"You making up for lost time will send you right back to where you started unless you're careful. Suna isn't the place for overexertion, we get enough casualties from sunstroke alone."

Lee's lips fell into a pout, a natural look for him. "I was not trying to be careless. I was keeping myself hydrated and taking rest breaks often."

Of course, Lee's idea of a rest break happening "often" was not the same as the average person. One thing he could not agree to, however, was to lessen up his pace. He wasn't the same as the typical shinobi. If he didn't work himself to the bone then he was losing progress rather than gaining anything.

"I was watching, y'know. You took a break half the amount of times any sane person would have. And you're still fully dressed." He was grinning, but it wasn't his usual nasty grin; it was genuinely pretty endearing that Lee worked so hard, Kankuro could respect that even if he couldn't bring himself to share the intensity.

"Most people are down to their underwear in minutes if they decide to run laps here. The air is so close, they can't catch their breath and end up sweating out all their moisture, and then their cannisters get warm, so they can't rehydrate." He gives the man another side on look. "I didn't see you replenish yours."

"W-well, it is better to protect oneself from the harsh sun than to take off a thin layer..." He would say his spandex breathed very well but that would have been a lie.

Now Lee wondered if he was being reprimanded. Was he really being so irresponsible? It felt like something he had to do. It was something Gai-sensei would probably have expected him to accomplish, and to have gone on even a bit longer as well.

Lee reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "... No. I did not."

[Open, SUPER BACKDATED]

suuuuuuna

as expected~

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