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.]

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Lee nodded, gathering his courage for the swim. "All right! I shall do my best to keep up with you."

Lee was already stripped down to his swimming trunks, but now he kicked off his sandals, preparing to take to the water. He pulled out a pair of swimming goggles, adjusting them to fit his head comfortably.

"Catching ourselves a late night snack, then?"

"Swimming is a good way to work up an appetite. Especially diving," It wasn't just physical, it took a lot more concentration and awareness of both one's body and one's surroundings than just long distance swimming.

He pulled off his shirt and kicked off his sandals, abandoning the leg-warmers and arm covers that were worn from years of use. Naoki exchanged his weapon pouch for his preferred diving knife. Just a little longer than a kunai, the slim blade was smooth on one edge and serrated on the other with a slightly curved tip. He grinned at Lee and started wading into the water.

Naoki preferred to never speak about his markings, but he did enjoy the way they lit up the environment under water.

That made sense. They would be burning a lot of calories so they had to replenish their energy stores some way. Fish sounded excellent, especially cooked over a fire, camping style.

Lee grabbed a standard kunai for himself and followed Naoki in, all the while admiring the interesting patterns on the man's body. He kind of liked the way they looked, all glow-y and mysterious.

The surf felt a little cold but invigorating, nonetheless. He gave Naoki a nod. "I will follow your lead, Naoki-san!"

He turned away and when he got waist deep in the water, stopped walking and fell forward to swim. Naoki kept where he could see Lee every other stroke as they went out and the sea floor beneath them slowly dropped away and then suddenly became much deeper, falling out of the light Naoki gave off.

When he reached the approximate area of the reef he stopped to tread water and turn to look at Lee. "Don't push yourself to stay down too long, okay?"

It was different, taking a swim at night in something that wasn't just a shallow stream. The ocean water was warmer than he would have imagined at night, and the sounds of the surf drowned out all else this far off the shore. Lee wondered if he should be worried about predators, even with Naoki's help.

Oh well. If they ran into a shark Lee figured he could just punch it in the nose.

"Okay," Lee replied, feeling hard pressed to say anything more. He didn't want to lose all his breath now before they had even started. Taking a deep breath, Lee steadied himself then slipped under the water. His goggles were a blessing; without them, he probably wouldn't have made it even this far.

Naoki nodded and flipped over as well to head down. He kept the rocks in the range of the light he gave off both to make sure they didn't miss the reef and give Lee some reference to deal with the movement of the water.

It didn't take long for the reef to come into sight, the dim light he gave off spread more and reflected more clearly in the water. The softer parts of the coral and sea grass swayed back and forth with the motion of the tide. The reef was mostly asleep but there were a few shapes visible moving near the bottom.

The way Naoki glowed was beautiful and surreal. Almost distracting from even the sights around him. Lee managed to look away by the time they reached the reef and he was glad for an excuse to not stare so much.

The reef was a beautiful sight to behold, so varied in design and textures. He wanted to reach out and touch it but at the same time he feared disturbing the elements with his unskilled hands. He didn't want to break anything or wake some venomous creature when Naoki wasn't looking.

It was a few moments later that Lee had to retreat for air. His lung capacity was not nearly as staunch as Naoki's and he made a mental note to ask him how he had trained himself to stay under water for so long. Lungs again full of air, Lee returned down to the reef and this time he was ready to join in the hunt.

Naoki was floating near a group of small rocks on the bottom. He grinned up at Lee when he returned, and reached out to tickle one of the rocks. It immediately revealed itself to be an octopus then did a very good job disguising itself as a venomous lionfish as it swam away. But he didn't chase it, instead turning his attention to where a dark shape swam at the edge of the light he gave off.

He pointed out the shark just in case Lee missed it.

Naoki seemed able to see so much more despite not even having goggles on like Lee. The octopus was a real treat to watch and Lee smiled, working hard not to grin too widely an allow water into his mouth.

The vision of a shark close by did surprise him, though, and Lee gasped, sucking water into his mouth and sputtering. Unable to help himself, Lee had to resurface quickly, and coughed up what water he could keep from getting into his lungs.

This was harder than he thought.

With the shark nearby, Naoki decided to surface with Lee. He knew how to act around sharks but Lee didn't. "Don't worry about the sharks. Just stay calm and don't flail around and they'll ignore you. That one isn't one of the aggressive kinds. It might even let us pet it if we feed him."

Naoki didn't feed strange sharks most of the time, there were a few who lived in the area that he knew and could recognize. They weren't as friendly as Kisame's summons. "There's an eel down there too. Or, an eel burrow at leas.t"

"They will?" Lee's lips pouted, but he didn't want to doubt his friend's sincerity. Surely if he said that was the case then it was true! Lee just did not have the same foundation of trust in wild animals with many, many teeth.

The thought of petting one was intriguing, however. "Pet him? That..." Okay, that sounded super cute. Lee kind of wanted to do it now.

"I am sorry for derailing our outing. If you think he will be friendly then we should try!"

"Yeah. I'll see if I can get something for him, I'll be right back," Naoki said. A crab or a flounder or something should be sufficient to get the shark's interest. "Just watch what I do when I touch it, okay? And you have to rub from front to back, but most sharks likes having their noses rubbed."

He curled up and went back down for a quick trip to the bottom, and sure enough, the shark was still in the area.

[Open, SUPER BACKDATED]

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