Sand Beast

Ch. 2

The padded practice post shuddered under Lee's repeated blows. The rhythm was soothing, while the violent physical exercise dusted out the cobwebs he'd felt gathering between his ears.

In Lee's opinion, being the 'Military Envoy' to Sand should involve a lot of fighting and dangerous missions. But in the week since his arrival, his fiercest opponent had been boredom.

Lee had been taught to always respect his elders, but the way the council members rabbited on made Lee want to shoot out of his chair, yell at the top of his lungs and then jump out the nearest window. Since that wouldn't be very Diplomatic, he'd put all his effort and concentration into looking attentive and not yawning. 'For each yawn, I'll do five hundred one-armed press-ups-'. Despite his efforts, he'd actually nodded off this morning. When he'd come to with a start, the same venerable relic was still going on about border patrol areas between Wind and Fire countries. Nobody appeared to have noticed Lee's indiscretion, except perhaps for Gaara. It was hard to really be sure. Lee sometimes had the strangest feeling the Kazekage was watching him during the council meetings Lee was invited to; yet, when he looked at Gaara, the dark-ringed eyes were always fixed on somebody else.

Four-hundred-and-ninety-nine...five hundred! Lee stopped hitting the wooden post and wiped the sweat from his eyes. The heat was crushing, especially to someone used to training in Leaf's forests. Just one more thing to get used to in this foreign village. Everything was different here: the food, the flat, mineral well water, the way people stared at him and his legwarmers...The inhabitants of Sunagakure were a serious, closed-mouth bunch, and they had many customs, unspoken traditions, and strict taboos that Lee was constantly tripping over. It wasn't easy to make friends with them.

Lee would have been terribly homesick if he'd let himself, but he wasn't the type to mope. He'd work at it until he was accepted! Temari and Kankuro were fairly friendly when they weren't off on business on Gaara's behalf. And Gaara...well, Lee wasn't sure where he stood with Gaara, but the Kazekage didn't seem to mind having Lee around. It was a start.

Lee bent his legs into a few deep stretches and breathed evenly. The sand was glowing under the sun, nearly blinding. He was alone in the huge training grounds. Most Sand nins only practiced here in the early morning or at night, but Lee was trying to get used to the smoldering daytime heat the only way he knew how; by meeting it full-on, at two in the afternoon, and trying to beat it through sheer stubbornness. He'd had to switch his beloved form-fitting green suit for some lighter clothes, though he'd kept his weights and legwarmers on for sentimental reasons. After an hour's practice, he'd stripped down to the waist, and rivulets of sweat were running down his bare chest, soaking the bandages around his torso, arms, and hands, but he kept at it.

"Right!" Lee shouted, straightening up. "Let's go!" He was missing Gai-sensei a lot, particularly in these moments, but Lee refused to let it get to him.

He concentrated for an instant and then burst into motion, the sand of the arena exploding up around him. He lunged at the first training post. It was a heavy oak pole sunk five feet into bedrock; it nonetheless shuddered with an awful crash when Lee spun and kicked it. It was still groaning when he leaped up and hammered the next post in the line with a downward kick, then spun and punched the third post with a fearsome double blow.

He grabbed the top of the quivering post, vaulted over it, and hit the fourth with a double spin kick. Somewhere underground, wood cracked.

Drop down, dodge an invisible enemy - faster! Back, spin, and hammer the fifth pole. Jump high - higher! Spin and level a kick at the sixth post-