Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Boy In The Closet ❯ Trail and Error ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A.N: Thank you again for the review, but can you please not ask me to update hahaha that makes me paranoid like I'll rush it out and the rest will just be a mess, don't know why but it's been that way since I started back in..... Hell I can't remember. But thank you! Enjoy the chapter. Fantasy.


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One hundred..... and seven." Pants the lankey young teen as he leans back to a sitting position on his bedroom floor. He had to work off his nerves and what better way to do that then some good old fashioned exercising. Not only was Lee going on a ghost hunt after school but he also has the matter of just that, school. He is planning to do as Neji says and be the puppet not the puppeteer. He's ready, sort of. Maybe not at all but he can swallow those butterflies if it means he'll make real friends like his brothers have done so effortlessly.

I just wish I knew whom was the right person to make friends with. There's Naruto, he can be really nice when he wants to, even though he is the one that started calling me 'fuzzy brows' at this school, he's probably the kind of person that just needs a little proding before he comes around. After a thought he scratches his head. I just wish Kiba wasn't his best friend, but who knows, maybe Sasuke will take Kiba's place and then he and I can be friends! That thought earned a smile from the boy. Getting up from the floor, he wipes his brow with his forearm then heads to the bathroom to clean up.

He can hear his fathers voices coming from their bedroom, they're kept low as if talking about something serious that the three of them might accidently over hear. Walking past Sasuke's bedroom he can hear the faint sound of music, like maybe he has earphones on and the music is up too loud. In the bathroom he grabs a rag from the bar, turning on the water he wets it then soaps it up. Closing his eyes he burries his face in the rag, scrubbing up and down to remove the sweat; as he does this he wonders if he has time for a quick shower, but being ten o'clock he really didn't think he should be disturbing people with the noise. Rinsing the dirt and soap from the wash rag he dropped it into the dirty clothes basket then dried his face on a hand towel. Cracking a dry eye open, he drops the towel in surprise when he saw a peek of someone standing behind him. Turning, he spun on his heals again to make sure the person wasn't behind him, but no one was there. Frowning with a cocked brow he goes back to washing his face, trying to sneakily take glances at the mirror in front of him, but he didn't see the image again after the first time.

Walking down the hall to his room something stops him and he heads to his parents room instead. Knocking on the door, he waits until Gai or Kakashi invite him in before entering.

"Lee?" Says Gai with confusion. "What's the problem?"

He swallowed before bowing his head. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for breaking the plates. It was an accident and it won't happen again." Straightening up, he looked at them as if waiting for something.

Kakashi merely blinked before saying, "Okay."

Smiling as though he would have gotten some rude response and was glad for his parents kindness, he turned around, grabbing the door knob as he did so then said "Good night." as he left.

"What a strange kid." Comments the gray haired man, flipping a page over in his book.

"There's nothing wrong with being polite, they could have been sentimental plates. I commend Lee for his bravery and good natured soul."

Turning the page again he says in a bland tone. "If you say so."

Narrowing his eyes, Gai clapped his hands turning the lights out on Kakashi's reading. The other male grabbed his pillow in response socking his lover over the head.

Lee climbed into bed and waited for sleep to take over, but something occurred to him- the bear! When they moved in he found it sitting in his bedroom closet. Maybe the ghost just wants his bear back? Sitting up, he pats Heero on the head.

"Sorry, but I guess you belong to someone else." He explains to the object. "I'm gonna put you back where I found you, then maybe the mischievous spirit can get some rest."

Getting out of bed, he walks into his closet missing young Gaara who is standing right before him, arms crossed with a scowl on his face watching as the boy lays his bear down on a pile of clothes that he dropped into a corner earlier the other day.

"There. Satisfaction garaunteed." He salutes. "Good night Heero, and ghost." He added with an almost humorous tone before closing the closet door. Slipping back into bed, he curls in under the blanket, closing his eyes to wait for sleep- and to miss the fact that his closet door just cracked itself slightly open.

Lee and Sasuke worked out with Gai in the morning, only the other boy chose to wear some comfortable sweats instead of his- ahem, form fitting uni-tard. It just didn't suit his style. Afterwards the two boys took a shower and got dressed for school then came down for breakfast. Neji, just waking up, was a good ten minutes behind them. He was glad that Kakashi talked to Gai about waking them up so crudely, although he didn't understand why on earth Sasuke would want to wake up at the worst hour possible just to exercise. But what are you gonna do?

He and the former Noriyuki boy had a talk last night about their new brother. It seems that Lee was doing a lot more with this ghost thing than knocking over a few plates for attention. Neji had to replace the clothes in his dresser where they belonged as they were all over the floor, and he had to remake his perfectly made bed, that had the sheets, pillows and blanket, all thrown to the floor. He didn't understand how He and Sasuke could pose a threat to the teen when he was the first child. And, though, he's the middle child now Lee has no reason to think that his place in his father's lives would be altered because of new people. Hearing the voice of Gai singing some song from the radio as loud as the man pleased made him grimace as he walked into the bathroom. How can someone as suffisticated as Kakashi be interested in someone as... outgoing as Maito Gai? Another one of life's little mysteries.

Downstairs. Sasuke is chewing a piece of bacon while tapping his free hand against the table to the song playing on the radio. He didn't think it was possible to be this alert after waking up so early in the morning, having a strenuous workout and then carrying on with getting ready for school like it never happened. Lee is checking over his homework, taking down spoonfuls of oatmeal as he reads over it. He hates getting homework assignments wrong, its so embarrassing!

"What would you kids like for lunch today?" Asks Gai, getting a pan out.

"Just a sandwich." Replies Sasuke, taking his dishes to the sink.

"Same here with the sandwich but I'd like some pickled vegetables with it. Thank you." Lee swallows the last bite of his breakfast, then shoves his assignment into his backpack. Getting up from the table, he takes his bowl to the sink washing it out after Sasuke is done with his dishes.

Neji came down for breakfast, taking two scoops of oatmeal from the pot and a couple strips of bacon from the pan over to the table.

Gai had to stagger back a moment seeing his sons as if for the first time today. "You kids look so cute! Those uniforms really suit you."

Neji looked down at his red sweater vest, white button down collared shirt and black pants with no more interest than seeing green grass on a spring day. Sasuke did much of the same to his uniform. He thought this was pretty standard; a high necked coat and matching navy blue pants, he chose a lighter blue t-shirt to wear underneath.

"I remember the uniforms they had in my day...." He went on with his story.

"I'm going to the bus stop now," says Lee hoping to get out there before Neji and Sasuke, he wasn't sure if he wanted to try his friendship attempts with his brothers around it would make him nervous. "Bye Otousan! Tell Chichioya the same for me, please."

"See you later." He waved after the closing door.

Sasuke was still checking his book bag, then he walked into the downstairs bathroom to re-check his face. As Lee pulled the door open, he felt a slight pounding on his chest. Blinking in confusion, he looks down a bit seeing the spike haired blond at the door.

"Naruto?"

The blond seemed to stare through him into the house.

Smiling, Lee says. "I'm actually glad that you're here, I thought that maybe you and I could hang out at break today- we could go up to the roof and get to know each other."

The younger boy placed the back of his hand against Lee's upper bicep giving him a shove aside. Well at least he knew he was standing there. Before Lee knew it was coming Naruto began to call out, scaring him out of his wits.

"Sasuke!? Sasuke?"

Looking over his shoulder into the house, Lee noticed the light on in the bathroom. "Naruto, Sasuke is using the bathroom. You can come inside to wai-...."

"Out of the way, fuzzy brows." He said stepping into the house. He stepped out of his sneakers and settled for socks as he walked further inside to hunt down the occupant he had been looking for.

Lee can hear the male talking to his brother after he so rudely shoved the bathroom door open. Slumping his shoulders in defeat he swiftly shook it off. Stop this! Remember the words to live by and know that everything will be okay. Never say never. He will become my friend. Fist in the air, he can feel adrenaline and determination running all through him. I'll just walk a little slower to the bus stop so he and Sasuke can catch up to me, then I'll weedle my way into the conversation, something is bound to strike Naruto's attention.

Leaving the house, he closed the door after him only to see it open again shortly after. Time to put the plan into action. Taking slow hard strides, he can sense his brother and soon friend creeping up on him.

"It's really cool that you're living in that house." Naruto is saying.

Lee turns an ear to it. I wonder what that means? Was the family that used to live there very popular?

"Is that right?" Says Sasuke with a slumped over posture that says, 'if the storm cloud over my head doesn't strike me dead soon I might just loose it.'

"Oh yeah! I've never been inside but I knew the one kid that lived there." Tapping a finger to his chin he thinks for a second. "Right his name was Gaara, I think." Nudging Sasuke in the side earning an angered groan, he merely smiled it off and kept talking. "He was a real weirdo, ya know? He never slept, not ever and because of that he had funky looking rings around his eyes. He was like a human raccoon."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but Lee listened on in vast interest. The way Naruto described this Gaara, he's pretty sure that he's the one he saw last night in the mirror when he was drying his face.

So the ghost is a boy, and he doesn't sound harmful. Now side by side with the two, not that Naruto would have noticed for all the attention he is showering his brother, Lee continued to listen.

"Truthfully, I think he was a bit of a loser- like gejimayo." He snickered. "I nicknamed him the sandman, because he couldn't sleep. Pretty clever, eh?"

"Hillari-..."

Lee cuts him off. "Naruto, what happened to the boy- Gaara?"

Naruto scrunched his face up hearing Lee speak to him, but then with a shrug he says. "His family moved away. It was so all of a sudden- ha, come to think of it Gaara skipped a lot of school before they moved but his brother and sister still went. Probably couldn't wait to go because he was so picked on."

Ha. Then we're just alike in that way. Thinks Lee. Only difference is that I won't become a lost case like Gaara, but... if he's haunting my house, that means something must have happened to him. A break in like Sasuke's family? Or did he take his own life because he was so sad? That brought a tear to the boys large eyes. It's sad when people run out of hope, and knowing that something like that can happen so easily- the breaking point he means, its trully frightening enough to make him strive harder to make friends.

"So, being that we're friends and all" Naruto pleads, hands together in prayer. "Can I come over sometime- just for a little while, pleeeeease!!"

"If I say yes, do I have to be there with you?"

Naruto laughed that off, slapping the boy on the back. "That's pretty funny! Man where have you been my whole life?"

"Naruto?"

"Excuse me a moment," he says to Sasuke while leaning over to Lee. "Back off bobblehead, this doesn't concern you."

"But, you can come over to see me at anytime. You don't have to limit your visitations just to Sasuke."

"And now I've stopped listening to you," says the blond. "Anyway, how 'bout it?"

"You know Naruto if you're not nicer to Lee then you'd only be lucky enough to just have me step on your foot every other week."

"Huh?" Quickly retracting his words, he says. "Noooo, I kid with him. That's the kind of friends we are." Lee grunted as Naruto grabbed him around the neck giving him a rough noogie. "See, pals."

"Yeah right," he was about to continue on but Neji walked past him, shaking his head in disapproval. Right. Defending Lee would only make things worse for him, not to mention have him making up excuses as to why he doesn't have friends either. "Just don't get so over board with the name calling." And he left it at that.

Lee fixed his hair while waiting for the bus. Sasuke listened to Naruto who was talking about last summer when he and his grandfather went fishing and caught something that was impossibly big, and how his grandfather managed to sneak him into a strip club once. He said he didn't get it. Kiba spoke with Neji about nothing important and Neji talked back with much of the same. A few other kids showed up, all engaged in their own personal conversations and Lee stood alone.

He was again chased home after school and only managed to skip out on a black eye or other bodily harm by hiding in a garbage bin. He looked for the ghost that night with his night vision goggles and found nothing. Tomorrow has to be better than today.

School went horribly, and it wasn't so much the kids this time but his own brothers! For some reason, Sasuke decided that when at school he is avoiding Lee, he even told him to find his own table to sit at because sitting with his brother is just weird. Or that, at least, is the kind version Lee gave his self as Sasuke's actual words were just- 'Go away.' When he seemed to like eating with him before. Eating on the roof with Neji was pointless, the moment the door opened to when he sat down, he was silently stared at by both his brother and his new friend Shikamaru, until he left on his own. So that day at lunch Lee sat alone. He asked his sensei if he could go see the nurse five minutes before the bell and instead hung out in the bathroom closest to the exit, he refused to run home again; it just wasn't cutting it to get beaten up everyday and this was the best excuse he could think of to get away from that situation. Since his class is in the back of the building and his walk to the front where the buses wait is hazardous a little lie never hurt anybody.

Today only Neji was on the bus with him, Sasuke decided to walk home. The moment he was done with his homework, Lee went ghost hunting. The green glow of the night goggles was exactly like his own vision but with a different color, so maybe he wouldn't be able to use them to find Gaara after all. But then he heard the jingling sound, it was by the bathroom. Walking over that way, he looked into the darkness but all he saw was the small shadow of what might have just been a collection of things casting off the light from the bedroom. At least that's what he thought until it moved! That's it! That's him! Lee followed the boys shadowy figure as far as the basement but just when he had him trapped, he was grabbed by Neji.

"What are you doing?" The older male asked.

Swallowing, he took off the goggles holding them to Neji. "I finally found him,"

"Found who?"

"The ghost! I think his name is Gaara- you can see just his shadow with these, if you'd put them on."

Aggitated, he sighs in frustration. "Lee, you have to stop this. It's been nearly a week now and you can clearly see that your parents still love you."

That threw him. "What?"

"Listen," he leads him to the living room. "I know that sometimes you can feel like the world is a terrible place for whatever reasons you seem to have, but that doesn't mean you have to make things up- like ghost boys, imaginary friends and such to deal with it." Guiding him down to the chaise sectional, that's one of those L shaped couches, he sits beside him and takes his hands; his pale eyes on Lee's onyx gaze.

"If something is wrong, you can talk to me about it."

"Neji nothing is wrong," Lee insists. "The house really may be haunted, Naruto was talking about a boy the other day and I think I may have seen him in the bathroom, he's in the basement right now!"

A low creak from that very location caught their attention as the door moved slowly open.

"You see! That's him now, I followed him down there!"

"Houses settle, it's just the slow pull of wind doing that." Leaning forward he wraps his arms around him. "Just remember, your family loves you."

The fact that Neji is hugging him is one thing, but what he's saying is completely off the mark. When did he doubt how much his family cares for him?

"Neji, I-..."

"Shhhh," he placed his finger up. "I don't want to hear anymore about it. Now go make a friend." Giving him a shove on the shoulder for him to stand, Lee left the house very confused that afternoon.

That afternoon after school. Sasuke hasn't come home yet, and Lee went straight upstairs afterward leaving Neji alone in the living room with his Dad. Clearing his throat, the young boy says. "Gai-san."

"Hm?"

"About Lee," He wasn't sure how to start this conversation. Gai can be really touchy when it comes to Lee, he learned. One needs tact and the right use of words otherwise he'll ignore you completely. "I think he might be suffering a bit from middle child syndrom." There. Tact.

"Really? How can that be?" Gai cocked a brow. "Lee is such a wonderous child, he has looks, talent and everyone at school likes him."

"That's just it, Lee has actually been picked on at school nearly everyday- that's what Sasuke tells me since I don't see either of them once there, but it's true." Neji shurgs. "And then at home, with me and Sasuke here, he might think that you and Kakashi aren't spending equal time with him as you used to, look at how he keeps talking about this ghost anytime something goes missing and he finds it in his room, or when things get broken, he'll say this ghost did it."

Sitting down, Gai places his hands together in contemplation. How could Lee not have friends, he always talked about how much fun they had each week over dinner but now that he thought about it, none of them have ever once come over. In fact, Lee never really says much of anything about them since Neji and Sasuke came along, is he afraid that one of them would call him on his bluff? And middle child syndrom? He's done nothing but love and cherish his Lee. Could he and Kakashi have done something to somehow make him believe otherwise? Well this has to be stopped right now.

"Do you know where Lee is?"

Shaking his head, he isn't surprised to see the man dash out of the living room to upstairs as quickly as he can. Maybe this talk from Gai is just what Lee needs to relax and take it easy then things can be somewhat normal, at least at home as for school that is something the wide eyed child needs to learn how to figure out all on his own since his words of wisdom seemed to be about as effective to Lee as his Dad's were. Sighing, he stands up and walks over to the couch closest to the phone.

It's been a while since I've heard from that damned lawyer.... Maybe I should call him and see what's happening. Because if I don't get out of this house soon, I may just end up a headcase like Lee's turning into. Picking up the phone, he dials the number of his fathers lawyer and waits out the rings.