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“You have to dream before your dreams can come true"

(A. P. J. Abdul Kalam)

Chapter 1: Dream

Lee opened his eyes slowly as the sun started to tease him through the window. He felt the warm of the new day as the light embranced his body tightly, but this wasn't enough to wake up his youthful instincs.
He merely laid down in the bed with his eyes wide-opened and a tired expression, far different from the joyful one he usually shared with the world first time in the morning.

- "No dreams today, uh?" - he murmured while staring at the window.

Lee had been worried for a couple of weeks about having no dreams in his sleep, or the possibility that he couldn't remember them. He wondered if his training sessions were not hard enough for him to have dreamy naps; after all, each time he had seen Neji in his dreams were after falling unconcious due to excesive physical labour.

In fact, the only reason for him to close his eyes at night was the chance of talking with his old rival. Neji had been dead for three years now after all, and somehow Lee's own dreams dissapeared with him. He could only imagine himself talking to him at night and now even that was gone.

With this sad memory in mind, Lee groaned with disgust while waking up from bed and crossing his messy room 'til the bathroom. The stranger in the mirror was no longer the image of youth and passion he always bragged about; his face looked pale and thinner than usual due to the few hours his brain managed to stay disconnected from worries and doubts the night before. Even his black hair had lost the bowl-cutted shape and now, thanks to the sweat, it tried to imitate a rooster`s head.

KNOCK KNOCK

Lee groaned again after hearing the wooden sound that came from the main door. Normally, he wouldn't be able to hear it from the bathroom, so he quickly assumed who the hot-blooded and noisy person knocking was.

KNOCK KNOCK

- "Mom!, TenTen's waiting outside... open the door... mom!"- he screamed

He suddenly remembered his parents have left him alone two days ago as they wanted to travel around the country, now that his father was free from work. Lee didn't pay too much attention to the topic as he was thinking about a new training routine while his mother explained their plans.
Feeling stupid and tired, he managed to push himself to the front door and finally opened it. As he had previously guessed, his remaining team-mate, TenTen, was waiting outside.

- "You forgot your parents' trip, didn't you?" - said TenTen while crossing her arms under her chest - "seriously, I wonder how you are going to survive on your own now that... LEE! WHY ARE YOU UNDRESSED?!"

The host checked himself out after TenTen's loud complain nearly destroyed one of his senses.

- "I'm not undressed" - he replied confused - "I'm wearing my underwear"

- "You are ONLY wearing your underwear... and by the way, I think you dropped something on it yesterday. It looks colorless on the... you know... that part" - TenTen blushed and looked away.

- "Oh that!, well it's not like I dropped something. I couldn't fall asleep yesterday so I decided to relax myself a little bit with the help of some magazines I had under the bed. After that, I felt really tired and didn't waste time cleaning myself... I just put my underwear on..."

- "Idiot! there's no need for you to explain all that!" - TenTen's face was completely red due to embarrasment and anger - "Seriously, is that difficult for you to see me as a lady?"

Lee though about it for a second. TenTen was, no matter how you saw it, an extremely beautiful girl, with nice body proportions and fashionable tastes for clothes and hairdos; but he didn't felt as insecure with her as with the other girls.
He would never open the door undressed and shared his perverted stories with Sakura, for example, but found no problem doing it with his team-mate. He just felt comfortable doing so and found her angry voice extremely cute and funny.

- "So, what do you want TenTen?" - he finally asked - "wanna train with me? I'll be ready in less than a minute"

- "Actually, I went to the hokage's office yesterday and he wants me to lead an important mission abroad. It seems Gaara wants to celebrate his sister's wedding but finds uncomfortable to do so while barbarians are taking over small villages of the frontier" - TenTen explained - "he doesn't want people of the capital to know about it so they're sending me and a group of chuunins to deal with the topic without nobody knowing about it"

- "With nobody knowing about it?... wait!, are you supposed to get rid of the victims too?!" - Lee was completely shocked

- "I'm sure they will be dead by then, so most likely destroying any evidence and the bad guys... whatever, Kakashi-sama promised me the jounin rank if I complete this mission" - she started to sound more energetic than before - "Me! a jounin!... isn't that great?! My dream is finally coming true!"

Lee was about to say something against the mission, but TenTen's dreamy eyes avoided him to do so. She had always wanted to become a legendary kunoichi and this sure was an important step to achieve it; did he had any right to talk badly about it?

- " Wow! that's amazing TenTen! - he faked a big smile - "but I'm not sure I'm suited for that kind of mission"

- "Hahahaha, what are you talking about?" - she laughed - "I'm not here to ask you to come, I know what you think about this kind of missions and I will never force you to join one... the reason I'm here is because my father doesn't want to take care of my pet and Gai-sensei can't have animals in the residence. Could you please feed my bird while I am away?"

He instantly said yes with his head before noticing that something seemed out of place. As far as he could tell, TenTen had no pets and she found annoying to take care of an animal and her own team at the same time. He tried to remember every conversation related to animals placed on the last two weeks and his thoughts brought him to Naruto's wedding two weeks ago.

TenTen talked to many people during the wedding, but none of her conversations lasted long as she had to keep him away from the wine during the whole celebration. But he spotted a moment she was talking with Kiba about the advantages of having a pet to keep you company and listen to your problems.

- "I knew you would say yes. I can always count on you, Lee" - TenTen's comment brought Lee back to reality

- "Of course! Konoha's beautiful green beast is the most trustworthy man in the world! Now, show me that... Neji"

Neji.
That was he was seeing in front of him. Neji Hyuga, his deceased rival and team-mate, standing next to TenTen, dressed on a blue bird's outfit inside a giant cage.
Lee went silent and completely pale, while staring as his big white eyes and serious face. How could he looked so calmed on that outfit? why was he inside a cage? why was he alive?

- "How did you know his name was Neji? I don't remember talking about this cute little fella with you. You sure are intuitive - TenTen smiled while inserting her finger inside the cage and moving it in a funny way.

- "What the hell is that? - Neji said shocked while looking at the finger - "Is it food? no it's not, I'm sure it is trying to attack me... or maybe it is really food... no, you're not confusing me again witch... BYAKUGAN!" - he started moving from one side to another of the cage staring at the finger.

- "Hahahaha" - TenTen laughed - "he is so silly, I love it" - she looked back at Lee and gave him a blue handbag - "So here you go!, inside the bag there's food and instructions. I had its wings cut so you can free him at home... use the cage at nights and place him near the window"

- "O... ok" - Lee answered softly and still shocked.

After that, Lee's brain seemed to collapse as he couldn't hear TenTen's words anymore or even understand the situation. He found himself staring at Neji's voided eyes with his mouth wide open. Neji was there, in a ridiculous bird outfit, but alive.

But TenTen didn't seem to care about it. Was he the only one seeing Neji? Was this the dream he had been waiting for? While all these questions filled his mind, TenTen handed him the cage and said goodbye politely. Lee answered back instinctively and closed the door before placing the cage next to the living-room sofa. It was really easy to move such a huge cage with a person inside because it had weels.

- "Oh, this place is new" - said neji while moving his head - "this place is completely new... I want to get out and explore"

Lee opened the cage door and Neji quickly run out of it and started to move from one side of the room to another. His movements were exactly the same he used to make as a shinobi, but instead of jumping on trees, he was landing elegantly on tables and shelves. He finally sat on the sofa... but not like everybody else did, he seemed to prefered the part where backs are usually placed.

- "So, how are you Lee?" - Neji asked calmly.

- "You know who I am... you really are Neji!"- Lee pointed out while sitting on the sofa too.

- "Of course I know who you are. TenTen called you Lee just a moment ago"

- "Maybe this is a dream" - whispered Lee while trying to touch the feathers of the costume.

Neji jumped from the sofa to the coffe table looking somehow scared. He turned his relaxed pose into a defensive one, symilar to the one he used before releasing his Hakke Kūshō.

- "Don't touch me! I didn't give you permission to touch me... TenTen is the only one who can touch me" - Neji screamed.

- "Sorry, I just wanted to know if you were real or a dream" - Lee replied trying to calm him down.

- "Dream? Like the ones you have while sleeping? Why would I be a dream?... Maybe you are the dream! But that's not possible because I don't dream... also I woke TenTen up this morning... are you trying to confuse me?! - Neji started screaming and running all over the place - TenTen! where are you?! this looser is trying to confuse me... TenTen!"

- "TenTen's out on a mission. It's a very important mission because she is about to make her dream come true. I'm... taking care of you while she is out"

Neji looked back at Lee, he didn't seem to understand the concept of dream and felt curious about it. Jumping on the sofa again, he placed his head under the right arm and started biting the feathers in order to have them well placed.
He repeated this with the other wing and then looked back at Lee.

- "You scared me, idiot. If you make me lose my beautiful feathers I'll take your eyes out, I swear" - he commented calmly even though his words were menacing - "Now, how can you make those images that appear on your sleep come true?"

- "Oh, I didn't mean that kind of dream. Apart from what wee see in our sleep, we also call dream to a goal we have in life" - Lee explained - "TenTen, for example wants to be a legendary kunoichi. And after this mission she might get a higher rank in the ninja world, making her closer to that dream... you know, the goal"

- "I see now, she wants to be the strongest human around to keep annoying people out of her nest... as expected of TenTen" - he said with a proud look- what about you Lee? what's your dream"

Lee blushed while thinking about it, but talking with Neji, even with that outfit on, made him feel automatically comfortable with the topic.

- "I want to beat all those who believe that talent is more important than hard-work and marry Sakura-chan!"

- "Oh, I undertand. That's a pretty common dream... I also want to be better than other birds and have a big female interested in my nest and beautiful feathers." - Neji looked around - "You've got a nest already but I don't think you are what females consider pretty. Maybe with another room, they will ignore your lack of feathers"

At first, lee didn't understand what he meant with feathers. But a sudden necessity of scratching his leg made him remember that he was still half-naked. Maybe Neji confused clothes with feathers.

- "I usually wear green flashy clothes so that's not a problem. But you got it wrong, this is not my house, but my parents'... "

- "You haven't leave your parents' nest yet?!" - Neji said loudly - "and yet you want a female to notice you? Females want their own nest, looser... no wonder your dream hasn't come true, you are not even trying. Only males with their own nests get a partner"

- "Oh yeah?, well my good friend Naruto didn't have to build a nest... I mean a house. His father-in-law paid for it" - Lee said with a proud face, as his friend not having a house was actually a victory.

- "What about his feathers?"

- "Well, he usually wears orange, black... his hair is yellow"

- "See? he has really shiny and beautiful feathers that look like the sunset. No wonder that female made her father build a nest for them... who wouldn't want those gens in the family?" - he stared at Lee with superiority - "now look at you... green, really? what are you a parrot? I hate parrots, they're a bunch of talkative wannabes with no style. That Sakura sure thinks the same, that's why she is not laying on your eggs right now"

- "So, what do you suggest?"

-------------------------------------------

Sakura woke up annoyed by the sound of a hammer near her bedroom. She had a lot of work to do the previous night at the children hospital she ran, so she expected to sleep 'til lunch-time; but that loud sound sure was teasing her patiente.
She opened the courtains and glass-door to discover Rock Lee wearing the most unfashionable of outfits, adorned with multiple shiny colors and shapes that followed no pattern. He also wore a red cap and flashy yellow shoes with fake diamonds on it. On his head, a blue little bird rested.
But this was not the strangest thing about Lee, he was also building some kind of wooden structure next to Sakura's building, with the hammer that woke her up.

- "Lee!" - she cried from the balcony - "What are you doing?!"

- "Oh, hello Sakura-chan!" - he replied in a good mood - "I'm building a new house for us to live in. I also changed my style to look more colorful... do you like it?"

- "Of course I don't! And get rid of that wooden monstruosity before I do!!!” - Sakura screamed with an angry face - "Like hell I'm moving with you!"

Sakura closed the balcony's door. She was so enraged that didn't feel like sleeping anymore so she joined her mother at the kitchen.

- "Was that Lee?" - asked her mother while preparing lunch - "I never though I'll see him doing crazy stuff again since what happened in war three years ago"

- "TenTen leaves and this clown starts getting crazy again, she should lock him up at home once and for all!"- she said while sitting in a chair - "But you know, I'm kind of happy he is back to his old-self, even if I have to stand him... as you said, he changed a lot after Neji's dead"

- "I'm sure all he dreams about now is to have his friend back... poor boy, though, that kind of dreams never come true"

Description
“You have to dream before your dreams can come true"

(A. P. J. Abdul Kalam)

Chapter 1: Dream

Lee opened his eyes slowly as the sun started to tease him through the window. He felt the warm of the new day as the light embranced his body tightly, but this wasn't enough to wake up his youthful instincs.
He merely laid down in the bed with his eyes wide-opened and a tired expression, far different from the joyful one he usually shared with the world first time in the morning.

- "No dreams today, uh?" - he murmured while staring at the window.

Lee had been worried for a couple of weeks about having no dreams in his sleep, or the possibility that he couldn't remember them. He wondered if his training sessions were not hard enough for him to have dreamy naps; after all, each time he had seen Neji in his dreams were after falling unconcious due to excesive physical labour.

In fact, the only reason for him to close his eyes at night was the chance of talking with his old rival. Neji had been dead for three years now after all, and somehow Lee's own dreams dissapeared with him. He could only imagine himself talking to him at night and now even that was gone.

With this sad memory in mind, Lee groaned with disgust while waking up from bed and crossing his messy room 'til the bathroom. The stranger in the mirror was no longer the image of youth and passion he always bragged about; his face looked pale and thinner than usual due to the few hours his brain managed to stay disconnected from worries and doubts the night before. Even his black hair had lost the bowl-cutted shape and now, thanks to the sweat, it tried to imitate a rooster`s head.

KNOCK KNOCK

Lee groaned again after hearing the wooden sound that came from the main door. Normally, he wouldn't be able to hear it from the bathroom, so he quickly assumed who the hot-blooded and noisy person knocking was.

KNOCK KNOCK

- "Mom!, TenTen's waiting outside... open the door... mom!"- he screamed

He suddenly remembered his parents have left him alone two days ago as they wanted to travel around the country, now that his father was free from work. Lee didn't pay too much attention to the topic as he was thinking about a new training routine while his mother explained their plans.
Feeling stupid and tired, he managed to push himself to the front door and finally opened it. As he had previously guessed, his remaining team-mate, TenTen, was waiting outside.

- "You forgot your parents' trip, didn't you?" - said TenTen while crossing her arms under her chest - "seriously, I wonder how you are going to survive on your own now that... LEE! WHY ARE YOU UNDRESSED?!"

The host checked himself out after TenTen's loud complain nearly destroyed one of his senses.

- "I'm not undressed" - he replied confused - "I'm wearing my underwear"

- "You are ONLY wearing your underwear... and by the way, I think you dropped something on it yesterday. It looks colorless on the... you know... that part" - TenTen blushed and looked away.

- "Oh that!, well it's not like I dropped something. I couldn't fall asleep yesterday so I decided to relax myself a little bit with the help of some magazines I had under the bed. After that, I felt really tired and didn't waste time cleaning myself... I just put my underwear on..."

- "Idiot! there's no need for you to explain all that!" - TenTen's face was completely red due to embarrasment and anger - "Seriously, is that difficult for you to see me as a lady?"

Lee though about it for a second. TenTen was, no matter how you saw it, an extremely beautiful girl, with nice body proportions and fashionable tastes for clothes and hairdos; but he didn't felt as insecure with her as with the other girls.
He would never open the door undressed and shared his perverted stories with Sakura, for example, but found no problem doing it with his team-mate. He just felt comfortable doing so and found her angry voice extremely cute and funny.

- "So, what do you want TenTen?" - he finally asked - "wanna train with me? I'll be ready in less than a minute"

- "Actually, I went to the hokage's office yesterday and he wants me to lead an important mission abroad. It seems Gaara wants to celebrate his sister's wedding but finds uncomfortable to do so while barbarians are taking over small villages of the frontier" - TenTen explained - "he doesn't want people of the capital to know about it so they're sending me and a group of chuunins to deal with the topic without nobody knowing about it"

- "With nobody knowing about it?... wait!, are you supposed to get rid of the victims too?!" - Lee was completely shocked

- "I'm sure they will be dead by then, so most likely destroying any evidence and the bad guys... whatever, Kakashi-sama promised me the jounin rank if I complete this mission" - she started to sound more energetic than before - "Me! a jounin!... isn't that great?! My dream is finally coming true!"

Lee was about to say something against the mission, but TenTen's dreamy eyes avoided him to do so. She had always wanted to become a legendary kunoichi and this sure was an important step to achieve it; did he had any right to talk badly about it?

- " Wow! that's amazing TenTen! - he faked a big smile - "but I'm not sure I'm suited for that kind of mission"

- "Hahahaha, what are you talking about?" - she laughed - "I'm not here to ask you to come, I know what you think about this kind of missions and I will never force you to join one... the reason I'm here is because my father doesn't want to take care of my pet and Gai-sensei can't have animals in the residence. Could you please feed my bird while I am away?"

He instantly said yes with his head before noticing that something seemed out of place. As far as he could tell, TenTen had no pets and she found annoying to take care of an animal and her own team at the same time. He tried to remember every conversation related to animals placed on the last two weeks and his thoughts brought him to Naruto's wedding two weeks ago.

TenTen talked to many people during the wedding, but none of her conversations lasted long as she had to keep him away from the wine during the whole celebration. But he spotted a moment she was talking with Kiba about the advantages of having a pet to keep you company and listen to your problems.

- "I knew you would say yes. I can always count on you, Lee" - TenTen's comment brought Lee back to reality

- "Of course! Konoha's beautiful green beast is the most trustworthy man in the world! Now, show me that... Neji"

Neji.
That was he was seeing in front of him. Neji Hyuga, his deceased rival and team-mate, standing next to TenTen, dressed on a blue bird's outfit inside a giant cage.
Lee went silent and completely pale, while staring as his big white eyes and serious face. How could he looked so calmed on that outfit? why was he inside a cage? why was he alive?

- "How did you know his name was Neji? I don't remember talking about this cute little fella with you. You sure are intuitive - TenTen smiled while inserting her finger inside the cage and moving it in a funny way.

- "What the hell is that? - Neji said shocked while looking at the finger - "Is it food? no it's not, I'm sure it is trying to attack me... or maybe it is really food... no, you're not confusing me again witch... BYAKUGAN!" - he started moving from one side to another of the cage staring at the finger.

- "Hahahaha" - TenTen laughed - "he is so silly, I love it" - she looked back at Lee and gave him a blue handbag - "So here you go!, inside the bag there's food and instructions. I had its wings cut so you can free him at home... use the cage at nights and place him near the window"

- "O... ok" - Lee answered softly and still shocked.

After that, Lee's brain seemed to collapse as he couldn't hear TenTen's words anymore or even understand the situation. He found himself staring at Neji's voided eyes with his mouth wide open. Neji was there, in a ridiculous bird outfit, but alive.

But TenTen didn't seem to care about it. Was he the only one seeing Neji? Was this the dream he had been waiting for? While all these questions filled his mind, TenTen handed him the cage and said goodbye politely. Lee answered back instinctively and closed the door before placing the cage next to the living-room sofa. It was really easy to move such a huge cage with a person inside because it had weels.

- "Oh, this place is new" - said neji while moving his head - "this place is completely new... I want to get out and explore"

Lee opened the cage door and Neji quickly run out of it and started to move from one side of the room to another. His movements were exactly the same he used to make as a shinobi, but instead of jumping on trees, he was landing elegantly on tables and shelves. He finally sat on the sofa... but not like everybody else did, he seemed to prefered the part where backs are usually placed.

- "So, how are you Lee?" - Neji asked calmly.

- "You know who I am... you really are Neji!"- Lee pointed out while sitting on the sofa too.

- "Of course I know who you are. TenTen called you Lee just a moment ago"

- "Maybe this is a dream" - whispered Lee while trying to touch the feathers of the costume.

Neji jumped from the sofa to the coffe table looking somehow scared. He turned his relaxed pose into a defensive one, symilar to the one he used before releasing his Hakke Kūshō.

- "Don't touch me! I didn't give you permission to touch me... TenTen is the only one who can touch me" - Neji screamed.

- "Sorry, I just wanted to know if you were real or a dream" - Lee replied trying to calm him down.

- "Dream? Like the ones you have while sleeping? Why would I be a dream?... Maybe you are the dream! But that's not possible because I don't dream... also I woke TenTen up this morning... are you trying to confuse me?! - Neji started screaming and running all over the place - TenTen! where are you?! this looser is trying to confuse me... TenTen!"

- "TenTen's out on a mission. It's a very important mission because she is about to make her dream come true. I'm... taking care of you while she is out"

Neji looked back at Lee, he didn't seem to understand the concept of dream and felt curious about it. Jumping on the sofa again, he placed his head under the right arm and started biting the feathers in order to have them well placed.
He repeated this with the other wing and then looked back at Lee.

- "You scared me, idiot. If you make me lose my beautiful feathers I'll take your eyes out, I swear" - he commented calmly even though his words were menacing - "Now, how can you make those images that appear on your sleep come true?"

- "Oh, I didn't mean that kind of dream. Apart from what wee see in our sleep, we also call dream to a goal we have in life" - Lee explained - "TenTen, for example wants to be a legendary kunoichi. And after this mission she might get a higher rank in the ninja world, making her closer to that dream... you know, the goal"

- "I see now, she wants to be the strongest human around to keep annoying people out of her nest... as expected of TenTen" - he said with a proud look- what about you Lee? what's your dream"

Lee blushed while thinking about it, but talking with Neji, even with that outfit on, made him feel automatically comfortable with the topic.

- "I want to beat all those who believe that talent is more important than hard-work and marry Sakura-chan!"

- "Oh, I undertand. That's a pretty common dream... I also want to be better than other birds and have a big female interested in my nest and beautiful feathers." - Neji looked around - "You've got a nest already but I don't think you are what females consider pretty. Maybe with another room, they will ignore your lack of feathers"

At first, lee didn't understand what he meant with feathers. But a sudden necessity of scratching his leg made him remember that he was still half-naked. Maybe Neji confused clothes with feathers.

- "I usually wear green flashy clothes so that's not a problem. But you got it wrong, this is not my house, but my parents'... "

- "You haven't leave your parents' nest yet?!" - Neji said loudly - "and yet you want a female to notice you? Females want their own nest, looser... no wonder your dream hasn't come true, you are not even trying. Only males with their own nests get a partner"

- "Oh yeah?, well my good friend Naruto didn't have to build a nest... I mean a house. His father-in-law paid for it" - Lee said with a proud face, as his friend not having a house was actually a victory.

- "What about his feathers?"

- "Well, he usually wears orange, black... his hair is yellow"

- "See? he has really shiny and beautiful feathers that look like the sunset. No wonder that female made her father build a nest for them... who wouldn't want those gens in the family?" - he stared at Lee with superiority - "now look at you... green, really? what are you a parrot? I hate parrots, they're a bunch of talkative wannabes with no style. That Sakura sure thinks the same, that's why she is not laying on your eggs right now"

- "So, what do you suggest?"

-------------------------------------------

Sakura woke up annoyed by the sound of a hammer near her bedroom. She had a lot of work to do the previous night at the children hospital she ran, so she expected to sleep 'til lunch-time; but that loud sound sure was teasing her patiente.
She opened the courtains and glass-door to discover Rock Lee wearing the most unfashionable of outfits, adorned with multiple shiny colors and shapes that followed no pattern. He also wore a red cap and flashy yellow shoes with fake diamonds on it. On his head, a blue little bird rested.
But this was not the strangest thing about Lee, he was also building some kind of wooden structure next to Sakura's building, with the hammer that woke her up.

- "Lee!" - she cried from the balcony - "What are you doing?!"

- "Oh, hello Sakura-chan!" - he replied in a good mood - "I'm building a new house for us to live in. I also changed my style to look more colorful... do you like it?"

- "Of course I don't! And get rid of that wooden monstruosity before I do!!!” - Sakura screamed with an angry face - "Like hell I'm moving with you!"

Sakura closed the balcony's door. She was so enraged that didn't feel like sleeping anymore so she joined her mother at the kitchen.

- "Was that Lee?" - asked her mother while preparing lunch - "I never though I'll see him doing crazy stuff again since what happened in war three years ago"

- "TenTen leaves and this clown starts getting crazy again, she should lock him up at home once and for all!"- she said while sitting in a chair - "But you know, I'm kind of happy he is back to his old-self, even if I have to stand him... as you said, he changed a lot after Neji's dead"

- "I'm sure all he dreams about now is to have his friend back... poor boy, though, that kind of dreams never come true"