Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. Believe it.

Whoo, Gaara love fic - and my second (well, technically third...but I'm still working on the first) Naruto slash =D Go me.

Curse you Gaara! *shakes fist* You're really hard to write! I'm sorry if I made some mistakes in the characters' personalities...and also apologies for the fact that it's cheesy as fudge (not that fudge is cheesy - that would be a terrible flavour - but I'm sure you get my point).

OK, so the second character is not specified, gender, name or otherwise, so you can make your own minds up about who it is. I had someone in mind when writing this, but it's not a very common pairing so I was worried that it would make this fic less popular / cause criticism / melt minds (delete as applicable) so it's up to you who he's talking to. If you really want to know who I imagined, then you can message me and I'll tell you. I won't post it here in case people would prefer not to know.

I guess if you have a crazy crush on Gaara, you could even imagine it's you! XD (Yeah, I'm really not making fun, because I probably would. Sorry Lee. But he has sex hair.)

Reviews are good and appreciated. I mean, I'll keep writing even if I don't get any, but feedback is always fun ^^

OK, go!

"You must already know." This voice…it bewitched his senses, making him believe an artificial reality that simply wasn't there. "That you are someone who is very precious to me." These words…they were familiar. Hauntingly familiar. Just like back then, he was certain that he would be betrayed by them again now. They were too close to the words that he had always longed to hear. The similarity was stifling. The air was stifling. It was thick with well-spun lies.

"I can't…" Speech was a struggle. "This isn't…I'm not…"

"Gaara…" Even his name, spoken by this voice, could set his nerves on fire. Every single one of them. "I know this is hard for you to believe, but you must trust me. I wouldn't lie. Not about this. Not to you."

Oh, how he longed to believe those words.

"You are lying," he told the person, shifting away from the contact that seemed dangerously imminent. "You don't like me. It's impossible."

"I don't know what I can say to convince you otherwise," that voice told him. "You're lonely, I know. The most I can do is offer to end that. You don't have to be alone, honestly you don't. If you wanted then I could–"

"What? What could you possibly do to end my loneliness?" He knew that his voice sounded harsh, but he couldn't afford to let this person in any further. Not now. Not after so much time spent by himself, trusting only himself.

"I could be with you." The simple statement almost stopped his heart. "I would be with you through it all, if you'd let me."

"I could kill you." He heard the words slip from his mouth unbidden. "I could crush you right now. It would take less than ten seconds and you would have no time to fight back. The urge to destroy people is deep-rooted within me. Why would you want to be with someone like that?"

"Because, no matter what you think, that isn't all you are." The other sounded unfazed by his threat. "And because nothing you can do is ever going to change the way I feel about you."

"Pretty words," he spat, trying and failing to push aside the impact they were having on him. "But you–"

"I apologise," the voice interrupted, cutting across his spiteful counter. "This is all I have. I can't give anything more than myself, so that's what I'm offering. If I had more, believe me, I would give it to you. All of it. Whatever you wanted."

These sentences made his breath catch in his throat. Breathing was suddenly even more of an effort than it had been before. "I don't…" he faltered, striving to put his reasons into words. This could never work. Not with someone like himself. It just couldn't. "I don't know how to be like…like that. I don't know what things to do or say. I'll get it wrong and then you'll leave. You'll realise what I'm really like and then you'll leave me and I'll be alone again, but worse this time because I'll have the memory of…of being together."

"I won't leave," the person said softly, drawing closer almost surreptitiously. "I promise you I won't leave you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," the shinobi snapped, turning away from those eyes. "You don't know me, but when you do you won't like the person I am."

"I know you well enough to know that you're not who you think you are." He flinched as a hand covered his own, but was unable to bring himself to pull away. "You're so much more than you say, Gaara. It doesn't take a genius to see that. I'm certainly no genius. But I see it."

"You don't understand." He closed his eyes, still desperately fighting against the words and his own desire for acceptance. "I can't love. I lack the capacity for affection. I won't be able to give you what you want and you deserve so much more than that."

"I don't want more than that." The voice shook. It seemed on the verge of breaking. "I just want you, OK? That's all I want. Just you."

It was this confession that did it, breaching the walls of the impenetrable defence, shattering all the barriers set up to keep anyone from getting too close.

"I'm scared," he admitted, voice barely more than a whisper. "I'm so scared. I have no idea what I'm doing. I…"

"Don't be scared." The other's voice dropped as well, a hand reaching up to touch his face, tracing the permanent dark shadows from countless sleepless nights. It moved briefly over his tattoo for a moment, before brushing the mussed fringe away from his eyes. "I'm here."

Then there was a mouth, and a tongue, and for a few precious minutes the sand ninja forgot to be afraid. He clung to the warmth of the body next to his, intent on being as close as he could, feeling the other sigh as his arms wound around them, holding as tightly as he dared.

"I love you," the voice whispered, barely audible as lips moved against his cheek. "I'll protect you with everything I have."

"Same here," Gaara murmured back, hoping that this was the right reply. Judging by the responding smile, it was at least pretty damn close.

To begin with, closeness was good enough.

Thanks for reading ^^ Hope you liked it.