i was thinking about the whole deal concerning kunoichi and their probable need to use their bodies to complete a mission, and wondered if the male ninja had to do that too, in certain circumstances. so i put lee in that situation, and somehow it turned into slight leegaa. just me fooling around with ninja duties in this fic, i suppose. also an attempt on team gai dynamic, but i'm not sure if it worked. apologies for OOCness, and bad writing in general.


"Our target's name is Lady Yume, and you will have to garner her attention for a period of time during that night, whilst your colleagues seek out the supposed assassin she had hired. Two hours, minimum."

Lee nodded in understanding, before raising his hand slightly, "How should I engage with the target, Hokage-sama?"

"Pleasure her. You will have to sleep with her."

There was a moment where it seemed Lee ran out of words, as he blinked in surprised at the Hokage. But he caught himself quickly enough, nodding and letting his hand fall, "I understand, Sir."

Tsunade gave a slight nod of her own, satisfied with Lee's lack of further questions about the mission, "Your teammates will brief you on the matter, and the three of you are to make your journey an hour before we do. There cannot be any attempt to murder tonight, not during the Kage meeting. You may leave to get ready."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." he affirmed, and walked out of the office.

Lee didn't let out his breath only till he was out of the building, and it made his shoulders sag slightly. He internally reprimanded himself, shaking his head and snapped his back straight. Kunoichi did this all the time. Giving up their bodies for a mission was just as noble as any act a ninja could do, and it wasn't unheard of that a male comrade do the same.

It was just…peculiar as Lee had never been ordered to do something like this; which was understandable considering that his aesthetics weren't really desirable in general. He acknowledged that, and he had no qualms about it…till this moment.

How was he supposed to seduce a rich lady using the looks he had? He hardly had any experience seducing, either.

Only one person he trusted enough to give him information about how to carry out the mission successfully, and luck was upon him that they were to go on it together.

/

"This must be a little weird for you, huh?" said Tenten casually, adjusting the collar of Lee's clothing, smoothing down the parts of his hair with a comb.

"A little, yes," Lee admitted grudgingly, ignoring the fact that Neji was watching the kunoichi doll him up, for the lack of a better term, "I am not sure I know how to be attractive enough for her attention, nevertheless."

Tenten smiled in understanding, and lifted the brush from his hair, pointing at him with it, "Look, there was a reason Lady Tsunade chose you. Apparently, our target has a thing for men with a good figure; she likes them with muscles and stuff, ones who 'emanate a masculine aura'." She air-quoted the last part, though Lee couldn't tell who she was quoting it from, "She'll take to liking you simply from the way you look, and well... I guess you need to give her a few hints."

"Hints?"

"The trick to seducing someone, is that you have to try to be as genuine as possible in your show of desire. Even if it's some ugly, fat old noble, you have to look like you really want to be underneath them. Or in your case, above them." She laughed wryly at Lee's horrified look, "That's how it's supposed to be."

Solemnly, Lee sighed, "I am sorry for all the kunoichi who have had to do this before."

Tenten patted his shoulder, "It's for the sake of Konoha. It's worth it. Anyway, let's have a look at you."

She turned the chair Lee was sitting on to the mirror and Lee took the sight of himself in with not much emotion. He looked fairly the same, but he wore something light brown that covered everything aside from his arms, which sported leather cuffs on each wrist. His pants were comfortably loose, and ended at his calves, showing the tanned skin of the rest of his legs. There wasn't anything particularly revealing about his clothes, but it gave him the air of someone who was experienced socially, gave him a more playful outlook. He probably looked like a hardened, charming fiend. It made Lee a little uneasy.

But if the slight smiles on Tenten's and Neji's face (more like a smug smirk from said Hyuuga) were of any indication, Lee seemed to look fine like this.

"A word of advice," Neji said quietly soon after, "When you catch the target's eye, be sure to look at her in a way that she would not mistake your intentions about sleeping with her. Like Tenten said, make your desire genuine."

Lee tilted his head, "What look should I give her exactly?"

"You know the one," Neji scoffed, "That look you get when you accidentally best me at something. The look you make when Gai tells you to take your weights off. When Tenten lends you new weapons. Smile. Be confident."

Tenten clapped her hands together in agreement, "Oh, yes! Do that. Pretty sure our target would be into that look."

Lee was confused, but he had a vague idea of what Neji was referring to, and he nodded. "Alright. I shall try. Good luck to the both of you."

And their mission took place.

/

Lee had never been familiar with the act of courting someone, of persuading a woman into bed simply because he had never done it before. Of course, he had his share of bedmates, being a Chuunin of 20, but it had always been without the hassle of seducing, mostly just out of convenience and the shared interest in eventual gratification.

Therefore, he found this very difficult.

This, meaning the attempt of seducing their target, Lady Yume. He was seated at the other end of the long table of the makeshift bar, sipping juice from a sake cup. He wasn't to drink alcohol on this mission, he wasn't to drink alcohol, period, but he needed to put up an image.

Lady Yume was surprisingly young, looking as if she was in her late twenties or early thirties. But Lee knew better than to judge someone's age by their physical appearance, considering the existence of Lady Tsunade. Speaking of which, Lady Yume had been one of the Hokage's gambling partners, which was why they knew so much about her preferences.

And it seemed to be correct, from the number of glances the kimono-clad woman had thrown Lee's way, but never lingering, a tad too brief. Lee was working up to it. The all-out proposition. But truly, he was very inexperienced in this. He didn't know how to respond to the slight tilting of the woman's head, and the glimpses of lips from behind the fan she demurely held to her face. The way she subtly slid a foot along the inner thigh of her other leg. It was enough to make Lee dizzy, but the severity of this mission was not lost upon him.

If anything, it made him feel nauseous.

But a ninja had to do what a ninja had to do.

He decided there had been enough meaningless foreplay, and followed Neji advice. The moment Lady Yume's eyes trailed over to him once more, he curved his lips in a smirk, letting his lashes droop down slightly and took the sight of her in slowly, eyes raking from the headpiece she wore to the tips of her red toenails, then back up.

Lady Yume's gaze turned even sultrier at his obvious interest, and the fan she held was folded and placed on the counter. Lee knocked back his drink (juice, as earlier mentioned) and stood up from his seat, making his way over to his target. He looked the definition of a young, confident male, swaggering towards someone he held interest in. It was almost as if it wasn't Rock Lee.

It was almost flattering how Lady Yume preened at him coming closer, but he was cut short by a couple of men, blocking his way efficiently. Lee tensed, ready to engage in battle if need be, but there was feminine laughter and a sweet voice, "Giriko, Teru, let him pass. Don't scare him away."

The men moved away after staring at Lee hard, and Lee was left eyeing them nervously, the perfect picture of an intimidated suitor with no Shinobi training whatsoever. "Wow. Are those your companions? Should I have not come here to meet you and say hello?"

"Oh no, it's alright. I was waiting for you to come by. They just make sure no one I refuse to talk to come close."

Lee sat down on the seat next to her, smiling, once again playing the interested youngster part, "So…I assume you wish to speak to me?"

Lady Yume covered her mouth with her fingers as she laughed, fingers wrapping around the sake cup she has afterwards, "You wouldn't be here if I didn't want to, now, would you?"

"I suppose you are right," he eyed her figure once again, "May I know your name, beautiful?"

Her laughter were like bells, it reminded Lee of rainfall, of fluttering things, and it was too easy to get lost in them if he didn't have the details of her file imprinted in his mind by then. She lightly placed a free hand on Lee's knee, as casually as she could, but there was more than words implied in her touch. "Yume."

"A fitting name for a lovely person. You do look like a dream."

He didn't bother giving her his name, knowing that she probably wouldn't ask, and it was more convenient not to. Unless she asked him for it. He leaned closer nevertheless, intimate enough to have his lips brushing against the shell of her ear as he asked, "Will you let me get to know you even better, Yume?"

Sleazy line from a sleazy movie he remembered Kiba lend him once, long ago, but Lady Yume turned her face anyway, and it was no coincidence that her mouth brushed the corner of his own.

"Let's go."

/

For a lady who seemingly had had her share of men, for a lady who seemed most elegant, she sure didn't wait for more foreplay as she basically just ripped Lee out of his clothing. It made him feel a little cheap, in a way, because she surely wasn't looking for anything meaningful, not even to revel in the slide of skin on another. Just to fuck, to put it in crude terms.

Lee wasn't complaining. Simply because he truly had no desire to bed this woman, not even if she was breath taking with her kimono sliding off one shoulder, hair slightly tousled from how he had playfully wrestled her onto the bed.

He was hard, as was natural when someone attractive kept on rubbing their palms on him through the fabric of his pants, and he grazed his teeth along the side of her neck as her hands ran appraisingly along his bared arms. She had a thing for being taken; it seemed, from how she kept insistently pulling Lee over her.

But Lee needed to keep her occupied for two hours. It seemed like an impossible feat, from his experiences with sex, especially with a partner who was eager enough to just get it done and over with. Lee was never prone to giving up, nevertheless.

He kissed along her neck and pulled her kimono apart, kissing the supple flesh of her breasts and her stomach, as he moved steadily lower. He mouthed her through the fabric of her own undergarments and she gasped aloud, not expecting the act. As his hands tugged down her panties slowly, he looked up at her with something that could only be described as cheeky, and tossed the clothing somewhere in the recesses of the room.

And when he went down on her, holding her by the hips as she squirmed and moaned, he could only think about nothing but his loyalty to Konoha.

/

All Kages seem to have their own vices; ones similar to Lady Tsunade and her penchant for gambling and alcohol. The Kazekage's own indulgence seemed to be something unexpected; homosexuality. If the way he was looking at Lee was anything to go by, that would certainly seem to be the case.

Neji closed his eyes, cancelling out his Byakugan for a while, and sighed to himself. He was worried.

The moment they heard the click of the lock of Lady Yume's room once she had pulled Lee in with her, Neji and Tenten had darted off in search of the assassin their target had hired. They found the employee, an hour afterwards, in one of the hotel rooms. He was lacing senbon with poison which went into a contraption underneath the sleeves of his clothing when Neji spotted him, and they had incapacitated him soon after.

Mission accomplished.

Or rather, not really. They were supposed to leave as a team once the mission was done with, but Lee must have really impressed Lady Yume in the expanse of time they had spent together, because the woman would not let Lee leave even afterwards. Instead, she had gotten dressed again to roam the hallways of the hotel, hanging on Lee's arm. He was her arm candy for the evening, it seemed.

There was no doubt that she was waiting for the assassination to be carried out from the glee in her features, and it would take a while before the Kage meeting began. Neji doubted that she was inclined to leave Lee till then.

They had ended up at the bar once again, with Lee buying the lady drinks, and absently whispering in her ear to make her giggle. Neji was impressed with Lee's capability to keep the act going. But then, the Kazekage and his siblings arrived at the bar, probably to wait till the meeting started, and things had taken a turn for the surprising.

They all know about Gaara of the Desert, the Kazekage, his sister, Temari, and brother, Kankuro. They were well-known, and intimidating. Also, very young, as Neji watched Kankuro down glass after glass of sake, laughing boisterously at the things his sister tells him. Gaara, on the other hand, was religiously watching Lee.

Not even being subtle about it. He was outright staring at Rock Lee, who had taken to letting Lady Yume toy around with the cuffs on his arms, snapping them against his skin every time she felt like it. Neji knew Tenten was somewhere in the corner, trying hard not to frown at how blatant Lady Yume's gestures were, it was hardly inappropriate. She was probably fretting over the idea that the Kazekage was looking at Lee like he was an interesting specimen as well.

Things had gotten interesting, and Neji couldn't tell if it was for better or worse.

/

There was a pair of eyes burning into his back.

Lee could feel it, almost intensely so, and it was very hard for him to keep his focus on his current companion. Who was staring at him that hard, anyway?

And apparently, Lady Yume herself had noticed. Her eyes kept on glancing behind Lee in acknowledgement, and there was an amused smirk on her lips.

She snapped the cuffs of his right arm once again, before glancing up at Lee, "You seem distracted."

Lee smiled, "Slightly. I am just reminiscing what you said to me earlier."

Lady Yume lifted a perfect eyebrow, "Which one? 'Harder'? 'Faster'?"

Lee blushed despite himself and the woman laughed, sliding a few fingers under the elastic material of the cuff, her fingers chilly against his skin. Lee shook his head lightly anyways, and murmured, "You called me God."

She slapped his arm and covered her mouth to laugh once again, her head dipping to rest on Lee's shoulder. At the sudden opportunity, Lee tilted his head to somehow press his cheek against her hair, but in all honesty, he was looking behind him, to finally see who the pair of eyes on his back belonged to.

His blood froze.

He caught himself soon enough, nevertheless, the image of red hair and piercing eyes burned into his mind, and there was dread in his stomach that only appeared whenever he was sure he had failed a mission.

But surely the Kazekage wasn't here to expose him, was he? Why would he do that?

Lady Yume lifted her head then and kissed Lee's cheek, and Lee could not mistake the slight shifting of her eyes towards the Kazekage's direction at all. It was intentional. Was he part of a game now? What was even going on?

The mission did not entail this. But… Lee smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind the woman's ear, his fingers sliding to cup her face.

Distracting Lady Yume was priority. And his mission was complete.

"Are we going to be here any longer, love?"

"I'm waiting for something, actually, but I wouldn't be burdened to see you in my chambers later tonight," she murmured in return, and Lee grinned.

"Great. I'll retreat to my room for the time being, if that's okay with you? Will you be alright here?"

Astounding performance as a lovelorn, post coital young adult who thinks women couldn't do anything without a male presence around. Lady Yume scoffed lightly, but nodded. "Of course. Giriko and Teru are still around, too."

"I shall see you tonight, then." Lee kissed her forehead and took his leave, glancing at her one last time before retreating from the bar. The moment he was out of sight, he sprinted, heading to the roof of the building so he could reconvene with his colleagues.

He felt filthy all over, felt exposed and used. He didn't give the feeling any mind.

Sure enough, Tenten and Neji were up there, waiting for him. He gave them a salute, and showed them a thumbs up at Neji's nod and Tenten's fierce smile. Mission successful.

Everything was alright. It was a rush of relief, of satisfaction through Lee's being knowing that everything he had done was worth it, and that was all that truly mattered in the end.

"Let's go," Tenten said with a similar airiness with her other teammates, and they leaped off to head home.

/

They didn't get far.

At the border of this particular village, just before their team made it out the gate, they were stopped by a swirling of sand and a figure in the middle of it all, with his arms folded.

All three of them knew about the Kazekage's power over sand, and they all stopped obediently. All three also could only guess what Gaara of the Desert wanted from them, but they all had an idea. Lee.

The sand cleared and Neji was first to recollect himself and bowed, as his colleagues did the same after, "Good evening, Kazekage-sama. May we help you?"

The sand-nin eyed their headbands and tilted his head, "Konoha ninja. Interesting." There was silence, before he spoke up again, "I wish to speak with you."

He meant no one else but Lee, of course, from how he was looking directly at the Chuunin. Lee remembered his piercing stare, the sensation of burning on his back and nodded, glancing at Neji for confirmation.

Neji narrowed his eyes only slightly, "We hope you would graciously make it brief, sir, we have a mission to report soon. It can only be done with the three of us present."

"It won't take long. Leave us."

His voice was just as emotionless as his face, and Lee's teammates could only grudgingly obey. Lee walked closer, standing at attention in front of the Kazekage. There wasn't time to change into his usual clothing due to the delay caused by Lady Yume, but his arms were covered considering practicality, and he had a travelling robe over his shoulders.

This was the first time Lee had ever met the Kazekage in person, and the rumours he had heard surfaced back to attention in his mind's eye, but he could never be too sure. Lee had never been one to judge. "How may I assist you, Kazekage-sama?"

"Gaara." came the stoic reply, "That is my name. Call me by it."

"As you wish, Gaara-sama."

"What is yours?"

Lee was slightly confused by all of this, but he could feel that it was leading somewhere. Probably his role in the bar, earlier, "Rock Lee. Lee, sir."

"Your friend said you were on a mission. What did it consist of?"

Lee frowned, "I am sorry, Gaara-sama, but I cannot give you that information. It is strictly under Konoha's knowledge and business alone."

Gaara seemed to raise an eyebrow, which as far as Lee could see, was non-existent, "Fair enough. Were you truly enjoying the company of the woman you were with, though?"

The question was personal and did not seem to jeopardize the mission in anyway. Lee figured he could answer truthfully, this time.

"No, I did not."

The answer seemed to appease Gaara, as he unfolded his arms and let them lay at his sides. Lee noted how different his green eyes were, different than anything he had ever seen before.

"I don't like how she touched you."

"Pardon?"

Those invisible brows furrowed, "I also don't like repeating myself. Keep that in mind."

"I apologize, Gaara-sama," Lee bowed, but he definitely did not understand why the Kazekage would even say what he said in the first place, "I believe you said you did not like the way Lady Yume was touching me. May I know why?"

The displeased look turned into something else entirely; confusion, "…I don't know myself. But I will figure it out. Lee."

Lee stood up straighter, definitely taken by how the young Kazekage was acting. It was different, "Yes, sir?"

"I will see you again."

He was surprised for a moment, and opened his mouth to reply but there was a rush of sand out of nowhere. He took instead to covering his face to protect himself, and when the sudden storm ended, the Kazekage was nowhere to be seen.

The peculiar thing was, he could think of nothing but red hair and piercing eyes all the way back to Konoha, later on.

/

The Hokage returned two days later, the meeting happened to take longer than expected.

It was to everyone's surprise that the delegation from Suna decided to take a visit to Konoha in the name of diplomacy. The Kazekage and his siblings were to stay in Konoha for a week and no one saw it coming. No one, except Team Gai, of course.