A/N: I selected 'gardening' as my prompt for gaaleefest17. While the original layout for this story was a very long one-shot, I was ultimately dissatisfied with the flow of things, and decided this was a good opportunity for me to try a style of posting outside my usual comfort zone for fic.

oooooo

The greenhouse was Baki's idea.

He watched a twelve-year-old Gaara, with the wounds from his battle with Naruto still healing, try to talk to his brother and sister only to lose his patience immediately. They didn't know how to talk to Gaara, they were still scared. Gaara certainly didn't know how to interact with them - and didn't have the discipline to allow for trial and error.

Rather than linger in the company of his siblings, Gaara took his fuming self and went outside. He walked as far away from their home, from them, as he was able to before he started crying.

Baki followed, partly out of concern for Suna and what an irritated Gaara might do to it, and partly out of the unquenchable piece of him that regarded these siblings as his own kids and wanted to protect them.

He kept his distance, guarding from afar, and watched Gaara sit down on the ground behind some particularly tall cacti. Whether Gaara was intentionally hiding, or this was a convenient side effect of the plants, Baki wasn't sure. They'd walked only twenty minutes or so, but they were far enough from the main streets and bustle of Suna that no one else was around to see the young demon of the Sand crying.

Gaara crying wasn't as rare as some people believed. If they paid attention, it was clear that this was an emotionally unstable child, and sometimes his confused, overwhelming emotions manifested in tears.

Temari and Kankuro had seen this before, but they erred on the side of letting Gaara cry it out on his own.

That's what Baki did now. He watched Gaara wipe his eyes, glare intensely at the ground, and then cry more.

Baki took a sweep of his surroundings, to ensure that civilians remained far away.

He did this for a while; just scanning the area and monitoring Gaara in his peripheral vision. When he looked back at Gaara, he was relieved to see that the boy had stopped crying and instead seemed to be interested in one of the cacti shielding him.

Baki waited for the interest to pass, and for the crying to start again, or even for some angry pre-pubescent yelling. But it never came. Instead, Gaara reached out and gingerly touched the skin of the cactus.

It couldn't hurt Gaara, the sand would protect his skin from being pricked, but his fingers moved so gently.

He watched Gaara turn his head, to look at the rest of the tiny cactus garden he'd hidden in. The more he looked, the more even his breathing became.

When his eyes landed on a smaller cactus, not immediately resembling one of the larger shield cacti he was first attracted to, Gaara got up on his knees so he could get closer to it. With the same soft touch, he reached out and felt the tiny plant with the fingertips of his right hand. It must have felt unlike what Gaara was expecting because he frowned, and then reached out to touch the tall cactus with his left hand.

It was almost like watching a baby learn something for the first time, except Gaara was twelve and often scary. Here, though, with the cacti, he looked peaceful. Inquisitive and perplexed by the differences in the plants - but peaceful.

Gaara inspected the cacti, with dry eyes, and a calm heartbeat for nearly two hours before Baki got the idea.

He started building the next day.

oooooo

"How do you remember each of their names?" Lee asked as he bent over to inspect one of the cacti in Gaara's greenhouse more closely.

Lee was only in Suna for the day. Kakashi asked him to deliver a handful of documents to Gaara as a quick mission. The actual handing over of the documents only took a few minutes, which left Lee with the remainder of the day to explore Suna and spend time with Gaara.

Gaara was pleased with the Hokage's choice of messenger. He liked Lee - a lot. Every time that he saw Lee now Gaara felt like he was better understanding what it meant to like someone as 'more than a friend'. While Lee didn't know it, Gaara demonstrated this affection and gratitude of friendship by showing Lee into the greenhouse and introducing him to Gaara's beloved plants.

Not many people were allowed in here.

In the nearly five years since Baki had first constructed this greenhouse for Gaara, it had flourished. It was filled with rows and rows of cacti, succulents, and a handful of miscellaneous flowers Gaara had received as gifts. Gaara took great pains to keep each of his plants healthy and strong, and had enormous pride in how well his efforts had paid off.

Gaara paused his delicate watering and looked up at the green bottom facing him. "Hm?"

"There are so many in here - how do you remember all of their names?" Lee repeated.

Their names…

"I remember the species… most are in the same genus. It's important to remember what kind they are so I know how much water and sunlight they need. It's my job to remember, otherwise they won't flourish," Gaara answered.

Lee had stood straight again to give Gaara his full attention, and smiled fondly at the answer.

"You're very dedicated to your craft."

Gaara suddenly felt hot. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"I must have misunderstood when Kankuro said these were like children to you," Lee said, turning and gazing out at the rows of cacti next to him. "I thought he meant that you had named each of them individually - as you would a child."

Oh…

Lee faced him again and closed his eyes bashfully. "I suppose you might also want to save the names you really love for your future babies."

Truthfully, the idea to name the cacti had simply not occurred to Gaara. They were certainly extremely precious to him, and Kankuro was not the only person to liken them to offspring.

But saving a name he liked for a child…

His thoughtful pause must have read as something negative to Lee, because he quickly blinked and appeared flustered.

"Gaara, I'm sorry if I said something out of line - it's fine that you haven't named them, I'm sure you still love them like you would a baby-"

"Shinki," Gaara interrupted.

Lee raised his trademark brows. "Shinki?" he repeated.

"It's the only name I've ever…"

He wasn't sure how to finish that thought. It was a nice name - more than nice, it was a great name. Gaara thought his future son might like to have it.

But he also didn't know if he'd have a son, or even a daughter. Children of any sort were a huge question mark that seemed more and more unlikely as time went on. Gaara wasn't even sure if he wanted them. With the childhood he'd endured, and the scars his father and Yashamaru left, there seemed statistically too great a chance that he wouldn't know how to parent and would be doomed to ruin a child's life.

They didn't deserve that.

Somewhere, some baby deserved a great name like Shinki - but they deserved a better parent to give it to them.

Gaara closed his eyes, and just as he was about to take a deep meditative breath to gather himself and prevent his thoughts from spiraling -

"Shinki," Lee said again before grinning widely. "Shinki! I love that!"

Gaara's eyes were open now, and his mouth was likely to follow suit.

"That's what you'd like to name your son?" Lee asked.

"Perhaps…if I have one," Gaara answered.

Lee positively beamed at him. "Oh, you'll have one, Gaara! I can feel it in my bones." He wiggled his shoulders excitedly - as though his bones really were dancing around under his skin. "Shinki - have you thought about a name for a daughter?"

"Yodo," Gaara said before he could even stop to overthink it.

"YODO!" Lee screamed. "I love that! So beautiful - oh, a tiny little baby girl Yodo - Shinki and Yodo!"

The meditative breath that was previously interrupted was no longer necessary. Gaara felt light and warm - like laughing.

"Oh, Gaara I'm going to have to go run this energy off - Yodo!" Lee yelled again before bursting into tears. "It's so beautiful," he sobbed.

If Lee went and started running, he wouldn't stop until sundown and Gaara wasn't likely to see him again for several hours. He didn't want that. Not when he felt so warm…

"Do you know what you'd like to name your son?" Gaara asked, placing the cacti in his hands back down on the table where it usually slept.

Through his tears, Lee nodded. He wiped his face in the crook of his elbow and took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Metal."

Without any explanation as to why, Gaara found himself smiling at that. "Metal," he repeated, just as Lee had to his choice. "That's a strong name."

Lee nodded and wiped away more tears. "I want to bless him with strength from his birth, so that no matter what happens - even if he's like me and can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu - he will know that he's strong."

Lee…

"Any child of yours is bound to be strong," Gaara murmured.

Lee's large, dark eyes were watery, and when he turned them to Gaara and smiled the Kazekage felt compelled to hug him.

It was an odd compulsion.

"Thank you, Gaara. I know your children will also be strong and powerful," Lee said.

The sincerity of his words was like a warm caress to Gaara's self-deprecating heart.

"What about a daughter?" Gaara asked, just as Lee had of him.

Lee wiped his eyes again and thought about it.

"...Metal…"

"For your daughter?"

Whatever spot on the floor Lee was staring at must have lost its ability to help him remember the 'why' of his Lee-isms and he fixed his intense focus directly on Gaara.

"I suppose it is better suited for a little boy…" he started. "I once had a dream that I had a baby and named it Metal, and I was so happy when I woke up."

"That sounds like a lovely dream," Gaara commented quietly.

Lee nodded. "It was! But in the dream, it was my first-born, and that is the baby I want to give that name to."

A tiny baby boy named Metal… Gaara pictured a smaller version of Lee, with thick eyebrows and chubby baby cheeks.

The image was crystal-clear.

"Araya," Lee said suddenly.

Gaara waited for Lee to explain himself.

"I like Araya too - that could be for a boy or a girl!" Lee continued, happily as he wiped his face again and chased off his sobs with a determined grin.

Metal, Shinki, Yodo, and Araya…

Gaara pictured these babies, and for reasons he could not properly explain his imagination provided a mix of his features and Lee's.

He had no idea Lee pictured the same thing.

oooooo

A/N: Thank you for reading! See you soon ^^