Gaara sighed as he
stargazed. His birthday was in 4 days. Most people would be excited
about it, but he just felt depressed. His birthday was just another
reminder of how alone he was. His mother had died the day he was
born, cursing him with her last breath. The entire village, including
his older brother and sister, feared and hated him.
Gaara sighed
again. It wasn't his fault his father had used a jutsu to seal a
sand demon inside of him. It wasn't like he had asked for it, like
he wanted it. But it hardly mattered to the villagers. To them, he
was nothing more than a monster. In fact, everyone was so afraid of
him, his own father had ordered him killed when he was 6. And his
uncle, who Gaara had always thought was the one person who loved him,
had been the first assassin sent.
The sun was rising. Gaara stood
up and stretched slightly. He hopped over the rooftops back to his
apartment for breakfast. He may not sleep, but he still got hungry.
He reached his destination and went inside. He entered the kitchen to
find his sister waiting for him.
"There you are Gaara," she
said. "We have a new mission today. We're going to Konoha in a
few hours."
"A new mission? What kind?"
"Not really
sure. I think it might be more of a meeting. But either way, we have
to go."
"Alright then. I'll be ready Temari."
Gaara
packed quickly. He didn't need much. A few changes of clothes and
his gourd of sand were all he really needed. A few hours later, he
met up with Temari and his brother Kankuro and they left for Konoha,
along with a few older jonins.
The trip from Suna to Konoha took 3
days. They finally arrived and went to the Hokage Tower. The meeting
wasn't all that important in Gaara's mind, just discussing some
minute details of the treaty between the 2 villages. After the
meeting Gaara went off on his own. No one cared.
Gaara wandered
around the village, eventually coming upon one of the training
grounds. He heard some soft thuds and realized he wasn't the only
person there. He went a little further and saw a figure clad in green
spandex. Rock Lee. He was pounding away on a large wooden post, not
even noticing Gaara come up behind him.
Gaara watched Lee for a
while, noting the sweat that trickled down his face. For some reason
Gaara could feel his heartbeat increase, and he found he couldn't
look away from the leaf ninja in front of him. Feeling a little
uncomfortable, he cleared his throat, watching Lee start and spin
around in surprise.
"G-Gaara-san! How l-long have you b-been
t-there?" Lee stammered.
"Not long. I'm sorry I disturbed
you. You were training?"
"Y-yes, I was. And you didn't
disturb me, really. It's nice to see you again Gaara-san," Lee
said, smiling slightly.
"It's nice to see you again too Lee,"
Gaara replied, a little surprised. Lee wasn't afraid of him? Didn't
hate him? After what had happened at the chunin exams, Gaara felt
sure that Lee had hated him.
"Are you staying long?" Lee
asked.
"A few days I think. I'm not sure."
"That's
nice. Well, I'm hungry from my training. I'm going to go eat
lunch," Lee declared. "Would you like to join me
Gaara-san?"
Gaara blinked, completely taken aback. Lee was
asking him to join him for lunch? No one had ever offered something
like that before. All his life, people had avoided him as much as
possible. Now someone was being friendly, wanting to spend time with
him. It was a new experience for Gaara.
"I… I'd like that,"
he finally said quietly.
Lee grinned broadly, and led the way back
to town. They reached Ichimaru's Ramen Bar and entered. They sat
down at the bar and made their orders. Lee ate his bowl fairly
quickly and ordered another. Gaara, on the other hand, ate slowly. He
had a lot on his mind. He didn't understand why Lee was being nice
to him. His own family didn't treat him so kindly, why was Lee? And
why did Gaara feel so flustered?
He glanced at Lee out of the
corner of his eye. He remembered how he hadn't been able to turn
away when Lee was training earlier. His heart had been beating faster
than normal and his pants had felt too tight. Gaara had never felt
like that before. What could it mean? He wasn't used to dealing
with emotions, other than anger, fear, and hate. This was something
new.
Lee finished his bowl and glanced over at Gaara. The leaf
couldn't believe he had actually agreed to eat lunch with him. Lee
had been sure the redhead would turn the invitation down. But instead
he had surprised the leaf by saying yes. Not that Lee was
complaining, not by a long shot. He was glad Gaara had come along. If
he was totally honest with himself, he had always found Gaara
extremely attractive. Even after the chunin exams and his disastrous
fight against the sand ninja, he never hated the other boy. He
couldn't hate him.
Gaara finished his ramen and looked up to see
Lee smiling at him. Not his goofy big grin; but a real, soft smile.
The sight of it directed at him made Gaara's heart skip a beat. His
pants started feeling too tight again, and he swallowed roughly.
Lee's smile made him look very cute. Gaara couldn't believe he
thought anything was cute, but there was no other word to describe
Lee at this moment.
"Well, I'm done," Lee said softly. "What
about you Gaara-san?"
"Y-Yes, I'm finished," Gaara
said.
"Great," Lee said. He stood up and stretched, wiping the
last of the ramen off his mouth. He held out his hand to Gaara. "Why
don't we take a walk together? There's not much else to do in the
evenings."
Gaara stared at Lee for a few minutes before
hesitantly taking the offered hand. He could feel his face heat as
the 2 boys walked out of the ramen bar. He quickly tried to hide it
from Lee. Why was he blushing? He had never blushed before. The 2 of
them weren't even doing anything. They were just holding hands as
they walked around.
Holding hands. Gaara remembered something. A
few months ago, he had overheard Temari talking with Kankuro about a
boy she liked. Gaara hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but Temari got loud
when she was excited. Apparently, she and the boy had gone on a date
to the movies, and mid-way through the boy had taken her hand. It
seemed like holding hands was a big deal since Temari kept repeating
that he held her hand over and over.
Was that why he felt so
nervous? Could it be that he liked Lee? And judging from the way his
heart was racing, he liked him more than just a friend. Gaara wasn't
used to dealing with emotion, but he wasn't dumb. He knew that
there was more than one way to like someone. Could he be… falling
in love?
And what about Lee? What did he feel? He was being very
nice to Gaara, but that didn't mean he felt the same way. He
probably just thought of Gaara as a friend and nothing more. Gaara
decided not to say anything about how he was feeling to the older
boy. He didn't want to lose the only friend he had. The thought of
Lee rejecting him and then never speaking to him again made Gaara
feel extremely depressed.
Lee glanced over at Gaara as they
walked. The sand ninja was being very quiet. While that was
completely normal for Gaara, Lee noticed that he had a sad look in
his eyes. Lee wondered what he was thinking about that made him sad.
Lee didn't like seeing Gaara unhappy. Most people would call him
crazy, but Lee couldn't help but have feelings for the sullen
redhead. The crush that he had once had on Sakura had been a passing
thing. He had soon realized that she would never return his feelings,
and had begun looking elsewhere for someone to be with. And the image
of the sand ninja had started popping into his mind on a daily
basis.
Lee had been shocked at first and tried to deny it, burying
the feelings deep down. But he just couldn't deny the fact that
Gaara held a large part of his mind. No matter what he did, Lee
couldn't get the redhead out of his thoughts. Eventually, he had
simply faced the truth. He had fallen in love with Gaara. He had
never told anyone about his feelings, and he wasn't about to. There
was no way Gaara could feel the same for Lee as Lee did for Gaara.
Lee didn't want to do anything that would scare the sand ninja off.
He was content with just being friends, though it hurt inside to
think that Gaara would never love him.
It started to get dark.
They had been walking for a long time. Gaara looked over at Lee. He
knew that Lee had to sleep at night, but he didn't want the time
they were sharing to end.
"If you're not feeling tired," he
began hesitantly. "Would you like to stargaze with me? You don't
have to if you don't want to."
"Stargaze? Sure, I-I'd love
to," Lee said.
He felt himself blush and was glad that Gaara was
looking at the ground. He wasn't blushing too, was he? Was it
possible… that Gaara did feel the same way? Lee's heart began to
pound.
The 2 boys climbed up to the roof of one of the buildings.
The stars were just beginning to come out for the night. The lights
of the village were slowly turning off one by one, and each light
turned off made the stars seem brighter. Gaara glanced at the other
boy, and carefully settled next to him. He wanted to be as close as
he could get without the leaf getting upset and leaving.
"My
birthday's tomorrow," Gaara said, not knowing why. He had never
cared about his birthday before. But maybe if he spent it with Lee,
his birthday would be happy for once.
"Really? That's nice,"
Lee said cheerfully. "You don't seem real excited about it
though."
"I'm not really. My birthday's never been a good
thing," Gaara said softly. "I don't know why I brought it up.
No one's ever acknowledged my birthday, except as the day a monster
was born."
"You're not a monster Gaara," Lee said firmly.
He put his arm around the redhead's shoulders and drew him
close.
"How can you be so sure? After what I did to you at the
chunin exams…" Gaara pulled away from Lee's embrace. "I
nearly killed you that day. How can you be so forgiving? You should
hate me. Everyone else does. Why don't you?"
"Why should I
hate you? You didn't ask for a demon to be sealed inside you."
Lee wrapped his arms around Gaara and pulled him close again. "You're
not a monster Gaara. You never were. What happened at the exams, that
wasn't you. Not the real you."
Gaara's heart felt like it
was about to shatter. What should have been words of comfort were
chipping away at the wall he had built around himself like daggers.
Lee was so sweet, too sweet. Gaara just couldn't understand why the
leaf was being so kind. Why didn't Lee hate him? He could feel his
eyes grow hot and he struggled out of the arms holding him. He
couldn't let Lee see him cry.
"W-Wait! Gaara, come back!"
Lee cried out as Gaara broke the leaf's hold. But the redhead
ignored him. There was a whirl of sand, and he was gone.
Lee sat
down slowly. He was hurt and confused. Why did Gaara run away like
that? Did he say something wrong? He decided to find Gaara tomorrow
and talk to him. He just hoped that the sand ninja didn't avoid
him. He couldn't lose him, he just couldn't.
Gaara finally
stopped running after passing the village gates. He sank to his
knees, the tears running down his face. He had blown it with Lee, he
just knew it. The boy had been so kind, and he had run away. Gaara
put his face in his hands and sobbed. He had never felt so pathetic.
The one person that had cared for him, the only friend he had, he had
just shoved away. He should have seen this coming, shouldn't have
gotten his hopes up. He had lost everyone else he had ever cared
about. Why should this have been any different? Gaara felt like a
fool. He curled up under a tree, and slowly cried himself to
sleep.
When Gaara woke up, it was morning. He found a stream to
wash his face in, and stared at his reflection. He looked awful; his
eyes were red and puffy, and his hair was mussed. And he felt even
worse than he looked. He had lost Lee's friendship, and would spend
another birthday alone. He scrubbed his face and felt a little
better. Maybe he was over-reacting. Surely Lee didn't hate him now,
he wasn't that sort of person. Gaara decided to find Lee and talk
this out. He just hoped he hadn't lost the only friend he had.
Lee
was getting worried. Afternoon was giving way to evening, and there
was no sign of Gaara. He was starting to feel a little desperate. He
had to find Gaara and talk to him, let him know how he felt. But not
finding the sand ninja meant that he was most likely avoiding him.
Suddenly he spotted a patch of red hair on a rooftop. He had found
him!
Lee leaped up to the roof, only to see the redhead jump to
another building. Gaara was running away from him again? Lee felt his
heart sink as he jumped to the other roof just in time for Gaara to
move to another one. But then Gaara glanced back at Lee, and the Lee
realized that Gaara was leading him somewhere. Did he want to talk in
private?
The 2 hopped from roof to roof, heading toward the
outskirts of the village. Finally, Gaara dropped down to the ground
and stopped. He waited as Lee caught up with him. He slowly
approached the leaf, a worried expression barely visible on his
face.
"I'm sorry I ran away yesterday," he said softly. "I
was upset and I didn't want you to see."
"It's alright,"
Lee said. "I understand. I'm glad you're here Gaara. I've
been wanting to talk with you."
"Really. I wanted to talk to
you all day as well. But I couldn't find you."
"I guess we
were each looking in the wrong places," Lee said with a slight
laugh.
"I guess so. But we've found each other now," Gaara
said seriously.
Lee's smile faded a bit. Gaara's serious tone
worried him a little. He hesitated, then decided to go for broke. He
had to tell Gaara how he felt now. If he didn't, he never would. He
stepped forward and embraced Gaara, holding the redhead close. He
felt Gaara stiffen for a moment, but then he relaxed and slid his
arms around the leaf's waist.
"Gaara, I've been wanting to
tell you this for a while now. But I never had the guts," Lee said,
trying to hold down the nervousness he felt. "The truth is… I
really like you a lot. And I don't mean as just a friend either.
I-I think that I… love you."
"You love me? Really?" Gaara
asked, voice just above a whisper. "Why? How do you know that you
love me?"
"Well, it's a little hard to explain. But I'm
always thinking of you, and being with you makes me happy," Lee
said. "You're a wonderful guy Gaara. I think you're
great."
Gaara blushed at this, hiding his face in Lee's shirt.
No one had ever told him he was wonderful. He smiled, his arms
tightening around the older boy. Lee gently took Gaara's chin and
turned his face up. The look in Lee's eyes made Gaara's heart
start to race. He moved up as Lee leaned forward, their lips meeting
in a tentative kiss. Gaara felt an electric shock go through him, and
he stepped back with a gasp.
"Wow. That was great," Lee
said.
Gaara didn't reply. He couldn't. That kiss – as small
as it was, just a simple brush of the lips – had completely blown
his mind. He absently touched his lips with his fingers. Lee's
mouth against his own had left his lips tingling. He wanted more.
Gaara snapped back to reality when Lee took his hand. He looked up,
seeing a spark in the brown eyes that made his temperature
soar.
"It's getting dark out," Lee said. "Why don't we
go to my place?"
Gaara nodded, and the 2 of them made their way
to Lee's apartment. When they got there, Lee guided Gaara up to the
bedroom and shut the door. He then kissed the redhead firmly, arms
holding him in place. Gaara gasped in surprise, and Lee took the
opportunity to slip in tongue into his mouth.
Lee moaned as he
kissed Gaara. The sand ninja's mouth was burning hot and tasted so
sweet. He slid his tongue against Gaara's, gently coaxing the boy
into responding. Gaara was hesitant at first, but quickly gained
confidence. He melted into Lee's embrace, pressing his hips into
the other boy's.
Lee broke off the kiss, gasping for breath. He
maneuvered Gaara so he was lying on the bed face-up. Lee then began
undressing the boy, fingers sliding against the creamy skin. Gaara's
breath hitched. When had the room gotten so hot? He reached down and
yanked off his pants and boxers, tossing them away. He then started
tugging at Lee's suit. He wanted to feel more of Lee's skin
against his own, and he wanted it now!
Lee peeled off the spandex
suit easily and plundered Gaara's mouth again. His hands explored
the body under his, fingers lightly caressing the toned chest. He
found a nipple and pinched it, receiving a moan in response. Lee
smirked against Gaara's mouth. So the redhead liked that did he? He
pinched and rolled the pink nubs until they were rock-hard. Gaara was
moaning shamelessly, begging for more. He gripped Lee's hips and
pulled them, pressing their groins together.
Gaara soon decided
that things were going a little too slow, and he rolled the 2 of them
over. He ground his hips against Lee's, hearing the boy gasp. He
reached down and grabbed the leaf's erection, stroking it hard. Lee
cried out as Gaara slowly moved his thumb over the sensitive slit.
Lee reached up and put 3 of his fingers in Gaara's mouth, who
sucked eagerly. Lee removed his fingers and slowly trailed them down
the redhead's torso, as Gaara bent down and started nipping along
the older boy's neck.
Lee reached Gaara's own erection and
palmed it gently, the sand ninja hissing in pleasure. Lee went
further and reached the tight ring of muscle that made up Gaara's
entrance. Gaara let out a yelp of surprise as Lee pressed one of his
fingers inside. He moved it in and out, searching for the boy's
prostate. He added a second finger and wiggled them, streching out
Gaara as gently as he could. He slid in the third finger, then pulled
them all out. Gaara whimpered slightly at the loss, but stopped when
Lee tugged on Gaara's hips, pulling him into position.
Gaara
lowered himself onto Lee's erection, biting his bottom lip. It
hurt, putting Lee inside him, and he wasn't used to pain. But the
feeling of discomfort was fading as Lee rocked his hips upward,
pushing himself further into the redhead. Gaara moaned and pressed
down, riding the leaf. He leaned forward and kissed Lee hard as their
bodies ground against each other.
Lee was beginning to feel
light-headed. The sensation of Gaara's body surrounding him was
overwhelming. He groaned as Gaara's tongue wrestled with his own.
He reached down and took hold of the sand ninja's erection again,
gently stroking it. Lee felt the redhead moan into his mouth before
the kiss broke, Gaara gasping for air. Lee smirked and moved his hips
faster, matching the pace with his hand.
It was getting to be too
much. The cock twitching inside his body, and the hand on his own; it
was all too much. Gaara cried out when Lee found his prostate,
melting against the leaf. Lee jabbed that spot again and again, over
and over. Gaara moaned loudly as he snapped his hips down, meeting
Lee's upward thrust. All too soon, he couldn't take it anymore
and climaxed. The hot liquid squirting over Lee's hand, and the
warm walls clamping down on his cock sent the leaf over the edge, and
he filled Gaara with his own seed.
Gaara collapsed on top of Lee,
exhausted and feeling better than he ever had. He slowly pulled off
the boy, and snuggled next to the warm body lying beside him. Gaara
thought he couldn't get any happier, until Lee leaned over and
whispered 3 little words into his ear.
"Happy birthday Gaara."
