Out of Reach aka Happy Birthday, Lee!
He sat under a tall oak tree, panting heavily and sweating like crazy. But there was a satisfied smile on his features; he'd just beaten his old record. Four thousand push-ups, and it'd only taken him all morning, no stopping. The sun was directly overhead, but didn't burn with a great intensity; it was the end of November, after all. It was nice out in Konoha as Lee rested his soon-to-be-really-sore arms. They were probably already pretty sore, but in his euphoric state he couldn't feel pain anyway. He looked up into the branches of the mighty oak, the sun peered kindly through them and the animals scurried about in their rush to attain sustenance. That's right, it was nearing lunchtime, and Lee had skipped breakfast to train early. He put one hand to his now growling stomach. But he wasn't that concerned and his mood was still blissful.
'How good it is to be alive, on my sixteenth birthday.' The ebony haired boy thought, a serene smile on his lips. He thought about how later that day Gai-sensei was going to take him out in celebration of his special day. Gai-sensei hadn't said where he was going to take Lee, but had promised it would be somewhere good. Right now, Lee was hoping it was somewhere to eat. His stomach writhed in protest as he continued to ignore it. He'd have to head back towards the village soon, he could tell Gai-sensei about his new record. But it was such a nice day out; Lee didn't want to get up just yet. It was so peaceful out here in the forest; he believed there was no place more tranquil than the forests of Konoha.
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"Lee left for the northern forest around dawn, I don't think he's come back yet." Those words rang in the pale boy's head as he traveled through the northern most part of the forest surrounding the main Konoha village. He searched across the area, trying his best to find the green clad ninja among all this foliage. Naruto had told him the northern forest, but where? It was such a large expanse of trees that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Did he mention this needle blended in with the hay? He'd find Lee though; he was a well-trained ninja, and the Kazekage to boot. This was going to be easy.
At least, that's what he thought. But as the sun began to set and the sky turned a tint of red he almost lost hope. He was about to head back towards the village, maybe Lee had returned but Naruto just hadn't noticed. He stopped, though, he sensed someone to his left. He turned to see the form of someone resting against a tall, overly large, oak tree. Trees are a rare commodity in Suna, and something like this was something Gaara would never get used to. As he approached the impressive plant the form grew clearer and he recognized it to be the 'beautiful green beast of Konoha.' He came to a stop about twenty feet away from the motionless figure. Maybe he could surprise him. Of course, it wasn't hard to surprise Lee; he didn't possess any ninjitsu like the rest of them. But maybe that's one of the many things that made him stand out as incomparable in Gaara's mind. He now looked through the greenery at the still figure. It was then that he noticed that Lee had fallen asleep, and from the looks of it, he'd fallen asleep out of exhaustion.
The crimson haired teen approached the figure now, stopping when he was only about a foot away from Lee's sleeping form. He was undeniably handsome like this, and for some reason the word 'cute' crossed Gaara's mind. He shook his head and looked down at the unconscious male before him. He wondered if he should wake him, if he didn't the boy would miss his own birthday celebration. Gaara had been sent to see what he was doing, and to get him to come back to the village. His former teacher, Gai, had planned a nice get together to celebrate the jounin's sixteenth birthday. But for some reason, he didn't want to wake Lee. He was just too, there's that word again, and Gaara shook his head for a second time.
He had to wake Lee; if he didn't then he'd miss the whole birthday celebration. It was to start right after sunset, which was probably only an hour away. But how was he supposed to wake him? He wasn't going to yell, or shake the boy, and he didn't think that just poking him would wake him. He decided to take a seat next to the sleeping form. He'd just arrived from Suna, and now he'd traveled all the way through this northern part of the forest. He hadn't realized how tired he was until he had sat down. It was a rather large tree trunk; he could comfortably fit himself against Lee and prop his gourd up next to them. And the tree was surprisingly comfortable; soon the red head was resting himself, his shoulder pressed against the leaf jounin's next to him.
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Lee awoke not long after sunset, noticing the change in light, and the new weight on his left shoulder. He sleepily rubbed his eyes with his right hand and looked to his left side to see what it was that was on him. The dark haired teen's yawn turned into a gasp of surprise as he saw what seemed to be the sleeping form of the Kazekage next to him. But the black-rimmed eyes opened slowly at Lee's audible intake of breath, revealing that the boy had never truly been asleep, just experiencing something close to it.
"Gaa- I mean Kazekage-san, what are you doing here?" Lee managed to stutter out, really wanting to know why the boy was so near; their shoulders were actually touching! The red head currently leaning against Lee shifted his weight, and then gave a slight upward glance at the leaf ninja next to him.
"I was sent out to come and get you." Noticing the sudden darkness surrounding them, Gaara added, "I guess I didn't do a very good job…"
"Come and get me? For what?" Lee asked, now wondering why the Kazekage would be here in Konoha. Suddenly, the emerald-eyed teen stood, grabbing his gigantic sand filled gourd and slinging it over his shoulder. When Lee hesitated to stand up Gaara turned towards him and offered a hand.
"We can still make it, let's get going." Gaara stated, and Lee tried to lift himself up, but failed. His arms and torso were stiff, though his legs seemed just fine. Lee gave up on trying to get up by himself and took the hand offered to him. Gaara quickly helped the sore young man to his feet and they were off, heading back towards the village. Lee let Gaara lead the way; he was still kind of weak on his feet, not having eaten for almost twenty-four hours.
"Will there be food?" Lee asked, his stomach roaring, it wanted nourishment, and it wanted it now!
"Of course. I just hope we're not too late." Gaara said the last part quieter than the first, silently kicking himself for not waking Lee in the first place. But Gaara truly couldn't care less; he'd gotten to spend time alone with this young jounin, and for some reason that in itself made him happy. Well, as 'happy' and the sand village's leader ever got.
"Late for what?" Lee asked, now clutching at his abdomen while they made their way towards the village's entrance.
Gaara chose not to answer this question and asked a question of his own instead. "When was the last time you ate?" The pale Kazekage had noticed Lee's actions, and the boy's hunched over figure was worrisome.
Lee didn't respond for a moment, but decided not to try the patience of the easily aggravated teen. "Yesterday." He said meekly, looking to the side instead of ahead at the boy who was leading the way.
"Let's hurry then. I'll carry you." Gaara hadn't asked a question; therefore he didn't wait for a response. Before Lee could utter a syllable of protest he was slug over the shorter male's shoulder, so that he was face to face with the infamous gourd. The gourd paid him no heed and continued to just stay there, where it usually stayed. Lee, though, wasn't used to this position on Gaara's back and decided to make his discomfort known.
"Gaara-san! Please put me down, I can make it to wherever it is that we're going myself." Lee practically whined, but to no avail. Gaara paid as much attention to him as the gourd did. Lee let out a huff of disapproval, but as soon as the pain from his lower abdomen returned at full force Lee was actually glad to be off his feet. He would have fallen face first into the ground had he been running himself, the pain was that dreadful. With his sudden change of heart, Lee muttered out a "Thank you, Gaara-san," into the Kazekage's back.
"Not a problem, Lee." Gaara said, an unseen smile creeping across his lips.
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They arrived at the party fashionably late, but no one cared, and they were greeted with smiles and cheers of joy. Once Gaara had set Lee down his former teacher embraced him, and there was much rejoicing. Lee then headed over to the table where the food was being kept and started to eat like he hadn't eaten for days. It'd only been one day, but Lee had a healthy appetite, and his sudden large intake of food started a whole chain of people trying to beat each other in a food-eating contest. Lee won, of course, with Naruto coming in a close second.
There was a great turn out at this celebration, all of team 7, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru, Gai-sensei, of course, Shino, Tenten, Choji, Shikamaru, Iruka, Kakashi, even the Hokage herself had showed up! But most surprising was the Kazekage's appearance, and his carrying Lee in over his shoulder. Everyone knew Lee to be an acquaintance of Gaara, but no one knew if it went beyond that. Apparently, it did.
The party was entertaining, Gaara decided to just sit back and watch. He spotted Naruto sneaking over to the punch bowl and pouring in something that was most likely alcoholic. He saw a few of the other teenage guests get a bit tipsy over the spiked punch, but all hell broke loose when Lee went to refill his punch glass. Everyone knew of the effect even a tiny bit of alcohol had on Lee.
So this particular occurrence turned out to be the main event of the night. Lee's face turned a dull red right after the swallowed all the punch in his glass at once. Everyone knew there was no hope left when they heard the birthday boy hiccup. Gai spoke first.
"Okay, who spiked the punch?" He said, he could be pretty foreboding when he wanted to be, Gaara noted. But Lee didn't seem to think so, in his intoxicated state.
"Oh, don't worry about it Gai-sensei! It's all good! No one would do such a thing! Who wants to spin the bottle?" Lee said merrily, and Gaara noticed the growing game of 'spin the bottle' taking place. He didn't join, and just watched as the teens spun the bottle with growing vigor. It was more of a twisted 'truth or dare,' not much kissing was going on. All the same, it was rather amusing watching Naruto clucking like a chicken around the outside of the circle.
Gaara hadn't even noticed Lee coming towards him until the green clad male's arm was draped over his shoulders. Gaara didn't let his surprise show as he turned to see the red-faced teen on his left. Lee had another glass of the punch in his hand; he had probably had to make a quick escape to over here by Gaara to keep the glass of alcohol-tainted punch.
"You shouldn't have that." Gaara said calmly, pointing to the glass in Lee's hand that wasn't currently on his shoulder. Lee just moved in closer to Gaara, his inebriated mind not caring about any repercussions, at this point, Lee had probably forgotten what those were.
"Why? Do you want some, Gaara-saaaaaan?" Lee cooed in his drunken stupor, bringing the glass closer to his lips. Gaara realized that if he replied 'yes' Lee would give him the glass and Lee wouldn't be further lost to his intoxication.
"Yeah, let me try it." He replied, reaching for the glass to take it out of the drunken man's clutches. But Lee didn't want to do it the easy way.
"Ah, you didn't say 'please' Gaara-saaaaaan!" Lee said, practically giggling. Gaara muttered, "Please," and Lee just smiled, still not giving the cup up.
"Say 'Ah' Gaara-saaaaaan." Lee almost couldn't stop himself from laughing. Gaara realized Lee wanted to pour the drink into his mouth, well, better in him than in Lee. Gaara finally opened his mouth, but was not prepared for Lee's surprise attack.
Lee took a swig of the drink and commenced to transfer the liquid into Gaara's mouth via his own. Having the choice of swallowing or choking Gaara quickly gulped down the mixture of punch, alcohol, and Lee's saliva. Lee's lips probably rested on Gaara's for longer than was needed to transfer the liquid, but that was all apart of his drunken hair brained scheme! Taking his face away from Gaara's, Lee noticed the light blush on the other boy's cheeks.
"Ah, so you liked it, Gaara-saaaaaan? Here, let me get you some more…" Lee said, bringing the cup towards his lips once again. Gaara stopped him before he could take another sip, though. He found once he took hold of the cup he could easily slip it out of the smashed boy's grasp. He set it down on a table not too far away, but just out of Lee's reach from where he was currently standing.
"I think we've had enough." Gaara said, still feeling awkward from his intake of that strange liquor. Maybe it wasn't only the alcohol getting to him? Lee pressed himself against Gaara, trying to get to the cup through Gaara.
"But you only had a sip! Here, let me nourish you with some of this wondrous fluid of youth!" Lee said, Gaara standing between him and the cup. Lee was now fully pressed against the crimson haired teen, his arms hopelessly reaching towards the just out of reach glass. Gaara kept Lee in place with one hand as he set down his gourd, leaning it against the nearest wall. He took the glass into his unoccupied hand and waved it in front of Lee to grab his attention.
"Is this what you want?" Lee nodded, dumbfounded. "Too bad." Gaara hurriedly poured the remnants of the liquid into his mouth and swallowed. Never having had liquor before, Gaara didn't know of the effects it would have on him. But he was sure he'd fair better than Lee would have.
"Gaara! I wanted that! We could've shared." Lee said, whining in his intoxicated state. Gaara stood his ground, but kept his hand on Lee's chest for balance, just in case.
"Well, it's all gone now." Gaara practically taunted, smirking at the ebony topped boy in front of him.
"I'll just check, to make sure…" Lee said, not looking towards the punch bowl, but at the other boys pale pink lips. Before Gaara's slowly deteriorating mind could comprehend what Lee was about to do Lee's mouth was on his. Gaara opened his mouth in protest but realized this was a big mistake as soon as Lee's tongue came into contact with his own. Gaara's protest was soon forgotten when he felt Lee's hot breath inside of him and his warm tongue roaming over every inch of his oral cavity. In Gaara's slightly intoxicated state he easily let himself moan at this pleasing adventure. The two boys, after a few more, hot, intense moments, finally noticed how quiet the party had gotten. Their arms still wrapped around each other, they broke away to see what had caused the sudden hush. But they looked towards the 'spin the bottle/truth or dare' circle only to see that all eyes were on them.
Not caring in his current mental state, Lee just held Gaara closer to himself and tried to turn him away from the others a bit. He said loudly and sarcastically, to all of the attendants "Do you mind?" and continued his advance towards Gaara's lips.
Before the red haired, jade-eyed boy could utter a protest whoops and hollers were emitting from the group of tipsy teens.
"Get a room!" Kiba hollered, and Sasuke audibly whistled at the boys.
"Go for it, Lee!" Naruto shouted loudly, accompanied by Shikamaru's sarcastic 'woohoo's. All the elders and everyone else just stood speechless, Gai looking especially uncomfortable. Gaara wondered how he'd gotten into this mess. But Lee's searing breath upon his nape reminded him of what they'd just been doing.
"Lee, get off me." Gaara said coolly, the effects of the liquor already fading. Gaara pushed the boy off of him and staggered back. Gaara's chilly voice awoke Lee from his stupor for a moment and he touched his lips in recognition.
"I'm so sorry, Kazekage-san." Lee said softly, so that Gaara had barely heard him. Before anyone could even take another breath, the beautiful green beast had vanished.
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Were the tears streaming down his face because of the alcohol? Was it because it was his birthday, another year further away from youth? Was it because he had acted like a fool in front of Gaara? That last one, Lee thought, was probably it. He wiped away the tears and continued to run into the night, no real direction guiding his feet, he was still pretty fuzzy minded. He couldn't think, could barely breath, as he finally stopped to rest. When he finally opened his tear soaked eyes to gaze upon his surroundings he saw that he wasn't very far from where he had been earlier that day, when Gaara had rested next to him. Now on all fours, Lee dropped his head again, trying to catch his breath, which seemed, just like everything else, out of reach.
He relieved himself of his stomachs contents, the after effects of drinking already upon him. Or maybe he was sick for another reason? He didn't know, but once he emptied his stomach he felt a little better, though his head felt like a train wreck. He got up and staggered away from his vomit, leaning upon a near by tree. Trees were always near by, here in Konoha. Maybe that's why he had such a fondness for them. Yeah, trees were really great…
Lee was just drifting out of consciousness when he heard a noise behind him. Thinking it could be an adversary trying to catch him while he was weak he took a fighting stance as he faced the figure in the darkness. When the person finally came into focus Lee dropped his guard and tried to look or turn away. But he found he couldn't take his eyes off of the pale, panting teen, in front of him. Lee was about to apologize again when the boy finally managed to get some air into his lungs.
"Do you know how hard you are to catch?" The crimson haired male finally got out, looking right into the dark, black eyes of the man before him. Gaara's rhetorical question was followed by a small coughing fit. The Kazekage wasn't used to running like that, Lee truly was fast.
Lee moved towards Gaara, wanting to hold him and help him feel better. But he couldn't, he'd already ruined his chance to be close to Gaara. "I'm sorry." Lee said again, almost letting the tears spill forth from his eyes.
"Don't be." Gaara said weakly, his breath still far from being back. "What's that awful smell?" The Kazekage managed to say, his nose wrinkling. He looked towards the source and spotted where Lee had been sick. "Oh." He simply said, standing up straight again.
"I'm sorry, let's move away from here." Lee said meekly, and they stumbled back into the clearing where they had been resting earlier.
"What a weird coincidence that you'd run back here." Gaara stated, finally taking control of his breathing.
"Yeah, I guess…" Lee shifted awkwardly. "So, why'd you come here in the first place?" Lee realized this was the wrong icebreaker the moment after the words had already left his mouth. He cursed himself silently.
"To see you." Gaara stated simply, because it was the truth. He had wanted to see the weird boy, for some odd reason. He had really wanted to see him.
"I'm sorry." Lee thought if he apologized enough, it'd all go away. But it only angered Gaara more.
"Stop saying that, unless you didn't mean any of that. Was it all a game?" Gaara said harshly, and Lee noticed the absence of the gourd, and Gaara's own glazed over eyes. They both knew what Gaara was referring to, and Lee had meant all of it, the affection, anyway. He had just never thought that'd be how he'd express it.
"Gaara, I'm…" His apology was cut short by a pair of lips grazing his own. The boy backed away again quietly.
"Don't mess with me. Do you really feel that towards me?" Gaara whispered, not saying 'love' because that'd be admitting that he believed in such a silly emotion.
Lee moved towards the smaller teen, embracing him before giving him his answer. "Yes." He simply replied, desperately holding the boy to himself. "And I don't want to ever let you go." Lee said, his cliché statement piercing the other boy right in the heart that he hadn't known existed. Gaara wrapped his arms around Lee, and the picture was almost completed. As they stood there in their tight embrace, a single snowflake fell from the sky unnoticed. But by the eleventh or twelfth snowflake the boys had noticed and looked up towards the dark, clouded sky.
The boys' gaze met and Gaara uttered a few words that rang throughout the empty forest. Their lips met and all past wrongs were forgotten, second chances were given.
"Happy Birthday, Lee."
Thank you for reading! I'm glad I finished this in time for Lee's Birthday! Well, it's still November 27th here, where I live! So it still counts. X3 Please, if you liked this check out my fantasy GaaLee fic! I love that one, it's my baby. ' Well, thanks again for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!