This is a fic I started a few years ago as a GaiLee story, unfortunately, I was unable to finish it. So... recently I rewrote it as a GaaraLee friendship story and this time I was able to finish it. I hope all of you who read this fic enjoy, and if you really like it, please fave and review, thank you! ^_^

Here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Think if I asked Kishimoto-san nicely, he'd give it to me? No? Ah man...

Gaara was bored.

He was in a children's hospital being treated for a case of pneumonia, but feeling better after several days, he was bored. He sighed as he flicked through the channels on his television. What would really be nice would be if he could sneak up to the roof to get some much needed fresh air. The air in his room was stale and smelled of medicine and antiseptics. He briefly wondered when he'd be released. He wanted to get out of here.

Turning off his TV and getting up from his bed, he opened the door to his room and looked down the hall in both directions. Seeing no one coming or going, he stepped out.

As he stepped outside, a breeze that was warm for this time of year gently caressed his cheek. He breathed in deeply of the fresh outside air as he found a pair of benches a few yards away from the door. Heading toward them, he sat down on one. He draped his arms along the back of the bench, tilted his head back and closed his eyes. It felt good to be up here on the roof instead of his stuffy room.

"Um... Excuse me..."

Startled, Gaara opened his eyes. Beside him stood a boy around his own age, with big, round eyes, an impressive pair of eyebrows above them, and glossy, black hair that flipped outward at the ends. He was wearing a pair of green long-sleeved flannel pajamas with little brown and grey squirrels printed on them. They were a direct contrast to Gaara's own plain blue pajamas. The boy had a cranberry-apple juice box in his hand.

Gaara moved over to make room for the other boy even though there was the other bench nearby. The other boy smiled gratefully. "Thanks!" he said as he sat on the bench beside Gaara.

In truth, Gaara could use the company. He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he was lonely. His older brother and sister wouldn't be up to visit until sometime this evening, so he had no one to talk to right now. Maybe this boy would provide a bit of interesting conversation. It was he who spoke first.

"Hi, I'm Lee! What's your name?"

Gaara briefly looked at the offered hand before taking it into his own and shaking it once.

"Gaara."

Lee smiled even bigger. "I've never heard that name before. I like it!" He stuck the straw into his juice box and brought it to his lips with both hands. "So what are you in for?"

"Pneumonia. Weird, because I hardly ever get sick." Gaara said as he turned to look back up at the clouds. "You?"

Lee hesitated for a second, then he nearly whispered, "I've been having problems with my stomach. They think it might be cancer..." At Gaara's horrified look, he quickly added, "But they're not sure yet, they're still running tests." Then Lee grinned. He made a fist and curled his arm upward. "Don't worry about me. If it is cancer, I'm going to beat it and get strong again!" Then he went back to drinking his juice box.

Gaara tried to compose himself. After hearing something like that, he had to ask, "How old are you?"

"Twelve. I'll be thirteen this year in November." Lee smiled brightly. "I'll be a teenager!"

Gaara had already turned thirteen in January, but to him, it was no big deal. But he didn't tell Lee that. The corner of his mouth upturned a bit. "That's good, I think you'll like it."

"Do you want to see something really cool?" Lee asked, tossing his finished juice box into the trash receptacle.

Gaara wondered what Lee wanted to show him. "Sure." he smiled.

Lee walked over to the parapet at the edge of the roof. He motioned for Gaara to follow him. When Gaara was by Lee's side he looked outward. "You can see the whole city from up here!" Lee said enthusiastically. There were houses, stores, and other buildings as far as the eye could see, along with patches of green here and there.

"But you know when it's even better?" Lee asked leaning on the parapet with his arms crossed. Gaara did the same. "At night! The stars light up the sky, and the buildings and cars light up the city. It's really beautiful!"

"I'll bet it is." Gaara agreed, a smile on his own face. After a while he turned to Lee. "What will you do if you find out that it is... that."

Lee was silent for a spell, still gazing out at the city. After a while, he said, "I guess I'll have to go through with the treatments, I suppose. I wish I didn't have to though. I've heard they make you violently ill."

"Hm... Maybe you won't need to go through too many, if you have to go through with any at all." Gaara said reasonably. "You still don't know if it's that yet, right?"

Lee shook his head solemnly.

"Well then." Gaara smiled, turning back to the scenery. "Try not to worry about it too much. Worrying will only make things worse."

After a minute, Lee's face lit up with a small smile. "You're right. I could be worrying over nothing." He turned to Gaara. "Thanks Gaara."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, do you want to go down to the snack bar and get something to eat?" Lee asked suddenly.

Gaara placed his hands on his belly. In all truth, he did feel a little hungry. He hadn't eaten his lunch today. It had been some kind of what looked like boiled chicken strips served on a bed of salad greens. It hadn't even looked appetizing, he certainly wasn't going to taste it to see if it was.

"Sure, why not?" he replied, "Probably beats what they gave me for lunch earlier."

"What did you have for lunch?" Lee asked as they went back inside and headed for the elevators. When Gaara told him, Lee made a face. "I had a bowl of chicken stew with lots of carrots and and peas in it. It was okay. I ate some of it, but I would have rather had a burger or something like that. Since I got sick, I haven't really been allowed to eat anything fun, just healthy stuff." He made another face. "I really shouldn't have anything from the snack bar either, but I guess it won't hurt, just this once."

Gaara listened to the energetic boy with interest as they walked to the snack bar. For someone with such a potentially serious illness, Lee was really upbeat. They quickly arrived at the snack bar where Gaara ordered a chili dog and a bottled soft drink, and Lee ordered a strawberry muffin and a milk.

"We can eat these in my room." Lee said cheerfully as they headed again for the elevators. "Come on!"

Gaara was starting to feel tired. All the walking he was doing was taking it's toll on him. Maybe he wasn't completely better yet, but he didn't say anything about how he was feeling to Lee. He followed Lee back to his room on the seventh floor.

As soon as they walked off the elevator, a nurse who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, stopped them. Smiling, she looked at Gaara for a second, then she addressed Lee, "I see you picked up a friend this time!"

"Yeah! His name's Gaara! I met him when I was up on the roof." Lee said enthusiastically. He turned to Gaara. "Gaara, this is Nurse Sakura. She's always watching out for me." He gave Gaara a wink.

"Speaking of watching out for you," she said smiling sweetly. "you know you're not supposed to have that." She told him pointing to the muffin.

Lee looked up at her plaintively. "Come on, please? Just this once?"

"Well, okay." She smiled, again. "Just this once 'cause you're my favorite patient!" She squeezed his cheek gently. Lee smiled shyly, covering his cheek with his hand.

Nurse Sakura turned to Gaara smiling, "Nice to meet a friend of Lee's." Her smile was contagious making Gaara smile back. "What are you in for if you don't mind my asking."

"Pneumonia." he said simply. "I was telling Lee that it was odd, because I rarely get sick."

"Is it okay if he stays with me in my room for a while?" Lee asked Nurse Sakura, "We won't disturb anyone."

"Well," she said, thinking for a second. "I guess it would be alright." She turned to Gaara. "But I'll have to inform the doctors and nurses on your floor, so they'll know where you are." She turned back to Lee. "You have fun while I'm gone, okay?"

Lee nodded, grinning. He turned to Gaara. "Come on!" And he took Gaara's wrist leading him to his room.

Gaara sat in a chair in Lee's room looking through books on different types of squirrels and their habitats. Lee was in his bed, blankets up to his chest watching TV, the half eaten strawberry muffin and the empty milk bottle on the table beside him.

Gaara noted that Lee was a really big fan of squirrels, having a big plush squirrel in his bed with him, a squirrel blanket, a few drawings he'd done of them taped to a wall, the books Gaara was reading now, even his house shoes were complete with a squirrely head and tail, again in contrast to his plain ones.

"You really like squirrels, don't you?" Gaara asked, closing the book and laying it down on his lap.

"Love them." Lee replied, as he turned the TV down. "One time? I was feeding one and he crawled into my hand!"

Gaara had never experienced anything like that before, and he was genuinely amazed. "It must have known that you liked them. Cats are like that also."

"Really? I like cats too." Lee said, rising to a sitting position. "I just wish I was allowed to have one."

"Why can't you have one?" Gaara asked, opening another book.

Lee's face took on a sullen appearance, as he looked away and explained. "I live in an orphanage and they don't allow pets of any kind."

Gaara's hairless brow shot up into his hair. "An orphanage? Where are your parents?"

"They died when I was really little. That's all I know about them." He sighed, bringing his knees to his chest and putting his arms around them. "I don't even have any memories of them."

The boys were silent for a while, and it was Gaara who spoke next. "In a way, I'm in the same boat you are. My parents are also dead."

Lee's head whirled around to stare at Gaara, while Gaara continued. "My mother died giving birth to me, and for a while, my father cared for me and my older brother and sister. Well he didn't actually care for me. He singled me out for abuse, because..." Gaara paused; a frown crinkling his brow. "Anyway, he was killed a few years ago by someone he'd thought of as a friend. Now my brother and sister care for me. I don't miss my father at all."

"I wish I had older siblings. The only person in my life right now besides the nurses and doctors I talk to here everyday, is my teacher, Gai-sensei." Lee told Gaara. "But he can't be here most of the day because he works at the school." Lee smiled again. "I'm glad I have you to talk to though. Being in the hospital is boring!" He stretched his hands above his head before lying back down, hands on his belly. "How much longer are you going to be here?"

"I'm not sure. They'll probably release me in the next day or so." Gaara said leaning back in his chair. "But I'll try to come back up here when I can to see how you're doing and talk to you."

Lee smiled again. It seemed that nothing could keep him down for long. "Thank you. I'd really like that."

Gaara smiled. "It's no problem for me."

After a long silence, hands behind his head, Lee quietly declared, "You know what? Once I beat this thing, when I grow up, I'm going to marry Nurse Sakura!"

In Gaara's opinion, she was quite a bit too old for Lee. At least twice his age from the looks of her. But then, he had heard of older women and younger men marrying and making happy lives together, so it was a possibility that they could get together one day. "That's a good goal to work for. Who's going to be your best man at your wedding?"

"You, of course!" Lee smiled proudly.

"Me? But you only just met me today." Gaara said.

"I know." Lee told him, gazing up at the ceiling. "But you'd be perfect!"

Gaara chuckled. "You're the only person who's ever told me I'd be perfect for anything."

Lee was about to reply when they heard a quiet knock on the door; Nurse Sakura stepping in, an apologetic look on her face. Lee sat up. "I hate to spoil your fun, Lee, but I have to take Gaara back to his room now so you can get some sleep."

Lee's face fell. "But I don't want a nap right now. I want to keep talking to Gaara."

"I'll come back up in a few hours." Gaara said to Lee as he stood up from his chair. "We can talk again then."

"Promise?" Lee asked as Sakura pulled up the railings on his bed.

"I promise." Gaara told him holding his hand up. "It'll just be a few hours."

"Okay." Lee said sadly, laying back down on his side as Nurse Sakura started to tuck him in. He looked up at her. "I'm not a little kid. I'm twelve years old."

"You don't want me to tuck you in anymore?" she asked sweetly. "You usually ask me to."

Lee's face went beet red. "N-no I don't!"

"Don't worry, Lee." Gaara said, coming back over to the bed. "I like to be tucked in too."

Lee's face quickly went back to normal. "I guess you can tuck me in this once." he said with mock annoyance, then he smiled.

Sakura tucked Lee into bed, Lee snuggling under his thick squirrely blanket. "Sweet dreams, Lee!" she said, then led Gaara out of the room, closing the door behind her.

After they walked down the hall out of hearing range of Lee's room, Sakura spoke. "It's nice to see that Lee found a friend he can talk to and hang out with. He's told me that the kids at the orphanage tease and taunt him relentlessly. He doesn't let it get him down though. But I know it has to hurt."

Gaara understood. From as far back as he could remember, he'd also been teased and taunted by other kids, mainly because of his unusual appearance. "It does. I know. I've been through the same thing. It's one more thing we have in common."

Nurse Sakura asked him, "How long are you staying?"

"I'll probably be released sometime in the next couple days." Gaara answered, as he held the elevator door for her. "I promised Lee that I would come see him when I could though."

"That's good." she said as she leaned against the wall of the elevator. "He's going to be here long term if the tests come back positive for cancer. He'll need a friend he can talk to."

Gaara was silent for a bit. Then he spoke again. "You know? I was thinking earlier, that for someone with such a potentially serious illness, he sure is upbeat and energetic." They stepped off the elevator and walked to his room. "I don't know if I could be so upbeat if I had something like that weighing on my heart."

"Most days, he's not feeling very well." Sakura told him gently. "You happened to catch him on a really good day."

So this was an unusually good day for his newly made friend? Gaara thought about that as he climbed back into his own bed. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything, so he made up his mind to visit Lee everyday so that he wouldn't have to cope with his illness alone. Sakura's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Would you like me to tuck you in?" she asked Gaara coming over to his bed.

Gaara smiled, "I'd like that."

Being tucked in felt good to Gaara and, like Lee, he snuggled under the blankets. He whispered a "Thank you." as he closed his eyes.

After Gaara had had his dinner, and informed the receptionists on his floor as to where he was going, he went back up to the seventh floor. Going straight to Lee's room, he knocked quietly on the door. When he heard Lee's voice inviting him to enter, he peeked in. His eyes immediately landed on a man sitting in one of the chairs near the bed. He had the same eyebrows as Lee and glossy hair but in a bowl cut.

"Gaara!" Lee spoke quietly. The head of his bed was elevated a bit but he didn't sit up. Gaara wondered whether he was starting to feel sick again. Gaara was also starting to wonder whether the man was a relative of Lee's, when Lee spoke again. "Gai-sensei, this is Gaara, the friend I was telling you about who I met earlier up on the roof."

Gaara walked over to the bed, quietly greeting the man whom Lee had called his sensei.

"Hey! Nice to finally meet you, Gaara! Lee's told me a lot about you! He tells me you're cool!" Gai said in an even more boisterous voice than Lee had used earlier.

As Gaara pulled over a second chair, he said to Gai, "I'm just a normal thirteen year old. I'm not really what people would call cool." Sitting down, he smiled at Lee. "This is the first time anyone's called me that though." Then to start a bit of conversation, he asked, "So what did you have for dinner?"

"Turkey pot pie with a side of steamed vegetables." Lee answered, wrinkling his nose. He loved all kinds of food, just not hospital food.

Gaara chuckled. "I had spaghetti." At Lee's look of longing, he added, "Tasted like it came from the freezer though." Lee wrinkled his nose again.

"My dinner tasted almost like it was from a can." he said, adjusting his bed to sit up some more. "I'll bet it was too. At least the vegetables seemed fresh." he smiled.

Gaara smiled himself. Lee, ever the optomist.

Gaara glanced at the television. A DVD of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was playing. It was right at the scene where they were about to go into the Nut Sorting Room.

"I love this part!" he heard Lee say.

He turned to Lee smiling. "It's because you get to see the the squirrels chuck that bad little girl down the garbage chute."

"Yeah! I bet they'd consider me a good nut though. But then, I would respect their space and not barge down there and bother them like she did." Lee told Gaara as he watched the people in the movie file into the nut room.

"Why would you want to be a nut?" Gaara asked.

Lee only giggled at the question.

After a few minutes, the scene came on where the squirrels jumped all over Veruca Salt and proceeded to pin her to the floor. "This part's like something out of a horror film." Gaara said simply as he continued to watch.

"I couldn't agree more." Lee said. "There she goes!"

Then they both exclaimed in unison. "And she goes down the chute!" Lee giggled, and Gaara smiled.

The Oompa-Loompa's filed out then as the music started to play, and Lee began to sing along with them:

Veruca Salt, the little brute

Has just gone down the garbage chute

And she will meet as she descends

A rather different set of friends

A rather different set of friends

A rather different set of friends...

A fish head, for example, cut

This morning from a halibut

An oyster from an oyster stew

A steak that no one else would chew

And lot of other things as well

Each with it's rather horrid smeeeeeeeell

Horrid smeeeeeeeell

Gaara noted that Lee had a rather nice singing voice. It was as sweet as his laugh. He hoped that Lee's illness wasn't a serious one. It would be a shame for someone as sweet, friendly, and animated as Lee was to have such a serious illness as cancer. He looked out of the window and noticed that the sun had set and nightfall was fast approaching.

"Hey Lee." Gaara started. "You feel up to going to the roof again?"

"Yeah! I've seen this movie dozens of times." Lee told him. He turned to Gai. "Gai-sensei, I'm going to go up to the roof with Gaara. I'll be back in about an hour." Lee said, trying to lower one of the railings on his bed.

Gai, who hadn't said much because he'd been engrossed in the movie, said, "Okay. But take your coat, it's gotten cold since this afternoon." He pulled down the railing so that Lee could get out of bed.

"Yes, Gai-sensei." Lee said as he went to get his coat out of the closet. It was a small closet, but enough for Lee's pajamas and a coat. He quickly put it on, then said goodbye to Gai-sensei, and led Gaara out of the room.

Gaara noted as he gazed onto the nighttime city from high above, that Lee had been right. It was a clear night with the stars twinkling in the sky above their heads, and the cars and building with their various colored lights, lit up the earth below. It really was beautiful.

"So do you come up here every night?" Gaara asked Lee, still watching the lights below.

"Well, not every night." Lee said. He paused for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. "To be honest, some days I feel great, and others, well, not so great. It seems like most days, I feel bad. Today, I just happened to be lucky and feel great. That usually only happens for a day or two, then I feel bad again. Usually, I don't even feel up to getting out of bed."

He paused again, gathering his thoughts. "I-I think that the tests are going to come back positive. Actually, it's more of a gut feeling, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to feel even worse than I do now, with the treatments, but I know that if I don't receive them, I'll just get sicker, and eventually die. I don't want that."

He sighed, then continued. "I guess I really have no choice in the matter. Even if I don't want the treatments, they'll give them to me anyway, because I'm a kid. To them, I'm not old enough to make my own decisions." His eyebrows knitted in a worried frown. "I don't want to die, but I don't want to be sick either. I'm just so scared..." He rested his chin on his folded arms as the first tears that Gaara had seen come from the younger boy, streaked down Lee's face.

"I told you earlier though." Gaara started. "You don't even know what it is yet. It could be nothing. Well, maybe not nothing, but something not so serious. Like I said before, try not to worry. Worrying about it will only make things worse."

This time Lee didn't smile, but Gaara saw some of the worry leave his face. Gaara wasn't usually the type to touch or be touched, but he found himself squeezing Lee's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"I'm going to try my best to be there for you, through it all, whether it's just your stomach acting up or something more serious, I'll be there for you." Gaara said to his only friend.

"Thank you." Lee whispered, drying his eyes on one of his sleeves. "That means a lot to me..."

Gaara only smiled and turned back to the city nightline, hand still on Lee's shoulder.

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