AN: GaaLee crapz for chu!! -3- Be happy, lol. This chapter has hardly any fluff, but it's starting!! I swear!!
Disclaimer: ….do I REALLY need one for every chapter?? No, I don't own Naruto. Seriously. BELIEVE IT. –shot–
Chapter two :: Plans
The first thing Lee was aware of was a throbbing coming from his head. That's mainly what woke him up to begin with. The next thing he realized was that he was in a soft, warm bed with a silky pillow under his head and a heavy blanket over his spandex-clad body. Which meant he hadn't changed into his pajamas.
Which meant that this headache was a hangover and he'd passed out in the forest last night.
He opened his eyes and sat up—a very bad move. It seared his forehead painfully, and he had to close his eyes when the world started rocking dangerously. He held his head in his palms, trying to recall how he'd gotten home. He'd been sad, had gotten out the sake, had probably gone wandering off into the forest—being as there were leaves in his hair—and most likely passed out there. He remembered nothing past that point.
'Someone brought me home, then,' he thought. 'But who?'
The answer to this question did not come easily. He knew that, when Sasuke left, Sakura had taken to wandering in the forest at night, but she never went to his side where he trained or sometimes wandered himself. Naruto didn't stay in the forest after dark unless he'd exhausted himself training, which wouldn't give him the energy to carry Lee all the way home. Tenten never went into the forest at night unless she needed to. Neji would have just left him there if he'd found him.
Kiba acted very strange during the full moon, which had been last night. If he'd been roaming the forest, he would not have stopped for a passed-out Lee. Hinata never went into the forest save for training purposes. Shino…..was out of the question, the thought of him touching Rock Lee made him shiver.
Who, then? Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru stayed away from that side of the forest for the most part, being as their training didn't take place anywhere near there. It was possible that a Jounin had found him, but they would have taken him to the hospital rather than his house. He could think of no one that would know where he lived and would have taken him back.
He sighed, deciding to thank whoever it was if they chose to reveal themselves. Lee stood, had a violent wave of nausea, and fled to the bathroom to empty his stomach of the half-digested alcohol. Cleaning up and changing into a new jumpsuit, Lee decided to head off to the practice grounds despite his headache and nausea.
Walking along, he smiled, realizing that it was still fairly early in the morning and he had plenty of time to start training. He was very happy especially that he'd not overslept despite his drunken state last night.
Arriving at his everyday training spot, he sucked in a deep breath of cleansing Spring air and began kicking a log.
He did not realize he was being watched.
The redheaded Kazekage found great amusement in watching Lee train. He could never say exactly why, but he found his determination fascinating, his absurd goals entertaining. He liked watching Konoha's Green beast tell himself what he would do next, shouting words of perseverance to no one, not knowing that, really, there was someone.
Of course, he would never admit, even—if not especially—to himself that the gleam of sweat on Lee's forehead and the smooth flow of powerful muscles as he worked were especially appealing to Gaara, who had fair little muscular build and didn't often break a sweat.
It was the thought of said muscles that caused Gaara to decide he'd been watching long enough. He turned and hopped to another tree, but his pants were snagged on a branch and it caused the leaves to rustle and fall. Lee whipped around immediately. Silently, Gaara groaned in dismay.
"Who's there?" Lee shouted, getting into a fighting stance, glancing quickly around. Gaara decided that it was inevitable now, and stepped out into the clearing, doing his best to act surprised.
"Good morning, Lee-kun," Gaara said casually. Ah yes, he was certainly not watching this boy a few moments ago.
"Oh, Gaara-san…," Lee said, eyes widening in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked, genuinely interested. Gaara leaned against a tree.
"Walking." Simple, believable answer. But Lee didn't want it.
"I mean, what are you doing in Konoha?" he asked, gesturing to the ground—Konohagakure's ground.
"I'm here with my siblings to discuss trade details with the Hokage," he explained, as if the whole world should already know by now. Lee, however, did not know. Why had no one told him? Well….one reason may be because they didn't know how important Gaara had somehow become to the leaf ninja. He had never told anyone exactly what an amazing friend he thought Gaara was—it was easier that way, really.
The consequence was that Lee didn't know how many times he'd missed Gaara because nobody told him.
"Oh…I see," Lee said absently. Truth be told, Gaara couldn't have chosen a better time to come and see Lee.
"How are your other teammates?" Gaara asked when the silence became uncomfortable. Lee snapped back to the present time. His thoughts had been wandering to his mood the night before, and how badly he'd been missing his redheaded friend, and even though the person in question had been standing right in front of him, he'd almost forgotten who he'd been talking to.
"They're doing well, I believe," Lee said happily, bringing to mind Neji and Tenten's faces. Smiling wider, he added, "Tenten and Neji are involved now, and they're very happy."
(AN:: Don't kill me please, if you don't like that couple. I can't help it if I do.)
This won him a blank stare from Gaara.
"Involved?" he questioned, tilting his head a bit to one side, eyes curious. In Lee's opinion, it was a very flattering position for him to be in. He quickly discarded that thought, burying it under thoughts of how many laps around Konoha he'd run if it surfaced again.
"Yes. You know, er….romantically involved," Lee explained, trying to keep from blushing. Gaara looked at him for a while longer—making Lee fairly uncomfortable—then nodded.
"Hn." A moment more of silence. "And how are you?" he then asked, looking directly at Lee's eyes. Lee breathed in deeply to keep from blushing.
"I am well," he said, finding nothing better to say. "And yourself?"
"Hn…fine, I suppose," was his answer. Gaara looked out into the forest. A light breeze picked up and leaves danced their way into his view. He hadn't had this long of a conversation with anyone informally since his sister had talked him into coming to Konoha in the first place. He had suspicions about that, but kept them to himself. Other than that, he'd kept his mouth shut, choosing instead to talk with his eyes and take in the beauty of Konoha. This conversation with Lee was making him fall into an easy mood, something that he did very, very rarely anymore.
"Eh…so, you said your siblings are here, too?" he distantly heard Lee asking. He looked around and found said ninja a few feet from him, looking inquisitively into his jade eyes.
"Temari and Kankuro, yes," Gaara replied, giving no signs of having not been paying attention earlier.
"That's excellent! We should have a get-together!" Lee exclaimed happily. "My team has no practice tomorrow, so if you three aren't busy, we could have it at my house!" he offered, full of energy. Gaara was taken a bit off-guard by this, but how could anyone stand to say no to this happy, eager face?
"That sounds fine, Lee-kun," he said, hiding a smile. "What time would be alright? None of us have anything to do tomorrow," he added, emphasizing that Lee had free choice of time for the little reunion.
He thought for a moment, scratching his chin lightly.
"Hm….I think we could do it at three in the afternoon—not too close to dinner, but long enough after lunch so that nobody is too stuffed for a little food!" he said, obviously satisfied with his logic. Gaara nodded, keeping a straight face, then remembered something that almost broke this.
"Lee-kun," he said. Lee looked at him curiously. "Don't bring any sake." A small smile played on Gaara's lips—the tiniest fraction of what Gaara felt inside, remembering the passed-out ninja from the night before.
"Wha…?" he started, then his eyes widened in realization. "You brought me home last night!" he exclaimed. Gaara let the smile widen a teensy bit, and nodded.
"You looked so sorry, Lee-kun, all curled up in that clearing last night. How could anyone not?" he said teasingly. Lee smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"I'm sorry to cause you the trouble," he said apologetically. Gaara shrugged lightly.
"No trouble, Lee-kun. Just don't do it again," he warned softly, then mentally slapped himself for letting his worry show through in his tone. Lee noticed, but didn't say anything to it. Instead, he laughed.
"I won't, Gaara-san," he promised. He glanced up at the sky. "Oh! It's so late already, I lost track of time! I must get going if I'm going to make this reunion happen! I'm sorry I can't chat longer, Gaara-san," he added as he saw Gaara's face fall ever so slightly.
"So, three tomorrow?" Gaara inquired to the back of Lee's head.
"Hai, Gaara-san!" Lee called over his shoulder. He turned, waved, and disappeared into the trees of Konoha.
AN:: Still kinda short, but this is my first time writing a yaoi fanfiction that's had more than one chapter to it. Aha, sorry. Anyway, I'm going to write more A.S.A.P., so hopefully I can have one update at least every two or three days. This story will have twelve chapters to it, which means it'll all be posted soon if I keep writing like this. :3 So, please review, and enjoy! 3
EDIT:: I had to edit the suffix Lee added to Gaara's name. It was kindly pointed out to me that it was wrong, sorry. J
