A/N: Well! Here's a second chapter! It is quite a bit longer than the last one, and I'm afraid it will only continue to be so. Anyway, it has been a few years since Gaara has last seen Lee. Gaara is almost six years old, making Lee at least seven. I realize this thinking is probably a little more than what normal children think, but Gaara has never been normal, thus it all makes sense to me :D Hoorah! I am also aware that squirrels don't normally come out in winter, but there are times when they do wake up. This just happens to be one of those times! x] Please enjoy this second installment, and comment!

Oh curious child,

Bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Had you always been this way? No, not always.

I remember though, when it started.

I was there. Always have been.

Always will.

Father was an important man, with important customers.

Often, he would travel to different villages to conference.

I jumped at the chance to see you again, oh curious child.

How long had it been

Since I had last seen your face?

Months? Years? Lifetimes?

It felt like it.

Temari and Kankuro

They didn't understand.

I did not expect them to, and tried hard to keep them away.

I wanted you for my own.

You're mine, don't you know?

Your village was cold when we arrived.

Tender crystals fell from the sky

It was shocking, and so very new.

I hated it.

But I would endure it, if only to see you again.

Everyday my Father would leave me

"Don't get into trouble," he said.

Like a good child, I promised I would try.

And when he left, so did I.

Oh curious child,

Do you know how long I looked for you?

Hours out in the frozen world

Sneaking around buildings and houses.

I visited your old home

I found it by memory.

Could still smell the blood from those people who died so long ago.

It warmed me when the sun would not.

No, it was near the end of my stay that I found you.

It was in a clearing away from town

There with a blonde, a brunette, and two girls.

Who were they?

For a moment, I was lost in my anger.

How dare they think they could be anything to you?

It passed before anything could become of it

I hid myself so you wouldn't see me.

"Naruto, look! The mother is up there!"

I wanted to weep when I heard your voice.

The Angel's song was merely a broken choir in comparison.

You pointed high into the tree

A hole sank into the trunk.

Slowly, a head popped out

Before hiding away again.

The creature in the tree was furry

Brown, and very shy apparently.

I was not sure about why you were here, until you opened your hands

And inside was a baby.

"Lee...That is way too high. Can't you just leave it down here?"

One of the girl's asked, with a frown.

She had white eyes and short black hair.

The girl beside her nodded in agreement.

"I want to go home. It's too cold!"

Whiny, human females.

I was tempted to send the frozen crystals flying towards them.

Show them to not question your motives.

Whatever they were.

Naruto, the blonde, sighed and turned away.

"I ain't helping you, Bushy Brows! I'll stand back and watch!"

He, the other male, and the girls backed away.

Left you all alone.

With me.

I watched your face as they walked away oh curious child.

Why did you seem so sad?

Those people mean little in the world

And should mean less to you.

Your face was pale under your caramel skin

Though your cheeks were a rosy red.

And brown eyes showed the determination

Even though those children cared not.

Where was your jacket, your gloves, your hat?

I could see you shivering and shaking

Even so far away.

But slowly you faced the tree again, and to my surprise you began to climb.

The tree was a great one. So wide and many heights.

Though you easily climbed it, even with one hand holding the animal.

My breath had frozen in the air as I watched you do this feat.

I knew I had made a good choice

In choosing you.

Along the branch near the hole you sat.

Tenderly you dropped the creature, and pushed it towards the hole.

"Be careful, Lee! It might bite you!"

"Don't fall Lee!"

"Hurry up and leave it Lee, I want to go home!"

Those children shouted at you.

But under their breath I could hear the words they really meant to say.

"Stupid Lee, so dim and caring."

"He cannot climb a tree so high."

"I am tired of watching this, let us leave him."

Before I could react, I heard you cry.

My heart shattered as I saw you fall from the tree.

Sand reached out under the snow, lifting up and catching you

Eased you to the ground.

Those children crowded around you

Fake comfort and lying worry.

The squirrel had bit you, and you lost your balance.

I could see the red contrasting your fingers.

Oh how it made me angry.

I watched them lead you away

Watched how you smiled and said you were fine.

And when you were gone I approached the tree.

Slowly began to climb.

Upon the branch that you had sat

I reached into the hole.

The filthy creature, the stupid animal tried to bite me too

But the sand kept me safe.

How dare these little creatures

Offer you such pain?

I choked the mother with the sand

Slowly her eyes turned red and she stopped twitching.

The child, the one you saved

No, that one did not deserve life either.

I ripped the fuzzy tail off

Along with it's ears.

I broke the teeth in half

And used it them gash along the brown side.

The blood that then was spilling

It soaked into the sand.

I carried the small bodies back to the village.

And had a pair of ear muffs made of that fur.

That warm, soft, brown fur.

I kept them with me always, until it was time to leave.

I had only seen you once, and yet I now knew where you lived.

I begged Father for a few moments, and was blessed with permission.

Running to the place you lived I set them on your bed.

Hoping when you returned

You would know it was from me.

Stay warm, oh curious child.

That little tumble though, it didn't cause you fear.

If anything it made you stronger, more curious

And led you to do many more things.

But this I know, because I was there.

Always have been.

Always will.