One of Many

A/N: Well enjoy and review.

It was still early when Lee and Naruto both arrived at the gate. Tsunade had informed Naruto that he would still have to greet the Kazekage at the gate. He could leave after explaining why he would not be escorting him like he was assigned and requested. They stood there chatting idly. It had been awhile since Gaara had last visited though not long enough for him to not recognize them. He had however been gone long enough to not know that Lee had changed his look. Though Lee had been sure to send him a photograph or so at some point to commemorate the change.

"There they are." Naruto smiled seeing the Kazekage approach his only protection his sister Temari. He guessed she had tagged along to see Shikamaru who was just out of sight waiting for her. Looking over at Lee he smiled the other male looked nervous. He couldn't really blame him. Neither of them had seen Gaara since he became Kazekage for long periods of time. "Hey Gaara!" He called out once they were in earshot. He didn't see the Kazekage pick up speed but he saw him nod to acknowledge him.

"…." Gaara looked over at his two friends and nodded. He was not going to speed up any. Seeing Lee's new look in person he was glad for the change because it meant Lee had accepted himself as himself and not just a member of Team Gai. Also it looked pretty good on the raven haired male though he wouldn't tell him that.

"Hey Gaara-Sama." Lee smiled brightly, a smile that was just for Gaara because it almost made the other male smile too, though he wasn't sure if anyone else knew it. That was the beside the point really when it came down to it he had an arsenal of smiles.

"Hello Naruto, Lee." Gaara greeted them as he reached them stopping himself from smiling by just a hair. It wasn't that he didn't smile, it was more an image thing. He was after all the Kazekage of Suna. Gaara was not surprised when Naruto patted his shoulder and told him that he couldn't stay because he had a date with Hinata. He was however surprised when Lee did the same making him wonder when the sand stopped reacting to him as it hummed happily in his gourd. It was something he hadn't tested the last time he had been in the village. "Well be sure to tell Hinata I say hello." Gaara said politely before Naruto left, they had gotten along rather well when they met. Hinata was a very good influence on the blonde.

"Well it's right this way Gaara-Sama." Lee smiled brightly again patting the red head's shoulder again.

'I wonder where Shikamaru is?' Temari thought only just catching the tail end of the exchange rather shocked when Lee touched her brother so casually. She was not aware that Gaara trusted him that much. Though she was aware, as was everyone else in Suna, that the Kazekage took a few hours off of work every week to write Lee and once a month a whole day to write Naruto. Yet it had never occurred to her that the sand wouldn't react to the boy's touch. She had other things to worry about like helping run the country as best she could when Gaara was prone to being a diplomatic bully. Shrugging it off as them being close she ran off to where she caught a glimpse of her lover waiting for her. Lee's new look completely lost on her.

"You know you don't have to add the sama to my name Lee." Gaara said allowing Lee's hand to stay on his shoulder as they began walking even though he normally wouldn't allow that much contact.

"But I do Gaara-Sama after all we are in person and in public in a village that is not your own." Lee smiled moving his hand from Gaara's shoulder to his side blushing slightly because he had forgotten it had been there. He didn't notice the slight pause in Gaara's step as he did so.

A passing girl overheard them and felt rather jealous that Rock Lee was being told to call the Kazekage of Suna by his first name without an honorific. After all it was the highest sign of closeness. And not only that the Kazekage was not using one with Lee's name either, though when she thought about that no one really did.

"That's not the point Lee." Gaara frowned. "I want you to call me Gaara not Gaara-Sama or Kazekage-Sama. It's too formal." He looked over at the green clad shinobi seeing that he was smiling at him again. Gaara loved that smile, the one that was almost so infectious it had him almost smiling every time he saw it. Though he would never admit it to anyone. Neither would he admit that he thought the smile seemed like it was just for him.

"As you wish Gaara-Kun." Lee chuckled at the slight irritation that crossed Gaara's face. "Don't worry I was only joking."

"You better have been." Gaara grumbled, he would never threaten Lee again but he did not like being treated like he was really young. He was the leader of a ninja village. Not to mention highly respected. He hadn't ever been called kun and he would assuredly keep it that way.

"…" Lee smiled more as they turned towards the lodging that had been provided for the Kazekage. "We're here."

The building was a lot nicer than Lee's apartment and Gaara knew that from the look on Lee's face. "Would you like to make us some lunch?" Gaara offered and smiled slightly at the way Lee's face lit up. He knew Lee liked to cook and he enjoyed watching the other do so. It had been a few visits back that he had first had the pleasure to enjoy Lee's cooking and he had promised himself then he wouldn't deny himself such a pleasure again if an opportunity arose.

"I'd like that Gaara. But what do you want to eat?" Lee asked as they ascended the stairs knowing that the lodging would be stocked with plenty of food and he knew many recipes of the kinds of dishes that Gaara liked.

"How about curry?" Gaara suggested even though he himself was not a curry fan he knew Lee was. "And maybe a side of tempura chicken?"

"Sure." Lee said unlocking the door for them since he still had the key. Entering the flat he handed Gaara the key and headed to the kitchen looking around as he spoke. "It shouldn't be too long." He called as he opened the fridge slowly over looking his surroundings and the food at once.

"Alright." Gaara went about the flat double checking it just to be sure. He knew Lee would already have done so for the front of the flat. Finding nothing wrong he made his way back to the kitchen and sat at the table watching Lee cook. He couldn't say he disliked Lee's new look, but he did miss the spandex with the way it showed off Lee's body. Which brought his thoughts to what he had come to Konoha for. He wanted to have Lee, for himself and for Suna so that they could teach their people and himself taijutsu. It wasn't something that the people of Suna knew a lot of. He also wanted to keep Lee away from Neji. He wasn't quite sure why it had bothered him that Neji had asked Lee to lunch but it did and he was not going to allow it to happen again. Of course he knew Lee was special to him other wise he wouldn't take so much time out of his schedule to write him every week. When he didn't even do that for Naruto who he considered his best friend. Watching Lee cook he settled on the fact it was just that he didn't like Neji, which he didn't.

"Something on your mind Gaara?" Lee asked as he finished the curry and caught the red head staring off into the sink.

"Just thinking about why Neji asked you to lunch." Gaara admitted truthfully he was not very good at lying to Lee. Or lying in general when it came down to it. Lying was something he had found unessential even in his line of work he could just kill them if it came to that there was rarely any real reason to lie for a shinobi of his caliber.

"Well we are comrades." Lee reasoned getting the chicken ready his face slightly pink as he remembered something TenTen had said.

"Yeah but so are you and TenTen and she doesn't ask you to lunch and he didn't include her." Gaara eyed the green clad male with a steely glare telling him to cough up what he had left out.

"Well TenTen said he may have been trying to ask me out on a date." Lee turned almost scarlet as the word ask left his lips. "I think she was mistaken though so it must have been to discuss our new training." Lee smiled weakly he did not like Neji like that and he knew that Neji would never see him like that regardless of what TenTen thought.

"Are you sure he wasn't?" Gaara blinked not sure himself why he was concerned about it and almost mad that Neji would even think of asking Lee out, especially out on a date.

"Well no." Lee blushed again turning back to the chicken so he couldn't look into Gaara's aquamarine eyes.

"Well if he is don't go out with him." Gaara snapped before he could stop himself and immediately wondered where such violence was coming from when it had nothing to do with him. He knew it wasn't like Lee was his. 'Lee's not mine….' For some reason he found that thought echoing through him making him feel slightly hollow.

"…" Lee decided to ignore the angry tone in Gaara's voice since he knew that the red head never really had to deal with this outside of Temari and Shikamaru. And with how close he was to Shikamaru it didn't make sense for him to felt anything like this often. "I don't really see Neji like that and I highly doubt he sees me like that either." Lee said tartly and a long silence followed filled only by the sounds of the food cooking. It wasn't as uncomfortable as it would have been if it were Naruto but it was less than comfortable and left both of them with a lot of thoughts to think on.