Lee had been in Sasuke's possession for little less than a month now.
He had come to loathe every day because, every next day, his loathing abated. The rage he clung to, like his skin would cling to him, drifted further and further away. The invasion and violation of his village, the deaths and kidnapping of all who had been in it, the months of abuse and neglect that had followed, being fought for and having the threat of rape being hung over his head like a horrendous decoration for Gaida – it all became less and less important to hold against a land of people he didn't know.
He hadn't forgotten a moment of it; he hadn't forgotten the look on his imou-saeng's oh-pit's face as he had been dragged away from their sides, he hadn't forgotten the crying children he had embraced in the holding cells of the monstrous metal slave ships, he hadn't forgotten his own bruises and broken bones, he hadn't forgotten his imou-saeng's silent tears, and he hadn't forgotten the blood seeping from his adopted apoto's head wound.
Slowly, though, it was being forgiven. He had no right to be enraged against a nation when not every man, woman, and child of the West had taken part in the destruction of his homeland. No, that was a rage he had to hold for the few he had seen there, and, from time to time, he still saw them in the corridors of the place he was held in. Sometimes, when Sasuke took him to a different room where there were windows, he could look out into a bustling town and still make out their faces.
They were the ones he hated.
And Sasuke was becoming that much less of the enemy every time he saw a familiar person.
Lee was still bony, but Sasuke fed him handsomely every day, with different sweets and delicacies that Lee ogled. Some sort of sauce called mole that went on spicy chicken, papaya juice, bonbon sirop drizzled with agave honey, lychee jam spread on benitas pain de mais…
Those were only a few of the plates, and all of them were things Lee had never heard of before.
At first, he had thought about not eating, simply because Sasuke occasionally tried to force the food down his throat, but that would have accomplished nothing. He had had no decent escape plan, and the few he had had would never had gotten him home, but it wouldn't have done to be weak and starving either when he had to defend himself against Sasuke's obviously growing hunger.
Then Sasuke had led him into a room that seemed to be completely of water except for one sliver of a walkway around it. He had been shocked when Sasuke had said that it was a bath, and even more affronted when Sasuke had begun stripping and had ordered him to do the same thing.
In his homeland, they had had natural hot springs and had first rinsed themselves off before getting into them.
Sasuke merely stepped over the edge and a great plume of water shot up as he fell beneath the liquid surface. When he had come back up, he had grabbed Lee by his hips and swung him over his head into the clear depths.
Lee had never swam before, and Sasuke had been properly contrite as he had brought Lee to the shallow end of the pool near a line of colored bottles and cloths.
"I'll teach you how to swim," Sasuke had said sternly, as if the fact that Lee couldn't hold his own in the deep end somehow offended him.
Nearly a month later and Lee could race, and beat, Sasuke to the other end of the pool.
Maybe that was another reason why Sasuke wasn't his first enemy anymore.
He sat primly on the edge of the nest, using a simply wooden brush to smooth and untangle his long ropes of hair. Today, he told himself, he would wear a ponytail.
Simply because Sasuke had requested that he wear his hair down. He couldn't help the small grin that lightened his features at the show of defiance, however miniscule it was.
A hand squeezed the back of his neck. Sasuke crouched beside him with the stillness and peace of a true predator.
Lee ignored him like a true spouse – a very unwilling, very angry spouse. Even if he wasn't that angry. He wanted to be, though. The thought of feeling that raging blaze of fury in his heart again made him considerably happier.
"We're going to the courtyard," Sasuke told him. "If you try to run away, I will catch you. If you try to harm anyone, I will punish you." He dipped his head and Lee shuddered as Sasuke nibbled on his throat.
Part of it was disgust. Another part was disgust at the lust that sizzled down his spine and pooled low in his gut.
Sasuke wasn't that bad, his lust argued. He took care of Lee, some could even say he spoiled him, as he had brought pearls and golden wristlets and anklets for him, decorating him.
Sasuke had already tried to rape him, his disgust shot back. His disgust wondered if the molestation that had happened could honestly be forgotten so quickly.
His lust was submerged in waves of anger and stubborn pride.
"By all means," Sasuke purred, "try to harm someone."
"I would not harm someone that didn't deserve to be harmed," Lee snapped. "Kindly remove your teeth from my flesh."
Sasuke dipped two fingers under his chin and turned his head towards him.
It was a testimony to how often it happened that Lee did not fight the kiss. When Sasuke had shown an unlikely chivalry in not finishing in his rape, or trying to do such again, he had never stopped kissing him.
This early in the morning, not even noon yet, it was already their third kiss, and the familiar shocks of awareness it left made Lee worse for wear before Sasuke pulled away and growled hungrily.
Lee took a green thong and tied his hair up. The look on Sasuke's face while he did it was a reward within itself and he smirked as he stood to his feet.
He surpassed a mound of gold and pearls and donned a simple green sarape and light cotton trousers. Sasuke was already dressed, thankfully, in a pair of black pyjama pants with knee cuffs. He was even wearing a vest, despite the fact that it wasn't closed and appeared of too little fabric to even be closed to begin with.
With a secretive smirk playing on Sasuke's mouth, he led him out of their – Sasuke's – private quarters.
It was the first time Lee had left the edifice since arriving. He hadn't gotten a good look at it the first time around, really. Sasuke had had him thrown over his back like a sack of rice till they had come just within the entrance before making him walk.
Now, leaving it, Lee was startled by the fortress that had held him.
It was impossibly tall, carved into the side of a mountain. Lee, standing so close to it, could not even see the very top of it. Every few levels, there was a statue of a demon, each with one tail less than the statue that had come before it.
These were the nine guardians of the moon and destruction, Lee knew. It was a World Legend, the story of how a single man had once split the guardians from a single being that would have brought about the end of all things.
Towering down one face of the mountain was a waterfall. It never reached the ground; instead, it wisped, curling and misting in air, mere meters from the ground, it was so long and the mountain so tall.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Sasuke whispered into his ear.
"How many people live here?"
"A few hundred." By the tone of Sasuke's voice, he didn't seem to find anything special about this. "It's the Tower of Leaves and Flames. Or, in the Language of the West, Leho sou Difue."
"Gaia," Lee gasped.
"It's not that impressive." Sasuke fiddled with his hair.
It wasn't until he felt his long, inky tresses flutter against his back that he realized Sasuke had just undone his tie. "I don't like you. At all."
Sasuke answered him with a kiss that made his toes curl and then led him towards a maze wall of trees Lee had never known existed.
Sasuke muttered the names of them as they passed them, pulling towards an entrance he didn't see till they were in it.
Blue palm… Rosewood… Pistache… Ebony… Mesquite…
They turned an invisible corner and they were suddenly in the center of the maze. That, or the maze had more than one sitting area.
There were benches of red mahogany and black walnut. There was a small, manmade pond and a cluster of trees that Sasuke whispered to be copey surrounded it, blooming with white flowers and round, green fruit.
In the cluster's shade were two forms. One, Lee recognized to be Naruto because of his sunny blonde hair.
It was the other that made Lee's breath catch. "I-Imou-saeng?"
The woman's head spun in his direction, black hair flying. White eyes narrowed tearfully on him. "Onii-saeng?"
~""~
Sasuke and Naruto sat at the side of the pond, talking in matter-of-fact tones with each other in their own tongue. For all Lee and his imou-saeng knew, they could have been talking about anything from business to the nature around them.
They sat in the shade of the copeys, legs folded beneath themselves, so close their knees touched as they faced each other. They clung to each other's hands like lifelines, unbreakable, yet fragile chains that fastened them together.
Her hands were so pale and smooth compared to his. His were rough from work, still slightly dark from days spent in the sun. His hands and wrists were unadorned while she wore a wristlet of purple alabaster and a necklace of strung lilac pearls. It upset Lee, to see her necklace. He was sure Naruto had seen her cry, and he could only hope it had been because she had been upset about everything that had happened, and not because of anything Naruto might have done.
His imou-saeng broke the silence first, speaking in their own language. "I have a secret to tell you."
Lee looked up from their hands to study her face. Her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes downcast, and she was worrying her bottom lip between her even teeth.
She was nervous. Whatever secret it was, she was afraid of how Lee would react.
"What is it?" he asked softly
"I… I want to give myself to Naruto."
Lee's world exploded in a million shards of shattered sanity. "What?"
"When he saw how upset I was the first night, he left me untouched. Every day and night after that, he would ask me before he would even brush my hair or help me stand. He's so kind and sweet, big brother! I think… No, I know… I've fallen in love with him."
He struggled to understand her, a faint roar of rage and disbelief in the back of his mind making it difficult to hear correctly.
"He has been so patient and protective. Whenever anyone tries to touch me, he's there to defend me and say that I'm not a slave or a prize, but a human being. He's nothing like the people who captured us, I swear."
Lee had only had one episode where someone had tried to take him against his will, aside from the single time with Sasuke. He had been in the pool, Sasuke at the other end, and a third man had joined them, making Sasuke look slightly miffed by his presence alone.
Then he had tried to push Lee against the side of the pool, obviously thinking it his right to have at the little foreigner as Lee had come to realize was a pet name for people like him. Sasuke had looked as if he was about murder the man, but Lee had been strong that day, well fed and healthy, and he had showed the forceful admirer just how much of a warrior he still was.
Sasuke had looked entirely too pleased as they had left the bath that day, an unconscious body so precariously balanced on an edge of the pool that even the slightest nudge would have capsized him into the water.
Lee drifted his thumb over the back of her hand. "If you… If you believe you're in love, then I support your choice."
It took a lot out of him to say that. He knew that Naruto wasn't responsible for their capture or enslavement. He knew Naruto wasn't involved with the annihilation of his village. But Naruto had still taken her as a prize. He had killed, not to defend another or even to protect future generations, but for the rights to control someone else's life.
But someone else would have won her if Naruto hadn't stepped into the Ring, Lee reasoned with himself. Someone who wouldn't have been patient with the kind and beautiful little woman. Someone who would have forced their way between her legs, who would have taken her innocence without a second thought.
Suddenly, Lee was feeling grateful towards the blonde. It made his decision less of a burden as he smiled at his imou-saeng. "I want only for your happiness, little sister. I promised, years ago, when I bonded with you as a sibling, that nothing would ever come between us. Naruto is… a good man, I think. You make him sound like one, and I trust your judgment above anyone else's."
She smiled back at him, a watery, joyous smile. "Thank you, big brother. Thank you!" She held a sleeve of her Chiapas blouse to her eyes and Lee let her hide beneath the white fabric till she had herself under control. "Has he been treating you well?" she asked after a few short moments. "Naruto tries to tell me that you're okay, but he always looks worried whenever he talks about you."
Lee determined how to answer that without lying. Aside from the experience of their first night, Sasuke had been treating him well. Lee played the part of a furious house guest and Sasuke remained ever courteous, though there were times when Sasuke's wintery eyes flashed dangerously and, sometimes, he would force Lee down and sit on him till Lee was calm. Once, they had sat in a glaring contest for well over four hours. Every once in awhile, Sasuke would slap the back of his head if he felt Lee wasn't listening to him, or he would nibble and bite at him if he wanted his full attention.
Otherwise, though, considering the things Sasuke wanted to do to him, and never bothered to hide wanting to do to him, Sasuke had been treating him pretty well.
It almost made Lee rethink his actions over the past month. Because, like her, he could have ended up with someone worse, because, with seven contenders in the Ring, it would have been impossible to end up with no one.
He wondered, chillingly, what happened to those who were won by no one, and a vision of one boy he had seen from one of the windows rose up behind his eyes, the dead look of his eyes and the collar around his throat, being dragged on a leash by a man shouting in several different languages that a night of pleasure was promised for a few measly coins.
Then he reminded himself of the fact that Sasuke would take his agreeable nature as a submission and most likely try to mount him again.
No, no… He was best off fighting till the day he died.
"I am okay," he told her truthfully. His heart still hurt, would possibly always hurt, over the conditions in which that had brought them to the West, but, otherwise, he was fine. Physically, emotionally, he was healing. "He doesn't hurt me."
She frowned. "Do you like him?"
His first thought was to say no with as much venom and hatred as possible. But then his second thought made him pause.
Did he like him? He didn't have any deep emotions for Sasuke, but, as a friend or even as a rival, did Lee enjoy Sasuke's company?
Not when he was being perverted, but Lee would admit, that staring content continued to amuse him whenever he remembered it. Here he was, in a maze with his imou-saeng, Sasuke a decent distance away, and it hadn't even occurred to him to grab her and run away as fast as he could.
"He's okay," he settled for lamely, deciding that he would consider his feelings for Sasuke later when he had more time.
He always had time nowadays, he thought to himself bitterly. He used to always be busy, hunting, farming, fishing, fending off other village boys because they couldn't believe how lithe he was for all of his activities. His apoto had been lithe as well, and his okaa-ma exceptionally tiny, his adopted apoto had told him. His adopted apoto had been only slightly more muscular.
Now, all he ever did was eat, sleep, bathe, and fend off Sasuke.
She considered him with her colorless eyes, as if trying to detect a lie. When she found none, she smiled again. "I'm glad. I want you to be happy too, big brother. Has he… Have you two…?" Her face was brazen red and Lee feared she would pass out at any moment if she didn't remember to breathe.
"He tried to, the first night," he admitted, and she sucked in a deep, horrified breath. "He stopped."
"Thank Gaia."
He nodded, sharing the sentiment.
"There is a waterfall in Sasuke's room," he said, hoping she would appreciate the beauty of the vision and that they could keep talking.
Her eyes widened with awe. Then she grinned. "There is a frog farm in ours. They grow so big! Naruto said that there is a frog that towers over the surrounding forests as if they were just sprouts and that he has a sour temper whenever Naruto calls on him."
"Frogs can't get that big!"
"This one can."
"That is amazing!" Lee cried out. "What do they eat?"
She opened her mouth, shut it, and then stared blankly at him. "I… don't… know… I've never seen them eat. Maybe I could ask them."
"That would be a good idea." Talking about frogs made him miss the land turtles from his own home. They had had tales to tell, ancient tales, and a few even let travelers ride on their backs as they recounted their stories. It had been Lee's favorite pastime as a child, to climb onto a turtle's back and listen to the creature tell him about legends and stories and myths.
He wondered if any of the turtles had escaped the capturers unharmed, or if they were being sold as exotic pets. One could not make a pet of a turtle – turtles went at their own pace, and offered no amusement unless they wanted to.
Were frogs the same way? He furrowed his brows curiously.
"Your hair is down for once," she pointed out softly. "I like it."
"I don't. It gets everywhere and tangles and it clings to me when it's wet." But Lee would never cut it.
When he had vowed to take her on as a little sister at the age of nine, they had made their hair the physical manifestation of their bond. He could only cut it if she disowned him, or if she died, and she could only cut it for the same reasons. Anything else and…
Lee didn't even know what would happen.
"Do you want me to braid it for you?" she offered.
Lee looked up.
As if sensing his gaze on him, Sasuke looked over at the same time. Or, maybe, Sasuke had been staring at him for awhile. Either way, their eyes met and the visual connection sizzled between them. There were forbidden things promised in Sasuke's dark eyes as he smirked lewdly. Naruto squawked and punched Sasuke in the chest, demanding his attention back, but it wasn't till Lee managed to tear his eyes away that Naruto got what he wanted.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto go flying into the pond. His imou-saeng gasped and rushed to her feet, coming to the side of the pond to help the blonde out.
"We're leaving now," Sasuke announced, strolling towards Lee at an unhurried pace.
So much for having his imou-saeng braid his hair.
"Hinata, did you see that?" Naruto snarled. ""Hiba det pata!"
Sasuke merely smirked.
Lee looked up at Sasuke, not wanting to look upset, but not able to help it either. "When will I get to see my imou-saeng next?" He didn't know what he would do if Sasuke said he would never see her again. This moment of happiness would be enough to last him the rest of his life, if he relived it every moment he could, wearing out the edges of the memory like a painting that had been caressed too often. But he didn't want this to be the last time he saw her. The separation he already had to deal with was bad enough.
Sasuke appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Naruto and I will discuss dates that you two can meet on."
Lee went limp with relief. It was not overlooked by Sasuke, and something almost went soft in his expression as he offered a hand down to him.
There was a chance that there was a meaning behind the gesture, an offering or a promise or something else. But Lee was happy. Lee wasn't going to have to go without his imou-saeng as he had feared when she had first been ripped out of his arms.
So he took Sasuke's hand and was pulled to his feet. Then pulled to Sasuke's chest. And then Sasuke was kissing him, long and deep and with a hint of something that had never been there before, something Lee thought could be gentle and patient if it hadn't been for the tongue that licked at the seam of his mouth.
Naruto snapped in the background. "Get a room!"
~""~
Lee sat on the very edge of the room, stretching his feet out to touch the thunderous fall of water.
Suddenly, there was a hand on the nape of his neck, teeth at the junction of his throat and shoulder, and Sasuke growled as he wrapped an arm around Lee's waist. The hand at his neck wandered down to feel Lee through his sarape.
He shuddered before he could stop himself and his body leaned into Sasuke's touch. The man smirked against his flesh and Lee shivered.
"You're tired," Sasuke tried to convince him. "You want to rest… in my nest… in my arms… where we'll wake up in the morning and I'll make a man of you…"
Lee threw his shoulders back and dislodged Sasuke. "I'm already a man!"
"Are you?" Sasuke nipped his jaw in punishment. "I was under the impression that you've never been touched… till I came along."
"Sex," Lee blushed at the word, "does not make a man."
"Says the virgin."
Lee huffed and pulled his hair over his shoulder. His deft fingers pulled and loped each strand into one thick rope, perfecting the image of ignoring Sasuke.
The overwhelming heat that came off of Sasuke in waves settled close to him – far too close. Sasuke's front was pressed against his back and his legs were bent on either side of him. The arm that was around his waist pulled impossibly closer.
Lee sucked in a deep breath as Sasuke's clothed erection pressed into the small of his back.
Gaia, not again…
"Relax," Sasuke purred into his ear, right before he pulled his ear lobe between his teeth. "You're safe for now, mi akouple."
"I don't feel safe."
"Have I ever lied about my intentions?"
Lee stared down at his cold, wet feet. No, he hadn't. Lee already knew that, Sasuke had been very open and unashamedly forward about his wants and desires.
"Then what are you doing?"
"Relieving boredom."
"I'm sure there's something else you can do."
"Well, what I want to do is being uncooperative. For now, I'm just…"
"Bothering me."
"One would think, with the way you smiled at Hinata, that you were a person to love company."
Lee opened and shut his mouth in quick succession. Then, sighing, he went for painful honesty. "The situation in which that brought me here did not leave me wanting for a stranger to rub himself against me and treat me like a pet."
He almost expected Sasuke to get irritated or angry.
Instead, he snickered into Lee's ear. "If you were my pet, I assure you, I would have already taught you to do some very pleasurable tricks."
Lee would not dignify that with an answer. He stuck his chin up in the air and told himself that his face felt hot because Sasuke was a living, breathing fire. Not because of his own mortification. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "What do you do in the winter?"
Having a waterfall during the summer would be nice and cool, no doubt. But, then, summer did not last all year. The floor had to become ice and the water had to become bitingly frigid.
"Winter?"
Lee frowned. "Yes, when the air gets cold and the ground is hard. Animals migrate? Falling snow?"
"Snow…" Sasuke's chin settled on his shoulder. "That must be an Eastern word."
"It's wet and cold and it falls from the sky," Lee struggled to explain. Everyone knew what snow was.
"… You mean rain."
"No, I mean snow. Snow is white when it falls from the sky."
"White rain."
"No, rain is rain. Rain happens all year around, but there is only one season for snow. Winter."
"I know you don't know my language, but the least you can do is use the Earth Language."
"I am using the Earth Language."
"I've never heard of things called winter and snow before," Sasuke told him. "We have growing seasons. Not everything we farm grows at the same time or same rate as everything else."
"But doesn't it get cold here?"
"Some days."
Lee sat there, absolutely astounded. There was no winter here. No snow. If there wasn't snow, and it wasn't always cold, then there was most likely no ice.
Sasuke chuckled softly and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "We just had a nonviolent conversation."
Lee scowled and rubbed his hand over the offended skin. "You couldn't let it stay that way, could you?"
"I was taking advantage of the situation. I have you in my arms, we're discussing the weather, and there's a waterfall. The moment was set for a kiss."
"Careful, Sasuke, that almost sounded sweet."
"You liked it." Sasuke nuzzled behind his ear. "Your ears turn as red as your face does when you react to me."
"That means nothing!"
"I knew the civility couldn't last." Sasuke turned his head and pressed a hard, hungry kiss to his lips.
If the kiss lasted a while longer than it usually did, Lee was too far gone to care.
~""~
Translations:
Gaida – an international holiday celebrating the birth of the Earth, celebrated much like Christmas except on the summer and winter solstices.
Oh-pit – Cousin – Language of the East
Apoto – dad/father – Language of the East
Adopted Apoto – A man who takes an orphan, or unwanted child, as his own son or daughter; a man who is taken in
Leho sou Difue – Leaf on Fire – Language of the West
Onii-saeing – Big sister – Language of the East
Okaa-ma – mom/mother – Language of the East
Mi akouple – My mate – Language of the West
Alfelaches – Cowards or Weaklings – Language of the West
Author's Note: -dignity laugh- Of COURSE the characters are in character! Why wouldn't they be? … Okay, maybe they're not. BUT I TRIED.
I do not own any of the Naruto characters.
