Speechless

The next time Gaara woke, it was to the sound of Lee's exuberant voice.

"Gaara-kun, would you like something to eat or drink? You must be famished!"

"Hn," Gaara looked away, the light emanating from Lee's face hurt his eyes.

"But Gaara-kun!" scolded Lee with one hand on his hip, the other he wagged in Gaara's face disapprovingly. He was the perfect image of an exasperated mother, save for the curly wig,

"Gaara-kun, you need to eat. You have got to regain some of your strength!"

Lee hoisted up an oak tray table heavily laden with food and placed it in front of Gaara on the bed. Lee picked up a spoon and ladled up some hot chicken soup, offering it to Gaara saying, "Now open wide Gaara-kun!"

Gaara just stared incredulously at the smiling leaf nin, 'he's kidding…right?'

"Lee-kun… I can feed myself,"

"No, Gaara-kun, do not push yourself," Lee replied brilliantly, almost blinding Gaara again with his overly large smile.

"…!" When Gaara opened his mouth again to protest the treatment, Lee forced the spoonful of soup into his mouth. It was delicious. Warm chicken broth, big chunks of tender chicken, noodles, carrots and celery, spices, all blended together magnificently. Gaara could tell immediately that it was homemade.

"It's… good, Lee-kun. I can feed myself… I insist,"

"Okay…" agreed Lee somewhat reluctantly and gave up the utensil. He sat back as Gaara hoisted himself up and began to chatter.

"So, Gaara-kun, are you feeling well again?"

"Hn…"

"I don't know if you had any serious internal injuries, are you in any pain?"

"Hn,"

"How are your ribs healing?"

"Hn,"

"Are you sure you will not tell me who did this to you?"

That made Gaara pause, "…why… do you want to know so badly?"

"I would go hunt them down and do the same to them as they did to you!" Lee replied brightly, as if he had merely commented on the weather.

Gaara could only stare.

'He would do that… for me?'

Gaara looked at the happily smiling leaf nin and wondered, 'Why? Why would Lee feel that strongly for me? I'm from another village; I've tried to kill him and his friends… I've even almost succeeded at that a number of times. He knows about all of the horrible things that I've done…Why does he consider me a friend, and not a horrible enemy?'

All the while Gaara was thinking, Lee was pondering. (The line coming up is borrowed from the fabulous book Fluke, or I Know Why The Winged Wales Sing. Which was written by Christopher Moore) You see, thinking is very different from pondering. With thinking, you sort of jam the facts into the little slots in your brain until one of them fits correctly, then you start all over again. No, thinking was not for the free spirited Lee. He was a ponder-er. To ponder, one must sit back and calm down, take a step away from the problem at hand and just look at the facts that you have. You let those facts roll around in your brain until one drops into place. Pondering was a much gentler thought process than just all out thinking. Yes, Lee was a ponder-er.

'Who could it be? Sasuke? Naruto? They could definitely do it… but WOULD they? Nooo, they both respect Gaara-kun too much to beat him that badly. Maybe another Chuunin or a Jounin… Gai-sensei? Kakashi-sensei? Iruka-sensei? But… they would not do something like that.'

'WHO!' the leaf nin turned and looked at Gaara.

"Gaara-kun. Why will you not tell me who did this?"

"I… can't," Gaara looked away quickly, returning to his now cold soup.

'I just can't tell him that… THAT person did this to me…' thought Gaara uneasily.

"Well that must mean that they are forcing you not to tell anyone!" proclaimed the green monster excitedly.

Gaara looked up in pure surprise, "What?"

"Yes, that is it! They ganged up on you and used under handed tactics to defeat you. Then they threatened either you or someone or something you care about so you will not give away their identities. And they are planning to finish the job tonight! The cowardice! YOU MUST LET ME HELP YOU GAARA-KUN!"

By this time, Lee had worked himself into such a frenzy, he was standing with one foot on the bed and leaning forward with his taped fists raised in triumph.

Gaara felt something stir in his chest at the antics of the ninja before him. This strange and foreign feeling rose up in his chest and into his throat. Soon it bubbled into his mouth and escaped as a small, but genuine, laugh.

"Heh!" Lee's eyes widened, his eyebrows almost disappearing under his coal black hair.

"…Gaara?…"

"Heh, heh heh. Ha, ha ha ha ha, HA HA HA HA HA!" Sides hurting, Gaara found that he liked this feeling, laughing.

For probably the first time in his young life, Rock Lee, was speechless.