Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would have been shot the day he betrayed Konoha.
Chapter Three: Attraction
Of course, the first person Gaara saw when he stepped through the village gates was a very depressed taijitsu master. The Kazekage quickened his pace.
"Are you alright?" Gaara mentally slapped himself. Of course Lee wasn't alright! The normally peppy ninja looked depressed and half asleep.
Half asleep?
"Aah!" Lee jumped. Suddenly, he was wide awake. "Gaara! I am sorry! I must be somewhere!" The leaf-nin dashed off.
Gaara was a little hurt at that one. Did he smell bad?
"I told you, Kankuro," Temari said. "Look, he's checking his breath."
"My little brother is not in love with another man! Maybe he's just self-conscious all of a sudden!"
Temari raised an eyebrow and was about to give a smug reply when Shikamaru walked up. "Temari, do you mind if I talk to you for a second?"
Temari knew what it was about. "I have to escort the Kazekage to the Hokage's office. I'll talk to you later!"
Kankuro did not know what it was about. "I'll take care of our little brother. We will go STRAIGHT to Naruto's office, because Gaara is like that."
Temari sighed. "I SAID I'M COMING!"
"Okay! Okay!" The puppet master put his hands up defensively.
"And Gaara's in love," she added under her breath as she walked past him.
"HE IS NOT! You don't know everything, Temari!"
"Wanna bet?"
"Mendokuse," Shikamaru sighed before walking off. There was no point in arguing with the stubborn kunoichi. Arguing was such a drag.
"Bye, Shika! Okay, Gaara, let's…"
The Kazekage had disappeared.
--
Gaara stealthily entered the Hokage's office. Naruto was writing Hinata's name repeatedly on his desk, grinning goofily. He looked like a giddy schoolgirl.
The Kazekage cleared his throat. The embarrassed Jinchuuriki scrambled for an excuse ("Sasuke came to Konoha and slipped something in my water while I was asleep!") before giving up and offering him a seat. Gaara couldn't say anything. He had covered his desk with Lee's name in an attempt to get the leaf shinobi out of his head. That had been the weekend before the nightmares started.
"How are the preparations for the mission going?"
"Excellent," Gaara said half-heartedly.
"What's the matter with you?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I told you! Sasu-"
"If he really poisoned your water supply, why do you want him back?"
"He's like the bother I never had…" The Hokage stared into space nostalgically. "That, and I promised Sakura that I would bring him back. Sure, she acts like she doesn't care anymore, but who knows her better than her best friend?"
"She does?"
"Oh, yeah! She absolutely flipped when I told her you were planning to take a shot at getting him back. Between you and me" -Naruto leaned forward- "I think she's starting to have feelings for Sai!"
"I couldn't care less. What is the real reason you called me?"
Naruto sighed. "At first, that was it. But just before you arrived, a certain shinobi, who's going to remain anonymous, told me about an arrangement to assassinate you. He said he would tell us if any set plans are made."
"What level are they?"
"Jonin."
"How many?"
"Ten. No, wait, nine. Fuzzy I-I MEAN, OUR INFORMANT, said he wouldn't help, so that leaves nine Jonin."
Fuzzy Eyebrows? Even the Kazekage knew that was Naruto's nickname for Rock Lee. Something twitched in Gaara's stomach at the thought of Lee caring enough to warn him.
"Are you okay, Gaara? Your face is turning red! You must be running a fever for it to show through the sand!"
"I'm not wearing the sand," Gaara growled. Lately, he'd been wearing it less and less in hopes of getting a tan. His sun deprived skin seemed paler than ever, if anything.
Naruto rested a hand on the Kazekage's forehead, only to have it swatted away. "I'm fine! I… I'm going to go thank Lee."
"F-for what?"
"For existing," Gaara replied, disappearing in a swirl of sand.
Naruto sat there for a second, trying to figure out what the cryptic sand-nin meant, before giving up and doodling a little picture of Hinata on a report.
--
Lee was lazily slurping up ramen at Ichiraku's when Gaara walked in. Deciding the Kazekage was safe around him for the time being, he just stared at the bowl.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Temari held me up in the middle of the street for a lecture."
Was there a date between them that Lee had forgotten about? N-not a date! A, uh, gathering! The taijitsu master wasn't satisfied with this word either.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Thank you for warning Naruto about the-"
"Shhh! They are watching!" Lee sighed. "I told him to keep it anonymous."
"You know Naruto."
Lee watched the Kazekage as he placed his order, to-go. "You are not going to stick around?"
"Do you want me to?"
"Well, yes." Lee wondered vaguely what shade of red he was turning.
--
"I told you, Kankuro," Temari hissed from their spot in the bushes outside the stand.
"That doesn't mean anything!"
"Oh, but it does!"
Kankuro glared. "You talked to Gaara, didn't you?"
"Keep it down, will you? Yes, I may have pointed out a few things to our dense little brother about love."
"You don't know anything!"
"What was that?" Temari could look pretty menacing when she wanted to.
"Nothing!"
--
The ramen Gaara got from Temari and Kankuro was freezing. But he still didn't want to leave. As cheesy as it sounds, there was a pull between him and Lee. It had always been there, dragging him off to the hospital to see his friend when he'd ruined the shinobi's dreams, calling him to the fight with Kimimaro… But it was stronger now.
The Kazekage was having the time of his life, just sitting there and talking to Lee. Maybe Temari was right.
Maybe it really was love.
Of course, Gaara didn't believe in that sort of thing. But when he was with Rock Lee, it was kind of hard not to. All of the stress of his job, the upcoming mission, and the Green Fist melted away. He even made plans to meet him on the roof of his hotel the next night.
Sabaku no Gaara, former homicidal psychopath, walked home on sunshine. (And Kankuro has to clean the house from top to bottom when they get back to Suna, thanks to the fact he totally lost that bet with Temari.)