Disclaimer; Ahem. Naruto and all related characters and places are not mine, Their Kishimoto Masashi's. Bow. BOW TO HIM. Next chapter should be very very soon

Warning! Yaoi in this story! GaaLee, NaruSasu. None, really, in this chapter. A tiny swearing in this chapter.

Chapter Four

"Only Friend"

When Gaara was younger, his room was his sacred place; a secret, dark, impenetrable mystery, which neither of his elder siblings had dared to enter. Evidence of Shukaku's violence, and Gaara's insomnia riddled every inch of the dull little room. Loud, angry music constantly pounded from within, and when Gaara had taken up smoking, it had seeped out, making anyone who walked past turn their head to the scent. When he'd moved to the academy, and been placed in a dorm with Naruto, and the two had clashed. Naruto wanted to know who on earth the dark eyed, silent red-head thought he was, the way he acted, and Gaara wanted nothing to do with the noisy, brightly dressed blonde.

Kankuro stressed desperately to everyone, every teacher, every student, to treat Gaara as well as he and Temari tried to do, but to no avail. No one could see why the boy deserved special treatment, until he attacked Lee. In the selections, he'd been a mystery. 'That kid that Kankuro had warned everyone about,' and that was about all they knew. Unfortunately, it was Lee who'd found out the hard way, with a broken arm and leg, and from then on, Gaara was a well-known force to be reckoned with; everyone was frightened of him…again. A few morons crossed him, with lesser fates than Lee, and a few bigger morons crossed him, and ended up near dead.

Kankuro was the only one who ever saw through Gaara's cruel personality to his true heart, and loved him dearly for it. He knew how difficult every day Gaara lived was, and appreciated how truly difficult it was. Gaara did not know, nor care about this until he was at least halfway through his teen years. By the time he was seventeen, Kankuro was Gaara's confidant, advisor, and most importantly, at last, regarded as his brother. Kankuro was his only friend.

Gaara would never tell Kankuro how much he adored him. Niichan, there on cold, or lonely days. There when he hated himself, there when he needed him most. There when he couldn't sleep.

Today, Kankuro had decided he felt particularly annoying, and had decided to flick hot peas from his ham and pea soup at his older sister. Breakfast had never been so sticky.

Temari lifted a hand and effortlessly caught one of the little green projectiles in her hand, glaring daggers at Kankuro. "Stop it," She warned, lowering her eyes back down to her own breakfast and chucking the pea aside.

At that exact moment, a certain tall someone, with an insanely perfect bowl cut and just as bad eyebrows, wearing a tight green turtleneck jumper, just happened to be passing by. The offending vegetable had flown directly into the side of Lee's face, causing him to cry out in shock and drop his breakfast all over the floor. Gulping down offended tears, Lee dropped to his knees to salvage what he could. Unfortunately, this was only a single piece of toast, which, of course, had landed butter-side-down. The rest, his soup and hot lemon tea, was sloshed across the floor.

Temari, hearing the massive racket of Lee's lunch tray crashing to the ground, had turned around. "Oh!" She gasped, "Oh, god, I'm so sorry!" She remembered the poor boy from the selections, and knew that he was well aware of her relation to Gaara. Getting up from her chair, she knelt next to him, smiling apologetically. "Lee, right? I didn't mean to hit you, my brother was being a bastard."

Lee nodded, avoiding Temari's eyes and scooping his teacup and bowl back onto his lunch tray, putting the solitary piece of toast in his mouth and chewing it down inhumanly fast. He'd recognized the blonde girl in a second, and desperately wanted to avoid her. He'd heard of her vicious personality, and her sharp wit from Shikamaru many times, and knowing all too well that she was Gaara's eldest sibling, he figured she'd have a thing or two to say about his friendship with her littlest brother. "Uh, it's okay," Lee whispered, getting quickly to his feet and trying to push past Temari.

She'd stood up just as quick, and grabbed Lee's shoulder. "Hey, look, I'll vouch for your replacement lunch, hm? I'll tell them it was my fault." Her smile seemed scary to Lee, somehow, and he desperately tried to push past her again.

"Uh, no! No, it's fine, really!" He tried to laugh, but it came out high and nervous.

Temari frowned. She might owe it to this boy to help him out, after all, it was her little brother who'd put him out of the selections, and any sport for that matter, for months, but he seemed very irritating and bizarre. She forced a smile and held Lee more forcefully. "I'm gonna get you your breakfast, whether you like it or not, kiddo. I owe it to you."

Lee looked out of breath from being so frightened, and his eyes darted to Kankuro. The darkly-dressed older boy, with purple eyeliner and matching lipstick, grinned to Lee in recognition. Lee remembered that the bizarre teen hadn't been too favorably inclined towards his friendship with Gaara, but had told him (once Gaara was out of earshot, of course) that he appreciated his bravery, and kindness. Lee also remembered his dire warnings of Gaara's violence and unpredictability.

Hoping desperately Temari was as kind-hearted as her two brothers, Lee allowed himself to be dragged away by the determinedly nice girl.

"He really is weird, isn't he?" Kankuro asked Gaara, as he'd recently appeared beside him, setting down his plate and flopping apathetically into the seat beside his older brother.

"Hn," Gaara replied.

Kankuro turned his eyes down back to his breakfast, staring at two peas circling a bobbing cube of ham. It was difficult to place the empty feeling he got, realizing horribly that he was no longer his little brother's only friend. "Gaara?"

Gaara's head jerked in his brother's direction, a frown dousing his usually calm face. "You sound sad." He noted, looking ever-so-slightly concerned.

"I…I'm not, bro. Just promise me something, okay?" Kankuro turned his face to his brother, leaning on his elbow and resting his cheek on his hand.

Gaara nodded slowly, listening intently.

"Promise to let me fucking kill him first, if he hurts you."


(Whoo! I struggled a little with this chapter, but expect the next real soon! The story's flowing itself through my brain nicely now.

Short-On-Ideas- Thank you so much for your kind words! You're really inspiring me to write more.

Miharo- Keep reading, I love your comments.

Heaven Or Hell- Updating is fun. Update for you!!

All my other reveiws! I love you all so much!! Lee loves reveiws, so keep 'em commin'!)