Unit 6

Lee's new apartment was nothing compared to the one he had with Gaara. There was barely a view, it was small, and the bedroom was more for a child than an adult. Not to mention the sliding glass doors were right next to the bed, begging to have a robber break in and steal everything in sight. There were no curtains on top of that.

Lee had a picture frame of Gaara right next to his bed.

'Gaara couldn't have been himself,' he thought, lying on the bed. 'It's only a matter of time before Gaara comes to his senses…'

It sucked sleeping alone. In the middle of the night he would roll over and be careful not to hit Gaara when in the process, only to realize Gaara isn't there.

'What am I going to do with my life…? I can't go to the training grounds, he'll be expecting that. And I can't talk to him about this. What if he's still mad at me?'

Lee rolled over away from the picture of Gaara on his night stand. He knew Gaara could hold a grudge for a long time. The last words Gaara said to him was, "Get out." Lee knew that wasn't good. Not one bit. Trying to decide what to do was like playing hide and go seek with Gaara. He didn't want to be spotted, but he wanted the game over quickly. Lee knew Gaara probably wouldn't talk to him, but he kind of wanted to, like how they did before he asked Gaara out.

A knock at the door woke Lee up from his daydream.

"Who's there?" Lee stood up.

"It's just me," said a feminine voice. "Can I talk to you?"

Lee rolled his eyes. He didn't want to deal with this person in a time like this.

Sakura opened the door, wearing her usual flashy pink.

"What do you want?" Lee asked, not looking at her. "I thought we agreed to stop talking after that night on the street."

"Have you lost your manners so fast?"

"And you have manners?"

Lee didn't see Sakura pout.

"Hey, why don't we go get something and talk?" she walked over to the bed and sat next to him, uncomfortably close. Lee leaned away from her to talk.

"Like what?" Lee asked.

"There's a great ramen shop here," she replied, not paying attention to Lee's position.

"There's no way I'm going out with you," Lee looked away and got up, almost walking out the door before Sakura said something else. The last time they went to 'go get something and talk' Lee felt very uncomfortable. Not only did he feel like he was cheating on Gaara, but he also felt like Gaara was watching him. No way in hell would Lee go out with her again.

"You should," Sakura said. "For your sake."

Lee stopped dead in his tracks, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I know about your relationship with the Kazegage," she pulled out a small ear piece from her ears and showed it to Lee, keeping a good distance.

"Gaara doesn't have his sand powers any more. Those Akatsuki were nice enough to take that Shukaku away. I could easily send out my team to take him away and do what's necessary."

"What do you mean by 'necessary'?" Lee became pale.

Sakura grinned, "I mean I could do away with him any minute. So you better do what I say. There are ninjas watching him twenty-four seven."

Lee felt cornered. He knew he should just forget about Gaara, he had dumped him anyways. But he just couldn't think about Gaara being killed. Lee stared at the earpiece, thinking intently about Gaara's life.

'No, I can't let Gaara die like that,' Lee gritted his teeth. 'Damn, being so caught off guard like this, I'm tied to a corner here! I can't believe she would black mail me.'

"What do you want me to do?" Lee asked, hopeless.

Gaara finished writing down the apology letter. He tried to make it as casual as possible, but made it serious as well. He folded it into thirds and opened the window, ready to jump from building to building to get to Lee's current residence. Just as he put a foot on the window ledge, he paused.

'Wait, would I look like a fool going there? What if Lee's not at home? What if he doesn't accept the apology and gets mad?' Gaara shook his head to get all the negative thoughts out, 'I got to do this. Lee's probably as confused as I am, if not more.'

He leaped out the window, landing on the top of a business building. He stood up straight and held the letter up to reflect on his plans. He felt the urge to go back in the office, but he didn't want to give up on his relationship with Lee.

Though it was in the middle of the night, the Suna was still busy. The only way Gaara could see when he was leaping from building to building was by the street lights and restaurants that were open late. Gaara didn't notice he had the letter up to his mouth, almost in a kissing gesture. When he landed on a particular apartment, he took time to look around. He closed his eyes and started to sense the chakras in the building. Lee's chakra was very different; after all he was only able to do taijutsu. He ignored all other chakras in the building as he climbed down a ladder to find Lee's room. Only one room's light was on, the one that Lee was definitely in. The metal balcony was shaky; Gaara even hesitated to get on. He pressed his body on the cold wall, making sure not to show himself too quickly.

Gaara took in a breath of the cold night air. He could see his breath as he exhaled, almost trying to push his anxiety out of him. He didn't know why he was so nervous, this was Lee after all. Lee was a part of his soul; he shared every moment with him. Gaara realized one crucial fact at that moment.

'No wonder I feel lost without him…'

He turned his head to peek at through the screen door, taking a minute to let his eyes adjust. He started to see Lee's figure, as well as another. They seemed to be merging together, like whispering to each other. Gaara started to feel uncomfortable…

'Who…?'

Pink hair covered Lee's face as Gaara watched in confusion. He felt extremely uncomfortable, as if he wanted to run away. He also felt like a pervert, watching such things through a glass door. Then a pain shot through Gaara as Sakura revealed her face more, staring into Lee's eyes with a smile. Then she leaned in for another kiss, letting her hand feel on Lee, his Lee. The Lee that Gaara had kissed and felt as well. Gaara gritted his teeth.

'Don't touch him! Don't even dare!' Gaara thought in pure anger as he bared his teeth.

Sakura dared though; her hands getting into his jumpsuit and her arms wrapping around him. Gaara looked at Lee, his anger fading a bit before coming back. Lee didn't even pull away! He just sat there and took it! Gaara felt cold tears run down his face. That was his Lee. She had no right.

Gaara closed his eyes and forced his head to turn away. He took the letter from his hands and shredded it.

'Damnit…' Gaara let the shredded bits fly from his hands.

Gaara walked over to the balcony ladder and started to climb down. He didn't feel up to jumping back to the office anymore. The bars on the ladder were freezing, but it didn't matter. The cold weather made his hands numb. He needed something to take his mind off of this incident. Just a nice long walk…

Gaara curled up in his bed, a little cold, but he didn't have the willpower to pull the covers up over him. The images of Lee and Sakura were still fresh in his mind, and he couldn't get rid of them no matter how much he cried or how hard he blinked. His legs were pulled upward and his arms hugged him tightly. He could here loud footsteps coming towards his apartment.

'Damn them. They have a great life together yet Lee and I had a stronger bond,' Gaara envied. 'Off at a club again, I presume?'

Silence left the air as the door flung open and the air was filled with laughter and the smell of sweat. Gaara glanced at the clock. It was past midnight. He hid his face in the pillows as they started to walk past him and push the bed around in a joking manner. Gaara made a faint sob for them to stop.

"What's wrong, Gaara?!" Naruto shouted, continuing to shake the poor, upset Gaara.

"Naruto, I think you should stop. I think Gaara's serious," Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto stopped shaking the bed and instead victimized Sasuke, "What, is he on his man-period or something?!"

"Naruto, if you don't shut the fuck up right now--!!" Sasuke yelled.

Naruto let go of Sasuke and seemed almost shocked that someone stood up to his ADHD. Sasuke pushed Naruto out of the way and hesitantly sat down next to Gaara and laid a hand on his back. The sense of excitement suddenly left the room.

"Hey…" Sasuke whispered, gently nudged Gaara in a tender way. "What's the matter?"

'Those words…'

Gaara curled up more into a tight cocoon and broke into tears in the pillow.

'Like someone actually cares…'

This time Naruto went on the other side of the bed and laid down next the Gaara, propping himself up with his arm.

"Please tell us," Sasuke said. "We're here for you. Come on."

Gaara scooted his face down the pillow so that only his mouth was free.

"Lee…"

"Yes? What happened?"

"Lee was with Sakura."

Sasuke shifted his position, "Wait… so the rumors were true?"

"I don't know! I went to talk to Lee and she was with him. They were--"

"I don't even want to know. Please just…" Sasuke started rubbing his nose in a frustrated manner. "Don't even go there."

"Okay," Gaara whispered in response. "But what am I going to do?"

"You let us handle this. I didn't want to get involved, but if Sakura is involved then so am I."

Naruto scratched his head, "Ever since Sasuke rejected her after he came back to the Konaha, she's been kind of… What's the term?"

"Bitchy?"

"Yea, that," Naruto said, pointing a finger at Sasuke.

Gaara slowly began to sit up. "Okay, so what are you going to do?"

"Gaara, we've told you this!" Naruto stuck out his Mighto Gai pose. "We have a few tricks up our sleeves!"