Face Down

Chapter 7

Lee smiled my favourite smile and pulled me onto the bed with him. I lay beside him and snuggled into the welcoming warmth of his body.

"I am so glad that you love me." He whispered, nuzzling my neck.

"How could I not love you?" I replied softly, giggling.

He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tight. "You are so cold..."

"So are you."

"In that case, we will have to keep each other warm then, huh?"

I nodded sleepily. "Hai... I enjoy your company. I love you so much."

"I love you more."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do, Gaara-kun."

I blushed. "Then I love you the same."

"Good." We lay there for a few minutes, snuggled up together. I lay my head on his chest, listening to his heart as the steady rhythm acted as a sort of lullaby to me. He was my comfort. My eyelids became heavy with drowsiness.

"You know what?" Came Lee's deep, seductive voice.

"Mmh?" I hummed sleepily.

"I think that we should make the current living arrangements permanent."

I turned my head to look at him. "Are you proposing that we live together?" I asked with a smirk.

"Hai." He nuzzled my cheek. "You will be the perfect person to fill that empty space in my bed. Winter nights are always colder than usual without somebody there to snuggle." He said gently. "Anyway, since I love you so much, then I think that it will be a good idea. You love me too right? What do you think?"

"I accept the offer - of course I love you." I replied happily, trying to mimic Lee's formal way of speech.

"Good." He grinned.

I giggled lightly.

"I am feeling better already now."

"Hey, don't get your hopes up. You need to rest okay? Just as Tsunade said." I reminded him.

He sighed. "I know, but I cannot wait to get out of here and be with you."

"Me too."

There was a light knock on the door and Tsunade came in a few seconds later. "You both look so cute together." She remarked with a warm smile as she walked over to the bed.

I blushed and smiled back awkwardly.

"Heh... Thanks." Lee said.

"Anyway, how are you feeling, Lee? You gave us quite a scare you know. We didn't think you'd pull through."

"I am feeling great thanks to my Gaara-kun here – and of course thanks to you."

I blushed again.

"That's great. Anything either of you need?"

I sat up and looked at Tsunade. "Um... could you bring him some pain relief please? He's too stubborn to admit he needs it, but I can read him like a book."

"Of course I can." She injected some morphine into one of the tubes attached to Lee's arm. "There. You'll feel much better soon."

"Arigato." He said sheepishly.

"No problem." The blonde woman turned to me. "Are you ready to go back to your room?"

"Yeah. I won't be staying overnight will I?" I asked.

"Probably not, but we need to examine you for illness and internal bleeding. Depending on what we find, it will determine whether you can go home, or if you have to stay overnight." She explained, helping me up.

"I feel fine."

"Then that's a good sign."

I smiled and looked at Lee before kissing him on the lips. "See you soon."

He nodded. "Keep safe, Gaara-kun."

Tsunade led me out of the room and we walked down the corridor. I hated hospitals late at night; they were always full of drunks, drug addicts and violent people. Already, they were stumbling about the wards, hurling abuse at the poor, terrified nurses. It reminded me of when Sasuke used to get drunk and act violent toward me. Mind you, he was violent in any state of mind; Especially if I was hanging around. Alcohol made him much worse though; he'd rape me for at least five hours straight and then beat me up afterwards after a few drinks. What a life. Anyway, I didn't need to think about him anymore. He was out of my life for good and it was just Lee and I. That thought made me smile to say the least. I couldn't wait until we both got better and started again with our lives.

Once back in my room, Tsunade listened to my chest for a few minutes with a stethoscope. "Your heartbeat is still extremely fast." She said worriedly. "Are you panicking about anything?"

"No." I replied. "As I said before, I feel perfectly fine."

"It's probably because of the hypothermia. Lay down and I'll fetch you some more blankets."

"Thank you." I said, obeying her orders.

"Are you in any pain?" She asked as she covered me over with a few more layers.

"My leg obviously and my back and chest."

"Can you breathe properly?"

"Not really... it hurts because of my ribs."

She then listened to my breathing. "Okay. I don't think you're well enough to go home."

I sighed.

"I'll keep you in overnight for observation and we'll see how you are in the morning."

"Right."

"Get some rest and shout me if you need anything."

"Will do."

The door opened. "Occhan!" Squealed the voice of a hyperactive four year-old. Mai trotted up to the bed. "Up, up!" She babbled, waving her arms in the air.

"Mai..." I picked her up and sat her on my bed. Temari and Shikamaru then came in.

"She really saved your butt there, huh?" my sister asked, grinning.

"Yeah..." I replied, petting Mai's blonde hair softly. She yawned and curled up to my side before promptly falling asleep.

"I'll leave you all to talk then. See you later, Gaara." Said Tsunade, leaving the room.

Shikamaru pulled up a chair and sat beside my bed. "Heard the news about Sasuke. It's great, isn't it? He was a troublesome fellow after all..."

Temari smacked him on the back of the head. "Troublesome? That 'troublesome fellow' almost killed my baby brother!"

"Ow... Fine... jeez... you're worse than my mother!"

"I feel like your mother sometimes!" She smacked his head again.

"God, woman! You're killing me!" Shikamaru then smirked and turned to me. "Think yourself lucky you're Gay, then you won't have to deal with PMS-ing wives."

"Yeah but I might have to deal with PMS-ing daughters." I replied with a smirk.

"True." He gasped. "Oh crap, that means that I'll have two nagging women..." He looked at Mai warily. "Somebody up there must really hate me."

"Yeah but Mai is cute, Temari isn't." I stated.
Temari smiled sweetly, which only meant one thing: Ass-kicking time. "Watch your mouth ototou..."

"You know you love me really, Tema." I said, smiling.

"Of course I do. Gaa."

"You haven't called me that since we were kids."

She grinned and hugged me. "And you haven't called me 'Tema' since we were kids."

"Good point." I said, feeling Mai snuggle closer to me. "She looks so much like you Temari, It's uncanny."

She grinned. "Lots of people say that."

Shikamaru laughed. "Yeah, I have two beautiful ladies in my life. How lucky am I?"

"Oh Shika..." Temari chuckled and started to kiss him.

"Get a room." I said jokingly.

"You shouldn't be staring, pervert." My sister stuck her tongue out playfully and carried on making out with her husband.

It sort of made me wish that I had a family of my own. A husband for definite, then maybe a son or daughter depending on how I felt about kids.

"Anyway, when are you allowed home?" She asked.

"Tomorrow if my condition improves." I answered.

"Well I'll come by in the morning and see what's happening. See you later." She leant down and hugged me. "Get some rest."

"I will." I hugged her back.

Temari then picked Mai's sleeping form up and carried her out of the room. "Bye."

"See ya."

The door closed and I sighed, wrapping the blankets around myself tightly to keep warm. Sleep took over a few minutes later.

000

I woke up the next morning after being roused from my slumber by the sound of the usual busy hospital. The sun was blaring heavily through the slightly ajar window and normally, I would have had enough of the sun by now with me growing up in the desert, but today it felt so nice. Still feeling quite weak, I forced myself out of bed and walked down to Lee's room so I could say one more goodbye before Temari picked me up. When I got there, I was happy to see that Lee was sitting upright in bed and looking much healthier than he had done in the past day or so.

"Gaara-kun!" He grinned and looked up at me.

I rushed over and hugged him. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel much better thanks!" He hugged me back. "What about you?"

"Great thanks."

"Good." He kissed my forehead and pulled me onto the bed with him. I giggled and nuzzled his cheek. Moments like this were the ones that I wished would last forever. Because of Lee, I now knew what love really was and it showed that Sasuke never loved me – only when he wanted a 'good fuck'

"So we finally did it huh?"

Lee nodded. "Now we can finally relax and focus on getting ourselves sorted out."

"Hai. I love you so much."

"I love you more."

"Really?"

"Of course."

I blushed and smirked. "Then show me."
"Oh, you-"

We both turned at the sound of the door opening and turned around. My brother stood there, frozen in his tracks. "Uh... this is a bad time, right?"

I pulled away from Lee, now sitting on the bed. "No, don't worry about it. What's up?"

"Well I went into your room to see if you were alright to go home and you weren't there, so I came here in hope to find out where you were from Lee..."

"Oh. Right."

"So, you're ready to come home?"

I nodded. "Well I feel fine, but I think Tsunade will want to check me over again."
"Want me to fetch her?"

I nodded again. "Please."

He smiled and left the room.

"Gaara-kun, where will you be staying?" Lee asked.

"Probably with either of my siblings." I answered.

"Well you can stay at my house if you'd like... remember how I said I'd like to make the living arrangements permanent?"

"Let's wait until you're better first, huh?"

"True, but if you want to stay there, then here are the keys." He placed a set of keys in my hand. "The one for the front door is the smallest silver one."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Haruno Sakura came into the room and smiled. "Aww, you two look so cute together!" She remarked.

"Heh, thank you Sakura-chan." Lee said awkwardly with a slight blush.

She giggled and turned to me. "Tsunade-sama is currently busy with another patient, so she sent me here instead to check you over."

"Ah. Well here I am."

She smiled and checked my breathing and heart rate. "You might have a minor chest infection coming along but I'll prescribe you some antibiotics and it should clear up within a few days."

"Okay, thank you."

She wrote out a prescription and handed it to me. "Take it to the pharmacy as soon as you can."

"Hai."

Kankuro helped me up off the bed. "So he's alright to come home?" He asked Sakura.

She nodded. "Just keep an eye on him and if there are any problems, phone us."

He nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

I moved away from my brother and leant down to kiss Lee on the lips. "I'll come back later."

"Okay, see you soon Gaara-kun." He said, smiling.

Kankuro smirked. "Come on Gaara, Temari wants to see you."

"Hai." I blew Lee a kiss and followed Kankuro out.

"Don't you miss it?" Kankuro asked once we were in the car.

I fastened my seatbelt and stared at him. "Miss what?"

"Just being teenagers again, having no troubles..."

"Yeah... If I could change one thing, I would have never met Sasuke."

Kankuro growled. "Don't even mention his name, or I will end up murdering someone..."

"Oh, that reminds me... I need to pick up some of my belongings from... the house."

"So you want me to drop you off there?"

I nodded. " Please."

"Alright. But I'm coming in with you in case anything happen-" He was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. Pulling over to the side of the road, he pulled out the phone and answered it. "Hey Kiba, what's up?" There was a pause. I could hear Kiba's muffled voice on the other end of the line. "Shit... okay, I'll be right over." He ended the call.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Akamaru got hit by a car."

"What?"

"He's alive, but Kiba wants me to drop him off at the vets to check him over."

"That's understandable. Look, you go and I can walk from here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." I replied, getting out of the car. "Give Akamaru a hug for me."

"I will."

I watched my brother drive away and started to walk up the derelict street toward the house. It stood at the end of the street and it really was hard to miss such a huge, cold building. I shuddered at the mere sight of it, but pulled myself together and continued heading toward it. Once I reached those dreaded oak doors, remembering what they held behind them, another shiver went up my spine before I pulled out my key and unlocked them. A cold chill greeted me as I stepped in – along with an eerie silence.

I took a deep breath and flicked on the hall lights for a little comfort. On the small table next to the staircase, I saw a packet of bullets that had been opened and an air rifle tossed carelessly on the floor. Those were the weapons Sasuke used to scare me into doing things for him like buying his drugs, organising meetings with his criminal gang and basically doing all of the dirty work that he couldn't be bothered to do himself. What did I get in return? Broken bones, a dead child and starvation. Thanks, bastard.

I picked up the discarded gun, loading it with bullets and proceeded to carry it around with me for protection in case any of Sasuke's gang were hanging around. It was a huge mansion after all and they could've been hiding anywhere, ready to jump out and attack me. Couldn't blame them though. Now that Sasuke had been thrown in jail, they were jobless and at risk of being caught by the police themselves. Then again, why did they want to become bounty hunters anyway? Or drug dealers? It was pretty ridiculous. They obviously had no family or friends to think of; or even a life. The bad thing about the company was that once you signed up to join, you couldn't leave. Why? Because the eldest member of the Uchiha family, Madara, was a master of torture. He would kidnap the person and torture them to death, or until they begged him to kill them. Of course, when I met Sasuke, I was a bit of a 'bad boy' and dating somebody from such a dangerous family was like a massive adventure to me. I was only fourteen at the time and little did I know of how bad my life would become in the future years once I'd got involved. I'd only met Madara once because he was Sasuke's uncle and he was terrifying. Though extremely kind to me, something about him wasn't right. His eyes were strange. I could have sworn his irises kept turning a deep shade of crimson every now and then. His hair was long, black and spiky, the colour slightly darker than Sasuke's. His skin was ivory and there were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. In general, he was very tall and thin, having the kind of figure that would creep people out a little. His dress code was sort of gothic. The one time that I saw him, he was wearing a long, black, leather trench coat with chains hanging down the collar, criss-crossing over his chest and dark, ripped skinny jeans. He also had this freaky smirk that looked like it had come right out of the pits of hell; a look that quite basically said: 'One wrong look and I'll slit your throat'. The thing about him that frightened me the most is that he was a complete pervert. I remembered when I was undressing in my room to get ready for bed, I saw him watching me through the door which was slightly ajar. It certainly wasn't just having a quick peek either, but full-on checking me out. It was disgusting since he was about sixty years old and I was only nineteen at the time. He didn't walk away when I caught him. He just smirked and licked his lips until Sasuke shouted him downstairs for something. I didn't mention this to Sasuke though, or anybody for that matter just in case things got out of hand and either of us ended up getting killed. I also didn't want to cause any family conflict. That would have ended messily.

An abrupt, loud knock at the door almost scared me out of my wits. I bit my lip and peeked through the curtains to ensure it was nobody dangerous. A man stood there with long, raven hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, letting his bangs fall freely over his face. Sasuke's brother. Uchiha Itachi. He looked straight at me through the gap in the curtains.

"Open up, Gaara!" He snarled.

I nodded quickly at him. No point in pretending he didn't see me because I knew that if I didn't let him in, he'd force entry whether I liked it or not. I unbolted the door with shaking hands and opened it cautiously. "H-Hello... Please come in." I said shakily, stepping aside to let him in

Itachi strode in and slammed the door, bolting it behind him

I gulped.

"Where is Sasuke?"

I bit my lip and backed away.

"I said, where is Sasuke?" He questioned again, grabbing me by my throat and slamming me into the wall.

"I-In jail..." I stammered.

Itachi raised an elegant brow. "Jail?"

"Yes... p-please let me go."

He ignored my request. "Why is he in jail?"

"Attempted m-murder."

"Oh whom?"

"My best friend and I."

The older Uchiha growled and raised his fist to punch me. "You turned him in?"

I shook my head. "N-No, please believe me! He turned himself in!"

"That fool! Our business is now in jeopardy!" He dropped me and started pacing up and down worriedly, mumbling curse words repeatedly under his breath.

"I-I'm sorry." I said awkwardly.

He looked at me and glared. "Come here."

I abruptly stood and made my way over. Was he going to hit me? Or worse, kill me?

"You need to get out of here Gaara. If Madara finds out about this, he'll kill you. You know that, right?"

"Hai... But It was Sasuke who-"

"I know, I know, but you know what Madara is like. He'll take it the wrong way."

I nodded. "You're right."

"Why don't you go back to Suna?"

"There is somebody here that I care about a lot who lives here in Konoha. I can't leave that person for the world... He's done so much for me."

He smirked. "You've been cheating on my little brother?"

"No. I've left him."

"For good?"

"Hai."

"Why?"

"I'd had enough of the abuse and last week, I tried to leave, but it made him angrier and he locked me in the spare room, left me there to die. I managed to escape through the window and he's been trying to kill me ever since." I explained sadly.

Itachi frowned. "You're a good person, Gaara. You don't need to be dragged into all of this, it's not fair. I'm so sorry for what my brother did to you. Really, I am."

"It's not your fault. It's mine. I was foolish to love him."

"Well that makes to situation worse that you left him. Now, Madara has more of a reason to kill you. You must leave as soon as possible before you end up dead."

"I know, Itachi."

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"When you leave, don't ever come back."

I gulped.

"Promise me, Gaara! Swear on it!" He hissed, grabbing the front of my shirt.

"Okay... I promise."

"Good. Now get your belongings packed away and leave.

"What is the deadline?"

"Four days."

"Right." That was plenty of time to escape.

"Oh, and if you don't leave within the given time..." Itachi started. "Then I'll make it my personal duty to kill you."After Itachi left, I felt fear knot up in my stomach. Four days left to go back to Suna. I had to have a word with Temari about it. Her, Shikamaru and Mai were due to leave Konoha by the end of the week and hopefully, I could get a lift back there. I planned on using my own money to buy a small apartment or something. Any accommodation would do. I just needed to get back to Suna as fast as possible, get back to Kankuro and Temari. I needed to go home where I was safe and far away from Sasuke; or anybody from the Uchiha family for that matter. I was truly grateful to the older Uchiha brother for all he had done for me. It showed that he really did have a kind heart.

My worst fear was leaving Lee because of course, I loved him with all my heart, but the main reason was that I couldn't bear to see him hurt again. It wasn't fair after all he'd done for me. If only Sasuke was more like him; A hard working, kind and caring young man.

I quickly rushed upstairs and into my old bedroom. On the floor lay Sasuke's clothes and mine were neatly folded in my dresser. I opened the drawers and stuffed my clothes into a bag quickly before unlocking the safe and retrieving my money. After finishing packing, I carried my bags downstairs and went out the front door, locking it behind me. Outside, I phoned Kankuro.

"Yeah?" Came his answer.

"Hey, how is Akamaru?" I asked.

"His leg is broken, but Kiba is taking good care of him and there are no serious injuries."

"That's good. I'm going to Temari's now, okay?

"Yep. See you later."
"Bye. Give Akamaru my love."

"Will do."

The line went dead and I hurried to my sister's house.

000

When Temari let me in, she led me towards the kitchen and I saw she'd made me something to eat, but I felt sick from what just happened with Itachi. "Where are Shikamaru and Mai?" I asked, poking at my food with my chopsticks.

"They've both gone swimming. I didn't want to go because you know how much I hate water. Anyway, it's nice for them to have some father daughter time." She said with a smile.

"Yeah..."

"What's wrong? You haven't eaten anything."

"I'm not really hungry."

"Come on, you need to eat. Tsunade said you need to put on weight."

I managed a few mouthfuls and felt worse than ever. "I want to come back to Suna with you." I mumbled.

"What?"

"I said I want to come back to Suna with you."

She looked at me strangely whilst finishing cleaning up the kitchen. I got up and stood beside her awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Konoha is fun and all, but I believe Suna holds more opportunities for me since our father was the Kazekage and I suppose we get special privileges, right?"

She nodded absently. "Well... yes... But I thought you were happier here... With Lee..."

"I was. But I just want to get Sasuke out of my mind forever. This place holds too many bad memories for me. Besides, his family live here."

She stopped cleaning and turned to face me, then tilted my chin up so I looked her in the eyes. "What happened? I know something is wrong."

"It's nothing."

"No, Gaara. Tell me. Tell me now!"

I bit my lip and let out a sigh. "Itachi paid me a visit when I was collecting my stuff together. He told me that Madara is out to kill me because of what happened with Sasuke and that the only chance I have left of survival is if I go back to Suna."

She paled. "Shit... not him..."

"Please, I need to get out of here."

"I know you do." She embraced me. "It's safer for all of us. When is the deadline?"

"I have four days."

"Alright. Well we will be leaving tomorrow then. You'd better let Lee know about it."

I nodded a little sadly, heartbroken to leave him, but it had to be done. I didn't want to die, nor put him in danger, so it really was the best option. After debating with my sister, I left her house and went to the hospital to break the news.