A/N: WARNING. Some characters might be out of character in this chapter. Forgive me for not being able to keep the characters in character. It is only to push the story along and will be limited after the chapter. And if they are in character just ignore this message.


Rock Lee's eyes opened slowly. The room was dark, only the light from beneath the door shined in. The windows were covered by think burly curtains. Noises could be heard right outside the door. Lee turned his head and stared at the shadows that passed by the door. It sounded like an argument, he closed his eyes to focus more on the voices.

"You're taking this out of proportion, Gai-sensei." said a soft yet firm voice. Young but definitely older than a teens.

"Well, you're not doing anything to prevent these events, Kakashi!" that voice was the most recognizable.

Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei? What are the talking about, he thought to himself. He sat up weakly, feeling the pain hit his muscles. It stung worse than a hundred bee stings. He glared at the crack of light under the door, watching the shadows pass by, and focused on what the voices were saying again.

"Just calm down Gai-sensei. It's not as bad as you think. I stopped the fight before it could have gotten any worse." said Kakashi.

"It shouldn't have-"

"Of course not, but it did. We can't change that, you know so. And we can't changed what happened two years ago either."

Rock Lee climbed out of bed and slowly walked towards the door, ignoring the stinging feeling that swept over his whole body. Kneeling down, he peeked out through the key hole. Kakashi sat at the window sill while Gai paced back and forth continuously.

"What happened two years ago shouldn't have happened."

"But it did-"

"Because of you!" Gai claimed.

"I admit, it was an error on my part. But what gives you the right to take the boys freedom?"

"And just what are you saying, Kakashi?"

"You know what I'm saying. You don't give him room to grow. Ever since the tournament you've kept him on a short leash. Do you see what it's doing to him?" The room was quiet for a minute or two. "He's losing friends because you refuse his freedom. He has to sneak out at all hours to have fun."

"What?" Gai sounded as if astonished, he turned to Kakashi.

No, Lee thought. Kakashi-sensei, you've ruined any chance of me doing that ever again. Lee grimaced and thought of how his window would now have bars on them to keep him in at night. He shook his head and continued listening to the teachers conversation.

"Don't you dare lecture me about raising Rock Lee. You don't know how it feels..."

"No, I don't. Not in the real sense. But I do view Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke as my children sometimes. And that's how I understand how you felt that day."

Rock Lee stepped away from the door and lied in back in bed. Gai-sensei is only worried about my safety, he thought with a smile. He heard the door knob turn and it creak open. Lee closed his eyes quickly and pretended he was asleep. Foot steps traveled over to the bed.

"It's not the guild I felt back then, it was the pain he was feeling. He shouldn't have gone through that experience."

The room was silent again. Rock Lee tried his hardest to keep his breathing steady and keep his eyes closed, though he had the urge to open and take a peek. Nothing at first was said. Foot steps echoed the room again and the door was creaking again. Lee caught a glimpse of what Gai was saying.

"We are going to be moving again..." And the door clicked closed. The voices on the other side of the door were too low to comprehend.

Lee sat up quickly; horror planted on his face. He whispered to himself "You promised..." He felt hurt, betrayed. He nodded to himself and planted a stern look on his face and he decided not to go anywhere.


It was two hours passed when Lee was given a chance to sneak out. Peeking out the door he watched Gai finally leave the chair he planted himself in. He exited the room and placed the note he had written on napkins where Gai was sitting. Then he grabbed the backpack of clothes that Gai brought him and slipped around the corner. To his surprise the hospital was easy to sneak around in today. Usually when his friends and him decided to sneak around the building the would get caught, but then again it was around eleven or so and the hospital wasn't so busy at night, surprisingly.

After changing in a bathroom he headed for the exit. Though when he turned around another corner he almost ran into Kakashi. He dashed back around the corner. He hoped that Kakashi didn't see him. Heading over to a window he opened it and climbed out. Luckily it was the first floor he was on so he just had to jump a short way to land on the ground. He hid behind the bushes a while before heading out.

He couldn't think of where to go now that he was out of the hospital. Sitting down at the park, thought of who to go to. Not Neji's, he thought. He has enough problems with his family. Definitely not TenTen, she'd send him back. He picked up a stick and started to write the names of all his friends in the dirt.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Kiba... Not Hinata; her and Neji are going through enough. Definitely not Sakura and Ino, I'd be sent back by those two," He crossed off names, "Not Chouji either, I'd starve to death at his house. Naruto's a blabbermouth. Sasuke wouldn't want me to stay over. Kiba's house smells like dog. The bug collection in Shino's living room creeps me out. So that leaves Shikamaru and Gaara." He went silent for a moment, staring at the red heads name. "He's angry with me right now." He slowly crossed out the boys name. He stared again one more time before standing and heading to the other side of the park, away from the apartments.

About twenty minutes later he was finally at Shikamaru's house. But the lights weren't on in any part of the duplex. He checked the driveway, but didn't see their car. It seemed no one was home. He bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. He shrugged and took the keys out of pocket heading for the hotel that was right down the street. Gai and him stayed in room 8. He had no intention of staying, just getting something to eat before he headed back to towards the park. He grabbed a sandwich and a water bottle from the fridge.

He made his way to Gaara's home, seeing he had no other choice. Forty-five minutes of walking he came to the apartment building. He went around to the back of the building and to a window that was usually open. He quietly climbed in. The window led to Anko's room on the low level of the apartments. Luckily Anko was passed out drunk on the couch and the gun was halfway across the room. He crept to the door unlocked the locks, dreading every time they made a noise. He opened the door and slipped into the hallway. He went over to the back door and opened it. Placing his backpack in the door he turned and went back into the landladies apartment.

It was a risky task, but if Anko were to find out that he could get into the building through her window then he wouldn't be able to get in at all. He liked going to the roof and used to spend a lot of time up there. He locked the door back up, hesitating after every click to make sure she was still asleep. Out of the window and to the back door, infiltration successful. He picked up his back pack and took the stairs.

Lee made his way to the other side of the hall. He envisioned which apartment belonged to Gaara as he made his way down the hall. Nearly halfway down the hall the bug-eyed boy heard yelling and such noises coming from one of the apartments. He came close to listen in, but to his surprise the door flew open suddenly and nailed him smack dab in the nose. The two people that came out seemed not to notice the noise his face made when the door hit. He grabbed his nose as it started to bleed.

And then he saw something incredible. The first to come out of the apartment was a boy with a hat that made him look like he had ears on his head. He was followed out by a blond girl with two sets of piggy tails in her hair. The blond girl ran at the boy and jumped, attempting to kick the boy in the head. The boy ducked and turned around, blocking punches thrown by the girl. Neither of them could get a hit on each other, and both were fast enough that Lee barely kept up with his eyes. Someone else came from the apartment. A red head boy stood at the door, blocking Lee's view from the fight.

"Kankuro! Temari! What are you two doing?" he said. The two stopped fighting to answer

"She started it, she keeps pestering me about getting a job." said the guy in the cat hat and clown make-up.

"Well, if you would actually do it then I won't pester you about it." stated the blond.

"With you two bickering all night, how is anyone supposed to get any sleep? Kankuro, get a job. Temari, stop hassling him. Settled? Now if you don't mind I'm going back to bed." The red head disappeared behind the door.

When Lee's view was no longer blocked by the red head, he could see the blond and the clown boy staring in his direction. The blond saw him first.

"Nice going, Kankuro. Your making quite a first impression of the neighbors. Bashing their faces in with a door." She snapped at the clown boy.

"Hey! It was an accident! OK! It's not like I meant to do that, Temari!" The clown boy said her name with a sassy tone as if trying to annoy her.

The red head leaned his head from around the corner of the door and looked down. Black rings around the eyes, face of stone. That was definitely Gaara. Lee took one hand off his face and waved at Gaara. They noticed the blood, naturally.

"Kankuro, you broke the boy's nose!" the girl stated.

And before anything else could be said or done, Lee found himself being dragged into their bathroom. Gaara stood there and watched them, not saying a word. So Lee decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, I didn't mean to hit you with the door--" The clown boy was interrupted by Lee's laughter.

"Ha ha ha. It's OK. So, Gaara, I guess this is your family. Nice to meet you. My name is Rock Lee." He smiled at the three of them.

Kankuro and Temari turned their attention to Gaara, looking for answers.


With all four of them around the table, the apartment seemed smaller, so much smaller than usual. Lee looked around and saw the cracked ceiling, the loose floor and the much needed cleaning of the stove. It was covered with ramen wrappers and dirty pots. Most likely that mess started the previous argument.

He looked back at them, still with a smile on his face. "This is a great place, Gaara. Not too roomy but it's still better than a hotel." He laughed hesitantly at that statement.

"Yes, it's much better then a hotel." Said the blond. "Rock Lee right?"

"Most people call me Lee."

"Lee then. You're Gaara's friend?"

He rubbed the back of his head with a hesitant smile. "Well, yeah, sort of."

"How did you two meet?"

"We ran into each other when I was headed to the grocery store a few days ago." said the red head said in a cold tone.

"Well, my name is Temari. I'm Gaara's sister. So do you live in the apartment building?"she asked. The clown boy stayed silent because he was stuffing ramen in his mouth.

"Not really. Actually, I was gonna ask Gaara something." He smiled and looked to Gaara, who was leaning against the door frame to what seemed to be his room.

"If you wanted to ask me something you could have waited till morning. It's past twelve already." the red head snapped. He glared at the bug-eyed boy. Then looked away.

"Hey, what are you doing out this late anyway? Your dad might be worried and all." Said clown boy.

Lee looked down at the table. "Yeah. I know but..."

Clown boy looked at the blond girl, who said her name was Temari. "If he's abusing you-" Gaara looked over to Lee.

"What?! Oh no!!" Lee shook his hands in front of him nervously. "It's nothing like that. It's just he says we're going to be moving again, but I wanna stay here in Konoha." Gaara averted his eyes, feeling stupid for being interested in the conversation.

"So, you ran away for the night then." Temari stated. Lee nodded. "Well I guess you could stay here. He's staying with you though Gaara, you have the biggest room you know." When she looked at Gaara, he just walked into his room. She smiled and looked back to Lee "You're going to call him in the morning though. He shouldn't have to worry for you.■ Lee nodded. "Good night then."

Rock Lee stood and walked into Gaara's room. In one corner, right in front of the door way, a gourd sat against the wall. On the wall right next to the door was a dresser, and the bed was against the corner away from the door. There was only one window in the room, above the bed. On the dresser was a CD player, a CD case sat near it. Gaara sat on the bed, facing the window.

"Close the door. Those two will start arguing again. I'm not in the mood to hear it."


Gaara stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep again. He sat up and looked at the clock, it said three o'clock. He turned to stare out the window, like he always did. He opened the window, feeling the hot summer air flow in. The red head sighed and stared at the moon. He heard Lee make noises. He looked over to the bug-eyed boy.

"You're not asleep?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Kind of hard to with you moving around." He said, trying to make Lee feel bad. "Go back to sleep."

He turned his attention back to outside. He looked around the streets, staring at their emptiness. When he looked to the building to his right, he noticed that peg sticking out of the building again. He bit his lip and thought about climbing out the window.

"Gaara."

The red head looked back at the boy in his bed.

"I have a question."

"What?"

"Could you help me with these one guys? They keep bullying us at the skate park. I bet you and your siblings could kick their asses." Lee smiled.

Gaara thought on it a moment. If they could get to the roof then they could easily train with out waking up Temari, but he doubted that the peg would be able to bare their weight. He looked to his knees a moment before answering the bug-eyed boy.

"I'll ask Kankuro tomorrow after Temari leaves for work ok. Go to bed." He looked back out the window.

With out warning Lee sat up and wrapped his arms around the red heads waist. Gaara was in shock and everything was still for a moment. Then he was suddenly being swung back and forth as the bug eyed boy turned his body from side to side.

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much!! I'll make it up to you! You'll see!!"

"Arh! Get off me!! And be quiet, you'll wake the other two!" He shoved the boy off.

It was silent for another two minute after Lee layed down. "I can't sleep now."

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Your a pain you know."

Lee just smiled and turned to his side and closed his eyes. "I know"