Gaara moaned and gripped his hand as the medic worked on it.
"That hurts!" He growled, then sighed as the medic ran out of the room whimpering. "Come back, I need you to fix this!"
But he knew it was useless as he saw the medic running for his life down the street through his office window. He winced and shook his hand. It felt like it was trying to turn into a withered claw from the pain. Gaara glanced down at the second part of the letter to the Suna council.
He hated that letter and wanted to burn it, but it was 119 pages long and those were pages he had no intentions of re-writing. Gaara glanced up irritably at the knock on his open door.
"Iko." He growled as the older man stepped inside clutching a bunch of papers. "I'm not done yet, but if you want you can get a head start on reading this letter before the council does. Do you have a secretary?" He asked, with a sudden thought.
"What are you doing?" The old man wailed and shook his ancient fist, papers rattling.
Gaara sighed, "Could you be a bit more specific?"
The old man pulled out the top paper and began reading: "I'm sorry for murdering your son, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I was angry at my father."
Gaara thought for a moment. "No, you'll need to be more specific than that."
The old man wailed and sank into a chair. "This was a letter you sent to Madam Arakaki!"
"Oh. Yeah, I remember that one now. Her son was walking home right after I had an argument with my father. Sheer bad luck on his part." Gaara scratched his head and sighed. "That really was bad of me."
"Bad? Bad? Your father had made an effort to hide this from her! He told her that her son had died on a mission to save Suna! Now she's crying and wailing and in my office!" Iko glared at the young man, huffing.
"Ooops."
"That's all you have to say?" Iko demanded.
"Should I write you a personal letter or just add this one to the council letter?" Gaara asked and nodded to the piles of papers on his desk.
"Why are you writing these at all?" Iko yelled.
Gaara glared at the older man, his temper starting to run short. "You told me too! Make a list of all those you've wronged and make amends where it doesn't hurt."
"And it doesn't hurt Madam Arakaki to tell her that her son died at your angry whim rather than as a heroic shinobi?"
"Ooops." Gaara said again, dropping into his chair. "I didn't think about that."
"And what are you doing sending out these letters anyway?" The old man held up the sheaf again and rattled them for effect. "You're only supposed to write up a LIST of people you've wronged and possible ways to make amends. Not send them letters listing the wrongs themselves."
Silence stole over the room as Gaara's temple started to pound.
"You. Didn't. Tell. Me. That." Anger threaded the young man's voice as sand whipped in agitation around his slender frame.
"Settle down. You kill me and it's all over with being accepted by the council." Iko grumbled and the sand reaching for his feet receded reluctantly. "Now, are these the only letters?"
Gaara shrugged. "I doubt it. I've sent them everywhere."
Iko groaned and rubbed at his face. "Outside of Suna?"
Gaara nodded.
"May the gods spare us all. We'll be at war by the end of the week."
o.o.o.o.o
Iko had finally managed to convince the medics that Gaara wasn't going to kill them and they sent someone back over to tend to his aching hand. The young man was currently soaking his hand in a bowl of iced water as the nervous man was healing the swelling that ran all the way up to his elbow.
Temari burst through the door in a panic, making Gaara blink and sit up. The medic grumbled, then paled until Gaara leaned back for him. Finally the medic was starting to realize that Gaara really wasn't going to kill him.
"We've been attacked!" Temari told her younger brother rather breathlessly.
Gaara looked at her as she paced the room. "I haven't heard any alarms going off."
Temari shook her head. "Oh, it's over and all. Just a quick raid on an outpost. The council is 'debating' on the best course of action to retaliate."
"How bad was it?" Gaara asked her when she stopped pacing and stared out the window.
"Three dead and seven injured, but apparently our forces managed to repel them. Kankuro was there, he'll tell us about it later."
"Was he hurt?"
"Yes." Temari yawned. "He'll live, he's even excited about it."
Gaara shook his head in disgust. "Who was it that attacked?"
"Sound ninjas."
Both fell silent for a minute as they contemplated that fact.
Gaara was recalling Iko's prophetic words of earlier. "Am I the cause?"
"Yes."
"Oh, you don't really know that. You're just saying that to make me feel bad." Gaara sulked.
"Like hell, they only plastered copies of your letter to Orochimaru on the door of the outpost. One of them even nailed a bloodied hand to the door too."
"Really?" Gaara winced and wriggled his own numb fingers.
"Yah. MINE!" Kankuro crowed as he came barreling through the door waving his wrapped left stump. The hand had been severed just below the elbow.
Gaara and Temari rolled their eyes as Kankuro cackled wildly. "If anyone wants me I'll be in my workshop making a new arm. A puppet arm! Wait til you see what this baby can do! I was building it for a new puppet, but this is perfect. PERFECT! All sorts of attachments and cool weapons. You'll be so jealous!"
"Won't you need help to attach it?" Temari pointed out reasonably. "You only have the one hand right now."
"Nah. Karasu will help me." Kankuro ran off with a quick wave and a broad grin.
"He's sick." Temari said quietly. "He talks as if Karasu was real."
"No arguments here." Gaara told her. Then Gaara looked out the window and sighed. "Why are people so angry with me? I was only trying to do the right thing for a change."
"Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned that you thought Orochimaru was gay."
"But it's obvious. He is so gay." Gaara whined as a servant entered and delivered a letter. Gaara looked at it and wondered if it was another trap.
With a shrug he reached for it and broke the seal. Nothing happened.
"Who's that from?" Temari asked quietly, staying on the far side of the room just in case.
"Dunno yet." Gaara opened the letter to read.
o.o.o.o.o
Dear Gaara of the Sand,
It was so wonderful to get your letter. I can not tell you how excited and pleased I was to read something so brilliant. It really made my day. I'm still recovering in the hospital, and your letter got to me when I was feeling particularly down. I should have remembered the power of YOUTH and vitality that runs through us all. I should have known you wouldn't have forgotten me.
I have to tell you, I am very pleased to read of your efforts to control your anger. This will be a hard road for you, but I have no doubts for your success in the end. Your youthful power runs strong in your veins and I hope that someday we will meet again for a friendly rematch.
Oh, and I was particularly interesting in your suggestion of weapons in my hair. I have been trying out several weapons lately to see which ones best suit this purpose. Kunai's are too heavy and keep poking out. I've been meeting with TenTen to discuss this issue, she has some wonderful ideas. Although she's quite upset with you. I've not figured out why, she goes all red in the face when I ask.
Oh, and to answer your question. I am gay. Gay. Gay. Gay! And your letter only made me more so. Happiness runs through me when I realize that your energetic youthfulness calls to mine! Tsunade is looking into options to cure me fully, then I will be gay and happy and frolic with the best of them. In the meantime, I look forward to Sakura's visits. She is soooo lovely a lotus blossom that I nearly cry every time I see her. I love her so.
Anyway, I won't keep you. But I hope you write again soon.
Sincerely, Rock Lee
o.o.o.o.o
Gaara finished and handed the letter to Temari, who scanned it quickly.
"He doesn't know what 'gay' means, does he?" Gaara asked when she finished.
"Sure he does. It means happy and frolicsome and all that crap. He just doesn't know the connotations." She sighed and smiled. "At least some one understands you though."
Gaara smiled and relaxed, making the medic stare in wonder.
"Finally, someone understands what I'm trying to do."
o.o.o.o.o