Guy glanced out the window and smiled, seeing Gaara leaning against Lee on the porch swing. Gaara had been coming over every day and almost never leaving Lee's side. Lee was always so happy when he heard the doorbell ring in the morning and forced himself to ignore the pain as much as he could when he was with Gaara. It was like Lee was more scared of hurting Gaara than himself. Guy jumped slightly when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted through the phone. "Is Bushy Brow home?"

"Yes, he is." Guy looked out the window again. "But he's busy right now. I'll let him know you called."

"Oh, alright!" Naruto yelled. "Later!" Guy shook his head as Naruto hung up.

"Gaara-kun?" Lee asked.

"What?"

"I…" Lee paused. "I will get the surgery…" Lee said quietly. Gaara sat silently for a moment.

"Alright…" He muttered. "You should call now then… She's probably starting to fill up her patient lists…" Lee sighed and nodded. "Come on…" Gaara stood up and held out a hand. Lee smiled and took his hand, letting Gaara help him up before grabbing his crutch.

"Hello you two." Guy said as the boys walked in.

"Guy, I am getting the surgery." Lee said confidently. Guy looked worried for a moment, and then smiled. Lee smiled back and grabbed the phone, redialing the number for the hospital. "Hello, Doctor Tsunade? It is Rock Lee." He waited a moment. "Yes, I have already made up my mind." Gaara watched him silently. "Oh, tomorrow? Yes, that will work." Guy nodded. "Eight in the morning? Alright." Lee rubbed his eyes. "Thank you." Lee hung up and looked at Guy. Guy smiled again.

"I know the chances aren't good," Guy said, "but you'll make it." Lee grinned broadly.

"Yes, sir!" Gaara watched him closely before tapping his hand. Lee looked up at him in confusion. Gaara grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs and into Lee's room. Gaara sighed quietly and sat down on the edge of the bed. Lee sat down next to him and glanced at him sadly. "Is something wrong, Gaara?"

Gaara shook his head. "No… I just like it up here more… It's quieter…" Lee nodded slowly before a deep silence settled on the room again. The time ticked by quickly and soon the early morning had faded into afternoon. Lee took one of his pain pills and all was quiet again. Guy never bothered to come upstairs, but instead left the boys in silence. More time passed and it was already becoming night. Lee sighed and took another pill.

He paused for a few moments. "I am scared…" Lee said as he stared at his hands. "I am scared, Gaara-kun…" He started to shake. Gaara watched him silently, thinking about what he should do. Lee turned and hugged him tightly, pressing his face against Gaara's shoulder. He froze for a moment before hugging Lee back. Gaara remained silent, knowing that anything he would say would only make things worse.

Lee finally let go of Gaara and rubbed his eyes. "You need to sleep…" Gaara muttered. He could tell that the pain medication was making Lee tired. Lee nodded and lied down on the bed.

"Gaara-kun…?" He asked quietly. "Will you… stay with me tonight?" Gaara paused.

"Yeah, I will…" He smiled faintly and sat down next to Lee, who smiled and closed his eyes. Gaara sighed and held Lee's hand, realizing that he was soon asleep. "Only you…" Gaara mumbled. "Could ask everything from me without thinking twice… And have me say yes…"

"Lee! Gaara-san!" Guy shouted as he walked up the stairs. "Get up! We've got to leave soon!" He knocked on the door as he walked in. "Come on, wake up you two!" Lee groaned in protest and rubbed his eyes. Gaara started to wake up, rolling his head from side to side.

"Sleeping while sitting up probably wasn't a very good idea." He thought.

"We've got to go in just a few minutes." Guy said.

"Alright, alright…" Gaara hissed, rubbing his neck. Lee sat up, wincing slightly before slowly standing up with his crutch. Gaara looked at him nervously for a moment and shook his head slightly.

"The chances aren't good… What if Lee doesn't make it? What if this surgery kills him? There is only a fifty percent chance it would work." He worried. Gaara waited until Guy left the room.

"Lee…?"

"Huh? Yes, Gaara-kun?" Lee was walking towards the door, but stopped and turned around. Gaara fell silent, unable to say what he was thinking. Lee paused before saying, "Gaara-kun, I know these are not very good odds… But I will make it. I am sure of it." Lee grinned broadly. "That is a promise." Gaara stood up slowly.

"How can you be so sure…?" He whispered. "How can you make a promise like that… When there's a good chance you'll break it…?" Gaara wanted to believe Lee. He wanted to just be able to shrug off all of the doubt. He wanted to know that Lee would be alright.

"I am positive. I have never felt this sure." Lee said, smiling. "Do not worry, Gaara-kun. I will be fine." Lee stepped forward and wrapped one arm awkwardly around Gaara's shoulders, holding himself up on his crutch with the other. Gaara laid his hands on Lee's shoulders and sighed quietly.

"Alright…" Gaara muttered. "Come on, let's go." Lee nodded and followed Gaara down the stairs. The boys were silent as they climbed into the back seat of the car and stayed that way as Guy drove them to the hospital. Gaara was the first out of the car, walking around to the other door and helping Lee out. Guy watched silently and led them into the hospital.

"Good morning." The woman at the front desk said. "Oh, hello Lee-san. Are you here for the surgery?"

"Yes, I am." Lee smiled. The woman nodded and picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is the front desk. Yes, Rock Lee is here for his surgery. Yes, thank you." She smiled. "One of the nurses will be out in just a minute to get you, okay?"

"Okay!" Lee smiled again and glanced at Gaara, who was shifting back and forth nervously. "Gaara-kun…?" Lee said quietly. "Calm down… It will be alright…" Gaara forced himself to nod. Soon a nurse came from down a hall.

"Rock Lee?" She asked. Lee turned and nodded to her. "Alright, we'll just head back when you're ready." Lee looked back at Gaara sadly. Guy looked at them for a moment.

"I will be alright, Guy." Lee grinned. "I will see you when I wake up." He stepped forward and hugged Guy tightly. "Gaara-kun…" Lee hugged him gently and sighed quietly. "I will see you soon…" Gaara nodded quickly. "I love you." Gaara paused.

"I love you too…" Gaara whispered. Lee reluctantly let go and followed the nurse down the hall. Guy watched Lee and then turned to sit down. Gaara sat down a few chairs away.

"Don't worry, Gaara-san." Guy said. "The odds have never really been in Lee's favor." Gaara glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "He was moved from foster home to foster home until he was five and I adopted him. All his years in school, he was told he had no talent, nothing special. He was just a hardworking grunt." Guy smiled. "Even so, he passed any test or subject they threw at him. Maybe not with perfect scores, but he always did his best. He may not have natural talent, but he's got perseverance. He'll pull through." Gaara nodded slightly.

"Guy…?" Gaara asked quietly. "Do you have Lee's cell phone?"Guy nodded. "Can I borrow it?" Guy nodded again and handed Lee's cell phone to Gaara. He smiled for a split second in thanks and walked outside, dialing a number from the contact list.

"Hello?" Sasuke answered the phone.

"Hey it's Gaara. Listen, Lee's in for his surgery right now."

"What?" Gaara jerked the phone away from his ear as Naruto began yelling. "What surgery?"

"He's getting surgery on his leg and back." Gaara said, still holding the phone about a foot away. "There's only a fifty percent chance he'll make it."

"Damn it, Bushy Brow!" Naruto shouted. "Sasuke, let's go!"

"Alright." Sasuke sounded faintly worried. "We're on our way." Gaara sighed and hung up, looking for more numbers he should call.

"Hello?" Shikamaru asked lazily. Gaara told him about Lee's surgery. "I'll go pick up Kiba." Shikamaru said before hanging up, leaving Gaara to call a few more people. He had soon called Choji, Neji, Shino, and Tenten, whoever they were. They were all listed as friends so it made sense. He had explained who he was and told them all about the surgery; all of them were on their way. Gaara sat down on the curb, shivering and pulling his knees up to his chest. He looked up at the gray, overcast sky as he felt a faint breeze carrying a sad chill. Soon, a car pulled into the parking lot. Naruto jumped out and ran up to Gaara. "How's Bushy Brow? Where is he? Is he ok?" Sasuke came up and smacked the back of Naruto's head hard before sitting down on the curb next to Gaara.

"Naruto, shut up." Sasuke said quietly. "Gaara-san has got more reasons to be worried than you do and you're just stressing him out." Gaara nodded his thanks to Sasuke as another car parked near Sasuke's. Shikamaru and Kiba stepped out and sat on the curb with the others.

"Are you ok, Gaara-san?" Kiba asked worriedly. Gaara nodded quickly, staring at the pavement in front of him. Soon, three more cars pulled into the parking lot. "Hey, it looks like introductions may be in order again." Kiba said. "You three, this is Gaara-san." Gaara continued to stare at the ground. Naruto nudged him with his elbow, getting him to look up.

"I'm Choji." The first boy said. He was larger than the others, but about as tall as Gaara and Naruto, with brown hair and spiral-like marks on his cheeks.

"I'm Shino." The second boy had short brown hair that almost looked black. The collar of his jacket covered the lower half of his face and his eyes were hidden behind round dark-lens glasses. He sat down next to Kiba and Choji sat down next to Shikamaru.

"My name is Neji Hyuuga." The last boy said. He had brown hair that came down to his waist and was held together at the bottom with a black hair tie. His eyes were grey, like the eyes of a blind person, but he seemed to be able to see just fine. Gaara nodded and Neji sat down at one end of the line of boys on the curb. They sat in silence until one last car pulled up.

"That's Tenten." Naruto said as the girl stepped out of her car. She too had brown hair, but it was pulled up into two buns towards the sides of her head. Gaara blinked rapidly, feeling her grief hit him like a tidal wave. "Oh, boy..." Naruto mumbled. He must have felt it too. Tenten paused in front of the group and knelt down in front Gaara, looking him in the eye. Her emotions were stronger than anyone else's on the curb. He saw tears well up in her eyes and she reached out to hug him. "Tenten…" Naruto whispered. "He doesn't like people being near him. Don't push it." She glanced at Naruto, then Gaara before nodding.

"Sorry…" She said softly. "This must be hard for you most of all… But nothing like this has ever happened before for us…" Gaara watched her in confusion.

"Why are you so upset?" He asked flatly. Tenten sat cross-legged on the pavement in front of him.

"Well, Neji and I have known Lee since elementary school." She started and Neji nodded. "He was definitely strange but he was a great kid, and that hasn't changed. The rest of this group met him in middle school. Plus, without Lee, high school gym would have been a terror." Gaara's head tilted to the side slightly. "His dad, Guy, was the teacher. Lee was able to keep up with him and was so energetic that we didn't have to run a few miles every single day before class; he was able to wear Guy down to the point of teaching a normal class." She smiled. "We're all pretty grateful to him. He's the kind of person that will be there for you even if you don't want him to be, and it's always better in the long run." Gaara smiled slightly for a moment. That sounded like Lee, alright. Tenten sighed quietly and moved to sit next to Neji.

"Do Temari and Kankuro know about the surgery?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, they don't. And the car is at Lee's house." Gaara paused. "How do you know my brother and sister?" Shikamaru shrugged and grabbed his cell phone.

"Explaining is a drag. Maybe later." He said. "Hello, Temari? Yeah, listen I need to tell you something. Lee's in for surgery on his leg and back. He's only got a fifty percent chance of making it. Yeah, I'll be over in a minute." Shikamaru hung up and stretched. "I'm going to go pick up your brother and sister. I'll be back in a minute." There was a murmured response from the whole group as Shikamaru left.

"What time is it?" Choji asked.

"About eight o'clock." Sasuke responded. Choji nodded slowly and was silent again. Gaara went back to staring at the pavement. "A surgery like this is going to take most of the day." The wait was like torture for Gaara. Every minute that ticked by made him wonder if Lee was even still alive. He didn't even respond when Shikamaru came back with his siblings.

"Is there anything we can do?" Temari asked nervously. Neji looked down and shook his head.

"All we can do is wait."

Gaara sat in a haze on the curb as life seemed to move in fast forward around him. He hardly moved as people in the group left, came back, and left again. He couldn't think of anything except Lee. Naruto tried to talk to him a few times, but Gaara never responded. Eventually he gave up and sat quietly for a while. Seconds faded into minutes, and minutes faded into hours. Gaara's eye lids were heavy and he started to sway back and forth.

"Huh? Gaara?" Naruto asked. That was the last thing he heard before everything went black.