A/N: Here's a little Gaara/Harry interaction like you all have been asking for. Sorry it took so long - I've been working on chapter 11 and damn if that thing just won't end! It just keeps going and going and going... anyway, enjoy and thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews!

Chapter 10

Three days after the Council interview

"Father was very pleased with your interview Ruri," Gaara said softly.

They were spooned together with the red head against his back in Gaara's bed, with only the light of the full moon reflecting off the white cob floor to allow them to see.

Ruri merely shrugged his shoulders at the praise. If the Kazekage was happy then so was Gaara. Ruri hated the fact that his friend seemed to idolize his father – a man that only spoke to his son in terms of his training, allowing the boy to be raised in a pretty prison tended by a slave and a lying, twofaced bastard.

The green eyed boy was angry and he was trying so hard not to take it out on his friend. He just wanted to go to sleep but Gaara was in one of his rare talkative moods having just gotten back from a week long mission in the Land of Grass.

"I wish I could have been here to see you all dressed up – I'm sure you were beautiful."

"But you weren't here, were you!" The accusation was out before he could stop it and he felt Gaara go so terribly still behind him.

It was so quiet that Ruri's ears rang with it. He knew he shouldn't have said that, he wanted to fix it but his anger and guilt were waging a war in his chest and he couldn't think of what to say to make it better.

Gaara pulled away slightly and tugged on his shoulder until Ruri lay on his back. Ruri closed his eyes – he didn't want to see the hurt in Gaara's eyes, hurt he had put there.

"Are you alright?"

Ruri shook his head back and forth.

He felt Gaara leave the bed, "I'll get Yashamaru."

The brunette jackknifed up, "NO!"

"Ruri, obviously something is wrong. You are not wounded and I am not familiar with illnesses so I will get Yashamaru."

"Yashamaru is the problem!"

Ruri slapped his hand over his mouth so hard it hurt. Gaaras wide eyes had gotten bigger at Ruri's screech. He knew his behavior was probably scarring his friend but he couldn't seem to calm down. He was breathing hard and his eyes were starting to water.

The red head approached him cautiously, "Tell me what is wrong Ruri."

It was Gaara's tone of voice that broke him – normally the red head spoke only in monotone, his feelings only rarely betrayed. Tonight the demand was filled with undertones of anxiety and fear – things Ruri had never before heard from his friend.

"But you'll be angry and I don't want you to be angry – they'll hurt you!"

Gaara crawled back up onto the bed and pulled the smaller boy into his arms. The motions were awkward and Ruri could tell his friend had no idea how to comfort someone. Ruri was the comforter in this relationship and Gaara had never succumbed to a crying fit before.

Ruri sobbed a chuckle at the thought.

"Tell me, my Emerald. I will not be angry."

"Oh but you will," he shuddered against the other boy, rubbing his face into the softness of his night shirt. "I shouldn't be acting like this. Yashamaru just said some things to upset me. He's usually only that way around your birthday. I don't know what got him all worked up today."

"What did he say?"

Ruri snuggled closer and Gaara tightened the arm around him, his free hand slowly carding through brown-black locks.

"I had asked when you would be returning."

"Why did the answer disturb you so?"

"It wasn't the answer – it was what he said after."

Ruri sniffed.

"Go on."

The smaller boy took a deep breath, "He said it was a shame that they had to waste your talents on a mere delivery mission but it was the only thing they had to get you out of the village for a long enough time."

"Time for what?"

"To dispose of my body if I gave myself away at the meeting."

The dresser toppled over.

"Has he said such things to you before?" Gaara's voice was so, so cold.

"Yes – but that's not what upset me."

"What was more upsetting than a death threat?"

Ruri sniffed again, "That they would lie to you about it. They couldn't tell you they'd killed me so the Kazekage wouldn't lose face. They'd have told you I had an accident or maybe they'd blame it on the visiting Leaf nins. Your father's been looking for a reason to go to war with them that the Daimyo couldn't override and an assassination would do it. You would attack them and you'd either kill them and be alone again afterwards or you'd die. Their disregard for you and your feelings upset me. You being alone and angry upset me."

Gaara's hands had frozen on him while he talked, "You were upset… for me?"

Ruri reached up and wrapped one arm around Gaara's neck in an awkward one armed embrace.

"Of course. You're mine as much as I'm yours."

The door opened and Yashamaru stuck his head into the room – the first time he had done so in over three years. Ruri narrowed his swollen eyes at the man.

"Is everything all right?"

"Get out Yashamaru."

Ruri had never heard Gaara use that tone of voice before – it made the hairs on his arms stand up.

Yashamaru frowned, "You will answer my question Gaara."

Ruri had always found it interesting just how much sand could accumulate in the nooks and crannies of a room – especially Gaara's room. He supposed it only made sense with them living in a desert and tonight the red head used that sand to express his displeasure with his uncle. He used his sand to throw the dresser at the man.

Yashamaru was lucky that the door opened into the room and it was between him and the heavy piece of furniture. As it was, Ruri winced at the sound of the door impacting a body. A second sound, that of Yashamaru hitting the floor proved that the fully trained Shinobi had not expected the attack or seen it coming.

"I do not wish to come between you and your Uncle, Gaara."

"You never could, my Emerald. He means nothing to me while you are everything."

Ruri looked up into darkened teal eyes and could not name the emotion there, "But-"

"I do as my Uncle and my Father say because they are my guardians and Father is the Kazekage. I do it because it doesn't bother me to cater to them and they take care of you. If they cease to do that or make nuisances of themselves then I will leave them behind."

The brunette could tell his friend was deadly serious.

"What about your brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari?"

"I have no feelings either way for them… I would like to know them but Father has made them so afraid of me… even on missions it is awkward."

Ruri moved out of Gaara's arms and the two boys shifted around until they were back under the white and sand colored blankets facing each other.

"I see them sometimes," the brunette murmured, "during my lessons with Hiraku. I could speak to them for you; maybe break the ice a bit."

The corner of Gaara's lips curled up slightly, "I would not be against that."

"Good."

Gaara took Ruri's face in his hands, "No one will ever lay a finger on you and live Ruri."

"I know," he whispered.

The red head pulled him back into his arms and laid a light kiss on the odd lightening bolt scar on Ruri's forehead, "I think in the morning I will remind Father and Uncle just why they've raised me in this cage."