Yes, I so used Joker's line for Kankuro in the last chapter. I mean, he wears all that kabuki paint and his great childhood slightly damaged him, so I simply could not resist.

Kankuro – damaged? Yeah. In this fic he's the one overtly friendly and reckless but coldly calculating under the grinning surface.

***

The red-haired head whipped up from the papers and Gaara's eyes widened at the greeting.

Lee walked to his table full of papers and sat down in an armchair, straightening his leg. "Trying to bury yourself in the paperwork again?"

The Kazekage did not answer him, only followed his movements.

The bandaged man frowned a bit, when he saw how worn-out and tired Gaara looked. But he had something else to sort out at first. "Tell me, Gaara, why hadn't you come to see me in the hospital?" His voice was soft and mellow, but he knew he was not able to hide his hurt completely. And he also knew that the man in front of him was able to see that too.

The former Jinchuuriki was silent for a long while, averting his gaze to the papers, closing his eyes eventually. "I thought you wouldn't want to see me." His voice was slightly hoarse.

Lee felt his jaw going slack. It was his turn to gape at Gaara, as he tried to wrap his mind around the answer. "And how did you arrive at that conclusion?"

There was a long silence after this question.

The black-haired shinobi prompted the Kazekage again after a while. "Gaara? Why did you think that?"

Finally the red-haired man sighed. "I hurt you, didn't I? I mean then. And now you got hurt because of me again and this time your dream is gone. It's all my fault."

Lee groaned and smacked his face. "Baka tanuki!" Now, this was really stupid, but it made sense in Gaara's A-to-B style of thinking. He opened his eyes and looked at the other man through his fingers. "So?"

Incredulous glance was his answer before Gaara diverted his eyes again.

He frowned deeper. "Gaara, look at me."

Nothing.

"Gaara, just look at me."

More silence.

The taijutsu user sighed. "Okay, don't look at me, but listen. It's. Not. Your. Fault." He paused, just in a case the other wanted to say something, but continued uninterrupted after a while. "Really. I'm a shinobi. Or, okay, I used to be a shinobi – still have to get used to this one."

Gaara scowled. It looked like the Kazekage attempted to hide in his own robes like a tortoise.

Lee chuckled a bit. "Oh, come on. Whatever I am now, I was trained to become a ninja since I was six. Just like Temari, Kankuro, Ino and many others. We are raised to be killers and to give up our lives for the sake of our village. I used to think that the only way to serve my village was to fight and possibly die in a battle, until you showed me with your, ehm, diplomatic training, that there were many ways in which one can help a group. Even such a militaristic group as a hidden village surely is.

The Kazekage blushed a bit, but still kept his eyes stubbornly on the table. Probably found an interesting brush or something.

The black-haired man continued. "I don't care about the chuunin exam. Yes, there were consequences, but I already had a handicap to work around, so having two wasn't much different."

For the first time since Lee entered his office Gaara looked at him.

The other man noticed the slightly raised eyebrow and answered the unspoken question. "No chakra-using abilities, remember? The Lotus techniques were the only ones I was able to perform, and only after an extensive training at that."

The Kazekage grimaced sourly at the mention of the technique that damaged Lee's body.

The taijutsu user didn't see that or chose to ignore it and went on. "I still wonder why they let me graduate from the Academy at all. I think that if Gai-sensei would not offer to train me, I would not ever be allowed to become a genin. But back to the topic. The injuries you gave me then showed me that I should not take anything for granted. I've learned that sometimes it is really needed to risk and sometimes you can lose everything you have not because you were that bad, but because somebody was better."

"I wasn't better," Gaara opposed. "I was trying to kill you. I was a monster."

Lee rolled his eyes openly. He used to see this gesture around him a lot and now he wondered for a second, if he had the same effect on people around him as the Kazekage now had on him. "No, you weren't and you aren't. Yes, you were behaving like one, but after a lifetime of being treated like you were, anybody would snap."

Gaara opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted again.

"And yes, I know that those Grass missing-nin came after you because you killed those two chuunin of theirs in Konoha. Shikamaru told me."

The Kazekage closed his mouth with a snap.

Lee went on. "But Kankuro also told me that they wanted you to lose the match and tried to threaten you. If they were stupid enough to try that, despite you being the host of Shukkaku and all, they deserved to carry the consequences."

Gaara stared at him now with wide incredulous eyes. He certainly had not expected this. He thought that Lee would shun him or refuse to talk to him, not march up to him and tell him that everything's okay, give or take few bodies.

The black-haired man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before continuing, blushing lightly but not taking his eyes off Gaara. "You know that the Lotus techniques are possibly fatal for the user and that's why Gai-sensei made me promise to use them only under one circumstance."

Gaara frowned a bit, recalling Sakura's words from the day of the operation. He murmured along with Lee, "To protect your precious person…"

The taijutsu master cleared his throat. "Yes. You know, I much prefer to stay amongst the living, but I would gladly give up my life if it meant I could protect you." He closed his eyes for a while, then opened them again and grinned at the Kazekage. "Now, you're alive and I'm alive and so I would call this a win-win situation."

Gaara's mind was still running in circles around one concept though. "So," he hesitated briefly. "I am your precious person?"

Lee blushed more but nodded. "Yes. You are." He looked at him hopefully.

Gaara just sat on his chair and stared at him numbly.

The wounded man's face turned even deeper shade of red and he averted his gaze eventually. "I see…" His voice trailed off and he made a motion to stand up.

The Kazekage was by his side immediately in a flurry of robes. "Stay. Please." The words were whispered, as if telling them loudly would shatter the moment. He pressed on Lee's right, uninjured shoulder lightly to prevent him from getting up.

The black-haired fighter looked up to him, their looks connecting for a long moment.

Then Gaara leaned down, pressing his lips to Lee's for a brief moment. He pulled back and looked at the injured shinobi, his look saying that if the other wanted to protest, now was the time. Instead he found a warm hand sneaking around his waist and pulling him closer to the sitting man.

Their lips connected again.

Lee reveled in the kiss. Gaara's lips were dry and slightly chapped, but felt oh so good against his. He tilted his head to a side a bit and opened his mouth slightly, licking Gaara's lips.

The Kazekage's mouth pressed to his roughly and demandingly, his tongue gaining entrance into the other's mouth, exploring and savoring the taste.

They kissed fiercely for a while, letting their hands wander over the other's body, touching, learning, enjoying.

Lee's hand sneaked under Gaara's robes, gliding over his chest, touching the former Jinchuuriki through his mesh undergarment, then undoing the hidden clasps one by one. Soon he pushed the heavy clothes off the Kazekage's shoulders, exposing the red-head's body, leaving him only in his pants.

Gaara hissed when Lee's fingers pinched his nipple and started to plant open-mouthed kisses down the black-haired man's jaw, pausing to bite his earlobe lightly and continuing down his throat, while his hands were busy undressing the man under him. He paused only to pull Lee's shirt off over his head, returning his lips to worshipping the tanned body immediately. He grazed his teeth over Lee's exposed shoulder, making the taijutsu fighter arch into his body and hiss slightly.

Lee felt like he had a fever. Gaara's hands and mouth were setting his skin on fire, leaving it hypersensitive. This wasn't the first time he was dealing with sex, all the shinobi experimented early on, but it was definitely the first time somebody had this effect on him. Of course, he would not call any of his previous partners a precious person.

The black haired man raked his nails down Gaara's mesh-covered back, causing the other to moan into his skin, then moved his hand to the Kazekage's stomach, hooked his fingers into the netting and pulled the other man closer. This was unfair. Lee could use only one hand, while Gaara had two to tease all his hidden spots and make him gasp for air. The sitting man reached for the red hair that was teasing his chin at the moment, grabbed a handful and pulled, getting the access to Gaara's neck.

The red-head moaned and turned his head to kiss him properly again, sneaking his hands over the bandages down to Lee's uncovered belly and the waistline of his pants, teasing with his fingers along the edge.

The taijutsu user sucked a deep breath at the contact, letting his head fall back on the backrest of the armchair and letting Gaara do whatever he pleased.

The Kazekage licked his way down Lee's neck to his shoulder, then moved over and settled between the other's legs, unbuttoning his pants slowly. He teased with his tongue across the muscled belly, leaving a wet trail and marveling in the way the muscles twitched at the slightest touch. Finally he pulled Lee's pants down just enough to reach his cock.

He pulled out the hardened flesh and stroked it in soft slow movements, nipping at the quivering muscles of Lee's stomach. Gaara looked up, meeting the fighter's heavy-lidded gaze and enjoying the look of pure want and lust on the other's face, before he moved his head and licked Lee's erection from his balls up to the tip.

The taijutsu master closed his eyes and arched off the armchair, gripping the armrest with his good hand. Gaara's tongue and mouth felt simply amazing on his straining cock making him wish for more.

The Kazekage licked and nipped at the strong and slender shaft, pumping his hand up and down over the hot flesh now slick with his saliva, his other hand gripping Lee's thigh. He paused to take the head of the cock into his mouth and sucked slightly.

Lee mewled wantonly as he felt the wet heat engulfing his tip and looked down, only to groan again when he saw his dick disappearing in Gaara's mouth. "Oh fuck!" He squirmed under the caress, trying to lift his hips.

The red-haired man moved his hand from Lee's thigh to his hip, holding him down and preventing him from moving. While he liked his lover's reaction, he didn't want him to strain anything or overexert himself. He started to bob his head over the cock in his mouth, caressing the tip with languid swirls of his tongue while taking in as much as he could and moving his other hand to caress Lee's balls instead. The taijutsu master was as vocal as Gaara imagined him to be when he gave him that massage, and the Kazekage was drinking all the sounds from the other, reveling in the knowledge that it was him who caused this, that it was his mouth and his hands bringing Lee closer to the edge.

Lee's body tensed in just a few moments under Gaara's ministrations and he practically howled as he spilled his seed into the red-head's throat.

The leader of Suna choked slightly, but soon he stretched over Lee's body, supporting himself on the armrests and kissing the other man languidly.

The black-haired fighter kissed him back, letting go of the armrest himself and allowing his hand to roam freely over Gaara's body, until he found the tent in the Kazekage's pants. He grinned into the kiss, "Give you a hand with that?"

Gaara snorted and wiped a dribble of Lee's semen from his chin. "How about you kiss it better?"

The man in the armchair roared with laughter. "That was corny, Gaara." He continued to laugh. "Ow. Damn. This is pulling on the stitches, I tell you."

"Stop laughing, then." The Kazekage was still hovering over Lee, looking smug. "But you could do it, you know?"

Lee wiped the tears of laughter and pain from his eyes and nodded. "Okay. But you have to get up here and do most of it yourself anyhow. I'm not exactly flexible at this moment."

The red-head grinned and kissed him one more time, before he moved so that he was kneeling over Lee with his knees on the armrests. "That's not a problem." He untied the string in the waist of his pants and let them fall down to his knees, exposing himself to the sitting man.

Lee combed Gaara's red curls with his fingers, letting his fingertips tease the hardened flesh that was demanding his attention, before he leaned forward a bit, taking the tip of the Kazekage's cock in his mouth at once.

Gaara's breath hitched and he had to grip the backrest of the armchair to keep himself from falling off at the sudden assault of sensations.

Lee's mouth was hot, slick on his shaft, and just perfect, while his fingers ghosted over Gaara's balls, caressing, teasing and never applying as much pressure as the red-head would want.

The taijutsu master sneaked his hand between the Kazekage's legs and gripped his ass. He pushed lightly, giving the man kneeling above him the rhythm to follow.

Gaara's hips complied on their own, without him even registering it at first, still lost at the paradise that was Lee's mouth, until he looked down and realized that he was moving himself in and out of that moist and warm cavern.

Lee grabbed his buttock stronger, winding his arm around his thigh, gaining enough leverage to stop Gaara's movement and hold him in place, as he took in more and more of the Kazekage's erection, until his nose pressed into the fire-red pubes.

Gaara did not dare to move, his muscles trembling and his chest heaving. This was unbelievable. Not even an hour ago he was firmly convinced that he would probably never see this man again, yet here they were, with him buried up to the hilt in the other's mouth, getting probably the best oral sex of his life.

And then Lee started to hum around the shaft lodged in his throat.

Gaara shouted wordlessly at the sensation, the vibrations of Lee's vocal cords having an unbelievable effect on him. He felt himself getting close and he groaned.

When Lee shifted his hand just so and reached into the red-head's cleft to tease the hidden hole, it was a sweet torture.

It was all Gaara could do to move in shallow thrusts only, still deep in Lee's resonating throat, not to choke this amazing man.

And then Lee swallowed. And again. And again. And he was still fingering Gaara's opening.

Within few seconds the Kazekage shouted again and spurted his load.

This forced Lee to swallow again on reflex.

Gaara's eyes rolled in his head from the added stimulation and he caught himself at the last moment, not to fall on the still healing man. He withdrew himself slowly from the other's mouth, kneeling back between his legs and resting his head on Lee's stomach, panting.

Dressing could wait. Talking could wait. Work could definitely wait.

He wanted to rest now and he wanted to be close to his precious person. That was right.

Lee was his precious person.

The red-head drew up his pants still kneeling, then turned slightly to kiss the other's skin, feeling the resonation of his chuckles and the hand that was combing through his hair lightly, making him relax.

Both men were falling asleep when an urgent knock rattled the door.

Gaara frowned and groaned aloud, "Go away!"

Kankuro shouted from the other side of the massive wood, "Gaara, Lee's lost!" He burst through the door continuing, "He's gone…" His voice trailed off.

Lee replied a bit smugly, "No, he's not." He looked completely at ease and he didn't even stop to stroke the red hair of his lover.

The puppeteer gaped at the sight before him.

The lost man everybody was looking for sat in the armchair in front of the Kazekage's table, his hair mussed, his lips bruised and several bite marks showing on his bare shoulders. Lee sat there without a shirt, his chest covered by the cast, looking as calm and collected as if he would be at a council meeting.

Gaara was kneeling between his legs, his robes discarded and red welts showing on his back, nuzzling Lee's stomach tenderly like an overgrown cat.

Suddenly piercing jade glare snapped Kankuro back to reality.

Gaara spoke in a low and dangerous tone. "When I tell you to go away, you stay away. Now, go and close the door. From the other side."

Lee patted his head as if he was petting a dog and chuckled.

Kankuro walked out the door and closed it carefully behind him. He walked down the corridors and stairs to the rest of the searching party that waited for him at the main entrance of the Kazekage tower.

"What did Gaara say?"

"Did he know already?"

"Where are we going to look now?"

"What should we do?"

The questions from his sister and their friends got through the numbness the puppeteer felt and he responded in a low monotonous voice. "Gaara found Lee first. I don't know how about you, but I'm gonna call it a day and get drunk. Really really really drunk."

Temari looked at him closer, "Hey, you look like you've seen a ghost…"

He patted her shoulder absentmindedly. "Something like that, Tem. Something like that."

Ino and Temari left for a lunch with Chouji, leaving Kankuro and Shikamaru standing in front of the Kazekage's tower.

The puppeteer shuddered. He was fairly sure what happened at his bother's office and what was probably going to happen. He really did not need to see this. He started to walk in the direction of his favorite bar.

Shikamaru fell in step on his side and threw away a cigarette butt before lighting another. "So, Gaara found Lee, hm?" he asked, with just a slight emphasis on the verb.

Kankuro flinched. This was going to be a long night, or afternoon, or whatever, and he doubted that there was enough alcohol in the whole village for his purposes. Then his lips twitched in a slightly sadistic smile. Who said he had to suffer alone?

He draped an arm around Shikamaru's shoulders. "Why don't I tell you about it?"

The strategist expert groaned. "Why do I feel this is going to be really troublesome?"

The masked fighter grinned, "You have no idea."