Kankurou got his wish - the three Suna-nin arrived at Konoha at midnight under the thin light of the crescent moon. Yawning, Temari had checked them into a hotel. It was a cheap, rather foul-looking place, but it was the only one she could find open, and tomorrow they'd be moving into an apartment anyway, if all went well. Temari and Kankurou had crashed into the beds gratefully without even noticing the rather foul sake and sex smell and had fallen asleep almost immediately.

Gaara had agreed to watch the cart and their belongings, since the other two were too tired to move it and Gaara didn't want to. Besides, they'd have to be idiots to leave it without a guard in a village full of shinobi. Gaara had decided to sit atop the luggage piled in the cart, looking at the crescent moon and scattered stars. The constellations were different here than in Suna - not by a lot, but he could tell, since he spent so much time looking at the night sky. It was quiet and peaceful. Despite the recent devastation, Konoha knew none of the tense silence that wrapped and oppressed Suna village's nights.

Occasionally, sounds broke through the quiet. Gaara was alert to them all out of habit, having grown with a need to be weary of assassins. One came closer, a gentle huffing sound. Gaara turned and began looking around, tracking the sound without heed of his post gaurding the luggage. "Oh. Lee-san - why are you out so late? And what are you doing?" Gaara asked as he saw Konoha's green beast approaching on his palms.

Lee looked up and grinned. "Gaara-kun. When did you get here?" he asked. "And actually, I'm up early, not out late. Since I can't work as hard as I used to yet, I try to work more," Lee explained, grinning. "I have to do 100 laps like this, or esle I'll have to run 200 upside down in the trees!"

"Why?" Gaara asked, wondering if Lee's odd sensei, Gai, had told him that.

"Because! If I can't succeed, then I just have to push myself harder!" Lee explained with another grin, shifting his weight onto one hand so he could use the other to give Gaara a thumbs-up.

"Why do you work so hard?" the suna-nin asked.

"Because I have to make my dream come true. I have to prove I can be a great ninja too, even without genjutsu or ninjutsu!" Lee told Gaara with an earnest expression on his face.

"That is a difficult dream," Gaara said listlessly, in thought. What was his dream? Did he have a dream? How could he, when he never slept? How could you dream without sleep! Maybe sleep wasn't so over-rated after all... "Does Naruto have a dream?" he asked abruptly.

Lee looked surprise. "Well, yeah. He tells everyone he meets - he wants to be the next Hokage," he said. He was sure Naruto had mentioned it around Gaara, so he was even more surprised.

Gaara nodded - he remembered that now. "Ah-!" Gaara groaned, clutching his head, as one memory drew another and another behind it, creating a chain that always inevitably ended in the Hell of his childhood.

"Ga-Gaara-kun!" Lee exclaimed, hopping back onto his feet and putting his hands on Gaara's shoulders. Gaara tugged away, no longer fully aware of the world around him, but reliving that day when Yashamaru had tried to kill him yet again. It was always just as clear as crystal, just like it was happening that very instant, because Gaara had no proper grasp on the passage of time, and all his thoughts and memories bled together so he was never exactly sure if his experiences were unfolding as he witnessed them or if he was merely reliving a memory. "Gaara-kun! Are you all right?" Lee asked, grabbing a tighter hold of Gaara and tilting his face up to look in his eyes.

"Doshite? Doshite, Yashamaru! Doshite!" Gaara pleaded in a child's voice. His eyes were open wide and his 'pupils' constricted till they almost seemed to be gone altogether.

Lee shook him hard, beginning to be afraid also. "Wake up! Gaara, wake up!" he commanded, giving Gaara a good hard slap on the face when shaking seemed to have no effect. The sand blocked it, but it was enough. Gaara pulled himself out of the nightmare and back into what he assumed to be reality.

"Lee...!" he pleaded. "It hurts...!" Gaara didn't expect anything. No one had ever done anything for him, and he had not even bothered asking for much since he was a child, realizing no one would help, let alone sympathize. But the Konoha-nin had not lived in fear of him, and they were more compassionate than the desert-hardened Suna-nin. Lee pulled him into a bear hug.

Gaara tried to pull away for a moment, unused to being held, fearing an attack, fearing his own weakness, unsure what to expect and hurting, but Lee would not let him go, even tightened his grasp. "Gaara-kun, you helped me - let me help you," Lee said comfortingly. Gaara still trembled but stopped fighting and waited, wondering what would happen.

"You're sweaty," he said finally, when the headache had passed and he could breathe evenly again.

Lee chuckled and backed away. "Yeah, sorry about that... You looked like you needed a hug though!" he explained. Gaara had such sad eyes. Lee didn't like people's eyes being sad like that - it was how his eyes had been when he thought he'd have to give up being a ninja. Lee got back on his hands. "I need to finish my laps now. I should probably start over, even though I wasn't giving up..." Lee pondered whether he should pick up where he left off, start over, or go to run 200 laps upside down.

"Can I go with you?" Gaara asked, even though it was beginning to grow light and Temari and Kankurou would probably be getting up soon. He still probably had a few hours, since he imagined they'd be sleeping late.

"Umm, sure, I guess so," Lee said, doing something that might have been a shrug, but it didn't really work right when doing a handstand. Gaara chose to walk as he usually did, rather than on his hands, since it occurred to him he'd never done that before, and his head still hurt a little - he didn't want to send all the blood rushing to it.

So Naruto had a dream... Gaara supposed he should have a dream too... Did that mean he had to sleep? He couldn't do that or Shukaku would eat away at what was left of his mind! "Does Naruto sleep?" Gaara asked when they'd been walking for a few minutes in mutual silence.

"Wha-? Well, yes, I assume so. Why?" Lee asked, looking up to give Gaara an odd look.

"I can't, because of my Shukaku. And if I can't sleep, I can't have dreams. I thought maybe Naruto didn't sleep, and if that was so, it would mean he'd found a way to dream anyhow, and that there was a way for me. But I guess there isn't," Gaara explained, seeming vaguely dejected.

"You can't sleep?"

"Right."

"Well, that must bite, but that's not the point. You can have a dream without sleeping. Dream is figurative - like a goal, an ambition or desire," Lee explained, still not sure he understood why Gaara didn't sleep.

"Oh." Gaara thought some more. He could handle that. What did he want? What was his goal, his ambition, his desire? He wasn't sure. He'd never had such a thing before - he'd simply existed to kill, without any particular direction in mind or thing to exist for. He supposed for now his 'dream' was to gain important people, and to make them think of him as important. He wanted to be 'family' to Temari and Kankurou, and 'friends' with Naruto, Lee, and maybe some of the other Konoha-nin. He wanted to figure out what it was like to not be alone anymore. Was that a good dream? Gaara thought that if he slept, it would be a very good dream to have. He decided that was his dream.

"Lee-san?" Gaara asked, his tone a bit subdued, even cautious.

"Yeah, Gaara-kun?" Lee asked, glancing up.

"Why did it make me feel better when you... 'hugged' me?" Gaara asked, trying to remember what Lee had called it. He'd heard the word 'hug' before, and knew what it meant, but to think of someone doing it to him... it was a strange application, and he almost wasn't sure he was using it right - maybe Lee had meant to say 'hold' and had just said 'hug' on accident.

Lee looked surprised. "What do you mean? Haven't people hugged you before?" Lee asked, half joking with the last line.

"Not since I was a very small child. If you haven't noticed, I'm not precisely seen as... 'cuddly.'" Gaara murmured.

Lee got very serious, on hearing that. That just wasn't right! People needed hugs! No wonder Gaara was so messed up! "You need more hugs! Hugs make you feel better because it means that person cares about you!" Lee said. ((A/N – my personal philosophy is more hugs for everyone! -))

It was Gaara's turn to be surprised. For a moment, he was quiet, turning this over in his mind. "So... that means... you care about me?"

Lee did another awkward looking shrug. "Yeah. Sort of like I said before, you look like someone he needs someone to care about them." Lee grinned again.

"But... you have no reason to - you have all the reason not to!" Gaara complained, unable to wrap his psychotic mind around this idea.

"Gaara-kun, would you stop worrying about that! Do you still want to kill me?" Lee demanded, sounding mildly irate.

"No!" Gaara responded emphatically. Why did Lee ask that? Did Lee think Gaara still wanted to kill him!

"And are you glad you were stopped before?" Lee continued.

"Yes!" Gaara half-shouted.

"Then it's O.K.! We've already been over the fact that you saved my life twice against Kimimaro to compensate for trying to take it before, and as long as you're not still interested in killing me, than I'm not interested in holding a grudge or even thinking about it anymore! Just let me FORGET, Gaara!" Lee said, sounding angry as he finished - he was getting impatient, and when Gaara kept bringing it up, it made it harder and harder for Lee to ignore.

The two walked in silence for the next few moments, Lee angry and trying to calm down and Gaara digesting this information. "Alright. I won't talk about it again," Gaara resolved.

Lee sighed relief. "Good." They spent the rest of the time in more or less companionable silence, with Gaara lost in thought again. By the time Lee had completed his laps, the sun was well up and he was huffing hard. Lee stood on his feet, shaking and stretching out his arms. "Let's get some breakfast," he said, leading the way to a small stand he knew opened early - it was his usual stop after training in the mornings.

"Where's Naruto?" Gaara asked as they sat down to order.

"He's out on a mission," Lee said and, upon further questioning, began to explain what he knew, which was not a wealth, but enough.

Temari woke slowly and rose with a faint smile, stretching as she yawned. It might be a crappy hotel with a shitty bed that stank like all get out, but it beat sleeping on the ground in the forest for sure, and she felt so much better now! She'd slept late; it had to be eight o'clock or so... "Oi, Kankurou, wake up!" she called, feeling oddly cheery. She couldn't say why, but she felt that today would be a good day.

Kankurou grumbled and rolled over. Temari stood and stretched some more before going over and shaking Kankurou. "Oi! Baka puppet boy, it's time to get up!"

Kankurou batted away at her, complaining, "Why? 's'not like we've got anything that needs to be done right away."

"Well, we need to find an apartment so we don't have to stay in this shit hole any longer than we have to," Temari said, giving Kankurou another shake.

Kankurou pushed her away again, grumbling "Yeah, yeah, ok, fine," as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He wrinkled his nose as he became aware of the smell. "It is a shithole..." he commented.

"So let's go!" Temari said, dragging him to his feet. Kankurou glared death at her, which she returned in the form of a smile far too cheery for before breakfast.

"What's the rush?" he muttered, following her out of the door reluctantly. At least he didn't have to worry about doing his face paint yet - he'd forgotten to bring it in last night, so he had an excuse to not do anymore than absolutely necessary. Sort of. He'd paint his face after he ate and woke up fully. Fuck who saw him.

Temari went down the stairs in good spirits, tossing the room key onto the front desk and heading out, looking for Gaara. She imagined he wouldn't be out sitting on the cart, but he should be nearby. Normally, when she and Kankurou got out in the mornings Gaara joined them as soon as he saw they were up for lack of anything better to do. "Gaara?" she called when he wasn't found within a few moments.

"Aw fuck, don't tell me he's gone," Kankurou griped, looking frustrated and a little nervous as he glanced about. Nothing like a good Gaara scare to get the blood flowing in the mornings.

"We'd better find him," Temari said anxiously. "I don't think he'd be causing trouble, but..."

"Right..." Kankurou said. What a way to start the day... he just knew today was going to suck.

Temari sighed relief. "Kankurou, there he is! With that leaf kid, Lee," she said, pointing.

"Oi, he looks slaughter free, even," Kankurou remarked irritably.

Temari jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. "Damare!" she hissed, approaching the stand. "Ohayo, Gaara, Lee-san. It is Lee-san, right?" she said, taking a seat next to Gaara since she knew Kankurou would never do such a thing and leaning forward to confirm with Lee his name.

"Ohayo, Temari," Gaara said.

"Yes, it's Lee. And you're Temari then?" Lee asked, grinning as he stuffed food into his mouth after he finished talking.

"Hai," Temari said with a nod, "Gaara's older sister," she added, smiling as she cautiously placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara jolted a little and looked at her in mild surprise, but then relaxed and went back to eating without complaint. At the jolt, Temari was worried for a moment, but grew relieved when Gaara did nothing more. It took courage to touch Gaara like that, but she'd been offering him relief for a while now- he needed it.

Kankurou took the other seat next to Temari and cradled his head in his arms, apparently wanting to go back to sleep. However, after that scare and now Lee and Temari talking animatedly about something he didn't care enough to even figure out what they were actually talking about, such efforts were useless. With a sigh, he ordered breakfast.

"Oi, Gaara, Kankurou and I are going to find an apartment. Are you coming or staying with Lee?" Temari asked, after pushing away her plate. Gaara looked at Lee questioningly.

"Well, I was going to train with Tenten and Neji... You're welcome to come with, if you want, but you should probably help your siblings find some place to stay. You can come meet us for lunch, though. We'd planned to eat at Ichiraku," Lee said, looking thoughtful.

Gaara nodded and stood up to go with Temari and Kankurou, "Arigatou, Lee-san. Ja ne," he said, waving as he and his older siblings left.

"Ja ne, Lee-san!" Temari called, smiling brightly. It was a good day so far - they'd had a little scare, but Gaara was fine and had apparently been with Lee the whole time. "Oi, we need to get back to the cart - Kankurou and I put a genjutsu on it to hide it, but someone might discover it." she said.

"I'll find it and meet up with you two," Gaara volunteered.

"No, stick with me, Gaara, dozo. Kankurou knows where and how we hid it anyhow," Temari said, knowing that Kankurou still wanted to get his face paint and that he would like a break from dealing with people, especially his psychotic little brother. Kankurou was not exactly a social butterfly at the best of times, and mornings were especially bad. Besides, this way they wouldn't have to worry about where Gaara went off to and what trouble he might cause.

"All right," Gaara conceded.

"Ja, Temari," Kankurou said as he turned off to fetch their things and those damn oxen.

"All right then, let's get started... oh, kuso! We should have asked Lee where to look! Oh well, we'll find someone else..." Temari sighed, looking irritated at herself. She began looking for someone to ask, when she recognised a boy with dark hair pulled back into a ragged ponytail and a chuunin's coat.

"Oi, it's him, that guy I fought at the Chuunin exam, and helped in that last mission… Shikamaru, I think," she said, more or less thinking out loud, before yelling out "Shikamaru! Oi, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru turned to see who was calling him and sighed when he saw Temari, walking over in no particular hurry. "Oi, Temari-chan. Why are you here?" he asked in his general bored-sounding tone, casting a wary glance at Gaara, and getting on his guard. That guy was freaky. He knew the Suna-nin were on their side now, and Temari had helped before, but he was still creeped out by Gaara - the guy was definitely insane.

"My brothers and I are moving to Konoha. We need to find an apartment to stay at - can you point us in the right direction?" she asked, looking around as though it would suddenly become clear where she might find such apartments.

"Eh, it's troublesome, but yeah, I can help you find a place. I was going to stop by Naruto's to drop something off for him anyway. You can probably find a room there..." Shikamaru said, shrugging as he held up a scroll, presumably the thing he meant to drop off. That nutjob and this crazy girl are moving here? Medoukuse... I'll have to give them a wide birth. Kuso.

"Domo, Shikamaru-kun," Temari said, smiling.

"Yeah, whatever," he said airily, leading the way, wary of the demon-possessed suna-shounen at his back. It didn't matter that he was a chuunin while they appeared to still be genin, Gaara was stronger than he was, and he wasn't sure how the chips would fall in another match against Temari.

"Why are you here, anyhow?" Shikamaru asked, glancing back at Temari. Had the Suna-nin come to clean up the mess they'd left?

Temari glanced at Gaara, unsure whether he'd want his part in it revealed or not, and began, "Our father was killed by Orochimaru and there was nothing left for us in Suna. We thought we'd help clean up our karma by coming to help Konoha." She shrugged.

Gaara nodded once - a minimal motion, and added, "I wanted to talk to Naruto again."

Shikamaru tensed. "What for?" He couldn't forget the way Gaara'd tried to kill Lee for no other reason than he wanted to. What if he now felt the same about Naruto? Hell, Gaara'd promised to kill them both - what if he attacked Shikamaru!

"I wanted to talk to him about our demons... and ask him about important people," Gaara replied. He could tell Shikamaru was wary of him. He didn't like it. He tried not to get angry, and kept his sand at bay. He wasn't going to be the sabaku no bakemono anymore! He would not scare people and attack them for such things! He just wanted to not be lonely anymore. "I'm not here to cause more harm," he added, trying to control his voice.

Shikamaru was only a little mollified by this statement. "Well, he probably isn't going to be around for a while..." he stated. "He went with Sakura and Jiraiya-sannin to scout out Oto gakure, I think."

"Hai, Lee told me," Gaara said.

"Nani!" Shikamaru half-shouted. Gaara had been talking to Lee?

"Lee told me..." Gaara said, confused by Shikamaru's reaction.

"We just had breakfast with him," Temari explained to Shikamaru.

"But-! But you-! Ah, mendoukuse!" Shikamaru moaned, putting a hand to his forehead in expression of one suffering a great burden. It was too confusing and too troublesome to puzzle out now.

"Lee told me it didn't matter that I tried to kill him before. He said to forget it," Gaara said, realizing what Shikamaru was on about. His fists clenched as he tried to defend himself. He didn't like the way Shikamaru was acting, though he knew he shouldn't blame the Konoha-nin. Even so... He was trying not to be a monster anymore, but Shukaku kept pushing him, and things kept happening...

"Whatever... It's too troublesome for me to worry about," Shikamaru griped. He remembered Lee saying Gaara had helped him against some weird bone-guy, but even so...

"Everything's too troublesome for you, isn't it?" Temari said, putting her hands on her hips. She was getting worried by the rustling noise in Gaara's gourd, and was eager to change the conversation.

"Oi, do you want me to take you to the apartment place or not?" Shikamaru asked, stuffing his nose up in the air.

Temari sighed, "Hai, hai..."

Temari need not have acquiesced, however, because upon making the next turn, Naruto's apartment complex came into view. "Here we are," Shikamaru sighed, gesturing weakly.

"Domo again, Shikamaru-kun," Temari said.

Shikamaru waved bye and hopped on the elevator to go to Naruto's floor. Temari led Gaara to the front desk and began inquiring about the rooms, pricing, and other necessaries. Gaara felt relieved Shikamaru was gone at last. Temari noticed with relief the quiet that returned to Gaara's sand.

Kankurou glared as he carried in their things while Temari got to sit and discuss the little details about the apartment with one of the workers and Gaara stood there looking more lifeless than his puppets did (of course, he was biased in favor of his puppets...). Why did he always get stuck with the grunt work in situations like this? Temari had given him the number and the key to the apartment they were getting and had then left to finalize the details - you know, sign here, here, here and initial here, all that jazz. Not that he really would have preferred that anyway. Maybe Gaara had the right of things - you couldn't be made to do anything you didn't want to when you were off your fuckin' rocker.

"Aw, chikoushou..." he grumbled as he fumbled to get the key with his arms full of crates. Then he heard a familiar hissing noise and footsteps. He looked up, surprised and honestly a bit worried - Gaara. Sand streaked towards him and slipped the key out of his pocket, deftly putting it in the lock and opening the door. The control Gaara could have over that sand, when he bothered to... Sugoi.

"Uh, Domo..." Kankurou murmured stepping in and looking around to figure out what to do with the stuff he was carrying. After a few moments he shrugged and put it down in a corner of the empty front room. Gaara followed suit and Kankurou realized his little brother had actually been carrying some things up as well.

It took them several trips to get everything up, and they had not brought any furniture - they'd sold what they had back home to buy new pieces here since taking it all would have been ludicrous. It would be a very uncomfortable first few nights, Kankurou expected. "Arigatou, Gaara," he said belatedly. His little psycho brother had never helped him out with anything before, so he supposed he should encourage the practice, even if he was in a shitty mood and had been for the past few weeks - since his father had died, more or less... Bastard

"It's nothing..." Gaara replied. "Is it lunch time?"

"Uhm, yeah, just about..." Kankurou answered. Was the crazy little shit hungry already?

"C'mon, let's get Temari. We have to go to Ichiraku," Gaara said, leading the way out. "Lock the door," he reminded.

"Why Ichiraku?" Kankurou asked - he wasn't in the mood for ramen, really...

"I'm meeting Lee there," Gaara said. Kankurou could swear Gaara sounded happy, which was odd because Kankurou had never heard a truly happy Gaara, though there was the insane, blood-giddy version...

"The kid you beat in the 3rd Chuunin Exam prelims?" Kankurou confirmed.

"Hai."

"Why him?"

"Because... He hugged me," Gaara said, like it made perfect sense. Actually, he was still shocked by it.

So was Kankurou ­- his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, and he imagined he must look like some ridiculous anime character. That kid hugged Gaara? He's got balls! How could anyone hug Gaara, especially after he'd tried to kill them like Lee? Screw Gaara, it's the Konoha-nin that are crazy!