"895! 896! 897!" Lee shouted as he struck the worn down stump, repeating his goal over and over in his mind. If I don't make it to 1000, then I'll strike every tree in the Konoha village 15 times each! Lee was recovering nicely and was now able to do almost everything he could before. It had been nearly a month since Sakura had visited him in the hospital. Lee didn't understand why she hadn't come again, so he settled on the idea that she had no way of getting there.

It had also been a while since he last heard anything about Gaara. Lee was grateful for that, hoping that the boy wouldn't try to visit him again anytime soon. Once Lee was fully recovered, however, he would seek out the red head and fight him fairly.

"986! 987! 988!" Lee was almost there, not realizing the figure lurking in the brush behind him. When he had become aware of the other beings presence, he forced himself to continue before turning around and scanning the area. The figure peered from in between leaves and tried to stay silent as she watched Lee look around. She stood up, giving Lee relief when he saw her green eyes, pink hair, and soft hands holding a dangling flower.

"Sakura-chan!" Lee said, blushing. "You haven't stopped by since you came to drop the flower off which I never got to thank you for. " Sakura sighed.

"Sorry I didn't stop by. Something… happened and I couldn't see you for a while," she said, remembering what she heard when she last saw him. "I brought you another flower but I noticed you weren't hurt anymore…" Lee smiled and his face reddened ever more.

"That's ok, I was just about to finish up here anyways." The Green Beast walked up to her and took the flower from her hands, studying it carefully. It was different from the last one and was a deep orange, matching the color of the summer sunset. Lee liked how she came to see him but he couldn't understand why she had. Sakura didn't have any reason at all unless... No, she wouldn't for that. She didn't like him. The girl probably came out of pity or-

There it was again. The faint and familiar sound of what could only be trickling sand. Lee's eyes widened and he backed away from Sakura, dropping the flower on the ground. The girl was confused. "Lee-san…?"

"Get out of here now, Sakura!" Lee said, looking around for the gourd of where it came. She trusted the boy and began to sprint off in which the direction from which she came. Lee watched her run off, not dropping his guard. "Sabaku no Gaara! I know you are here, so you might as well show yourself!" he said, putting one arm behind his back and the other palm up.

The clearing in which he was standing wasn't too big and anyone else in it would be easy to spot. Without realizing it, the sand had wrapped around his feet, trapping him to the ground. He struggled to get out, pulling on his leg and trying to kick his foot out. "Damn it, Gaara!" he shouted into the air.

Suddenly, Lee's arms were trapped. Not by the sand but by someone else, holding him from behind. How could he-? Lee dropped his guard without realizing it and had fallen directly into a trap. Gaara was standing behind him, gripping Lee's arms with his own. The green boy struggled, thrashing his body around, but the redhead's grip nor the sand's grip loosened.

Gaara twisted Lee's right arm back slightly, causing him to shout in pain and stop struggling. "I would rather not hurt you," his sleek voice said in a low tone. Lee leaned back into the other boy's chest, surprised to find how close Gaara was to him.

"You know, Gaara… Not everyone loves me…" Lee said, trying to regain himself. Gaara was struck at the word 'love'. Of course everyone did…. Sakura brought him flowers, his sensei was ecstatic to see him… No one had ever shown him something like that… only his mother, and she was long gone. Gaara loosened his grip. Lee slid down so that he was sitting on the ground with the sand still around his ankles.

"Then how come no one has ever done something for me…? I don't understand… why people treat me different…" Gaara slid to his knees, still staying behind Lee so the boy would have something lean on in case his ankles began to ache, which they did.

"Well for one thing, you don't have to go around killing people when they piss you off…" Lee said in a nasty tone. Gaara's hand twitched at the natural impulse to use his sand, but he refused. Lee meant something more to him, but he wasn't exactly sure what. He didn't want to kill him, that would only make himself more upset. But he was envious of the boy. He wanted to be included. He wanted to love someone.

Lee leaned back again drowsily. He had trained to hard and struggled too much against the rough sand. The Green Beast didn't want to fall asleep, he couldn't drop his guard now. He looked at Gaara's pale blue eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you." was all Gaara said. That was all the boy needed and within moments he was fast asleep. Gaara smiled and admired the sleeping boy. By now it was nearly dark and someone would come looking for Lee soon, most likely his sensei. Gaara put the sand around Lee's ankles back into his gourd and stood up, carefully placing Lee on the ground without disturbing him.

Gaara leapt up into the trees and hurried back to Baki after saying one last thing to the sleeping boy.

"Lee, I love you."