Every time I post a chapter of this, I feel bad about it so I guess I should apologize again for the lack of Sasuke and Naruto you will be seeing for the next few chapters. In the end, there are going to be two ends of the story... Naruto and Team Naruto... and Naruto is living a very secluded, boring life right now. You'll get plenty of that when it's time is due. Right now I need to spur your interest in everyone else, since you'll be stuck with 'em for a while. In the end, their paths with coalesce again with demons, heroes, Akatsuki and, uhh... Orochimaru abound!
And with this chapter begins my shameless Lee/Gaara shipping... and some unplanned TemaShika
Chapter 6: Those Who Inherit The Will of Fire
It often got hot in Konoha, when the sun chose certain days to beat down upon those who dwelled in the Village of the Hidden Leaf. However, the trees themselves provided mercy for the residents there when the weather chose moments of wrath. They provided shelter from heat, rain, as well as the eyes of one's enemies. In Leaf, ninjas were trained to live using the forest to their advantage.
Nothing could be quite as opposing as the blaring Village of the Hidden Sand. The heat was relentless, leaving with you the sensation that it could melt down your skin and leave you bleeding under the sun. The sand got everywhere - in your eyes, between your toes... and just as you wanted to scream in frustration, the hot wind would kick up and blow it in your face and get caught between your teeth. If Tsunade had put more thought into it, she would have realized how brilliant she was for sending Lee to the desert, because where other ninja would have returned home in a fury, the azure beast of Konoha saw it all as training.
To the people who lived in the Village of the Hidden Sand, Rock Lee was at first seen as a bit of a lark. They watched as he trained in the midday sun with slight concern, wondering if this lanky, fuzzy-eyebrowed boy from Leaf might be a few grains short of a beach. After fainting in the heat several times and having to be nursed out of heatstroke, the people of the Sand began growing quite fond of him. Soon, it became a game of amusement - to see how long he would be able to keep doing the same routine every day while the people of the Sand wondered if everyone in Leaf was like this. Eventually, Rock Lee became a bit of a mascot. With his stubborn training routine, his constant sunburn and his absolute loyalty to his own morals, the people found joy in teasing him playfully while adoring him sincerely.
If a child found his ball tossed over the city walls, Lee would spend an entire day trying to conquer the walls without use of chakra, naming the chore 'training' while he did so. Eventually, Gaara would come by and offer his services only to be politely declined by the passionate genin, saying that if he didn't accomplish this task, he would have to make fifty laps around the village at noon without any protection from the blowing sand.
For hours, Lee would attempt to conquer the wall while Gaara would stand back and look on with his arms crossed over his chest as if he had nothing better to do. Lee would assure Gaara every twenty minutes that it wouldn't be much longer, and by the time the sun was going down, Gaara would silently press sand against the wall in order to assist his companion and bring the training session to an end. The first time Lee had tried this, Kankurou had been forced to drag him, weeping and in pain, back into the village after his own punishment had failed. After that, Gaara resolved that he wouldn't let that happen again.
And one day, Gaara returned home from a mission to find Lee sitting on the wall of the village, eyes bloodshot against the wind and grinning. "Gaara-san!" He shouted, standing on the wall and opening his arms to welcome his friend home. "I did it!" And with that, he acknowledged and accepted his friend's help.
In time, Lee's sunburn became a deep tan and the Sand trio taught him a thing or two about dressing more appropriately. He began to fit in perfectly with the leaf symbol on his forehead protector, and the vast amounts of friends he'd made greeting him as he walked through the city. And, by his side was Gaara.
They were a very odd duo, Temari observed as she peered through her window in order to distract herself from the report that she had to write. She herself had found things to admire about the Village of the Leaf, but it was Gaara's suggestion that Lee become a representative for the village in spite of the fact that he wasn't even a chuunin. He actually did very little for the good of the city, taking on D-rank missions and running errands for free. Lee seemed to prefer standing back and cheering Gaara on as he went to do this or that. Lee always saw him off on his missions and greeted him upon his return. When Temari recalled the vicious fight they'd had during the Leaf chuunin exam, she never would have guessed that something like this would have come from it. Then again, Gaara had changed.
Random urges for bloodshed had been something she'd gotten used to several years before - something which she hadn't seen in Gaara since the fight he'd had with that Naruto boy when the Sound attacked the Leaf and the Sandaime died. It seemed that one of them had managed to beat the Shuukaku violently back into submission, where it hadn't been heard from since. Now Gaara had become quiet and observant... even kind as he walked around the village with Lee, who constantly burned with energy and passion. If Temari ever saw the Shuukaku in her brother again, it would be too soon. In spite of the fact that the demon had made life far more interesting, the boy Gaara had been had terrified her. Now, he was someone completely different.
"Enjoy your mission!" Was something that no member of the Sand would have dared to say to a peer. Every mission there was private, and likely to become very violent and potentially dangerous, but there was Lee with his eyes even with Gaara's as he gave the smaller youth an energetic nod. "I know you don't need luck! You're practically Kazekage already, Gaara-san!"
Gaara hummed thoughtfully and lowered his face, eyes even with Lee's. "This mission may take several days, so..."
"Understood!" Lee said, straightening into a salute. "I won't eat or sleep until you return!"
Gaara stared at him in severe silence for a moment, as if wondering how to propose his question which emerged as a simple "...why?"
"Training!" Lee declared loudly. "Every moment that I can't be sure you are completely safe, you might be completely vulnerable! So, I will put myself in the same position, else I'll do five thousand pull-ups on the Kazekage's window!"
Gaara lowered his eyes, a sign that Lee saw often. It was a gesture that seemed to say "your actions are illogical, but I have no reason to argue with you". Gaara never argued. Lee was afraid that if he did, his training system might be ruined.
"Well then," Gaara murmured, turning to exit the Village of the hidden Sand to go on yet another mission that he would soon return from, unscathed, to find loyal Lee, hungry and fretting.
"Take care of yourself!" Lee shouted exhuberantly as Gaara started off, uniting outside of the city gates with the people that would make up the rest of his team, this time being solely Kankurou.
"What a weirdo," was not Kankurou's most articulate of observations as he looked back at Lee with disapproval as the ninja of Konoha continued waving. "Must he always do this?"
"I appreciate it," Gaara vocalized, choosing not to look over his shoulder at the one-man scene that Lee was often prone to creating.
"Hmph," Kankurou grunted, standing back slightly. "Then I guess there's nothing I can say... so let's just get going. We need to get to the border for midday tomorrow."
Gaara nodded and Kankurou took the lead. Observed by no one but Lee, Gaara raised a hand over his shoulder to wave back. Still in the city, Lee dropped his hand to his side, left to decide what to do with himself for the rest of the day before a mission came up. Several days from now, Gaara would be back to press sand under his feet while he tried doing things that every other ninja could do.
"Hey," Shikamaru greeted as he walked into the room where Temari sat, staring out of the window. He almost startled her, except that she refused to show it. He stood with a little slouch and with his hands in his pockets, looking about as enthralled as usual. "You busy?"
Temari wasn't one to waste time. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her head still resting on her hand as she looked fleetingly to the window. "Make it quick, I have things to do."
Shikamaru considered commenting on how she didn't look very productive, but he chose to sigh instead, stretching his arm behind his head and cracking his neck. "Well, there's been a bit of an accident."
He finally caught her attention, and the Shuukaku's older sister leaned forward in her seat. "What happened?"
"Well, there's this Tenten girl... you fought her during the chuunin exam. Anyway, she was a teammate of fuzzy-brows, so we all figured he would probably care that she was injured during a mission." He sighed heavily before continuing. "There was an incident with this demon thing that more or less went on a killing spree. The mission was just to find out what was going on, and the group managed to beat it... but that Tenten girl hasn't been concious since. There's a bit more to it than that, but... you know. Classified Leaf stuff."
Temari nodded slowly. "So they sent you as a replacement?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Well, we were in town, so... Tsunade figured since we haven't done anything useful for the village lately, she wanted to send one of us. The old man went and send me. Waste of time, in my opinion."
Temari sighed, choosing to spare Shikamaru her snark... just this once. "My brothers just left on a mission, so it'll give him something to do for a while."
"You want me to find him?" Shikamaru asked, sounding almost irritated. "You're the Kazekage. Can't you just summon him or something?"
"In case you hadn't noticed," Temari said, gesturing to the pile of papers on her desk, "I've got reports to write. Besides, you're his comrade. He'd rather talk to you."
It had become a game between the two of them. Her sharpness would sting him into doing what she wanted him to do, whether or not it was logical. One day very far from now, Shikamaru might refuse or protest, and maybe then she'd be able to take him seriously. Until then, maybe she didn't need to.
Shikamaru sighed loudly as he gave up, turning to leave the room and mumbling a quiet "women are so tiring..."
Temari pretended she didn't hear it since he was too far away to start lecturing. She stared down at the paper that sat in front of her and sighed her own sigh. She needed a break.
In the Village of the Hidden Sand, all things were gold and blue. And when it didn't remind Lee of Gaara, it reminded him of Naruto, with his eyes like sky and his sunburst hair. How long had it been since the boy vanished along with his rival? Almost two years now, was it? The agony of wondering where he'd gone and whether he was alive came flooding back to Lee as he turned to see Shikamaru approaching him, looking as passionate as ever. Seeing him, Lee was reminded of the mission that he had almost forgotten. The mission he had sworn his life to - the retrieval of Uzumaki Naruto. And as Lee ran to his peer, slipping through the loose sand that lined the training area, Neji's face ran through his mind. Has my rival found Naruto before I could? Before I was even able to look?
Shikamaru hopped skillfully backward as Lee tried to stop and slid in the sand, saving the both of them a complicated tangle of limbs as the genin fell alone and left his superior to sigh loudly. "Some things never change," he observed as Lee shook the sand from his hair.
"Did you find him!" Lee shouted, piercing Shikamaru's hearing.
"No," Shikamaru stated, rubbing his pinky along the inside of his ear as Lee uttered an extreme sigh of relief. This happened every time someone made a report to Lee. "The old man's been getting kinda anxious lately, though. I think Neji got assigned to spying duty though - keeping tabs on Sasuke's brother or something, 'cause I haven't seen him in a few weeks." With such a small force, they were having trouble really getting anything done. "Get promoted already, would you? We're really not getting anywhere, we need more manpower."
Lee climbed to his feet slowly. He wanted so badly to join Shikamaru and Neji in Team Naruto. He wanted so badly to have his friend safe and sound, but -
Shikamaru sighed again before Lee could dwell on his decision much, catching the genin's attention. "I came here because of that teammate of yours. That Tenten girl."
"Tenten?" Lee asked loudly, staring up at Shikamaru. "Has something happened to Tenten?"
"You could say that..." Shikamaru muttered.
"Understood!" Lee shouted, adopting a salute for his superior. "I will depart for Konoha immediately!" He cried, running for the Ninja Center Building, where he was lodged during his stay.
"You could have waited for me to be finished..." Shikamaru sighed again. "What a pain." It might take a normal person a few days to get back to Konoha, but without sleep it was hard to say what kind of progress the genin might make. Rock Lee wasn't just any ninja.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Shikamaru couldn't think of someone quite as energetically as troublesome as Lee. At least he had predictability - not like Naruto. Naruto who - as far as they knew - turned his back on the Village for Sasuke's friendship, leaving everyone else behind. Leaving his friends to possibly turn a kunai to in the future - for Sasuke's sake. Shikamaru shook his head. He had already devoted himself too the cause of Naruto's safe return, so he was better off not being pessimistic. Jiraiya knew that the Akatsuki wanted him, so he kept close tabs to see if they knew where he was. He couldn't accept that his student might have turned his back on him. He refused to even consider it. Shikamaru considered himself a realist, so he decided he was better off doing the same thing.
However, spending time with one-third of the Legendary Trio led Shikamaru to think about how easily things could break you. Loyalties and fondness and other such things were so important in the life of a ninja, and could even end up killing you. Sadly, Shikamaru had taken himself too far to prevent attachments like that. He already cared about people and he hadn't really noticed it happening until it was too late to bother trying not to care, because in spite of how hard he tried he always did... as Chouji had explained to him before he left for the Sand.
He was better off not worrying about it... but it was hard.
Shikamaru started walking back to the Ninja Building, where high atop the Kazekage sat getting no reports done. The entire way to the Sand he had imagined going and taking her out to dinner, although he couldn't figure out how he might get that far. He doubted he would end up bothering to ask. At any rate, he needed to find Lee. The genin had run off without really knowing anything.
Shikamaru chose to wait by the door instead of trying to find Lee when the taijutsu master finally appeared, taking a deep drink from a flask of water before beginning the trip homeward. "Hey, fuzzy-brows," Shikamaru spoke up, moving forward.
Lee looked hurt by the old nickname, but said nothing. Shikamaru sighed.
"It was a mission to Mist. It was a success, and the only one who suffered at all was Tenten," the chuunin said, scanning the area and moving in closer to talk quietly. Lee's round eyes widened as Shikamaru hesitated. "We have a new demon in Konoha."
"Tenten," Lee breathed before taking off with his heart pounding. Shikamaru watched in silence as he ran as fast as he could in the shifting sand toward the gate to Sunagakure - saying goodbye to no one as he fled home.
Shikamaru took a deep breath to strengthen his resolve before he turned. After that, maybe he did have the courage to ask Temari out for dinner after all.