A/N- THIS IS SHORT! No, I won't make it longer. This is a oneshot I wrote in about 15 minutes tops… It's for a friend. I promised her smut of Gaara and Lee and since I can't write smut… this came out! YAY! For The Moot. This is my fluffy little non-smutly fic. Enjoy, though it's short.
To Protect
"Gaara?" Rock Lee asked, surprised to find himself suddenly standing beside a swirling mass of sand. He dropped his guard and ceased drop-kicking the reinforced tree stump in front of him. It had been so long since he'd last actually feared Gaara. He'd still been a Genin back then. He'd since learned much about the younger boy.
The sand fell away to reveal that it was indeed Gaara, as he'd suspected. The sad returned slowly to the gourd in a way that made it look like water running upstream. Gaara stayed perfectly still, staring at the tree stump rather than Lee himself, he made no sign that he actually acknowledged the fact that he was standing next to anyone.
"What is it?" Lee asked the statuesque boy beside him.
There was a long pause, then Gaara turned to face him with a piercing stare that caused a few hairs on the back of Lee's neck to stand up, "Why is it that I don't wish to kill you anymore?" he asked angrily.
Lee stood dumbstruck for a moment. This wasn't the sort of question you think up an answer to when you're lying in bed at night unable to sleep just because it might someday be asked to you. He dropped his gaze to the ground and frowned.
Gaara's past had been a hard one. He'd heard all about it. At first it'd been hard to pity the boy, but over the years Lee had grown to feel for him. None of what Gaara was now was really his fault. It had evolved from a young child's fears and pain through neglect and cruelty. It was clear that behind Gaara's untrusting eyes, and the bloodlust of the demon inside him, there was a scared child crying for help, for love. Lee's heart went out to Gaara.
Wind circled through the leaves around them a moment, sand particles danced with it, and their clothes rustled softly. Lee felt he should be doing something, but Gaara's hard stare made it impossible to act. He liked to move quickly, act fast, pay for consequences later, but right now…
"I've tried to kill you before. Are you still not afraid of me?" the accusing tone sent a shiver up Lee's spine. Maybe he should be scared of him. But forgiveness was something he believed in. It was something that Gaara was unlikely to get from anyone else.
Lee tentatively looked up and reached out a hand. He took a deep breath, and laid his hand on Gaara's shoulder. Nothing moved but the sand as it trickled and danced about the opening of the uncorked gourd.
Lee could feel the armor of sand that separated him from Gaara's body. It was course and hard. Gaara never moved.
Pulling gently, Lee tipped Gaara into his arms and hugged him about the shoulders. Through the layer of sand he could feel the Sand Ninja's faint heart beat against his own. "You don't have to kill anyone to exist." Lee whispered.
A moment hung dead in the air between them before Gaara drew a deep breath and his green clad companion felt his lungs shudder against the weight of sorrow escaping it's once sealed tomb.
The embrace was so foreign to Gaara. His arms hung loose at his sides and he kept his head facing forward though the uncomfortable tears mingled with the sand and left a strange irritation on his face.
As his focus depleted, the sand that protected his body became less stable, and started to trickle away. He felt limp and weak like he'd never felt before. Had he just been defeated?
Lee's heart double-took a skip when he first felt Gaara's own skin beneath his fingertips. It was brief, but it had been there. Could he really have been the first to touch Gaara in all this time? He smiled despite the situation. He held Gaara tight as warm tears landed silently on his shoulder and soaked through his Jonin vest.
As the sky began to darken, finally, Gaara covered all signs of tears from his face, except his faintly red-dyed eyes, and pushed himself away. He stared deeply into Lee's eyes. The words "Thank you" rushed to the front of his mind, but the only thing that touched his lips were Lee's as Gaara leaned forward and gently kissed the black haired boy.
The sand swirled violently again, and Gaara was gone just as quickly as he'd come, leaving Lee alone in the clearing. With only the stump to support him as the shock of the moment over took him and he wobbled with confusion.
Leaning against the stump, he took a deep breath and looked around at the blank shadows. He closed his eyes for a moment, biting his bottom lip where it tingled from the momentary contact.
"I want…" he whispered, feeling realization take him over as he came to a startling understanding of his own heart, "I want to protect him."