Awakening

It was Gaara.

Lee was shocked. How in the world had Gaara been beaten so horribly? Both of the Sand Ninja's ocean hued eyes were swollen and blackened. An ugly, ragged gash ran the length of his bruised face. Blood oozed sluggishly from his split lower lip.

"GAARA-SAN! Gaara! Say something!" Lee pleaded, alarmed by Gaara's shallow breathing. But he received no response; the unconscious boy just lay there in Lee's arms, half dead. Lee hoisted the quickly fading Gaara onto one shoulder and grabbed the lantern with his free hand before speeding back to the village.

'Who, what, could have done this to Gaara-san? WAIT!' Lee slowed slightly, 'I do not know who did this! It could be dangerous to just hand him over to a medic or someone... I will have to take him to my place,' Lee changed direction and arrived at the door to his home just as the sky began lighten. The rosy pink sky was streaked with gold and blue as the sun cleared the horizon when Lee began to treat Gaara's wounds.

The damage was much worse then Lee had thought.

One of Gaara's arms was surely broken. His right ankle was grossly swollen, and his leggings were shredded with shurikin cuts.

"Gods..." murmured Lee as he took a deep breath and began the stomach turning process of dressing Gaara's numerous injuries.

'Hnn?' Gaara felt his eye's slowly flutter open. His retina screamed in protest of even the soft light filtering through the blood-thickened lids, but he forced them open anyway. Birds sounded outside the window, diffused light filtered in through the blinds. Suddenly, everything that had happened the night before came flooding back into his addled brain. "Ahh!" Gaara tried to get up, to get away from what his mind prayed a desperate situation. 'But…' Gaara gazed around the unfamiliar room and felt an all new wave of alarm wash over him. Then Gaara noticed the wraps on his arms and legs, ' My… wounds. Who, who dressed them?' it was then that Gaara noticed the still form of Lee. Lee was sound asleep, seated on a chair, head and arms resting on the light green covers of the bed that Gaara was in. "Lee-kun…" Gaara murmured.

"He, he helped me? …Why?" Gaara tried to get up without waking the slumbering boy, but as soon as Gaara moved, Lee's eyes shot open and black orbs latched onto aqua ones.

"Gaara-san! You are awake! NO! Gaara-san! You should not try to move yet, you will reopen your wounds!" Lee scrambled up and pressed Gaara by his relatively undamaged shoulders back flush to the mattress.

"Gaara-san, can you remember what happened to you? Who did this to you? Can you recall anything at all?"

"Lee-kun… How... did I get here, this is... your house?" Gaara laid back, slightly more relaxed, but still on guard.

"Yes, Gaara-san," Lee began but Gaara cut him off.

"Gaara. I'm not... KazeKage yet,"

"Very well… Gaara-kun. I found you while walking back last night through the training grounds. You were swaying and staggering like you were drunk. Then you collapsed, and I brought you here!" concluded Lee. He looked at Gaara expectantly, waiting for the young ninja's explanation.

But Gaara wasn't very forthcoming with information; and he merely shrugged, giving a small word of thanks.

"Time?" He asked instead.

"A little after nine o'clock I think," replied Lee cheerily.

"… I… must go," Gaara moved to rise again, but Lee pressed him back into the covers.

"I said 'NO' Gaara-kun, you are in no condition to move about. Much less walk to heaven knows where you stay!" Lee placed his hands on his hips once again and smiled a dazzling white smile, bushy brows arching beneath his tousled dome of jet black hair, "You are to stay here until you have fully recuperated," even though Lee voiced it as a command, his voice and eyes pleaded for Gaara to stay, "Do not worry, Gaara-kun, my home is very safe.

"And you are my friend Gaara-kun, I will protect you, till my death," Lee's face was completely serious.

"Lee-kun… Hn," Gaara let himself relax and Lee smiled again, then left.

Gaara could hear him greeting Gai-sensei in a loud and overly dramatic style that reverberated through the walls of Lee's home. He laid back, more at ease than he'd been in ages.