"Where the hell have you been?" Temari shouted as she came down the hall. Kankuro sighed.
"He's eighteen, give him a break. Remember the rules?"
"He's still our little brother!" She yelled at Kankuro. She turned to glare at Gaara and noticed Lee still standing in the street. "Who's your friend over there?" Temari asked.
Gaara's eye twitched slightly at the sound of the word 'friend'. "That's Lee." He growled, not acknowledging Lee grinning and waving at his sister.
"Well why is he still standing in the rain?" Kankuro walked to the door and smiled at Lee. "Come on in, Lee-san." Lee smiled, laughing as he waved away the honorific.
"Please, just call me Lee. And I do not wish to be a burden. My house is just on the other side of town." Lee pointed down the street.
"That's like five miles!" Temari shook her head. "Just come in for a few and dry off. One of us will drive you home." She turned back into the house. "Have you eaten yet? I can reheat something for you."
"I am fine, thank you. You are all very kind." Lee smiled and walked just inside of the doorway, closing the door behind him.
"Catch!" Kankuro called from down the hallway. Lee turned his head to see Gaara catch a small towel. "Lee!" His head swiveled back in time for another towel to hit him square in the face. Gaara couldn't help it. He smirked and laughed quietly. Kankuro laughed as he watched Lee pull the towel off his face, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, Lee!"
"It is fine." Lee smiled. "I should have paid more attention." He quickly began drying his face, replaying the sound of Gaara's laughter in his head. It was soft, barely audible, and carried little emotion. But it seemed to fit Gaara and his personality. Quiet and almost emotionless.
"If you want," Temari shouted as she came up behind Kankuro, "you can borrow some of Gaara's clothes and dry yours." She ignored Gaara growling at her while he dried his hair. "They're so baggy on him they should fit you just fine."
"Um, thank you very much. Um, I am sorry. I did not catch your names." Lee glanced at them nervously.
"No problem. We're not used to guests." Kankuro shot a glance at Gaara. "I'm Kankuro and that's Temari." He said and pointed at his sister. "You already know Gaara." Gaara grumbled and shoved past his siblings. Lee nodded gratefully and followed him through the house to a staircase that entered into pitch-black nothingness. Lee waited cautiously at the top as Gaara quickly descended and was swallowed up by the darkness.
"Oh," Lee looked down the steep flight of stairs nervously, "your room is in the basement, Gaara-kun?"
"Uh huh." Gaara reluctantly turned on his bedroom light.
Lee jumped, realizing that Gaara was all the way down the hall in his room. Quickly he walked down the stairs and the hall they led to. "Wow, um…" His eyes slowly adjusted to the light. The walls were off white and all of the furniture was black. "Your room is very nice, Gaara." Gaara nodded silently as he dug through his dresser.
"Here," he growled, "wear these." Lee caught the shirt, pants, and boxers Gaara threw at him.
"Thank you. Where can I-?" Lee started and Gaara pointed to another door. "Okay."
Gaara sighed as the bathroom door shut behind Lee. "So weird." He shook his head, mumbling as he changed out of his wet clothes. He jumped slightly when he heard the door open again. Gaara soon relaxed, reminding himself that he already had new pants and an undershirt on.
"Oh, I-I…" Lee stood in the doorway stuttering and blushing. "I-I think I will go upstairs. Thank you." He nodded and quickly left the room.
"What the hell was that all about? Why was he blushing? Eh, whatever. He's too weird to worry about." Gaara shrugged it off as he gathered Lee's and his clothes, carrying them to the small laundry room next to the bottom of the stairs. He tossed the wet clothes into the dryer and began playing with the buttons, yawning as he finally got it started.
Lee stopped at the top of the stairs. His heart was racing and he couldn't get the image out of his head. Why had he been so embarrassed? It wasn't like he had walked in on Gaara naked. But his shirt… it was something he would have thought a girl might reluctantly wear. It was a short-sleeve shirt made of only black fishnet. That was all. Lee's eyes grew wide as his body quivered. He just needed to stop thinking about it.
"Why am I getting so worked up over him? Maybe I-." He thought but shook his head violently. "No! There is no way!"
He wandered into the living room after noticing Temari and Kankuro whispering back and forth on the couch. "H-Hello." Lee smiled.
Kankuro grinned. "Hey, Lee. Have a seat." He gestured at the chair across from him and his sister. Lee nodded thankfully and sat down. "So, how'd you meet our brother? I didn't think he really talked to anyone."
"I met him online in a little chat room some of my friends use after class. He never said much, but soon we began talking a bit. Gaara-kun was very… antisocial, I suppose. But," Lee smiled, "he seemed to warm up to me fairly quickly." Kankuro watched Lee curiously as he explained.
"What do you mean by quickly? A few days? A couple weeks?" Kankuro asked.
"About four months." Kankuro sighed and ran his hand through his hair, a smile tugging at his lips.
"For Gaara, that's like the speed of light." Kankuro thought. "I never thought he'd actually talk to someone, even if it took that long. He hardly talks to me or Temari and we're related to him. I should have realized something was up when he started hiding in his room more often than usual and when he never left his phone behind if he left the house."
Temari shrugged. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Gaara practically lives on his computer. If he's not on that, he's out somewhere around the old parks." She glanced at Lee, noting his enthusiasm and overall happiness. She held back a laugh. Gaara had met his polar opposite.
"You mentioned a class? What kind of class?" Kankuro asked.
"I take classes at a dojo my father and a friend of his run." Lee glanced at the floor as the sound of music reached his ears.
"Jesus…" Temari rolled her eyes. "Why does he turn his music up so loud? It drives me insane." Kankuro sighed. Temari stomped one foot on the floor a few times. "Turn it down, god dammit!" She hollered. They fell silent for a moment, but the volume didn't change. "That little punk." She growled, standing up. "I'm gonna-." She stopped as Lee stood up.
"My apologies, Temari-san. I know he is your brother, but I think I know what happened." He paused as the siblings watched him curiously. "Just give me a moment, please." He bowed politely to them. Temari sat down slowly as Lee headed for the basement once more. She looked at Kankuro.
"How'd our psycho little brother find a kid like that?" She asked.
"I don't know, but I get the feeling this could get interesting." Kankuro replied, looking down the hall from the couch. "Lee seems like a good kid. Maybe he can turn Gaara around."
"We can hope so." Temari sighed.
Lee cautiously pushed the door to Gaara's room open. The music was deafening as Lee entered the room. Lee smiled and shook his head slightly. He was right. Gaara was curled up on his bed asleep, his black clothes blending into the sheets. Lee turned the volume down enough that Temari and Kankuro wouldn't be able to hear it and walked back upstairs.
"Hey, your back." Kankuro motioned for Lee to sit once again. "So what happened?"
"Gaara-kun was asleep so I turned the volume down." The siblings' jaws dropped. "Um, is something wrong?"
"W-Well, uh, Gaara almost never sleeps." Kankuro said, startled.
"Yeah." Temari joined in. "It's not so much that he can't sleep though. I think he just doesn't like to sleep." She shrugged. "I don't get it. He goes for weeks without sleeping, and then when he finally crashes, it's only for a few hours at most. Somehow he just keeps going."
"I see." Lee vaguely recalled Gaara mentioning that he didn't sleep much. "Oh," he heard a small beep, "I think I heard the dryer."
"Alright. I'll start the car while you change." Kankuro stood up and stretched. "Just leave those clothes on the floor in Gaara's room. He can deal with them later."
Lee nodded and once again descended the dark stairs. He mumbled to himself as he picked his way through the laundry room. After quickly changing, he carried Gaara's clothes back into his room. Out of habit, he folded them neatly and placed them on the corner of the bed. Lee jogged up the stairs.
"The car's out front. You ready?" Kankuro smiled.
"Yes, I am. Thank you all very much." Lee bowed gratefully to the siblings and followed Kankuro outside. The ground was drenched, but it had stopped raining. He climbed into the passenger's seat. "Thank you very much, Kankuro-san."
"Don't sweat it. It's good to know Gaara actually has a friend." Kankuro replied as he started to drive. "Which way?"
"Oh, just go straight until it dead ends, then go left." Lee relaxed a little. It had been strange sitting in Gaara's house for even that short time. But his siblings were incredibly kind, though Lee was practically a stranger. "There is something about your brother that I…" Lee paused, unsure of how he should continue. "Well, I am not entirely sure."
"Well when you figure it out, let me know." Kankuro laughed. "Oh, and can you do me a favor?"
Lee glanced at Kankuro curiously. "Sure, what do you need?"
"Well I work at the theater whenever I can and my sister works at some little restaurant, so we're never home much. Even when we get some time home, Gaara usually hides in his room." He sighed heavily. "Do you think you could introduce him to some of your friends? Maybe just, well, take him around town? I don't really know, but he needs to get out more." Kankuro glanced at Lee nervously.
"Um…" Lee finally responded. "I would be honored to!" He grinned.
"Thanks a ton, Lee." Kankuro let out a little sigh of relief. He jumped as his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and handed it to Lee as he made a left at the end of the street. "Just read it for me please."
"Let me see… Oh it is from Gaara-kun. It says, 'Have you dropped Lee off yet?'"
"Tell him yes." Lee looked confused. "Trust me it'll be easier that way."
"Alright. Uh, turn right here." Lee responded to Gaara as Kankuro nodded. Silence settled. Soon again Kankuro's phone buzzed, but this time it was a call.
"Damn it." Kankuro took the phone from Lee and put it on speaker before dropping it in his lap. "Hello?"
"Hey." Gaara muttered through the phone speakers. "I… I need to talk to you." Lee kept quiet, remembering he was supposed to be gone.
"Uh, sure, what did you want to talk about?" Kankuro looked puzzled.
"Lee." Gaara said plainly.
"Well, you know him better that me, but I'll try to help."
"He was stuttering and blushing a lot while he was with me." Lee looked out the window. "It felt… strange." Kankuro seemed to forget Lee was sitting right next to him.
"Maybe he likes you." He shrugged. Lee's head whipped around, his face scarlet. "I don't know. Ask your sister, she's better with this kind of thing." Gaara grumbled something and hung up. Kankuro glanced at Lee. "So," he smiled slightly, "you mentioned there was something about Gaara. I think you know what it is, so why don't you tell me?"
"W-Well, I still am not sure." Lee stared at his hands in his lap. "I thought maybe… I liked your brother… but I am positive I was only nervous about being in your house." Kankuro tried not to laugh, but failed horribly. Lee looked at him, even more embarrassed. "W-What is so funny?"
"Oh, nothing." He said, still laughing. "You just come off as a bit, oh I don't know, different." Kankuro pulled over when Lee pointed at his house. "See you later, Lee!" He called as Lee stepped out of the car.
"Yes, see you later. Thank you for everything, Kankuro-san!" Lee waved and entered his house.