Temari yawned and stretched before dragging herself into the kitchen. It was six o'clock as she finally poured a cup of tea and sat down at the kitchen table. It was quiet. To quiet for this house. Gaara usually had his music on or some sort of noise. Temari glanced around before standing back up to walk downstairs. Maybe Gaara was asleep or something. That was an odd thought. She reached the bottom of the stairs and glanced into the spare room.
"What the…?" Temari stared for a moment at the scene before her. Both boys were asleep, Lee sprawled on his back and Gaara curled up on his side facing away from him. It was surprising enough that Gaara was asleep, but that he was asleep here with Lee was a bit of a shock. Temari shook her head and smiled slightly. Maybe getting Gaara to open up wouldn't take as long as she thought it would. She yawned again and wandered upstairs to sit in the kitchen, hoping that Lee could get through to Gaara eventually.
Lee stretched and blinked a few times. The room seemed darker than it usually was in the morning. Then he remembered that he wasn't in his room. He was still at Gaara's house in the spare room downstairs. Lee stretched his arms to the sides and felt his hand brush across something next to him. "A shirt? Wait a minute…" Lee turned his head to look at what was next to him. He could feel himself blush slightly as he realized that Gaara was still lying next to him from last night. He figured Gaara would've gone back into his room to sleep. Well, Gaara was definitely a bit odd.
"Gaara-kun?" Lee asked quietly, shaking Gaara's shoulder gently. He waited for a moment but got no response. Lee sighed. Gaara was out cold. He hadn't slept in quite a while so it wasn't all that surprising. Lee stood up and looked around, reorienting himself, before walking to Gaara's side of the bed. Lee gently lifted Gaara of the bed and carried him into his own bedroom. "There…" He set him down on the bed and started to leave when something on the desk caught his eye. "What…?" Lee looked at the picture Gaara had been drawing. Short, messy hair, and short, smooth hair. Lee smiled slightly and glanced at Gaara before walking back out of the room.
"Oh, good morning." Temari smiled when Lee walked into the kitchen. "Want me to get you something to eat?"
"Good morning." Lee smiled and sat down at the table with her. "Um, no, I am fine. Thank you though."
"Suit yourself." She shrugged. "So, did you sleep well?" She tried not to grin, remembering what she had seen earlier.
"Yes I did. Thank you very much for letting me stay here, but I should probably be getting home soon. I do not want to worry Guy." Lee said.
"You stress too much." Temari shook her head. "Alright, but Kankuro isn't back yet so you'd have to walk home."
"That will not be a problem." Lee smiled as he stood up. "Oh, Gaara-kun is asleep in his room right now. Please tell him I said goodbye when he wakes up, Temari-san." Temari smiled as a blush spread across Lee's face.
"I will." She walked him to the door and waved as he started to run down the street. Temari's jaw dropped slightly when he was already out of sight. "Damn, he's fast." She muttered, turning back into the house.
Lee jogged up to the front door of his house and knocked on the door. "Hello, Guy!" He greeted as his foster father opened the door. "I am sorry I was gone so long."
"No worries, Lee." Guy waved the apology away. "But you do need to start your training for today. You don't want to lose everything you've worked on, do you?"
"Of course not, sir!" Lee grinned and stepped inside, quickly running upstairs to change into his shorts and a new t-shirt. He jumped the last six steps before racing out to the garage. He and Guy had never needed the garage for anything so they turned it into a training room. The walls were lined with weights, staves, and a few katana. There were no mats here, like at the dojo. The floor was cement which gave him more of a reason to perfect his techniques before sparring with Guy. A few practice dummies sat around the room, along with a couple punching bags hanging from the ceiling. This was probably Lee's favorite place to be. After being beaten by a rookie like Gaara, Lee was going to have to train even harder than before.
Gaara yawned and stretched, glancing around the room. He was back in his own room. Lee must have brought him in here at some point. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. The house was silent, not even the sounds of a conversation reached his ears. That must mean that Lee had already left. Gaara felt a slight pang in his chest at the thought, then quickly shoved the feeling away. Lee was the only thing that stopped the pain; that was obvious. But the reason why wasn't as clear. Maybe there was a chance he could still distance himself enough to break this strange bond that had formed.
He sat down at his desk and began to work on the partial picture from the night before. Time ticked by slowly, the boy with the messy hair gained a mouth and an expression. His smile was faint, shadowed by sorrow. Then the other boy soon had a mouth also. A broad grin stretched across his face, giving away every little thing about his feelings. There was no hidden sadness or pain, just sheer joy.
Gaara stared at the drawing for a moment. It looked like… No, he couldn't be sure. He just needed to let his mind wander off again to finish the original thought. Another feature appeared on the boys faces; their eyes. Now it was obvious what his subconscious was doing. The boy with the sad smile had eyes that were half shut with dark rings around them. And the other boy… His eyes were round and honest, betraying every little feeling, just like his smile.
"Lee…" Gaara whispered.
Lee stumbled into his room and fell onto the bed. He had been training since he got home that morning and according to the clock on his computer, it was already around six o'clock at night. Lee lied there on his back for a few minutes, still panting slightly. Guy was already cooking dinner, so Lee couldn't go to sleep yet. Maybe… Lee picked up his phone and opened it.
No new messages.
Lee frowned slightly before he opened a blank text to Gaara. He stared at the screen for a few minutes, unsure of what to say.
Hello, Gaara-kun. How are you?
He waited and waited.
No response. He waited a few more minutes.
Still no response.
That was odd, even for Gaara. Lee set the phone down but continued to stare at it. He stood up sadly, wandering around the room for a few minutes.
"Lee! Dinner's ready!" He heard Guy call from downstairs.
"Coming!" Lee called, casting one last glance over his shoulder at the phone before running downstairs.
Gaara stared at his phone after reading the text from Lee. He had almost responded out of second nature, but stopped himself at the last moment and shut his phone. He wasn't going to reply; he needed to try and sever the bond between them. Maybe he could accomplish it by abruptly shutting Lee out of his life.
The minutes ticked by slowly as Gaara continued to stare at his phone. Six o'clock soon became seven. He couldn't explain why, but he grabbed his phone and responded to Lee's message.
Fine. We need to talk.
Lee blinked a few times. He hadn't been expecting a response like that. To be honest he wasn't sure what to expect.
Alright. What is it?
Leave me alone.
Lee froze. Out of all the strange or bizarre things Gaara could have said, he chose this. He wasn't going to string this conversation out like most people would. Lee bit his lower lip and thought.
What is wrong?
Gaara gritted his teeth. Why couldn't Lee just go with it and stop talking to him? Why did he have to ask questions? He gripped the sheets tightly, digging his fingers into the bed beneath them.
You have to leave me alone. I can't let you get any closer to me than you already have. I need to get you out of my life. If I don't, you'll just hurt me like he did. Now, leave me alone.
Gaara snapped his phone shut and tossed it on his desk before lying down again. There was a long silence. He half expected the phone to start buzzing again, but it remained quiet. Soon his computer screen lit up with an instant messaging box. He grumbled under his breath and sat down in the chair to read it. Gaara paused when he saw that there was only an alert. "Your friend, Lee, wants to connect their webcam feed to your monitor." He read. "Do you accept?" He let out a sigh and searched through his cabinet for the headset. Slowly, he fit it into place and clicked 'accept'.
Another box appeared on Gaara's screen; video feed from Lee's computer. Lee was fumbling with his own headset, not realizing he was already connected.
"What do you want?" Gaara hissed when he saw Lee fix his headset. Lee jumped slightly at the harshness in Gaara's voice.
"I am sorry…" He said quietly. "I am not sure why I am sorry, but I guess I have done something wrong." He looked anywhere but the webcam.
"What part of 'leave me alone' don't you get?" Lee winced. "Get out of my life so you can't hurt me like he did." Gaara growled, shaking slightly as he did and relieved that his webcam was off. Lee suddenly froze.
"Who?" He whispered as he finally looked at the camera, and in turn, Gaara. Gaara shook harder, memories of Yashamaru flashing through his mind. He couldn't let that happen again.
"No, just…" Gaara shook his head violently. "Just leave me alone!"
"I won't do that Gaara-kun." Lee said defiantly.
"Leave me alone!" Gaara was almost yelling. He pulled the headset off and tossed it aside. Lee flinched at the noise it caused. Gaara closed the video feed, disconnecting Lee. Lee stared at the new box on his computer screen.
"You have been disconnected." He thought, reading the message. "Gaara-kun… Why?"
Gaara shook horribly in his chair, his hands gripping the edge of the desk tightly.
"Gaara?" Temari knocked softly on his bedroom door. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, now go away." He said.
"Oh, um, ok…" Gaara sighed and watched his now blank computer screen.
"Why, Lee? Why do you have to make it so hard?"
Temari paced back and forth in front of the couch. "Temari, calm down." Kankuro patted her shoulder. "Why are you so stressed over it?"
"Because that was Lee he was yelling at." She let out a sigh and sat on the couch.
"So? That was two days ago. What's wrong with it? He yells at us a lot." Kankuro paused. "Scratch that, he threatens us a lot."
"What's wrong? Lee's in love with him, that's what's wrong." Temari threw her hands in the air. "He finds out and suddenly it's like Lee's trying to kill him. Maybe I should talk to him." Temari started to stand up.
"No." Kankuro held his hand out in front of her. "Don't do that, Temari."
"Why not?"
"This is Gaara's problem. I think there's something up with Gaara and he's just denying it. That's why he's pushing Lee away. He's scared. And that's something only him and Lee can solve." Temari nodded in defeat and sat back down.