Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing associated with Naruto and its creators. Well, maybe except that nifty Konoha headband.

A/N: Need reasons? Nah, you readers are too good for such things. Thus, I won't give any. Hee hee. Just know that I lurve ye. Oh, and maybe hanging people is Gaara's favorite punishment for treason. Haha.

Title: The Desert Is Ice Cold

Chapter: 3

Author: Sabaku-no-Ai


"So what do you think, Temari?" the bobbed-cut Taijutsu master gazed at the person across him thoughtfully. "Where does Gaara usually hang out?"

"Hm…" the blonde mused and held her chin, rubbing it. "Well, he could—"

"Under a tree."

All eyes fell on the man to their side, whom had always and until now, sported a black cap whose top was pointed like the ears of a cat. And for another thing, his grin was much like a Cheshire's, exaggerated with the face-paint he wore.

"What?" Temari asked with a thin blonde eyebrow raised, her voice a little lower in tone, as if to say 'What-the-hell?'

Her brother shrugged. "He asked where Gaara hangs out. I say 'under a tree'. It's true."

Lee pondered for a moment. "We can't have a party under a tree. That'd be boring. It has to be extravagant!"

Both Sand ninjas shook their heads. "Gaara hates extravagant."

"Oh…well, how about fun!"

"I think he hates that even more." Kankuro smirked as he threw a kunai across the room, to the wall, pulling it back with a jerk of his hand, which had a string of his chakra tied to the hook of the knife.

Konoha's green lotus doesn't know what to do. How could he throw a nice party for Gaara, when Gaara couldn't even be considered nice?

"What do we do…?" he half-sighed in defeat. He couldn't really understand why he wanted this so much for Gaara.

Lee wanted Gaara to smile, be happy, to be normal like everyone else. Heck, even Sasuke is normal. Lee was told by the aforementioned that maybe it was because he liked Gaara. And it's true.

Lee does like Gaara. He's a very interesting character. The red-head that intrigues him seemed ignorant, and Lee probably can't stand people as such.

When Lee faced Gaara in the Chuunin Exam, long ago, Gaara was some psychotic devil that had no mercy, no plea, no complain, nor no contentment. Gaara seemed to never be happy, to never be at peace.

Lee faced Sasuke and Naruto with much interest because they both knew what they wanted for themselves. They had their dreams, while Gaara had nothing but a wandering pair of feet, desperate for an answer to a question he didn't even know.

It's like walking in circles, thinking you're going somewhere, when you're still at the very beginning. Nothing changes for him.

Gaara had made up his mind once, that he loved only himself and had no care for anything else other than himself. But Lee was too asleep to figure that out, too in pain.

But I guess he changed his mind. Lee smiled to himself, closing into reality just in time when the paper and wooden-framed sliding door opened and revealed the object of his prior thoughts.

"Ah!" Temari exclaimed, quickly opening her large fan and putting it in front of the green-clad ninja that had visited, as if to hide him.

Gaara, quickly seeing that flicker of green and black before Temari had hid him, monotonously said. "What is Lee-san doing here?" His face was as calm and emotionless as his tone of voice.

Kankuro stood up and faced his brother, a good few inches shorter than him. "He isn't here." He replied, mimicking Gaara's apathetic voice.

"If you lie, I'll have you hanged." Gaara warned.

Kankuro immediately tried to cover up. "Haha! You know I'm just kidding, right, little brother?" The older hooked his arm around the younger's neck.

"Say another word and I'll have you hanged."

Kankuro immediately backed away from his brother. In Gaara's vision came his older sister, guarding her fan. "Way to go, nitwit!" Temari hissed at a shrugging Kankuro before turning back to the Kazekage that was closing in on her.

"Move it."

"N-no…?"

"Do I smell treason?"

"N-no!" Temari backed away, and scampered to the corner where Kankuro had moved. Said boy smirked and laughed at his sister, who really had to admit that even if Gaara didn't like being a Kazekage, he surely didn't mind using his powers to the fullest capacity (that is, torturing someone without necessarily being held up by the police control).

"H-hi, Gaara-san!" Lee tried to brighten the mood.

It hadn't made Gaara's physical emotion any softer, but his voice generously lowered in malice. "What are you doing here?"

"I…" the Konoha ninja looked at the two in the far corner for an answer that wasn't given. "Well, I was just here to…uh, help train your forces in the field of Taijutsu. K-kankuro called for me."

Gaara glanced back at his brother with darkly-lined eyes that looked alert, but were quite tired. "Is this true?"

Kankuro was giving the 'What-the-hell?' look to Lee, but quickly shifted attention. "Y-yeah. I just figured that you don't need to bother yourself with them, so I took the liberty."

Gaara's silence was deafening. No one spoke for a while, either. They all looked at the Kazekage in the center of the room that appeared to be mulling over the situation that his brother had liberally bubbled up.

When Gaara's eyes focused on Kankuro, he gave a small nod and said, "Alright. Troops will partly be under Rock Lee. Go on and put it up on an announcement sheet."

Kankuro nodded sharply. "Right away." Not before giving an apologetic look to Temari and Lee, he went through the sliding door and closed it.

When Gaara had turned his back to the green-clad ninja, Temari took her cue to speak up. "Was there any other business you may have, Mister Rock Lee?" she said quite formally.

Lee nodded at her. "Yes, just one more. If I may ask a question, Kazekage-sama—"

"Gaara."

Lee stopped. "What?"

"Don't call me Kazekage. My name's Gaara. I thought I told you that before."

Lee blinked. He just got caught up on the formality and then forgot that Gaara detested his position, much less be referred to by it.

"Sorry. Uhm."

"What was your question, Lee-san?"

Then, the bobbed-cut ninja just blurted it out. "Where's your favorite hangout?"

Gaara half-turned to look at the Konoha-nin behind him. He kept his silence as he faced back forward and began to make his way to the sliding door.

Just when Lee thought that his question won't be answered, Gaara spoke loud enough so he could hear. "Follow me."

After how many flights of stairs, Gaara and Lee made it to the roof of the Kazekage's building, also known as their house.

It was quite breezy at the top, overlooking the rest of Sunagakure, and beyond the majestic city, was a vast extension of sand.

"It's really pretty here." Lee breathed.

He remembered the real reason why he had asked the question. And he began to think… This place is way better than under a tree.


A/N: Ooooh. Pretty view. Oh, speaking of views, REVIEW Haha. Get it?