Temari came in a bit later and paused when she saw most of the morning bake wasn't done. Some things kept for 2 days so there was a couple of display items but everything that needed to be baked fresh every day was left undone. She sent a questioning look to Lee and Lee nudged his head and in Gaara's direction. She slowly walked towards the alcove and saw her brother asleep on the couch.

Temari's heart felt heavy and she looked at the floor. She hoped Lee hadn't figured out why Gaara was sleeping there in the first place. Lee couldn't be that perceptive, could he?

"I am sorry, I have never seen him sleep so I did not want to wake him up." Lee admitted quietly and Temari nodded and walked into the back.

They were due to open in 20 minutes and Lee didn't know what to do. What was there to do? He couldn't bake anything. He walked into the kitchen to see Temari digging through fish tubs of all the morning bake items Gaara had premade and put in the freezer. The ovens were on and she had several trays lined up down the table. Lee didn't know how the morning bake was done. Everything was finished when he got in usually. He quickly joined Temari in traying out the important things.

Temari was grateful Gaara made sure everything was well stocked. She had a 10 quart container of two different muffin batters that she started scooping onto the muffin tins while Lee trayed out several scones. They worked together quickly and efficiently and Temari glanced at the clock. They had to open in 5 minutes. The ovens preheated several minutes ago, but a lot of this took 20 minutes to bake. The first customers would have to get over it.

Temari grabbed all of her dirty dishes and dumped them into the dish pit and opened a door Lee never noticed before on the opposite side of the kitchen. There was no reason he would've noticed it, it was deeper in the kitchen than he normally went. He heard her move around for a minute and she came out.

"Lee?" Lee stared at her with a such soft look, she could never feel like he could harm her brother. Which is why she asked "Do you think you can move Gaara back here? He needs to sleep. Don't worry, he's a heavy sleeper the rare times he actually sleeps." Lee blushed, but nodded anyway. He quickly washed his hands and walked to the couch where Gaara slept.

He really was a sight, wasn't he? Lee loved looking at him. He could never pinpoint his favorite feature Gaara had, he liked them all. Lee wondered what that meant. Lee leaned over and scooped Gaara up from the couch and held him close, following Temari to the back room.

The room was nothing Lee expected it to be. It was almost like... a bedroom? There was another couch, Temari seemed to have pulled it out into a bed though. There was a pipe that shot across the room with a few hangers that had clothes on it that Lee recognized to be Gaara's. What was this room?

Lee placed Gaara on the bed and tucked him in without thinking. Temari stood by the door, watching with a twinge of sadness and felt thankful Lee was there. It was way too early in the morning for Temari to be holding her 16 year old brother like a bride. Lee stared at Gaara for another moment and then seemed to realize she was there with him and quickly scurried out of the room with a blush. Temari stared at Gaara for another minute, really looking at him.

When had her brother become a man?

The early morning passed by with little trouble. The morning was slow enough that it didn't matter there weren't any baked goods for the first hour. Gaara still wasn't awake by then but Temari told Lee not to worry when she saw him passing glances every so often to the kitchen.

Soon enough it got too busy for Lee to spare Gaara a passing glance, which was fine. Lee was happy for the distraction and fell into an easy routine. Temari was happy that when she hired Lee he said he was a fast learner, and actually was a fast learner. It also helped that he was very caring over her little brother. Despite everything going on between them, she loved him dearly.

"Hey bushy brow!" Lee paused in the middle of making a drink too look up and see his two best friends making an appearance. "Whoa, talk about busy." Naruto laughed, seeing the line of marked cups waiting at Lee's side. There were at least seven. Lee was not having a good time.

"Hello Naruto! Hello Sasuke! What brings you in this morning?" Lee asked, holding the foam back with a spoon to get just the steamed milk out from the frothing pitcher. He slid the cup on the bar. "Flat white!" Lee grabbed the next cup, scanned the markings on it and began making the drink.

"Looking for a job! I heard you still needed a dishwasher." Naruto said with a grin and Lee gave him an uncomfortable look. He loved Naruto, he just didn't feel that putting Naruto with breakable dishes next to Gaara all day was good for anyone.

"Well, if you would like to, you can go talk to Kankuro. He is not on the clock yet." Lee nudged his head over to the very end of the bar where Kankuro was lounging and playing on his phone. "It does not look like he is busy." Naruto gave him a grin and ran over to Kankuro to bother him. Lee gave Sasuke a look.

"I know. I hope he doesn't get the job either. That kid cannot handle any kind of responsibility." Sasuke said flatly and sat at the bar stool closest to the espresso machine to talk to Lee more.

"I would love for Naruto to get a job and learn responsibility. Nothing would make me happier. I just feel as though it should not be... here." Lee said as eloquently as he could and Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah you said it. I don't know why he wants to be a dishwasher anyway. Doesn't that job suck?" Lee shrugged, never have been a dishwasher. He wasn't sure of the parameters.

"Are you looking for a job, Sasuke?" Lee asked and put the next drink on the counter. "Mad Max!"

"Not really. I mean, Itachi pretty much does everything. Ever since our parents died, he just wants to have control over everything. I think if I got a job it would stress him out." Lee frowned.

"He is going to have to get over that eventually. You are not his baby forever." Lee teased and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I know that. He doesn't seem to want to accept it. Remember my 16th birthday party?" Lee held back a smirk. Everyone remembered Sasuke's 16th birthday party. "Yeah, so you're preaching to the choir, Lee. Let's not forget, if I even thought about dating, he'd probably implode in on himself. You know Itachi."

"He loves you!" Lee argued with a smile. "Some people would want nothing more than their brother's love!" Sasuke scowled.

"I don't think I would." Lee shook his head with a smile.

"That is because you have an ample amount of it. If you did not, I can promise you would want it." Lee said simply and put another drink on the counter. Sasuke was impressed with the speed of Lee's drink making skills. "Pot O' Greed!"

"Come on! Please! I'm an AWESOME dish washer!" They heard Naruto shout and Kankuro glowered in Lee's direction and Lee smiled sheepishly.

"Suppose I shouldn't have told him about Kankuro." Lee mused and started on the next drink.

After Lee's shift, he was worried to notice Gaara never woke up. He wanted to check in on him but he wasn't close enough to Gaara to actually peek in the room and ask. Temari was glad for them to leave, now Naruto couldn't harass her or Kankuro anymore.

Unfortunately, for Sasuke, the second they walked out of the café, Itachi was pulling in.

"Are you serious?' Sasuke groaned. "What the hell is he doing here? I drove myself."

Itachi got out of the car and Lee couldn't help but admire Itachi. He was tall and slender with a very easy on the eyes face. His hair was pulled back into a braid today. He was always in a business casual outfit. Probably from his office job, but Lee had seen him on his weekends and he dressed the same then too.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked as Itachi walked up to them. Itachi ignored him and flicked his forehead. Sasuke scowled.

"Itachi! Your new glasses look fantastic." Lee complimented and Sasuke glared at Lee, as if complimenting his brother was the worst thing he'd ever done.

"Thank you, Lee. I didn't know you would be here. Honestly I just stop here sometimes to get something sweet. You don't have to be embarrassed." Itachi's voice was always so gratingly calm, it got on Sasuke's nerves all the more.

"Yeah whatever." Sasuke crossed his arms and turned the other way. Itachi raised his eyebrow, Sasuke was always embarrassed to have him around, but this was ridiculous.

"Did I do something to bother you, Sasuke?" Itachi asked slowly and Sasuke glared and stomped off. Itachi shook his head and sighed. "Look out for him, would you? I don't know what's been bothering him but he's been like this all week. It's starting to get... really annoying. It was nice seeing you." Itachi waved to Lee and Lee waved back. A few moments later Naruto stumbled out of the shop with a victorious grin.

"Hey, was that Itachi?" Lee nodded. "Ohh man!" He cackled. "I bet Sasuke is throwing a tantrum now!"

"Yes. What is Sasuke's problem anyway?" Lee asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Who the hell knows. Anyway, onto more important matters, you are now looking at a very employed best friend of yours!" Lee forced a smile.

He wasn't looking forward to working with his friend. Naruto would be... interesting.

The school day seemed longer now that Lee worked right before school started. Lee wondered if he would see Gaara at all today.

The day was weird. Sasuke was having a hissy fit, which wasn't completely uncommon for him, it was just the way he was having it. Something was different about him and Lee knew it had something to do with Itachi. He just couldn't understand why.

Naruto seemed completely oblivious to the obvious moping Sasuke was doing and chatted his ear off each time they were around each other. Lee knew for sure something was wrong when Sasuke didn't even try to make a scathing remark or call him names.

Lee frowned to himself and made it his mission to figure out what was bothering his friend.

"Hey guys!" Lee glanced up and his face warmed instantly. It was Sakura! Lee adored their friend Sakura. She never failed to bring a smile to his face! Well, there was the one time when he asked her out and she didn't react very well. To be fair she didn't say "no", just "ewww". Which honestly, still isn't a no.

"Hello Sakura! How is your day so far?" Lee asked kindly, happy for the distraction from Sasuke's sour mood.

"My day is great, thanks. I heard you got a job. Congratulations, Lee! That is amazing for you. I know you really want to help your parents with their dojo. I know you can do anything you set your mind to!" Lee smiled gratefully and nodded his head at her kind words.

"Thank you, Sakura. Truly, that means a lot." She smiled softly in response and averted her attention to Sasuke and her smile faltered. "Do not ask. I do not know." Lee said simply and she sighed and shook her head. Lee could tell she was disappointed at Sasuke's mood, but honestly couldn't bring himself to care as much as he usually did. His mind was too preoccupied on his little red headed friend. Lee never knew he could miss just small interactions with someone. He looked forward to seeing Gaara at work, not seeing him was just... a bummer.

The bell rang and lockers were slammed all around them. Lee already had all of his books in his bag on his shoulder and waved to his friends. He was off to gym with Kankuro. Hopefully, he could ask how Gaara was doing.

Kankuro wasn't in school that day either. Lee was beginning to feel dejected at the lack of information. How was he supposed to concentrate in math if he didn't know how Gaara was? Lee rubbed his temple; he hadn't realized how bad his headache was getting until just now. At least school was almost over. He was going to ask Temari if she needed him at work today. This would give him the excuse to go check in on Gaara.

"Man I can't believe we have to do a stupid project!" Naruto cried with a scowl. "I hate doing projects!"

"Who does?" Sasuke deadpanned and Naruto glared at him.

"So you finally talk." Naruto said blankly and Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked to his locker. "Man, what is his problem?"

"Little late to the party, Naruto." Lee laughed and walked to his own locker and glanced through his agenda to see what homework he had to remember the proper books to pack.

"You going to work, Lee?" Naruto asked, no book-bag or books on his person.

"I will see if they need me." Lee said with a smile.

"Alright. I don't start until next week so survive without me till then!" Lee tried his hardest not to laugh and quickly ran out of school. He had to weave in and out of the crowd and in-between busses. He rarely left school on time because of all the craziness that happened when people were trying to get home. Lee pushed open the door to the café and Shikamaru's face greeted him.

"Hey Lee, since its Monday you really don't need to be here." Lee's face colored, if he couldn't work, how could he check on Gaara?

"Gaara is fine." Temari said, from one of the couches. "He's up and baking again. You can go say hello." Lee smiled thankfully at her and walked into the kitchen.

Gaara was fine. He was making rugelach, which didn't look very fun to do.

"Gaara! How are you?" Lee asked happily and Gaara glanced up curiously, but didn't speak. "I heard you were sleeping a lot today. I didn't see you in school and-"

"-You were worried?" Gaara half ended Lee's sentence and was half just curious. Lee smiled and nodded and Gaara tilted his head to the side. "There's no need to be worried about me."

"I will always worry about you." Lee said easily, not bothering to blush at the comment, he meant it. Plus, it was nice for Gaara to be the one to blush for a change.