Fidelity
Pairing: Gaara/Lee
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"Come on, Gaara. It's just one word."
Gaara frowned and his smooth brow creased from effort. If anyone saw him now, they'd probably wouldn't believe their eyes. He looked like a normal 15 year old boy, awkward and unsure of himself instead of the composed and confident Kazekage so many people saw everyday. Temari rubbed her temples, trying to soothe the headache building up inside her skull.
Finally he took a deep breath and Temari waited. He's lips moved but no words came out. Temari fought the urge to slap her forehead. After an hour, her patience was a little strained. As was Kankuro's by the way his fingers kept drumming against the desk.
"I can't do this!" Finally Gaara was showing something over than confusion. While in most cases an angry Gaara was usually not the safest thing, it didn't matter now. He ran his hands through his hair roughly so that the short red strains became even more messy.
"This isn't exactly brain surgery, you know," Temari reminded him.
"Shut it!"
"Come on, Gaara," Kankuro cut in quickly. "You can do this. Just repeat after me, okay? Boy."
Gaara shot him a rather unamused look but followed along nevertheless. "Boy."
"Friend."
"F-friend."
Kankuro nodded reassuringly, voice low and soft. "Now all together."
Gaara frowned. "Boy...friend." Pause. Deep breath. A little squirm. "Boyfriend."
Kankuro and Temari sighed in mutual relief and shot small smiles at each other. Finally some progress.
"Lee is my...boyfriend." Despite the fact Gaara should be damned glad to actually find someone, the boy looked a little nauseous.
"Good," Kankuro replied still talking slowly like he was trying to calm a wounded animal on the verge of going bat shit crazy and killing everyone in sight, and laid a card in from of Gaara. "And what do you do for your important person on this day of over-rated, over-commercialize sickening sweet love?"
"Kankuro!"
"I mean Valentine's day?"
"You send a card," Gaara sullenly replied. "And hope to any and all gods that wild coyotes will eat you alive before suffering the embarrassment of a polite but firm refusal."
Temari snorted and patted her little brother's hand, not quite managing to hid her smile even as he glared at her, his scowl all but screaming You dare life at my misfortune?!
"Baby steps, Gaara," she reminded him. "Baby steps."
He nodded, taking another deep breath. "Right. Baby steps." He stared at the card like it was an enemy or a really nasty bug. He picked up his brush and stared some more. He twirled the brush with his fingers. The staring match between Gaara and the card continued. After a moment's silence, Gaara cried, "What the hell am I suppose to write?!"
It was a good thing that the staff had already gone home for the day.
Kankuro shrugged. "Write about what you feel. It can't be that hard, can it?"
"Okay. Let's see. Dear, Lee. You make me feel uncertain and confused. I thank my sand nightly for saving my ass so many times when I run into walls or fall down steps just thinking about you. Gaara. Or how about this one? Dear, Lee. Every time I think about you I get an erection. Please stop. It's annoying. Gaara. Yeah, that's really romantic."
While Kankuro laughed at her brother's perverted humor, Temari grinned at her little brother dangerously. He was in that bratty little bastard mode of his once again that had started to surface with the lose of Shukaku.
He grinned right back at her, defiant until reality smacked him full in the face and he sobered up, hiding his paling face behind his hands. "I'm screwed."
Temari sighed, and rubbed his shoulder gently. Though he might fail in the romance department, her brother was trying. A guy like Lee would understand. If not, Temari would make him.
"Temari, lay off the pressure, will you? I need that shoulder."
"Opps! Sorry!"
As Temari moved away, Gaara resumed staring at the blank card. "Arg! I need help! What do you do on this god-forsaken holiday?"
Silence was the only reply he got since both his siblings looked away, a little too innocent.
Gaara made a face. "You people are just sick."
"Look, if this is going to be a problem, why not wait a little bit until you are ready to do something like this for Lee?"
"No! I need to do this now to know that I'm not so emotionally scarred or messed up that I can't express some sort of warm and...I don't know...squishy feeling for someone else. If I wait, I'll just keep putting it off and then I'll never be ready."
Kankuro arched eyebrow at his brother. "Squishy?"
"Warm?"
"You know what I mean."
"...right." Temari caught Kankuro's eyes and they shared a little laugh. Luckily Gaara was too occupied thinking of him warm squishy feelings for Lee to really notice.
"When did you guys figure out that you were in love?" Gaara asked, his voice turning serious.
Temari glanced at Kankuro and sighed. She guessed this talk was sort of inevitable. She sat on the arm of Gaara's chair, wrapping an arm around his stiff shoulders. "That's something for you to figure out on your own. There's no rush or deadline to this kind of thing. But if you ask me, I think Lee really likes you."
"Really?"
"Yes. Of course he does."
Gaara nodded, looking a little more calmer now. "Okay. Thanks. Now leave. I got a letter to write."
Lee hardly got mail but nevertheless he always checked it in the morning, before heading off to train with Gai-sensei. Mostly it was to leave pieces of last night's dinner for the family of mice to eat. But other than that it would be rude and impolite to not respond to any and all mail he received once and a while but he never got his hopes up.
On this day there was something in the mail besides cobwebs and furry gray animals. It was an actual envelope with actually something inside. It didn't even appear to be a joke either. But an actual letter.
Lee started at it, unsure of what to do. It was too beautiful to take out of the box! Then he remembered that mail was meant to be open and not stared at and quickly removed it.
It was foreign mail. He could tell this because there was a big red stamp on the front on it saying that it had gone through examinations and was safe to view without the risk of limbs being torn apart from secret seals so it was also a bit travel-worn. But he didn't care.
Why would he get foreign mail?
Anxiously,Lee's eyes zoomed over the address. It was from Suna. Suna! Gaara is in Suna!
The possibility that Gaara had sent him something made him a little week in the knees. It couldn't be something official because the would have just been sent to the Hogake, right? He wobbled there for 10 minutes, uncertain and excited at the same time. Breathless, he finally gathered his courage and carefully opened the letter and slipped a card out.
He wanted to treat it like a delicate flower when he opened it but his fingers suddenly felt stiff and and clumsy. He immediately recognized the familiar hand writing on the inside. The message was short and no even coded.
"'Dear, Lee," he read softly, breath trembling a little. "I miss you. Please come to Suna when you can. I'd like to talk with you. Gaara.'"