Gaara yawned and glanced around his room. His eyes flashed to his cell phone as it buzzed loudly on the desk. He picked it up quickly to stop the noise before looking at the screen. New message from Lee.

Hello, Gaara-kun! How are you?

Fine.

Lee gnawed at his lower lip. Gaara never said much. He seemed to prefer letting Lee ramble on about everything. Lee wanted to ask, but Gaara seemed like a fairly solitary person. He didn't even talk much when he first met Lee online. After a while, they exchanged numbers and began talking every night. It had been a while already.

We have been talking for some time. I wish very much to meet you.

Lee waited and waited. Finally his phone buzzed with a reply.

Fine. I'll be out at that old swing set out near the edge of the woods. Hurry up. I don't like waiting.

His breath caught in his throat. He was excited. Though he had to admit the message had seemed a little creepy.

Alright.

Gaara shoved his phone back into his pocket and grabbed his knife, slipping it into his other pocket. His last message must have seemed weird, but he couldn't care less. He didn't want to deal with anyone he didn't have to. He walked to the front door only to be stopped by his sister, Temari. He sighed as she glared down at him, her dark green-blue eyes demanding an answer. The four blonde ponytails on the back of her head quivered along with the rest of her body.

"Where are you going? It's already late." She moved to stand in front of him. He slid his right hand into his pocket with the knife. His sister was so stubborn. Gaara could see his brother, Kankuro, peering around the corner from the hall and running one hand through his short brown hair.

"Out." His hand instinctively curled around the knife. "I've got my phone." Kankuro watched Gaara closely, his pitch-black eyes focused on the handle of the knife barely visible behind Gaara's hand.

"Temari, just let him go." He said, worry lacing his words. "Trust me, just move." Temari frowned and glanced between the boys before seeing Gaara gripping something in his pocket.

"Oh, uh, right." Her eyes widened as she quickly stepped out her little brothers' way. "See you later, Gaara." She said with a forced smile.

"Don't call unless it's important." Kankuro leaned against the wall, and Temari sighed as the door slammed behind Gaara.

"You know the rules here as well as I do." Kankuro said, raising his hands in a shrug of defeat. "Don't challenge Gaara. Don't make eye contact unless absolutely necessary. Don't talk to him if you can avoid it."

"But he's our little brother. It feels… wrong." She shook her head.

"Yes, it may feel wrong. It probably is wrong. But personally, I like the idea of living past the age of nineteen. He's threatened to kill us plenty of times. I don't want either of us to push him." Kankuro sighed. "He's usually got a knife with him. And that's only because we got rid of dads' old gun after Gaara-."

"I thought we weren't talking about that anymore, Kankuro!" Temari snapped.

"Ok, ok, fine. It won't be mentioned again. But you know as well as I do," Kankuro walked down the hall, "he loses it very easily."

Lee wandered around the area, stopping frequently to make sure he was in the right area. By now, he was sure he was lost. Not to mention it was raining steadily. He continued in one direction, muttering unhappily to himself. He stopped and fell silent. He could hear an odd creaking noise a little ways off. Maybe it was Gaara. Lee headed towards the sound until he saw a small clearing; the old swing set Gaara had mentioned. He paused as he watched the boy on the swing. That had to be him.

"H-hello." Lee greeted as he stepped into the clearing. He walked to the open swing next to the boy. "Are you Gaara-kun?" Lee asked as he sat down nervously.

"Yeah. You're Lee?" Gaara never looked at the boy.

"Yes, I am." Lee stared at Gaara for a while. The boy definitely seemed a bit strange. He had short, messy red hair that was soaked down by the rain and no eyebrows. His eyes seemed to be an odd mix of green and blue, reminding Lee of sea green paint. Gaara was small compared to Lee. Not only was he shorter by a few inches, but overall he just seemed frail. The rain was drenching his thin black clothes, causing them to cling to his small frame and make him seem even more fragile. But Lee knew better. Gaara could fight if needed. Gaara had been in trouble many times in his past school for injuring other students who were usually much bigger and older than him.

Lee looked at Gaara's eyes once more and almost laughed aloud. The skin around Gaara's eyes was nearly black, like he had drawn the circles on with eyeliner. It made his skin seem even paler. Then Lee remembered that Gaara had mentioned being a borderline insomniac while they were talking one night. The circles must have been caused by his lack of sleep, but Lee had no idea why they went all the way around his eyes instead of just under them. He could faintly make out a few red lines that may have been tattooed over Gaara's left eye, but his rain-soaked bangs covered most of it.

Gaara could feel Lee staring at him, and it was starting to annoy him. He swiveled his head to glance at Lee. Lee's eyes widened and he began staring at the ground, but Gaara could still make out most of his features. His hair looked like it was jet black and bowl-cut, or maybe it was just the rain. Either way it looked stupid. His eyes seemed as black as his hair. And his eyebrows… dear god, they were at least twice as big as any normal persons. There was a little dip in the middle of his upper lip, almost like a small "v". His skin wasn't pale, like Gaara's. He was tan, even a little darker than most people in town.

Gaara thought back to some of their past conversations. Lee stayed outside as often as possible and practiced martial arts with his father. These thoughts caused Gaara's eyes to wander, drifting down Lee's frame and studying his chest and arms. He seemed strong, but it wasn't obvious. He wasn't one of those big guys, the thugs in school who think they run the place. He actually wasn't that big at all. He seemed average in every way at first glance. A bit taller than most his age, but other than that he could have been anyone on the street. The only thing that made Lee seem stronger than others their age was what Gaara could see of his arms and where his shirt was plastered to his body. The muscles on his arms stood out more now than they usual would from him gripping the swing tightly and his wet shirt defined the muscle lines on his chest.

Lee took a deep breath and hid his embarrassment quickly before turning to look at Gaara again. He felt himself blush slightly, but ignored it and grinned broadly to the redhead. Gaara stared at him for a moment longer.

"I can trust him." A little voice in Gaara's head commented.

"No!" Gaara's mind screamed at the voice. "I can't trust anyone!" He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the voice. It was no use. Gaara could faintly hear it, still whispering to trust Lee. "Not after what he did to me!"

"But Yashamaru is dead now. YOU killed him, remember?"

His eyes flashed open. Images rushed back. Words soon followed. The memory played like a movie in his mind. He felt the gun in his hands once again. He saw himself aiming at his uncles' head.

"So, you think killing me will help? Why bother? No one loves you." Yashamaru smiled faintly. "You have nothing. Your father, brother, and sister hate you. After all, your mother died giving birth to you."His uncle sighed almost silently and Gaara could see his hands tremble less and less. "And all those times I said I loved you, Gaara? All of them were lies. And you believed them with every bit of your heart. But, what else could be expected from a six-year-old? I hate you for my sister's death. She died cursing this world. She never wanted you." Gaara's hands froze and Yashamaru laughed quietly. "What? Can't you pull the trigger? Are you too weak?"

"I'll never be as weak as a bastard like you." Gaara whispered. His finger twitched, jerking the trigger. The sound of the gunshot cracked the silence like thunder in the black of night. His eyes stared blankly at the small hole in his uncles' forehead, and followed the crimson trails of blood down his face.

Gaara could feel Lee staring at him, but he couldn't care less. His heels dug into the soft ground, bringing the swing to a halt. "I can't…" Gaara whispered. "No, never… I won't…" He shook his head slowly. He gripped his hair tightly. His hands clenched into fists. His whole body began trembling. "No…" He muttered as he stared blankly at the ground.

Lee began to worry. There was something definitely wrong with Gaara right now. Lee stared helplessly as the redhead continued to mutter to himself.

"Um, Gaara-kun?" Lee started nervously. "Is everything alright?" He waited for Gaara to respond in some way, but got only silence. Lee stood up, ignoring the weight of the rain, and moved to stand in front of Gaara. When his presence went unacknowledged once more, he knelt down to eye level. Gaara's eyes were wide and blank, staring at the ground in front of him. "Gaara-kun?"

Slowly, his eyes came into focus and shifted to meet Lee's. The pain and loneliness Lee saw in Gaara's eyes tore his heart. No one should suffer through something like this, for whatever reason. Lee took a deep breath and hesitantly placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder. He saw Gaara's eyes shift down again. His body tensed beneath Lee's touch.

Gaara's eyes grew wide as he felt Lee's hand on his shoulder. All of his instincts screamed to pull away. They told him to put something between him and Lee. But something else told him to stay. He didn't know what to do. No one ever tried to comfort him. Not even his siblings had tried.

"Calm down, Gaara-kun." Lee whispered. His fingers brushed across Gaara's wrist. "Just calm down." His fingers slowly curled around Gaara's hand. "It is alright." Lee was unaware that he was holding Gaara's hand. After a few moments, Gaara began to relax, his body loosening up. His eyes wandered to Gaara's forehead. "Love?" He asked, recognizing the kanji tattooed above his left eye. He wanted to smack himself for such an obvious change of subject. Gaara took a deep breath before replying.

"Yeah, I got it when I turned sixteen." He wondered why Lee was holding his hand. "Why are you touching me?" Gaara growled, his eyes narrowing and his hand itching to grab his knife.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Lee's face flushed pink as he quickly sat in the other swing again. "Um, I-I just, uh…" Lee searched for the words to explain, but had no luck. "I-It is late. We really should head back into town." He said, quickly changing the subject once more. He slowly stood up, his clothes heavy from the rain that still pounded down upon them. Gaara watched him curiously as he stood up. Something was different about Lee, something more complex.

"Fine." Gaara muttered and began walking. He partially listened as Lee rambled on and on about his friends and foster dad, then some girl named Sakura.

"Sakura-chan is truly amazing," Lee's smile faded as he continued, "though I am fairly certain she hates my very existence. She left after high school for something but she never told us what it was. I think she is coming back for Christmas though." He shrugged. "Oh, is this your house?" Lee asked when Gaara suddenly stopped.

"Yeah." Gaara mumbled, pushing open the door. "I'm back." He called plainly.