Title: Small Words
Chapter: 2?
Author: Zully Quirke Lee/Gaara
Chapter Rating: PG
Warnings: Eventual slash. Possible cursing. None in this chapter, though.
Summary: When Lee's given a top secret mission from the Hokage that sends him to Sand Village, he gladly accepts despite protests from his teammates. Unfortunately, Gaara isn't quite as thrilled as his would-be bodyguard.
Author's Note: To those who commented about enjoying long chapters, ask and ye shall receive! This one's a bit longer than the first chapter, though I promise that wasn't intentional. Also, I've found that it's more difficult for me to write Gaara than it is to write Lee. It must be my inner Azure Beast. :D I'm going to try to update every Wednesday, which gives me time to ponder over and write even Gaara dialogue with enough time to review and nitpick over things I think sound stupid a day or so later. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, guys! Enjoy!

Gaara's eyes slid back towards Lee, who was following amiably behind him as they made their way down the vast corridors of the Village of the Sand's headquarters. The place could be somewhat confusing to someone not familiar with it; the corridors wound about in spiral shaped patterns, a defensive maneuver built in by the Sand's architects. The longer it took an enemy to find the Kazekage's headquarters, the longer he had to build an offensive. Or escape, if need be. Hopefully Lee would prove intelligent enough to master them soon enough.

He was upset, though not at Lee himself. Lee was one of the sole people he had a somewhat positive impression of, though he certainly didn't think as high of him as he did of Naruto. If Gaara had to name one person as a friend he would have cautiously given Naruto the title, and even then he'd be hesitant to do so. Lee, though, was a decent person. He fought well, was strong. He managed to not only survive Gaara's attacks, but heal from them despite serious injury. He was a ninja worthy of respect.

Little things about him during their debriefing had caught Gaara's eye. Most people would have chosen to travel by horse over such a distance, especially when assigned a "critical" mission. It was faster than walking, after all. Lee had chosen to run. What kind of man did this make him? Either one that was quite sure of his abilities, or an idiot. Gaara knew from experience how fast Lee could move, but maintaining it over the course of several days was another matter entirely.

No, it hadn't been Lee that had upset him; it was mostly the fact that he was required in the first place. Gaara wasn't used to being weak. People typically cowered in fear at the mere sight of him, and to some extent that was still true. But now he was all bark and very little bite, he thought grimly. If he were cornered in a fight the most he could hope to do is defend himself. Fists clenched silently at either side of him. He had to work on rebuilding his ninjutsu skills. He wouldn't let that stupid, comical excuse for a raccoon ruin his life, especially when it wasn't even here anymore.

"Ahm... Gaara?" Lee asked tentatively.

".. what?"

"I just thought of something," He said with a frown, licking at his lower lip. "You said you don't sleep so it's pointless for me to just train at night, right?"

Gaara gave a short nod.

"But... you only didn't sleep at night before because Shuukaku would take over if you did, right? And now that he's gone..." Lee's large brows furrowed between his eyes. "Why can't you sleep?"

No one had asked him that yet, Gaara thought as he turned his head back towards Lee. People were afraid to ask him questions, especially about Shuukaku. Especially after what happened with Akatsuki. Lee, however, did not seem to have this fear. He examined the man a bit closer, taking note of his fidgety movements and the way he chewed lightly at his lower lip. The creases on his forehead. He had seen this before, only tainted with fear. Was he.. nervous?

"I can," Gaara turned forward once more. "I choose not to."

The furrow between Lee's brow's deepened. "Why? Surely you need rest to--"

"I refuse to let that monster dictate changes in my life," Gaara interrupted sternly, fists clenching once more. "When I choose to sleep, it will be because I choose to sleep. Not because I am required to through is absence."

Lee's eyes widened at that. "You mean you haven't slept since Shuukaku left? Gaara, how long have you been back?"

"Don't be an idiot," He ground out. "I have slept. As much as I did when the monster was still living inside me. And even that is none of your business."

They stopped abruptly in front of a door towards the end of the corridor. Gaara produced a key from his pocket and handed it to Lee. "This will be your room. Mine is down the hall," He indicated the opposite end of the corridor, not twenty feet away. "Put your things away. Then come to my room and we will... discuss this new arrangement."

He didn't wait for Lee to reply, comment or argue. Gaara turned and left Lee blinking down at the key in the palm of his hand and headed towards his own room. If the door seemed to slam a little harder than it should have, Gaara was certain it could be attributed to the wind.

----

Gaara had begun to wonder if Lee had managed to get lost already when he heard a knock at his door. "Come in," He commanded, and the door swung obediently open. Gaara didn't look up. He didn't need to.

"The room is very nice!" Lee complimented immediately. "It has it's own toilet even! I have never stayed in a room that nice before!"

Raising an eyebrow, Gaara said nothing. The room wasn't that extravagant, though it was true that it was nicer than the rooms most of the shinobi had. After all, the room was traditionally reserved for the Kazekage's second in command. Several things occurred to Gaara then; that he had no idea if the quarters in Leaf and Sand village were similar, what sort of quarters Lee resided in on a regular basis, and that he was genuinely curious about all of these things. ... hn. He thought. I suppose then that I should.. ask him about them? Though Naruto had started him down the path towards human interaction rather forcefully, Gaara had found that stumbling along it himself was the most difficult part.

"... is it?" He asked slowly, after several moments of silence.

Lee didn't seem to notice Gaara's slight uncertainty and nodded emphatically. "The shinobi's apartments in Leaf village aren't nearly that big! Well, I mean, you can purchase bigger ones, but I'm only just now a Chuunin so I'm nowhere near a level where--" Lee bit his lower lip abruptly and scratched at his head, laughing a little as a faint color brushed across his cheeks. "Sorry. I just-- well, should we get started with your day, then? I'll just follow behind you as you do what you normally do what you do every day. You won't even know I'm here."

Apparently it wouldn't take much for Gaara to hold a conversation with Lee, he noted. The man could take a two word reply and run off with it. This would be useful if he and Lee were to get along, as Gaara was not infamous for being terribly verbose. He seemed a bit embarrassed by his speaking, though, which is something that Gaara didn't quite understand. No matter for now, he thought, as he waved the thought away with a mental gesture. He would grow more accustomed to this arrangement with time, as would Gaara. Or he would not, and would be sent back to Leaf village. In either case, things would work themselves out in that regard.

Somehow, for all that he believed Lee to be a sincere and straightforward person, he doubted his last assessment of his own stealth.

"I have a meeting," Gaara swung the gourd carefully over his shoulder, carefully checking the strap that held it in place. "It will be long. We should eat now." He glanced out of his window, squinting at the sun. "It is nearly noon. The meeting will not conclude until four at the earliest." He turned back to Lee who, much to his surprise, was grinning. At him. Gaara's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Nothing really," Lee put his hand on his hip, still grinning. "My rival and teammate, Neji, does that a lot." Gaara stared blankly at Lee. "Stares at the sun to figure out what time it is," Lee elaborated, waving a hand towards Gaara's window. "You just reminded me of him is all."

The furrow in Gaara's brow deepened. "Is that good?" He was fairly certain that he'd never been compared to another person before. He remembered who Hyuuga Neji was, and if he recalled properly, Lee was not overly fond of the man. And rivals usually meant enemies.

Lee laughed, inwardly startling Gaara. "I guess! It's familiar, so in that way I guess it's good." He gave a firm nod. "Finding reminders of your home in foreign lands can make them seem less foreign. Gai-sensei taught me that!" His face fell slightly at that last comment. Lee was overly fond of his instructor, Gaara recalled, and he seemed to return the emotion. Perhaps he missed him.

But there was truth to the statement, so Gaara nodded slowly. Having nothing more to say on the subject, he walked out the front door, pausing to make sure Lee understood to follow. The corridors were confusing, and though Lee was a fast learner, this was his first time to the conference room. The last thing Gaara needed today was to be hounded by his sister for losing Lee on their first day.

----

Food was brought to a room adjacent to Gaara's office; the room he typically ate in. Of course he typically ate alone, and his cooks were far too pleased for Gaara's comfort to be making food for the both of them. Lee had ordered plain curry, indicating that he had brought his own seasoning packet from some friends of his back in Leaf village. The cook had agreed, but on the sole condition that he be allowed to examine the packet first. Whether this was to verify that it's contents weren't harmful to the Kazekage or to examine the recipe itself, Gaara wasn't sure.

He took a whiff of the packet's contents and pulled back with a cough, eyes watering as he fanned the air in front of his face. "It'll make a grown man cry," He sniffed, "But it won't kill you. 'cept maybe make your stomach melt," He added with a grin.

Lee gave one of his trademark smiles, teeth glistening with an abnormal sheen. Gaara idly wondered if he lacquered his teeth in the morning. "It's a special curry mix! Very good for the active body! I eat it as often as I can!" He gave the chef a thumbs up, and the chef laughed.

"If you say so," He shook his head. "Good luck with it, and try not to kill yourself." He gave Lee a wink. "The name's Tetsu. If you or Lord Gaara need anything, feel free to give me a holler."

Tetsu. Gaara hadn't known his name before, despite having been here for nearly three years now. Lee had learned it in a matter of minutes. He squinted down at his own bowl. It had simply never occurred to him to ask.

Lee was happily pouring his curry mix into his bowl when he caught Gaara's eye. He tilted his head. "Oi, Gaara. Something wrong?"

I crushed your bones , he thought. I turned them into splintery pulp, and mourned that I couldn't finish the job. I look oddly at my meal, and you show concern. The man was far too trusting of Gaara. More trusting than Gaara was of himself.

He shook his head. "No," He managed. "Just thinking."

Half expecting Lee to prod him further, he was a bit surprised when Lee just nodded. "Mealtime is sometimes the only time we get to ourselves. And not even that sometimes," He added somewhat apologetically. "I think a lot when I eat too!"

Curiosity got the better of him. "What about?"

Lee stirred the mix in with his chopsticks. "Hmm. Well, sometimes I think about training. What exersizes are best suited for upcoming missions, what areas I've been too lax on myself in. Sometimes about Gai-sensei's teachings. Sometimes about—" Lee cut off then, and Gaara turned his squinting gaze from his bowl to Lee. Laughing a little, Lee shook his head. "It's not important. Anyway, sometimes thinking outloud can be even more helpful."

Thinking outloud? "Explain."

"Sometimes you might get stumped on a thought, so talking outloud can help you sort of.. walk through it. And if another person's there, they can help you work it out too. They might have different ideas because they come from different points of view and experiences, so you're not just limited to your own mind." He tapped his forehead. "You know, get a different perspective on it all!"

"… hn," Was all Gaara said, turning back towards his bowl. The liquid inside was dark, and the two leekes floating towards the top suddenly reminded him of Lee's huge eyebrows. He set down his chopsticks and pushed his bowl away.

Lee frowned. "Not hungry?" He asked, mouth half full himself.

Gaara shook his head. "I am. I don't want miso right now." He frowned as soon as the words left his mouth. Gaara always had miso for lunch; it's why the chef hadn't needed to ask him what he wanted. He liked the salty flavor of it, and it was light enough that it didn't cause his stomach problems later towards the afternoon.

"Then try something else," Lee looked down at his bowl, then grinned and held it out towards Gaara. "Want to try some of my curry? It's really good!"

Gaara had never had anything extraordinarily spicy. Most of his food was bland, or if it had anything flavorful to it at all, it was a salty tang or a traditional teriyaki taste to it. He knew the Sand village was renound for it's spicy foods, but Gaara had never much concerned himself with food before. It was something that he consumed, fuel. Nothing more. Then why hadn't he been content with the miso?

He peered over at the bowl, eyeing it curiously before looking back up at Lee. Something in his eyes made Gaara want to try the curry. It wasn't trust, but something close to it. Lee gave off an aura of.. good? He wasn't trying to do anything but help, and Gaara had an inkling as to at least one of the unspecified reasons for hiring Lee specifically. If this man ever betrayed them, his face would betray him in seconds. He was no good at hiding.

Taking the chopsticks that were offered to him, he slowly scooped up the reddened kernels and took a bite.

It was… spicy.

Very spicy.

Gaara liked it.

"It's good," Gaara said after a moment. He'd never eaten anything like this before. He took another bite, this time less cautious. Lee grinned and watched as Gaara devoured the bowl, placing it down by his still full bowl of miso.

"Glad you liked it," Lee stood and placed his hands on his hips. "It's a special invigorating curry! Guaranteed to give you energy and stamina to get through the worst of days! If you like it too, Gaara, I'll make sure to bring some more next time I go home."

Gaara simply nodded, embarrassed for a reason he couldn't identify as he stood as well. He had a meeting to get to, though he had a sneaking suspicion that his mind would be more on spices than tarrifs.

---

The meeting was predictably boring. The head of a local clan had brought up some issues regarding land taxes, and was also petitioning to have parts of the road repaired. Apparently there had been multiple issues with potholes causing wagons to break, and merchants were having a difficult time keeping looters from helping themselves while they attempted to fix the wheel. There were even suspicions that the holes were being created on purpose for just such a reason.

His father had been an idiot during his reign as the Kazekage. He was an unflinching military leader, but he paid little attention to things like this. It made his followers respect him, certainly, but they feared him as well. Of course, they all feared Gaara as well. The difference between he and his father was that Gaara would prove to them all that he wasn't the monster his father made him into. And now that shuukaku had been removed, the villagers seemed more willing to accept this.

Gaara ordered a few men to be dispatched to the area to see about repairing the holes, and also ordered them to keep an eye on the area, while hidden, to make sure the road damage was due to natural wear. If it was the cause of a bandit group, they needed to be dealt with immediately and publicly.

There were also several petitioners in regards to land boundaries, import tariffs and one lady inquiring as to the ownership of a pig that kept wandering into her yard. All in all, a fairly ordinary session. Not his favorite part of the week, but one that was easy enough to handle.

Much to his surprise, when the meeting ended Lee was not only awake, but appeared to be paying very close attention to what was being said. After the chambers had been vacated, Gaara let out a small sigh and slouched against the back of his chair. Were it not for the curry earlier, he might have actually drifted off today. Whether it was was "invigorating" Gaara wasn't sure, but the residual spice on his tongue was certainly keeping him awake.

Lee blinked. "I.. thought you didn't get tired?" He asked.

Gaara's eyes snapped over towards his, but apparently Lee wasn't being sarcastic as he'd expected. He frowned again. Lee was developing a terrible pattern of making zero sense. "I don't sleep often," He corrected. "These meetings are exhausting."

"Then.. sleep? Er, rest?" Lee corrected quickly.

"No time," Gaara shook his head. "I only have an hour until I have to get to my desk work." Though the fresh air would be nice, Gaara thought. And it might get his mind off of work long enough for him to actually be able to accomplish something when he returned to his office.

"Do you mind if we go outside to train for an hour, then?" Lee asked somewhat sheepishly before Gaara could suggest it. "I feel like I've been neglecting it for the last few days."

If Gaara had eyebrows, one would have raised at that. He would have argued that running nearly nonstop for several days must constitute as training. But then, Lee seemed somewhat crazed when it came to training. Which was saying a lot, coming from Gaara of the Sand.

He nodded. "I will show you where the training grounds are."

----

Gaara had seen his fellow ninja train before on several occasions. He'd even trained with them, until he decided it wasn't worth the bother. Anything that tried to hurt him would be blocked by the sand, he knew. In retrospect, not the brightest move he'd ever made.

He'd never seen anything like what Lee put himself through as "training."

"If I don't do three hundred kicks, I'll do four hundred push ups while standing on my hands!" Lee promised himself aloud, starting to work up a decent sweat. His training had caused him to be quite efficiently built, Gaara observed. He was well muscled just about everywhere one could get muscles. He was evenly concentrated in mass, able to lift heavy objects, push, pull, and as Gaara knew from experience, run, hit and dodge with deadly accuracy. His physical training had served him quite well.

Lee glanced over at Gaara, who quickly looked away. He wasn't sure why the idea of Lee noticing Gaara watching him made him uncomfortable, but it did. Lee smiled. "Hey, Gaara. Can you help me hold this log in place?" He laughed a little. "I kind of seem to have... uhm." He motioned towards the log, which had by now been thoroughly uprooted. "Don't worry, I won't hit you," He assured Gaara.

Gaara wasn't worried about Lee hitting him. As he had observed earlier, the man was almost unrivalled in accuracy. And he was asking for his assistance in his training. Was this some sort of plot to get him to train? Had his advisers put him up to this?

The look on Lee's face confirmed what Gaara had suspected earlier. There was nothing on his face except pleasant determination. His chest heaved as he took shallow breaths, skin glistening with sweat, eyes bright and focused. Lee wasn't capable of ulterior motives. Or if he was, he was the best ninja Gaara had ever met.

"... all right," Gaara agreed, moving slowly towards the middle of the field where Lee stood. He would do it, though he would remain cautious. He would not be manipulated into something he already said he would have no part in, no matter how much he was growing to trust Lee's motives.

Lee seemed unaware of his suspicion, and simply grinned gratefully. "Thanks! I'm only twenty kicks short, and I'm not sure we'd have time for all my push ups."

As he held the log in place, Gaara contemplated this. "Why?" He asked after a moment.

Lee stopped and squinted over at him, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. "Well, you said we had an hour before you had to be in your office, right? And I'm pretty sure that it'll take me longer than—"

"No," Gaara interrupted. "Why do you do.. this? Set difficult and sometimes impossible goals for yourself and then punish yourself when you inevitably fail?" Some things just weren't possible, Gaara knew. He'd once thought of himself as invincible, untouchable. He'd paid dearly for that. If Lee was convinced that he could do anything then he was dangerous to have as a bodyguard. Someone overly cocky could get them both killed. But moreover, Gaara was just plain curious.

Finishing his last kick, Lee grinned and tossed himself abruptly on the ground, legs sprawled out and chest heaving. "You never know your own limits unless you try to push past them," Lee answered, inclining his head slightly at Gaara. "Or what you can survive if you don't try. And besides," He stood slowly, brushing his hands off on green spandex as he did so, "I never break a promise, even if it's only to myself."

Lee was a very strange man, Gaara thought to himself as they headed back towards their appropriate rooms to clean up. Very strange, but not entirely unpleasant.