Hero

Sorry for the wait! Here’s the next chapter!!!
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Lee’s eyes looked frantically from the colorful crowd aggravated at not finding the
person he had been searching for. He hung his head in defeat and started to walk the other direction to continue his desperate search when a familiar voice rang out from behind him.

“LEE!!!! Why are you not dressed in youthful festival attire?!” Gai walked casually up to the youth with a huge blinding smile plastered on his face.

“Gai sensei!!! I need to talk to you! I need advi-“Lee started frantically but Gai held up a hand to stop him.

“I won’t hear anymore until you are properly dressed! We spent days setting up this festival you must be dressed for it!” Gai pulled out a brown package from seemingly no where and handed it enthusiastically to Lee.

“Bu…Gai sensei it’s important!” Lee looked up from the package in desperation but his sensei didn’t want to hear it.

“No no! Get dressed then we’ll talk!” Gai shoved Lee in the direction of the bathrooms.

“Ha…hai…” Lee sighed and walked to the small bathroom as he thought on what exactly he was going to say to his teacher.

Lee closed and locked the door before he unwrapped the kimono. He gasped when it was fully revealed; it was one of the most beautiful kimonos he had ever seen. The fabric was so soft that when it brushed across your skin it felt like a slight breath of cool air. The main color was a deep lush green while patterns of different shaped leaves and intricate designs colored lighter green and black ran over the material. The sleeves where extremely long and fell to the leaf nin’s calves when his arms where at his sides. Over all the kimono was a bit big on Lee but when the black sash was tied about his waist it looked stunning.

He placed Gaara’s proposal flower in one of the deep side pockets as he folded his suit and put it in the bag before he walked back out into the cold night. Lee looked to where his sensei had been before and to his relief that’s exactly where he stood now.

“Lee you look handsome!!!” Gai did the ‘Nice Guy Pose’ as he walked back over to Lee.

“Gai sensei please can we talk?” Lee pointed off to the far left away from the crowds and festive music.

“Of course! Why didn’t you say so sooner?” Gai clasped Lee on the shoulder and guided the youth off the side.

Once there Lee was shaking considerably. What would his teacher think of him? Would he be disgusted and push him to the side saying how he wasn’t normal? Would he….hate him?

“Gai sensei I…that is Gaara a few days ago…”

“Gaara?! What did he hurt you again?!” Gai stepped closer to his student to get a better look but Lee moved back and put up his hands to signal that he was fine.

“No! Gaara wouldn’t hurt me. He….he asked me to go with him…back to the Suna” Lee looked down to the snow covered ground as he pulled out the small glass flower to show his teacher.

“Go with him? What is this?” Gai looked at the small frail object in awe at the beauty it held.

“It’s a dessert rose….Its a proposal….” Lee looked slowly back up at his teacher already wincing at what he was so sure was to come.

Gai stood back in shock at what his student had just said but slowly tears welled up in his eyes.

“LEE!!!” Gai cried as he pulled his student in a tight embrace. “YOU DID IT LEE!!!”

“Nani???” Lee was shocked as his teacher threatened to squeeze the life out of his small frame.

“You found your purpose the one thing that so many people strive for but never find!” Gai wasn’t making sense,

“Sensei do you understand what this means….?”

“Yosh!!!! And that’s why I’m crying such tears of youthful joy!” Gai pulled back but kept Lee’s shoulders held in his hands his face beaming. “You’ve achieved something I have yet to even fathom!”

Lee continued to look at his sensei in a confused sock, mouth slightly agape. He had succeeded his teacher in something???

“You have someone who wants you for you! That’s better then any technique I could ever teach you.” Gai hugged his student again.

“Bu…I thought you disliked Gaara and we’re….boys….” Lee didn’t think his sensei understood the full situation.

“Boys? Why should that matter? Love is love!” Gai stood up and looked at Lee with pride and admiration. “Gaara may be a bit…..” Gai looked for the right words. “Harsh at times…. but that’s just because he doesn’t understand what affection is….” Gai nodded as if agreeing with himself.

Now it was Lee’s turn to cry as he realized that once again Gai had accepted him for him and understood the best.

“Bu..but if I go that means….”

“That you shall visit frequently!” Gai finished for Lee confidently.

“But sensei….my missions my friends…..you..” Lee felt hot tears fall from his eyes and he reached up and wiped them away frantically. “Won’t that all disappear?”

“That’s why you must visit often!” Gai stood next to Lee and put a strong hand on his shoulder as the youth let his tears fall, feelings of anxiety and fear overwhelmed him.

“What if…what if…”

“No ‘buts’ Lee what you must ask yourself is ‘What do I want’?”

Lee’s stopped crying as he heard Gaara’s pained voice echo through his mind. ‘Because……’ ‘He was about to say..’ Lee turned to his sensei.

“I have to go….”

Gai shut his eyes at the words and smiled through his own pain of saying goodbye.

“I know.” He pulled Lee into a final hug. “Come back soon, I’ll teach you something new.”

Lee pushed back the tears and pulled away from Gai, walking back into the crowds only to be stopped as Gai’s voice floating back to his ears.

“LEE LET THE POWER OF YOUTH….” The rest of the sentence was drowned out by the music and laughter of the surroundings.

“EXPLODE!!!!!” Lee cheered and started to sprint further into the crowds.


***

Gaara sat slumped high above the activities on the roof of the Hokage’s building, evidently the festival was directly under it. Gaara’s head was in one of his hands while the other was clutching his chest. On the outside he appeared fine other then the desperate posture but on the inside he was screaming.

‘Stupid……’ Gaara gritted his teeth. ‘The look in his eyes said everything…he’s terrified.’

The wind picked up and the Kazekage had no protection from the harsh winter winds but he had grown numb to that feeling long ago. It was a feeling that he had lived with since the day he was born to the present, the same way people acted toward him and held him in.

‘Cold….’ Gaara curled a bit more as the moon was blotted out by black storm clouds.

‘He’s going to say….’

“Yes.”

Gaara’s eye’s snapped open as the voice that haunted his every waking moment chimed behind him. He inclined his head to look at the source of his obsession.

“Lee….” He said quietly.

“I know that I may not be the greatest person and that I hurt you when I didn’t respond before.” Lee was on the opposite side of where Gaara sat, Lee started towered the redhead slowly.

Lee had a hell of a time finding Gaara but by chance he had been looking up at the moon when he saw a small figure outlined in the silvery light high up on the Hokage’s roof.

“What are you saying?” Gaara’s voice came out a bit more harsh then he had meant it to but his life had been nothing but harsh and indifference….he couldn’t take another let down.

“I….” Lee had reached Gaara and the redhead stood up and faced him, teal eyes burning into his own. “I want to be with you too Gaara.”

Gaara nearly fell off the roof but surprisingly he was able to keep his footing, He stood there staring at Lee for a long time running what the leaf nin had just said though his mind trying to grasp the magnitude on what it truly meant.

“Unless if it is to late…” Lee said uneasily looking down at the crowded streets.

“Why?”

Lee’s eyes snapped back to Gaara’s at the odd question.

“Why? I nearly killed you…I’m a monster….no one can love a monster.” Gaara’s shoulder’s shook and he wouldn’t meet Lee’s gaze.

“You’re wrong.”

Gaara jumped a bit as two arms wrapped around his shoulders and he was pulled down into a warn embrace.

“You’re not a monster; you’re too good of a person to be a monster.” Lee whispered into the redhead’s ear soothingly.

Gaara was overcome by the words he knew he didn’t deserve but all the same he felt warm and full. He pulled Lee closer to himself and held back the tears that threatened to fall.

“Say it.”

The clouds opened up and snow started to twirl the ground making the festival goers laugh in delight and extend arms toward the flakes. But no one saw the two figures high above them holding each other tightly like the other would disappear into the snowy night if they didn’t.

“I love you Gaara.”


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I know I’m a corny sucker for romance of any kind but I love this stuff!!! The story isn’t quite over yet and I’ll update soon!!!!