A Caring brother

This is NOT Beta-read and English is not my native language so please bare with me. The two betas I have are mia and loa atm. I have the tendency to run long sentences here and there but please try not to mind that! I try my best when my muse hits me so please be gentle when it comes to grammar and sentence issues :p

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CHAPTER XI
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Kankuro woke up suddenly, at first not registering where he was or why he woke up the way he did until he realized he was in Gaara's room. That was right, his little brother asked him to sleep in his room so he'd keep the nightmares away.

Now, someone would think it wasn't that special with a request like that but knowing Gaara's past and how hard he let people in and trusted them, that was a huge request to fall from his lips and who would deny him what he dared to ask for no matter if it was in a weak moment he asked it? At night and during these past weeks, Gaara had not been the Kazekage of Suna, nor had he been his usual cold self and since Temari left he had started to actually open up more and more.

In other words, for Gaara to ask Kankuro to spend the night to keep him away from the dreams, or… as he actually meant 'to keep him safe' from the dreams, was a huge request that the puppet master never ever thought he'd hear from his brother's lips.

Gaara whimpered and thrashed around in the bed beside him, hitting him in the ribs with his elbow a few times before he realized it was his little brother who woke him up with his whimpers. Kankuro instantly leaned over to him hushing him while trying to control the movements of flailing arms.

"ssh ssh, easy Gaara… calm down.. you're safe, I'm here otouto… sssh…"

"ngh!...mph…. no!...pl…ce…. Not him! NO!"

Gaara woke up with panic in his eyes and was met with Kankuro's dark eyes watching him at the same moment he wrapped his arms around him, pulling Gaara close and placed his head by the slope of his neck.

"sssh…ssh… I'm here otouto…"

"ngh…"

Gaara eased into the embrace and rolled up closer, both his arms by Kankuro's chest and somewhat hiding his face while trying to will the tears away. If Kankuro didn't know better he'd guess that all the bottled up tears and hurt were pouring out of his brother during these days. Ever since Shukaku was removed from him and his brother returned to life, Gaara had acted differently all and all. It almost seemed like he was learning to feel and understand feelings and he was getting a crash course in it too. Not to mention learning how to keep dreams and reality apart.

"Gomen…"

"Nh? What do you apologize for Gaara?"

He asked softly, feeling a hitched sob against his chest.
"… everything…"

"Otouto… you have nothing to apologize for…"

"I do… so much, I've done so much damage…"

"Well… technically.. it wasn't you, it was shukaku.. but he's not in you anymore. You're free from that now.."

"But I'm not! He's haunting me all the time! He's putting images in my head, freezing me where I stand and forces me to watch horrid things… he makes me watch when he massacres people, tear them apart so slow you can see the panic in their eyes while being eaten alive!"

"ssh ssh calm down, otouto… breathe. Sssh…you're safe now, I'm here."

"ngh..!"

Gaara had almost panicked there and that was nothing he was used to seeing at all. Heck, he couldn't even remember one single time where Gaara had raised his voice in fear, only in violence and blood thirst which was completely gone even though he still had control over the sand.

Once the redhead calmed down a bit more, Kankuro spoke up again, once he felt his brother relax a little even though he was still tense in his arms.

"See this as a test of will. Shukaku is testing to see if he still has power over you even now when he's not inside of you. Prove him wrong, prove him you're stronger and change the images he shows you. [b]you[/b] have control over your own mind, Gaara [i]No one else[/i]. Since when do you let anyone get on your back, demon or no?"

"nh… I don't know….. I… I just feel so… drained. Like all my chakra was stolen from me…"

"Well, if that's how you feel, otouto… then borrow some of mine."

"nh?"
Gaara tilted his head up to look at his brother with a frown.

"It means.. let [i]me[/i] be strong for you when you're not strong enough. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here to lend it to you. If you need advice, I'm here to give it to you if you want to listen, if you need protection, I will do anything in my power to keep you safe from harm."

"nh…"

"… that's what siblings do, they protect each other because they love each other."

Gaara blinked and didn't reply at once, then inhaled and hesitated a moment.
"… love..?"

"Yes, Gaara. Love."

"You… you say you... [i]love[/i]… [b]me[/b]?"

Kankuro swallowed. It wasn't really what he had meant… he thought. Or was it? His heart skipped a beat at the question and the look in Gaara's eyes made him hold his breath and swallow. At the same time he felt his lower regions react. 'no no! No! how humiliating!' He thought and closed his eyes for a moment. That moment was enough for Gaara to sigh and lower his head before he tried to get out of Kankuro's embrace.

"let me go."

He demanded and began to struggle but Kankuro held him tighter, resulting in a low feral growl from Gaara's side while pressing his palms against his brother's chest to try and get away.

"You don't love me; it's just something people say to hurt others!"

He hissed and Kankuro closed his eyes tightly.

"no... that's not true"

"It IS!"

"[b].Go![/b]"

It wasn't a secret that Gaara wasn't really physically strong and Kankuro who was nearly twice Gaara's size had no trouble holding him. It wasn't until he heard the sand that he panicked and opened his eyes and stared into furious seafoam colored eyes, he had to think fast if he wasn't going to end up in a sand burial or worse. He swallowed again then put his lips against his brother's just as he felt the sand wrap over his chest to choke him like a snake chokes its pray.

Gaara froze, as did the sand and Kankuro closed his eyes with a throbbing heart in his chest and a semi erect penis in his boxers. Just what the hell was he doing anyway? As Gaara seemed to relax in his frozen state, so did the sand and it simply slid off him and landed on the floor on Kankuro's side of the bed. He gave himself permission to open one of his eyes a little to see if Gaara was watching or not but he had his eyes closed.

This was his chance to make him calm down completely like he did a few days ago. Kankuro gently traced his tongue over Gaara's lower lip and just as last time, the reaction was a mouth that slightly opened to allow the visiting tongue entrance.

Kankuro enhanced the kiss and this time Gaara's tongue was there to meet his when he entered his little brother's mouth. It was soft and warm and a light taste of mint, probably from the toothpaste just like his own probably tasted like spearmint.

Gaara slightly exhaled a breath over Kankuro's cheek while his arms stopped struggling all together and instead eased into the embrace even more before he somewhat sucked Kankuro's tongue into his mouth. That went straight to his groin and his shaft bobbed somewhat and became a little more than semi erect. He was just about to break the kiss and come up with a good excuse for them not to do this when he felt something poke his abdomen… wait… Gaara had an erection… too?

Kankuro moved a little and realized his now hard shaft had poked Gaara's thigh and in turn, the redhead broke the kiss and looked downwards. The covers had been tossed away since a good while back by all the fighting so it was easy to see they both were hard. Gaara blinked while looking between his arms since his hands and lower arms still rested on Kankuro's chest.

"… yours does that too…"

"nh..?"

The younger brother looked up and met a embarrassed look of his older brother.

" Do you… get milk too?"

"Milk?"

Kankuro blinked and realized just how innocent Gaara was in this kind of situation and blushed.

"Oh… eh… It's not really… 'milk' …Gaara. It's… umh… semen…"

"I know it's not real milk… but it tastes good, it's salt. Does yours taste salt too?"

"Ngh!"

"I tasted mine two days ago when it did… this…I'm not really… sure how… though.."

Gaara confessed and Kankuro cleared his throat and thanked the heavens for the darkness around them or it would have been very, very embarrassing even though they could see each other's faces but the small light in the kitchen didn't really do much to light up the room more than giving it a night light.

The redhead silenced himself when he realized he probably said something out of line and glanced down at his brother's chest with an embarrassed look that just made Kankuro smile and melt. He embraced his brother warmly again but this time somewhat letting their erections grind together while moving closer, making Gaara slightly moan because of it.

"So… what you're saying is that you've never had a boner before?"

"…boner?"

"Yeah.. you know… having it hard like a rock, stand up, doing salute.. having an erection."

"oh….nh….no, not before two days ago…"

"Really?"

"nh… am I not normal..?"

"oh.. tch… you're sixteen Gaara… this is when everything happens."

"So…nh… what…. What do I.. [i]do[/i] with it… I mean… I..uh…"

He fell silent again and gave a shy look to his brother when he glanced up at him from under his red strands.
"I can tell you.. or show you…"

Kankuro whispered, feeling his need aching in his shaft the longer this conversation went on.

"…show me."

"You sure?"

"Nh…"

"Okay…"