First Festival

This was my very first attepmt at a Gaara/Lee fanfic. I really do like this pairing it's one of my favorites. The main characters are a little OOC, but that's okay I believe. I've had this story sitting around for a while so I haven't neglected the other story I'm working on.

First Festival

It had been several years since Suna had experienced the sights, sounds and smells of a festival. The once dull, colorless streets were brightly lit with various colored lanterns. Laughter floated on the cool night breeze carrying it through the village and into the desert night. The scent of sweet food filled the air attracting many hungry customers. It was a joyous night and everyone was out partaking in the festivities; dressed in their colorful kimonos as they moved from stand to stand.

However, in Suna’s main office building, a lone figure stood by the windows watching the activities down below. Cool mint green eyes narrowed as the laughter filtered through the windows echoing off the walls of his empty office. As long as Gaara could remember he had never seen a festival before and observing his people running about the streets frantically intrigued him greatly.

Just then the sound of the door opening to his office drew his attention away from the window and he watched as his older sister entered the room.

“There you are. I was looking everywhere for you.”

“What is it?”

“Aren’t you going to join us for the festival?”

“Why should I? It’s pointless anyway.”

Temari crossed her arms over her white kimono and said, “Don’t be like that, little brother. The reason I suggested this was because I wanted you to experience your first festival.”

“I don’t have time for this,” he muttered.

Temari sighed and said, “I asked Naruto and his friends to attend this year and they want to see you.”

The young Kazekage turned back to the window and said, “I don’t have any friends. Besides they’re all afraid of me.”

“Not all of them are afraid of you. I know Naruto isn’t afraid of you and also the Fuzzy-Brows isn’t afraid you—although I question his sanity sometimes…”

Gaara suddenly froze at the mention of Konoha’s taijutsu master and quietly asked, “Lee is here?”

Temari noticed the sudden change in her brother’s behavior and thought, ‘How odd. That was the first time he has reacted like that…and why when I mentioned the Fuzzy-Brows, unless—NO! It can’t be. He couldn’t possibly like the Fuzzy-Brows. Could he?’

Temari was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Gaara calling her name.

“Did you say something, little brother?”

“How long will he be staying?”

Temari noticed that Gaara had suddenly become very nervous and fidgety; a side of the young red-head she rarely saw. His fingers were clenched into the back of his chair and he shifted slightly eyes darting around the room. Whatever was going through his head must be serious to get him so worked up like this.

“Answer the question,” demanded Gaara impatiently.

“Yes, Fuzzy-Brows is here, but I’m not sure how long he’ll be staying. Why do you ask?”

Gaara stiffened, glancing at his sister before quickly composing himself and replied, “It’s nothing. You can go now.”

Temari shook her head realizing this was a subject she rather not discuss with her short-fused brother, but as the older sibling she felt responsible and so asked, “Gaara, do you like Fuzzy-Brows?”

Gaara stiffened slightly, but did not turn around and said, “I don’t know how to love somebody. I would only end up hurting him.”

Temari sighed and walked over to her brother gently laying a hand on his shoulder before saying, “Listen Gaara, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but if you like the Fuzzy-Brows then you should at least tell him. If you don’t you might regret it later in life.”

Gaara looked at his sister and said, “I am the Kazekage for my country. I do not have time for petty emotions like love.”

Temari sighed again, removed her hand and said, “Gaara, I just want you to be happy and if being happy means being with the Fuzzy-Brows then you should tell him how you feel.”

Gaara continued to stare down at the crowded streets refusing to say anything.

The blonde sand nin turned to leave and said, “Like I said earlier, if you want to join us we’ll be in the bar across the street. I’m sure Fuzzy…Lee will be happy to see you.”

She left the room quietly closing the door behind her leaving Gaara to his thoughts.

*******************

Downstairs, Temari walked across the street and entered the bar immediately spotting the large group laughing and talking at a large table. She maneuvered around the tables and took a seat.

“Temari-san, you came back. Where did you go?” asked Sakura.

“I went to talk to my stubborn brother. Sometimes I wonder why I even put up with him.”

Lee who had been sitting by the window quietly watching the group perked up and asked, “How is Gaara-san? Is he going to join us?”

Temari immediately noticed the change in the young taijutsu master and said, “Gaara is being his usual stoic, depressed self. I wish he would join us, but he refuses to come down. He prefers the solitude of his office.”

Lee looked down at his glass of water on the table and frowned sadly. He had hoped the young Kazekage would join them. He had missed him dearly and wanted to spend some time with the other boy. His hands fiddled with the material of his dark green kimono and he sighed glancing out the window at the dark building before him.

*****************

Twenty minutes later, Gaara found himself standing at the entrance to his office building looking at the crowded street before him wondering why he had decided to do this anyway.

He had spent ten minutes, after Temari had left, debating whether his sister’s advice was even worth taking. He had silently gone over the pros and the cons of confronting Lee, but it had come up even on both sides and in the end all he had received was a light headache. After sitting in his chair thinking about it, he made an abrupt decision to take his sister’s offer and talk to Lee. However, as he was heading out the door he suddenly realized that he didn’t know what he was going to say to Lee when he saw him. He shut the door and went back to his desk and mentally began to think about what he was going to say to the Leaf nin, but all that led to was more confusion and his headache had just gotten worse. Deciding that sitting here wasn’t going to help him solve his problem he got up from his chair and left the room intending to go into the bar and speak to Lee.

So now he stood on the steps of his office staring at the small bar across the street. As he was staring into the crowd he could vaguely make out the figure sitting by the window inside the bar, but he could not mistake that person for anyone else. Instead of his usual green jumpsuit, Lee was wearing a dark green kimono with a red sash; his hair was un-gelled, flipping up at the ends like when he had worn it when he started out as a genin. Gaara suddenly felt his heartbeat quicken and he clutched at his chest. He saw Lee turn to look out the window and mint green eyes met black.

******************

Lee was sitting watching as all his friends laughed and talked together. He smiled at their antics happy that they could finally take a break from all their missions and have fun, but he didn’t want to be here. He wanted to find Gaara and talk to him. Just seeing the other boy would make him happy. Just then he felt a small prickling down his spine; it wasn’t dangerous, but someone was watching him. He looked up and froze when he glimpsed at Gaara across the street through the crowd of people.

“Gaara-san,” said Lee as he stood up from the table drawing everyone’s attention to him.

“What’s wrong, Fuzzy-Brows?” asked Naruto.

Lee ignored the question and quickly jumped onto the table, causing everyone to shout in shock and irritation, and raced out of the bar before anyone could stop him. He stood outside the door and looked across the street yelling Gaara’s name. The red head looked at Lee, who was waving frantically; a big smile on his face. The taijutsu master then crossed the street weaving in and out of the crowds muttering apologies as he accidentally bumped into people. When he was just a few feet away he tripped over the hem of his kimono sending him stumbling forward, but before he could hit the ground sand encircled his body and halted his descent.

Lee blinked confused and realized that sand had gently wrapped around his body keeping him from hitting the ground. He looked up and saw Gaara staring down at him arms crossed and his face void of emotion.

Lee smiled and said, “Thank you, Gaara-san. This kimono is a bit too long and I’ve been tripping over it all day. I should have it hemmed to a shorter length.”

The sand carefully set Lee upright before disappearing back into the gourd and the taijutsu master quickly pulled Gaara into a big hug.

“I’ve missed you so much, Gaara-san. It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you.”

Gaara struggled lightly before gasping out, “Lee, I can’t breathe.”

The Leaf-nin put Gaara back on the floor and rubbed the back of his head grinning sheepishly saying, “Sorry, Gaara-san. Sometimes I forget my own strength. So have you come to join our little get together?”

“No,” replied Gaara looking away from the other boy.

Lee blinked and asked, “You are at least going to participate in the festival?”

“No.”

Lee frowned and asked, “So what were you going to do?”

“I was going to think,” replied Gaara.

“Oh…ano…is it okay if I join you then?” asked Lee hopefully. “I mean if you want to be alone then that’s perfectly understandable, but it’s been a long time since I saw you and I wanted to…talk to you.”

Gaara looked at Lee for a few minutes before turning and started to walk away. Lee sighed sadly and was about to go back into the bar when Gaara said, “If you’re coming then hurry up. I don’t want to have to wait for you to catch up.”

Lee blinked confused as the words sunk into his mind before smiling and running to catch up with the red-head who had started to walk away again.

****************

The two boys walked in silence, Lee looking around at the festival while Gaara just walked ahead ignoring everything that was going on around him. Lee suddenly stopped and when Gaara noticed that the other boy was not beside him he stopped and looked back. Lee was waiting at a stand watching as a vendor rolled up a colorful wispy cloud-like substance on a plastic cone. Lee handed the man some money and raced to catch up to Gaara.

“Sorry Gaara-san, I haven’t had cotton candy in a long time,” said Lee as he pulled off a small puff and popped it into his mouth moaning softly. “Delicious.” Lee looked at Gaara, who was staring at him a light blush across his cheeks as he watched the taijutsu master eat the sweet treat.

Lee pulled off another piece, but instead of putting it into his mouth he held it out and asked, “Do you want some? I can share.”

Gaara looked back up at Lee then at the piece of candy in Lee’s hand. He slowly leaned forward and took the piece of candy and Lee’s fingers in his mouth. Lee blushed and he could feel his heart rate quicken, but he did not remove his fingers from the warm wet cavern. Gaara pulled back and looked at Lee licking his lips.

“Ano…”

“It’s sweet,” replied Gaara before turning and continuing to walk down the street. Lee blinked and looked at the red-head and then back at his hand. He lightly sucked his fingers enjoying the faint trace of sugar and strangely Gaara. He was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard Gaara telling him to hurry up. Lee grinned and followed after the Kazekage disappearing down the street happily munching on his cotton candy.

*****************

Gaara and Lee had walked until the noise from the festival had died away leaving the calm serene of the night. Lee saw the entrance gate of Suna and vaguely wondered where Gaara was going, but he didn’t put to much thought into it; he was just happy to spend some time with the young Kazekage. Gaara led him on the outskirts of the wall until they reached one of the lookout towers that lined the walls. Gaara climbed the ladder and Lee silently followed the other boy, when he reached the top he froze and stared wide-eyed at the sight before him. They were overlooking the desert, which seemed to glitter under the eerie glow the full moon. Lee had never seen anything like this before and he was awed by the beautiful scene.

“Wow,” whispered Lee as he leaned against the railing taking in the beautiful scenery. Gaara watched the fascinated and peaceful look on the taijutsu master’s face and suddenly felt very…content that he was cause of that. Lee turned to look at him with a smile and said, “I’m glad you brought me here, Gaara-san. It means a lot to me that you wanted to share your special place with me.”

Gaara looked away from Lee and said, “It doesn’t matter. Why did you come anyway?”

Lee blinked confused and asked, “Why wouldn’t I want to come?”

Gaara stood behind the railing and looked out into the desert and said, “Nobody likes to be alone with me. Even though I’m their Kazekage they still fear me. They still think of me as a monster.”

“That’s ridiculous. You’re not a monster. Monsters are scary and evil looking with weird faces like this,” replied Lee as he made a funny face and wiggled his fingers eerily.

Gaara blinked at the other boy looking at the stupid face Lee was making in confusion for a few seconds and suddenly a small giggle unconsciously escaped his lips. It stunned Gaara for a moment, but before he could think about it he was laughing uncontrollably.

Lee grinned and said, “See you’re not a monster. Besides you’re too cute to be a monster.”

Gaara immediately stopped laughing, looked at Lee and said, “I’m not cute.”

Lee chuckled and said, “Of course not.”

The two boys fell into a calm silence just enjoying the fact that they were together. Gaara glanced at Lee and suddenly the conversation he had with Temari earlier came into his mind.

“Listen Gaara, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but if you like the Fuzzy-Brows then you should tell him. If you don’t you might regret it later in life.”

His sister’s words echoed in his head endlessly and he clenched his eyes shut trying to drown them out. His hands were clenched into tight fists as he clutched onto the railing of the tower.

Lee had noticed the sudden change in the young Kazekage and moved closer to the other boy peering at him intently.

“Gaara, are you alright?”

The red-head quickly turned to face Lee when he heard his name and froze when he felt lips pressed against his. Both boys blinked stunned and Lee pulled back suddenly, glad for the poor lightening as his face turned a bright red.

“Gaara, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen…it was an accident—a mistake…”

Gaara watched as the Leaf shinobi frantically tried to apologize and sighed. Whenever Lee got like this he didn’t make any sense to Gaara and it confused the young Kazekage.

“Lee, you’re not making any sense,” interrupted Gaara after a few more minutes of babbling, which immediately shut the other boy up.

They stood silence for a few minutes until Lee looked anxiously at his friend and said, “But Gaara, aren’t you…angry with what happened?”

Green eyes looked up at the taller boy and he asked, “Why should I be?”

“Well I kissed you without your permission.”

“I didn’t mind,” replied Gaara. “Did you not like it?”

Lee blushed and nodded his head and said, “NO…I mean yes… I—I don’t know.”

Gaara looked away from his flustered friend and said, “I liked it.”

“Really?!” replied Lee stunned.

“Should I not like it?” asked Gaara.

“I…don’t know. I mean I liked it, but I just didn’t think you would like this kind of thing. You’ve never experienced love before…”

“Just because I never understood love and its concepts doesn’t mean I don’t know when I want something.”

“Gaara…” began Lee hesitantly.

The Kazekage looked at Lee and continued as if the other boy hadn’t said anything. “I don’t know what love is and I might never know what it is, but I do know that I want you, Lee.”

Lee suddenly felt extremely dizzy and clutched onto the railing to prevent himself from falling and asked quietly, “Gaara, do you know what you are asking? What you are offering?”

“Yes, I’ve thought about it quite a bit. I want more than a platonic relationship with you. I’ve thought about kissing you, touching you, holding you, having se…”

“OK! THAT’S ENOUGH!” interrupted Lee before Gaara could finish that sentence.

“What’s wrong, Lee?” asked Gaara.

“That’s just going a little too fast,” replied the flustered Leaf nin.

“What do you mean?”

“Well we aren’t even—dating yet,” replied Lee quickly.

“Do you want to…date me then?” asked Gaara.

“Yes, I do, but that’s besides the point...” began Lee.

“I don’t see why we can’t do those things then. We are dating aren’t we?”

“I didn’t say we were dating,” exclaimed Lee stunned.

“But you said you wanted to date me,” stated Gaara coolly.

“Gaara, it’s not that simple.”

The Kazekage looked at Lee demanding an explanation.

Lee sighed and said, “Well when two people…get together it takes a while before they reach that stage.”

“Stage, what stage?”

Lee blushed, very happy for the dull lightening in the area and said, “When they are ready to…do it.”

“Do it? Do you mean sex?”

Lee groaned, slumped to the floor and nodded hiding his face behind his hands.

“Lee, why don’t you like to talk about sex?”

“Because it’s a very serious issue. It’s not a topic for casual conversation.”

Gaara crossed his arms and looked out into the desert and said, “I still do not understand, but if you do not want to talk about it then I won’t.”

“Thank you Gaara,” replied Lee as he got up from the floor dusting his kimono off and smiling at the Kazekage.

Gaara shrugged and said, “As long as we get sex in the end.”

“GAARA, YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!” shouted Lee’s voice into the desert night.

Owari

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