Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Kindred ❯ Day Seventy-Eight - 10AM ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Naruto is the brainchild of Kishimoto-sama, and I am not worthy. I merely borrow the manga's characters and situations, and make no money off of them.

 

AN: Sorry for the delay! Bloody mm.org and it's lil' formating differences make my life difficult. On the plus side, the rest of the chapters are written, I'll be uploading them very soon. Thanks for the reviews ^_^

 

 

Day Seventy-Eight - 10AM

 

Sand had piled up against the base of the wall. The southern rampart was one of those most exposed to the wind that regularly hammered the village. Suna was built on bedrock, but moving sand and howling storms were hard on the architecture. Damage was inevitable.

"Wasn't any shifting in evidence?" Gaara asked, measuring the top of the wall with his eyes. It didn't look slanted. Yet.

The senior Jounin in charge of the southern defences shook his head. "None until the crack appeared-"

"Chiro, don't," Gaara said, interrupting his subordinate.

Chiro paused with his arm wound back, glancing at Gaara. Then he dropped the rock he'd been holding and stared at the large ground-level crack he'd been aiming at.

"I can break it?" he asked, sounding both horrified and fascinated at the idea.

"I would hope not. But I don't think the wall needs any more pounding." The Shinobi around them were...not smiling, because Suna nin rarely did, but they didn't look quite as stern and menacing as usual, a sign of some indulgent amusement.

"What do you advise?" Gaara asked the stonemason. "Rebuild or reinforce?"

"Beg y'r pardon, sir, but this wall's twenty years old," the man said respectfully, as if Gaara wasn't young enough to be his son. "It's been solid till now, but I'd like to inspect it thoroughly. I think it may be time to tear down a few stretches and build them back up from scratch."

Gaara looked at the crack, at the wall, at the no-man's-land surrounding them. "Very well. Take your time with the inspection, make it thorough."

"Yes sir. Um, the problem is, the crack is compromising the stability of the walkway up there, so I need to take care of this section first-"

"I don't want to waste time reinforcing what we'll probably tear down," Gaara stated, moving away from the group. "Chiro, come here."

"I wasn't touching," Chiro said. He'd approached the crack to stare at it from a couple of feet away with his hands conspicuously behind his back, though the fingers had been twitching. He'd have been poking at it as soon as Gaara's back was turned.

"Come over here. Everybody else, stay exactly where you are."

Chiro scampered over excitedly to stand right behind Gaara. A bit too close; Gaara thought of getting one of the Shinobi who'd frozen to the spot, to grab Chiro and get the child away, but it shouldn't be too dangerous, and from the way Chiro was clustering near him, the boy wanted to see.

Gaara joined his hands together, palm to palm, and closed his eyes. The sand covering rocks and filling the ravines around them growled as it shook itself loose. It slipped towards them like a rising wave, a desiccated tide in this land without water. It washed around the gathered humans, avoiding them, and crept towards the wall. It slithered into the crack, packing in without pressing it wider. Gaara frowned at the strain of building instead of breaking, while the sand surged up the stones, furled over the rampart, spilled down the far side, gathering in a pile to buttress the masonry.

Gaara extended one hand, directing the finer movements. When all had stilled, his fist slowly clenched. The sand made a dull sound as it compacted and hardened, tough as concrete. Gaara lowered his hand and turned towards the stonemason.

"Start by checking this section. Make sure the patch will hold up for a few days," he said, trying to ignore the look of trepidation in the man's eyes. Even some of the Shinobi present looked uneasy, though others, who'd had more contact with their Kazekage and his power, appeared quite blasé.

"Y-yes sir-um- should he be doing that? Ah, the boy-"

Chiro had darted out from behind Gaara and was shoving against the sand reinforcements curiously, a strange contrast to the grown men still at a respectful distance who were staring at the child in surprise and a bit of superstitious horror.

"It's safe." If Gaara let this sort of attitude bother him, he'd never make it. Though a small part of him, which had only started to exist a few years ago, found itself faintly appeased by Chiro's reaction and the relaxed air of the high-level Shinobi present who'd seen things considerably more frightening than sand being helpful.

The small group went back in through the southern gate and headed towards the outpost, scrutinizing the wall on the village side as they went for any further signs of cracks. There were civilian dwellings nearby, and nobody wanted a nasty accident.

"Kazekage-sama?"

Gaara glanced down from the blueprints he was studying. He was getting used to looking down these days. For most of his life, Gaara had been smaller than most Shinobi, or almost of a height as he grew, but these days he was used to dealing with what Lee affectionately referred to as rug-rats and half-pints.

There were three children staring up at him. He recognized one of them as Minne's younger son, but it had been an older girl who'd spoken. From the way the other two kids were standing slightly behind her, she was the designated spokesperson. A good distance away, a few more children peaked out from behind a wall. The girl didn't look all that intimidated by contrast, though she was speaking respectfully.

"Can Chiro come and play with us? We're going to the square on Trader Street."

Chiro was looking up at him hopefully. Gaara nodded. The boy could entertain himself for hours with his notepad and pencils on the days Gaara watched him, but if the presence of other Shinobi meant he couldn't ask the Kazekage his questions or have his undivided attention every once in a while, the kid eventually got antsy. Playing with the other children would keep him amused for the rest of the morning, free of charge. The square the girl had mentioned was one street away from Outpost Seven and nowhere near the wall; it should be safe from falling masonry.

"Stay at the playground; I'll come by when I'm ready to leave. Keep an eye on him," he told the older girl, as Chiro made a beeline towards the group of children. "Make sure he doesn't step where he's not supposed to. He wasn't raised in the desert."

"Gaara, I know how to avoid scorpions n' snakes now, I don't need her to tell me how, I know," Chiro objected, an aggrieved look on his small face. The older girl grabbed him by the hand and simply said: "Yes, Kazekage-sama". He could hear them arguing in whispers as they left.

That interruption and distraction out of the way, the Shinobi continued their inspection. The section of damaged wall was adjacent to Outpost Seven, which wasn't good news. If the building's foundations were compromised, it would require considerable work and expense to repair. But repair it they must. If an enemy attacked Suna, this structure would come under heavy fire, and Gaara wanted the thick walls protecting the troops firing back, not falling in on their heads.

"If we have to tear this section down," Gaara said, touring the inside of the armoury and examining the wall, "what alternative fortifications can we use in the meantime?"

The senior Jounin looked around at the jutsu scrolls, the weapons, the arbalest near its murder-hole. A Chuunin had saluted when they came in, but then she'd promptly returned to what she'd been doing, inspecting and recharging the large weapon with grapeshot bolts. The bolts were poisoned, if Gaara remembered correctly; good thing he'd left Chiro outside, then, since the kid was fascinated by anything large and mechanical, and might try to get his fingers where he wasn't supposed to.

"The walls have always been our last line of defence against frontal attacks," the Jounin said, glaring at stone and mortar as if daring them to show a crack. "Any large force would have to get through the desert first, with our troops picking them off, then the ravines, the outer bottleneck to our valley- but we should not neglect any elements of our defences, of course," the man finished quickly, as if remembering that his Kazekage was paranoid and over-protective. "I'm sure we can devise fallback plans if we need to rebuild this."

They were halfway through a list when a scream reached their trained ears.

That should not have been unusual. Children, Gaara had discovered, were noisy creatures, and screams and shouts were only to be expected in their vicinity. In fact, it was when a group of them fell silent that Responsible Adults like Lee twitched and sped off to see what the hell was going on. Gaara had been absently listening to the noises of a distant game for the past thirty minutes, and this was just one more outburst-

Gaara was down the stairs and out the door immediately, regardless. Gaara of the Desert could distinguish between a scream of excitement and one of panic; he'd caused enough of the latter.

He leapt to the nearest roof. All other noises from the children had ceased; only that high thread of a scream remained. Gaara ran towards it. The air warped to his right, then behind him and to his left. The senior Jounin had reacted quickly and was trailing him, while two ANBU - his bodyguard and one of Taidaka's extras - had materialized at Gaara's side as soon as he'd hit high speed.

They were at the playground three seconds later, but they were almost too late all the same. Almost. At the edge of Gaara's vision, he caught the slightest edge of a blur, a shadow darting around the curved tower of a nearby building. Gaara didn't pause; deep inside, instincts were seething. Tiles cracked beneath his feet as he changed direction and followed. He passed the tower and caught sight of running figures a hundred yards away, heading at Shinobi speed straight towards an empty stretch of wall well away from the outpost and the nearest patrols. They had a head start. In a few seconds they'd be outside Suna, and no-one nearby to stop them.

A glimpse of the playground was caught like a still frame in Gaara's mind as he followed. Eight children, half of them with wide eyes and starting to shout in panic, the other half thrown to the ground, one of them unmoving. No signs of Chiro. Which meant-

Something dark and dangerous stirred in Gaara's soul.

The air above Suna crackled like dry lightning and sand screamed and scored the buildings. In the street below, windows shattered. Chakra ripped through the peaceful morning, heavy and tainted with things inhuman, and Gaara materialized in a whipping cloud of sand in front of the fugitives just before they reached the wall.

The first man lifted a kunai and died immediately, belly and chest ripped open by a solid spear of sand. The second one made a run for it. Gaara let him go; he knew the Jounin who'd been with him would peel off to chase that one down, quickly joined by other nearby Shinobi heading this way to find out why Suna was ringing like a bell under that ominous chakra surge. The runner wouldn't get far.

That left the one holding Chiro. The boy was folded over his forearm, apparently unconscious. The man was veiled and dressed in a desert trader outfit, but he was no civilian. He had a kunai to the boy's throat, and there was some serious chakra gathering in his body. Somewhat powerful, Gaara estimated. But young; couldn't be more than seventeen beneath that veil. Nowhere near Gaara's level, but unfortunately the foreigner had a trump card and knew it.

Gaara's mind was set in the coldly controlled mind frame of battles. He no longer fought for his amusement or his validation; the Kazekage fought to protect, it was his reason to exist.

But beneath that, another emotion flared, dangerous instincts that might hamper his level-headedness. Shukaku's powers were simmering threateningly close to the surface. The demon was a territorial creature, and Gaara had inherited some of that. It was why it had never occurred to him to run away from his desert village when he was younger, even though staying in Suna might mean more assassination attempts, and after the Chuunin exam, defending his home had given him a valid reason to exist.

Now those instincts were rearing up in all their ugly glory. This creature had entered Gaara's domain and hurt what was his to defend. This thing was going to suffer. If Chiro died, then the killer would still be alive a year from now, but not even the dead would envy him the privilege.

"Let the boy go. I'll give you safe conduct out of here," Gaara said, his voice measured and cold, while inside something barely stifled screamed for blood.

The young man's eyes flickered towards the corpse of his friend. He was angry; Gaara could feel it. That wasn't good. But he wasn't angry enough to do anything rash or fail to realize how bad his position was.

"Let him go," Gaara repeated. Chiro was dangling from the man's grip like a skinned rabbit. But if the boy were dead, surely the man wouldn't be keeping him hostage. Unless he was an exceptionally fast thinker who'd realized that pretending Chiro was alive was his only chance. Something hard and old in Gaara's heart contemplated that possibility, and then started planning what he would do to those responsible should this be the case…but Gaara's better instincts, newly acquired, told him that Chiro was still alive; he had to believe that and act accordingly.

"You let us go and I'll release the boy outside your perimeter," the creature shot back.

"No."

"You don't have a choice!" The kunai pricked the skin on the back Chiro's neck near the skull, above the spot where a shove would send two inches of metal sliding into the brainstem and kill him instantly. The threat was valid, but there was the taint of desperation in it now. With the reality of Gaara of the Desert standing before him, the creature didn't seem so sure that threatening a child would keep death at bay.

"Give me the boy," Gaara said softly. He could feel his men surrounding them. Suna's channels of defence and reaction were well honed, and Gaara kept them that way through constant practice manoeuvres. By now, the alarm would have gone out to the Specials on duty in the village, as well as some of the top Jounin.

"Let me go now or I'll kill him!"

Gaara examined him, eyes narrowed to hard diamonds. The human was afraid of him and getting more so by the second. That was understandable, but dangerous. This had to end now.

The man flinched and took an instinctive step back as more Sand poured from the gourd and hovered like a cloud of poison.

"Stop that! I know your capabilities! You're not fast enough! You can't reach me before I kill him!"

"No, I can't," Gaara said, voice slow and steady with just the slightest stress on the `I'.

No other signal was needed. There was a flash of green-

The Sand shot out, but only to catch Chiro's falling form. The creature who had attacked them was twenty feet away, slammed into the rise of a dome hard enough to crack the stone and leave a crater. Lee had swept the hand with the kunai up and away from Chiro and strong-armed the opponent clear across the roof, knocking him out in the process. The man immediately disappeared from Gaara's concern, to be dealt with later. He'd harnessed his bloodthirsty instincts years ago; his first duty was now to protect.

For a moment he thought he'd failed. Chiro was completely limp and his face a bloodless white. But he was breathing as the Sand dropped him into Gaara's arms. There was a small fletched dart in his neck just above the collar bone.

A gloved hand reached past Gaara's shoulder and plucked the dart out. Taidaka had arrived. The ANBU shoved the mask up from his face and sniffed the point.

"Knockout," he said crisply. The mask went on again, covering a muted flicker of relief on the scarred features.

"Is he okay?!" Lee was on his knees next to Gaara, feeling for the pulse in Chiro's neck; he'd stepped over the bloodied corpse of the first attacker without a second glance. "I was at the training grounds and I felt your chakra and I-"

"Hit with a tranq dart to make him easier to carry," Gaara said, shoving Chiro into Lee's arms. He snatched the dart from Taidaka's fingers and dropped it into a pocket of Lee's jacket. "You're the fastest here. Clinic, now."

Lee was gone the next instant. Energy was crackling around him, adding the destructive power of the First Gate to his usual speed, but this time Gaara wasn't going to object. The Renge was for emergencies, and little else would have gotten that kunai away from Chiro's neck in time.

"Aki?" Gaara asked tightly, following the green blur first with his eyes, then with his senses, trying to beat down the urge to go with Lee and make sure his lover stayed safe. Lee could handle himself, Gaara had had proof of that time and again, he had to trust that…

"Should still be at my sister's. She lives much deeper in the village; I doubt anybody would try to extract a child from that location. They had a chance with Chiro because he was near the wall, and they didn't realize you were close by. I've sent men to check, of course." Taidaka's voice was emotionless. His family could well be in danger, but he was here, at his Kazekage's side where his duty required him to be. Gaara knew he himself might have to make that kind of choice one day, and he just hoped his sanity would survive it.

He glanced around. Somebody had caught the last fugitive. The one who'd threatened Chiro was still unconscious, cuffed and with a bridle gag between his teeth to avoid any funny stuff with poison capsules. Gaara noted it only in passing. Later. That was the order of his life these days; first protect, then kill.

"Designate someone to deal with this," he told Taidaka. "Then come with me."

"Yes sir." Taidaka pointed at one of the ANBU and followed Gaara before the man could salute in response.

They didn't make it to Minne's. One of the men Taidaka had sent to check materialized before them to report that Aki was still where he was supposed to be. Taidaka went on to verify the defences around his sister's house. Gaara ruthlessly crushed the need to go see too. He was no longer alone, he was part of a village and he had to rely on his men. He had his own duties now, and he'd best serve everybody by fulfilling them.

So he went to the command centre instead. They'd neutralized one threat, but there could be a backup group in case the first failed, and other children might have been taken and not missed yet. This could all be the prelude to something much worse, and though Gaara could not imagine why someone would choose this way to start a war, he was not going to ignore the possibility, and neither were his troops. In the streets below, Sunagakure was gearing up like a well-oiled machine. His men had sealed off the block beyond Trader Street where all foreigners in Suna were quartered; people were being stopped, checkpoints set up. Outlying patrols were warned to be on full alert while units quartered Suna and manned the walls. Gaara stopped at a few key points, making sure that all was going according to plan and that his people knew where to find him if a new emergency arose. It was close on half an hour before he was able to make it to the clinic.

One look at Lee's expression was all the good news he needed. That and Chiro's face, no longer deathly pale against the pillow.

"He should be fine," Lee said as soon as he saw Gaara. "Where's Aki? I heard he was safe. Is he home?"

"He's-" Gaara didn't need to answer, since at that moment Taidaka appeared with Aki in his arms. The infant's eyes were wide as soup plates; being picked up by a menacing masked man and hustled over the rooftops must have been a rather marking experience.

"No enemy showed up at Minne's. I'm consolidating defences here," Taidaka said shortly. "Kazekage, with permission, I need to-"

"Go."

Taidaka shoved the infant into the arms of one of the Jounin guarding the clinic, overriding the man's spluttered objections with a curt "Watch him." Then he was gone. The prisoners were about to get a very unpleasant visit.

As soon as Taidaka vanished, Aki started crying. The Jounin took it like a man, and, still holding the child as he'd been ordered to, followed a nurse to one side of the room to see if there was anything Aki needed apart from venting his fright.

Lee made a show of wiping his brow, radiating relief.

"Oh man. Good thing I was in the training grounds and not out in the deep desert. Or on a mission! I might have been days away. I can't believe it…what the hell was that about?"

Gaara didn't say anything. They didn't know yet. They would. Soon.

"I heard the details from them," Lee said, tilting his head towards the remaining ANBU watching the clinic. "Are the other children alright?"

"One of them was knocked cold, but should recover; the others were just bruised or scared."

"Good. Gaara…the men who did this…I didn't get a good look at their faces-"

"Three strangers. None of them older than twenty by the look of them." None of them had been Katsuro. It had crossed Gaara's mind, though it wouldn't have stopped him from killing all three of them if he'd been given the chance.

"Good. That's good," Lee whispered, looking down at Chiro in the clinic bed. Then he shook his head briskly, and his usual optimism came back to the fore. "Then everything's fine! And Chiro should be coming around soon. Right, doc?"

Masaki had appeared on the other side of the bed like a gloomy old phantom. The man was a medi-nin, a combat medical specialist first and foremost, and had never mastered much of a bedside manner.

"We went ahead and extracted as much of the poison as we could from the boy's system, and gave him the counter-agent," he said, flipping through a chart. "Otherwise he'd be unconscious till tomorrow. No liver, kidney or cardio-pulmonary damage. No brain damage that we could spot, but we'll have to verify that over the next few days. The bastards used a dart meant for adults. Lucky they went for this one; if the baby had been hit with that dosage, his heart would have stopped within minutes."

Lee made a distressed sound. Strange how he'd been a Shinobi for ten years now and still hadn't fully mastered his emotions. Gaara hoped in passing that he never would.

Twenty minutes later, Chiro stirred. He'd barely opened his eyes that Masaki was shining a light into them and examining his pupils. The boy was too groggy to get upset over that. When the doctor stopped poking him, Chiro stared around blankly, eyes glazed, but he appeared to recognize Lee, standing right next to him. He reached weakly towards his cousin and made a noise halfway between a whimper and a sob, until Lee sat down on the bed, gathered him up in his arms and patted him on the back.

"There there, everything's fine," Lee said, in the bracing tones he used in sickrooms to cheer people up and which injured Shinobi all over Suna and Konoha had come to know and dread. "You're here and you'll be absolutely fine and practicing Taijutsu tomorrow. In fact, I'll teach you a new form as soon as you're-"

Chiro mumbled something.

"Huh? Oh, you're at the clinic. Don't worry, Dr Masaki will take the best care of you, and there's me here, and Gaara and Aki. You'll be fine, okay?"

"…Want to go home…"

"I know, Chiro, but you have to stay at the clinic for awhile. Dr Masaki has to make sure there's nothing wrong with you. We can go home tomorrow."

"I want to go home..."

Gaara blinked slowly.

The child…was not talking about his family home back in Konoha, still cordoned off with ANBU seals one assumed. He was talking about the house where he and his brother currently lived with Lee and Gaara. That was the home Lee had meant too. That was the home Gaara had been thinking about as well, until he realized that was - should be - incorrect.

Everybody's eyes were on Chiro; no-one noticed the unusual look that must have passed over Gaara's face. No-one but Lee, who glanced quickly over his shoulder as if Gaara had actually said something out loud.

Lee's expression was guarded, but there was growing hope there too as he examined his lover's face. Gaara looked back with resignation. Now that he was coming down from his state of territorial rage, he had to recognize the emotions behind it. He couldn't deny them, and he couldn't crush that look of hope in Lee's eyes, and he couldn't tell Chiro that 'home' should more rightfully be Konoha, and...damn it...

The silent conclusion they shared in that look was interrupted when Chiro went from dazed to hysterical in about one second.

"No! I don't want to stay here! I want to go home!" His voice was weak and ragged.

"Shhh-"

But Chiro had burst into tears, his words barely intelligible.

"L-Lee! Gaara! I want to go home!"

"Okay, okay," Lee said weakly, doing the patting thing again. Chiro was sobbing in his arms, but seemed to calm down a fraction.

"Can he leave the clinic?" Lee asked Masaki, twisting his head so he didn't have to let go of Chiro.

"I'd have preferred to keep him under observation for a day, but I can send a nurse to check up on him this evening. He'll sleep for a few hours, and be groggy afterwards, but most of the toxin's out of his system. Keep an eye on him, maybe wake him up at some point and get him to drink some water, but other than that, I see no reason why you can't take him home." And there was that word again.

Lee lifted Chiro up in his arms. The Jounin's voice was calm but distracted as he thanked the doctor. Gaara turned towards the Shinobi who'd reappeared, still patiently holding Aki. The man fitted the infant into his arms without a word. It was only when Gaara had walked through the hospital corridors, out the door and into the street that he realized Aki hadn't kicked up his usual fuss at Gaara's proximity. The baby was silent, eyes wide and alarmed; the only sound he was making was that of his breath, quick and light, and a soggy noise as he chewed his fingers. He'd twisted around to watch Lee and his brother, though Gaara thought he was too young to understand how close he'd come to losing the latter. Chiro's crying was what had probably upset him; even now, his brother never cried outside of his nightmares. The tears on Chiro's face had dried in their tracks and his eyes were closed; he was out of it again.

"Are you really sure about this?" Lee suddenly asked, still staring at the street ahead. Gaara gave him a fleeting glance before bringing his attention back to bear on their surroundings. Lee looked stunned. He didn't seem to expect an immediate answer, which was good. Gaara wanted to get to the safety of a familiar place with walls around them first. At the edge of his perception, four ANBU were shadowing them.

Home had a disturbed feel about it; his troops would have thoroughly checked it for booby traps as a matter of course. Of a common accord, the two lovers headed straight for Gaara's study. Lee tucked Chiro into the camp bed; the child didn't wake up, but he looked a lot better already. Gaara paused, turning on himself as he glanced around the study, then he stuck Aki under the window seat, roughly hedging him in with the two cushions and giving him the ball to play with. The one-year-old was still oddly silent; he was getting big enough to understand that something serious was going on.

Gaara sat down at his desk, automatically checking the folders, the inkstone, the pens and brushes, the order of it all. He had to go to the command centre soon and then he had to go see how far Taidaka had gotten with the prisoners. A lot would hinge on why three foreign Shinobi had suddenly shown up in Sunagakure and tried to kidnap Chiro. But whatever their reasons, it did not change the inevitable decision that was waiting for Gaara and Lee to put it into words.

Lee pulled up a chair and sat with his elbows on his knees and legs nearly touching Gaara's.

"You're the head of your family, correct? So you just need to keep the boys to have adopted them," Gaara asked without preamble.

Lee's lack of surprise at the question showed how closely he could follow Gaara's thoughts, a testimony to the bond that had grown between them, strong and steadying.

"That's right." Then Lee's look of solid determination crumbled a bit and he frowned. "That is…yes, I'm the head of our family now, but we're a minor branch of a larger clan."

Gaara scrutinized him through narrowed eyes. "Are you saying your Konoha kin have legal claim to the boys?" They might exert rather than see the boys raised near the bearer of Shukaku and far from Konohagakure.

"Oh, no, not legally; main branch or side branch, I'm still the children's closest living relative - who's not on the run, that is. I don't think even their mother's clan would be able to object. But my other relatives...well, they know how to bring up children, and they did raise me. The problem isn't the legal side of things, but morally, if they say they can provide a better home for the boys-"

Gaara's fingers curled into a fist, as they did when he closed a Coffin.

"Those people didn't enquire about Chiro and Aki in over two months. The children's enemies manifested themselves before they did. They have no moral rights whatsoever."

"...You have a point." Lee's voice was nowhere near the measured, lethal tone Gaara had used, but there was disappointment and some anger evident, and the quick look he gave Aki was fiercely protective.

There was a moment of silence, the size and import of the decision weighing down the air in the study.

"Maybe on paper, a normal family would be better than being raised by two Shinobi on active duty- two guys, at that," Lee added with a thoughtful scowl. "But we understand them. They like it here. Even if the place gets a bit weird from time to time, I still think they'll be happier with us than with the main family back in Konoha, who'd only raise them out of duty."

"Agreed."

"We'll do our best! They'll lack for nothing!" Lee exclaimed, fist raised in determination.

"That's a certainty; being fostered by the Kazekage will insure they have access to the best in Suna. Lee," Gaara added, as his lover opened his mouth, "I'm not very centered right now, so if you say anything ridiculous about an imposition or start apologizing for anything, I am not sure how I'll react, but it's bound to damage the furniture."

But Lee only shook his head, not looking intimidated in the slightest. "I was just going to say 'thanks'. It is a huge imposition; they've already turned the house and our lives upside down. But it's one we're taking on together, right?"

Gaara nodded, feeling some satisfaction at the way Lee's words made it sound obvious. It eased the knot of the pressure headache that had tightened like a band over his forehead this past hour, the ever familiar result of strong emotions since he'd been a child.

"But are you really sure about this, Gaara?" Lee asked seriously. "We won't be able to change our minds later. It looks like Chiro already feels at home here, we shouldn't lead him on if-"

"Neither of us is of the type to change our minds once we've made a decision," Gaara pointed out. "Are you sure about this?"

"Me?!" Lee blinked, startled at the question. "Of course! I- I never thought I'd have the opportunity to have kids. And Chiro and Aki- I - to tell you the truth, even if the main family had asked for them weeks ago, I don't think I'd have been able to just bundle them back to Konoha and forget about them. I just wasn't sure what to do about it, I didn't think you'd want- but I am sure now! I want them to stay."

No surprise there. Lee had, predictably, gotten completely attached to the kids in the months they'd been here. And with his determination, spirit, heart and resolve, he would never waver, whatever travails the brats put him through. Which was good, because he'd still be bearing the brunt of the care and education. Gaara would help as much as he could, but he wasn't going to contribute too much to the child-rearing side of things, or they'd end up with a couple of young lunatics on their hands.

Nonetheless, Chiro needed him.

The kid would go to Lee for affection and encouragements, but Chiro needed Gaara. There was a connection between them, built out of strange questions that would always be answered and the safety of a nook in Gaara's den. Gaara had only recognized this bond in the clinic, when it had become too obvious to ignore. But he had the sinking feeling that he'd felt it on some deeper level weeks ago, and had done nothing to remove himself from the trap of that need, any more than he'd taken care to not let Lee get too attached to the kids. Instead, Gaara had been pushing the decision to send the boys back to Konoha further and further away into the future. And now...

Since the age of twelve, Gaara had dedicated his life to forming bonds and trying his best to be needed, to surround himself with people he could protect and to whom his existence mattered. And now he mattered to Chiro, and Chiro mattered to him; a faint echo of a kindred spirit. It wasn't only for Lee's sake that he wanted to keep the boys. He wanted to see Chiro find his way out of the darkness that had touched them both, and grow up more successfully than Gaara had. He wanted to make sure the past - or any other enemy - would never harm either of the boys again.

Lee was looking at him inquisitively, so Gaara put away the new knowledge and the feelings that went with it, to be examined later during his sleepless nights, and concentrated on the matter at hand.

"There's something you have to consider, Lee. If we adopt them, they'll be raised here, as sons of Suna. They'll go to our academy and they'll be trained by Sand Shinobi. As long as I live, they should be all right. But what about the future? Aki might not have any problems, but Chiro is old enough where his loyalties might always be questioned. He could feel divided between Konoha and Suna, born in the one and raised in the other. If our alliance ever breaks down, he'll be expected to take sides, but neither'll fully trust him. We've talked about this before, because you're in much the same position. But we agreed the chances of conflict between Sand and Leaf were small while we still lived. Chiro and Aki, however...our wards will likely survive us both. They might face difficult situations as a result."

Lee had been staring at his joined hands while Gaara spoke. His face was unreadable until Gaara had mentioned `our wards', and then a faint warmth crossed his features. He was silent, reflecting on the matter seriously.

"We'll have to talk to Chiro," he finally said. "And to Aki when he's older…I don't want them to forget Konoha. Or rather, I want them to know it as they should, not as Chiro probably remembers it now. I'll tell them about it, and take them on visits and make sure they know their roots and their family. But Suna - and you- are giving them a home. They'll be raised here. As for which village their loyalty will be to..." Lee straightened up, scrubbed the back of his neck and grinned a bit self-consciously. "You know, I always saw myself as a link between our people, someone who belongs to both villages in a way, and who works to keep them together and avoid another war. Maybe Chiro and Aki can succeed me in that."

"That would be a good reason to live for," Gaara said softly, answering Lee's grin with one of his rare small smiles.

"So...that's settled?" Lee asked hopefully, eyes shining.

"Just one more detail." Gaara crossed his arms over his chest and gave Lee one of his patented dark stares. "This roommate nonsense is at an end."

Lee winced. "Oh. Yeah, I guess that'd be stupid. And difficult to manage after awhile; it's already been a pain these past two months. Um...Gaara? Could I ask you to do me a favour?"

Gaara nodded, agreeably surprised that Lee was actually counting on his help without having his arm twisted for once.

Lee rubbed his nose and avoided Gaara's stare. "You and Chiro get along well, right, so maybe you can, ah, explain that bit to him. The bit where you and I share a room and a bed and all that. Because I really don't see how I could look him in the eye and say any of that."

"Fine." Gaara could barely imagine Lee trying to work his way through that one. "You do realize that I'll answer any question he asks me. Even the ones you'd rather I didn't answer."

"Yes. You'll be your usual blunt self. But it hasn't killed him yet," Lee said, with a small unreadable smile. He got up to go after Aki who'd crawled away into the reception room, leaving Gaara to wonder how much Lee knew about his and Chiro's conversations of the past few months.

 

TBC…