Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Kindred ❯ Day Eighty-One - 8AM ( Chapter 11 )

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: This is a very `Shinobi' chapter, with all the attitude that implies; it also contains a lot of plots and politics, because I enjoy writing this stuff. What with real life, there are parts in this chapter that are once more not quite as polished as could be, but if I reread it one more time, I will go apeshit...If anyone sees any blatant grammatical errors or meaningless sentences, feel free to flag them, I'll correct them when my brain is working again.

 

 

 

Day Eighty-One - 8AM

 

 

 

Gaara was taking his first break in three days when Taidaka found him on the roof of the command centre.

 

"Kazekage-sama."

 

Gaara's feet scraped on the parapet as he turned away from the desert view.

 

"Have they broken?" It had become his daily greeting to the ANBU leader.

 

The prisoners had shown considerable resistance. Taidaka and his team had gleaned some information from them, but they were far from having it all, and what they'd gotten so far could still be cleverly planted misinformation.

 

"Not yet, but something new has just come to light. This is addressed to you, sir." Taidaka's voice was clipped, and he was holding out a scroll. It had been removed from its roller, its edges were frayed and torn and the paper scratched thin in places. Gaara looked at Taidaka in some surprise as he took the scroll; his correspondence was checked for poisons as a matter of course, but rarely this thoroughly. He unfurled the roll of rice paper, glanced at the signature first and understood the precautions. The letter was from Rock Katsuro.

 

Gaara's eyes flickered to the top of the scroll, where his own name had caught his attention.

 

To Gaara, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure, with deepest respects.

 

My superiors have just informed me of the recent attack on your village. You have all our assurances that we had no foreknowledge of this, and were not involved in any way. As a Shinobi and a warrior, I have fully accepted the consequences of all my decisions and actions, one of which is that I will never see my sons again. I leave them in Rock Lee's care, with the hopes that he will protect them and raise them to be good Shinobi, who will redress the wrongs I have brought to our name and clan in Konohagakure.

 

The curt message was signed Rock Katsuro, followed by the Shinobi symbol for Jounin and the wavy lines of the Village Hidden in Mist.

 

"Interesting."

 

Taidaka grunted. He didn't need to add anything; they'd figured out the attackers were from Mist from the autopsy, and they'd confirmed it after the first day of interrogating the two surviving prisoners. Looked like Konoha could stop searching for their missing nin.

 

Gaara was silent for a moment, studying the words, then he looked up at the ANBU.

 

"Do you believe him?" he asked directly.

 

"I wouldn't believe a traitor if he told me the desert was dry," Taidaka immediately answered, scars twisting an unpleasant smile, "it's a matter of principle. But in this case, I think he's afraid. Of you, sir. He's saying whatever he thinks will pacify us because he's afraid you'll hunt him down and destroy him if you think he's involved."

 

Gaara had been contemplating just that, now that there was some evidence linking Katsuro with the kidnapping attempt. But that was Chiro and Aki's right; to either find him and make him pay for his treason and their mother's death, or forget about him. An older, wiser Gaara knew he should not take that choice away from them. He had never been able to confront his father, and either break off with him altogether or elaborate some form of understanding of the former Kazekage's motives. Personally he was glad the bastard had died violently, but he thought it wrong to rob Chiro and Aki of their chance to address the score one day.

 

"We need to have a word with Mist," Gaara said, rolling up the rice paper.

 

"Yes sir. As a matter of fact, an envoy appeared at the gates half an hour ago. He's the one who brought the message. He wants to meet with you as soon as possible." Gaara noted with approval that Taidaka had made the man wait a while already, the time to run tests on the scroll, and probably fetch Temari and get some more information. "He arrived with only a small escort, all in preventive custody at this time. He says he's on a diplomatic mission."

 

"That is his misfortune then," Gaara said, heading towards the trapdoor down from the roof. "I don't feel very diplomatic today."

 

 

 

Day Eighty-One - 9AM

 

 

 

Behind the one-way glass, the harsh neon light picked up the roughness of the bare concrete lining the underground cell. To one side of the small room, next to the medical supply table, a water faucet was dripping, sending ripples into a kidney bowl containing disinfectant and a couple of senbon. The atmosphere would have lent itself to blood dripping from the walls, but Gaara knew they were spotless; his Interrogation Division worked much more cleanly than that.

 

The envoy, one Suzaku Daiki, had a great deal of control, but Gaara could pick up fear like the finest sensor; he could tell the man didn't like the venue chosen for his meeting with the Kazekage. It seemed Suzaku liked even less when he realized that the interrogation cell on the other side of the one-way glass held the man who'd grabbed Chiro.

 

"Kaze-" he was stopped abruptly from advancing by Taidaka and his ANBU escort. Gaara was on the other side of the room. The former Kazekage had always maintained a safe perimeter between himself and all but his most trusted guards. Temari had suggested adopting the same protocol for this meeting. Gaara hardly needed the security of distance, but he liked the message it sent.

 

Gaara was near the room with the prisoner, Temari at his side. The envoy didn't look happy to see her, or the small hand-held fan she carried; though Temari fought with the large fan, what she could do with a smaller version, or even an ordinary paper one, was pretty gruesome. On Gaara's right, Lee was reading Katsuro's letter for the third time.

 

"Kazekage-sama, thank you for seeing me in the present, difficult circumstances," the man started. "I bring greetings from the Mizukage and our Village Hidden in Mist. It is the wish of my superiors that our association with Hidden Sand, honoured these past-"

 

"This is yours."

 

The envoy's gaze followed Gaara's minimal gesture towards the man behind the one-way glass. The latter was unconscious, bound and gagged and rather the worse for wear, though at this stage of the interrogation most of the work had been done with Genjutsu and acupuncture points.

 

"Kazekage-sama, I hope you believe in the good faith of-"

 

"Get to the point," Gaara said softly, voice as pleasant as the senbon in their kidney bowl. Next to Gaara, Lee finished re-reading the scroll, rolled it up with a firm crunch and looked at the envoy, waiting for him to continue.

 

The envoy was a professional negotiator and diplomat. Not a flicker of uncertainty crossed his features. He was silent a mere two seconds, then he got to the point as requested.

 

"Kazekage-sama, I am sure you are aware of our Jounin rites of passage."

 

Temari's fan opened with a sharp snap, making the envoy tense. She fanned herself and gave him an unpleasant smile. "Are you going to claim these three were on their trial to become Mist Jounin?"

 

Hidden Mist did everything differently from the other villages. Other Shinobi organisations promoted Jounin according to merit, combat experience, overall skills and a series of tests internal to the village. Deaths were somewhat rare. Mist, on the other hand, did nothing. It was up to ambitious Chuunin to choose a test for themselves, go out, perform it successfully and return. If the test was sufficiently impressive and demonstrated their abilities, they were promoted to Jounin. The tests could be anything; picking the Daimyo's pockets, kidnapping a VIP or stealing all his secrets. Another acceptable 'test' of combat skills was to assault patrols from other Shinobi villages and overpower them. They tended to avoid Suna because the terrain was too difficult for a marshland people, so there hadn't yet been any such incidents under Gaara's tenure, but he'd heard of the custom. Since the aim was to count coup and show off their clear superiority, not start a war, the Mist Shinobi would take an insolent care not to seriously injure their opponents. The custom irritated other villages, but complaining too loudly made them sound weak and unable to defend their own borders from attack. So they waited until one of the patrols managed to turn the tables on the Mist candidates and detain them, and then they took a certain vicious satisfaction in sending the captured Chuunin back home with a little message along the lines of 'are these losers your men, by any chance?'. Gaara didn't know what happened to Mist Shinobi who failed their Jounin candidature test and embarrassed themselves in other villages; if Mist stayed true to form, they were probably executed.

 

"I don't 'claim', Temari-dono. It is a matter of public record in Mist when our best Chuunin leave to test themselves as future Jounin. You are perfectly free to check this. Of course, you understand that their aims are up to them; what they decide to attempt is actually part of the test. If they choose something too easy, we will know their measure, and if they choose something too hard, then they will pay the price. They are to become leaders-"

 

"It's a matter of less public record that the best of them are sometimes discreetly encouraged to select some tests over others, and help Mist attain an objective at the same time as they-"

 

"I'm sorry to contradict you, Temari-dono, but I have to deny that."

 

"Your apology is accepted, Suzaku-dono, since I didn't expect you to admit it," Temari answered sweetly. She appeared to be enjoying herself.

 

"Of course, we do have a policy that they shouldn't interfere with the inner workings of another Hidden Village-"

 

"Or at least if they do, they should not get caught," Temari murmured, fanning herself.

 

"No, Temari-dono, we do not condone infiltrating other villages. Waylaying a patrol on the border and having a, hah, friendly match with them is not a problem, as long as there are no casualties. That is a right that all other villages have accorded us from times immemorial-"

 

"We all ask you to stop, but you won't," Temari said sharply. "I'd hardly call that according you-"

 

"-but I grant you that they should not have attacked anyone inside your precinct. That was a great mistake on their part. Though these three misguided young men did abide within the spirit of our rules; after all, nobody was injured, correct?"

 

Temari's mouth tightened behind her fan. From her expression, Gaara gathered that the envoy had scored a point in their game of politics, diplomacy and hidden daggers.

 

"One of the children with Chiro was knocked unconscious!" Lee exclaimed. "That is an unacceptable risk towards an innocent young person-"

 

"Must have gotten bumped into during the grab. Don't you teach your children how to fall properly?" Suzaku asked silkily.

 

The flit of Temari's fan sounded a tad aggressive.

 

"The drug used could have harmed Chiro," Gaara said. His voice fell soft and neutral, like the water in the kidney bowl in the other room. It sent ripples of stillness and silence around him, halting the motions of Temari's fan, interrupting Lee's protests, stilling the guards around them.

 

The envoy gave him a cautious look. Temari was an adversary worthy of respect, but he knew where the real danger in the room stood. "That child is not part of Suna. He shouldn't concern you."

 

"He is now, and he does," Gaara said. Lee's hand rested briefly and lightly on the small of his back, a sign that some of what Gaara felt inside was coming dangerously close to the surface.

 

"Ah. That is good news," the envoy said quickly. "You see, I believe I know why our Jounin candidates took the risk of trying to retrieve the boy. As the message I brought you indicates, Rock Katsuro, the boy's father, has found refuge in our village. He-"

 

"Found refuge," Temari repeated, voice rich with sarcasm.

 

"Yes. We welcome many ninja who have had a falling out with their villages," Suzaku told her smoothly.

 

Which was only the truth. The blood-soaked 'graduation exam', where half their children killed the other half to become Genin, had been cancelled after the Zabuza incident, but that was pretty typical of Mist's approach to things, and they took a perverse pride in it. However, it did imply a lot of attrition amongst their troops. Mist Shinobi were extremely dangerous, but there wasn't that many of them for obvious reasons. Unlike other villages, they did not hesitate to recruit powerful missing-nin to complement their ranks. How they kept them in line was a mystery known only to the Mizukage and his elite, but Gaara had heard of very, very few instances of a Shinobi betraying Mist. Of course, it was obvious in this instance that they were behind Katsuro's treason, but they could claim they knew nothing about it and had merely offered him shelter once he left Konoha. There were no extradition treaties between Shinobi villages.

 

"What did Katsuro have to do with this?" Lee asked. He sounded sad. In the gourd, the Sand started circling dangerously.

 

The envoy scrutinized Lee as if he had just now noticed him and was wondering what he was doing here. His answer was lofty and directed at Temari and Gaara.

 

"Nothing, not directly. But he was worried about his children; worried that Konoha would take reprisals against them, or-"

 

"What?! Konoha would never-" Temari leaned past Gaara and quickly poked Lee with her fan, interrupting him in mid-shout.

 

"Since the two little boys apparently had to find refuge here, you have to understand why Katsuro was worried," Suzaku pointed out in an oh-so-reasonable tone. Lee flinched. The Sand circled faster. "The Jounin candidates were concerned on behalf of Katsuro, their new colleague and a valuable addition to our village. They must have decided to reunite him with his family, as a worthy trial testing their skills of infiltration and strength."

 

"Really." Gaara's flat statement - nowhere near a question - earned him another cautious look. "Strange that they only grabbed one of them then."

 

"Yes, Katsuro must not care about his youngest," Temari chimed in. "Loving father, is he? I heard he wasn't that good of a husband."

 

Gaara and his men had retraced the attackers' steps in Suna. The three Mist Shinobi had skilfully infiltrated the village as traders from Water Country. They'd been here over a week and had scouted out the boys' location; an incomplete timetable of Gaara's and Lee's movements had been found on them. The fact the children were living with the companion of the Kazekage must have been a nasty surprise. It would be almost impossible to get them out of the mansion. When they'd spotted Chiro near their hotel, playing with a bunch of kids and no guardian in sight, it must have been too good an opportunity to pass up; they'd reacted quickly - too quickly, and not cautiously enough. Of course, they would only have gotten Chiro that way, but it was pretty obvious that that was all they wanted. Both of Katsuro's children would be necessary for a `family reunion', but only one would be needed as a hostage to keep him in line. If remorse over his wife's death was giving Katsuro second thoughts, then the presence of his son in Mist would insure his loyalty.

 

The three men had been ready for pursuit; they had all the equipment and jutsus necessary for a quick disappearance once they were outside the walls. Mostly geared towards Taijutsu users, Gaara had noted coldly. They'd taken for granted that Lee would be the only one to pursue them to any lengths. That had also been imprudent, but not that big a miscalculation; why should they expect Suna troops, or the Kazekage himself, to chase after children from another village? Lee was their guardian and relative, he'd feel obliged to rescue them, but the boys were nothing to Sand; they were not combatants, or from valuable bloodlines, or anything other than a drain on Sand's resources and an annoyance to their Kazekage, imposed on him by his lover's sense of duty.

 

It was the way of the Shinobi. Emotions were sternly controlled; love could be a weakness, and always came a distant second to duty. Every village, even Konoha, pushed their offspring hard for the good of their clan and village in the Chuunin exams; that was the nindo. The nindo was why Mist used to test their own children to the death before they were even Genin. The nindo was in what Gaara's father had done to his own son, too...

 

Gaara had spent the last three sleepless nights thinking, as he patrolled around the house and Suna's silent streets. He felt sure that the impromptu decision to adopt the boys was the best outcome for Lee, for the children, perhaps even for Gaara himself, yet he also knew that he was just about as unfit to be a child's guardian as one could imagine; a monster, a broken creature for whom affection was still alien territory.

 

He was going to make some pretty horrible mistakes, even with Lee providing most of the care. But in one thing Gaara would not fail: he would never become his father. Hidden Sand no longer sacrificed its children for power or expediency, as anyone who tried to harm Chiro, Aki or any other little human in Suna would find out, painfully and terminally.

 

In the thick silence that had fallen in the interrogation block, everybody could hear the Sand grating against the sides of its container.

 

"I can see that you are angry, Kazekage-sama," Suzaku said, appearing to choose his words with care. "Keep in mind that Mist itself was not responsible for this."

 

"You are here."

 

"You did send us a message saying that three of our nationals had been caught within your boundaries. I left as soon as we realized the seriousness of the matter. But my role here is only to bring you Rock Katsuro's message and assure you that no harm was intended towards Suna, as well as our continued non-interference within your borders. Beyond that, well, the Jounin trial always holds the possibility of failure and death. These men are yours to judge, since they were caught in your village."

 

"Cutting all ties," Temari mouthed, her fan tilted at an angle so that only Gaara could make out her words. "Plausible deniability."

 

"I only ask that you either execute them cleanly, or that you release them to Mist to be judged for failing their test and compromising the relations between our nations," Suzaku concluded.

 

"You ask," Gaara echoed, the monotone striking odd notes against the glass walls of the cells around them.

 

Suzaku's face could have been carved in stone, but the cloth of his headband had caught a few beads of sweat. "You know the truth now, and you have a full apology from our village. I can guarantee that you will not get any more out of these men than what I've told you. Any attempt to further interrogate them could be...shall we say, misconstrued."

 

Gaara's eyes flickered towards Temari.

 

"You mean, you're afraid that we'll torture them until they tell us all of Mist's juicy secrets and defensive abilities?" Temari asked, answering Gaara's unspoken question as much as challenging the envoy.

 

"That act would be considered hostile towards Hidden Mist."

 

"Oh my, who would go to such extremes to get information on another village?" Temari demurred. In Lee's hand, the scroll from his cousin crunched a little.

 

Despite Lee's obvious pain and Temari's anger, the Kazekage could not afford to start a war with Mist over this incident. He caught Lee's gaze. When the Jounin was looking at him, Gaara tilted his head towards the door in a silent request. Lee knew what that meant. He left without a word. The envoy was smirking at Lee for some reason Gaara could not understand, until Lee passed next to him to get to the door and without looking shoved the scroll into Suzaku's sternum, making the man wince.

 

Temari's fan flicked, catching Gaara's attention and hiding the lower half of her face from anybody else. "He thinks you're about to make some sort of deal and release the prisoners, so you're sending the Leaf representative away because you don't want Kohona and your lover to disapprove," she mouthed, knowing that her little brother needed a hand, as always, with the finesses of human interaction and politics. Gaara could understand fear and power, but Temari and her fan had become indispensable aids when he negotiated more complex situations.

 

"I am going to release them," Gaara said, loud enough for those present to hear. Taidaka left the envoy's side and headed towards the cell door without a word or sign of hesitation.

 

Temari turned away from the envoy; Gaara didn't need her help to tell that the man was satisfied, perhaps even gloating. She looked at her brother, and then she nodded and smiled slightly. "Do what you have to," she said, before turning to leave. She knew he wouldn't want her here for this either. The envoy, caught a bit short, bowed, but she'd already passed him without a glance.

 

Silence settled in the large room. The drip of the water from the faucet became audible through the cell door, like the quiet tick of a bomb. The Sand had stopped moving. Gaara stared at the wall a foot away from the envoy, ignoring the man's growing tension; what he was seeing was only darkness, and the need that no human could understand.

 

"Sir?" Taidaka finally asked, at attention next to the cell door.

 

"The right hand and arm."

 

"How much?"

 

"From fingers to shoulder. Break every bone into three. Treat the injuries before you release them. I want them to live long enough to show the world what I do to those who lay a hand on what's mine."

 

"Yes sir."

 

Gaara moved towards the door without glancing back. The envoy took several steps to get out of his way.

 

Temari had gone on ahead to do something political and devious, as he trusted her to do. Lee was waiting for him outside in the sunshine. Gaara paused on the threshold, trying to separate the strands of darkness in his mind. The creature he was inside was pleased with the promise of pain and the message this would send, which would protect his family, his friends, his village, his people, his home, but what he really wanted to do was go back down into that room and kill the two prisoners as well as the envoy and anyone from Mist in the village.

 

Lee stepped up to him, slipped his hand through Gaara's and pulled him into the street. Gaara let him lead them home, glad that Lee hadn't been there, and not only because the order would have evoked some very unpleasant memories for the Jounin. Lee loved him, all of him, even the dark parts that scared everybody else, but still Gaara tried to shield him from the creature inside, the one that knew nothing of pity or forgiveness or even basic humanity. Lee was a Shinobi; if Konoha had ordered him to attack and kill those men in battle, he would have done so without hesitation. But beyond that...No, Gaara hadn't wanted his lover present when he'd given that order and Lee, fortunately, understood that.

 

 

 

 

 

Day Eighty One - 7PM

 

 

 

Gaara jumped down two stories and went in through the study window rather than bother going around to the front door. Bright light and voices drew him towards the kitchen. Kankuro had left a couple of hours ago, after helping guard the kids until the Mist delegation had departed. It was just Lee and the boys now.

 

Gaara dropped the gourd outside the door and leaned against the jamb. He watched as Lee held Aki's hand and guided the spoon into the infant's mouth, or somewhere in the vicinity. Lee caught a piece of cooked carrot before it could hit the high chair's table, and glanced up.

 

"You've come down, I see." He sounded calm, but the black eyes examined Gaara carefully. "Want something to eat?"

 

Gaara found his voice from somewhere deep inside. It felt rusty and odd. "It was my turn to cook."

 

"Oh, I know, but you looked busy. You can do it tomorrow night."

 

Busy. That was one way of saying that Gaara had spent most of the day on the roof, trying to put his emotions back into order before one of them slipped away from him and made him do something he wouldn't regret, whatever the fall-out...He was back now, his feelings leashed, his mind calmer and controlled. The threat was passed, the prisoners gone, all the intruders had departed. Now it was time to move forward again.

 

He sat down at the table and waved away Lee's attempt at getting him a plate. He wasn't hungry.

 

"Chiro."

 

The boy looked up from his yoghurt in surprise, spoon in his mouth.

 

"Lee and I want to adopt you two. Do you have any objections?"

 

Chiro just stared at him. The kid had recovered remarkably fast from his ordeal. Then again, all he remembered was the prick of a dart in the playground and waking up in the clinic later. Lee had told him that some Shinobi from another village had tried to run off with him, but that Lee and Gaara had stopped them. Chiro had accepted that with simple faith and without a question. Until he and Gaara were alone the next day, and then he did have a question. Were the bad men dead?

 

Not yet, Gaara had answered, but they would never get near Chiro again. Chiro had nodded and gone to play beneath the window sill rather than with his friends, but that hadn't lasted long either, and three days later he was back to normal again. It must not have occurred to him that his father could be involved, and he still had no questions about Katsuro. Yet. One day he undoubtedly would, and Gaara would give him what little knowledge they had, as well as the speculations.

 

"But what about Rock Katsuro?" Temari had also asked, a few hours earlier. "I'm damn sure those Mist bastards knew about this before hand, though they know we can't prove it- but I'm just as sure they won't try that again. Katsuro, however..."

 

"As far as I'm concerned, he no longer exists," Gaara had answered.

 

"But what if he doesn't get the, ah, the message? What if he decides that-"

 

"If I see him, he will die."

 

Temari had looked at him steadily and suggested Gaara take some time off, which was how Gaara had ended up sitting on the roof most of the day, getting his control back. Now he had it again, and the incident was closed; there was only this one last question to address.

 

Chiro was still staring at him blankly. Aki was trying to stuff a chunk of cooked carrot up his nose; they'd have to wait a few years before having this conversation with him. To Gaara's left, Lee had made a funny noise and let his head sink into one hand.

 

"I guess that's one way of working up to the subject," he said wryly, and went to rescue the carrot from Aki.

 

"Do you know what that means?" Gaara asked Chiro.

 

Chiro sucked at the spoon and looked uncertain.

 

"It means you can stay here and live with us until you're an adult." A curt note from Tsunade had confirmed that she had no objection to the arrangement as long as Lee okayed it. As for Lee's distant relatives, they shouldn't make a fuss. They'd better not.

 

Chiro glanced from Gaara to Lee and back again.

 

"You'll be residing here, in Sunagakure. Is that alright?"

 

The boy finally removed the spoon from his mouth. "Um...huh-uh?" he said tentatively.

 

Lee and Gaara shared a resigned look.

 

"Think carefully," Gaara said, deciding on one last try. "Being the wards of a Leaf Jounin and the Kazekage of Sand implies a certain level of discipline. Lee will be getting more and more missions. So will I, on occasion. You and Aki will end up spending several days at a time with a sitter, and Lee and I expect you to behave."

 

That earned him a dubious look, before Chiro's nose quickly dipped back into his half-eaten yoghurt. He was a month shy of five years old; a bit young for taking life-defining decisions (Gaara hadn't been that much older when he'd decided that killing others would be his purpose in life, but that was hardly a good, or safe, or sane comparison). With another shared glance, the lovers decided to let the matter rest for now. Chiro could face this choice again after he'd grown up a bit; when it was time to enter the Academy for instance. If the kid really wanted to, they could send him to Konoha for schooling. There were many good people in that village who would watch over Chiro with the care and level of security that Gaara would insist upon, and who would not give him any grief over the past. Gaara hoped it wouldn't come to that, though; Lee would miss the pest. After a couple of years of having him around, Gaara thought he might miss the pest as well.

 

"I'm glad you're staying with us, Chiro," Lee said solemnly. Chiro looked up from his yoghurt and smiled at his cousin, a bit timorously but it was a step in the right direction. Good. This might work out after all. Just one more detail to wrap up.

 

"Finally, I will be sleeping with Lee from now on."

 

Lee froze, while Chiro blinked repeatedly and turned to stare at Gaara. "Huh?"

 

"Lee and I are lovers. We normally sleep together." Gaara ignored Lee's muffled groan. What point was there in padding things up with needless words, when the end message was still going to be the same?

 

Chiro didn't look shocked, merely confused. Gaara waited. And waited. The kid put down the spoon and gave Lee an uncertain look, but he didn't ask what 'lovers' meant or what that whole sleeping together thing was about. Gaara decided he'd wait until the kid actually had a practical question to ask before going into all the details. When Chiro saw them interacting normally, he'd have a puzzled question sooner or later. And when he finally formulated it, he would ask Gaara when the two of them were alone, which would spare Lee a bit of embarrassment. Maybe quite a lot of embarrassment, Gaara judged with a glance at his lover who was already a nice cherry red and concentrating on feeding Aki with the care normally reserved to handling high-level jutsus.

 

"You'll need your own bed now," Gaara continued. "Having you sleep with Lee was only a temporary arrangement. You'll be growing up in this house; you couldn't stay in our bedroom forever. Lee and I will set you up with your own room, the one next to ours, so you won't be too-"

 

"A room?!"

 

Gaara paused. He'd expected some temper or alarm, but Chiro's head had shot up and his expression wasn't what Gaara had half-expected, inasmuch as he could predict any human reaction.

 

"I get my own room?" Chiro breathed in an awed voice. "Aki won't be in it at all? It's just for me?"

 

From the way Lee was looking at the boy, the Jounin hadn't expected that either. Gaara felt mildly validated, but now he'd lost the thread of control over this conversation.

 

Lee kindly picked it up for him. "Yes, Chiro, if you want. We have another room we can clear out for Aki. Don't know where we'll put the weapons, weights and boxes...but we do have the space if we organize things properly. Good thing this house was built for the Kazekages and their families."

 

Gaara stared down at his arms crossed over his chest. Family was a word he was still struggling with, even as he felt in his bones how it linked him to Temari, to Kankuro, to Lee, and now to the boys as well. When Lee used it so casually, it made it sound very real, but it also brought back the memory of his father's cold anger, his uncle's dying words...The Kazekage and his family- but not this time, no, it would not be like that this time.

 

"And I can have my toys and everything in it?" Chiro asked breathlessly. "Really? Just mine? Really? Matto has his own room, but Yuudai sleeps with Minne and his dad because he's smaller than Matto - but I'm older than Aki, so it should be my room, not Aki's. Right? And I can have my own bed- and can I have a puppy in it?"

 

"Ah, no, Chiro, I'm afraid dogs don't get along well with Gaara."

 

"But I can keep the puppy in my room."

 

"That would not be practical. You see-"

 

Gaara listened wordlessly to the long negotiations that followed. The Mist envoy had been easier to deal with. Aki was yammering excitedly, feeling something in the air. Chiro was trying to persuade Lee to let him sleep in his room this very night, as if he suspected they might change their minds tomorrow. Gaara was surprised they wouldn't have to drag the kid out of their bedroom kicking and screaming, though in a deeper, darker part of his mind, still trapped in that memory of 'family', he wondered if Chiro simply needed a physical proof he had a place here, something a bit more solid and real than the word adoption...Lee was calming Aki down and answering Chiro as if holding two conversations at once was something he did all the time, and he was starting to smile, a great big bright grin like the sun coming out after a sandstorm.

 

Gaara wasn't surprised when Chiro won the argument; Lee was tucking him into the camp bed set up in the spare room an hour later. Gaara wasn't any more surprised, when he put away his work shortly after midnight and went up to what was finally his bedroom again, to find Chiro sleeping next to Lee with the utter conviction only children were capable of. Lee was awake, staring up at the ceiling dimly illuminated by the nightlight Chiro required.

 

The Jounin gave Gaara a rueful smile. "I can probably put him back in his bed now, he's fast asleep-"

 

Gaara shook his head. He hadn't planned on sleeping tonight. It was going to take him a day or two to get back into that habit, and Aki would have to be moved out of the room first. But after three dark days and sleepless nights, he wanted to curl up next to Lee for a few hours and rest. They could shove Chiro over, or put him on Lee's other side. If he woke up and got upset over any of this, too bad; the kid could tough it out, he'd survived a lot worse. And tomorrow-...well, that was tomorrow. Gaara glanced at Aki, Chiro and Lee - the four of them illogically stuck in a single room in the middle of a large, otherwise empty mansion - and decided that tomorrow would come soon enough.

 

 

 

The End

 

 

There is a small side-story and a sort of epilogue to come, which I'll post here too, but this is the end of the fic proper. I hope you enjoyed ^_^