(no subject)
SMILES
Disclaimer: Naruto is copyright of Kishimoto Masashi.
Pairing: Lee/Gaara and mention of other pairings (Male/Male, Male/Female.)
Rating: From PG to NC17
CHAPTER 1:
Konohagakure and its inhabitats were living in peace at the moment. How long this peace would last? Nobody knows... It’s true that the Hidden Village of Leaf had suffered a few changes in the last years but people managed to survive, to go on with their lives, as if those ‘changes’ hadn’t happened. Naruto was now the Rokudaime Hokage, a very serious person with no room for jokes, with eyes that reflected the deeply sadness of the boy that had suffered for having noone and the man that has lost everyone.
Naruto stood up from his seat on the Hokage’s office to look throught the window. It was a sunny day, kids were playing noisely on the streets also full of adults working hard on the village’s reconstruction. And, indeed, that must be peace, a well gained peace after a hard and cruel war. Tsunade, Kakashi, Sai, Sakura... Sasuke... The small smile that was about to form on Naruto’s lips faded instantly at the memory of those lost, changing to a grimace that was a mixture of hatred and sadness.
Something caught the Hokage’s attention, a blur of green moving at high speed through the streets. Naruto actually smiled: Lee had always been a very punctual shinobi. Two minutes later there was a knock at his door.
“Come in, please” Naruto said as he took seat once again at his desk. The door opened and the said jounin entered the room closing the door at his back.
“Good morning, Hokage-sama” Lee made a slight bow. “What is it that you want me for, sir? Is there any important mission?”
“Lee..!” The Kage let out a sight. “You don’t have to be so formal.” Lee didn’t answered and waited for Naruto to continue. It was obvious that Lee would continue to be as formal as he was with him, as long as Naruto was his Hokage. “And yes, I have a mission for you. It’s a... Well! A difficult mission, yes... Not only in the diplomatic way but also in the personal one.” He made a pause, as if thinking about what was just he saying. “I want you the help a friend I’m fond of.”
“So...What do I have to do, then?” Naruto extented a hand in Lee’s direction, in it there was a parchment.
“You have all the details inside. This is a secret mission, understood?” Without asking any further the jounin approached to the desk and grabbed the parchment. “Oh! You’ll need this too.”
Lee looked at what his Hokage had handed him. “This is a pass... to go to Sunagakure.”
. . .
The sun was high in the sky, in all its splendor in the midday hour, parching and burning, with no difference if it was summer or winter. But what do you expect of a village in the center of a great desert? But the sun wasn’t going to stop him from training. Not the sun, not the burns on his back, shoulders and nape, not even his bleeding knucles. Every puch that he struck in the post of wood hurt to no end, for the cuts on his knucles, the splinters nailing the soft skin and the force of the same punches against the hard and rought wood. But that wasn’t going to stop him, not the pain but maybe the trust in himself...
The bandages on his left hand were tinted in the red of his blood, small drops running down the fingers of his open palm. He made a small break to catch his breath, his stare fixed on the post ignoring the fact that his hand had stared to shake from the pain. His eyes closed to lits, his hand also closed into a fist and prepared to deliver the last blow with fury.
But said blow never arrived. Someone grabbed him from behind, almost delicately: one hand grabbing his bleeding punch and one arm around his waist.
“Please, stop! You are hurting yourself!” The voice was familiar...
“Who..?” He turned, to look at whoever had just stopped him from his training, failling at trying to look angry.
And before he could see anything a pair of ANBU appeared grabbing the other person in a secure key.
“There’s an attack against Kazekage-sama!!” A third ANBU shouted, joining with a fourth.
“No, wait!! I’m not attac...!” The ANBU with a tiger’s mask tightened the hold with an arm around his neck. “I..! I have a pass!”
“Rock Lee..?” At last, he recognized the familiar voice, it had to be him! At turning around what he saw comfirmed his guess: the green spandex suit, the orange leg warmers... just the same like the last time, even the hair cut. He almost smiled. Almost.
“Uhm... Hello, Gaara!” Lee tried to smile, his left hand before his forhead in the ‘salute mode’ and with the right showing his pass to the ANBUs.
“ Hey... It’s a pass from Konohagakure...” One ANBU said.
“ I still don’t trust him. I don’t like the way he speaks so informaly towards Kazekage-sama.” Answered the ANBU holding Lee.
“What are you doing here, Lee?” Gaara asked, his face almost unexpressive, just showing a trace of surprise.
Lee was still ‘captured’ by the ANBUs when he was about to answer. That’s when a new person showed on the training field, everybody looking in its direction at the same time they noticed the presence.
“Sorry about the misunderstanding. My fault!” All of them knew the ‘newcomer’: the ANBU froze, slightly surprised not understanding what was going on; Lee looked relieved and Gaara... annoyed. “Hello! I didn’t expect you until tomorrow afternoon, you’re fast!” Temari smiled brightly.
. . .