Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > One of Many
One of Many
Authoress: Skitter160
Disclaimer: I don't need to tell you it's not mine. Because if it were I would be making you pay not handing it out for free.
“What is this?” Tsunade asked looking up at Shizune from a pile of paperwork that she had just placed on her desk.
“They are questions as to the whereabouts of the Green Beast of Konoha.” Shizune smiled softly as she herself was among the many that missed his over zealous approach to everything. “It appears that the civilians have also taken note of his absence.” She looked away from her Hokage to discreetly look out the window behind her seeing the village was less cheerful than three weeks ago.
“It’s only been three weeks.” Tsunade sighed shaking her head at the small pile of questions that were formally addressed. “He’s been on longer missions than this.”
“It appears the desk staff were under the impression they are to not tell them he was on a mission.” Shizune looked at Tsunade carefully seeing her edge slightly away from the desk.
Tsunade looked away knowing she was caught. “I didn’t order them not to release the information I forgot I had to order them to do so.” She smiled weakly trying not to look scared as her assistant gave her a look telling her if that if she did not amend the situation she would ensure that no one was willing to sell her booze or allow her to gamble for a very long time. “I’ll get right on it. Can you send Iruka up?”
“I’ll go fetch him. In the meantime look over those questions. We will need to address the village about the matter since it has already gotten out of hand.” With one last glare she turned leaving the office mentally shaking her head since she knew better than to make her Hokage feel any worse. She was actually very lucky she was doing any work at all.
Sighing Tsunade looked over the papers. “I can’t believe this.” She shook away her thoughts only briefly touching on how Lee probably didn’t have any idea how much he was being missed, not just by his friends. She then spotted a paper that was not a question but a request and looked it over thoroughly.
+++
“Lee.” Gaara said sharply as they began training and Lee was not in position for the second time that night he sighed slipping from his stance when Lee turned to him. “Is something wrong?”
Lee blushed brightly. “No nothing’s wrong!” He smiled nervously he had been having lessons with Gaara for almost three weeks now and been training the rest of the Suna shinobi in the ways of taijutsu, not all of them were quick studies.
Gaara pinned Lee with a look that told him not to try and lie again as he moved closer.
Lee sighed, something he usually scolded himself for. “It’s just I miss the trees.” Lee looked around them at all the sand and an image of his first sand storm came forth into his mind’s eye. Like most of Suna he was cooped up in it as Gaara roamed the desert. No one dared to follow and Lee himself who was about to do just that had been ordered not to. Of course he didn’t listen and had ended up injured making Gaara very upset and ordered him to shelter with Temari and Shikamaru, even though it had only been a bit of sand burns. “Around this time of year the trees in Konoha would be very beautiful.”
Gaara looked around thoughtfully at the few cactuses that were near the training ground but only close enough to barely see. He didn’t see the problem but he had been raised in the desert and was not used to seeing many trees. “Do you want to go back?” He asked slowly finding the words stung.
“No.” Lee turned back to Gaara smiling the smile both knew was just for him. “I like it here, I do. I just miss the trees sometimes.” He looked down at the sand pushing some with his feet.
“Let’s just go back.” Gaara said placing a hand on his shoulder in understanding. “If I had known many trees I’m sure I’d miss them too.”
Lee smiled weakly as they began to walk back towards the Kazekage’s house where Lee was staying in a room near Gaara’s and next to Kankuro’s, though he was currently away on a mission and had been since he arrived they hadn‘t even seen each other. They both knew that it was not the trees that Lee missed. It was only as they arrived at the house that Lee realized that his red headed friend’s hand had been on his shoulder the whole time. The casual touching between them was new, not bad but new and he was certain that this was longest amount of time they had shared contact.
Removing his hand from Lee’s warm shoulder Gaara smiled softly as he opened the door. “What do you want for dinner? I believe it’s my turn to cook?”
“I think it’s Temari’s actually.” Lee corrected him catching the scent of food on the air as they entered locking the door behind them as they headed to the kitchen.
“So how have things been?” A male voice asked in the kitchen.
“It’s been good.” Temari answered the sound of frying was heard before she said more. “Lee has been training Gaara most nights and the shinobi are learning quite a lot.” They could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. “Hey did I show you my ring?”
Just then they entered the kitchen to see Kankuro looking over at his sister in confusion a slight scowl plastered on his face as if he knew he wouldn’t like this.
“Yeah my engagement ring.” Temari said just as Shikamaru entered from the next room. If she noticed his eye twitch she paid it no mind as she went on. “Shikamaru proposed!”
“HE WHAT?” Kankuro yelled loudly before spotting the offender in their house near his sister. All he saw was red as he leaped over to attack him.
“Stop,” Was all Gaara said and everyone froze. “I have approved of this.”
Kankuro turned to his little brother scowling. “You approved?” When Gaara nodded he turned back to Shikamaru and scowled more unpleasantly. “If you hurt her not even your village will be able to protect you.” With that said he stormed up his room only slightly noticing bushy brows closeness to his younger brother.
Shikamaru walked over to a chair looking over at his bride to be who was smiling. “That went better than we thought.”
“Your right.” She smiled kissing his forehead before going back to making dinner. “Welcome home Gaara, Lee.” She said as she began adding onions to the stew.
Looking over everyone in the kitchen Lee decided he really did like it in Suna. It wasn’t Konoha friendly but it was nice.
+++
Dinner that night was more pleasant that any of them thought it would be. It appeared that Kankuro had settled down and was striking conversations with Lee and Shikamaru both throughout the whole meal. Afterwards he questioned about training. “So is anyone causing trouble in the training?” He asked casually.
“Oh no.” Lee smiled warmly thinking of all the shinobi he was teaching. “Actually quite a few have shown a lot of interest.”
“Like who?” Kankuro inquired Shikamaru and Temari also as intrigued.
“Well Captain Saitou-san and Yoshi-san are very quick studies and are almost always trying to take on more.” Lee smiled.
Kankuro did not miss the look of discomfort on his brother’s face at the first name, he also realized he was not the only one to take note of the reaction and name. The sand siblings were well aware of this young captain’s tastes and Lee was very much to his liking. As Kankuro himself had once been approached by the captain when they were younger. Of course he was not too kind to beat the shit out of him and had never been approached again no matter the kinds of looks the captain gave him. “You might want to be careful around Captain Saitou.” He advised since he knew Gaara had not from the look on Lee’s face.
“Why is that?” Lee asked in confusion.
Shikamaru looked at his fiancé then her brothers before giving Kankuro a curious look.
“He likes strong men, and I don’t mean just to be around them he likes to try and get them into bed. I know that most of the shinobi around here are aware of this but most of them prefer to keep to their own business.” Kankuro went on instead of allowing Lee to speak. “I’m not saying he’ll try anything but you fit his type with a capital T. So be careful.”
Lee nodded still not quite sure why he needed to be worried. He knew there were better looking and stronger shinobi than him. After all he was only one of many strong shinobi in the village. When everyone kept looking at him, including Shikamaru he sighed. “I’ll be careful.” And the eyes finally let up except for Gaara who was looking at him rather strangely. As the silence grew between them Lee finally spoke up. “So are you going to be joining any of my lessons?”
“I might.” Kankuro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t actually know much taijutsu since that’s not really something we focus on here in sand. I mean we learn the basics and some advanced moves of course.” Lee nodded in agreement. “When are you teaching them?” He asked looking over at Gaara who was now looking off over Lee’s shoulder at the bookshelf of jutsus.
“Everyday from eight to noon, then I pick up again after my personal training at four. The only time I’m not available is past six because that’s when I’m training with Gaara.”
Nodding Kankuro approved then he thought a moment. “Wait your not actually training at noon are you? You do realize that‘s when it starts to really heat up.”
“Not exactly at noon no.” Lee blushed as he spoke avoiding looking over at Temari. “I usually join Gaara until half past one then I start my own training.”
“…” Kankuro and Temari both turned to Gaara and stared both completely surprised he was eating lunch with anyone and then didn’t even tell them. They had both tried multiple times to eat lunch with him and had been shooed away. “Is that true?”
“Yes.” Gaara gave his siblings an odd look before looking back at Lee. “We have lunch together any day I don’t have a meeting at the time.”
Temari thought about it a moment and realized that Gaara had not allowed her to schedule a meeting for that time in two weeks. She also suddenly recalled Gaara asking for more cupcakes and sweets. “HOW COULD YOU?” She suddenly burst out leaving the whole room momentarily confused. “HOW COULD YOU SHOW HIM MY HOBBY?” She stormed grabbing for her fan.
“…” Kankuro looked at her red face and couldn’t help but burst out laughing, while Shikamaru tried to calm her down, Gaara gave her a look that said he wasn’t sure why it mattered, while Lee did his best to make himself very small.
“Calm down.” Shikamaru said grabbing her shoulder and preventing her from grabbing her fan. “He would have seen it here anyway.” She turned to him a look of horror on her face. “And it doesn’t seem that he minds or even thinks it’s bad. Right Lee?” He looked over at the other leaf nin and prayed he was smart enough to answer correctly.
“I thought they were cute.” Lee said softly looking up at Temari in what he hoped was a ‘please don’t hurt me’ look that she would understand. He had already faced the wrath of her fan a few times after the first incidents with civilians.
Calming down slightly she sighed. “I will let you live for now. But if any of you ever tell another living soul, may heaven help you.” She sat down with a loud ‘humph’. It wasn’t long after that they all headed to their rooms.
Authoress: Skitter160
Disclaimer: I don't need to tell you it's not mine. Because if it were I would be making you pay not handing it out for free.
“What is this?” Tsunade asked looking up at Shizune from a pile of paperwork that she had just placed on her desk.
“They are questions as to the whereabouts of the Green Beast of Konoha.” Shizune smiled softly as she herself was among the many that missed his over zealous approach to everything. “It appears that the civilians have also taken note of his absence.” She looked away from her Hokage to discreetly look out the window behind her seeing the village was less cheerful than three weeks ago.
“It’s only been three weeks.” Tsunade sighed shaking her head at the small pile of questions that were formally addressed. “He’s been on longer missions than this.”
“It appears the desk staff were under the impression they are to not tell them he was on a mission.” Shizune looked at Tsunade carefully seeing her edge slightly away from the desk.
Tsunade looked away knowing she was caught. “I didn’t order them not to release the information I forgot I had to order them to do so.” She smiled weakly trying not to look scared as her assistant gave her a look telling her if that if she did not amend the situation she would ensure that no one was willing to sell her booze or allow her to gamble for a very long time. “I’ll get right on it. Can you send Iruka up?”
“I’ll go fetch him. In the meantime look over those questions. We will need to address the village about the matter since it has already gotten out of hand.” With one last glare she turned leaving the office mentally shaking her head since she knew better than to make her Hokage feel any worse. She was actually very lucky she was doing any work at all.
Sighing Tsunade looked over the papers. “I can’t believe this.” She shook away her thoughts only briefly touching on how Lee probably didn’t have any idea how much he was being missed, not just by his friends. She then spotted a paper that was not a question but a request and looked it over thoroughly.
+++
“Lee.” Gaara said sharply as they began training and Lee was not in position for the second time that night he sighed slipping from his stance when Lee turned to him. “Is something wrong?”
Lee blushed brightly. “No nothing’s wrong!” He smiled nervously he had been having lessons with Gaara for almost three weeks now and been training the rest of the Suna shinobi in the ways of taijutsu, not all of them were quick studies.
Gaara pinned Lee with a look that told him not to try and lie again as he moved closer.
Lee sighed, something he usually scolded himself for. “It’s just I miss the trees.” Lee looked around them at all the sand and an image of his first sand storm came forth into his mind’s eye. Like most of Suna he was cooped up in it as Gaara roamed the desert. No one dared to follow and Lee himself who was about to do just that had been ordered not to. Of course he didn’t listen and had ended up injured making Gaara very upset and ordered him to shelter with Temari and Shikamaru, even though it had only been a bit of sand burns. “Around this time of year the trees in Konoha would be very beautiful.”
Gaara looked around thoughtfully at the few cactuses that were near the training ground but only close enough to barely see. He didn’t see the problem but he had been raised in the desert and was not used to seeing many trees. “Do you want to go back?” He asked slowly finding the words stung.
“No.” Lee turned back to Gaara smiling the smile both knew was just for him. “I like it here, I do. I just miss the trees sometimes.” He looked down at the sand pushing some with his feet.
“Let’s just go back.” Gaara said placing a hand on his shoulder in understanding. “If I had known many trees I’m sure I’d miss them too.”
Lee smiled weakly as they began to walk back towards the Kazekage’s house where Lee was staying in a room near Gaara’s and next to Kankuro’s, though he was currently away on a mission and had been since he arrived they hadn‘t even seen each other. They both knew that it was not the trees that Lee missed. It was only as they arrived at the house that Lee realized that his red headed friend’s hand had been on his shoulder the whole time. The casual touching between them was new, not bad but new and he was certain that this was longest amount of time they had shared contact.
Removing his hand from Lee’s warm shoulder Gaara smiled softly as he opened the door. “What do you want for dinner? I believe it’s my turn to cook?”
“I think it’s Temari’s actually.” Lee corrected him catching the scent of food on the air as they entered locking the door behind them as they headed to the kitchen.
“So how have things been?” A male voice asked in the kitchen.
“It’s been good.” Temari answered the sound of frying was heard before she said more. “Lee has been training Gaara most nights and the shinobi are learning quite a lot.” They could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. “Hey did I show you my ring?”
Just then they entered the kitchen to see Kankuro looking over at his sister in confusion a slight scowl plastered on his face as if he knew he wouldn’t like this.
“Yeah my engagement ring.” Temari said just as Shikamaru entered from the next room. If she noticed his eye twitch she paid it no mind as she went on. “Shikamaru proposed!”
“HE WHAT?” Kankuro yelled loudly before spotting the offender in their house near his sister. All he saw was red as he leaped over to attack him.
“Stop,” Was all Gaara said and everyone froze. “I have approved of this.”
Kankuro turned to his little brother scowling. “You approved?” When Gaara nodded he turned back to Shikamaru and scowled more unpleasantly. “If you hurt her not even your village will be able to protect you.” With that said he stormed up his room only slightly noticing bushy brows closeness to his younger brother.
Shikamaru walked over to a chair looking over at his bride to be who was smiling. “That went better than we thought.”
“Your right.” She smiled kissing his forehead before going back to making dinner. “Welcome home Gaara, Lee.” She said as she began adding onions to the stew.
Looking over everyone in the kitchen Lee decided he really did like it in Suna. It wasn’t Konoha friendly but it was nice.
+++
Dinner that night was more pleasant that any of them thought it would be. It appeared that Kankuro had settled down and was striking conversations with Lee and Shikamaru both throughout the whole meal. Afterwards he questioned about training. “So is anyone causing trouble in the training?” He asked casually.
“Oh no.” Lee smiled warmly thinking of all the shinobi he was teaching. “Actually quite a few have shown a lot of interest.”
“Like who?” Kankuro inquired Shikamaru and Temari also as intrigued.
“Well Captain Saitou-san and Yoshi-san are very quick studies and are almost always trying to take on more.” Lee smiled.
Kankuro did not miss the look of discomfort on his brother’s face at the first name, he also realized he was not the only one to take note of the reaction and name. The sand siblings were well aware of this young captain’s tastes and Lee was very much to his liking. As Kankuro himself had once been approached by the captain when they were younger. Of course he was not too kind to beat the shit out of him and had never been approached again no matter the kinds of looks the captain gave him. “You might want to be careful around Captain Saitou.” He advised since he knew Gaara had not from the look on Lee’s face.
“Why is that?” Lee asked in confusion.
Shikamaru looked at his fiancé then her brothers before giving Kankuro a curious look.
“He likes strong men, and I don’t mean just to be around them he likes to try and get them into bed. I know that most of the shinobi around here are aware of this but most of them prefer to keep to their own business.” Kankuro went on instead of allowing Lee to speak. “I’m not saying he’ll try anything but you fit his type with a capital T. So be careful.”
Lee nodded still not quite sure why he needed to be worried. He knew there were better looking and stronger shinobi than him. After all he was only one of many strong shinobi in the village. When everyone kept looking at him, including Shikamaru he sighed. “I’ll be careful.” And the eyes finally let up except for Gaara who was looking at him rather strangely. As the silence grew between them Lee finally spoke up. “So are you going to be joining any of my lessons?”
“I might.” Kankuro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t actually know much taijutsu since that’s not really something we focus on here in sand. I mean we learn the basics and some advanced moves of course.” Lee nodded in agreement. “When are you teaching them?” He asked looking over at Gaara who was now looking off over Lee’s shoulder at the bookshelf of jutsus.
“Everyday from eight to noon, then I pick up again after my personal training at four. The only time I’m not available is past six because that’s when I’m training with Gaara.”
Nodding Kankuro approved then he thought a moment. “Wait your not actually training at noon are you? You do realize that‘s when it starts to really heat up.”
“Not exactly at noon no.” Lee blushed as he spoke avoiding looking over at Temari. “I usually join Gaara until half past one then I start my own training.”
“…” Kankuro and Temari both turned to Gaara and stared both completely surprised he was eating lunch with anyone and then didn’t even tell them. They had both tried multiple times to eat lunch with him and had been shooed away. “Is that true?”
“Yes.” Gaara gave his siblings an odd look before looking back at Lee. “We have lunch together any day I don’t have a meeting at the time.”
Temari thought about it a moment and realized that Gaara had not allowed her to schedule a meeting for that time in two weeks. She also suddenly recalled Gaara asking for more cupcakes and sweets. “HOW COULD YOU?” She suddenly burst out leaving the whole room momentarily confused. “HOW COULD YOU SHOW HIM MY HOBBY?” She stormed grabbing for her fan.
“…” Kankuro looked at her red face and couldn’t help but burst out laughing, while Shikamaru tried to calm her down, Gaara gave her a look that said he wasn’t sure why it mattered, while Lee did his best to make himself very small.
“Calm down.” Shikamaru said grabbing her shoulder and preventing her from grabbing her fan. “He would have seen it here anyway.” She turned to him a look of horror on her face. “And it doesn’t seem that he minds or even thinks it’s bad. Right Lee?” He looked over at the other leaf nin and prayed he was smart enough to answer correctly.
“I thought they were cute.” Lee said softly looking up at Temari in what he hoped was a ‘please don’t hurt me’ look that she would understand. He had already faced the wrath of her fan a few times after the first incidents with civilians.
Calming down slightly she sighed. “I will let you live for now. But if any of you ever tell another living soul, may heaven help you.” She sat down with a loud ‘humph’. It wasn’t long after that they all headed to their rooms.
Sign up to rate and review this story