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Rot, Another One Bites the Dust	By : LucklessMallory Category: Naruto AU/AR > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1222 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I make no profit from the distribution of this story.

Chapter List
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Cold showers were one of the things Gaara had been unable to stand before the epidemic. He still hated them now as he hurriedly scrubbed the blood off his body under the freezing spray. The familiar scent of his shampoo and soap was comforting, even though there was a layer of dust over everything in his bathroom and the rest of the apartment now.
The place had remained as fortified as they'd left it, and just as well-stocked with all the food they'd stored there from the other apartment complexes. Shutting off the shower, Gaara stepped out and wrapped himself in the biggest towel he had to ward off the chill while he searched for something warm to wear.
Downstairs in the living room, Lee had already shed the clothes that Gaara had inadvertently soiled during their embrace, and did a spot clean across his skin with a wet wash cloth to remove all the blood and dirt. He hadn’t put on a new shirt yet, since he’d gotten distracted with inspecting the injury in his arm.
To put it simply, Moegi was going to be furious with him. Lee winced, more at the thought of how the little girl would react than from actual pain. She wasn’t as forceful as Sakura when it came to taking care of people and their health, but she still had some very admirable determination, and she could often shriek with frustration when she found out he’d been overworking his injury. Lee was working on unwrapping his bandages now, since he’d reopened the wound and seemed to have been bleeding for a short while. He hadn’t even noticed until they’d reached the apartment and were finally able to breathe easily. It was hard for him to see, but he could feel that the wound hadn’t ripped or anything as devastating, but it was sore and would take longer to heal now.
Lee’s brows furrowed and his mind was on other things however as he dabbed awkwardly at the wound with some Betadine that he’d had in his jacket pocket. Baki had gone up to one of the bedrooms to lay down and rest, saying that he was getting old and had a long day. Lee could hear the water running in Gaara’s shower until he shut it off, and felt his lips tingling at the thought of their kiss. He stood up, bandages still only half unwrapped down his arm and poked his head around the corner to see up the stairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of the redhead. “Gaara? How was the water?”
Gaara heard Lee's voice and stepped out of his room to peer over the bannister with a towel still draped over his head. "Clean. Suna must still have a clean water supply." He headed down the stairs on house slippers with a shirt still making its way past his neck and shoulders. When he saw Lee's attempt to treat his arm, he quickened his steps until he was in front of the other man. "Let me see your arm."
He could see the fresh blood over the stitches and staining the loose wrapping Lee had left half undone. Traveling the distance between the Crimson Sand and his company, then on to his home must have put a lot of stress on Lee’s arm. And the fool even left his sling.
"I'll cut up a new sling for you." He said, placing his hand on the wrapped portion of his arm. The redhead's brows were knotted, part of him wanting to scold Lee for coming after him when his arm needed rest and the other part knowing he'd have done the same were their roles reversed. Though his main concern was for Lee’s arm, he couldn’t help glancing at the man’s toned chest before saying, "Kankuro has a lot of old shirts left behind."
“It is not that bad,” Lee said, complying with Gaara’s inspection and holding out his arm as he was prompted. He felt a sympathetic squeeze in his chest at the mention of Kankuro, though Gaara had at least calmed down now. Lee hesitated awkwardly, still feeling unsure about where they’d left off and what it implied, but put his other hand over Gaara’s wrist anyway with a soft squeeze. “Do not worry about it. It is just a little sore, and I tried not to overdo it too much. I think I just aggravated it, and did not seriously reopen it. You should focus on getting ready to go back to the hotel tomorrow.”
Lee glanced down and blinked suddenly as he noticed something. He squeezed Gaara’s bare wrist again and ran his fingers over the skin there.. “Wow, you are freezing! Was there ice in the shower?”
“The water’s very cold.” Gaara replied, inhaling sharply at the warmth of Lee’s fingers against his wrist. His eyes slid up, looking at the other man’s expression with quiet intensity. There hadn’t been time to really understand what their relationship was going to be after Lee’s declaration earlier, but he couldn’t help holding Lee’s proclamation of love at a distance, unwilling to believe it just like that. They'd have to figure things out starting with that shared kiss.
“After you shower, I’ll redo your bandages.”He said, "Do you need help with anything else?"
“No thanks, I think I can manage,” Lee lifted his eyes from Gaara’s wrist and froze briefly at the look in the other’s eyes. It was deep and probing, as if he were watching Lee like some sort of fascinating insect. Gaara had looked at him like this before, but he hadn’t known why until the confession. Lee swallowed, feeling somewhat lost and oddly uneasy, but also simultaneously warm. He was silent for an incredibly awkward amount of time before he finally cleared his throat and snapped his gaze away. “I- I will be right back. I will be quick.”
He brushed past Gaara on his way up the stairs to the bathroom, lifting his bandages to keep them from trailing behind.
Following Lee’s retreat with his eyes, Gaara’s lips twitched up before he headed to the kitchen to see what food Baki hadn’t packed away.
By the time Gaara had a simple dinner of canned food brought out, he’d covered all the plates and headed up the stairs again to find replacement clothes for Lee with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and betadine in hand. He heard Baki snoring as he passed by Temari’s room, reminding him to thank the older man for coming with Lee. Baki had been the closest confidant the Sabaku family had since he didn’t have a family of his own. He was glad the man survived.
He lingered a bit longer in Kankuro’s room, piling some clothes for Lee and sitting on the bed as he poked around in his brother’s drawers and side table. Kankuro had never allowed him to do that before, but he wanted to bring something back for Temari.
Lee walked in while Gaara was still bent over the drawers, dressed in just his dirty pants with his towel around his shoulders. He blinked at Gaara’s back and cleared his throat to let the man know he was there, glancing around the room awkwardly. He felt like he was intruding on something meaningful and private by being in Kankuro’s room so soon after Gaara had finally put him to rest. Lee noticed the clothes laid out and felt a heavy sense of regret that he needed to take them. “Are those for me?” he asked, walking to the bedside.
Gaara had a tiny wooden figure in hand, holding it by its strings as he looked up at Lee. Warmth rushed up his neck and ears as he inevitably took in Lee’s bare chest again, seeing the network of scars on his body and the hair peppering his chest glistening with moisture. Setting down Kankuro’s puppet and taking the pile of clothes in one hand, he stood up from the bed and strode towards Lee with a gleam in his eyes.
Stopping in front of the man, he reached out and pressed his palm against one of the bigger scars running across Lee’s chest without warning. “When you said your body was scarred, I didn’t think it would be this much.” He said, eyes lifting to look at Lee’s face again. “Did all of these come from the car accident?”
Lee sucked in a breath and his eyes became very wide. “Um, n-no. I was very c-clumsy when I was younger, and- um- I have been in a couple accidents on the job. And off the job.”
Internally, Lee was freaking out. When the bottom line was drawn, Lee really did think that being together felt right between he and Gaara, and their spontaneous kiss in the office building had been amazing. At the same time however, Lee wasn’t gay. Until now. Well, sort of. He didn’t think he was attracted to men, but he was definitely attracted to Gaara- the more he thought about it- so maybe he was just gay for Gaara?
But that didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t really gay, or at least had never considered being with another man before this. He’d only confessed a couple hours ago! So, was it normal for Gaara to be touching him like this, so soon? He wasn’t really doing anything yet, but the potential was there, and Lee would have to take off his clothes to change, and now that he thought about it he really should have just put on a shirt before walking around the apartment.
Lee’s eyes were getting steadily wider, and his chest quivered under Gaara’s hand. Maybe he could blame the cold water for that. He should be freezing. Except that with the train of thought that had started through his head ever since Gaara put his hand on Lee’s bare body, Lee could feel himself flushing way too hot.
“Um, I am cold,” he stated dumbly, reaching for the clothes in Gaara’s other hand without taking his eyes off the redhead’s face. He was starting to feel like he was staring in the eyes of a predator.
Gaara handed over the clothes without objection but his eyes remained on Lee’s face. Just by the look in Lee’s eyes, he had an idea of where the man’s thoughts were heading, and the way his chest quivered under his hand confirmed it. He pulled his hand back and broke their gaze. The wide, petrified expression on his friend’s face amused him to a degree, but it didn’t bode well for a relationship beyond friends. “Get dressed. Your wound needs to be cleaned properly.”
He turned to get the puppet from the bed, running a hand through his hair tiredly. His arms still ached from the rampage he’d gone on earlier, and he let his thoughts turn to the food downstairs instead of how Lee’s frozen, speechless expression made his pulse quicken.
Still flushed, Lee nodded and left the room with his new clothes. He changed in the bathroom, berating himself all the while for freezing up like some kind of bambi virgin afraid to lose her innocence. Gaara wasn’t going to twiddle some handlebar mustache and laugh maniacally while plotting how to get into his pants. Gaara was still his friend. Lee took a couple deep breaths and returned to Kankuro’s room with a new determination.
When he came back, barely two minutes had passed. He walked to the bedside behind Gaara, glancing at the wooden figure on top of the blankets. Lee put an arm around Gaara’s back and squeezed his shoulder softly. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Gaara was holding the puppet by its crossbar, trying to make it move the way Kankuro was able to but unable to copy the curious movements the older Sabaku sibling could make it do. He glanced up at his friend, warmed by the arm around his shoulders and exhaled. “No. Sit down, I have your sling ready.” He set the puppet down and reached for the scraps of fabric he’d torn with a scissor earlier.
“Father had a nickname for Kankuro, one that my brother hated but we all sometimes used to tease him with.” He said conversationally, popping the cap on the alcohol bottle. “He was the puppet master. This was one of his first carvings, back when he took shop in high school. Temari would want to have it.”
“Good find,” Lee agreed. He sat down like he was told and rolled his short sleeve higher so that it wouldn’t be in the way. He looked down at the puppet on the bed beside him. Kankuro must have had a talent if that had been his first work. It was intricate, with a unique design Lee hadn’t seen before, and had even been painted. Lee tilted his head to read the name ‘Crow’ on the puppet’s hem.
“I do not have any brothers or sisters,” Lee said, though he knew that Gaara was already aware of this. Lee wrinkled his nose at the smell of the alcohol unhappily. “All the family I had was Uncle Gai.”
“Your description of your uncle makes him sound like enough family to have.” Gaara poured a bit of alcohol over a scrap and dabbed it over Lee’s wound. The skin looked slightly swollen and red, but the bleeding had stopped from the ice cold shower. Gaara’s eyes were lidded as he worked. The temporary safe house they were in lent him time to gather his thoughts, though all he was achieving right now was a jumble of facts and questions.
When he was done cleaning the wound, he used the same cloth to put betadine over the stitches then began to wrap fresh scraps around Lee’s arm. “Lee, how sure are you that what you feel for me goes beyond friendship?” He asked, his eyes still on Lee’s arm as he made a neat line of wrappings.
Lee let out the breath he’d been holding since he felt the sting of the alcohol. He looked up at Gaara’s face, and thought about the gentle way the redhead had been taking care of him since the episode at the power plant. Lee took Gaara’s hand before he could even finish the wrapping and squeezed it in both of his. Gaara hands were weapons that killed the undead like tools, but they could also be tender when no one else was around. He took a breath and tried to look earnest. “I am very sure about this. I am sorry that I was so indecisive before. I love you.”
Lee’s ears were turning pink, unfamiliar with saying these things to another man, but he continued on. “I- I have not ever felt this way about a man before, and it still seems weird to me sometimes, but I do want to be with you. Very badly.”
Gaara’s eyes slid up to regard Lee coolly, clasping his hand around one of Lee’s slightly. “You’ve never been attracted to men before.” He said in a crisp, blunt voice. He wasn’t shy at all about discussing these things, and he wasn’t going to soften the truth of what Lee was getting into. ”Can you imagine having sex with me? Can you accept that I don’t have breasts or a vagina?”
He barely paused to breath before he spoke again, voice deep and almost pondering, “...I’ve thought about it, and about you. Whenever you suddenly hug me, when there’s a fire in your eyes during our sparring, and after all those time you’d touched me and I didn’t push your hand away.”
“Oh.” Lee blinked owlishly, and his cheeks flushed red. He looked down at Gaara’s hand in his, his brows furrowing and his neck feeling hot. Half of him was mortified by Gaara’s usual ability to openly discuss what made other people uncomfortable, but the other half of him felt oddly flattered at the way Gaara described him. “I, um... I have not had a lot of time to think about this. B-but I have thought about this. I said no the first time because I did not think I could feel that way for anyone who was not a woman. After that, I kept wondering what it would have been like and what I was missing without you. I think I have been attracted to you for a while now and never realized it. I have even flirted with you a couple times and never thought about it.”
Lee touched the veins through the thin skin on the back of Gaara’s hand, a small distraction from his embarrassment as he spoke. “I do not think I can j-just jump into, um, s-sex or anything, um, like that right away, but I could, um, eventually see that. I just need some time to process this, um, first.”
Lee’s flushed cheeks were echoed in the pink of Gaara’s ears with the gentle stroke on the back of his hand. Something that small seemed to pull him across the distance he was trying to keep from his emotions, somehow affecting him just as the little things Lee did got past his defenses. The cool look in his eyes wavered. “Okay.” He said quietly, turning his hand around in Lee’s grasp and pulling the man’s arm close again to finish wrapping the cloth around it. “We will try this.”
His brows knotted slightly as he looped the cloth around Lee’s fingers. Now that he’d said that, he was at a loss about where to go from here. He’d never expected Lee to return his feelings, and hadn’t considered what would happen if he did. “...Lee, I’m still not writing you a haiku.”
Lee smiled at that and chuckled. The thick flush in his cheeks finally began to soften and fade. “Fine, but do not expect me not to write any,” he said. “Though I know you are not a fan of my poetry.”
When Gaara finished the last of the wrapping and tucked the end of the bandages into his palm, Lee flexed appreciatively and looked up and down his arm. Gaara had gotten good at helping him with this. Still sitting, Lee thoughtlessly wrapped his arms around Gaara’s waist and hugged him with a muttered thanks. He let go just as thoughtlessly and stood with a stretch. “Will we be in your room tonight?”
Gaara let out the breath caught in his chest and snorted, standing up as well and gathering the things on the bed. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t used to Lee’s sudden hugs. Lips twitching up, his eyes narrowed in thought, his face grown calculating before he lifted his heels and pressed a dry kiss to the nape of Lee’s neck.
“Yes. Dinner’s ready downstairs.” He said, walking around Lee and heading for the hallway.
Lee’s feet were nailed to the floor for a few seconds as he watched Gaara walk away. He swallowed slowly and put a hand over his neck where Gaara’s lips had been. The kiss had left abrupt tingles across his skin. Lee realized distantly that even when he got used to the concept of being with another man, Gaara was going to keep him on his toes. The corners of his lips pulled up, and he grabbed his sling before following the redhead to the hallway and down the stairs.

“I told you not to strain your arm again!” Moegi cried, glaring furiously at Lee as the two men took a seat in her clinic-- actually the conference room Lee had been treated in. She zeroed in on the new sling on Lee’s arm and shook her head as she began pulling out antiseptic and proper bandages. The scouting teams finally brought her enough materials to operate a decent clinic, and medical books to help her treat wounds like Lee’s.
“His arm swelled a little last night and bled, but it looks better today.” Gaara crossed his arms beside Lee and sneaked a glance at his friend, a corner of his lips twitching up. They were both a little dusty with sand and dirt particles, fresh from their journey from the apartment to the hotel. It had been too dangerous to make a stop at the mall, so they’d taken the fastest path back here.
Moegi set the items on the conference table and pulled a seat in front of Lee. “If you tore the stitches, I’m going to redo the whole thing.” She said, lip jutting out hard as she waited for Lee to show her his arm.
“I am sorry,” Lee apologized contritely as he unwound the bandages and held out his arm for her. His brows pulled together sincerely. “It was an emergency this time, at least I was not training.”
“It doesn’t matter, you should be more careful no matter what,” she scolded. She looked over his arm carefully, poking him and reviewing the stitches with gloved hands.
Lee bore Moegi’s irate tone without complaint, and only returned a couple of Gaara’s sneaky glances with a sheepish one of his own. Moegi was completely justified for being mad at him, even if he would have done it again.
“I don’t have the redo the stitches, but I need to clean it again,” she said belligerently. “I’m serious though, if you do anything else to make it worse I’ll have to get out the needle all over again.”
There was a knock on the door of the conference room before Baki opened it, and Temari was a blonde storm that descended on Gaara with a dark green glare and a scowl that made her just as frightening as a real storm. “Well? What have you got to say for yourself?” Temari raised a brow and crossed her arms, fingers tapping on the crook of her elbow.
Unfreezing from beside Temari, Moegi began to clean Lee’s wound and tried not to get in the woman’s path.
Blinking up at his sister, Gaara reached for his pack on the floor and pulled out Kankuro’s puppet and a bundle of photos from their apartment. “He’s gone.” He said, offering the items to his sister. “Everyone left at the company is really dead.”
Temari’s face was scrunched as she took the items, barely looking at the puppet before leaning forward and hugging Gaara fiercely. “Don’t do that again.” She said in a controlled voice. “I’m not losing another brother.”
Gaara breathed in and out, taking in Temari’s comforting smell and the rare moment of affection between them. His hands went up to press against her shoulder blades lightly, before he said, “Lee’s my boyfriend now.”
Lee’s eyes nearly doubled in size and he jumped at the casual mention of his name, bumping Moegi’s hand and earning a glare from her. He was more concerned however with the look that Temari was giving him from over Gaara’s shoulder. Her eyes were narrowed and threatening, like foreboding windows to death. Her lips were pursed into a thin line and her grip on her brother tightened. Her expression disappeared quickly however before anyone else could notice, replaced by a smooth, serious face as she pulled back and looked at her brother.
“I- we were just talking after I caught up t-to Gaara and we, um, realized that we both have very youthful feelings of affection for each other and, um, we are in the springtime of love and the flower of our, um, relationship is blooming, and we-” Lee was stuttering with embarrassment at the way Moegi was scrutinizing him, not even pretending to focus on the wound anymore as Lee rambled almost incomprehensibly in explanation.
Temari interrupted before Lee could finish making a fool of himself, addressing her brother. “That seems very sudden. Have you thought this through?” she probed cautiously, her hands still on Gaara’s shoulders.
Gaara nodded, his expression serious and decided. “I can take care of Lee.” He said, still looking at Temari, “I won’t let him get killed when I’m with him. He’s not ready for anything intimate, but we agreed to work on that.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant.” Temari’s brow wrinkled with stress. “Are you sure you want to start a relationship when all of this is going on?”
“They were very friendly with each other already.” Baki remarked from the door.
The redhead glanced at his friend, then back at Temari with a look in his eyes. “Yes. I already confessed to him before he did. He rejected me at first, but he still came after me.”
Lee wondered briefly if he was the only one in the room who could really see Temari’s expressions, because if anyone else noticed that her eyes became visions of death for the second time, they didn’t show it. Lee began to hyperventilate.
“Th-that is not exactly h-how it all happened!” he protested. Moegi watched their conversation openly now, her hands working on automatically with the bandages on Lee’s arm.
“Then how did it happen?” Temari asked, her voice calm, but at the same time threatening. Lee gulped, and his mouth gaped while his voice seemed paralyzed. “Because it sounds to me like you rejected Gaara. Then, when his life was in danger and I trusted you with retrieving him, you took advantage of the opportunity to make him your boyfriend.”
“Y-youthful feelings can become c-confused...” Lee mumbled, flushing at the context Temari put their situation in. She had it all wrong!
“Temari,” Gaara said, calling his sister’s attention back to himself. “It was my choice to look for Kankuro on my own-”
“A stupid decision.” Temari said sharply.
Gaara just continued, “I thought he only followed after me because you sent him, but his arm was injured and he wouldn’t have gone if that was his motive.” His eyes narrowed as he turned to Lee. “Next time, lock him in his room and send someone else. If his wound had been opened, he could have been infected.”
Lips pursing, Temari brushed her bangs out of her eyes and straightened up. Kankuro’s puppet was gripped tightly in her hand and when she slipped it in her jacket pocket along with the photos, it left red dents on her palm. “There won’t be a next time. And I thought you were straight.”
“I am,” Lee said. His wide eyes turned down to look at the floor so that he wouldn’t have to make eye contact. “Um, mostly. S-sometimes the flowers of springtime do not all-”
“I get it.” Temari held up a hand with an exasperated sigh before Lee could even finish that thought. She looked between each of the people in the room carefully- Lee blushing, Gaara casual, Baki silent, and Moegi wide eyed- and the stubborn fight seemed to finally leave her. She relaxed a fraction and put a hand on Gaara’s shoulder. “Thank you for bringing these to me,” she said simply, touching the puppet and photos in her pocket. She turned and marched out the door, brushing lightly past Baki in the doorway. The man turned and followed her, leaning close while they walked to speak quietly.
“Temari can be scary,” Moegi commented, almost in a whisper as she reached the end of the bandages and tucked them into place.
Gaara snorted in amusement, already used to how people perceived their family. “I’ll drop these at the kitchen and head up. I’ll wait for you in our room.” He told Lee, picking up the pack and getting up.
Moegi’s eyes were wide. For a moment, Gaara looked like he was about to lean over Lee and kiss him, but the man simply reached out and ruffled Lee’s hair almost playfully even when his lips remained a firm line. When he’d gone out the door, she cleared her throat and stared at the remaining person in her clinic.
“So...you and Gaara?” She began stripping off the gloves only to press a hand against her mouth to stifle a giggle.
“Y-yes,” Lee admitted, his cheeks still flushed as he unrolled his sleeve down over his bandages. He felt his lips quirk up in a small smile as he smoothed down the hair Gaara had ruffled. His breath caught self-consciously, pleased. He glanced up at Moegi. “Do you think it is odd?”
Moegi’s cheeks gained twin spots of red and she smiled back at Lee. “Just a little. He’s just so...so serious and cold, and you’re always smiling even when there’s a problem.” She shrugged as she dropped the gloves in a wash basin. “But I guess it’s not so odd. You guys do act like a couple sometimes, looking out for each other and arguing.”
“We do?” Lee sat up and blinked in surprise. He stood up and stretched, his expression thoughtful. Maybe this had been coming for a while after all. He just hadn’t seen it. Lee rubbed his shoulder and flexed as he started toward the door. “W-well I guess it is official now. Thank you for your help with my arm again.”
“Take care of it this time,” Moegi warned, as sternly as a teenage girl could manage while still giggly. She pointed at him teasingly, “Or I’ll tell your boyfriend on you.”
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Rot, Another One Bites the Dust