Spoiler Warning: Some scenes mentioned from the chuunin exam up to the fight with Kimimaru. The first section starts at Volume 216, (the second part is mine, o'course).

Nobody expected anyone to affect Gaara of the Desert. With Naruto and Lee, though, unexpected comes standard.
What you never thought could happen...

Snow On The Sahara

---

Standing there in the field with arms folded - just as he'd appeared seconds ago before Lee and Kimimaru - Gaara vaguely wondered why the sight of Lee fallen and nearly beaten seemed...rather unpleasant to him.

In fact, it almost pissed him off.

This boy had been the first to ever touch him in battle - him, Gaara of the Desert - and yet here he was being thrown around by some bone-chucking idiot.

He shouldn't even be fighting to begin with, if Gaara remembered correctly. Though he knew little about pain, he could still tell that Lee's injuries had been quite serious - serious enough that he shouldn't be able to move around much, far less fight someone.

"I'll handle this", Gaara stated, his voice bridging no arguement. Or so he thought.

"No! You can be the backup!"
As usual, Lee wasn't about to give up just yet. Even as he retorted, the boy was already on the move...

But not for long.

"Gyaahh! Let go!", the seemingly druken Lee yelled, sprawled on the ground again with sandy claws now holding his ankles in place. He tried thrashing around, only to stop a few seconds later, wincing in pain.

Gaara almost sighed.
"You can't do anything right now," he informed the injured boy. "I said I'll handle this."

'Idiot. You'll only hurt yourself more...', he thought, watching as Lee's brow furrowed in annoyance and his mouth opened to protest...before he seemed to think better of it and opted for sullen silence instead.

'Good'.
Satisfied that the other wouldn't interfere (for now at least), Gaara focused his full attention on his opponent.

Well, he tried to.

It was a bit disorienting to find that not all of his thoughts were centered on the fight or even on the blood that would surely be spilled. It seemed that part of his mind had already adjusted to the fact that he now had an ally and was therefore keeping track of Lee and making sure he was protected.

What an odd situation; he'd never fought like this before. He'd never had anyone to watch over, after all - his own teammates never really needed his protection. And before Naruto, Gaara doubted he would have even cared if they did.

Hmph...Naruto had really messed with his perceptions...

Yes, the little fox-boy had brought him to his senses somewhat. It had actually been Lee, though - Lee who was now getting up quietly and observing Kimimaru for an opening - who sparked everything off. His fight with the dark-haired boy had been the first of a chain of events that ended up sending Gaara's old philosophy - and all of what he thought he'd understood - straight to hell.

Truly, things had changed as soon as Lee beat the sand; as soon as this oddly determined boy used his incredible speed and skill to actually slip under his defences...to slip under his skin because - Gaara would admit - the sand was his skin.

It was his fluid shield, his ubiquitous barrier - that invincible protective layer between him and the world, shielding him and, at the same time, trapping him inside. No one was supposed to get inside. No one was ever going to hurt him, cut him, touch him without permission.

But then Lee did.

And here he was again, fighting with his all as he had the last time, even though Gaara could clearly see that he was still recovering from his injuries. And despite Gaara having caused those injuries himself, Lee was fighting by his side without a second thought.

It caused an odd warmth to spread in his chest, this trust. It was kind of nice as they blocked and attacked together - as allies...almost like friends.

He'd buried it so long ago that now, the very idea of friendship seemed foreign and new.
Then again, Gaara had been experiencing a lot of new things lately...
During his battle with Naruto, he'd gotten his first real taste of Fear, and then after he'd felt Gratitude. It was the only time he could remember being truly grateful and the first time he was indebted to someone.
And then there were these feelings that Lee was stirring in him; as yet, unidentifiable and barely noticeable...

But when one lives in a dark, silent void, any change is noticeable.

Which was probably why he so anticipated the anger that would overwhelm him before a fight; why he enjoyed the bloodthirst that would colour his thoughts red.
Anything was a nice change from the pointless vacuum of emotion that engulfed him.....

These new feelings...they weren't nearly as intense as the old thrill he sought from killing.
No, not nearly as intense, but they weren't nearly as fleeting either.
And so far, they'd done a hell of a lot more to fill that hollowness inside. Even the little he'd felt seemed to validate him more thoroughly than pure power or rage ever had...

These leafs were shining a light into his darkness; they were changing his views, brightening the void....and for that, he was eternally grateful. He owed Naruto and he owed Lee. He would fight for them.
He would fight for those that had showed him what to protect, what to fight for; those that had given him a reason to exist.....a purpose.

And really, that was all Gaara had wanted from the start.

---

Gaara sighs as Lee slips past his sand shell again. His incredible speed is even greater now - faster than you can blink he's past it, under it, pressing up against the other, wrapped hands in purple hair.

And the sand is all around them and Gaara's being kissed so softly that he's sure he understands everything Naruto tried to explain to him those years ago.

The ultimate defence, having been breached like this countless times before, just settles for enclosing them together.

Nobody was meant to be inside with him and it's a pretty tight fit...
But it's starting to get kind of heated in there too, so no one's really thinking about the fit right now.

Even if they were, neither of them would have it any other way.

[END]