Lee
Kankuro, when in front of his siblings, felt odd and almost as though he were in a dream when breaking the news to them, “Gaara, the omega you marked on the hand wants to see you at that Yamanaka flower shop Deidara is said to have worked at around five or seven tonight.”
Temari is the first one to turn around on a dime to face him, her gaze sharp on him, “Yeah right! There’s no way that omega wants to see him after everything! Didn’t he have some meeting to go to after the battles were over? I’m sure he probably got mated to that other alpha.”
“That’s the fun part—he did, but it’s where he found out whatever it is Gaara did to the mark on his hand made it useless.”
Temari isn’t surprised by this in the slightest. Gaara is powerful and the Hyuuga alpha was needlessly cocky to believe for one second he could leave a mark on him that couldn’t be altered by Gaara in any manner.
“How so?” she’s not doing this to be a jerk; she doesn’t mean to be sharp in her questioning, but it’s coming out this way due to her own desire to have her questions answered as well as a fear of any negative reaction Gaara could have to the news.
He shrugged, answering her questions with ease while keeping an eye on Gaara the entire time to gauge his reaction, “Apparently, whatever he did to it made it so he won’t be automatically marked by the alpha should he ever lose to him in battle and the alpha can’t force him to bend to his will anymore by using whatever it is he did when he made the mark on his hand. He’s incredibly grateful for it so now he wants to thank Gaara himself for what he did.”
They now await for Gaara’s reaction to the news, with both of them holding their breaths as they realize they have yet to hear a word out of him or see so much as a change in his facial expression.
What they don’t know is simple: Gaara is struggling with everything that’s been going on ever since the omega tried to save his life before their first fight.
He’s never had anyone defend him before…he’s never had anyone try to save his life or so much as try to protect him, but this omega…he did all of the above and from what he can tell, out of the goodness of his own heart. Then he had the nerve to act as though he was somehow in the wrong when he wasn’t—as far as Gaara can tell, he wasn’t in the wrong for any of this—and never once was he angry with him or hated him for any of what he did.
He hasn’t been nice to him either, let alone patient or understanding. In fact, he views the omega to be self destructive due to his too caring nature. He’s still killed people, he still smells of fresh blood, and yet…he doesn’t hate him. No, he treats him as though they are friends—what can be stranger than this?
Now he wants to thank him for what he did…
Admittedly, he wouldn’t care to be in his position if he were an omega. He would have killed Neji if he were in his shoes if he’s allowed to be honest here. Going off of what he saw and heard concerning the Hyuuga alpha, he can safely say he understands why he would want to thank him for making the mark pretty much useless. Though he can understand his drive for wanting to thank him, it doesn’t change the fact it’s left a strange lump in his throat and he’s struggling to make much sense of why this person is being so damn nice to him instead of being angry at him like anyone else in his position would be.
Hell, if he’d been the least bit suspicious about him he could have accepted it better, yet he’s seen no signs of suspicion towards his behavior from him, making this all the more difficult to properly for him to properly gauge.
In the end, all he can do is turn his back to his siblings and focus on his own training, though it’s not without hearing Temari’s prying, “Are you going to see him at the flower shop? It sounds like the omega is being sincere in my eyes. Maybe you shouldn’t miss out on this unless if you want some sort of embarrassing display of love and affection at the third phase of the exams.”
Gaara almost shivers at the idea of anyone loving him, let alone enough to do something so ridiculous for him. He loves himself, that’s good enough for him—he doesn’t need the love of some omega he’s recently gotten acquainted with, “I will if it prevents something like that from happening.”
She is glad he is willing to go, though she is uncertain of his current demeanor.
He doesn’t seem angry or annoyed. He doesn’t appear to be going out on a killing spree soon and he looks very calm. Whatever is going on, she can only imagine it might end worse than they think it would or better than they hope.
She’s not sure where will the pendulum swing on this issue; Gaara’s been acting strange with the peppy omega ever since they came here for the exams, making this incredibly unpredictable.
Like Kankuro pointed out to her last night when they were alone, Gaara could have removed the mark on his hand without ever having spoken to him in the first place. He could have done it when he was still passed out in the hospital, yet he didn’t. The reason then being ‘I want to have him answer some questions for me that he may not answer without the presence of the mark’. Which, okay: Temari and Kankuro could both grasp this seeing how Gaara is. What they didn’t get was why he didn’t remove it after getting his questions answered or why he bothered to speak to the Hyuuga alpha at his home at all when they didn’t have to do any of it.
Their father is correct; Gaara could and should have removed the mark right away if he never had any intention to mate the omega in the first place.
He didn’t, blaming it on Shukaku, but Temari is starting to believe Kankuro could be right about their brother having what may just be the weirdest crush known to humankind.
Gaara and Shukaku have a fairly positive relationship where he can control the jinchuuriki with an ease too great for someone who is said to ‘loathe’ the creature within himself for making a ‘mess of the mission’. At least from what she has seen, Gaara can stand up to the jinchuuriki yet he hasn’t on this issue for a reason she can now only say is Kankuro’s conclusion: he has some weird sort of attraction or at the very least romantic interest in this omega and he doesn’t know how to express it right.
Maybe she could be wrong about it—knowing Gaara, he will insist she is with an icy stare and no words being spoken—but in the end, he is being far more civil to him than he has ever been to herself or Kankuro and he is going to meet with this omega in person to accept his declarations of gratitude. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?
In her eyes it does at least.
At the Yamanaka flower shop, Lee is bouncing in excitement at the chance to thank Gaara in person for his wonderful job at freeing him from the worst effects of the mark.
He can hardly control his excitement, which means his pheromones are stronger than usual and all over the place.
“Lee, can you please tone it down a notch?” Inoichi asked him as he tended to the flowers, “I would like to work without having to open another window.”
“Oh, sorry about that!” he apologized with a bow, mentally cursing himself for doing so when he did. He knows Guy sensei wants him to not do that anymore, but he can’t help it at times when it does happen as a reflex.
“Don’t feel bad about it.” the blonde man sighed, turning his eyes to him, “Deidara had the same problem when he was your age, but he learned to control it over time. I’m positive you will as well.”
He blinks, his jaw slackened by the news, “Deidara had a flaw? Everyone always speaks of him like he was some flawless being who never struggled with anything—even my clan speaks about him like that despite what they say about how he was raised.”
Inoichi gives him a blank look, clearly trying to hold back the anger and hurt Lee can see in his eyes. He knows this look all too well; he’s seen it on Guy sensei whenever he speaks to him about his clan and the traditions he was raised with.
Whatever Inoichi thinks about Deidara doesn’t change the fact he is a father who lost his son and never got the chance to recover from it, “Deidara was human; he did have his flaws and he didn’t always succeed in everything he did. For example, he always lost at shogi and go, he could never defeat Itachi in a spar, and he was too devoted to his art to really function like a normal kid at times. Despite his beauty, Deidara had no friends and no social life because he was always in his room, perfecting his craft. I always believed he had to be lonely deep down, but he always denied it with that sunny smile of his…”
He glances down at the roses in front of him, his expression revealing some of the hurt and anger Lee is used to seeing in his sensei, “I did everything I could for my son and for what? For him to runaway for no reason, to become a criminal, to possibly mate with that evil Uchiha? I know Ino loves him, but at times, I wish he would just go to prison already so I don’t have to deal with any of these questions anymore.”
He didn’t know what to say to the grieving man. Before he could up with just the right thing to say, Inoichi was shaking his head, “Ino thinks she can bring him home…what she doesn’t know is she setting herself up for heartbreak. Deidara is a lost cause; he made his decision when he left the village to never return. She’d be better off forgetting him and moving on before he breaks her heart next.”
Lee has nothing else to say. Whatever he says will only hurt Ino if she were to come back suddenly or get himself involved in family drama he has no right to insert himself into.
In order to change up the conversation, he does ask, “Where is Ino, anyway? She told me she’d be here when Gaara comes.”
Inoichi chuckles, meeting his eyes as he informed him, “She’s out with Sakura, believe it or not. It seems they have both patched things up…hopefully for good this time. The Harunos may be a bit more old fashioned than I am, but they are not a bad family. They are open to change when push comes to shove. I think Ino would benefit with having Sakura in her life again. She was only really happy when she had Sakura and Deidara around. When he left, it led to a falling out between her and Sakura happening I couldn’t help but to think wouldn’t have ever happened if he hadn’t been so inconsiderate of everyone here at home.”
Lee looks down then, not really knowing what to make of this. All he can do is try to keep changing the subject so Deidara doesn’t come up so often, “Sakura and her are together again? What are they doing?”
“Sakura wanted to take her out to the hot springs. Of course, I wasn’t going to let Ino go with her alone without knowing her intentions—so I decided to interrogate her a bit.”
“Interrogate her? I didn’t think Yamanakas did that.”
“Oh we do, but just not in the way those in conservative clans do.”
When Ino came into the shop to tell her mother of Hinata’s condition at the hospital, she was stunned to find her father there. Then again, she wasn’t the only one stunned here.
Inoichi couldn’t believe he was seeing Sakura after learning about the falling out she and Ino had years ago. He knew Ino had been talking about how Sakura is changing, but to such an extent she’d feel brave enough to bring her around them again?
Now that tells him Sakura must have made better, genuine progress than he originally thought when he first heard of it, “Hello girls, what’s up?”
“Oh nothing—where’s mom? I was going to tell her Hinata isn’t awake yet.”
“Your mother is out doing some errands.” his eyes take in the scene, with him noticing how close they are standing to each other as well Sakura’s protective stance around his daughter…his omega daughter, mind you.
It’s not that he doesn’t think Ino can protect herself; it’s more of he’s not trusting of alphas around her after what happened with Deidara, “So Sakura, how are things with your folks?”
Sakura was quick to reply, “They’re doing great, thanks for asking!”
He hums in response, wanting to know something, “Mind telling me why you two are together like this? I didn’t think things had improved that much between the both of you.”
“Ah, right! I guess it would be shocking after all of this time, huh?” she cleared her throat when making eye contact with him, “I saved Ino from being attacked by an alpha nearing their rut just a few minutes ago. I’m a bit on edge after it, that’s why I’m so close to her now, but I came here because she said I could.”
“I see…” he pauses and asks her, “You wouldn’t mind me going through your mind to be sure this change is genuine and you truly don’t have any ill intentions with my daughter, would you?”
Ino gasped out in horror but he didn’t care, “Dad! Come on, you can’t do that to her!”
“Ino, if I had been firmer with Itachi back then, I could have found out his intentions with Deidara and his clan. I could have saved them all from dying, I could have stopped Deidara from running away if I had only been more insistent with this instead of caving to Itachi’s smoothly spoken rejection.” he looks to her with sorrow in his eyes, “Please know I am not doing this out of this strange thought that I own you, but because I don’t want you to leave like your brother did… I know you already know this, but I can’t afford to lose you after I lost him.”
Ino was about to reply when Sakura beat her to it, “I understand, and I am not afraid. If this is what it takes to prove to everyone in your clan that I have changed from the past, then I will do it.”
His omega child glances over to her, fear in her eyes, “Sakura, you don’t have to do that! I know your change is genuine and your intentions are pure. Please, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“I want to date you someday, Ino. I want to be your mate—I have for years now and I’m not blowing my chance to do just that like Itachi did.” she said to her with her green eyes shining confidently back at her nervous pale blue, “I am not going to fail this. I will let him look through my mind and see the evidence for himself. I am not a thing like Itachi. I am doing this right no matter what.”
After this, the interrogation began at the building where criminals and enemies are usually interrogated, but this time around, it was Inoichi interrogating Sakura as Ino watched (she insisted on this one and he wasn’t about to reject her wishes here—though it would’ve been nice to not close the shop before coming here).
It didn’t take him long to figure out the girl’s intentions with his daughter. Sakura was as much of an open book as she had promised to be, freely showing her flaws and faults that led into Ino not being friends with her anymore as well as her sexist comments that made her not want anything to do with her with a side bit of her being horrible to Sasuke.
He also got to see what happened in the exams, all the way to the moment where her confrontation with Neji Hyuuga would become the catalyst for her change. He heard her apology, saw her improving relationship with Sasuke, and saw how she had stayed true to her promise so far by constantly doing all that she could to improve upon herself.
(Yes, he did see the parts where she spoke to Sasuke at the hospital and saved Ino. He was eternally grateful to this memory for allowing him the chance to find the monster who tried to take his daughter by force.)
At the end of the session, he had a bloody nose and a bit of fatigue. Nevertheless, he could meet the determined girl who had been nothing but honest to him and say to her with pride, “You’re a better alpha than Itachi will ever be, Sakura. You are allowed to spend time with my daughter alone and should you two ever date, you won’t hear any complaints or objections from me. You were honest, open, and laid your intentions bare for me.”
She smiles as she gets out of the chair, “Thank you sir, I am more than honored to hear this from you. I never thought I would.”
“Maybe in the past you wouldn’t, but you really are making a genuine change in your life and I can say I trust you to keep improving with age. Your intentions are pure as well, though I don’t know if I should say them with Ino around—I wouldn’t want to tell her anything you’re not ready to.”
She nodded, telling him, “Thanks for that…you don’t mind if we go to the hot springs together, right?”
He laughed this off, letting her and Ino know, “No, not at all! Go on and have fun! I know Ino can defend herself and you will be there to help should anything be too much for her to handle.”
He was met with Ino hugging him tightly, the relief she felt wafting off strongly in her pheromones, “Thank you so much, dad! I promise I’ll be home before dark!”
“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.” he said as she released him from the hug and told Sakura, “I think going to the hot springs together would be nice. We haven’t done that since we were really little kids, so it should be fun.”
“I know it will be.” Sakura took her hand and led her out of the room, “Let’s go before it gets filled with peeping creeps.”
“Yeah, let’s!”
Inoichi felt safe leaving Ino alone with Sakura. He knows she’s trustworthy, he knows she won’t hide anything from him, and most importantly, Ino hasn’t smiled like that ever since Deidara left.
It makes him feel happy to know his daughter is going to be happy and safe, unlike her brother who got caught up with the wrong alpha and is now a mess himself.
“Wow…yeah, my clan definitely doesn’t interrogate like that!” Lee exclaims, though to be fair in his case, his clan would never interrogate an alpha or beta. They’d interrogate him before banning him from doing anything with them.
(Unless if it’s Neji; his parents really want him to mate Neji.)
“I figured.” he stood up from his spot by the roses and went to get some water for them, “Sakura is a good alpha. I know she won’t drag my daughter down the wrong path.”
He nods to this, knowing Sakura to be an excellent alpha he could have had a crush on if life didn’t seem to mess with him in the way it does, “She really is a quality alpha, sir.”
Inoichi didn’t say much to this, leaving Lee to believe their conversation ended.
Then he heard him say, “I know your clan speaks ill of how I raise my children and I know you must have your notions of how my clan works because of it. All I can tell you is to not judge my family by your family’s criticism of my son—Deidara became a criminal not because I was too easy on him, but because I wasn’t firm enough on Itachi when I had the chance to be. If I wouldn’t have been as swayed by him and his reputation as much as I was, the clan massacre wouldn’t have happened and Deidara would still be here. It may sound nonsensical, but I promise you that is the truth.”
Lee doesn’t doubt it for a moment.
He may not know much about Itachi personally, but he cannot help to feel he may have had some manipulative tendencies that never get discussed in the conversation surrounding him and Deidara.
Oh well, he doesn’t have time to think about that!
Gaara has entered the building and is greeting him with a blunt, “You want to thank me, don’t you?”
He turns around on his heel and rushes over to the alpha as joy overcomes him. He hugs him tightly, not knowing what all he has done when he does so.