Hiraeth

Lee smiled over his lunch at Gaara, the other boy looking off into space. Lee noticed Gaara did that a lot, staring at seemingly nothing with eyes slightly unfocused. He wished he could see what the other did.

They were sitting on the roof, indeed eating lunch alone in a comfortable silence. It was a peaceful quiet, filled with the sounds of birds chirping and wind rustling through the trees. Lee enjoyed it more than words could express. He leaned back on his hands and basked in the sun, suddenly feeling exceptionally sleepy. He stifled a yawn, eyes beginning to droop closed when a raspy voice startled him awake.

“Lee?” The small boy asked, still looking off into the distance but eyes completely focused now, brow bone clinched slightly.

Lee sat back up straight, crossing his legs and giving the boy his undivided attention. “Yes, Gaara?”

Gaara fidgeted slightly, fingers intertwining and fumbling with each other rapidly. Lee frowned, wanting to reach out and grab his hands but decided to let him think for the moment. “Why do you hang out with me?”

Lee blinked, a frown stretching across his face as he watched one of the boy’s hands subconsciously move to pick at the skin of the other one, and shot out his own hand to grab Gaara’s wrist before he could dig deep enough into the skin and begin bleeding.

Gaara flinched, eyes flickering between his captured wrist and Lee’s face, scared expression faltering upon seeing the soft smile on the bushy browed boy’s face.

Lee ran a thumb soothingly over Gaara’s wrist, suppressing a frown when he felt the countless small scabs littering the boy’s skin under his calloused digit.

“I am sorry, Gaara, but I cannot allow myself to watch you hurt yourself,” he murmured, squeezing Gaara’s wrist comfortingly before releasing it. His heart squeezed painfully as he took in the look of utter confusion written along the small boy’s face, and felt regret that such an expression could cross such a beautifully youthful face.

He looked right into Gaara’s sleep-deprived eyes and brightened his smile.

“I hang out with you because I like you.”

The confusion on Gaara’s face grew, and he bit his lip before replying. “What? But why?”

Lee hesitated, eyebrows furrowing, and that was enough for Gaara’s expression to crumple before quickly being replaced with a mask of indifference, head turning to the side and looking away from Lee.

Lee panicked, hands reaching out before he could even think and resting on Gaara’s shoulders, he himself now feeling confusion as the smaller boy did not only flinch (which was expected by now) but also hiss in what seemed to be pain. Before he could blink, Gaara had his arm twisted in a vice grip, causing pain to shoot up to his shoulder and causing him to cry out. Just as soon as he was convinced his arm was about to break Gaara released him, and the white hot pain was mercifully replaced with just a dull ache. He held his arm and attempted to move it, pleased when he deciphered nothing was torn or broken, probably just going to have a nasty bruise or two and be sore for a while, when he looked up and caught sight of Gaara leaning against a wall, huddled into himself and rocking back in forth, muttering frantically.

Lee felt a new panic rise up in him, one even worse than when he had first seen Gaara bleeding at his house a week and a half ago. He got to his feet shakily and made his way closer to the trembling boy, reaching out his uninjured arm as if he hadn’t learned anything, only to be met with a hiss as Gaara curled into himself further.

“Gaara? It is okay, my arm is fine and-”

“No! I’m sorry, just go away!” The smaller boy screeched, ducking his head. “I’m sorry, okay, I’m sorry, just go!”

Lee faltered for a moment, hand falling back to his side. He looked around, praying that Ino, someone who knew how to deal with panic attacks, would miraculously appear out of thin air and help the suffering redhead.

He gulped, reaching into his pocket and getting ready to call Ino, when he heard the door to the roof slam open. He whirled around, mouth dropping when he saw Sasuke’s tall frame standing in the door way, the Uchiha’s eyes narrowing when he saw Lee and widening in... concern when he saw Gaara. Without saying a word he pushed passed Lee, shoulders knocking into each other, and strode towards Gaara. Lee shouted, moving to pull the person he knew bullied Gaara away from said boy but freezing when Sasuke simply crouched down next to Gaara, whispering seemingly comforting words Lee couldn’t make out and shushing him softly.

Lee watched in amazed disbelief as Gaara began calming down, much faster than when even Ino did it, and furrowed his brows at how caring Sasuke appeared to be. He didn’t understand why someone who had just beat up and harassed Gaara less than two weeks prior was attempting to calm him down, and why it was actually working.

He was snapped out his thoughts by Sasuke’s sharp voice.

“Leave.”

Lee blinked, shaking his head slightly. “Excuse me?”

Sasuke stared at him blankly. “I said leave. Now.” The handsome boy smirked slightly at the dumbfounded Lee before continuing, voice laced with venom. “He doesn’t need you now anyways.”

Lee’s eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed. “Absolutely not. You bullied him.”

Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance, not so subtly bringing the dazed, shell-shocked Gaara into a loose embrace.

Lee’s heart clenched as he noticed Gaara didn’t even flinch away, and swallowed thickly. Sasuke looked up at him, a bored expression suddenly crossing his face.

“Go away. We don’t need you here, and besides he’s obviously comfortable with me.”

More comfortable than with you.

The unsaid words hung in the air, and Lee nodded stiffly, turning to gather his things and heading towards the door, stopping in the doorway.

“Sasuke...” He began, not looking at the other male. “If I find out you have harmed him in any way...”

“You will regret it.”