When Sasuke Met Naruto (SasuNaru)

- Chapter 27 -

Gaara sat at the dining room table in his house the following day, staring blankly at the spaghetti before him as he twirled it with his fork. Sitting across from him was his brother, Kankuro, who was busy shoveling the pasta into his mouth, occasionally stopping to gulp down some milk. Upstairs, his sister, Temari, could be heard stumbling about in her room, hurrying to get ready for her big date that evening.

I don't know why she fell for Shikamaru, anyway. He's too lazy to actually try and win her over, so why is she getting all worked up over another date with him?

"Is everything okay, Gaara? You haven't touched your dinner, yet."

Glancing to his left, Gaara's eyes met the big, owl-like eyes of Lee, who was giving the redhead a concerned frown. Shooting the mop-topped teen a quick glare, Gaara picked up a forkful of spaghetti and eyed it almost contemptuously. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes! You're in the springtime of youth, Gaara! You need all the energy you can get!" Lee replied, enthusiastically grabbing Gaara's fork and shoving it into the redhead's mouth.

His eyes widening in surprise, Gaara quickly grabbed Lee's hand and yanked the fork out of his mouth, swallowing the spaghetti with a cough. Seemingly oblivious to the redhead's suffering, however, Lee simply smiled and patted the teen on the back. "See? Isn't that better?

Gaara made no response, but simply shook his head and took a sip of his own milk, hoping to wash down some of the excess pasta. Of course, Lee was the third member of the dinner table that evening – a fact that had put Gaara on edge. It wasn't that he didn't want Lee there – he'd invited the guy, and he enjoyed his company. The problem was that Gaara knew exactly what this dinner signified. He was serious about Lee – serious enough to introduce him to the rest of his family, at least, and not simply hide the teen up in his room.

Of course, Gaara also knew that he was the only one to fully understand this significance. Lee was more than eager to have dinner with the redhead, but he seemed more excited about the prospect of food than the chance to meet the rest of the Subakuno family. As for Temari and Kankuro, they were both so wrapped up in their own lives that they barely even noticed Lee's presence.

It's... very anticlimactic. Somehow I was expecting a bigger fuss than this...

"Do you need me to feed you again?" Lee asked with a playful smirk, grabbing Gaara's fork once again.

Wrenching the fork from the other teen's grasp, Gaara smirked. "No, I've got it. Thanks, though."

"So... Lee, is it?" Kankuro asked, wiping some excess milk from his lips with his black sleeve. "Are you in Gaara's class or something?"

Gaara glanced at Kankuro in surprise. He hadn't actually expected his brother to greet his guest – at least not after having gone through the entire meal in silence until that point. Taking a peek at his brother's plate, though, Gaara quickly put two and two together – once the food was gone, conversation could start.

"Yes, we're in the same grade. And you're Gaara's older brother, correct?" Lee replied with a polite nod.

"The name's Kankuro – and, yeah, Gaara's my little bro. You wouldn't know it by the way he talks to me, though. I'm surprised you can put up with him, to be honest," Kankuro commented, tilting his chair back casually.

"Shut up, Kankuro," Gaara snapped, suddenly questioning his earlier desire for conversation.

"See what I mean? Bossing me around and everything," the elder Subakuno said before leaning forward, covering the side of his mouth covertly. "You wanna know what the funny thing is? I used to listen to him, too."