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"And, for the last time, right know there's no chance for us to allow you to move to The Leaf. You're crucial to Sand's military force. We know we have reached peace with other villages for now, but unless we find someone who equals you in strenght, we can't lose you, even for very important reasons." The Sand official closes his notebook to make clear there's no further discussion on the matter and Temari bites her lip trying not to say anything that would get her accused of treason.
"But, Lord Kazekage..."
"I'm sorry, Temari" Gaara iterrupts her and she knows she lost. "I know how important it is for you, but we can't just let go of you like this." She sighs, then bows.
"Okay. Thank you, Lord Kazekage, thank you, Council. I'll see myself out." She's almost out of the room when Gaara suddenly adds:
"Nonetheless, I would like you to visit my office again in a few hours. I wish to speak to you privately on an important matter." Temari raises her eyebrows, but nods.
"I will be back at 4 PM then."
***
God fucking damn it, she thinks. The worst part is that she knows they're right - it would be highly unpatriotic for her to leave The Sand right now, "even for very important reason". And her reason wasn't important, at least not to everyone but herself. And a certain Leaf ninja.
But hell, she misses him so much. And knows that he misses her too, from the short, laconic notes he's able to send to her, where she has to read between the lines to see the things that he couldn't fit on a small piece of paper. At least they can do this - their villages are allied, so they're allowed to stay in touch and, on occasion, visit each other... But it's too little, meeting Shikamaru once per six months for a week and then having to part ways again. On top of that, she's learned to love Konoha, so drastically different from the place she grown up in, and made more friends there in few years that in Suna for her entire lifetime. She had only Kankurou and Gaara here, at home, and the latter was always busy with his Kazekage duties. She was proud of how he has grown, but it made her even more lonely.
The worst part were the nights. Sometimes she dreamed about Shikamaru lying next to her, embracing her, and everytime she woke up she tried her best to hold on to that feeling but couldn't. She missed even the annoying parts: his complaining in the morning, the way his hair reeked of cigarettes, the way he left the bed to smoke after sex, his absolute inability to cook anything more complicated than instant noodles, everything that would probably infuriate her if they lived together for a longer time. Everything that was such a pain to live without.
***
It was 3:45 PM when she realised she promised to see Gaara. What did he want from her? To send her on a mission? She was supposed to rest after that last one, but maybe it was something more important... She sprinted the last five hundred metres and smoothly slid into the office on her heels.
"Kazekage-sama, you wanted to see me" she said and bowed deeply.
"Drop the formalities, there's no one in here" Gaara smiled and got up from his desk. "I'm off duty right now." He approached her and hugged her - she went stiff for a second then relaxed into the hug. It was her brother. Not the murderous kid he was years ago, but her younger brother, the best Kazekage they've had for a while - and also a young man who just recently learned that expressing physical affection probably won't kill him and started hugging his siblings.
"Gaara."
"I wanted to talk about Konoha. And Shikamaru." Temari looks at him, distraught.
"I thought the decision was made."
"Yes, officially it was. But you probably didn't pay attention to one small detail. They said it's not possible... Unless we find someone who equals you in strenght." He smiles again and notices Temari still doesn't understand. "I'm planning on introducing and exchange program... For strenghtening our allyship with other villages. One of our Jounin could go work at the other village but under the condition that village will send another Jounin who is similar in strenght." Temari starts to grin. She didn't think about how important this could be for her brother... Personally.
"For how long that... Jounin" they both smile, knowing who they're talking about "could stay in the allied village?"
"Well, for starters, half a year. But, hypothetically..."
"Yes?"
"If the cooperation was going well, they could possibly stay for longer. Much longer."
"Oh my god, Gaara. Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"I'm thinking about suggesting the exchange idea to a certain... Green spandex suit wearing guy."
"I think you don't mean Gai?" They both laugh and then Temari grins again. "Gaara, this is a fantastic idea. I know how much you miss Lee. And Shikamaru mentioned him talking about you constantly at least once in his letters."
"You're right, I miss him a lot. It's been a long time since we've even met. But I think he would be thrilled to... Take a challenge and move to Suna. And you could go to Konoha... I'm sure Shikamaru has some space in his apartment."
"Yeah, he does" she says and blushes. No way she's taking this conversation further. This might be her beloved brother, but you got to have some boundaries. She doesn't want to hear details about Gaara and Lee either. Her brain always suggests that Lee yells "youth!" in, well, the climax moment and she always feels like washing her brain with soap after thinking about it.
"So" Gaara says after taking a breath "I'll suggest that to the Council, let you know tehir decision, and write to Lord Hokage if they agree. You can slowly mentally prepare yourself for changing the environment."
***
With all of Konoha's Jounin gathered in one place, Kakashi finally steps out of his desk and stands in front of them.
"We're introducing an exchange program with The Sand. A shinobi from there will be sent to work in here and we'll have to send an equally skilled one. They stay for six months, unless something bad happens, in which case both are immediately sent back home. If it turns out to work, they can have their stay... Prolonged. Any questions?" the silence is thick, with everyone trying to process what has been said. Allyship was one thing, but exchanging warriors?
"How... How many people will take part in the exchange?"
"First, we'll only switch one Jounin for one Jounin. If it turns out to work, the program will include more people. The letter I got from Lord Kazekage was very... Professional, and didn't include who is their suggested Jounin, but we have reasons to suspect who will it be."
"Who?" Shikamaru is mad at the excitement in his voice and Ino giggles under her breath.
"Temari of the Sand, one of their most skilled Jounin" everyone who knows Shikamaru sends him A Look and everyone younger than him just looks around, confused. Temari is just a legend for many of them. Shikamaru feels his face reddening and hates himself for it. "That means we also have to send someone strong. In my opinion Temari's equals in strenght are Lee, Neji-"
"I volunteer to go!" Lee interrupts himm and then goes bright red when everyone looks at him. "I mean... If Lord Hokage agrees."
"I agree. While, as I said, the letter from Lord Kazekage was very professional and didn't mention any possible candidates, I also have reasons to think it's you that he had in mind. I guess he think you could learn a lot of things in Suna." Kakashi obviously tries to keep his cool and not raise his eyebrows suggestively, which makes half of the room laugh, but Lee just looks overjoyed. He whispers Gaara's name under his breath, so only Neji and Tenten who are standing next to him can hear. His teammates both smile - while they personally don't get how did Lord Kazekage and Lee end up together, Lee's happiness was very important to them. Tenten patted Lee on the back. "Nice" she whispered and he smiled the widest of possible smiles.
***
Temari woke up to loud banging on her door.
"Temari! Temari!!! Wake the fuck up, we're going to Konoha!" She rubbed her eyes and suddenly run to the door and opened it to see Kankurou with only half makeup done.
"The fuck you mean "we"."
"There's an official meeting in The Leaf to celebrate the beginnig of the exchange program. A boring speech by the Hokage, an even more boring speech by our brother and, I suppose, a feast. And drinking." Temari sighs; she loves the Leaf girls, but last time they were drinking she had to witness Ino boasting about her sex life until her boyfriend himself, Sai, had to pick her up from the bar. Additionally, they gave her the strongest liquor she's ever had in her life and she only barely remembered making her way to Shikamaru's apartment and waking up to his complaints about the alcohol smell, and Temari was no lightweight (at least in Suna, Konoha seemed to have a way more developed drinking culture).
"Is it confirmed who was chosen for the exchange?"
"You, dumbass. Congratulations, you made it" Kankurou smiles and they hug. Temari sits down on the edge of her bed. She's going to the Leaf. For long. She's going to live with Shikamaru, probably. Oh my god. Shikamaru and his long hair and pretty hands and bruises on his body and nicotine smell. All to herself. Finally. "I am going to give you a moment to process this, but please remember we're leaving tomorrow evening. Get prepared."
"Okay. Hey, wait!" Kankurou stops in the doorway. "Did Konoha pick Lee?"
"Yes" Kankurou grins. "Gaara is the happiest I've seen him in months. He could start singing any time."
"Oh, no. No singing, please" they both laugh remembering the only time Gaara got really, really drunk and proved to everyone that their mother's singing talent wasn't inherited by any of her kids, but by the youngest specifically.
"Anyways, get to packing your things. If you forget something and I have to send it to you I will be charging you money."
"Fuck you!"
***
They're here. In The Leaf. She's not panicking, absolutely not, she tells herself, annoyed at the sweat on her palms. But there's no denying her life is about to drastically change, she has the right to be a little anxious.
But more than anxious she's excited. Of course she would never tell anyone about this, but it's obvious to everyone who knows her - she missed Shikamaru hard as hell and now they're going to meet any minute and she couldn't get her mind of how much she wants to hold his hand and kiss him hard, and maybe also pin him against a wall and... Stop, getting horny at official meetings was never a good idea, she has learned it the hard way already on at least two separate occasions.
They just got off from the carriage - she was going to pick her things up the next day, but the Konoha ninja told her they'll drop them off at a room she would be staying at for now. There was no way she was staying in a room in the same building as the Hokage for longer than a day, not when Shikamaru's single apartment was right there, but of course she didn't tell them that.
And suddenly they were at the place the meeting was going to be held and suddenly she saw the ridiculous pineapple hair and a mouth forming a smile with a cigarette between the teeth and her world narrowed down to that.
"Welcome to The Hidden Leaf" he says, dragging out the vowels, and bows. "Hope you enjoy your stay."
"Thank you for your hospitality" Gaara bows back and smiles. After a short exchange of formalities Shikamaru excuses himself and gets to Temari.
"Yo."
"Hi." They have to act formal, this is an official meeting. The furthest they can go is hold hands and they do that.
"Did you have a good way here?"
"Yeah, just tiring. But I suppose it was worth it."
"I think I agree" he smiles in an unusually soft way. "Ready for staying in my boring village for six months or longer?"
"Never been more ready. How did they choose you to be the official greeting us?"
"... I asked for it very nicely" he makes a face and Temari bursts out laughing. ''Maybe I wanted to see you as quick as possible."
"I'm honored, mr. Nara"
"Oh, drop it."
***
It's boring. Temari loves her brother, but he's bad at speeches and the only thing that keeps her going is Shikamaru's hand in hers. But she wants more, more, at least to kiss him and when the official part is over she immediately whispers in his ear:
"Are you off duty now?"
"Yes. The feast will start now, but while there's a mess here and the Hokage isn't looking for you, we could excuse ourselves for a little while."
"Glad we're on the same page" she says and lets him drag her across the hall. She feels Kankurou and, on the other side of the room, Ino looking at them and understands they will definitely get tormented about this the entire evening but she doesn't care.
"A changing room, closed from the inside" Shikamaru mumbles and closes the door and now it's just her mouth on his and his hands on her back and nothing more matters.
"Jesus, I missed you so damn much" she breathes into his mouth, pushing him into the floor. "Couldn't stop thinking about you. About this" she adds, straddling him, and feels he's hard already. "Excited much?"
"Have been for a while know"
"Thank god your posture is shit, no one could notice"
Shikamaru lets her take the lead as usual and she kisses him hard, slowly rocking her hips down. They have to be quiet, she knows this, but it's hard for both of them when she bites his neck, his shoulder, leaves a mark on his chest.
"Are you..." Shikamaru manages to breathe out between moans, very, nearly painfully hard now. "Are you planning to go all the way?"
"Are you down for that?"
"I am. If we're doing it in public already we might as well."
That's all encouragement Temari needs and soon Shikamaru is entirely naked (save for the shoes) and she undoes her kimono on top of him.
"I'm going to ride you until I break you."
"Please do"
Temari's kimono hangs loosely on her arms when she slowly sinks down on him, trying to get used to the feeling that became foreign after they haven't seen each other for so long. She bites her lip to stop the moan when he finally bottoms out, breathing heavily.
"God, you're so fucking tight."
"Well, I was left with only my fingers and a toy for six months."
"Wasn't the toy good?"
"Oh, it was great" she smiles while slowly moving her hips. "But it's nothing compared to the real thing."
Oh heavens, it feels good, Shikamaru balls deep inside her while she starts to ride him faster. Suddenly he jerks his hips upwards and catches her off guard, making her scream and curse. She knows what he likes and puts her hand on his throat, which earns her a groan, and holds his hands up by the wrists with her other hand, which results in the pace of his thrusts becoming rapid. Oh, god.
"We... Don't..." Shikamaru manages, despite the way she's choking him a little. "We don't have much time..."
"I know, baby. I'm so close right now" Temari accentuates every word with a rough hip movement and feels Shikamaru's dick twitch inside of her. He doesn't need to say anything, she feels he's at his limit. She chokes him a little harder and this is the breaking point for both of them: he closes his eyes, trying to stop himself from coming before she does, and she climaxes with a shout that she's unable to stop and feels him coming inside her hard seconds later. She softly lets go of his hands and his throat and lies down on his chest. "Fuck, I need to get cleaned up"
"I'm afraid it's impossible" Shikamaru half sighs, half laughs, and lights up a cigarette, still shirtless, with his pants unbuttoned. "They could start looking for us any minute now."
"Fuck" she whispers and looks down. "I'm gonna be dripping the entire evening. I won't be able to forget about it, my panties will be so soaked with your-"
"Don't you dare" he raises his finger "get me hard again right now. I may be off duty, but when we get back I'll still be the village official, I can't just go around with a boner."
"Well be thankful that you slouch, then!"
"I forgot how mean you are"
"I'm going to remind you every day for the next six months... Or longer" she laughs and adds "And, to be honest, everyone with more than two braincells will figure out what happened. Ino saw us, meaning everyone knows that we disappeared by now. And I think you have a little bite of your neck." Shikamaru looks at his reflection in his kunai and sighs.
"You call that a little bite?"
"Well, I missed you so much. I may have lost control for a second."
***
"So," Ino leans down to Temari conspirationally, "you really did go all the way, didn't you?"
Temari doesn't blush, absolutely not, she's a calm and collected person, but if she did, her face would be crimson red right now.
"No need to answer. We all know that." Ino laughs loudly, echoed by Tenten and, surprisingly, Hinata, who has clearly had more than enough of sake considering her lightweightness. Sakura is the most sober out of all of them and Ino, ever the good friend and bad influence, is dead set on changing that, so she pours shots for all of them again. "Drink up!" Oh, damn. This is clearly going to hurt the next day, Temari thinks, but feels the familiar warmth in her body and decides not to worry about this, at least for now (Tomorrow Temari is never going to forgive Tonight Temari, of course, but she brushes that thought off. She does not know that woman, after all). "Though, I must say, I don't really know what a incredible, powerful, hot woman like you sees in my dear teammate!"
"I could say the same thing about your boyfriend!" Temari retorts, slightly offended, and immediately regrets it, but thankfully drunk Ino doesn't take it personally.
"Well that's good, we won't be rivals then!" Ino laughs loudly and puts her boobs right in Temari's face. God, this woman has no concept of personal space. But Temari doesn't actually mind, Ino is fun, same with the rest of the Leaf girls, and it's nice to feel so welcome in a place she'll have to learn to call home. She'll have all the time in the world with Shikamaru starting tomorrow, anyways. She sort of regrets not being able to spend more time with her brothers before they go back to the Sand, but Kankurou is currently playing drinking games with Naruto, Kiba and Sai (Shikamaru lazily smokes a cigarette above Kiba's head, pretending to supervise his friends, but she can tell from the faint blush on his cheeks that he also had one too many) and Gaara is nowhere to be found. For a second she thinks that he's probably discussing something with the Hokage, but then she realizes Lee is also missing (and his presence does not go unnoticed easily), so they probably managed to have some time alone. Good.
Finally, everything is in the right place.
***
You would think a couple that hasn't seen each other for so long would just immediately rip clothes off their bodies, but no. Not them. Now that everyone, including possibly the Hokage and every single one of Gaara's subordinates, is supposedly at least slightly drunk, no one is looking for them, so they are cuddling in the guest apartment the Leaf Council gave Gaara and talking in hushed voices.
"Are you scared about the change?"
"Not quite. You know how much I love challenges, I think I will learn a lot working for the Sand. And living with you... I think it will make my youthness explode!" Lee grins so hard he nearly shines in the dark and Gaara smiles softly. He pulls his boyfriend's head closer to his chest (Lee's a little bigger than him, but they make it work, he's learned already that Lee loved being embraced). "I missed you a lot. I couldn't even focus on my training. I was sparring with Neji and he said something like 'I could beat your ass right now, but it wouldn't be fair considering your head is obviously in Suna and not here'"
"Did he really word it like that?"
"He spends way too much time with Tenten. All this aristocratic upbringing goes to waste. He swears more than I do."
"This isn't a very hard thing to do, Lee"
"Because I'm a gentleman!" Gaara laughs softly at that. Before falling for Lee he wasn't even aware he could laugh like this. He didn't know it was possible to smile so naturally, uncontrollably, just because someone's presence made you feel warm inside. Of course, he's had friends, very close ones, but it was something different. He never knew he would let someone rest his head on his chest so comfortably and feel so safe and loved, like he could entrust them his life. Lee was all sorts of Gaara's firsts and it was the best of choices he could've made, despite being terrified of the feelings at first.
Gaara softly moves Lee's head from his chest and turns to look into his boyfriend's eyes and it all overwhelms him at once. They belong to each other. They are literally going to live together. It is almost too beautiful to be true, but the skin he feels under his fingertips is no doubt real, so it's (probably) actually happening. Incredible, Gaara thinks, and kisses Lee, first softly, then eagerly when he feels Lee's fingers in his hair.
"Lee" he breathes out when their lips finally separate for a second "Lee, I love you"
"Yeah, I know" Rock smiles and slides his hands under Gaara's loose shirt. "I love you too"
As much as he's loud in normal, outside life, Lee is quiet during that sort of thing. He's wearing a thoughtful, focused expression he normally only shows during especially hard training as he is taking Gaara's clothes off, inhaling sharply as if he couldn't get enough of what he was seeing with every other inch of skin getting exposed to the moonlight in the room. Gaara feels himself getting almost painfully hard when Lee's fingers trace over his hips, taking his last layer of clothing off.
"Gaara, god. You're beautiful."
"Lee" Gaara exhaled softly "you're wearing way too many clothes"
"I'm admiring you. It's called chivalry" Lee looks offended for a split second, but then laughs and let Gaara reach for the zipper of his suit while also putting a knee between Lee's legs, resulting with a silent moan.
"I think you will be more comfortable without this."
"Yeah, I suppose so"
It all happens softly, slowly. Lee's clothing is finally removed and they kiss again, now with Gaara on top. They're both very hard at this point and Gaara pushes his hips down experimentally, getting rewarded with a groan.
"Gaara, I want you... I want you so bad. Please"
"What do you want, Lee?"
"I want you inside me. Please, I missed you so much."
Well, who's Gaara to refuse a proposition so sweet? There's a bottle of lube in his robes (only a fool comes unprepared) and he pours it generously on his fingers before slowly touching Lee's rim.
"Faster, please"
"You're needy" Gaara mumbles, as if he himself isn't needy, but nonetheless put one finger inside Lee. "Were you doing this to yourself?"
"Only sometimes. It feels lacking... When it's not you" Lee nearly chokes on the last word. "Faster, please. I don't... Wanna come too early, from just your fingers inside me"
Gaara is still careful - he would never want to hurt Lee - but he complies and soon he's two knuckles deep inside Lee, stretching him a little frantically.
"Can I put it in now?" he says and twists his fingers. Lee's back arches and the image becomes imprinted in Gaara's memory, hell, he could almost come from just looking at that.
"Y-yes plea-ah!-se! Gaara, please." The Kazekage reaches for a condom, but Lee stops his hand. "No. I want you to wreck me"
The last bits of common sense leave Gaara as he pours the lube on himself and slowly enters Lee, trying to stop the groan in his throat. There's no words now, only oohs and ahhs and breathy moans when he starts to move and Lee digs his nails in his back. Lee makes no demands but Gaara still understands that he needs to go faster and soon they're unable to keep quiet (in the back of his head Gaara wishes whoever is in the building right now will be discreet about this).
Gaara lifts Rock's legs a little and obviously hits Lee's prostate because he swears suddenly, a short "fuck" is torn out of his throat and if it was possible for Gaara to get harder he would. He had such a thing for swearing Lee. He uses his last self control left to not just mindlessly thrust inside, aiming for the spot repeatedly instead, and feels himself getting closer and closer to the edge. Lee is getting tighter around him, meaning they are both reaching the climax very soon, and Gaara bites his lip, starting to touch his boyfriend's dick in rhythm with his thrusts.
"Ah, Gaara... Like thi-" the sentence is never to be finished, because Lee comes all over his stomach, and the other immediately follows, collapsing on top of him. After what could possibly be either five minutes or five hours Lee softly whispers:
"So, are we going to get cleaned up somehow or are we staying gross?" Gaara considers.
"Let's stay gross for a little while."
***
Parting ways isn't easy, Temari decides, as she hugs her brothers goodbye for the heavens-know-which time. But, still, it's not like they aren't going to keep in touch. And she's an adult, for god's sake; it's time for her to leave home and start a new chapter. With a man she loves by her side, she remembers and smiles, squeezing his hand, as if to check if he's real.
Parting ways isn't easy, but Gai-sensei, Neji and Tenten already promised to visit Suna the moment they'll be able to, and Naruto is already planning a joint mission for the Leaf and the Sand (hopefully not in the next month, though, Lee plans to train in the new environment and spend as much time as possible with his very busy Kazekage boyfriend, who apparently already made sure they would live together), so he's probably going to be alright.
New beginnings always require some endings, don't they?