Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Stranger than the Wild	By : kiddattwell Category: Naruto > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 30155 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I don't make any money off of it.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter 16

---Naruto

Naruto picked himself up off the back of the couch and rubbed his hand over his mouth; it stung where Sasuke had smashed into him.

Freaking teme, Naruto thought, rubbing harder, He’s so violent. What’d he have to attack me for? If he hadn’t caught me by surprise...

The memory of Sasuke grabbing ahold of him, his battle-ready eyes fixed for a fight, but then...

Naruto took his hand away from his face, his lips still tingling. His head felt a little tingly too. Sasuke wouldn’t have used genjutsu on him, not for that little scuffle... But that meant the image of Sasuke pulling him in, his face growing closer until they... they’re lips had... touched...

That had been real?

What the hell is going on?

Across the room, Sakura was on her knees, clutching her face with both hands. She was blushing hard and her eyes were watery and wide, staring in to the empty living room. A dream like image of Sasuke snatching her as he walked by, his hand in her hair, floated into his mind.

That’s right. That idiot got her too.

Naruto cleared his throat, “Are you ok, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura nodded, a bit of the color draining from her face when she looked over at him.

“I... I don’t know what the hell teme was thinking,” Naruto said, trying to remember the details of their argument, “I can’t believe he did that.” His words were indignant, but on the inside he was just confused. He should have been mad; the guy had grabbed Sakura, after all.

Maybe I’m in shock or something... But that would be weird ‘cause I was fine last time... he thought, and then had to do a mental double-take. Why the hell am I thinking about “last time”? There was no last time! It was totally different!

Sakura’s voice snapped him out of his silent inner battle.

“What’d you say?” He asked. She was whispering.

“I think... Sasuke... likes us,” she said, her hand cupped to her mouth as she crawled over to him. It was a little scary. Horror movie stuff. But he didn’t blame her; she looked completely haunted.

“What? Likes us?”

She stopped and nodded, watching him with unblinking, owlish eyes.

“Well... I mean... yeah. We’re all friends, so...”

She shook her head, “You know what I mean. I think he like likes us.”

“No... He cares about us, sure. But we’re the same way about him,” Naruto said, looking up the stairwell to make sure Sasuke wasn’t standing there, close enough to hear her.

“I know we both love Sasuke and it’s supposed to be the friend or family type love, but Naruto... He kissed us. You kissed him. He kissed you. I kissed him. He kissed me. He...” she seemed to be in her own world, doing some sort of mental calculations.

Naruto cringed, throwing another anxious glance up the stairs. He’d been avoiding the word “kiss”. And what was this crazy new thing Sakura was going on about now? Liking?

“Likes us, likes us?” Naruto gasped as her meaning sunk in, “No way.”

Sakura stared at him for a moment, then said, “It’s not just the kissing. Haven’t you ever noticed him acting jealous?”

“I...” He was about to say no, but unwillingly, a few things came to mind, “He... he gets annoyed when Kakashi hangs around us, but I think they’re just feuding right now. I’ve been trying to get him to tell me what it’s... about…” he stopped. Sakura was looking at him with a skeptical expression.

“Couldn’t it be because he’s jealous?” Sakura asked.

“I’m not sure. They’ve always had a weird relationship-“

“What about Sai? Remember? He’s always angry when Sai comes around,” Sakura added.

“But Sai isn’t exactly trying to prevent that either. We’re just immune to how annoying he can be, so I dunno...”

After a moment, another occasion rose to the surface of his mind, “He seemed kind of jealous when we were in the Sand, trailing after you all those days you spent in their archives to make sure Kankuro didn’t show up and get too friendly.”

Sakura looked shocked, “That’s why he hung out with me?”

“Yeah, but I thought he just didn’t trust him because the Sand are old enemies.”

Sakura nodded, “I noticed he always seemed annoyed when you acted friendly with Gaara, but I thought it was because they had fought once, too... Maybe he was actually jealous of your connection.”

Naruto seemed to remember Sasuke drunkenly mumbling something about Gaara on the last night they had been in the sand, but then that brought up a more recent memory.

“You know... the other day, when I was buying stuff for Gaara’s visit...”

Naruto had taken it upon himself to purchase all of the necessary items for a comfortable guest room. Sasuke said nothing about it initially, but Naruto could feel his judgement when the delivery boxes arrived.

“What?” Naruto asked as he caught Sasuke’s side eye, “I have the money, so it’s not a big deal.”

Sasuke shook his head and left him to his packages.

After dinner, Sasuke came to inspect the room while Naruto was still sitting in the center of a mess of screws, boards, and brackets, trying to assemble the new tea table.

“Why’re you doing all this for Gaara?” Sasuke asked.

“‘Cause he’s my friend!”

Sasuke eyed the packages of new bedding that littered the floor, “Then why’re you going through all this trouble? He already likes you.”

“Well I guess he could always like me more,” Naruto said while he poured over the instructional pictures.

“If he liked you any more, he’d be in love with you,” Sasuke sneered.

Naruto smirked at him before returning to his work, “He could do worse.”

“But you have no intention of dating him, right? Or do you need to have a conversation with Sakura?”

“Gaara’s not gonna want to date me. I just want him to know that it’s special he’s coming. He’s important to me, you know?”

“Everyone’s important to you,” Sasuke scoffed, turning on his heel to leave.

“Is that a bad thing?” Naruto shouted after him.

“Maybe you should try out this thing called boundaries,” Sasuke said as his voice diminished across the yard.

“Maybe you should try out this thing called letting other people in!” he countered.

Back in the present, Sakura looked aghast.

“Oh my God... Naruto... I’m so stupid... It should have been so obvious...” she mumbled, clutching her head.

“Wait—”

“He kissed me, you kissed him, and he was ok with it all...” she continued, talking mostly to herself, “Oh my God.”

“Sakura-chan, wait! Maybe it is all that other stuff... Like him not trusting people other than us. He could just be... I dunno... Maybe... Maybe he was just being sassy! ‘Cause we’re always pushing ourselves on to him, making him hang out with us and looking after him and stuff, so... he pushed himself on to us to prove a point...? He said he doesn’t want me to treat him like he’s my girlfriend... maybe it was just a part of that? I dunno how his crazy head works, but...”

Sakura was shaking her head through his whole speech, but then froze. “Always pushing ourselves on him... Do you think we’re leading him on?” she asked.

“What?!” Naruto exclaimed. There didn’t seem to be anything he could do to keep track of this conversation. It was jumping around at an alarming rate. As soon as he wrapped his head around one thing, Sakura was freaking out about something else.

“You and me... we’re always looking for ways to get him to open up to us... I think this is our fault,” she said. Each new revelation that fell from her mouth looked like it took a physical toll on her body. She was slowly hunching closer and closer to the ground.

“I... I need to think,” she said, bursting to her feet. With an absent gaze, she started walking toward the door.

“Wait!” He shouted, jumping up to stand in her path, “You’re leaving tomorrow! You can’t run away right now. We don’t have the time,” he said, grabbing a hold of her arms.

“I’m not running,” she said in half-hearted defense, “I just need to think about this.”

“Yeah, and you’ll end up wandering around until nighttime, probably just imagining the worst.”

She weakly pulled against his grasp, until she snapped, “Well what else am I supposed to do, damn it? I have no idea how to handle this! And there’s no time to figure it out!”

“Well you can’t figure it out without me and Sasuke, right?” Naruto growled, “Just... do your pacing in the court yard. I’ll go get Sasuke and we’ll ask him about this stuff straight out!”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “Firstly, when has asking Sasuke about his feelings ever worked? Second, what if he doesn’t even realize them himself? He’ll just deny everything! Sometimes you have to actually think about delicate stuff like this!”

Naruto squared his shoulders, “Except nothing will change until you stop strategizing and actually do something!”

“Maybe YOU should think about what you’re trying to change! I like our life as it is! If we confront him about this there are only two outcomes available: Sasuke stays with us or Sasuke is gone. And if you stop and consider the situation for more than five seconds, you’ll see that the odds of him being gone are a lot higher than him staying!”

“How can you know the odds when we don’t even know what he’s thinking?” Naruto shouted in return.

“Because I know him and I can GUESS!”

“A GUESS ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH!”

“FINE!” Sakura shouted, shoving Naruto’s arms off with a chakra enhanced push. He caught himself against the edge of the wall and followed at Sakura’s heels as she stomped upstairs and threw open Sasuke’s door.

Sasuke was sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting to face them as they burst in. He must have heard them coming.

Naruto heard Sakura suck in a breath before she shouted, “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!”

**** **** **** ****

---Sakura

Sakura held her breath to stop herself from panting as Sasuke simply surveyed the two of them in response to her scream. She wasn’t quite sure what she had been expecting- had Sasuke ever looked embarrassed or apologetic?

When he responded, he only said, “What do you think it was about?”

Meeting his cold gaze, Sakura felt her anger draining. Her adrenaline, still hanging around with nothing better to do, was starting to make her hands shake. She clenched them into fists at her side.

“We’re kinda confused, teme! You... kissed us! On the mouth!” Naruto shouted, coming around from behind her.

“And you kissed me,” Sasuke replied calmly, “So why don’t you explain that to me?”

Sakura glanced back at Naruto, who was a lot better at holding on to his anger when it came to Sasuke. Unfortunately, he seemed to remember that he was supposed to be doing his whole mature, calm routine.

“I already told you as best as I know,” Naruto gritted out, trying to lower his voice to Sasuke’s level.

“What? That you did it to get through to me?” Sasuke leaned back on his hands, his face sneery with fake amusement, “Fine. I kissed you to get through to the both of you. That’s a good enough explanation, apparently.”

This is not good, Sakura thought, I should have run away, I should have... But she honestly didn’t know what. All she did know was that she couldn’t have a confrontation with Sasuke right now. Not after she just realized that he might have feelings for them!

She felt her face heat up again. She couldn’t even think it!

But she could feel Naruto’s rising turmoil. Sasuke was staring at her expectantly. She had to say something!

“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura said, grasping around at her thoughts, “Do you feel like me and Naruto are... l-leading you on in some way?”

Sasuke snorted, “I feel like you’re acting differently toward me and have been for a month.”

Sakura wanted to roll into a ball on the floor. She couldn’t think like this. Why didn’t Naruto let her go?!

Fuck it, she thought, turning her back on Sasuke and walking past Naruto until she was staring at the concrete white plainness of the wall. She took a quiet, but deep breath.

“Um... Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked. She waved him away with her hand.

“Sasuke,” she continued as though she wasn’t talking to the wall like a lunatic, “What about the way we’ve been acting bothers you?”

She waited and stared, trying to pretend Sasuke didn’t have feelings for her and her boyfriend. She would have liked to see his reaction, but she feared the moment she looked back at him she’d stop being able to think again.

Eventually, his voice came to her, “It’s not what you’re doing that bothers me. It’s why you’re doing it. Naruto’s acting differently and you’re acting the same when you should be different.”

“I’m trying to be a better friend,” Naruto said, his voice tight, “And hopefully somebody who’ll make a good Hokage someday. It’s not ‘cause of you... well, it is, but it’s not like that. It’s more like... it’s for you.”

“And I’m not different because I don’t feel any different about you. I’m not mad about the whole Naruto kissing thing. I’m really not,” Sakura said, “What I want is for you to be ok. I don’t care about anything else.”

“Why are you going through so much trouble on my account? You two are always...” Sasuke’s voice died off.

“Seriously?” Naruto asked, and Sakura heard him walking, “Between you and Sakura, I feel like I’m talking to myself sometimes. I mean, isn’t it obvious?”

“We really care about you,” Sakura said, finally daring to look back at him. Naruto had taken a knee at the edge of the bed, staring up at Sasuke.

“But why?” He asked, shaking his head, “Why... care so much? I’m a fucking mess. I don’t deserve it and I haven’t earned it.”

“Of course you do!” Naruto shouted immediately, grabbing a hold of his arm.

Sakura felt a chill. Sasuke was trying to maintain a perfectly blank face, but she could see in his eyes how confused, no... how lost he was. She believed that deep down, Sasuke had to know how much they cared about him, but... For the first time, she realized that maybe what Sasuke was going through wasn’t going to be fixed with healing meditations and friendship. That maybe it was bigger than what herself and Naruto could fix. Sakura walked over to the bed and sat down carefully beside him.

“You are not a mess. Sure your life’s a little different, but it’s just a life, like everyone else’s. We want to share it with you no matter what,” Sakura said.

“Even if it’s making your life worse?” Sasuke asked.

“How could you make our lives worse when all we want is to be in this team with you?” Naruto said.

“You’re both...” Sasuke began, but trailed off.

“Sasuke-kun... you don’t have to be worried about us. You’re making our lives better. You make me want to be better,” Sakura said.

“Yeah! You’ve always pushed me! You still do, even in non-combatant ways.”

“Aren’t you both just trying to be my rivals, then?” He muttered.

“Ugh, teme! Just shut up and accept that we love you already! It shouldn’t be weird for us to be nice to you!”

Sasuke glanced away, a little mobility returning to his face. He seemed to be feeling a bit better.

Which was all well and good, Sakura thought, but now that she was so worried about his mental state, it didn’t seem right to ask hard questions. Namely, why all the kissing?

She felt like she had finally opened her eyes and seen a light that had been beaming down on her for months. Sasuke had a thing for her or Naruto... possibly her and Naruto. It was so weirdly obvious that it still left her dumb struck. She couldn’t forget that revelation, even in the face of Sasuke’s problems.

But it was as she feared when Naruto first brought up talking to Sasuke about it; Sasuke seemed to be just as oblivious about his behavior as she had been just a few minutes ago. She also sensed that this little heart to heart was going to be a good enough explanation for Naruto. He barely seemed to question the kiss in the first place! But she couldn’t unsee the mounds of evidence around Sasuke’s feelings now that she had experienced the crash of realization that his kiss had brought on.

What should I do? She thought. Do I bring this up, only to leave the two of them alone for the month to deal with it? Or do I wait...?

The iron was hot. Sakura realized that she may never get this moment again. A moment when everyone was there and vulnerable and in a compassionate mood. She deeply wanted to know if what she suspected was true.

But at the same time, she had no idea how to respond to any confirmation of his feelings, if she even got one at all. More than likely he would just call her crazy and Naruto would laugh it off and everything would be fine, but... if he did have feelings for them... What could be done about it?

Losing Sasuke was a non-option, especially for Naruto. But that left them either living with him, knowing he had unrequited feelings and hoping they go away, or... accepting his feelings, which... How would that even work?

If the first option was the case, then wouldn’t it be better if no one knew about his feelings so they could quietly drift away on their own without straining things?

She came back to herself to find Sasuke staring at her. She realized their sides were touching. Her skin prickled and she wanted to weep with the injustice of it all. She had only just managed to stop freaking out every time Sasuke got a little too close. Now she was going to be a hyper-aware mess again.

“I... uh... don’t want to be insensitive, but we kinda left breakfast unfinished down there and I’m pretty hungry,” Naruto said, “Wanna eat?”

And suddenly they were all on their feet and Sakura was following the herd back down stairs. She was really going to have to talk with Naruto about giving her the proper time and space to think when she got back.

**** **** **** ****

The mushy mood between them all lasted the rest of the day, propelled by Naruto and tolerated by Sasuke, but Sakura couldn’t enjoy it. Her new theory about Sasuke’s feelings wouldn’t stop running through her mind. Naruto had decided that they should spend the day before her mission playing hooky, but now it seemed like a day that would never end. Crashing Lee’s training session with typical Team 7 rowdiness, going out to eat with all her friends, Sasuke giving her a new shirt emblazoned with her family crest and Naruto disappearing for an hour, only to return with an enormous mattress to dump unceremoniously on the floor of the living room, presenting it as an early coming-home present... She put on a good show, but she wasn’t sure how. She felt like she was watching the day pass through a foggy window.

She didn’t know what time it was when she finally passed out, lying on the raw white fabric of the new mattress, her head on Naruto’s lap and Sasuke close enough to reach out and touch, their debate about some jutsu or another fading into her dreams.

She woke up all at once, just after the sun had risen. She felt Naruto’s arm’s coiled around her, one under her head, the other hanging loosely at her chest, while his legs were somehow between hers and thrown over them. In front of her was the beautiful pale face that had been the cause of her disorientation for the last twenty-four hours.

Relaxed in sleep, not even a foot away, she stared at him shamelessly. She felt like a genin again; all those missions where she was the first to rise, but instead of packing up or eating, she would waste time staring at him in his sleeping bag, thinking... imagining...

She was still thinking and imagining, but instead of sweet fantasies and longing, her thoughts were mired with dread, anxiety, and... God help her, excitement.

What if this was how real life could be? What if... despite everything she logically knew about relationships... they could somehow be three instead of two?

If Sasuke was on board, it seemed not only possible, but terrifyingly easy to achieve. Of course, there was Naruto to consider, but his sexual preferences didn’t seem to be the immovable obstacle that she would have assumed they were a month ago. Never mind him being generous with the touchy-feelies and ‘I love you’s; Naruto had already kissed Sasuke, entirely of his own accord. At the end of the day, what wouldn’t Naruto do if it was for Sasuke?

Her heart was hammering so hard, she wasn’t sure how Naruto wasn’t feeling it and waking up. Her breathing was too fast, goose bumps raised over her whole body in waves, but she stayed locked in that stasis for what felt like hours.

Eventually Naruto showed signs of waking up. He flexed his hand- it always fell asleep when she slept on his arm. His other hand pressed her closer to him while his legs tensed in a stretch. She felt him hard at her backside, grinding against her almost reflexively.

“Nnnn... Sakura-chan?” he whispered, “You awake?”

Sasuke’s brow furrowed; Sakura was suddenly aware of how close Naruto’s hands were to her breasts and how her body was the only thing hiding his erection from their teammate.

But then Naruto gasped.

“Shit! You’re late!” Naruto said, making her jump despite already being awake. Sasuke’s eyes were wide open too and he stared at her absently, trying to come fully around to his senses...

“It’s 9!” Naruto shouted, shaking Sakura by the shoulder, but he didn’t need to. She was trying to sit up.

“I’m supposed to be there already!” She cried, “I’m not packed!”

“Get dressed and throw some stuff in a pack! I’ll get your girly bathroom kit. Sasuke can make you breakfast for the road or something!”

She rushed to her bedroom. She hadn’t packed at all the day before; she had just assumed she would wake early and do it. How many hours had she wasted, half-dreaming about crazy bullshit?!

She packed heavier than usual. She wouldn’t be the one carrying it. There was going to be a carriage or some kind of transport.

Initially Kakashi had seemed off-put by the whole formality of the thing, but she told him to relax and enjoy the pampering. “Bring the whole Icha Icha Collection in your extra bags if you want. We’ll be traveling by coach, staying in luxury lodgings, eating great food with people who are all going to be nice to us. Just treat it like a vacation.”

Yeah fucking right, she thought to herself as she threw on her new shirt, the crimson fabric a bit too stiff, and the embroidery far from worn down into softness. She considered putting another shirt underneath it, but she heard Naruto yelling from the main house.

“Sakura-chaaan! It’s nine fifteen!”

She quickly zipped everything up and hustled over. He met her at the door with two small bags in each hand.

“Hair stuff and soap. I put your make-up bag in there too. You’ve got more than I thought.”

“Ino lent me some for the trip. Here, shove it in,” she said, opening the top of her pack.

As he did, he leaned in close, “You know, I wanted to give you something to remember me by before you left,” he murmured into her ear.

Sasuke was in the kitchen, and she doubted he heard that, but she still found herself back in that strange, uncomfortable stasis that had kept her paralyzed earlier that morning.

I don’t think I need anything else on my mind, she thought, trying to keep the heat from her face and failing.

Naruto pulled away and smiled wistfully, “I’m gonna miss you while you’re gone.”

“We’ve had longer times apart.”

“Not since we got together. I’ve gotten used to seeing you every day.”

“I know. I’ll miss you, too. And I bet you and Sasuke are gonna run wild without me and Kakashi around to reign you in.”

“No way. I’m responsible these days,” he said smugly.

“Was it responsible yesterday when you tricked Lee into knocking Kiba out with that ‘surprise attack’ training?”

“But now Kiba knows that he really does need surprise attack training!”

Sasuke approached them both with a bowl in each hand and sleep still in his eyes. She wondered how late they had stayed up without her.

“Is that for me?” Sakura asked. When he nodded, she took the bowl, trying to ignore the fact that looking at him, even all disheveled and half-awake, messed with her head. She choked down her breakfast without really tasting it (it was some kind of porridge, she knew that much).

“I can’t believe I’m late for my first big mission as the Hokage’s assistant,” Sakura muttered to herself, setting the bowl down on the counter and turning toward the door.

“Ah, well... it’s probably just because you don’t really wanna go. That’s what always happens to me before a lame mission,” Naruto said.

“I don’t wanna go,” Sakura admitted. Naruto patted her back. Sasuke managed a tired looking grimace.

“Think of the money,” Sasuke said.

“Come on. You and Kakashi-sensei have a lot of fun together. Think of it as a vacation,” Naruto cajoled.

“That’s what I told him so he wouldn’t dread it,” Sakura said, reluctantly shouldering her pack and heading for the door. Sakura was about to loose another complaint as she kicked her feet into her sandals when Sasuke abruptly shushed her. All three straightened up as Sasuke leaned close to the door, listened, then yanked it open.

“Sakura, you’re late,” Kakashi said, leaning on the inside of their very much locked gate, just a few feet from their door. Right away the sound of a dozen or so people talking on their normally quiet street carried over to them. “I thought I’d pick you up.”

“You didn’t have to bring the whole entourage with you,” she said.

He shrugged, “They followed me.”

“Of course they did! They’re your entourage!”

She hadn’t wanted to say her goodbyes in front of an audience. She already felt weird enough...

At least Naruto was easy. He kissed and hugged her tightly. With a stiff smile on his face, he said, “Be careful protecting Kakashi-sensei. He’s bound to piss someone off since he doesn’t have all of us to pick on.”

“Don’t worry. When you two aren’t around I get the full force of it,” Sakura sighed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Come back safe.”

“I will.”

Sasuke was standing by the door, looking like he wished he had stayed in bed. Or maybe that’s just what she was wishing.

For a half a second, she wasn’t sure what she should do. She and Sasuke didn’t do hugs. She couldn’t even think of an occasion when that would have come up in the past. But she had to say goodbye somehow and it certainly wasn’t going to be a hand shake. However, her courage failed her as she approached him. She stopped when they were toe to toe.

“See you later, Sasuke-kun,” she said, trying hard not to shift her arms around like a coy ten-year-old, “Try to get along while I’m gone. And...” she wasn’t sure she wanted to say anything more personal about him in front of Kakashi, but she at least had to say, “Take care of yourself, ok?”

Sasuke nodded, his eyes somber.

“Hurry up and hug,” Naruto complained. He grinned when they both glared at him, so it was obvious a little violence was needed to straighten him out, but she saw Sasuke shifting...

He was doing it! He was going to hug her!

But then he stopped.

“Come on!” Naruto laughed, “You guys are making me feel embarrassed! It’s just a hug, teme!”

It wasn’t Sasuke’s fault for hesitating. It was her own mask that had slipped. For a second she had been looking at him with the naked anxiety she felt inside.

Sasuke furrowed his brow, but he also seemed to be struggling to not notice Kakashi standing behind her, waiting for them to say their goodbyes. Sakura held her breath and lurched toward him, her arm casually going over one of his shoulders until their chests bumped together. His hands settled on her back briefly, in the same place he had clutched just yesterday.

“Don’t let your guard down,” he said as he released her moments later, throwing another antagonistic look over her shoulder at Kakashi. She barely heard him. She was too busy trying to not have a reaction. She knelt down over her bag, pretending to fiddle with the clasps, her hair hiding most of her face.

“We can buy anything you forgot,” Kakashi said. It was so cold outside, but she was sweating. How much would Kakashi notice when they got up close to each other?

“Being the future Hokage gives you a certain leeway to be extravagant... I hope. Because I barely packed anything.”

“That’s because I packed most of your bags two days ago,” she bantered lightly, grateful for the distraction he gave her at least.

“Well I guess I can’t drag this out any longer. I’ll see you guys after the trip,” she said when she rose, clutching Naruto’s hand one more time before turning to Kakashi.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring her back in good condition,” Kakashi promised, and as always, it sounded equal parts sincere and sarcastic.

“Bye, Sakura-chan!” Naruto called again as they reached the gate. She managed to smile and wave.

The convoy stopped their buzzing and a ninja opened the door to the carriage when she approached. It was pretty luxurious looking, more so than she had expected. There was gold and fancy wood-work and tassels abounds. Another ninja took her bag and hitched it to the back. Sakura looked back and waved once more before settling down into it’s cushioned interior, Kakashi taking his place across from her.

The door closed on a waving Naruto and the carriage began moving with a smooth shift forward. After a long moment of silence, Kakashi asked, “Is it just me or was that really uncomfortable?”

————————

It should have been fun, traveling to somewhat exotic locations while Konoha was in the middle of its brown winter months, but like many aspects of Sakura’s life, things were not as they should have been.

There wasn’t much to keep her occupied. Basically, her duties were to either stand behind Kakashi or sit at his side. Since Kakashi didn’t have any actual power yet, no real politics were being discussed, so she didn’t even have to pay close attention to what was being said. There were broad hints thrown around, lots of “maybe in the future…” and “when you’re the one in charge…” but nothing out of bounds. The casual nature of the trip left her with way too much time to zone out.

She was sure that it was all that unused brain space that was turning an unspeakable idea into an uncomfortable obsession: If Sasuke actually like liked them both, and her and Naruto were both fine with kissing him, then what was to stop him from joining in on their relationship...? Hell, it couldn’t have been that different from how things already were.

The idea made her writhe with unease, even as it settled more and more firmly into her brain. During all of her boring meetings and the dinners afterward where she had a mandatory “good time”, she felt like there was this shadow looming over her.

The nights were no different. She would see Kakashi back to his room (or rooms. She had guessed right when she told him that there would be luxury accommodations) before going to hers. She’d get ready for bed, wait an hour, sometimes she’d check in on Kakashi one more time (not strictly necessary, but it was funny to see him looking annoyed in his mask-pajama combo), then she would lock herself in her room, turn out the lights, lay down, and think about Naruto and Sasuke. She had been at it for a week and the possible scenarios to run through seemed infinite.

Her thoughts usually started with a question, something unanswerable, like: What would people think about all of them being a couple... or a threeple? A thruple?

Then that question would spawn a dozen more: Would they keep it a secret, something just between the team? And would it really be forever, like Naruto was so happy to promise? And in that case, what about Naruto’s imaginary kids? They wouldn’t be able to hide that they were all together if they had a family, right? And what if Sasuke wanted to have kids? If they kept their relationship a secret, but Sakura gave birth to one blonde, blue eyed Naruto clone and one pale, glaring, sharingan user, wouldn’t it be incredibly obvious what was going on? Or would people just think Sakura was a slut and Naruto was a fool? And how would all of that affect Naruto’s career as Hokage? Or what if they did tell everyone the truth, but people still thought she was a slut and it still effected Naruto’s career in some way?

Then, because she had to sleep at some point, she would remind herself that maybe this whole thing was all in her head anyway, and then start doubting her own sanity.

At least Kakashi seemed to be getting along ok. He acted like he was in a good mood most of the time and seemed to only bring out the sarcasm when it wouldn’t piss anyone off.

He performed his duties entirely without issue until about a week into the trip. At one of their mandatory dinners, while making small talk with the Mizukage’s guards, she thought she saw Kakashi looking at one of the kunoichi sitting a few seats down from him. A few minutes later Sakura had confirmation. Kakashi was laughing his polite, hard-to-tell-if-it-was-real-or-fake laugh. The lady was changing chairs with her neighbor and the two seemed to be settling in for a chat... a chat where the lady ran her hand along Kakashi’s forearm and Kakashi leaned close to her face whenever he spoke.

It would have been cute if it wasn’t so gross to think about Kakashi flirting with someone.

The flirtiness continued until dinner ended. Sakura grinned at Kakashi wryly as she dropped him off at his door.

“What?” He asked, his voice flat and tired.

“Oh, nothing,” Sakura replied. Maybe he was so rarely flirted with that it took a lot out of him to respond. She patted his arm affectionately.

“See you tomorrow morning,” she said, skipping down the hall to her room as Kakashi shut himself in.

Grateful to have something to think about other than her own predicament, Sakura pondered over Kakashi’s social skills as she went through her nightly routine.

I wonder if he could ask for her contact info before we leave tomorrow... or maybe I could if he’s too shy...

With her clean pajamas, brushed teeth and scrubbed face, Sakura decided to do one of her double checks on Kakashi and hook him up with some dating advice while she was at it.

It was true her former sensei was a bit of a weirdo whose only hobby seemed to be reading smut, but she wanted him to be happy and she had never seen him show interest in someone before.

She opened her door to creep over to his room, but stopped mid-creak. There were two shadowy figures at the end of the hall. A smaller person was pulling a taller figure forward, rounding the corner... Sakura only saw the pair for a second, but that’s all she needed to recognize Kakashi’s distinctive, broom-haired silhouette.

It took even less time to guess where he was going and what he might be doing there, but her mind didn’t want to believe it.

For a moment, she thought it might have been her job to follow him, but... the future Hokage was entitled to have secret meetings. And the risk of being caught by other ninja while she was skulking after Kakashi could also give him away if he perhaps wasn’t doing what she thought he was doing, but talking to the woman about something political. Either way, it wasn’t like he was being dragged off against his will...

Sakura forced herself to retreat back into her room.

Maybe he is just having a political meeting. Maybe this lady needs the Leaf’s help for some reason...

At five a.m., she shimmied along the outer wall of the Mizukage’s estate to get to Kakashi’s balcony. Peeking in his window, she could make out some Kakashi shaped lumps under the blankets, but no extra girlie ones. Easing open the lock, she crept inside the dark room, clicking on a desk lamp as she passed it. He didn’t stir.

“Kakashi! Wake up!” She whisper-yelled, standing at the end of his bed.

He sat up fast, his mask pulled up over his face instantly. “What is it?” His voice sounded completely awake, but he was squinting at her like he wasn’t quite sure that she was real.

“I wanted to talk to you before your formal wake-up call,” she said, tossing herself on the bed by his feet.

“Why?” He grumbled now that it was clear that they weren’t under attack. He crossed his arms in front of his bare chest, one hand brushing his Anbu tattoo. He was usually wearing full pajamas when she checked on him before bed, so seeing him shirtless with just a mask was a new experience. She wondered if he even wore a mask when he was having-

Ew! Why can’t I stop thinking about these things?! This is all the stupid boys’ fault! she thought.

“Who- who was that woman I saw you with last night?” She stammered, quite thrown by her own dirty thoughts.

“Hm...?”

“Don’t play dumb. I saw you wandering off with someone and it looked... intimate,” she said, dropping her voice to a whisper.

“I’m not playing dumb. I’m just trying to remember her name. We didn’t talk much.”

“Sensei! I can’t believe... We’re on a diplomatic mission! You can’t just sleep with randoms! What if she was someone important? Or... or like, a honey trap! The Mist could be using her to try to ensure favoritism in the future!”

“Didn’t seem like it...” Kakashi said ponderously, “She definitely didn’t hold out for negotiations.”

“Jeeze! Are you taking this trip seriously at all? I mean, you never did stuff like this when you were on missions with Team 7!”

“Well...” he drawled.

“Ugh! I don’t wanna know!” She said, crushing her hands to her ears. Kakashi grabbed one of her wrists.

“Sakura, I get it. You have every right to be mad. It was careless of me not to inform you,” he said, releasing her before he held out his hand, palm up. Eyeing him with suspicion, she tentatively placed her fingers on his.

He sighed beneath his mask, “I’m sorry. Things have been so busy that I wasn’t thinking. We’re friends now, so consider this an open invitation; feel free to join in whenever you want and make any of my one night stands a threesome... or foursome, depending...”

“Kakashi... You’re not Hokage yet, so it isn’t officially treason if I kill you!”

Rumors about the commotion the future Hokage made on his last night traveled through the Village of Hidden Mist and got back to Konoha well before Sakura and Kakashi did. She only wished she knew if they were talking about his liaison or her murder attempt.

————————

Sakura sat across from Kakashi in the carriage, giving him an unrelenting stare down as he pretended to look nonchalantly out of the window. The sun was out and streaming uneven light beams across his face.

I hope it burns his eyes, Sakura thought.

“Are you going to glare at me for the rest of the trip?” Kakashi finally asked.

“So what if I am?”

“It doesn’t present a very unified image of Konoha.”

When she said nothing, he added, “I was just teasing you. I thought it’d give you a little boost. You seem like you have a lot on your mind.”

“So you only jokingly offered to let me have a threesome with you?” Sakura asked, giving him her best impression of Sasuke’s cold stare.

“Well, if it would cheer you up, I wouldn’t mind…“ Kakashi said, smiling, but then put his hands up defensively when Sakura raised a fist at him, “Take it easy. You used to get a kick out of scolding my indecent behavior.”

“That’s when I thought you were a perv in theory, not in practice.”

“That’s harsh, Sakura-chan. I was just extending you a friendly invitation.”

“Threesomes aren’t something friends invite each other to!”

“You need better friends. What happened to the team work in Konoha?” he sighed, then blocked her punch, “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. No more jokes.”

“Hmph.”

Well, he had been right, in a way. Her outrage had distracted her from her usual thoughts all the way through their departure from the mist. Now that she thought about it, maybe she had only gotten so angry because his joke struck a bit too close to home.

“Do you really go around having threesomes all the time?” She asked, hoping she sounded reproachful enough to hide how leading of a question it was.

“No. I’ve only ever had two, actually. I wouldn’t mind trying for three... Sorry, sorry. You’re just so easy to rile,” he said, grinning under his mask.

Sakura leaned back in her seat, staring out the window and not daring to ask anything else. If Kakashi was really as deviant as he was implying and he’d only done it twice in his life, then threesomes really weren’t that common after all.

Damn Naruto and Sasuke’s oblivious asses, she thought. It was their stupid fault that she actually felt a little disappointed that their sensei wasn’t having more group sex.

————————

A few days later, they were scheduled to stay a half day and a night at a small fiefdom. Sakura stared out the window as their cart ran alongside a wall that was long enough to contain an entire city instead of just one person’s house. It even had its own gate that took three goony looking guys and a crank-turn to open. Inside, a man in an illustrious, fur lined cape and bright colored robes greeted them.

“Good thing he didn’t donate to the clothing drive,” Sakura heard one of the nins in the convoy murmur behind her.

“Hatake Kakashi! The future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village! I’m so happy you came!” He said, striding up to the party, his arms out like he was going for a hug. After a peculiar little scuffle, Kakashi managed it so the man only grasped both of his hands in his.

“Happy to be here,” Kakashi replied much less jovially, but within the bounds of politeness.

“I hope we can continue to rely on the Hidden Leaf village to settle any unpleasantness in the area.”

“Of course. It’s an honor to serve your family.”

“And this lovely lady is...?” He asked, his eye wandering over Sakura’s face, then body. His appraisal felt less sexual and more... judgmental. Like any deficiency he saw would be more of a reflection on Kakashi than herself.

Jerk.

“Haruno Sakura, aide to the incumbent Hokage,” she said with the smallest bow she could manage.

“Young lady,” he said, and then she was dismissed from his attention, “I’m happy you’re here. My house and facilities are all for you and your men, and ladies, to use.
Let me treat your party to a small tour...”

They followed him on what was basically a round-up of his assets. “My gardens, my hot springs, my wine cellar, my dog’s personal trainer’s house, my, my my...” on and on for what felt like ages.

When she couldn’t take it anymore, Sakura wandered away from the herd in the library. All they had on the schedule was a bath. If they needed her, she figured someone would find her... or she would be able to run toward the noise of a fight.

The library was a cozier situation than she expected. Instead of floor to ceiling shelves, it was set up more like the research library at the old Konoha HQ with lots of low rows of book shelves with scientific models and insects and fossils scattered about among them.

Browsing the shelves, she snorted as she found a section lined with all the familiar titles that Kakashi and Sai enjoyed so much. But there were books by other authors as well. By chance, she saw one titled.

Arise, My Knights

Roses and swords and lacy frou frou designs decorated the spine and cover. The back had no description, but the prologue spelled things out for her...

“A tale of romance between a Princess and two knights, brothers in chivalry, who vowed to serve her.”

Sakura skimmed through a few chapters, frowning, wondering if it was even possible that she had found what she thought she had found... There were a lot of battles and swooning and vague little hints, but it wasn’t until chapter 12 that she hit pay dirt. After a heated skirmish and a narrow escape, the knights promised to care for the princess forever more. Blah blah blah, wanted to show her the depths of their devotion... blah blah... One knight removed her tattered dress while the other knight...

“Woah,” Sakura said, clutching the book a little closer.

“Find something interesting?”

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin, the book pressed to her chest, as she turned to see an old woman, a teeny tiny thing with about a mile of white hair trailing the ground and five layers of silk draped around her.

“Yukishi’s mother,” she said by way of introduction. Did they send the Lord’s mother to get her? She wasn’t even sure how long she’d been standing there reading.

“Oh, I remember that book. Two is better than one, eh?” She said, taking in the cover before Sakura had even remembered how to talk.

“I just-just- I thought I recognized it, but I didn’t!” Sakura said, scanning the shelf to find it’s place, but the gap had disappeared because she’d been holding it for so long. She fought the urge to chuck it out the window instead.

“Now, now, dear. We’re all adults here. No need to hide a little romance novel. I’ve seen it all, you know.”

She didn't really want to know that either.

Sakura quickly found a place to shove the book, but then the old lady placed a hand on her elbow.

“Let’s go for a nice soak. I have a private bath and a very reliable team of masseuses. We can’t let the boys get all of the pampering.”

————————

Even though Sakura had been massaged and soaked until she lost all feeling below the neck, she woke uneasy. It took her only a moment to remember why; today would be the day that Gaara came to visit in Konoha. She fluctuated between worry and an extreme sense of missing out. If something bad happened, she wanted to be there to help. If they had nothing but fun, she wanted to be there doing that. And if Sasuke was going to act all jealous over Gaara and Naruto again... well, she would have liked to see that, too. After weeks on the road, she was desperate for more confirmation that her theory about Sasuke had some reality to it.

She threw her freshly laundered clothes back into her bag and headed to the front gate. Breakfast had been delivered and there was supposed to be a full day of travel until they reached the next stop, but as she passed through the main entrance, she was waylaid by the Lord’s mother.

“My son and that handsome Hokage of yours seem to be having some sort of tiresome goodbye at the gate. Why don’t you stretch your legs a moment longer and walk with me to the side garden, hm?”

Sakura peered across the lawn at the convoy. It seemed they were still packing while Kakashi managed to hold a conversation with that odious man.

“Sure,” she agreed.

The old woman took her elbow as they crossed the green, “Thanks for coming. You lot do liven up this place, make no mistake.”

“It was our pleasure. You were too generous, and to the troops too,” Sakura began, but the old lady waved her off and, with a quick glance over her shoulder, pulled out a little draw string bag. Smiling like the devil, she pressed it into Sakura’s hands, nodding at her when she peeked inside.

It was the book! Argh! Sakura again fought the urge to chuck it somewhere far away.

“I... I...”

“A little present from me to you. You seem so absorbed in it yesterday.”

What was better? To deny the gift and maybe draw attention when the old lady insisted? Or take it and pray no one noticed she was carrying a new bag?

Fighting down her massive embarrassment, Sakura managed to tuck the book, bag and all, into the waistband of her shorts in the back. Her shirt was long enough to hide it. She’d just have to endure the ride in the cart with the book braced against her tailbone.

“You know, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to travel with such a big group of strong, well-trained, energetic men,” the old lady said as they turned back toward the front gate.

“It’s not as fun as you might think,” Sakura said quietly, “Traveling with ninja usually just means a lot of fighting and bickering. And if one does finally start to think about romance, most of the time you kinda wish they wouldn’t.”

“I take it that the new Hokage isn’t your type?”

“No way!” Sakura shouted, before she remembered herself. In a demur tone, she clarified, “No. He’s my old sensei. Besides, I have a partner back home, and...”

“And...?”

And Sasuke, she thought, but the blind panic she had been feeling for the last two weeks seemed to be absent. She supposed that she had always had Sasuke in a way, but now she didn’t know how to describe him. Teammate and friend weren’t strong enough words anymore if she was really considering what she was considering...

“And... an and, I guess,” she finished with a grimace. The old woman, however, looked delighted.

“Well, well. How exciting. It’s always fun to keep a few ands around.”

“It’s-it’s not like that. I’m not cheating. It’s just-“

“Complicated. I understand perfectly, my dear. No need to explain it at all.”

That was good because Sakura didn’t really think she could.

————————

---Sasuke

Naruto continued to be Naruto while Sakura was on her mission, but even more so, if that were possible.

They worked with Tsunade in the morning, trained with each other and whoever happened to be around in the afternoons, but without Sakura at home, Naruto was glued to his side more than ever. It had its up sides. On the nights when he was too restless to try a healing meditation or too... something to remember to breathe, he could linger in the living room with Naruto late into the night, watching a movie or sometimes even just sitting in companionable silence as Naruto studied a document that Tsunade had given them or read about a technique he wanted to try.

Aside from Sasuke’s unpredictable episodes here and there, he would have honestly described some of those days as good.

Naruto was still being weird and overly polite sometimes, but at least he finally knew why. Although now he wasn’t sure what was more annoying; the old Naruto’s constant yelling or the new Naruto’s forced reserve when he was so obviously trying to control his temper. They were having one of their regular arguments about dinner when Sasuke noticed him at it again; the clenched jaw, the furrowed brow, the over-all look of constipation. After he was done mastering his temper, Sasuke would teach him the art of maintaining a poker face.

“You can be rowdy at home, you know. I don’t care. You’ll wear yourself out if you keep everything pent up all the time,” Sasuke told him.

Seeing that Sasuke had caught on to his struggle, Naruto shrugged and sighed, “It’s training. Besides, I wanna impress Gaara with my new calm demeanor when he comes.”

“You think you’ll impress him by not trying to beat me up over ramen?”

“Yeah! I wonder if he’ll notice,” he said. He sounded truly excited. Sasuke felt his gut roil.

Gaara was finally arriving tomorrow and it couldn’t happen soon enough for Sasuke. He’d come, lurk around looking shifty for a few hours, then be on his way the next day. Then Sasuke could go back to life as usual while waiting for Sakura to get home.

It wasn’t that he missed her- not in obvious ways. He missed the little things she used to do that made his days a bit easier, of course. But it was more having to worry about her on her own, possibly in weird situations that Kakashi would only encourage. Her friendliness could give some foreigner the wrong idea. Or Kakashi’s annoyingness could start a fight and she might end up getting injured protecting him... although he had to admit, even in his own mind, that that was unlikely. Kakashi had risked himself to protect her in the past and it was unlikely that that would change, Hokage or not.

But Sasuke wasn’t the only one feeling the strain of her absence. Naruto seemed to be a bit moodier, despite his efforts to control himself more. Sometimes the blonde seemed as reluctant to go to bed as Sasuke was, usually drawing out their evening hangouts as much as possible. Once or twice, Sasuke even found him asleep on the couch when he came down for breakfast the next day.

But with Gaara only a day away, Naruto was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement, cleaning up the house in his own weird, disorganized way.

Sasuke was sitting in the living room, staying out of the way, when a knock at the front door had Naruto darting inside from the yard. Ino’s teammate Chouji rounded the foyer a few moments later.

“I need a big favor!” Naruto exclaimed to their guest, leading him into the living room, “Do you think you could cook a nice, family meal for five? Gaara and his bro and sis are coming to visit tomorrow and I wanted to make sure they ate something really special, some homemade Konoha grub. Can you do it?”

“The Kazekage is going to eat my food?” Chouji questioned, and then grinned, “Yeah, I can handle that. Just tell me what he thinks afterwards.”

“Why don’t you and the team come out? I mean, Sakura isn’t here for Ino to play with, but you guys are still more than welcome. I thought we’d pal around the village for awhile after his meetings, but if you’re down for a late dinner...?”

“Ino has plenty of people to play with, Sakura-chan or no,” Chouji guffawed, “Alright. I don’t see why not.”

A stone dropped in Sasuke stomach. Naruto thought that he was the one working hard to present a good image to their visitors, but Sasuke was almost certain that he wasn’t even putting out a quarter of the energy that it took for Sasuke to deal with so many people for so long. Now there were three more people on top of the first three, and with no Sakura around to curb her loud friend... Tomorrow was looking dimmer and dimmer.

Sasuke tried to focus his energy on regulating his adrenal gland, just like Sakura had taught him. Regulate, wait, and breathe, she had told him. He pretended to act normal while waiting for the feeling to pass as Naruto finished his chat with Chouji. When the ninja was on his way, Naruto sat down beside him, looking thoughtful, “You know, maybe I should invite a few more people... show Gaara some real Konoha spirit.”

Save yourself, “Gaara isn’t as outgoing as you. He might not want to be surrounded by strangers,” Sasuke said, straining to sound casual.

“Yeah... you could be right. Maybe the two of us and Team 10 is enough.”

That was one mercy at least.

————————

Everything was going smoothly. The Sand brats came to town and stayed out of his hair for most of the day with Naruto and Gaara running off to play or whatever the hell plans the blonde had made for them. Sasuke got to come home early to let Chouji into the house. Apparently it was easier to just bring ingredients and cook in his kitchen than to deliver the food when it was done. But that didn’t turn out to be easy either as their kitchen apparently didn’t measure up to Chouji’s standards, leaving Sasuke running back and forth to the flower shop house, fetching weird kitchen things like colanders and serving bowls and such.

Dinner itself was a surprisingly calm affair though. Naruto was still doing his responsible adult act, which helped, but Sasuke thought that most of the mood could be contributed to some weirdness going on between Team 10 and the sand nins.

“Oi, how’d you get so wimpy looking? You said you were fine after the last battle,” Temari said by way of greeting when Ino and Shikamaru appeared at the door.

Ino looked over at Shikamaru, who gave the foreign kunoichi a tired looking smile, “I think I remember you telling me that mind was more important than matter.”

“Yeah, and I also said you can’t mope around and act weak either, but look at you,” Temari said and walked over to examine him more closely. Ino stepped to the side, pretending not to notice their interaction, and looked at Naruto instead.

“Hey lover-boy,” she said with a grin that Naruto returned.

“Ino-chan. Have you met Gaara and his brother?”

“Not officially! It’s a pleasure,” she said, and let herself be introduced to the two, but Sasuke saw her continuing to tune in to Shikamaru’s conversation, even as she had one of her own. It was quite a skill; Sasuke was actually a bit impressed.

As dinner was served, the atmosphere settled back down for the most part. They talked about Sakura, (well, Ino did and then Kankuro pretended to be all forlorn that’s she wasn’t around and that idiot Naruto didn’t even step up and say that she was his girlfriend. Sasuke didn’t know how it fell to him and not Naruto to protect Sakura from that puppet freak, but he supposed if Naruto was clueless and they were all doing that team caring thing, he’d do his duty and find a way to deal with it.) Shikamaru and Gaara’s sister continued to act like they were on familiar terms, with Temari being friendly, teasing, and antagonistic in turn, trying to coax responses from the gloomy guy while Ino pretended not to notice, talking boisterously to everyone else at the table instead with a strange, smoldering energy behind her eyes.

After dinner, Sasuke thought that that was the end of things and he had just managed to pass a pleasantly mundane evening, even getting to watch another team’s drama for a change.

But then Gaara brought out his “gift”.

“I thought we could make it a tradition,” the Kazekage said quietly as Naruto began pulling bottle after bottle of liquor out of a tall woven basket that Gaara had left by the front door when he arrived.

This is not good, Sasuke thought, seeing the bottles lined neatly in a row on his kitchen counter, Team 10 watching on with wide eyes.

“How much booze did you drink when you were there last time?” Sasuke heard Ino mumble to Naruto.

“Heh heh...” Naruto said, eyeing the bottles with a wistful grin, “I hate that Sakura-chan’s missing out though, since you went through the trouble to bring all this.”

“I can make it up to her when I see her next week,” Gaara said, and Sasuke’s insides clenched. He did not want Sakura drinking alone with the Sand nins. But Naruto didn’t say anything and Gaara looked at the assembled crew and gave them an odd, unpracticed smile, “So?”

“I’ll get the glasses!” Naruto said cheerfully without any more complaints. Gaara’s eyes drifted over to Sasuke, so he had to hold back his sigh.

It couldn’t just be easy.

He decided not to drink, but he kept that decision to himself to avoid the pressure. And there was pressure. Under the unblinking gaze of the Kazekage, the Leaf ninja dutifully drank their share of liquor, and then some. Sasuke estimated that he had about one shot to their four. Temari and Kankuro drank slowly as well, he noticed, the puppet master seeming content to watch them all. There was something going on with Temari, however. He was sure of it once Team 10 started coming a bit loose. If her eyes had lingered on Naruto and Sakura the way they were on Ino and Shikamaru, he’d have been gearing up for a fight. Team 10, however, seemed unaware of the danger. He was sure Sakura would have noticed and told Ino if she had been there.

But that didn’t mean he had an obligation to... right?

He had developed a level of tolerance toward Ino during her many visits to the house... and he did still feel like he owed Sakura something...

He was zoned out, thinking about unimportant stuff like that. That’s how it happened.

Naruto was winding up one of his stories, “Yep. So I owe everything to Iruka-sensei for helping me out.”

“I got to meet him. He seemed like a nice man,” Gaara said, his steady green gaze falling over to Sasuke, bringing him back to the moment as well. Had he noticed how little he was drinking? Was that some kind of insult in the Sand?

“He is. He’s the best... I...” Naruto stopped and clenched his fist, his eyes tearing up with emotion. Sasuke rolled his eyes. The fool was already feeling the alcohol. “I wanna go see ‘im. You wanna come?” He asked, grasping Gaara’s thin shoulder and pulling him closer.

Gaara’s eyes drifted back to Naruto, “Why don’t you just invite him here?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna do that!” Naruto shouted, “I need to summon a messenger pigeon or... or...”

“I can go get him,” Sasuke said, fully intending to walk a circle around Konoha and then return saying Iruka had declined.

“What? Alone? You probably won’t come back!” Naruto accused, pointing a finger in his face that Sasuke swatted away.

Gaara began to say something, but his sister cut him off.

“I’ll go with him,” Temari offered, “I’ve been wanting to get to know you better,” she added to him with a quick glance over her shoulder. Team 10 was approaching to see what the deal was.

Well at least he wouldn’t have to protect Ino.

“I’d go. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the village,” Kankuro said. Temari sighed.

“What’re we doing?” Chouji asked.

“We’re picking up some old sensei, apparently,” Kankuro said.

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto corrected, “And we can all go!”

“I’m too drunk to walk that far... carry me?” Ino said, batting her eyes at Shikamaru, then Chouji.

Shikamaru ignored her straight out. Chouji just scoffed, “Yeah, right.”

“See how mean my team is, Naruto-kun? You’d carry Sakura-chan or Sasuke-kun, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d carry ‘em all the way to the Sand if they asked me to!” Naruto boasted. Sasuke shoved Naruto over a few feet, making him slosh his drink. Ino prodded Shikamaru, “See?”

“Would you carry me then?” Shikamaru challenged with a brief smirk.

“Of course I would! ...If you were injured,” Ino added in a mumble.

“Same here,” Shikamaru said, then turned to get his sandals.

“Meanie!”

“I’ll carry you,” Kankuro offered with a grin, but Chouji cut him off.

“Don’t indulge her. She’s already spoiled enough. Come on. A walk will sober you up a little.”

“I want a piggyback ride!” Ino pouted with a stomp, but allowed herself to be shuffled toward the front door with Chouji’s hand on her back, steering her.

Sasuke wondered if he could offer to stay behind and... he didn’t know what. Guard the house? But he knew that would probably end with a tipsy Naruto shouting at him, so he kept his mouth shut and decided to follow the train until the end.

————————

Iruka lived across the village in what used to be the old side of Konoha, surrounded by a mix of shops, lofts, and apartments. On the way to his house, they passed no less than five homes containing people Naruto referred to as his “great buddies”.

Naruto’s mercurial nature fully revived under the influence of alcohol, he called at the windows of each of those five houses until someone came outside and demanded to know what the hell he wanted. To which Naruto’s answer was, “We’re on the way to get Iruka-sensei! We’re hanging out at my house with the Kazekage...”

Which usually led to a further examination of the group standing down on the sidewalk, yelling at Naruto to lower his voice or come down.

Naturally, after that, an invitation would be extended and then followed up further with jovial cries of, “Invite the whole team! What’s so and so doing anyway? It’s the weekend! Life is short!” Etc, etc...

By the end of their walk, the group had begun to resemble a small army. But that was nothing compared to the crowd of twenty or so people waiting for them when they got home. Notably absent was Iruka-sensei, who had shoved them off with a “Good to see you again, Kazekage-sama,” and a “Turn your ass around and take your party back home before you wake up half the city!” respectively.

And so, Sasuke’s house was filled to the brim with seemingly everyone he had ever met in the village and some he was sure he hadn’t. More alcohol had been produced and the living room, kitchen and courtyard was packed with talking, laughing, and arguing ninja. Sasuke would have retreated, if not for Naruto cornering him every five minutes to press a drink into his hand and tell him how great he was.

During one of these sessions he caught Ino looking at them with a Cheshire grin. Sasuke heard an echo of her words in his head.

I want someone to take care of me the way you take care of Sasuke...

Not that he cared what she thought... but it wouldn’t do to show the Sand nins that Naruto was the one carrying him and not the other way around.

Still, Sasuke’s polite drink count was climbing higher than it should have been. He couldn’t tell if he was still sober... His face felt a little warm, but that could have been all of the people in the house, raising the temperature.

“Sasuke! There you are!” Naruto shouted, as though Sasuke had moved from his spot by the stairs since the last time Naruto sought him out. And like clockwork, there was another drink ready to be pressed into Sasuke’s hand.

“Ne, ne, come hang out with me. Kankuro’s gonna teach us a drinking game from the Sand.”

Sasuke contained his sigh, “Don’t you think those three are being too friendly?”

“What do you mean?”

“Kankuro is hitting on everything female that moves, Temari has been watching Ino and Shikamaru like she’s considering the best place to bury a kunai, and Gaara is practically glued to your hip... and he’s been giving me weird looks.”

“You’re the paranoid type drunk, aren’t you?” Naruto said with a grin, but then it suddenly faltered.

“What?” Sasuke asked.

“Who cares if Gaara’s glued to my hip, anyway? There’s nothing wrong with it. We’re friends, so it’s fine, right?”

Sasuke had no idea what he was getting pissy about, “Whatever, dobe. If something weird happens, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Naruto squinted at him, “Whaddaya mean weird?”

Why was this so hard for Naruto to get? Gaara was an enemy once. He was volatile, even unpredictable. Even if he had seemed like he’d changed, there was still something off about him.

But if Sasuke said anything like that, he was sure Naruto would shout the house down and cause a scene that might have ended up as an international incident, so he said, “Don’t worry about it. Do whatever you want as long as you stop dragging me over to talk every five seconds.” And pried himself out through the crowd with his new drink.

He felt Naruto’s eye on him, and it was probably that, not tipsiness, that made him bump into Temari.

“Sorry,” he said as she righted herself with a hand on his shoulder.

“Not a problem,” she said, holding up her drink, “Didn’t spill.”

He looked down at his own. Most of the contents of his cup had sloshed on to the floor, coating his hand.

Well, alcohol was a cleaning agent, right? He didn’t have to mop it up right away.

Temari seemed to be taking a break from watching Shikamaru, keeping closer to her little brother the more he drank. Whatever was going on between her and Team 10, it was nice to see that at least one of the sand trio put their responsibilities first.

“This is your genin class, huh?” She asked, waving at the chattering crowd.

“Yeah.”

“They’re not too rowdy,” she said, standing on her toes to get a better view, “But I take it you don’t love crowds.”

“Not really,” he admitted. It wasn’t like he was trying to hide it.

“Hey, is that a small smile I see forming? You are kind of cute,” she said with a smirk.

Sasuke never knew what to say to stuff like that. He’d spent his life ignoring those kind of comments or bluntly rejecting them. Naruto, with all of his recent popularity, seemed to just accept compliments with a grin and keep moving, but for Sasuke, it always felt like a brick wall.

“But you’re shy?” Temari questioned when he spent too long in silence.

Since he couldn’t insult Temari, he had to think about what to do. Sasuke had heard Sakura talking to Naruto about how to deal with these kind of situations... Although it was actually more of a lecture, since Naruto tended to bask in the attention of complimentary strangers and tease flustered hero-worshipers.

“Look, if someone is flirting with you, you have to decide if you’re interested or not. If you are, you can flirt back, but if you’re not, you need to thank them and move on. Otherwise you’re just leading them on,” Sakura chastised.

“But I’m not gonna be interested in anyone. I have you!” Naruto said, confused.

“Then stop encouraging them, baka!”

So, step one: Sasuke had to decide if he was interested. Temari was blonde, blue eyed, pretty enough... she seemed to have a responsible streak, which he kind of admired, and probably had a lot of patience since she had to deal with Gaara and Kankuro all the time... But she was also a foreigner and he didn’t like the idea of a relationship between two high level officials from different villages. So he had to find a way to “thank her and move on,” he supposed.

Sasuke’s eyes had strayed to Naruto while he was thinking. He was standing with Gaara again, whose green eyes caught Sasuke’s before Naruto’s did. However, when Naruto did look over, he gave Sasuke a suspicious look.

“Those two make a good pair, don’t they?” Temari asked, following his gaze to Naruto and Gaara, “It’s nice to see Gaara close to someone.”

“Naruto’s dating Sakura,” Sasuke said without thinking, “You should tell your brother,” he added, thinking of Sakura’s upcoming trip to the sand, briefly searching the room for Kankuro but not seeing him.

She looked at him skeptically, her eyes sharp, “I’m sure he’s figured that out already, even if Naruto didn’t take every opportunity to shout from the roof tops how much he loves her. Besides, Gaara is surprisingly direct with his feelings these days,” she added, her expression softening, “If he wanted Naruto, he’d have probably already asked.”

Sasuke almost corrected the misunderstanding, but he felt a little lighter after Temari’s reply. If his sister could be believed, Gaara really did just want to be friends with Naruto.

Sasuke raised his glass to Temari, “Cheers, then,” he said, before downing the slosh of liquor left in his glass. That news deserved a drink, at least.

————————

----Naruto

Naruto was not as drunk as everyone said he was. His body felt perfect, actually. Like he could perform any jutsu or beat Rock Lee in a taijutsu competition. His limbs were loose, liquid, and relaxed.

Naruto probably could have left well enough alone if Sasuke didn’t look so uncomfortable.

He hadn’t really thought about what Sakura had said since she left; Sasuke was back to his usual self with only a few rough days here and there, so there was no need. But now, skulking around in corners and giving everyone dark looks? Naruto found himself watching his every move.

He caught all the icy glares that Sasuke directed at their visitors; there was a big one when Kankuro brought up Sakura, and a few lesser ones toward Gaara after he’d been drinking. Sasuke had said Gaara was being too friendly...

But Sasuke couldn’t be jealous. He was still actively giving off ‘stop treating me like I’m your girlfriend’ vibes...

While acting exactly like a jealous girlfriend, Naruto thought, and the feelings he’d had when Sakura was freaking out came rushing right back to him. He tried to dismiss it, but his stupid/stubborn/drunk brain kept bringing it up.

It was true, though. Sasuke had even stomped off in a temper! And now he’d been out of sight for the better part of an hour.

Last Naruto saw him, he was wobbling around and being weirdly friendly to Temari. Well, they were having a conversation, but for Sasuke, that was weirdly friendly. And now she seemed to be missing as well. While he was looking around for Sasuke, Gaara had also meandered out of sight, but at least Kankuro was still around, talking with a group of people in the kitchen. Naruto was about to ask him if he’d seen his siblings when he was attacked from below.

“Naruto!” Ino cried, slithering from the sofa and catching him from the left, her arms locking around his waist.

“Ack!” He stumbled as she pulled down on him with her full weight.

“I’m so happy for you. I’m soooo, soooo happy for you,” she mumbled, her head buried in his side.

“Are you ok?” Naruto asked with a laugh, detaching her arms and pulling her upright. She swayed toward him until they were only an inch apart, her glinting eyes searching his.

“You’re so great for Sakura. Really, really great. You’re gonna be together forever. I can tell.”

“Thanks Ino-chan,” Naruto said with a smile, scanning the room for one of her teammates to take her off his hands. A few feet away, he caught Sai looking at them and waved him over.

“What are you doing Naruto-kun, Ino-chan?” Sai asked.

“Sai-kun! Let me look at that beautiful face! You give me life, I swear to God...” Ino cried, reaching for Sai’s face and missing, but managing to grip his shoulders instead.

“Ino-chan might be on her last leg,” Naruto said, letting her go, only for her to stumble further on to Sai, her head landing with a solid thunk against his chest, “Can you hand her off to one of her teammates? Two of our guests of honor are missing and I don’t want ‘em wandering off into the night all liquored up.”

“You seem liquored up too,” Sai replied as he effortlessly lifted Ino into his arms before her head slid any further down his body. She went limp as her feet left the floor. Naruto thought she might have passed out, except she had a huge, satisfied grin on her face. He was glad that she’d finally gotten her wish of being carried.

“Nah, I don’t feel drunk at all,” he said, waving at the duo as he walked outside.

————————

----Sasuke

He’s was sitting with Temari on the roof, looking out over the fence into what they could see of the winter dead field behind the house. They had a little cover; that section of the roof was partially obscured by the roof of the breeze way, and the light from the house didn’t totally reach them. He figured he’d be safe from drinking anything else for awhile, which was good. The state of his sobriety was becoming a touch and go situation.

It was odd, sitting outside of his own house, listening to loud, unfamiliar voices behind him with a strange girl that he barely knew at his side.

Adding to that, she kept looking over her shoulder. If he wasn’t aware that she’d been doing it all evening, he’d have thought she was being hunted.

“What’s with that?” Sasuke asked after seeing her turn her head back to the courtyard for the fifth time.

“What?” she asked, whipping back around to him.

Sasuke gave her a long look.

“It’s nothing.”

Sasuke fought the urge to shove her off the roof, “We’re not kids. What’ve you got going on with Shikamaru?”

“There’s nothing “going on”. We’re just friends. We’ve been writing each other for years. I just haven’t heard from him as much since the war, so I’ve been trying to figure out what’s up with him.”

“He’s dating Sakura’s best friend,” Sasuke felt compelled to say.

Temari leaned toward him, “Are you telling me to back off, Uchiha?”

“I’m telling you the facts.” Their breath rose between them and streamed up into the darkness.

“Who said I wanna date him?” Temari said loftily, “I’m out here with you, aren’t I?”

“I wouldn’t date the Kazekage’s sister,” Sasuke said quietly.

“What about the Kazekage?” Temari asked, her cocky smile returned.

“You planning a coup on your brother?” Sasuke asked, but Temari just shook her head. Sasuke sighed. He was tired. Why did everyone have to play games?

Temari drew her legs up and turned around to face the party. He was on the verge of telling her how unlikely it was that Shikamaru was going to just wander into the yard when she suddenly stiffened.

“Um... I’m gonna go inside for a bit,” she said and hopped down abruptly. No doubt she’d seen Shikamaru and decided that now was the time to strike. He was wondering just how far his Sakura-fueled obligation to Ino went when another voice addressed him.

“Sasuke,” Gaara said, looking up at him from the crevasse between the house and the fence.

“Gaara,” Sasuke replied, a little shocked to see the sand brat without Naruto at his side to act as a buffer.

Gaara rose as if by magic... until Sasuke fought through his drunken haze and realized he was pushing himself up with sand. When he was level with the roof, Gaara stared down at him for a moment, appearing to size him up. Sasuke returned the favor. Despite past experience to the contrary, Gaara still seemed like someone prone to frailty, not fighting. Beneath the initial impression of menace created by face paint and a lack of eyebrows, Gaara was all sharp bones and unweathered skin. If he hadn’t already known his age, Sasuke would have assumed he was much younger than himself.

Without a word, Gaara stepped down on to the roof and took a seat beside him.

“Naruto’ll come looking for you if you sit out here. This whole party is for you, after all.” Sasuke said.

“Are you drunk?” Gaara asked.

Sasuke shrugged, “Didn’t think I was drinking enough to get drunk. Are you?”

Gaara ignored the question, “You don’t like drinking?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

Sasuke couldn’t stop his scowl, “Why’d you bring all the booze, then?”

“I liked talking to you all like this last time,” Gaara said, toying with particles in the air that Sasuke could barely see, “You’re interesting when you’re drunk. More honest.”

“Yeah. Team 7 is just full of honesty,” he said, unable to contain his sarcasm.

“I was talking about just you,” Gaara said. Sasuke glanced over and found his pale face much closer than he’d expected. He had the urge to back up, jump to his feet. In the end, he just stayed still. He wasn’t going to be the first to flinch.

“Me? Why would you care?” Sasuke asked, and decided to meet his intense stare. Gaara didn’t seem to notice, however, keeping the same level eye contact as he always did. People still regularly avoided Sasuke’s gaze, which only made him want to stare at them out of spite. He wondered if Gaara had gone through the same thing. Maybe that was why he was so persistent at locking eyes.

After a long pause, Gaara asked, “Are you in love with Naruto?”

Sasuke snorted, “Why? If you’re gonna make a move on him, it’s Sakura you need to worry about.”

Gaara tilted his lean jaw, something like a smile working across his face, “I’m making a move on you.”

————————

----Naruto

The party was winding down- there was a lot more sitting and chatting now than standing and shouting. Outside, people were lounging on the breezeway and trying to dry out by taking deep breaths of cold air in the garden.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Temari whipping around the side of the house.
That was one of the two missing sand nins down. And it seemed likely that it was Sasuke she was after; he would be one to slip into some dark little passage to wait the party out. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find Sasuke squatting in the lean-to on the edge of the garden with cobwebs in his hair.

He peeked around the corner and his heart briefly stopped. Temari had her hand braced against the side of the house, boxing in a slightly taller figure... It started up again when he realized that that figure was Shikamaru. Naruto quickly ducked away.

“I don’t get you,” he heard Temari say before he crept back into the yard. Shikamaru was a good guy and Naruto knew that he had bonded with Temari after she saved him during that awful mission so many years ago. There was no reason to worry about whatever secret conversation they were having. Shikamaru wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ino or his team.

If it had been Sasuke though... Well, Temari had seemed kinda friendly with him earlier, and with Sasuke being a bit of a lightweight, at least compared to him and Sakura... He actually wasn’t exactly sure what he was worried about, but he’d be able to relax as soon as he knew that Sasuke wasn’t doing anything weird.

----Sasuke

Sasuke was speechless. Like all the girls calling him cute when he was growing up, he didn’t know what to say, but the awkwardness of it was quadrupled because of who said it.

“I thought you might have been into him. Do you like men?” Gaara asked.

Get it to-fucking-gether. This is Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage of the Sand. You do not show weakness.

“Never thought about it. Hasn’t come up,” Sasuke said, turning his face back to the empty darkness behind the house. Fuck this weird eye-contact bullshit.

Gaara was quiet for a moment, then said, “That’s right. You said you’d never kissed anyone before.”

Sasuke nearly fell off the roof in his haste to turn back to him, “What? When did I say that?”

“When you came to visit. Sakura was the only one who had kissed someone.”

It was coming back to him... Some silly story about how Naruto had goaded her into kissing one of their friends.

“I’ve kissed someone since then,” Sasuke said.

“So have I,” Gaara replied, and when Sasuke dared a glance at him, he was smiling. It actually looked normal for once.

How nice for this bastard. How can the Kazekage have an uncomplicated kiss, but not me?

But wait. “So you are into guys,” Sasuke confirmed, feeling elation when Gaara nodded. He knew he’d been right! There was weird energy going on between Gaara and Naruto!

“What does that look mean?” Gaara asked. Sasuke realized there was a victorious smile plastered across his face. To distract from it, he decided to redirect.

“So why me and not Naruto?”

Gaara shrugged, “I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking about you on and off for a while. And when I saw you this morning, you gave me a weird look.”

That could be true, he thought. Apparently there were a lot of weird looks going around today.

“I thought you were jealous of me visiting Naruto,” Gaara explained.

“This is just what I look like,” Sasuke hedged.

“Me too,” Gaara said. Another quick glance showed him that Gaara was smiling again.

“So what? You’re into me. What does that even mean? What do you want?”

Gaara’s gaze drifted out into the darkness, like he was considering it. “I’ve been thinking about what would happen if I kissed you.”

“You’d get punched,” Sasuke said bluntly.

“What if I asked first?”

“You’re the Kazekage. Don’t you have to consider the political ramifications of kissing someone like me?”

Gaara was quiet for a moment, then said, “You’re not saying no.”

Sasuke bit the inside of his mouth out of frustration. Was he the only one thinking about the future? This was an advantageous situation for him. If Gaara had some kind of crush on him, it could come in handy one day... although Gaara was obviously loyal to Naruto as well, so it wasn’t an advantage they’d ever need.

He gave Gaara a once over from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t ugly. He was kind of strange, but so was Sasuke. Gaara was pretty strong, too, and the Kazekage... not embarrassing to be associated with if anyone found out...

Whatever. Why the hell not? Naruto and Sakura were kissing all the time, so why not him?

“I’m not saying no,” Sasuke repeated, but he couldn’t turn his head to look at him, even as he felt Gaara scooting closer. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a pale hand hover near his face. Sasuke couldn’t help but jump when a cold finger slid from his cheek bone, to his jaw.

He forced himself to turn to Gaara. He wasn’t going to just sit there and let it happen to him like a dumb-struck idiot, but he wasn’t going to reciprocate in any kind of romantic face-stroking either. Sasuke grabbed a handful of red hair and drew him closer.

This would be it. His first, non-Team 7 kiss. He closed his eyes at the same time as Gaara, but the impression of pale green eyes still stayed with him and his spiky hair felt nostalgic, somehow, under his fingertips.

The kiss was... strange. After a few seconds, he let himself breathe as he rearranged his lips. He was waiting for something to happen. His heart was beating faster, he felt warm, but... in the end, it was just someone’s unfamiliar face touching his.

A rush of disappointment swelled inside him. He really thought something more would have happened. Feeling weary and maudlin, he was already pulling back when he heard his name again, this time croaked by a more familiar voice.

“Sa...suke?”

————————

A/N: With this update, I’ve gone back and tweaked some of the old chapters. Seemed appropriate to say something, but they’re not big changes so it’s nothing you guys would have to go back and read for context or anything.

I’ve come away from this last over-all edit with some big notes for myself. I definitely see new areas where I need to improve my writing. Thank you all for reading this far in spite of the problems. I hope you can see some improvement in the future!
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Stranger than the Wild