Skin

In fact, the feudal lord did complain. Almost endlessly, about the dubious quality of Konoha ninja and what had ever given him the idea that he could get away with hiring them instead of Hidden Sand. Sasuke, unusually talkative from being grumpy and wet, suggested he do so next time. Kakashi was still nowhere to be found, apparently off to Konoha for yet another meeting.

A few hours later, Sasuke was walking down one of the castle's hallways, basket with towel and soap in hand. As irritating as all the criticism was, it was made up for sufficiently by their client's hospitality. He had dismissed them, but his wife pointed out that they couldn't very well be expected to walk back to their village in such tempestuous weather. So he had grudgingly assigned them a small wing of the luxurious palace for the night, which meant separate rooms, a rare luxury on the small traveling budget for mere chuunin.

As for Sasuke, being wet in the rain and being wet in bat bath were two different things entirely, especially since he got his own bathroom with the biggest tub he'd seen since his days as the spoiled son of Konoha's richest clan. He was tired, though, and didn't care to follow even that pleasant kind of memory as he shut the door behind him, and locked it as an afterthought.

He undressed as the water ran, leaving a neat pile of olive and blue on the floor. He didn't care for the chuunin uniforms, preferred the low-profile and looseness of his old black garb. Sasuke removed his forehead protector and then turned it over in his hands, rubbing his fingertips over the Leaf symbol to remove a speck of dust.

Despite his occasional running off, when it was all said and done there was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that he would stay in Konoha and fight for the village. Though the colder part of his psyche rejected it, he knew he had found almost enough love and acceptance there to make up for everythin'd m'd missed for so many years after Itachi ended his first life and forced him to be reborn into wretched loneliness. He blanked his mind, again trying to rid himself of potentially painful memories, and put down the forehead protector.

Here was a sight any kunoichi and a few others would kill to see. He vaguely wondered if anyone was peeping under the door, although he hadn't sensed any presences. The feudal lord kept various young maids, who had been haranguing him, offering him sweets and massages, flirting with him, and implying their willingness to go further than flirting anckruckrubs, and all this under Sakura's lethal aqua glare. Sasuke had done the only thing he ever did when girls cooed over him: left.

At least in here he should be able to get some peace and quiet. The steaming-hot water closed over his body, warming his chilled flesh that was silky and slightly golden, its softness belying the hard muscle that lay beneath.

Training furiously for all these years had made his body beautiful, although he rarely thought about it. His legs were long and toned, hips lean and narrow, stomach flat and hard. His derriere was the slightest bit plump from his secret dango habit, and nicely rounded. Someone would occasionally grab or pinch it, usually Sakura or Ino, and once even Tsunade, greatly to his annoyance. The water lapped over the firm muscles of his chest and biceps in a much more welcome caress Sas Sasuke leaned his head against the tile wall behind him, mind finally off on a tangent he could deal with. He closed his eyes, long and dark lashes covering the black depths as he allowed himself the indulgence of thinking about who he would want to grab his ass, never mind all the screaming girls...

Yeah, definitely not any screaming girls. It would have to be someone who wasn't amazingly shrill or have sharp nails when they glomped him, or wear so much sickely fly fruity perfume that I made his head hurt. Sakura was better than she used to be after her experience with the Sound-nin...

No, he didn't want to think about Sakura. He shook his head outwardly as well as inwardly, making lank tendrils of hair slither over the stark-white tile.

He had known the answer to his question for years, actually. It was painful to linger on the thought that the wish was apparently unrequited, but he did now. It wasn't so bad when he just imagined the cobalt eyes gazing into his own, the rough hands touching him in all the places he hid from everyone else, the lips on his own...

Oh, yeah. These were the perfect thoughts for bathtime, or bedtime. Sasuke shifted, making little waves in the still-hot water as he felt himself immediately warm up to the idea of doing any number of deliciously naughty things with Naruto. He vaguely wondered if he should run cold water, get rid of it the easy but painful way. But no, the water was delicious and warm, and so were his fingers as they wrapped around his shaft, the heat of the liquid deadening it somehow and making it almost like someone else's. A very specific someone else's. He was just starting to really enjoy it when there came a pounding on the door. He hit his head on the tile from surprise, cursed, and sat upright.

"WHAT?" Way more emotion than he usually showed through his voice, to be sure, but he was tired and truly annoyed at being interrupted now, of all times. A hesitation from the other side of the door.

"Sasuke-kun..." The knob turned. He realized with a start that he hadn't actually locked it. Sakura opened the door and poked her head in, looking concerned.

"Um..." Whatever she had been planning to say fled her, the sudden switch of thought-trains visible on her face as she looked over at the very wet, very pissed-off Sasuke who was glowering at her. She gaped at him for a long moment before he spoke.

"Stop staring at me." Uncommonly reactive, he tossed the soap at the partially-open door with the same deadly efficiency that worked so well with kunai and shuriken.

"Sorry." Sakura was mumbling, her cheeks very pink her her thoughts very bad. After a moment she finally managed to gather her senses and shut the door again, leaving an even crankier Sasuke behind.