beachlass | (no subject)

Fic post
Naruto belongs to Kishmoto et al, not me.

Naru/Sasu/Saku
PG? maybe

Sasuke undid the seals on the door, and slid it open silently. He walked through the dark house, until he got to the laundry room, where he carefully forced his tired, cold fingers to pry off the blood stiffened uniform. After that, he gratefully stood under the hot water in the adjacent shower, not even bothering to turn on the light, letting the steam rise in the darkness, until the shaking stopped, and his body, at least, felt warmer.

His robe was at hand, a sign that someone, probably Sakura, had thought ahead to his arrival, his homecoming, as usual accompanied by the blood, smoke and slight ozone smell that always clung after someone was unlucky enough to come between Sasuke and the completion of his mission. He knew she meant it to be welcoming, caring, a sign of acceptance, but as he wrapped the robe around himself, the trembling returned, as he softly cursed and padded down the hall.

He made his rounds, knowing that it was obsessive, knowing that if the house security had been breached, that the other two would and could take care of any threat, knowing that he would know if there was danger, but carefully checking anyway. Just like he did each time he came home.

After an hour, finally he headed for bed, exhaustion catching up to him, and overpowering even his compulsive need for ensuring security. Still in the dark, he stood in the doorway of their bedroom. Sakura and Naruto were tangled up in one another. Her head lay on his shoulder, her leg thrown across him. The bedroom was reassuring, the shadows of the furniture all in their place… Sakura’s clothes thrown at the foot of the bed, a fresh scratch on her shoulder disappearing under the upper hem of one of the little tank tops she slept in. Naruto was almost certainly sleeping in nothing, given his determined enjoyment of the feel of another body against his skin.

Sasuke huffed at the sight of the muscled chest, the open face, and the ridiculous sleeping cap. He’d given up complaining about it after the last time, when Naruto had thrown a black lace trimmed sleeping mask at him. Naruto had told him to wear it to bed if the sight of the sleeping caps (and there was a whole series – the frog ones were the most garish) burned his precious eyes so much. Sakura had helpfully pointed out that it would make the room seem darker, as he was often complaining about that too, and offered to embroider a couple of sharingan eyes on the mask. After that, Sasuke could see that the conversation was clearly going to remain in the realm of the ridiculous, and it was probably easiest to give up on ever getting rid of the sleeping caps.

Naruto possessively held Sakura with one arm, the other flung out onto the empty space beside him. There was more than enough room for Sasuke in the bed. More than enough room for him: the empty space was the one he left when he was off on all too frequent missions. They would welcome him with open arms, and sleepy kisses, and the warmth of the bed would wrap around him, and maybe settle into his bones.

He stood in the doorway for a few more breaths, and then turned, walking silently down to the other bedroom, crawling under the cold duvet as the exhaustion blessedly took him under.

for

askerian, who may be the queen of writing this OT3, for making me smile with her Haruno/Hyuuga satire earlier today.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

oh yays for threesome ficcies!!!! lovely really, the feeling of coming home to loved ones after being away.... *smoochies*.....nicely done!

i want my muses to be more helpful and let me write ficcie's fast (they apparently prefer the dark :P)

Thank you... these three kind of took up residence in my brain this afternoon.

Killer ending. So he's made it in the door (literally and metaphorically) but he just can't take that final step. Oh Sasuke, bless your intimacy-fearing little heart. He's so afraid of getting hurt and that's what just kill me about him. And you showed it so deftly in this piece! I adored the Team 7 interaction - you really captured their playfulness. (Sharingan eyes on the mask -- hee!!)

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you... I had trouble with the sleeping cap/mask piece, and was worried I was trying to add to much there, and losing the flow.

Don't you hate feeling like you have a forced transition from past to present? But nope, you didn't lose the flow at all. Good job!

Oh, that's why I was having trouble. *scribbles note to self*

Oh, this is so bittersweet. I love how he tries to wind down but doesn't manage and how he patrols the house, eeee. ;_; and yes! like Sintari, I love the memories of playfulness between them; it helps put things in perspective, doesn't let the whole piece fall into ZOMG EMO, and yet only highlights the "oh, Sasuke ;_;" feel of the ending. *sniffles*

I'm gonna assume he wakes up with sakura and naruto in bed with him if you don't mind, it's too sad for me otherwise. XD

♥♥♥♥♥

I am so glad you like it. I think there may be more, there were pieces that didn't fit into this story.

aw... why can't he accept their love?! - is it really that hard for him to give in to his own feelings? (and he does have feelings for them!)
he doesn't just hurt himself, i think he does hurt them to!
great written!!!!

Thank you for reading and leaving feedback. I imagine Sasuke resists his own feelings, and suspects the world will shatter around him if he expresses them too much.

Somehow I've missed you until now, and found you thanks to jbmcdragon. I've just read through all your stories except noriko. You just have to twist the blade, don't you, and you do it beautifully.

Even this one. You couldn't let it end with a bit of warmth for Sasuke, but had to go and write, "He stood in the doorway for a few more breaths, and then turned, walking silently down to the other bedroom, crawling under the cold duvet as the exhaustion blessedly took him under." In all these stories, your writing makes me ache for the characters. Wonderful stuff.

Thanks for reading. As I revisit this story today, I'm struck again how I don't find it to be as sad, if that's the right word, as some/many readers find it. For me there is a comfort in it... the way that Sakura and Naruto have a space for Sasuke, even though he doesn't comfortably fit into the space all the time.