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[beachlass]

So, rather than packing, I've been finishing this story before going away. After tonight, I'll be offline for almost two weeks, as I'm going to stay in an Ojibway community which has very graciously allowed me to come and visit as a cross cultural immersion for school. I'm looking forward to it, but also nervous, and I will definitely miss you all.


So, continuing from Disguises and Expectations:
Naruto does not belong to me, but to Kishimoto
Rated PG 13 (or higher maybe, 'cause it's Sasuke?)

Perceptions

When Kakashi came down the stairs to meet his teammates he found Shikamaru lounging in the hall outside the inn’s common room. Kakashi had been expecting a quiet dinner and game of shouji, but stopped at a sign from his strategist.

“Check out the guy Sakura is talking to at the bar.” Shikamaru murmured. “There’s something about the people she picks up when we’re out of Konoha. I can’t put my finger to it, but it’s there. Something familiar about them.”

Kakashi leaned Shikamaru to look in the room. Sakura was flirting with a tall green haired man, touching his sleeve briefly. “I don’t see anything yet… but I’m looking at his back.”

“Look harder.” insisted Shikamaru. So Kakashi shifted up his hitae-ite, and looked across the room with his sharingan. Now the man sitting with Sakura flickered, it was like trying to watch a newsreel with his eye… as if there were two men there, and his sight kept flashing between the two. He held his breath, and concentrated. There was green hair/dark hair, tan skin/pale skin.  A log cracked in the fireplace, and the man quickly turned at the sound. As Kakashi saw the profile flicker, he shuddered, and then fell back against the wall. “Sasuke” he whispered.

“Shit” muttered Shikamaru, and lit a cigarette. He thought about the missions he’d been on with Sakura. The way that Ino could tell who Sakura would pick up in a bar. The same way Ino could tell who Naruto would pick up, or pick a fight with…. There was a pattern here, and he could finally see it. Now he needed a plan.

Kakashi stared at the floor. Shikamaru smoked When his cigarette was done, he turned, and said to Kakashi “Send Sakura to me. Get him distracted on the second landing.” And he pulled Kakashi into the common room.

Sakura waved as they entered, and when Shikamaru saw the man with her turn, he tightened his grip on Kakashi’s collar, reached up, pulled down the mask and kissed him. Kakashi’s easy slouch didn’t change, but his already tense shoulders stiffened further. Shikamaru kissed along his jaw, then whispered in his ear. “Getting his attention was always a challenge.” He felt a small amused huff of breath against his cheek, and then a large hand skimming down his vest to squeeze his ass. They kissed once more, leaning into one another, Kakashi’s eye drifting shut at the familiar smell of tobacco. As they broke apart his hand lingered at Shikamaru’s waist for a moment while he assessed the confidence in Shikamaru’s eyes. Then Kakashi pulled up his mask, and sauntered over to where Sakura and her ‘new’ friend were sitting. Staring. At him.

“He wants to talk to you about tomorrow” he said to Sakura, nodding towards Shikamaru, who was heading out of the room.

Sakura frowned at Kakashi, and then at the man she’d been flirting with: who hadn’t taken his eyes off Kakashi yet. “I’ll be back as soon as I can” she said.

“Hn.” he replied distractedly, still looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi sat in Sakura’s chair, sliding down, legs outstretched. With his sharingan covered, he didn’t see Sasuke at all, just an attractive young man with a tan and green hair. Looking at him intensely.

***

When Sasuke had found Sakura and Shikamaru at the inn, he hadn’t given much thought to who else might be with them. It never really mattered who Sakura was with, except that one time he’d run into her with Naruto. It had mattered when he thought he was going to have to choose between the two of them; and it had mattered when he didn’t have to choose, because they chose to share. But he hadn’t felt Naruto’s chakra around, and hadn’t wondered about who else was with them until Kakashi was suddenly in the room and kissing Shikamaru. Shikamaru! Shikamaru should be kissing his own former sensei, not Sasuke’s. Or Ino. Or someone else, someone who wasn’t one of Sasuke’s people.

But now Sakura was gone, and Kakashi was lounging across from him, so Sasuke forcibly relaxed. “Doesn’t that interfere with your depth perception?” he asked, gesturing at the covered eye.

“I see just fine.” Kakashi replied, and trailed his eyes up the lean body in front of him.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. The next words were out of his mouth before he fully thought them through. “See anything you like?” he drawled. And then he flushed slightly at the memory of watching Kakashi kiss Shikamaru, and the thought of Kakashi’s hands on him rather than Shikamaru. Kakashi’s undivided attention focused on him. Kakashi distracted and panting under him. Sasuke thought about pulling the mask down, getting under Kakashi’s uniform, against his skin. He wondered if he could get Kakashi’s guard down enough to kill him. He flushed more and his breathing quickened. He imagined himself on his knees in front of Kakashi, his former sensei consumed, not seeing the strike until it was too late.

“I thought I saw my teammate with you.” Kakashi answered. Then he shifted his leg so that it rested against the other man’s. Sasuke could be patient, when he needed to be, but he saw no point in patience just now, so he stroked up Kakashi’s thigh with his hand, and licked his lips. “Upstairs.” he suggested. Sasuke didn’t want conversation and flirting with Kakashi, not like he indulged when he met Sakura and Naruto. He wanted to throw himself against Kakashi, make contact, feel sparks. He saw the narrowing of Kakashi’s visible eye that he remembered as consent, and didn’t think to question why Kakashi would expect a stranger to pick up on his slight visual cues. The two men left the common room.

***

Kakashi started up the stairs ahead of Sasuke. Distract him on the second landing. He was deeply unsettled, heart beating slightly faster, which he didn’t bother to control, calculating that Sasuke would attribute it to desire and not nerves. He could feel Sasuke assessing him for threat, and focused on keeping his body language relaxed as they arrived on the second landing, and he turned to face the other man. When Kakashi raised his hand, he could see Sasuke tense, finger movement betraying the location of at least one set of weapons, until Kakashi reached for his mask, not his hitae-ite, and lowered it, revealing vulnerability, rather than unleashing strength. Sasuke blinked, and stopped. And then Kakashi pulled Sasuke towards him, leaning his back against the wall and brushing his lips against Sasuke’s. The kiss was uncertain only for a moment, as Kakashi tried to convincingly portray desire, and Sasuke tried to gauge threat. But then Kakashi licked at Sasuke’s lips, and slid his hands down Sasuke’s sides to rest on his hips. Sasuke grunted and unconsciously thrust his hips against Kakashi. Kakashi slid his hands around to cup Sasuke’s ass. He fought down his distress at feeling Sasuke hard against him, opened his mouth to let Sasuke’s tongue slide in, wet and hard and demanding. Kakashi tightened his grip on Sasuke’s ass, hardening despite himself as Sasuke rocked against him, rubbing his hands down the firm flesh, kneading at it to distract himself from the growing desire to throttle the bastard, and distract Sasuke from any approaching threat.

Sasuke moaned into his mouth and then suddenly stopped and took an ungraceful step back. He snarled as he looked down and saw Shikamaru’s shadow overlapping his own.. Kakashi slumped against the wall as Sakura appeared, pale and determined. Shikamaru trembled with the exertion of holding Sasuke as she approached him, chakra strength gathered in her arms, one hand holding a hypodermic needle. Sakura plunged the needle into Sasuke’s arm, dispensing the sleeping drug. “Release him” she ground out. Shikamaru frowned, but relaxed, and Kakashi shifted up his headband to watch as Sasuke released his henge with an audible pop, and suddenly there was a slender, good looking, all too familiar black haired man in front of Sakura. “

“Do you really think your stupid drugs will knock me out, Sakura?” he sneered.

“No” she replied. And then she hauled back and punched him in the face.  His reaction time was a fraction delayed, and he ended up at the bottom of the stairs, nose broken, unconscious. Sakura landed beside him, and then hoisted him across her shoulders. Shikamaru produced their travel packs, and Kakashi led his team and their unexpected burden towards Konoha.

Comments

[beachlass.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like them. Yeah, Sasuke is fun to write.