Teamwork 3 - missing scene in chapter 2

[askerian]

Thanks to everyone's help, especially tephralynn and lady_aquill for the ideas and book_people for the encouragements all along the way ♥ here's the quick missing scene I wanted to insert between the first and second tests.

And by quick I really mean it's ten pages long. Damned surprise!limes.

I wanted moar stuff about rice balls and cuteness but i ran out of steam. T__T my god it's eight thirty AM. Why do I always get inspired when I have a schedule to keep.



"Huungry."

Naruto dragged his sandals on the rocky path in what he hoped was a sufficiently pathetic manner. Sasuke and Sakura ignored him utterly, Sasuke focused on keeping watch in case some other Genin team ambushed them for no good reason and Sakura was paying too much attention to silly little flowers that grew in clumps along the edge of the trail.

The sight was gorgeous -- hundreds of tiny purple and white flowers cascading down the rocky slope on one side, a breathtaking view of the sea on the other side. Naruto didn't give a damn. He couldn't eat any of it.

"Huuungryyy..."

Sasuke threw him an unfriendly glare over his shoulder. "Complain to Kakashi."

"Oh, I'm gonna, as soon as he comes back." Naruto was still annoyed about being tricked. Their teacher was an uncaring, black-hearted asshole. "But you bet your ass he's only gonna pop back up after we've eaten, so we can't land him with the bill."

"What did you do with your money? You should have enough left to get some food." Sakura sighed.

Naruto grimaced. "Oh, I got enough left, but it's still not fair Kakashi won't ever treat us. We're his precious students! That cheap bastard."

"You're one to talk about being cheap," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Naruto stiffened and glared at him, but Sakura was in the middle and the path was narrow enough without jostling past her.

"... Besides, I'm hungry now," Naruto grumbled insincerely.

Sakura leaned down to tear a root out of the ground and handed it to him. "Here. Chew on that and shut up."

Naruto eyed the dirt-covered root doubtfully. "Uh, Sakura-chan? Are you sure it's even edible?"

"Reasonably sure. Or maybe it will kill you. But either way, you'll stop whining."

She cracked her knuckles meaningfully. Naruto shrunk back. "Fine, fine!"

Sighing, he fell back, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he followed after his teammates. There was some mist hanging around the islets and reefs in the water, and a few clouds filtered the sunlight, but after their time in the cave, the day seemed perfectly beautiful. Naruto still felt cold, though.

He watched Sakura's green skirt and pink hair dance with her steps, Sasuke's fingers as he tugged his blue arm-warmers down to cover his hands to the first knuckles, and tried not to remember them coated in red, crushed and pierced through. Sasuke with gaping holes where he should have had eyes, a gurgling mess of intestines and open womb instead of Sakura's belly... He knew it was just a stupid genjutsu, but the caster's attention to detail did more than border on sadistic, it had bought lands there and built its own little mansion.

"... Are we there yet?"

Sakura growled his name as she half-turned around. But before she could slap him over the head, Sasuke answered. "You're in luck. There's the village."

"Finally!"

The path widened as it wound down a slope; Naruto took it as incentive to slip his hands under his teammates' arms and drag them in a mad race toward the bottom. Sakura shrieked, and Sasuke threw a "Hey!"; Naruto just laughed and went faster. They stampeded down to the first buildings together; by the time they managed to brake enough to control their momentum, even Sasuke had a smile on his face. Sakura was giggling and trying to berate him at the same time. It didn't work too well. He wasn't feeling very chastised.

"Win!"

"Who wins?" Sasuke pointed out. "We all got there at the same time."

Naruto secured his hold on their arms and marched down the street. "So we all win."

"Or we all lose."

Naruto sent him a horrible grimace. "Fine, then, I got there first."

The village hid in a hollow that didn't deserve to be called a valley. It wasn't even the real Mist village, Naruto knew, just a sort of tourist area for visiting traders and dignitaries; seeing the number of brand-new buildings at the edges, it probably had never had to house quite so many people before the Chuunin exam. At this hour, though, a good half of the genin teams would still be waiting to pass the first test; the streets looked quite empty.

Naruto marched on resolutely, with a teammate on each arm. Dusty and tired, and did he care? No! He was going to get fed right now.

It was only easy to stomp through the streets when they were empty; when their street landed them in the middle of a group of people, it was harder to keep going side by side, and he had to let go of his teammates. "Damn it, stop blocking the street," he grouched, glaring at the gathered ninjas. "Seriously, what's the -- oh, hey, Gaara!"

The redhead was at the head of the gathering, along with a couple of old Mist ninjas with weird hats. He turned as he heard his name and stared unblinkingly at Naruto. Naruto grinned back. Hah, Gaara was such a freak sometimes, but he didn't care.

"Hey there!" Man, it was easier to get through the crowd when they weren't walking. Some of them were ogling him weird, but he didn't care, opening the way for his teammates.

Gaara tilted his head a little. "Naruto."

"We were about to get lunch, you wanna come with?"

Gaara blinked slowly, and his lips quirked up faintly. Well, Naruto thought his lips had quirked up. "I already ate."

"Oh. Next time maybe. Say, you wouldn't have noticed a ramen stand around here?"

"I don't think there are any."

"What?" Naruto's shoulders slumped. "Well, crap." He patted Gaara's shoulder. "Alright, see you!"

They crossed the crowd, and were almost all the way through the next street when Naruto realized that his teammates hadn't said a word since. He glanced over his shoulder; Sakura was walking with her eyes scrunched closed, and Sasuke favored him with a blank, disbelieving stare.

He came to a stop in the street and turned to face them. "... Guys?"

"Do you even realize," Sasuke said in a measured tone, "that this was an official visit?"

Naruto blinked.

"And now they probably all think you're the most brazen secret agent they've ever seen, and they're going to spend the next three months trying to decode the secret message you just couldn't wait to give to the Kazekage?"

"...Oh."

Sasuke shook his head. "Oh, he says."

Naruto winced, shifting his weight from feet to feet nervously. Sasuke arched his eyebrows in a way that utterly failed to be surprised, and gave Sakura a look heavy with meaning; Sakura glanced back at him, eyes heavy-lidded and an odd quirk to her lips; and just as Naruto was about to start dancing nervously and protest that he hadn't meant it, they both burst out laughing.

Naruto stared at them in bafflement, as Sasuke shook his head, eyes closed, lips quirked up in rueful amusement, and as Sakura slowly bent double, shoulders shaking with uncontrollable giggles.

"... Hey, um."

Sasuke made a muffled sound that had definitely intended to be a snicker, before he'd remembered Uchihas were too cool to have fun.

"Hey!"

Tears of mirth gathered in Sakura's eyes, and her giggles grew louder.

"Sakura-chan!" he whined, and then started chuckling with them, a little chagrined. Alright, so it was pretty funny. And he bet Gaara was laughing his ass off, too. Well, on the inside.

"Let's go get you some food," Sakura said, still chuckling, and since his stomach was about ready to start gnawing through his spine by now, he was all too glad to agree.

They reached the building they were staying at without having seen any fast-food place. There was a restaurant of sorts, but they didn't have the money. Naruto whined.

"Oh, shut up, we have a rice cooker, don't we?" Sasuke snapped after Naruto's third time wondering shakily if perhaps they had hidden the ramen stand in some other corner of the island as a sneaky kind of psychological warfare. "It doesn't even take a half-hour to make rice balls. You'll live."

"No I won't," Naruto replied pitifully as he dragged his feet down the corridor to their team's room.

"Yes you will," Sakura replied with determination as she unlocked the door and walked in.

Naruto flopped against the doorjamb. "I'll have digested myself by then."

He watched as Sasuke dug the rice cooker out of a cupboard, imagining how good it would be if it were full of warm rice right now, and so it came as a total surprise when Sakura stuffed something sugary in his mouth. She had her traveling backpack in hand, and her eyes were narrowed in clear threat.

"Here are my marshmallows. Eat them. Shut up. Oh, and since the rice will take a while to cook, how about you go and take a shower? You're covered in dirt."

Naruto grumbled -- like she could talk! -- but if he retorted anything, he could probably say goodbye to the delicious sugary confection she was dangling under his nose. "Yes ma'am."

Sasuke stood at the sink, washing his hands before he handled the rice. "Good idea. We'll have about twenty minutes while the rice cooks. Get going, I'll join you."

Naruto inhaled the marshmallows at a record-breaking pace and went to get clean clothes, soap and towel in his backpack. "I'm still hungry," he informed Sakura sadly as he followed her outside of their room.

"I could make you eat my fist," she said with an evil glint in her eyes.

Naruto made sad puppy eyes at her all along the way down the bedroom area of the dormitories and to the attached wing that housed the communal showers, but she only hmphed and stalked inside the girls' locker rooms. Sighing, Naruto trudged in the boys' side and dumped his things on the bench. He undressed right there in the middle of the locker room; it didn't matter much, the place was utterly empty. He could hear one lone shower somewhere in the row of stalls, but that was it. He stuffed his belongings in a locker, wrapped his towel around his hips, and went to get himself a stall.

The water was warm, though there was no way to turn it all the way up to as hot as he liked it. Naruto closed his eyes and washed the dirt out of his hair and off his skin. He had to admit he'd been pretty much caked in the stuff. But then, rolling around underground and running from a cave-in would do that to you.

The dust had gotten absolutely everywhere. He soaped himself up as thoroughly as possible, working up a thick lather. He was fully ready to do the work himself, but when he heard the other person leaving and Sasuke walking in, he couldn't help but grin evilly.

"Hey, bastard, is that you? My rice better be cooking."

Sasuke grunted. "No, I'm only cooking mine. You can eat yours raw."

He opened his stall; Naruto didn't let him close it. In a second, he had his own door open, and was dragging Sasuke inside with him.

"What the hell --" Sasuke stopped in his tracks when Naruto had to brush against him to close the door. Naruto tried not to smirk too widely. "I got dirt on my back, mind giving me a hand?"

When he turned around to face the shower, he more or less expected Sasuke to insult him and storm out. Instead he got a lot of silence. Naruto bit his lip hard to keep from laughing his ass off, and bowed his head casually to rub soapy foam out of his wet hair.

"So, are you going to help me or not?"

Sasuke took in a deep, hissing breath -- and then there was a hand pulling on Naruto's hair and a hand shoving him against the wall and the water faucet.

"Ow! So rough." Naruto laughed, even though he wanted to turn around and try to force Sasuke against the wall right back. Fighting right now would have meant losing. Because Sasuke was the one losing control, so that meant Naruto won.

He wasn't sure if it still counted as a win if Sasuke lost enough control to give him some bumsex right there. And when Sasuke's hands landed on his shoulders and started rubbing downward, he couldn't help tensing up a little. Shit, but that felt nice. But, er. Soap as lube was probably a bad idea, and -- gack.

"Um. Er...?"

"You were the one who wanted your back washed," Sasuke growled in his ear.

Naruto's breathing sped up a little, expecting a quick nip, a kiss maybe -- though Sasuke's kisses tended to be bites by default -- but he only got more vigorous back rubbing, all the way down to the small of his back and then back up. Sasuke gave the back of his head a tap to make him bow it, and let the water sluice off his shoulder blades for a few seconds. Naruto closed his eyes briefly, wondering if Sasuke was watching him.

"... Like what you see?" He couldn't help but laugh a little, because it was better than sounding too serious; that earned him some sudden hair-washing that was closer to an annoyed noogie. "Oww oww oww! Damn it, Sasuke!"

"Stop yelling. Do you want everyone who comes in wondering what's going on in here?"

"Like they're not gonna wonder when they see two pairs of feet under the door."

Sasuke snorted and pushed his head down under the spray to rinse off the soap. "There are suspicious situations, and then there are sadomasochist situations."

Eyes scrunched closed against the water, Naruto laughed. "I'm telling everyone at home you have a sense of humor."

"Hah. They'll never believe you," Sasuke said, in the same way he would have answered an enemy's attempt at blackmail.

Naruto was still chuckling as he straightened up and turned around. "Okay, thanks. Your turn now."

He couldn't help a fast glance down Sasuke's body, but Sasuke was quick to take his place under the shower, and Naruto couldn't actually judge how much the bastard had been affected.

The blond tried to think icy, blizzardly thoughts as he soaped up Sasuke's back. He never looked very bulky, but that was because his muscles were compact, sculpted tight on a lean frame. And seeing him like that, with white foam drifting down wet planes and hollows, being allowed to run his hands all over him... Gnh.

"You know what we should do?" Naruto commented lightly as he rinsed the soap off Sasuke's back.

Sasuke grunted, prompting him to continue.

"We should go ask Sakura if she's got enough shampoo to spare. Because your hair deserves the best."

Sasuke kicked back, making Naruto yelp as it connected with his knee. He had to grab at the walls of the stall to keep from slipping on the wet tiles.

"Naruto..." Sasuke growled, starting to turn around.

Naruto cheated; he stepped closer to him and kissed his shoulder, knowing it would make Sasuke feel weird enough that he'd stop in his tracks.

"I wanna wash her back too. Then I'll feel less guilty if sadomasochistic things do happen." There was a little curl of soap, on the upper part of Sasuke's chest; Naruto rubbed it away with his palm, and it just so happened that his fingers brushed a bronze-colored nipple on the way down. "Because I feel really sadomasochistic right now," he added, whispering against Sasuke's wet skin.

Sasuke took in a sharp breath. Naruto grinned, and threw the door of the stall open. Holding Sasuke by the wrist, he stalked out of the showers and into the men's locker room. Sasuke scrambled after him, swearing and fighting with the towel he'd just had enough time to snatch off the hook on the door.

"Put that on!" Sasuke hissed, whapping him over the head with another towel.

Naruto peeked around the wall, throwing a quick glance down the corridor that lead toward the women's locker room. "What for? If they see us, it's gonna be bad with or without towel."

"... Just do it."

Smirking, Naruto complied, wrapping it snugly around his hips. He couldn't help but wriggle them a bit when he caught Sasuke glancing down.

"Hahaha. Oh yeah, you want me."

Sasuke growled and reached for him; Naruto dodged into the corridor of feminine mysteries. If there were any girls getting changed, it was going to end badly. So far he hadn't seen anyone on this island that went anywhere without weapons.

Sasuke followed, making faces that Naruto knew meant 'what the hell am I doing here again?' Naruto grinned until his cheeks hurt, making an effort not to laugh out loud. Uchiha Sasuke, sneaking around a women's shower room! Oh, he was going to hold this over Sasuke's head forever.

The noise of feet on wet tiles made Naruto dodge behind a row of lockers; Sasuke darted after him, utterly silent, and they stopped breathing as a locker was opened and cloth ruffled. Then there were sandal noises -- quickly, they sneaked down toward the showers. Naruto threw himself down on all fours and looked quickly at the stalls. No one, no one -- ah, feet! -- but not Sakura, no one, no -- hohoho, there she was. He pointed toward the other occupied stall at Sasuke, made a shushing motion, and ghosted down the corridor toward Sakura's stall. Rolling his eyes and holding his towel firmly at his waist, Sasuke followed.

Naruto was about to climb over the door when Sasuke stopped him. 'Idiot,' he mouthed, even as he scratched a quick 'friend, quiet' rhythm on the door. Oh right, maybe Sakura wouldn't kill them on sight.

Bah, living dangerously was so much more fun, Naruto thought as he jumped up, caught the top of the door and climbed over. Sakura was pushing wet hair away from her face, frowning, and her eyes got huge when she saw Naruto appear. When Sasuke landed at his side, her jaw dropped a little, too. Naruto grinned widely and waved.

'Wash your back?'

Sakura's cheeks went a very fetching crimson, but then it might have had less to do with the offer and more to do with the fact that he'd forgotten to hold up his towel. Oops.

She mouthed something back that was probably "You're crazy" or something like it. Naruto chuckled quietly and picked up the shampoo bottle from the corner of the stall where Sakura had stashed it. His ass brushed against Sasuke and his head against Sakura's arm. The stall really was barely big enough for one person, much less three. He straightened up and winked at Sakura, trying to be encouraging. It was hard to hit on her properly when he wasn't supposed to be heard.

Behind him, Sasuke watched, arms crossed over his bare chest. The corner of his towel was tucked neatly in; it gave off the impression that he could dance with it and it wouldn't even wrinkle. Annoyed, Naruto grabbed a corner and pulled it off. Sasuke stiffened and glared at him, but a quick nod toward the other occupied stall had him simmer down.

Naruto uncapped the shampoo bottle and took a sniff. It didn't have much of a scent; he knows they couldn't afford it out in the field. There was still a hint of flowers in there, common enough that they'd pass unnoticed just about anywhere. He arched an eyebrow at Sasuke and pointed at his hair, then looked at Sakura. Who did what to who?

Sakura shrugged back helplessly, frowning like she didn't fully get what he was trying to communicate. Naruto gestured more.

Sasuke snorted softly and plucked the bottle of shampoo out of his hand. Scowling at first, Naruto watched him closely as he poured some in his hand. The scowl disappeared when Sasuke brushed against him to stand in front of Sakura and reached for her hair.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke as he slowly rubbed the shampoo in her wet hair, her eyes still a little wide, a little shocked. Naruto watched them for a few seconds, eyes softening. As much of a sharp-tongued, pitiless bastard as he was, it always surprised Naruto how gentle Sasuke could be with Sakura when the mood took him.

Sakura wasn't moving, standing with her arms curled up in front of her chest, staring into Sasuke's eyes in wonder. It hurt a little in Naruto's chest that she never looked at him like that. It hurt a little more that even now she was so hesitant to reach back, even when Sasuke reached first. So Naruto reached for her wrist, fingers circling it, and gently pulled her arm away from her body, and placed her hand flat on Sasuke's chest. When she looked at him in confusion, he produced a bar of soap, and winked.

Sasuke's amused half-smirk was enough encouragement. He glanced at Naruto, his hands buried in wet pink strands. "Going to keep watching long?" he whispered.

Naruto chuckled soundlessly. 'Nice to look at?'

Sakura looked at him, too, her hands still flat on Sasuke's chest.

God but they were gorgeous together, Sasuke's trim body, Sakura's slender waist, his corded muscles, the flare of her hips. With their hair wet and hanging in their faces, it occurred to Naruto that they had about the same hairdo; Sasuke's hair was just more stubborn in its fight against gravity.

He stepped closer, slipped his arms around their waists, pulling them closer. His. His Sasuke-bastard and his Sakura-chan, all naked and wet and soapy and his.

Sakura sighed softly and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder for a few second. Naruto kissed her forehead, a soft smile on his lips. Without a word, Sasuke poured some shampoo in his hands and started to wash Naruto's hair, startling him. Sasuke looked thoughtful, concentrated on his task, not mocking or annoyed, and so Naruto let his eyes close in pleasure and sighed. They were all touching each other, and all that slick, wet skin in his arms and against his body, it was marvelous.

"You're crazy," Sakura whispered very quietly against Naruto's neck.

Naruto grinned. "Nah, we'll be fine."

She glared half-heartedly, but Sasuke was starting to wash her chest; Naruto forgave her for getting distracted. Also, it answered one of his big questions. Sasuke did like breasts. At least Sakura's breasts. He cupped them and rubbed them in small little circles; Naruto couldn't look away. Sakura was breathing fast.

He listened as the other woman left the shower room, and grinned widely. "And it looks like we're alone now..."

Sakura made a face, half-annoyed, half-flustered. "The rice will burn--"

"There's a timer," Sasuke countered, and leaned down to kiss her.

Naruto's hands slid down two spines, following very different curves, and his mouth found Sasuke's shoulder again. Sasuke shivered against him and slipped a hand behind his head to tangle his fingers in short blond locks. He was still kissing Sakura, his thumb rubbing against a pink, puffy nipple.

Of course, Naruto had been so busy listening to the panting and caressing the two bottoms he had in hand that he only realized they weren't alone anymore when Sakura's moaning prompted a sudden pause in noises he hadn't even consciously registered.

A pause mid-step. Some shuffling... And then there were muffled giggles. Sakura's eyes opened wide in shock. The voices sounded young, maybe fourteen. Sasuke's eyes narrowed warily and he climbed up, his feet pressed to one side and his back to the other side to keep his leg from being visible under the wall. Naruto grimaced. Quick thinking. He was right, three people in one stall would look pretty bad no matter how you swung it.

Now the girls were talking louder, pretending they didn't have a clue what was going on there, while making silly double-entendres and drifting closer to Sakura's stall. Sakura looked mortified and well on her way to getting furious.

Naruto didn't see a hundred solutions. Sasuke was already up in the corner, ready to dart out at the first opening -- but someone still needed to give him said opening. Naruto picked up his towel and reached for the stall door. Sakura flailed silently, not sure if she should hold him back or shove him out.

Naruto grinned at her over his shoulder, and shaped a quick hand seal.

Poof.

"Hey, girls," smiled Naruko as she wrapped her too-short towel around her generous curves. She tossed long, wet hair over her shoulder, and winked at the ringleader of the teenagers, a blue-haired girl with intricate tattoos in interesting places. The girl blushed; Naruko smiled a pouty little smile and waved at her -- for the sole purpose of distracting the pack as Sasuke made his escape, honest -- before strutting out of the shower room, and then out of the locker rooms entirely.

She was still dripping wet and wearing only a towel, but seeing as the girls' teammates were now invading the men's side, Naruto was sure his clothes could wait in his locker a little while longer. Smiling vapidly, Naruko made her way down the corridors and back to her room, leaving behind her a trail of incriminating droplets and dumbstruck male stares.

All in one, apart from the case of blue balls he would get when he turned back, they'd gotten out of trouble in a rather slick way. Sasuke just had to mingle with the guys in the locker room and get his clothes back, and...

... Sure, Sakura was going to pass for a lesbian, when she got around to crawling out of the stall. But there were worse things for one's rep than to have their rug munched by his gorgeous girl-self. Right? Yeah.

... Shit, he was going to die.

Maybe he ought to eat before his teammates got there, so he could die with a little food in his stomach. Naruto hurried to the door and pushed it open --

Kakashi was sitting at the table, the rice cooker open, chomping contentedly on a rice ball scooped directly out of what had been intended as Naruto's meal. Well, Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura's.

The nerve of that guy! "Sensei!" he spluttered angrily.

The towel was really tiny, and Naruto had never been good at making knots that lasted. And his boobs wanted to be free.

"Nice outfit," Kakashi commented casually, and picked up another rice ball. "Maybe you should step in and close the door, hmm?"

"NAAARUTOOOOO," came a snarl from the corridor.

Kakashi tilted back in his chair casually and turned a page of his book. "And then again, maybe not."