askerian: Serious Karkat in a red long-sleeved shirt (T7_Sasu And miles to go before I sleep)
askerian ([personal profile] askerian) wrote2009-05-04 09:42 pm

Teamwork sidefic

So today I sat down and went to write some Sakura fightingness!

Then I looked at my notes for a second -- barely a second! and then I had this instead.

It's a three-years-later sequel of sorts, and I was planning to write it as part of a bigger multipart, but there will be time to shove it back in, if I ever get that far. So... There you have it. I hope the context becomes clear on its own, but if it's too confusing, please tell me. It hasn't been betaed either, so if you find anything that needs fixing, I'm listening.

(also, did Sasuke relax in three years or what. XD)



"Foxlet still asleep?" Naruto asked quietly.

Sasuke closed the bedroom door behind him with a soft click. "Yes. The trip was tiring."

Naruto gave an incredulous snort. "Yeah, I'll say." He paused, breathed in. "Good. Okay... Now what the hell are you doing here."

Sasuke shrugged and stepped deeper in the little living room. The room was dark, small windows dug through stone walls two feet deep, roof low. A little claustrophobic. Sakura stood with her arms crossed against the door, an unfamiliar silhouette with her full-length dark leggings and the Chuunin jacket she so rarely wore, her forehead protector for once in its place instead of in her hair. Naruto wore the jacket too, zipped half-closed onto a black undershirt Sasuke had never seen on him. The weather in Earth Country tended to be colder than back home.

They both looked a little drawn, a little -- not exactly unhappy. Tired. Bracing themselves, mostly.

"You weren't in danger, you said," Sakura prompted him softly.

Sasuke stepped up to the small round table Naruto was sitting at and pulled out a chair for himself. "No. There's no more danger back home than usual, as far as I know."

Sakura frowned, glancing at the window with a hint of professional paranoia. "So, here?"

Shrugging, Sasuke sat and reclined against the back of his chair. "Not that I know."

She frowned a little deeper, puzzled, vaguely annoyed at his avoidance. "So you just skipped town because...?"

For a second Sasuke almost said 'never mind' and grabbed their child and went back home. For a second only, because he'd be damned if he had bothered with all the visas and the nine days on the road with a toddler, only to run back home with his tail between his legs.

"Naruto," he said -- body language casual, eyes totally serious.

Naruto straightened up a little, both elbows on the table, looking vaguely alarmed.

Sasuke smirked; he couldn't help it. "Will you be my concubine?"

It took the two of them a full three seconds before they erupted in 'What?!'. Sasuke let his smirk fade into a faint, entertained smile as Naruto and Sakura interrupted each other trying to demand what the hell he was on about. In the end he just pointed in silence toward the bedroom door, where their child slept. They fell silent, but they were both scowling at him.

"Sasuke, it's a poor time to make jokes," Sakura said with forced calmness.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "It's not a joke."

"Sure sounds like one!" Naruto replied, eyes still a little wide. "I can't figure out whether you came all the way over here just to have a laugh at my expense or if you just cracked in the two months we've been gone."

Sasuke shrugged. "Fire Country doesn't allow male concubines. Earth Country does."

"... You've cracked."

Sasuke snorted. "No, I haven't."

"You came all the way here--"

"Sakura. I'm on parental leave. I have nothing to do back home apart from raising our child and attending Council meetings I don't have enough seniority to influence anyway. If I want to take a vacation, why does it matter where I go?"

She snorted and gave him a dry look. "I bet they were pleased with your reasoning."

Sasuke gave a snort. "Tsunade knows I'll come back. If she doesn't object, no one else has any grounds to."

"Wait wait wait. Did you ask the old hag for permission to -- did you tell her you --"

"Planned to ask for your hand in marriage?" Sasuke finished. He couldn't help it, he smirked again. Naruto's weariness was gone, replaced by horror. "Oh, I might have mentioned that..."

"Sasuke, you bastard!"

Sakura's hand flew forward to smother his voice, but she wasn't expecting Sasuke to start laughing; it came freely out, amused and vaguely fond. The twin owlish stares his lovers gave him pulled a second chuckle out of Sasuke.

God, but he'd missed them.

They must have seen it in his face, in the way his laughter died, because then Naruto's eyes softened and Sakura reached across the table to cover his hand with hers.

"... What is this about, Sasuke, really?" Sakura asked softly, her thumb rubbing against his knuckles.

He stared down at the table -- at her hand on his, at Naruto's fists. He could tell so much just watching those fists -- the tilt of the wrist, the loose clench -- uncertainty more than anger, some defensiveness, a hint of desperation.

"It's the closest we'll ever get to marriage. Seeing as how you didn't have the good taste to be born a woman, and the Konoha concubine laws only cover those cases where offspring could happen."

Naruto spluttered briefly. "What the hell. What the hell? ... the hell."

A corner of Sasuke's lip quirked up. "Eloquent."

"Fuck you."

"That'd be adultery."

Sakura sighed quietly, ending their half-hearted banter. "It won't be legal anyway -- not here and not back home. You're not Earth Country citizens."

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not about the paperwork. It's about the ceremony." He took a deep breath. "It's about how I haven't seen you two for two months and I won't see you two for another half year, because some fucking asshole back home has it in his head that if you two are far enough then maybe if he's lucky you'll get killed, and at the very least I'll forget you exist and his daughter can swoop in!"

Naruto stiffened. "... What?"

Sakura didn't look half as surprised. "Huh. So they finally accepted that you weren't divorcing me anytime soon, then?"

Sasuke muttered something unflattering under his breath. "Yeah. You're totally unsuitable to breed Uchihas with, of course, but I should be allowed my one fancy, and if I want to call you my wife it doesn't matter in the long run so long as all my descendents have the Sharingan and my name. Except Naruto is a bad influence on me, and you're enabling him, and that's why I haven't bestowed my genes on half a dozen 'acceptable young ladies' yet."

Naruto's claws left gouges in the table as the realization hit him. "You mean they sent us away because they thought if we were gone long enough you'd forget about us? Because we're distracting you from knocking up a dozen high-born bitches?"

Sasuke nodded perfunctorily, eyes cold and unamused. "Basically. I assume they believed that without the two of you to distract me with your fun little perversions I'd be bored enough to do my duty."

Sakura gave a disgusted snort. "At least they're acknowledging we're a long-term toy now, I suppose."

Naruto scowled darkly for a few seconds, and then let out an explosive sigh and rubbed his brow. "At least you didn't cross three countries for a romantic gesture. That would kinda mess with my brain."

Sasuke's eyes slid away.

"...You crossed three countries for a romantic gesture?"

Sasuke took his hand back from Sakura so he could cross his arms over his chest. "It's also a political fuck-you gesture."

"You crossed three fucking countries for a romantic gesture?!"

"So fucking what?!"

They glared at each other over the table, both jumping on their feet, chairs pushed away. Sakura groaned as she watched them, holding her forehead.

"You want a romantic gesture? I'll give you one." Eyes burning, figurative hackles up, Sasuke stalked around the table. Then he shoved Naruto in the window alcove, making the blond stumble and sit down rather brutally, grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him.

He kissed him until Naruto started responding, and then he kissed him some more, tongue and teeth, until they were breathing hard in each other's mouth. He planted a hand on the cold glass to push back enough to break the kiss, and he loomed over Naruto, and glared for a second.

Then as Naruto stared up with his cheeks flushed and a totally bewildered look on his face, Sasuke picked up Naruto's hand, and brushed his lips against his knuckles.

"Marry me, asshole."

Laughter exploded out of the three of them. Naruto crumpled against Sasuke's chest, howling, insulting him in between two laughing fits; Sakura clung to his arm and pounded her fist on his shoulder as she desperately tried to breathe. Sasuke laughed with them, eyes closed, almost silent but unable to stop.

"... That was the suckiest proposal I've ever heard in my life," Naruto said with a last chuckle. "Bastard."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at his lover. "So you're saying no?"

"I'm saying if we woke up the baby I'm going to hurt you," Sakura threatened halfheartedly.

She went to peek through the bedroom door, still stifling chuckles. Sasuke stood still and allowed Naruto to wind an arm around his waist and tug him forward so he could rest his cheek against Sasuke's chest comfortably.

Sakura came back smiling softly, wormed her way in the narrow alcove beside Naruto. Her arm slipped around Naruto's neck; she leaned her head into Sasuke's arm when he rested it around her shoulders.

Sasuke allowed himself to unwind, for the first time in exactly two months and four days.

"... You think it'll change much, if we do that ceremony thing? I mean, if it's not legal..."

"It'll prove he's serious, at least," Sakura replied, eyes closed.

Sasuke muttered, "I don't care what they think. Not doing it for them."

"No, you're doing it for me. Ooh, Sasuke-kun." Naruto fluttered his eyelashes at him. "I'm gonna hold this over your head for ever and ever."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and tugged on his hair halfheartedly. Then, since his hand was already curled against the back of Naruto's neck, he left it there.

"... Now you guys know what we need?"

Sasuke rubbed his thumb against Sakura's jaw. "Hmm?"

She wrapped a leg around his, hooking the back of his knee to tug him a little closer. "We need to find a country that allows me to have two husbands. It's a little frustrating how if I wanted Naruto to become my husband I'd have to be your widow first."

"...Yeah, I'd rather avoid that as well," Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto let out a chuffing laugh. "Why? Mm, necrophilia."

Sakura gave him a prim, disappointed look. "Don't be silly, Naruto, he'd turn mushy too fast. We'd never find a jar big enough to pickle him properly."

Sasuke growled and tugged on pink and blond locks. "Idiots."

Sakura looked up at him, eyes shining with amused tenderness. "Yes, you're an idiot too."

Naruto lifted his head from Sasuke's chest and arched his eyebrows at her. "I thought you thought our secret macho I-love-you code was too retarded for you?"

Embarrassed, Sasuke knocked his knuckles on Naruto's head, muttering, "Hey, no saying it out loud. You're in violation."

"I'm getting the hang of it," Sakura replied to Naruto, laughing. "Though I think anything above 'silly' is much too manly for me. You big manly he-men, you."

There was a moment of silence as they held each other. The windowsill was cold, and the room itself; but they weren't.

"Hey... If I'm your concubine, then you're my what? Do I get to call you hubby too?"

Sasuke gave him a haughty look, and smirked. "I think the traditional term is master."

Naruto gave his stomach a shove. "Yeah, how about I call you my ex instead."

Then there were more kisses, and more shoves, and eventually they got to find out that Earth Country houses might be cold and dark, but Earth Country chimneys were perfectly warm and Earth Country rugs were of more than adequate thickness.

The next morning, when Sakura and Naruto had to return to the Fire Country ambassador they were guarding, Sasuke put their child on his shoulders and went looking for a priest.

[identity profile] qbic1.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, oh, oh ... this is adorable!!! Sasuke is becoming human. Sigh! Oh, I love where you are in the story now .. but I so look forward to when you get to this point that they are so comfortable with themselves and each other.

"You crossed three fucking countries for a romantic gesture?!"

Only Sasuke :)

[identity profile] kittychan1986.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
*Is dead of the sheer cuteness* Wonderful...Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto just comfy with themselves, and Sasuke accepting of the relationship, and just the way they interacted with one another spoke of the years and the trust between them. Naruto is also a dork, he's a cute dork, but he's still a dork. Of Course, Sasuke is also a dork, and Sakura is getting the code so well. *Snicker* Oh I love it. And Sasuke with the kid gave me happy joy butterflies in my tummy. Sasuke giving the entire council the finger also made me 10 kinds of happy. This is nice. It's nice to see that after all the crap they're going through now, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and a happy, comforting relationship waiting for them once they get over those hills. Even if the Council is still being retards at them.

[identity profile] disorient-me.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I... I just... ohhhhh. Made of so much *awesome* as always; Sasuke's surfacing humanness was enough to make me melt, esp. with his 'romantic gesture.' Just... awww. This comes as a welcoming, refreshing read after reading dull, dry, dead-people lit for finals @.@

As always, I love the dynamics between the three, and how you characterize them so perfectly; amazing, just... amazing :D

[identity profile] quoth-the-ravyn.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I am so glad I am the only one in the office right now. You turned a real shitty afteroon into hysterical laughter. Thank you so much! That was just damn perfect Naruto reactions. (Sakura rocked too.) But seriously. Absolutely fabulous. I do love how cranky/jealous Sasuke is over the lack of time with his harem and Sakura's "so they're finally getting it" attitude. I do love to see where this is going...

And I ponder all the ways Naruto is pondering revenge.

[identity profile] trishalynn.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Awwww.... this gave me just the smile I needed to get through the rest of my work tonight. *huggles*

[identity profile] lyarrah.livejournal.com 2009-05-04 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Part of me dearly wanted to say, "Oh Asuka, have you been following American politics again?" because this seemed just too appropriate.

I adore this though <3 It's exactly how he would propose, y'know?

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[identity profile] therhoda.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
I love this, although it does ruin my day dream of the council all dying horrbile deaths. I love how the foxlet is still the center of sasukes world, the fact he is left at home to mind the kid and the council is to great. you know they just want to take over his life.

[identity profile] sarolynne.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
...pffffft. XD

That was cute. Jeez. I guess you had some sweetness that wanted to come out, huh?

[identity profile] terraminuit.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
'Marry me, asshole'
XDDD

What's hilarious is as I'm reading that, I burst out laughing too. Because that's so like him.

This is ADORABLE. A-and Sasuke has FEELINGS. AND SHOWS THEM.

Romantic gesture indeed.

[identity profile] rurounitriv.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
I'm loving this - great characterization, and Sasuke is so much more mellow without going OOC.
ext_2686: (Office - your biggest flan)

[identity profile] stripedpetunia.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yay, Teamwork fluff! <3 I loved the banter.
edenfalling: colored line-art drawing of a three-scoop ice cream sundae (ice cream sundae)

[personal profile] edenfalling 2009-05-05 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
*sparkles at you!*

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[identity profile] yira-heerai.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
I'm trying so hard to contain my squees but it's... I think the entire city would hear if I actually let it out.

skfllsidbdgyu;;dhsk iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[identity profile] okamikaze.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 08:15 am (UTC)(link)
I absolutely adore this!! I absolutely love their interactions, as always. I love how Sasuke shows more emotion. I love how he's still kinda insecure about showing emotion. I love how Sakura totally gets it, and I love how Sasuke is making the move on Naruto on an emotional plane, rather than on an aggressive/sexual plane. There is much love for this ficbit.

I can haz moar plz?

[identity profile] hardcoreheathen.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
So...how does the Fire Country Ambassador feel that he's being guarded by two people the Council has sent out in the hopes of dying? It must kind of clue him in to what they think his risk level is >.>

[identity profile] garmiet.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
(I review as I read.)

Hmm, Sasuke does seem relaxed. I like it. =) ____ BWAHAHAHA, good one, Sasuke!! XDD ♥ ____ Nice detail about Earth Country allowing male concubines. ^^ And Naruto's probably thinking, "I should be the one with the concubines in this family." ____ Naruto and Sakura probably don't get to see him like this often. Bet they love it. ____ Was Sasuke talking about a specific individual back home, the one who wants his daughter to marry Sasuke? Or was Sasuke hinting that there's always someone? ____ Heh--love all the talk of "breeding". ^^ ____ BWAHAHAHA AGAIN, the "three whole countries" bit! XDD ♥ ____ Awww. That's perfect, the way Sasuke "proposed" to Naruto. It suits their relationship perfectly. ♥ ____ Ahh, yes, now the two-husbands thing. Lol, that'd be funny if Earth Country allowed for male concubines but didn't allow for women to have two husbands. And then a country that does allow a woman to have two husbands doesn't allow for male concubines! XDD ____ This is so cute, I love this story. ♥ ____ (*snicker*) "I think the traditional term is 'master'." >D

ADORABLE!! =D

[identity profile] ktoth04.livejournal.com 2009-05-06 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
cute :D

Why couldn't sakura have naruto as a concubine though?

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_meikyuu_/ 2009-05-06 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
Awwww... adorable!^^ Read it the first thing in the morning and what a nice way to start a day it is<3
ext_77486: (sparkle)

[identity profile] na-no-nai.livejournal.com 2009-05-06 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
*sighs happily* I love this. ♥

[identity profile] nekokriszty.livejournal.com 2009-05-06 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I just loved it from the beginning to the end. No more words can describe. I feel like a puddle of goo. :))

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[identity profile] calcifer (from livejournal.com) 2009-05-15 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)
LMAO. "You crossed three countries for a romantic gesture?!" Lol sweet.

Brilliant and well written. Also, very cute.

Keep up the good work!

~Angel

[identity profile] luriko-ysabeth.livejournal.com 2009-07-15 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
This story makes me happy, and I am glad it exists, and boy howdy three years of closer relations with Naruto and Sakura has worked a lot of the tension out of Sasuke. ^_^

And We'd never find a jar big enough to pickle him properly is made of win, although I keep thinking of some of the very big jars I have seen...

[identity profile] sara-the-lazy.livejournal.com 2010-09-23 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
What a romantic gesture indeed! I just loved the dialogue here, it was so very nice to read relationship talk with the three of them. Also these lines made me laugh - "Naruto let out a chuffing laugh. "Why? Mm, necrophilia."
Sakura gave him a prim, disappointed look. "Don't be silly, Naruto, he'd turn mushy too fast. We'd never find a jar big enough to pickle him properly.""
The context for this story is quite interesting and I look forward to reading more about it (ohhh I can see Sasuke being so pissed at Konoha...) if you do end up writing it as a multipart later in the TeamworkVerse (which I do hope goes on until you run out of ideas, which will hopefully be never! Can you see yourself as a little old lady writing Teamwork? I totally can)