What Sasuke Wants

Qwerty: Thank you!
-00-night-eyes-00-: Sorry it took so long!
Ishala8: ^_^ Sorry that you start reading and I take a long break on this story! I’m not going to get into a threesome thing here, but Kakashi’s relationship with Karin (though addressed in this chapter) will develop.
DarkAngelJudas: This chapter will deal with that. (The next chapter will be about Kakashi and his former lover)
Krito1389: Yep!!! Next chapter!
Klaine equal’s life: Thank you!
Kahomee: I’m so glad. I write for your enjoyment almost more than for my own.
RangerDanger1315: You’re right and I did bring Suigetsu back for a brief appearance.

Yeah, this wasn’t abandoned. I know none of you really like my bringing Karin into this, but there is no het. This story will end soon and I’ll continue it in another story that will be more about their family and not about Sasuke and Kakashi’s relationship. But there will be at least two more chapters.

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Things did get better. But Sasuke didn’t quite like the reason why. Sakura flew off the handle one day after hearing some of the more vicious rumors about he and Orochimaru; this one involving a snake, a very long tongue, a very limber position, Chidori, and a bag of cherries. The two men talking about it were taken to the hospital with broken ribs, noses, shoulders, and collarbones. Sasuke didn’t mind Gai, Iruka, and Naruto—even Izumo and Kotetzu—shooting down the rumors whenever they heard them, but having a woman defend his honor by clobbering them—when he really wanted to it himself, but couldn’t—was too much. But since Sakura was scolded for it by her master, Sasuke said nothing about it but thanks. And assured her he’d never done anything improper with a bag of cherries. Yet. The damn rumors were beginning to give him ideas . . . But not even Sasuke had a long and prehensile tongue like Orochimaru, so that might not be possible. It would require further consideration.

The rumors pretty much stopped after that, though Sasuke was still subjected to dirty looks, cold shoulders, and the occasional whispers of ‘traitor.’ Kakashi took over some of the shopping in places where they still likely to incur ‘traitor tax.’ They had gotten used to Sasuke’s acceptance—though with a glare—but they didn’t like to make Kakashi angry.

There was one person who was still openly hostile: the chunin who used to confront him weekly. Sasuke had never bothered asking the man’s name; he couldn’t go after the guy and he considered it a waste of energy to worry about him. Since the night Naruto disguised himself as Sasuke, the chunin hadn’t bothered him. Naruto caught him bad mouthing Sasuke and had broken his nose, but he continued to try and rev up the rumor mill. But that was becoming a much smaller issue.

And Sasuke got his new house. It was on the edge of the village and looked a lot like the houses he and Kakashi had grown up in with a large back yard—perfect for training—and a peaceful—though at the moment empty—inner courtyard. Sasuke was beyond happy with it; he even promised to take on some of Yamato’s missions for free, especially since the man had made a show of how tired the exertion made him. It was rather large.

Then Iruka tried to make things up to him, but they found they really had nothing to talk about. Sasuke had nipped all questions about his past in the bud by just telling his former sensei a condensed version of his time with Orochimaru and Akatsuki, leaving out many key details like the fact his brother was ordered to destroy their clan. Iruka was sympathetic, but there was little to say after that.

On the other hand, Neji and Shikamaru came to see him again. They had expected an immediate dismissal, but Sasuke was gracious.

“I would have sought you both out myself, but with most of the village against me, I didn’t think you’d want to see me again or be associated with me. I wanted to thank you for your visit while I was under house arrest. Only my team visited beside you. Thank you.”

They had obviously not expected this. “I guess we have more reason to want to see you than the rest of the village,” Shikamaru said. “I was the leader of the team to bring you back, as troublesome as it was. My first mission as a chunin and my only failure to date.”

“I was on that team,” Neji added.

“You were with Naruto?”

“Along with Choji and Kiba.”

“Lee joined us as soon as the Hokage performed the surgery to repair his injuries from the chunin exam,” Neji said.

“We also had back up from Suna; the three from the chunin exams.”

“I had no idea. I thought it was just Naruto running after me. I should have known Naruto couldn’t defeat them all on his own.”

“Actually, he didn’t really fight any of them,” Shikamaru said. “We each took on one of your . . . guards and sent him and the rest of the team ahead.”

“Naruto never told me about it. I’d actually like to know what happened.”

The pair actually enjoyed telling Sasuke the story since it actually put some emotion on that impassive face of his. Sasuke was impressed by their accomplishments against Orochimaru’s personal bodyguards. He was forced to reconsider his opinion of them all. In recompense, Sasuke explained a little why he left and gave them a similar abridged version of his life since to the one he told Iruka. They spent a pleasant afternoon together drinking tea and trading stories. They found that their personalities were not so dissimilar and they got on quite well. Being three of the smartest, and Neji and Sasuke being the most talented with their doujutsu, they agreed to become regular sparing partners.

Then there was Sasuke’s quiet marriage to Karin. Sasuke wore a traditional black kimono emblazoned with the Uchiha crest on his back and on either side of his chest. Karin’s kimono had white-on-white designs which incorporated her new husband’s family crest and the tomoe of his Sharingan.

It was rather sobering to realize that neither of them had any living family. There were few people there or at the small reception at their house: Kakashi of course, Juugo, Sakura, Naruto with a much more relaxed Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Sai—who surprised everyone by bringing Ino—Iruka, Lee, Kiba, Choji, and Kakashi’s ‘eternal rival,’ Gai. Shino and TenTen were dragged along since their entire teams were going. Shino was a sullen wall flower until the groom made an attempt at conversation. Ends up the simple fact Sasuke recognized him cheered the man up considerably. He still bemoaned the fact Naruto hadn’t recognized him when he returned to the village.

The biggest surprise—even to the couple—was Suigetsu. He had returned to Kiri after bailing on them and reformed the Seven Swordsmen, taking his place as their leader. Today he wisely opted not to tease Karin, but took every opportunity to tease Sasuke who grudgingly smirked at his jives.

Despite the fact Sasuke’s true love was Kakashi, he was affectionate to Karin and actually looked happy. Kakashi was content to sit back and watch the ceremony; he wasn’t such a romantic to be jealous, having never dreamed of a wedding ceremony for himself. It did make him nostalgic, remembering how his first lover was excitedly planning his own wedding before he died. Gai and Iruka kept him company while the children celebrated. It was after all the first marriage of among the so called ‘rookie nine’ and Gai’s team.

Kakashi watched with interest as Sakura excepted Lee’s invitation to dance, Hinata blushing—though not as violently—when Naruto danced with her, Ino dragged Sai onto the dance floor, and Shikamaru’s far away expression as he watched them all as well. The children were growing up. Where Sasuke learned to dance, Kakashi couldn’t conceive at first. Then he remembered the Sharingan. He’d probably snuck off to spy on a dance somewhere so as not to make an ass of himself at his own wedding. Kakashi had to laugh out loud at that, frustrating Gai when he wouldn’t let him in on the joke. Kakashi was heartened by the formality of Sasuke’s movements. He was certain Sasuke would be a little more relaxed and loose in his arms. But Karin was enjoying herself and avoided acting superior to the other women in attendance; she’d won and everyone else knew it. Well, sort of won. At least she placed.

At such a gathering, the prohibition against underage drinking was temporarily lifted. Kiba, Sai, and Shino ended up drinking too much while Sasuke and Lee were forbidden to drink a drop. People thought Suigetsu was drunk until Juugo explained that that was Suigetsu’s normal behavior. He did get a little sauced though. Kakashi and Gai were pleasantly buzzed by the time the party ended.

Iruka was the first to leave, giving his congratulations to the couple before running off to get some sleep before school in the morning. The married couple ducked out at some point after that—probably because Sasuke wanted to avoid the catcalls and jeers he’d have to suffer otherwise. Neji escorted his cousin home while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji dragged Kiba and Shino home, Ino taking charge of a red faced Sai. Sakura left with Lee and Gai escorted TenTen. Kakashi was left alone with Juugo and Suigetsu.

Suigetsu plopped down next to Kakashi. “Juugo told me all about it. Don’t worry about Sasuke, he’s a pragmatist. He’ll get his heirs and it will be a perfectly normal marriage: sexless. And he’s not the type to alter course too often. Takes a real upheaval like that thing with Itachi or having sense slapped into him by you.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

“Huh, I would be. Just so you know, he never showed Karin the slightest affection while we were together. But he did tolerate her.”

“Sasuke rarely lost his patience with all the girls fawning over him.”

“True, true. Hated going anywhere with him since he was constantly being mobbed by waitresses or just random women. You must have the patience of a saint. Then again, I have no patience. But congrats; you got what none of us ever could.” Kakashi eyed him. So the Kiri-nin had wanted Sasuke too. No wonder he and Karin never got along. Kakashi had heard tales of their arguments over the months since Sasuke started talking to him, even before they became lovers. Sasuke had some affection for the ‘kappa,’ as he and Karin sometimes referred to him; it wasn’t pronounced, but Sasuke definitely missed Suigetsu.

“Sasuke seems to be in his right mind now,” Suigetsu said. “That’s your fault. Sad really; it was the cold and vicious Sasuke I liked. Except when I thought he was going to kill me. I can’t stay in Konoha long. Take care of those two,” Suigetsu said as he stood. “And Juugo.” He turned, “Juugo, find the dignitary from Kiri and his sword a place to sleep! I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Kakashi chuckled. There must be one on every team. Cold and vicious, huh? Sasuke hadn’t shed that part of himself completely. To see him on a mission was frightening. Was it any wonder during that one mission he feared that when Sasuke turned and threw a kunai he was turning on them?

A pragmatist? Sasuke was certainly one to cut his losses and do whatever it took to accomplish his goals. He rarely did anything out of whimsy. That reminded Kakashi of the conversation Yamato repeated to him when Naruto had first seen Sasuke after his return from training with Jiraiya. ‘I spared your life on a whim.’ Kakashi didn’t believe that; Sasuke did nothing on a whim. Kakashi smiled. At least not when sober.

Juugo returned and started cleaning. Kakashi joined him.

Sasuke spent his first night with Karin and the next two. But he returned to his own bedroom, the one he shared with Kakashi, after that.

But by then Kakashi wasn’t as content.

They had seen little of each other since the wedding, Sasuke spending the entire time with his new wife. Kakashi felt cast aside; he resented not even seeing his lover for three days. There was also his own musings on what Suigetsu had said. Sasuke would do anything to accomplish his goals. Even leave his lover, Kakashi assumed. Not one to alter course? Sasuke couldn’t really be seen as consistent in anything except his outward dislike of Naruto and his disinterest in women. Until now. As constant as the moon. As constant as the wind. Sasuke was a force of nature. Kakashi may be able to manipulate and cut lightning, but could he hope to hold onto Sasuke? Three days of brooding alone was not doing him any good. He wasn’t in a particularly good mood when Sasuke came in. He still wore his mask and that gave Sasuke pause.

“I didn’t think you’d be coming back,” Kakashi muttered.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“She conceive yet?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes briefly. “It’s too soon to tell, but I hope so.” Sasuke made the mistake of looking hopeful as he removed several weapons and his sword in the habit of wearing them even while in his home. He could feel Kakashi’s left eye open. Kakashi only opened that eye when about to engage a worthy adversary or a few times when they made love. He didn’t get the feeling Kakashi wanted to have sex tonight.

“I thought you were okay with this,” Sasuke accused meeting Kakashi’s glare. “So I spend three nights with her a year! You have nothing to be jealous about!”

“At least I’m not fucking someone else while in a relationship with you,” Kakashi growled.

“You cheated on Izumo with me! I should be a lot more suspicious.”

“You were the one who seduced me when you knew I was with him!”

“I should be more jealous with you having three lovers before me and so fixated on one of them, that you bring him up weekly without telling me who he was! I should be the jealous one; I’m competing with a dead man!”

“At least a dead man can’t cheat on you.”

“I can remedy the situation!” Sasuke was jolted by his own words and his anger faded. “I apologize.” He saw Kakashi hadn’t softened. Sasuke picked up his sword. “I’ll sleep on the sofa then.” Sasuke left the room.

Kakashi sat back against the head board and closed his left eye. He hadn’t used it at all except to see Sasuke’s chakra which flared with anger then quickly subsided. It told him nothing he couldn’t see without it.

Sasuke found the extra bedding. It had been Kakashi’s, too small to cover their larger bed and so chucked into a cupboard. Sasuke flung the bedding carelessly onto the sofa. The moon was nearly full and lit the room through the shoji doors that led to the courtyard. Sasuke went out to sit on the porch.

Ino had provided the plants here as a wedding gift and shanghaied Sai and Choji to help plant them. They were all young, but made the place seem more like a home. Sasuke stared at them and the bamboo fountain.

Juugo came out of his ground floor room and sat next to him.

“I could hear you,” Juugo said simply. Sasuke wasn’t surprised with Juugo’s room being under his, though not directly under. Luckily, Karin’s was a little further away; he was sure she hadn’t heard; she would be here now if she had.

“Did I make a mistake, Juugo? Do I want too much?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about relationships. But I don’t think it’s wrong to want children.”

“I feel like I’m being forced to choose between my love and my clan. My brother had to choose between the village and the clan; he chose the village. That was a far more difficult decision, but it seems like our clan is always in the way. I’m the last Uchiha; what else could I do? Marry someone I don’t care for at all? At least I care for Karin. Marrying her keeps her from a potentially uncomfortable situation. It’s also my pledge to take care of her. I killed her master and benefactor, I dragged her on a mission she would have rathered not gone on—though she came willingly—and I brought her to a foreign village where she was scorned. Not to mention I stabbed her to get at Danzo and was ready to cast her aside. I’ve given her what she wanted and she’s given me much as well. But I don’t love her the way I do Kakashi. Between she and Kakashi, I chose Kakashi, but between he and my clan . . . That’s an impossible choice. I feel I have a responsibility to my entire dead family to revive our clan. Anyway, the Hokage mentioned that ‘it would be beneficial to the village.’ But I don’t want to lose Kakashi.”

“I thought he understood.”

“I thought so too. I should have expected him to be jealous. I guess I would be too.” Sasuke laid back. “Go to bed, Juugo. I’ll talk to him again in morning.”

Juugo left Sasuke lying on the deck looking up at the moon. It reminded him inescapably of the night Itachi left. Somehow he felt that if Itachi was alive, his life would be so much easier. Let him father heirs.

Above, out of sight, Kakashi sat on the windowsill.

Hours later, he still lay awake in bed thinking about it. His thoughts flew quickly from branch to branch. Jealousy. Isn’t that what he hated about Izumo? So what if Sasuke spent three nights a year with Karin? And showed her a little affection besides? Sasuke was coming back to his bed. He was the one who slept in Sasuke’s bedroom. He couldn’t give Sasuke heirs, but she could and Sasuke already felt responsible for her and cared for her to some extent. And Kakashi had tried to make Sasuke feel more comfortable with his choice to marry Karin. He loved Sasuke, but he was wondering if he should bail. Was he so afraid of betrayal? Betrayal? Was he so insecure? No, it was fear of loss. Losing someone he loved too much again. He was the one who betrayed Sasuke; he told Sasuke he was fine with his marrying Karin. He was flooded with self-loathing. And then there was the most telling fact: Sasuke didn’t go to Karin when Kakashi rejected him, he chose the sofa.

He looked out at the moon. Sure it waxed and waned night by night, but it always showed the same face and always returned. In reality, it never changed.

Kakashi came down and found Sasuke asleep on the sofa. He knelt next to him and watched his sleeping face in the dim light. He was so young looking when he was asleep, but not innocent; his experience too much etched around his eyes, they could never truly relax.

As he examined Sasuke’s eyes, he saw the rheum forming in the corner of his eye. Had Sasuke been crying? Kakashi carefully wiped it away. Sasuke shook awake and away from the touch, but there was something about so familiar about Kakashi’s presence that kept Sasuke from attacking at the unexpected touch.

“Wha?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was planning on carrying you. Come to bed.”

Sasuke hummed sleepily. Kakashi was getting better at interrupting those hums: Sasuke was not going to let Kakashi carry him unless he was severely injured. He led Kakashi to the bedroom, but once in bed, he curled into Kakashi with a hum that Kakashi was sure he understood.

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Meanwhile, the Raikage and Hokage were negotiating to have Killer Bee train Naruto in how to completely control the Kyuubi. The Raikage had a hard time forgiving Sasuke for his attack on his brother, but he had to agree that Sasuke had done them all a favor by destroying Akatsuki, the only real threat to his little brother. With the assurance that Sasuke would not be accompanying Naruto, the Raikage finally agreed.

Sasuke and Kakashi saw Naruto and Yamato off along with many of Naruto’s other friends.

“Apologize to the Hachabi for me,” Sasuke told him.

“I will. Name your kid after me, will ya?”

“Not a chance, dobe.”

Naruto smiled broadly and turned to leave with Yamato.

Sasuke and Kakashi returned home only long enough to prepare their weapons, pick up Juugo, and say goodbye to a six month pregnant Karin before heading off to meet their temporary teammate for their next mission.

Ino was really a replacement medical-nin. Her specialty, the mind transfer jutsu, was superfluous with Sasuke with them. And she was no sensor. Otherwise she was on Karin’s level; a fine substitute.

But the Sharingan wasn’t as good as Karins’s ‘Mind’s Eye of the Kagura’ or the Byakugan at sensing.

They fought their way through one ambush, but they were all wounded except for Juugo who was protected by his transformation. Sasuke cursed the lost of his own curse seal and Orochimaru’s healing ability, but continued on the mission.

Already wounded, the rest of the mission did not go well. Sasuke and Juugo took it upon themselves to protect Ino, taking a few hits as a result. But they accomplished their objective, killing the leader of a group of rogues and retrieving several scrolls of powerful ninjutsu stolen from the Fire Temple. Looking very much worse for wear, they retreated.

When they were at what they judged to be a good distance, they stopped to deal with their wounds. Ino worked on an injury to Kakashi’s arm while Sasuke wrapped his own shallow cuts.

Sasuke suddenly stood and flung a kunai as he turned. His other hand, weaponless because he didn’t have time to grab one, knocked an incoming kunai sending it into the ground. The others were on their feet. Another dozen kunai and shuriken flew toward them, but they were all now aware enough to deflect or avoid them. All four sought and attacked targets around them, a squad of rouge shinobi who followed them for revenge and reacquire the scrolls.

The entire squad was quickly wiped out; Sasuke having taken out most of them. They came back together around their small camp. Kakashi had a wound to his chest area, but it missed any vital organs. He had a new cut down his back and was woozy from blood loss. Ino had two new cuts, being well protected Juugo. Juugo was fine.

Sasuke slowly approached them. He caught Kakashi’s eye. “’m sorry.” And he collapsed. All three ran to him. Kakashi checked his pulse, panicking. It was still there; in fact it was rapid. Ino began searching for wounds, but found none but a small cut on his hand where he deflected the first kunai. Kakashi’s racing mind came to the correct conclusion as soon as he saw the wound. He pulled the wound to his mouth and tried to suck out any poison that was still in the skin around the wound, the tainted blood already coursing throughout his body. Ino began treatment for poison. Sasuke was sweating profusely.

“That’s all I can do for now,” Ino said. “I need to treat your wound, Kakashi-san.”

Kakashi shook his head. “Take care of Sasuke.”

“He’s fighting the poison on his own at this point. You need treatment.”

Kakashi relented and let her close his wound. He lost consciousness as she worked.

“How is Sasuke, really?” Juugo asked.

“He should be dead, but as I said, his body is fighting the poison.”

“He was trained by Orochimaru. He probably has experience with poisons.”

“I think we should move. There might be more shinobi coming for us.”

“I can carry both of them.”

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A day later, Kakashi was half sitting in a chair and half lying on the hospital bed where Sasuke lay; the cuts on his back making it painful to sit back, but the wound to his chest didn’t make laying forward any easier. Kakashi was asleep when he felt a hand start caressing his hair. He luxuriated in it for a while, forgetting the situation. Then it started to occur to him. He woke up completely and looked at Sasuke. Sasuke smiled weakly. “Kakashi.”

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“At least you’re feeling anything at all.”

“Ah.” Sasuke’s face tensed with pain. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You really scared me,” Kakashi said. “I thought you were going to die.”

“I thought sure I would. To come across a poison I’m not immune to.”

Kakashi eyed him. “I thought you might be immune to poison.”

“Not all poisons. Living with Orochimaru and Kabuto will do that.” He tried to sit up, but Kakashi pushed him gently back down. “I’ve been bitten by every venomous snake in the world. I’m even immune to some of the poisons developed by Sasori of the Red Sands. Orochimaru had stolen samples in order to develop an immunity. This one . . .”

“Ino brought the kunai back with her. We should be able to replicate it.”

“I should probably use it to develop an immunity. I’ve been doing it for years.”

“That must be why you lived. I was certain. Reminded me of . . .” Sasuke knew what he was thinking. Kakashi didn’t say anything for several seconds, coming to a decision; Sasuke wanted to know, he might as well know. Admitting it to him wouldn’t hurt anything now. He looked around to make sure the door and windows were shut and whispered, “Namikaze Minato.”

“Yondamie? Your sensei?” Sasuke was shocked, but he also whispered.

“His fiancé was Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto’s mother.”

“No wonder you never told me. I always wondered since Naruto told me who his father was, but now I really don’t understand: Naruto was the son of your sensei, but now you tell me he was the son of your lover. Why did Naruto grow up alone, why weren’t you there for him?” Kakashi was glad there was no reproach in his voice.

“I was told not to get close to him. We kept his parentage a secret, even from him. If I were to show any interest . . .”

“Madara knew, I’m sure of it.”

“Perhaps. I also didn’t think I could stand it. He does look a lot like Minato, but not exactly. It never bothered me once you became my students, but at the time I didn’t think I could stand it.”

“I think I understand.”

“Sort of a hypocrite, aren’t I? I resisted you because you were my student, but I had an even more illicit relationship with my own sensei.”

“Not hypocritical, just more experienced, knowledgeable. Would have been worst had people known back then. Thank you for telling me.”

“My other lover was just a casual thing. Didn’t last long. He never even saw my face.”

“Romantic.”

“Since my father, only Minato and some medical staff had seen my face. I decided to try having a real relationship with Izumo as long as it would last so I let him see my face.”

Sasuke hummed. “I didn’t want to ask, but, thank you.” Giving up on whispering, Sasuke asked, “How’s Karin?”

“She fine. Still got two months or so.”

“Wake me when it’s time.” Sasuke fell back asleep. Kakashi smiled and pulled the blanket over him. Sasuke would be fine.

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Next chapter will be Minato/Kakashi!