The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 17

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Sasuke continued to lay with his Master after his wonderful experience with gentle lovemaking. Naruto was a very kind man and now that he looked back on it, it was probably hard for the blond to do all those things that Sasuke had requested in the past.

Now that his mind was starting to become clear again, the impending questions he'd been waiting to ask all night arose once more. He needed to do this, no matter how comfortable he was at the moment; he had a right to know. "Master, can I ask you something? And, please answer, I think I deserve at least an answer from you." He tried to make it sound as respectful as possible, but he was afraid he had been a bit too demanding.

Naruto stared at the ceiling, loving the feeling of his little Kitty snuggled against his side, and sighed. Of course there'd be questions after what happened tonight, and after being thrust back into a part of his past that the blond would have preferred to be left buried; it was either talk now or never. "You have earned yourself a few answers. Go ahead; ask away before we fall asleep."

Sasuke prepared himself for the responses he might get from his questions before he started. "I figured from the way you acted around him that you knew that Doctor." He hesitated a bit. "...How do you know him? He doesn't seem like the type of person you would associate with."

Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke as his old master’s face swam before his eyes with that awful smile plastered across that freakishly pale face. If he'd known then what he knew now, Naruto would have not chosen Orochimaru as his first Dom. "if I’d known about him before, I would have stayed as far away from that man as I could. To be a good Dom it's best to sub for someone else at first to know what it'll be like for your future subs. That was what he was to me; my first Dom. All I learned from that time was what not to do with anyone I might take under my wing. Causing pain to any of my subs is the absolute last thing I want to do."

Sasuke frowned at that. "Unless they want you too..." he said quietly referring to himself. He knew now why Naruto hated being rough with Sasuke and why he hesitated to bring pain to the boy. He snuggled further into Naruto not wanting him to see the thin shine of tears just reaching the surface of his eyes. He felt so guilty, he probably made Naruto feel even worse about himself by having his own issues and needs for pain. "How bad did he hurt you?" he managed to choke out.

The blond felt his throat tightening up while something felt close to breaking in his chest. Thinking about all those things that bastard had done to him in the name of teaching a future Dom was starting to make him feel a bit sick. Naruto couldn’t talk for a minute or two until he got his throat under control and forced his mouth to cooperate enough to tell Sasuke everything he needed to know; in however much detail he could stand. After the explanation of what the bastard did to him mentally and physically, similar to the explanation he gave to Itachi a few days before, he continued on. "It was really bad. For almost a year afterward I couldn’t sleep through the night without waking up screaming at least once or twice. I didn’t want to go out alone anywhere, I wasn't eating right for the months following my escape, I was going downhill like there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow." Naruto shivered and brought his warm little kitty closer for comfort before finding something positive to end with. "But... I met some great people after the nightmare was over. Kiba, Kakashi; even Jiryia helped me get my life back just a bit. But you and your brother have helped me the most, and I like to think I’m helping both of you as well."

The raven had no idea who those people were, well with the exception of Kiba, but he was sure that they were truly worthy of Naruto if they had any hand in helping his Master. Sasuke felt the tears rolling down his cheeks, an effect from Naruto's horrible tale of abuse and neglect. He cuddled into his Master's chest and just held the man. "If I knew about what happened to you, I would have never made you do those things to me.... the painful things that probably made you sick every time I asked for it. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, not your fault you like what you do. I just had to make sure I didn’t do anything like he would have done. But now you know why I rarely left any marks on you that would stay."

Sasuke nodded. It was a while before he spoke again, opting to let his Master have a moment to recover. After a few minutes, he looked up at Naruto once more and rested his head on the blonde’s shoulder. "Can I ask you something else?" he asked a bit timidly, feeling a bit insecure about this next subject.

"Sure; now’s probably the best time to ask me whatever you want."

Sasuke shifted, not really wanting to bring up the subject of his brother, but he felt he had to. "Why did you tell Itachi about that man and not me? Why tell Itachi you love him first and not me? I'm not saying I resent it or anything, it just makes me feel a little bit left out and, kind of like you don’t want me." At the end of his inquiry, he was looking away from his Master again, not used to having eye contact with him for so long.

Naruto’s eyes went wide a small intake of breath could be heard. "Sasuke, don’t ever think that I wanted to get rid of you. I was willing to keep you and train you until I make you understand what it is to be my sub. Not just a sub, MY sub. I also didn’t want to risk hurting you if I couldn’t keep you for whatever reason. I'd never tried having two subs before. I wasn’t sure if I could do it so I tried to be careful with both of you. Your bother just kind of stole my heart before you did, that's all. But I never once thought of giving you up and I’ve never disliked you.”

Sasuke felt a bit insecure at Naruto's answer. "Do you love him more?" he asked as he dared a glance up at his Master's blue eyes.

"I liked him first, but you’re catching up fast. You have to admit, when I first got you and up until recently, you’ve been pretty hard to deal with. But you already explained yourself and I understand." Naruto looked into Sasuke’s eyes and smiled tenderly down at the boy. Sasuke really wanted to be loved by his brother’s new owner.

Sasuke buried his head into the blonde's neck. "I don't mind if you love my brother, you know that I love him too, but I just want to know that you love me... that's all that matters." He was getting a bit sleepy but he wanted to see Itachi before he went to sleep. Sasuke pulled away slightly from Naruto's warmth and looked up at him. "Is Itachi going to sleep with us?"

Naruto smiled down at his adorable little sated kitty. "Of course he's sleeping with us. You know I wouldn’t make him sleep on the couch.” With that Naruto began to slowly get out of bed and Sasuke's reassuring warmth to go get Itachi and put Akamaru in Kiba's bed where the dog would go to sleep eventually with his master.

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Itachi looked up from his position on the floor and smiled as he saw the blond approach. He crawled up to the beautiful man and kneeled like he was expected to.

Naruto smiled as his gorgeous raven kneeled before him. The man looked too adorable in his T-shirt that he almost jumped the man. But then he remembered how tired he was and knew he wouldn’t be able to get it up again even with the help of his subs. "Hey Princess, I took care of Sasuke and I think all of us are ready for a good long rest together." Naruto ran his fingers through Itachi’s silky hair and used his small nails to gently scrape at the older man’s scalp like he loved having his stylist do to him every few months or so, whenever his hair got too long for comfort. It always made the blonde’s skin tingle in a good way. “Why don’t you go in my room and keep your brother company while I put this little guy to bed and take a shower alright?”

Itachi nodded stood up. He leaned forward a bit and looked to his Master for permission to kiss him.

Naruto got his eldest sub’s intent and smiled slow and sexy enough to make his scared cheeks seem more natural like he'd been born with them. He let his eyelids drop just far enough to speak passionate deeds in the dark while his full lips parted and the blond leaned forward to plant the best kiss he could manage with a mutt in his arms.

Itachi could have melted just from the heated kiss his Master was giving him. He wrapped his arms around the blond, mindful of Akamaru as he pressed as close as he could to Naruto. When the blond released him, his head was reeling and he had a bit of a hard time balancing. "Thank you Master." he said breathlessly.

Naruto chuckled and juggled Akamaru from one arm to the other to give his Princess a quick hug before they had to part ways temporarily. The dog only grunted in his sleep and sighed from being shifted. “Now get that sweet ass in bed so I can get in a warm bed once I drop this fluff ball off."

Itachi nodded once more before he headed off toward the bedroom and his brother. Once he walked through the door, he saw Sasuke half asleep and looking more sated than he had ever seen him. "I take it you had a good time?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat on the bed next to his brother. He proceeded to take off his Master’s T-shirt before climbing into bed and cuddling up with his younger sibling.

Sasuke turned over and curled around his brother happily with a muttered word of appreciation for their master. It had been so much better than he would have imagined.

Meanwhile Naruto gently nudged Kiba’s bedroom door open with a foot and carefully walked to his roommate’s bed. This room was almost the exact opposite of his room. Everything was put away where it belonged with nothing strewn across the floors or furniture. Not only that but the room smelled clean and fresh.

Akamaru opened his eyes briefly as he was deposited on one of the pillows and walked in three quick circles before curling up to sleep again, comfortable in the scent of his master’s bed.

Satisfied that the puppy wouldn't be waking up any time soon, the blond walked across the hall to the bathroom and a well deserved shower.

Back in Naruto's room, Itachi was busy playing with Sasuke's spiky hair. "So, what did he do?" he asked as he lay down next to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up at his brother and smiled with the afterglow of his master’s lovemaking. "He showed me why he likes it gentle like you do. I didn't know it would be as good as it was. It's almost a torture the way he did it with me."

Itachi chuckled and cuddled up with Sasuke a bit more. "So, you finally understand what I've been talking about all this time? It sure took you long enough. What else? Did you two talk?"

Sasuke snuggled up against his brother and closed his eyes before answering. "We did talk a bit... about what happened tonight. He told me about who that doctor was, and why he gets so jealous sometimes. I feel sorry for him, just a little."

Itachi brought Sasuke closer and continued to stroke the soft hair. "I know it must have been hard to hear him talk about that. It seems to me like he's come a long way since then though. He told me that the two of us are probably the biggest factor to help him get over his issues."

"I guess so. I'd do anything to keep what happened tonight from happening ever again. He can get really scary sometimes." Sasuke looked at his bandaged arms and lay there completely silent for a moment in his brother’s embrace. Outside the messy bedroom he could hear water running in the bathroom and guessed that Naruto was cleaning himself up before getting in bed with them.

Itachi looked over at Sasuke, making sure the smaller raven wasn't asleep yet. "I think we should help him get into some therapy or something... I'm sure that would help a great deal."

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up at Itachi’s face without moving his head. That might help Naruto with his anger but the blond didn’t seem like the type to just get up and go see a shrink on his own without a little help. "But I don’t think he'd go on his own, not without some help. How would we even convince him he needed to go? It’s not like we can just say he needs to get therapy and he'll do it for us."

Itachi sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I think maybe I should talk to him first. I'll just suggest it and see what his reaction is. Based on that I can see how easy or hard it'll be to convince him."

Sasuke licked his lips and tried to think how that would turn out and hit a wall. It seemed impossible to imagine what might happen. "What can I do to help you? He loves both of us, so maybe if we worked together on this he might not fight the idea so much."

Itachi looked over at his brother. "Maybe tomorrow we could have him sit down with us and just ask him to listen to what we have to say... and he either does it or doesn't do it." Itachi looked back toward the ceiling. "If he doesn't do it, then we'll have to think of something else."

Sasuke nodded, relieved that they'd be confronting their master with his well-being in mind. It wasn’t like he and his brother were threatening to go with another master or that they were tired of him, they just wanted him to be as happy as possible. "Alright, I know we can do this for our Master, we love him too much to let him be unhappy for long."

Itachi nodded and added quickly as he heard the water turn off. "Just don't mention anything about it tonight. Let him be content for now. He has us and we're safe."

"I'm too tired to talk much anyway." Sasuke cuddled up against his brother’s torso and stayed there breathing deeply. If Naruto didn't hurry he'd be asleep before the blond even got into the bed.

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Naruto reached out for a fluffy towel before stepping out of the shower and dried himself off as much as he could before setting foot on the bathroom rug in the middle of the tiled floor, taking special care to get his privates dry. It was so uncomfortable to have wet balls and to be under the covers at the same time, or to be doing anything that made the little bastards move while wet. It was almost unbearable for an extended amount of time.

The mostly dry blond threw the towel over the shower rack to dry and stepped out into the hallway. All was quiet except for Akamaru's soft snoring and the dripping of the shower head. He padded across the carpeted floor, being careful not to brush against any of the walls, and entered his bedroom where his two beautiful subs were laid out on his bed like a pair of black haired angels.

He climbed into the bed completely naked and snuggled in between his two precious subs. He noticed that Sasuke was already asleep, which Naruto couldn’t blame him for. He had had a rough night and a very tiring apology. He turned to his Princess who was still awake but was slowly starting to fade into sleep. “I love you Princess. Like I said earlier, you’re going to get something from me tomorrow that will be very special. I won’t tell you what it is now, but I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Itachi smiled sleepily at his Master and wrapped his arms around the other man. “Thank you Master; I love you too. Thank you for being so good to me.” He quickly fell asleep after a gentle kiss from the blond.

Naruto was the last to fall asleep. He had a lot running through his head. But all that mattered now were his two Uchiha’s. Snuggling into the bed and his lovers/subs, he fell asleep just as the front door opened. Looks like Kiba was home. God was he going to get an earful tomorrow.

TBC


A quick update this time! So hope you liked it!!! It was full of sappy love-dovey crap…but sometimes a story needs that once in a while.