To Lead a Horse to Water

Notes: Intended mostly as a side story, though it takes place just after the beginning (or end) of "Horse." Mostly Sasu/Naru and Team 7 OT3, so if you're not comfortable with it, sorry. And for anyone who does wonder, the Sasu/Naru categorization doesn't include who tops or bottoms (IMO, distinguishing D/S needs some level of BDSM).

The title is translated from the beginning of a Chinese poem whose first two lines include, "明月几时有/ 把酒问青天."

 

           On the eve of the Rokudaime’s inauguration, the ANBU tail Hokage-to-be Uzumaki Naruto and his shadow to a residential sector neighboring the main Konoha hospital. They can go no further than the pale blue walls and wide slatted windows of the apartment complex, restricted by the invisible hand of privacy and a healthy sense of self-preservation, because one does not go barging into the home of Godaime’s protégé. Even Naruto is no exception, as the sound of something breaking echoes in the neighborhood.

           Besides, whatever Mrs. Haruno-Lee breaks, she can usually fix.

*

           “It’s been a long day, so I’m going to ask only one more time,” Sakura starts out when she’s properly dressed. “Why did you try to break into my bedroom?”

           Naruto grumbles through an icepack, “I just wanted to see you, you know, and I couldn’t go through the front door, you know how annoying the security detail is.”

           “Naruto, I have a balcony. Use it.”

           “How was I supposed to know it was your bedroom window and that you would be naked?” Naruto is the paradigm of innocence until he leers, “Besides, you don’t need to be embarrassed, you have great—”

           A clenched fist in his face is sufficient motivation; he imitates a fish briefly, and then hastily backtracks, “I didn’t see anything, I swear!”

           Sakura sighs and sits back into the sofa, running a hand through her still-damp hair in exasperation. “ You are helping me pay for a replacement bed, because I’m certainly not going to make Lee help pay for it.”

           “There shouldn’t be any monetary problems,” Sasuke assures them.

           She puzzles over the statement, because while the Uchiha clan had certainly left behind a number of liquid assets, they were seized the moment when Sasuke was declared a traitor. Naruto teaching genin teams didn’t pay terribly well, and it was only few years back that the Council started to give him missions that paid as much as they were dangerous.

           Naruto suddenly jumps up, snarling, “Those bastards! I told them to stop—”

           “I’m selling most of the old Uchiha ward to the village,” Sasuke explains nonchalantly to Sakura. “It’s not as if I would go back there. Since I’m still alive, the Council can’t just reclaim the land.”

           “They were threatening to collect backdated taxes on the estates,” Naruto huffs. “They’re just being childish. How can you let them force you to sell your home like that?”

           “Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke replies. He stops mid-breath, before continuing disjointedly, “Besides, Tsunade promised me the transaction won’t be processed until you’re Hokage.”

           “Eh? Why?”

           “You’ll see.”

           “Come on, tell me, Sakura’s not going to tell anyone,” Naruto wheedles.

           “I’d love to know what Sasuke means, but if he’s saving a secret for you,” Sakura teases, “you should have the patience.”

           “I’ve been plenty patient!”

           She smiles ruefully. “We all have.”

           Something must have slipped out in her voice, because both Naruto and Sasuke change imperceptibly. Sasuke slowly stiffens, leaning against the wall, while Naruto’s shoulders droop slightly.

           Sakura hastily changes the topic. “So why did you want to see me, Naruto?”

           “What, I can’t just want to see my childhood love?”

           “No,” she says brusquely. “I wasn’t your childhood anything, I was your teammate.”

           “Sasuke,” Naruto whines, “why is Sakura so mean?”

           “You really want me to answer that?”

           “Just spit it out, Naruto.” Sakura rolls her eyes. “Unless you want to explain it to Lee too when he gets back.”

           Naruto hems and haws before finally confessing, “I’m scared.” He plops down on the couch next to her. “I don’t know if I want to go through with it.”

           “What?” Sakura blinks. “What the hell—where’s the real Naruto? The Naruto I know has been dying for this moment, waiting to be recognized as Hokage to prove everyone wrong. This is everything you’ve wanted!”

           Sasuke snorts. “Same thing I told him.”

           “No, I mean, I don’t know!” Naruto says. “I can’t—It feels off, okay? I should be happy, and I am. But it’s not the sort of happiness I wanted. I always thought—I mean…are we still Team Seven? Kakashi would be proud of us, right? I just don’t want to be separated from you guys, but once I become Hokage…it’s a completely different level. I was talking to the old lady, and she told me that it’s not always what I think it is, and I know that, but it’s also what I make of it. What does she mean by that? I don’t get it.”

           “Oh, Naruto .” Sakura rubs her temples, feeling the onset of a headache. “Of all the things—of course Kakashi would be proud! You’ve always done what is right. And we’ll be here—” She shoots a glance at Sasuke, his posture stiff and his face turned away. “—regardless of what happens.”

           “Of course I know you’ll be here, but I just…at first, it didn’t feel real, okay? Like I was still dreaming or something. And now it’s real, and that’s kind of weird. I’ve got this whole list of things I want to do, but it doesn’t work like that either.”

           “So make it work,” Sakura tells him. “That’s what Tsunade means. You know that being Hokage doesn’t mean absolute power, but if you can command their respect, you can have the authority. Besides, they’re not going to keep me away from you, Tsunade made sure of that. And Sasuke—”

           “I know what I am,” Sasuke cuts her off. “I’m still a liability.”

           Sakura pulls Naruto down before he can get up to yell at Sasuke, pushing him to lie down. He gurgles a little, finds his head on her lap, and then his face relaxes into a leer. She pinches his neck to remind him not to take any liberties, and when she catches his eyes, she mimes the motion for silence.

           “I talked to Tsunade about your seals,” she starts. “She…she says it might be dangerous for us to take them off. The fact that your seal still isn’t fading means there’s too much active chakra behind the seals.”

           “She’s afraid that if the seals are lifted, I’ll be too powerful, huh? And given this length of time, I would not have the same control over my chakra as I did.”

           She doesn’t say “yes” or “no,” but her hands find snarls in Naruto’s hair to disentangle. Naruto’s tenses up as well; he did not know this.

           Sasuke chuckles wryly. “Seal or not, I’d lose my vision anyway. I’ve had plenty of time to adjust. It’s my own failure for not perfecting it.”

           “Sasuke—” she starts.

           “Don’t.”

           Years ago, she would have stopped. Not now, though, because Sasuke needs to hear it. “Don’t what? Say that it’s not your fault? It is your fault, but it’s my fault, too. There’s plenty of blame to go around, so stop trying to take it up on your own.”

            The corners of Sasuke’s mouth twitches when he turns to her, as if undecided in his reaction.

           “Now, come on, sit down.” She pats the seat next to her. “It won’t kill you to sit.”

            “The way he acts, you’d think he would,” Naruto snorts, forgetting silence in favor of a potshot at Sasuke. “Uh, not that I’m responsible for that.”

           Sakura laughs, because it’s no secret what Naruto and Sasuke do, and because her laughter can mask the faint twinge of envy she feels when she realizes what Naruto and Sasuke have is the not the same thing they have with her. And yet, it had somehow become easier after she got married—she doesn’t feel guilty anymore, because falling in love with Lee established the fine demarcation between what she could and couldn’t have.

           She watches Sasuke reluctantly make his way over, fingertips following the hard angles of the wooden frame until he finds the velveteen surface of the cushions (tea green, Sakura had described to him when they first came over, tea green cushions against the black frame; he had only expressed the hope that Lee didn’t choose the color). She has learned to recognize that he sits with a care derived from anxiety and not unfamiliarity; Sasuke has never been good at this. She guides his hand to her lap and he flinches a little as their hands weave into Naruto’s hair.

           “You won’t lose us,” Sakura whispers to him. Sasuke is warm against her side; she slumps and leans against him, suddenly struck by how tired she is. Their hands move together, slowly stroking Naruto’s hair as if he were a giant cat; Naruto even purrs contentedly. Sasuke’s hand slows a little, fingers rigid.

           “It’s okay,” Sakura tells him. “We waited for you, and we waited for this.”

           “You shouldn’t have,” Sasuke replies.

           “No, we had to,” Sakura says, and she can’t stop the sadness and bitterness from flooding her voice. “It wasn’t a choice. People…they can’t stop loving someone even if they wanted to. That’s what it’s like to love.”

           A comfortable silence falls between them, even Naruto choosing to say nothing even though he must have heard it all.  She’s afraid if she says anything else, she’ll choke on her words.

           “I know!” Naruto suddenly pipes up, shifting under their hands. “Sasuke’s going to be my personal aide, like Shizune was to Tsunade. They can’t possibly reject that.”

           She can’t help but giggle at the thought. Sasuke growls, “I am not doing office work.”

           “And Sasuke will have to obey me, saying ‘Yes, sir,’ or ‘As you wish, sir,’” Naruto continues blithely. Sasuke’s face flushes red, his free hand practically clawing at the handrest. “Although, being Hokage, I should get a hot girl or something, because it’d be a waste to have Sasuke in that position.”

           “Well, Sasuke’s pretty enough,” Sakura muses playfully. “Not a hot girl, but good enough. And speaking of positions…”

           “You are not making me some whorish personal aide,” Sasuke spits out, tugging at Naruto’s hair. “If you’re going to joke about this, do it at someone else’s expense.”

           Naruto yelps a bit, turning on his back to look up at them. “Oh come on, Sasuke, you know I wouldn’t.”

           “Do I?” Sasuke starts to get up when Naruto grabs him by the arm. It’s disconcerting to see how Naruto’s eyes can be so easy-going one second, and in the next, they are naked in his emotions, staring at Sasuke, Sasuke who couldn’t see it.

           “Stay.”

           “What am I, your dog?”

           “No,” Naruto replies. “You’re Sasuke.”

           “If your inauguration wasn’t tomorrow,” Sasuke threatens, because Sakura knows he’s not very likely to say anything kinder, “I would break your fingers one by one.”

           Before her, they are frozen in this tableau, Sasuke trying to glare with his eyebrows alone and Naruto trying to make him see what he can’t. Hysterical laughter threatens to bubble out of her, but she forces herself to stay silent.

           Naruto grabs his hand instead, the other hand reaching out to cup his cheek and draw him down. They kiss in front of her.

           “Don’t leave,” Naruto says against his lips.

           “Idiot,” Sasuke mutters. He squeezes Naruto’s hand once and gets off the couch. Sakura can barely hear it when he says almost brokenly, “I can’t.”

           Sakura watches as Sasuke wanders over to the kitchen. She hasn’t rearranged anything since the last time they visited; he remembers how to navigate. Naruto fumbles trying to get off her lap, finally standing up. He doesn’t move, but his eyes still follow Sasuke with the gleam of determination and sadness.

           Sometimes, as much as she wants to be a part of their lives, she is not envious of this. She asks him, “It was all worth it, right?”

           Naruto sighs and rubs his face. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”