Hanging in the Balance

Fandom/Pairing: Naruto (Sasu/Saku no sex!! X.X, Sasu/Naru onesided?)

Title: Hanging in the Balance

Author: ursweetheartless (me ^.^)

Rating: very PG

Warnings: references to sex, angst, team 7 love triangle

Status: part 1 of 3

A/N: while this does have some Sasu/Saku in it, there will be no sex, no het, because het scares me. eventually there will be man sex, though whether or not it's sasu/naru is yet to be decided, probably based on exactly how angsty i feel at the time.

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It was the sound of the door opening that ruined everything, things had been going fine for Sasuke until that point. He was on the verge of cumming after all, the man underneath him was perfect, panting softly, tanned back sheened with sweat. Shit, shit, she's home early, he rolled off quickly, grabbing his discarded shirt and trying his best to get his appearance in order. The guy on his bed, whose name he couldn't even remember at this point, looked at him quizzically, but when Sasuke held up one finger in front of his lips the man seemed to get it, grabbing his own clothing and rushing to the nearest available space that could hide him, which just happened to be the rather spacious walk in closet.

Up until that point, Sasuke's trysts and small affairs had been well hidden, because he was smart, calculating, and cold. These were the only outlets for his emotion, and he channeled everything, all the hurt and longing he felt, into these hidden rendezvous. He'd been getting more and more careless lately though, and Neji would tell him later that it was all a subconscious desire to be found out, to not have to pretend any more. He would tell the boy to shove it.

Even in his carelessness though, he'd picked a time when Sakura, his girlfriend, well fiancé as of two weeks ago, would be out. She always went out on thursday nights, with her girlfriends from work, sometimes they went to the trendy bars downtown, by the office they both worked at, sometimes they would go to the beauty salon, but what mattered to him was the fact that she was rather reliably never home.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart as he glanced at his reflection, making sure his hair was presentable, before pushing the bedroom door open. Sakura was standing in the kitchen, her purse dropped carelessly on the ground by the island, her coat thrown across the back of the couch. That was his first clue that something was wrong really. Sakura was never anything but meticulously attentive to her clothing and accessories, every one by major label designers, every one couture and expensive. The expression on her face when she turned to face him was his second clue. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she'd been crying, but they gleamed with malice now.

"Sakura, you're home early. Are you okay?" He tried his best to look calm yet concerned while his brain raced with adrenaline, the hardwired animal response of fight or flight pulsing in the back of his head like white noise. He opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off.

"Oh, just stop it Sasuke. Just tell me, who the fuck is she?" Everything in his head came jerking to a halt then, and he looked at her in honest confusion.

"Uh, who is who?" That didn't seem to phase her, only making her more angry, her voice climbing in volume.

"Don't play games with me, you asshole. I know you're having an affair and I want to know who the fuck she is!" Sasuke's mind restarted then, and he took a steady breath, his mouth switching to autopilot as he still tried to figure out exactly how much she knew, because it obviously wasn't everything.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sakura. There is no other woman, you know I don't even look at other girls any more." That much was true too, not that he'd really looked at girls that way at all, not since he'd graduated college, not since he'd come to terms with himself.

"Oh, fuck you! Stop lying to me!" Sasuke took two deep breathes, settling himself slightly before continuing.

"Sakura, stop it. There is no other woman. Do you honestly think I'd put a ring on your finger if I was seeing another girl? I don't want another girl, Sakura, I want you..." He pushed all of the emotion he could into that last phrase, letting himself get quiet, letting his voice vibrate slightly, waver as if on the verge of tears. And he was, in a way, he'd do anything to avoid this confrontation, and if he had to cry, he'd do it in a heart beat. The sound of his voice seemed to calm her a little, and he barely suppressed his sigh of relief. He moved, crossing the space between them, trying to comfort her, but she just pushed past him.

"I ... I want to believe that, but I don't know if I can, Sasuke. I-I just ..." She trailed off hopelessly, but he could hear the resolve wavering in her voice. He was winning, she was doubting herself now. He moved in for the kill, stepping back over, wrapping his arms around her from behind in a loose but comforting embrace.

"I want you to believe me too..." He could feel the shaking of her shoulders, knew she was crying now, and that twisted something inside of him. Even if he didn't like her that way, that didn't mean he wanted to hurt her. He'd never wanted to hurt her. She twisted away then, wiping her face on the sleeve of her sweater, her eyeliner running, smearing onto the cashmere.

"I just ... I need some time to think." She was going towards the bedroom now, and the flutters of panic awoke in his chest again. He darted for her, but didn't stop her in time, making it to the doorway at the moment she pushed through it.

"Sakura, wait!" She turned to look at him, saw the panic in his eyes, but thankfully misinterpreted it.

"I just need some time to think." She repeated herself, walking to the dresser beside the bed, pulling open drawers, grabbing things at random and gathering them in her arms. She grabbed the black leather weekend bag hanging on the side of the night table and, shoved it all inside. Sasuke was confused again then, his scattered mind not quite moving fast enough to keep up with her.

"You're-you're leaving?" His voice sounded panicked, and she turned to him with a soft, broken smile.

"I'm going to Ino's, just for now. I need to think things over-" She paused, swinging the bag onto her shoulder before turning to him, moving in close and laying one hand on his cheek softly. "-I want to believe you, I really, really do. It will only be a night or two, just to figure things out, figure out how I feel. Then I'll be back, I promise."

He stood there silently, trying to process everything still as she breezed past him, out of the bedroom. He heard the sounds of her gathering up her coat and her purse, then the front door again, opening and shutting, the sound echoing in the empty apartment, somehow deafening in the now empty space. He didn't even try to stop her.

X

The man had left minutes after Sakura, without Sasuke having to ask, giving him a little smile. He was alone then, in the loft, and it had never seemed so big and empty before. He'd picked it for the space, high ceilings and an open floor plan, it had seemed wonderfully classy and chic before. Now it just echoed vacantly, something missing that he wasn't sure was there to begin with really. He stared out the picture windows at the view, the city sparkling in the night, a thousand lights glimmering and winking at him, only making him feel more alone. All Sasuke could think right then, was that this was all Naruto's fault.

He was never quite sure how things had gotten that way with Sakura. He'd mer her in college, they'd been in several of the same classes at business school. She'd taken a liking to him immediately, flirting shamelessly with him at every opportunity, but he turned her down at every opportunity as well, a fact she put down to his seemed seriousness about school. She'd been around him constantly though, chattering away every second, following him to lunch, inviting him to study groups at her apartment.

That had been how he'd met Naruto. The blond had known Sakura since they'd been in middle school, and had always had a crush on her. He hadn't been good at hiding it either, not that he'd tried, he seemed rather proud of it really. He would follow her everywhere, just like she followed Sasuke. It had been amusing to the Uchiha, and that was how this had all started.

That was probably his reason for agreeing to date the girl in the first place, when he thought about it later he would always come back to that point. Naruto wanted her, but would probably never get her, so why shouldn't he have her. Of course, Neji would tell him it was out of desire to keep the blond boy close that he did it, and he couldn't have argued with that, looking back. And it had worked, wherever Sakura went, Naruto followed, so the three of them were always together. It had seemed like the most natural thing in the world, once they graduated and he gained control of one of his family's many corporate holdings, that he would offer Sakura a position. That meant offering Naruto a position too, even if subconsciously it worked the other way around.

And they had all been successful, each one excelling at what they did. Sakura was brilliant with the rules and regulations, writing and rewriting things until everything matched up, until all the t's were crossed and all the i's dotted. Sasuke, in turn, was good at managing things, keeping things under control, and he had a cold and ruthless side that let him handle any situation without things getting in the way. Naruto though, Naruto was good with people, he was a negotiator, the one who did the hiring, the firing, the mergers and the clients, everything went through him one way or another, and Sasuke was sure that if there was someone out of the three of them that had the most power in the company it would turn out to be the blond. On paper, he sounded like the least important, the most expendable, but in reality, if he left, Sasuke had no doubt that he would be able to get the majority of their client list, and more than half of their payroll to follow him, wherever he ended up going.

Sasuke remembered being happy with Sakura in the beginning, before he had felt the pressures of his family to settle down. He still viewed the girl as a friend really, she wasn't bad, she just wasn't what he wanted. He had seriously considered breaking things off with her, wanting to tell her that he was gay but he didn't really know how to do that without hurting her. In the end, he'd panicked and ended up proposing to her instead. He deeply wanted to take it back, knowing that it locked him into this, it symbolized a commitment to the relationship he knew wouldn't last. But the he'd seen her face, the look of absolute joy that had come over her when he'd said it, and he knew he couldn't take it back.

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A/N: this came to me while i was supposed to be working on finals, but i wrote it anyways, because i am the mistress of procrastination, and im not sure if it's any good or not. it won't be long, probably about three parts, so if you like it, tell me, and i'll continue. anything to avoid working on, you know, actual work ^.^ so, Good? Bad? Ugly? Read, Review, and Let Me Know!!