Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Sweetest Victory ❯ Back To Work ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I apologize for the extreme lateness of this. Computer problems just ate about two months of my life, and then I just got distracted. Bad author! And if certain events seem somewhat out of character, don't freak out. I have a plan. All will be made clear later. ~__^

 

Pairings: None this chapter but eventual SasuSaku, NaruSaku, and NaruSasu and possibly NaruSakuSasu (still deciding after the dialogue took on a life of its own in this chapter)

 

Warnings: Underage drinking and perverted teenage ponderings

 

 

The Sweetest Victory

Chapter 3: Back To Work

 

 

“This is getting out of hand,” Naruto sighed as he paced back and forth in his friend's living room. “I thought for sure she'd give up after this morning.”

 

“I have to admit, I didn't expect her to play so dirty,” Sasuke chuckled.

 

It was such a rare noise to be heard, Naruto couldn't help but look over at his teammate in surprise. The bastard was actually grinning as if the situation had caused his respect for her to go up a few notches. It probably did, he mentally scoffed before turning his attention back to their problem.

 

“How can we beat that? It was downright nasty!” The blonde shuddered again wishing he could just dump battery acid on the part of his brain that stored that memory.

 

“It's not going to be easy. She'll be expecting something big. We'll have to catch her off guard somehow. Confuse her.”

 

“But how? Sakura-chan's smarter than we are.”

 

“Smarter than you maybe,” he snorted. “What has always been her biggest weakness?”

 

Naruto froze midstep and locked eyes with him. He knew the answer to that question, and he wasn't sure he liked where Sasuke was going with this.

 

“What exactly are you thinking of doing?”

 

“Surprising her and then confusing her,” he stated calmly.

 

~*~

 

7AM rolled around rather quickly for the members of team seven. A little too early for his teammates, Sasuke noted with annoyance as he watched the two drag themselves half-asleep and loaded down with gear to the village gates.

 

“Morning, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura managed to get out between yawns. A faint nod was his only acknowledgement that she'd said anything. Even her current state of sleepiness wasn't enough to keep her from smiling this morning. He decided to take that as a bad sign.

 

Naruto, Sasuke noticed, was as oblivious as always. The loudest of the trio dropped his pack on the ground and stretched a moment before quickly sitting down next to it. His eyes looked like they were still shut as he scratched his head and muttered, “Stupid Sensei can't even show up on time for missions.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke shifted his attention back to his other teammate. She was grinning even wider. `Here it comes,' he thought.

 

“What's the matter Naruto? Didn't sleep well?”

 

For a second, the blonde looked like he wanted to jump up and argue with her but then seemed to think better of it as he yawned. “It could've been better,” he grumbled.

 

Sakura smiled at that, and Sasuke realized it had been a while since he'd seen her look so utterly pleased with herself. Thankfully, he was spared the ponderings of any more observations of his noisy teammates when Kakashi appeared from out of nowhere once again.

 

“Yo.”

 

“You're late!” Naruto growled.

 

“Ah, yes, but only by twenty minutes,” he grinned. “Ready to go?”

 

The suggestion was met with only mild complaint from Naruto who was grumbling about how that extra twenty minutes could've been spent in bed. Their sensei already had his orange book out, though. `Probably to tune the idiot out,' Sasuke assumed. `Or at least make him think he is.'

 

“So what's our mission?” Sakura asked as they passed through the gate.

 

“Protection, C rank,” Kakashi started. “The son of an eastern territory daimyo near the Fire Country border is getting married.” The teenagers stopped in their tracks.

 

“We're going to a wedding?” Sakura asked in disbelief.

 

“Yep,” the man smiled, and Sasuke thought Kakashi-sensei really did look entirely too amused by the fact.

 

“Aww,” Naruto groaned. “Why do we keep getting stuck with all these lame missions?”

 

Sasuke didn't miss the way Sakura cringed and glanced his direction out of the corner of her eye.

 

“Well, there has been a lot of tension from the bordering territories lately. That's why we were hired. There's a chance we might see some action,” the jounin offered.

 

“Yeah right,” the blonde mumbled.

 

“Shut up, moron. At least they're letting us out of the village again,” Sasuke growled, unable to ignore him any longer.

 

“Yeah? And who's fault do you think that is,” Naruto snapped back.

 

“Guys!” Sakura yelled, effectively pulling their attention toward her. “Let's just go, okay? We have a job to do.” Suddenly she looked tired again as her eyes shifted back and forth between her teammates.

 

Sasuke looked away first, huffing in irritation as he followed Kakashi. He could hear Sakura and Naruto whispering behind him, and although he couldn't really make out all of what they were saying, he could easily fill in the gaps. It made his jaw clench painfully.

 

“If you're going to talk about me, at least do it where I can't fucking hear,” he snarled before quickening his pace to put some distance between them. The last thing he heard besides their footsteps was Sakura smacking Naruto upside the head and his irritated demand of `What did I do?'

 

By the time they broke for lunch, though, Naruto had long since forgotten any frustration he'd held earlier that morning and was prattling on about how, if needed, he would save the wedding and the bride would be so grateful that she'd kiss him in front of everyone.

 

No one noticed Sasuke's snort over Sakura's howling laughter.

 

“I think…” she began between giggles. “I think you spent way too much time with that old pervert!”

 

“Who? Kakashi-sensei?” the blonde joked.

 

“Oi,” Kakashi complained as he returned from a quick trip to the bushes.

 

“No,” Sakura answered as she tried not to smile.

 

“Oh, right. He's the middle-aged pervert,” Naruto added with a wink. Sakura tried not to laugh, but it only lasted a second before she snorted then started giggling again. Naruto was grinning ear to ear, and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk a little himself. Kakashi, on the other hand, did not look amused.

 

“I am not middle-aged,” he said wryly, and Sakura erupted in another fit of laughter. “Let's go,” he sighed. “If we hurry, we can make it before sundown.”

 

The last leg of the trip definitely held a lighter mood. Naruto and Sakura were talking about this and that and somehow managed, to Sasuke's complete surprise, not get on his nerves. In fact, he found the situation rather interesting. `At least it keeps them occupied and out of my face.'

 

Until, of course, they started arguing again.

 

Sasuke hadn't heard what started it, but he didn't miss the “Ugh, you pervert!” Sakura screeched, immediately followed by the “I'm surprised you didn't go for the old lady!”

 

“Eww! That's disgusting! Why would I want some wrinkled up old hag?”

 

“Better than nothing,” she sneered.

 

“And what makes you think I'm not getting any?” the blonde smiled as if it were obvious he was the playboy of the village or something. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

 

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're you.”

 

An indecipherable expression flashed across Naruto's face, but just as soon as it happened, it was gone.

 

“Just because you want someone like…” he trailed off and nodded his head toward Kakashi, causing Sakura's eyes to flash murderously for a moment, “Doesn't mean everyone else does. I've met quite a few girls who liked confident blondes.” He grinned widely and quirked his eyebrows up a few times for good measure.

 

Sakura gave him a long, considering - and possibly skeptical - look before allowing herself to smirk. Sasuke wondered what she was up to.

 

“I never said you were bad to look at,” she commented, and then added under her breath, “Once you get used to the orange anyway.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Naruto was trying to not look surprised, to play it cool with a smirk of his own. He only half-way succeeded.

 

Sasuke fought hard not to snort. If the moron was too dense to realize she was setting him up, he saw no reason to enlighten him.

 

“Yeah,” Sakura shrugged. “You just ruin it every time you open your mouth.”

 

“OI!!”

 

~*~

 

As planned, the group reached their destination just before sunset. The estate was nice, not that it surprised any of them. Anyone willing to hire a team of ninja for a wedding obviously had some money to throw around. They were greeted at the gate by two guards who escorted them inside what - if the elaborate decoration was any indication - was the main house. They were instructed to wait in the foyer with one of the guards while the other notified the daimyo of their arrival.

 

Naruto snorted and leaned toward Sasuke. “What's the point? `Snot like he could stop even Sakura-chan,” he whispered. Not surprisingly, she elbowed him hard enough to make him double over.

 

A throat cleared from the doorway, and the teenagers turned to see the guard had returned. Behind him was a garishly dressed and overweight man who had probably more hair on his face than his head.

 

“Welcome. I hope your trip was a pleasant one.”

 

“Oh yes. It was fine,” Kakashi replied, taking on the duty of introducing himself and his team and clearing up mission details. The three teens stood there, listening to the exchange and decided that, like some of the people of power who'd hired them before, the daimyo appeared to be involved in some shady dealings.

 

`It explained why he hired ninja at least,' Sasuke concluded.

 

An invitation to dinner was made but declined on the basis of needing to get a layout of the grounds and plan security detail, much to Sasuke's pleasure. They were here to do a job, not socialize with a bunch of snooty assholes, not that he couldn't be just as snooty an asshole, but that was beside the point.

 

The man nodded and ordered one of his guards to show them around and answer any questions before scurrying off, allowing them to finally get to work.

 

~*~

 

The three collectively sighed upon seeing the room they were to share for the duration of their stay. It was small, and they were going to be a little cramped. Luckily, there would be only three of them at most sleeping at any given time as one would be on patrol. They'd be practically on top of each other if they had to squeeze a forth bedroll in there.

 

“You believe that crap about only having the one room empty?” Naruto asked as he dropped his pack on the floor under the window.

 

Sasuke shrugged and began searching the room for traps and bugging equipment. “Doesn't matter. It's better for us to stay together anyway.”

 

“I know that!” the blonde snapped. “I'm just saying with a place this big, I doubt having enough rooms is really a problem for him. I'm gonna be pissed if I wake up with your foot in my face or something.”

 

Sasuke rolled his eyes and moved to look out the window.

 

“Tomorrow's going to stink,” Sakura grumbled as she sat down on her bedroll.

 

Sasuke's expression told them he agreed.

 

“Why do I get stuck inside with the guests?” she complained before quickly amending. “I mean, I know why, but still, I don't want to be in there by myself. At least you guys don't have to talk to anyone.” Her eyes widened when a particularly disturbing possibility hit her. “Oh, they better not make me wear some horrible, overly-stuffy thing that I won't be able to fight in if something happens!”

 

“It's not like anything will happen anyway.”

 

Her only response to the blonde was a glare. He shrugged.

 

“Oh, come on. I know I'm not the only one thinking this mission is a joke. Even if someone tries to crash the wedding, it'd take a whole squad of upper level shinobi to take us out, so I wouldn't worry too much about your clothes getting in your way. Although, if they did get in the way, you could always tear them off,” he offered giving her a once over.

 

Sakura's eyes narrowed. “Naruto…”

 

His hands went up in surrender at her warning. “Okay, okay. Look, I can't do anything about tomorrow, but tonight….” Naruto grinned mischievously as he pulled a bottle out of his bag.

 

Sakura blinked as she watched her teammate remove the foil and cork. “You know, some people say bringing alcohol on a mission is a sure sign of dependency.”

 

Naruto grinned when Sasuke suddenly forgot about the grounds outside their room and turned his attention back to them.

 

“I didn't bring it,” the blonde defended. “I snuck it from the kitchen earlier. They have so much stuff down there, they won't miss it, and we have exactly three hours and…” He quickly looked down to check his watch. “Twenty-six minutes until Kakashi-sensei's patrol is over.” He smiled, took a long pull from the bottle, and passed it to Sasuke.

 

“So you're going to get drunk? You patrol next, idiot,” Sasuke scoffed before taking his own large gulp. “What is this stuff anyway?”

 

“Dunno, and I'm not getting drunk, just a little buzz or something.”

 

“Idiot.”

 

The bottle was then passed to Sakura who inspected the label before anything else. “It's imported, probably expensive,” she noted before taking a quick test sip. “And not that good either,” she added while making a face. It didn't stop her from taking another, larger drink, though.

 

“Listen to you. `It's not that good.'” Naruto mimicked her voice as best he could. “You call me an alcoholic, but you're the one talking like miss know-it-all drinker.” He took another pull from the bottle and was already beginning to feel a slight numbness spread from his throat. It was pretty good stuff, he decided, noticing they'd barely made a dent in the bottle. `I might get a little drunk after all.'

 

“I didn't mean it like that, and you know it,” Sakura replied. “It doesn't take experience to know if something tastes bad or not.”

 

Naruto shrugged and passed the bottle to Sasuke who had a thoughtful expression on his face.

 

“He's going to know. Kakashi's sense of smell is legendary.” He took a swig and passed it to Sakura.

 

“So?” Naruto shrugged.

 

“So, we'll be asleep. It won't really matter much for us. But you don't think he's going to ignore the fact that you were drinking before going on duty, do you?” Sakura added.

 

“It's too late now, so why worry about it. Unless you just have Sensei on the brain still,” the blonde chuckled.

 

“Not any more than you were thinking of the old lady,” Sakura sneered. She moved to hand him the bottle but pulled it out of his reach as soon as he went for it. She giggled and then snorted. The boys burst into laughter at that, and Naruto quickly snatched the bottle away from her.

 

“Light weight,” he laughed.

 

“Jerk.”

 

“Pervert.”

 

Sakura sputtered at that one. “How the hell do you figure that? It better not be about that stupid sheet, because a girl needs to know whether or not the person next to her is naked!” She blushed then glanced at Sasuke who appeared more amused by the situation than anything else.

 

“Actually, I was talking about the old woman asking for a threesome. You did that,” he chuckled, drinking from his pilfered bottle. “And that is why you're a pervert.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “You forget the two of you are acting as a team. If I have to get both of you, my options are kind of limited.”

 

Sasuke drank, then Sakura, then Naruto again as the group fell silent. Sakura was the one to finally break it a little while later.

 

“Do you really think something like that works? I mean, I know people can do it. I just wonder if it really is…. I don't know… worthwhile. It seems like one person would get overwhelmed trying to please the other two or something.”

 

“Whoa, you really have thought about it,” Naruto laughed. Sakura just shrugged and took another drink. She looked like she was feeling pretty good right then, the blonde noticed.

 

“Not in a `Wow, I'd like to try that' sense. I'm just curious what the attraction is really.”

 

The three thought about it a moment.

 

“I guess it could be a little much. The person would need a lot of stamina or be able to multi-task well so one of them wouldn't feel left out,” Sasuke offered much to Sakura's surprise, if her wide-eyed expression was any indication.

 

“No way, man! You just suck. If it's too much work, you could always get the other person to help,” Naruto added with a laugh.

 

“We're speaking hypothetically, moron,” Sasuke grumbled, looking like he regretted even joining the conversation.

 

“Yeah, but then you're getting into a whole other topic there,” Sakura commented. “Not everyone swings both ways.”

 

Naruto snorted. “What are you doing, writing a book? Only you could think so much while drunk.”

 

“Shut up,” she complained, though the demand had no real force behind it.

 

“Hey, if you're that curious, I bet Kakashi-sensei would loan you one of his books.”

 

“Ugh, no thanks,” she grimaced, holding the bottle up to the light and shaking it. “There's only a sip left in here.”

 

“Take it,” Naruto waved off as he reclined back against the wall. “It's probably nothing but backwash anyway.”

 

Sakura paused, the bottle only an inch from her lips, and quickly set it back down on the floor. “That's okay.”

 

It's a good thing they'd run out, Naruto decided, as he watched Sakura lie down on her side and absent-mindedly play with her hair. She didn't need any more.

 

“Hey, bastard, you bring your mouthwash?”

 

The dark-haired teen just raised an eyebrow.

 

“I was thinking that if I could smell it on you from half-way across a room, then maybe we could use it to cover up the alcohol. What did ya think I wanted it for?”

 

“With you, I can only guess,” Sasuke snorted. “It's in the top pouch of my pack.”

 

“Oh, well hey, don't bother reaching over and grabbing it for me or anything, ya know, since it's right next to you and all,” Naruto grumbled as he stepped over his teammate's legs to get to his bag.

 

“I won't, and get your ass out of my face.”

 

“Hmmm?” the blonde replied innocently as he wiggled his butt in front of him. Sakura sounded like she was choking on her laughter which only encouraged him more.

 

Until, of course, a kick sent him flying across the room.

 

~*~

 

TBC