Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Three in Winter ❯ Three in Winter ( Chapter 1 )

She was so weary. They had been out on a difficult b class mission that had finally found it's end in the defeat of seven S class missing Nin that had been hired by the local Yakuza. Damn gangsters had enough money to hire people who made that Zabuza and Haku seem like their pet bunny in comparison. Sakura's hair was caked with blood. Fortunately none of it was her own. Yet she still felt gross. A hot shower would be so nice right about now but she still had to hike across Konoha to reach her tiny lonely apartment.

Sasuke was in just about the same shape. His blood stained clothes were sticking to him and his arm brace was thick with clotted gore. More chunks of flesh then blood clung to the Uchiha. Some of it was singed and the smell of burnt hair and scorched flesh was revolting. He wanted nothing more then to bathe and pass out on a futon some place, he didn't really care where ether. His own place was cold and miserable not to mention all the way across town and about three streets up from Sakura's apartment.

Naruto looked at his two team mates. They were in a shitty state that was for sure. That and they still had to go all the way across town before they could bathe and rest. An idea occurred to him. He noted that the idea was red tinted. That meant it was more The Kyuubi's idea then his own. Still it was a good one and he gave the fox a silent compliment before he began to initiate the plan.

“Hey guys if ya got clean things in your bags still ya can wash up and sleep over at my place. I have some new Futons and they are really nice and fluffy.”

Sakura looked at Naruto and smiled weakly. She had never slept anyplace that wasn't her own except for on missions and usually it was right next to the other members of her team. Without Kakashi sensei she had little bitty negative thoughts about how appropriate it was to do so. Still these were her friends and she trusted them with her life. Her virtue wasn't as important as all that and nether of them wanted it. Beyond that her reputation was already shot because everyone thought Kunoichi were whores to begin with. She just hoped her mother wouldn't be upset. She nodded in acceptance and pulled a cell phone out of a small pocket on her backpack and called her mother.

When she was back in she always reported in to her female parent. It was how she did things out of courtesy to her mom. That way mom knew she was unhurt and everything. She told her mom where she was going to be since she didn't have the strength to make it home. Then she asked the elder Haruno female to call them at about ten the next morning so they could get up in time to make their report to Tsunande Sama. Her mother agreed.

“That will be our wake up call then Dobe. Lets all get clean and get some sleep.” That was Sasuke's way of agreeing and saying thank you to Naruto. Naruto groused a bit then nodded slightly. Thank you received and your welcome delivered. It had taken Sakura a long time to understand the guys and their body language but she got it now. Most of the time anyway. She followed along her eyes nearly closing several times. Sasuke helped her up the stairs her head was spinning. Way to much use of her limited supply of Chakra. She was close to passing out like Kakashi Sensei had on their first mission.

Carefully they both helped her into the door of Naruto's place. Naruto handed her a pile of towels and three washcloths. She shut the door of his bathroom behind her. Once she set the towels on the toilet seat and turned the water on hot she peeled out of the ruined set of clothes and climbed slowly into the tub/shower.

It was so good to be clean. She smelled like a mans soap but it was not a big deal and it was so good to be clean. Her muscles were slowly letting go of the tightly clenched positions they had been in. This was her body's way of warning her she had a five minute time frame to see herself laid out on a futon or something, otherwise she might bang her head on the way down.

Sakura put on her soft pink pajama pants with the red snowflake pattern. They were her flannel ones for winter. Since that season had just begun in earnest on their way home she was glad for their warmth. The fuzzy faded red top was more of an old sweater from one of the past Haruno family reunions. It had been her dads so it was nice and big and comfy. Big old snowflakes started drifting down out of the sky and she saw these just as she was laying down on one of the spare futons. Maybe if they were lucky Tsunande Sama would not have anything else for them to do and they could play in the snow for a while. With a child like grin on her face Sakura let go of her weakening grip on consciousness. Sweet slumber came over her and she knew no more.

Sasuke sighed as the water ran over his body. Scars here and there, nothing to bad, and muscles that had hardened even further as the years flowed by. He was satisfied with his strength now that he had finished with Itachi. He understood now that all his strength wasn't in his own body. Most all his strength really lay in the close ties with the two other people in this apartment and their Sensei. Together they could achieve a thousand and one more things then any of them could do alone. Together they had helped him overcome Itachi and end his evil ways forever. He was at ease now in a way he had thought he would never feel again after that horrible night. At ease with himself and with them. It was all because of them that he finally felt free.

He stepped out of the shower and left it running. Naruto simply stepped right in behind him. When he had finished drying he tied a towel around himself and went down the hall to Naruto's room. Once there he stepped into a pair of old sweat pants. They had once been black but had been washed so many times they were now faded to a nice charcoal shade. The sweater that went with them had the Uchiha fan device in faded fabric paint on the front. Sasuke even put on socks because he always got cold feet during the winter when he went without.

He slid in between the blanket layers and the futon. It was a new one. The futon was still soft and smelling fresh linen like. The pillow was nether to thick or to thin just like Sasuke liked it. Silly dobe knew his friends pretty well. The shower went off and that was the last thing Sasuke remebered for a while. He woke up briefly when Naruto edged around the futon to get to his bed. The blonde stopped long enough to set a kunai by his hand where he could quickly reach it in an emergency. A Shinobi's way of leaving the bathroom light on for guests. The amount of time it had taken meant that he had gone out into his front room and done the same for Sakura.

“Night Dobe.” He whispered sleepily.

“Sleep well Sasuke -kun.” Naruto replied

The day finished in the same way he had begun it Sasuke settled into get some well earned rest. The world was as it should be and it was a good time to get some real sleep at last.

Sakura woke to a hand on her shoulder. When someone touched that shoulder it was a wake up signal. It meant she needed to wake up but that nothing threatening was going on. It was Sasuke-kun. The fan symbol on his sweater glowed in the dark enough to let her see hints of his face.

“It's too cold Sakura.”

He didn't have to elaborate much. Her nose felt like a solid block of ice. She remebered something about Naruto saying the heat was out in his whole building because of some boiler breaking down. Obviously it had not been fixed while they were away on missions.

“Come on lets go share blankets with Naruto.”

Sakura sleepily gathered all her own blankets and padded back to the bedroom of Naruto's small apartment. She threw them out over the bed and got in next to Naruto. Sasuke spooned her from behind and she curled her arms around Naruto's waist. They had about five blankets plus Naruto's comforter on top of them and three warm bodies in the bed. They should be ok till morning when the temperature would rise a bit along with the sun. Sasuke's arm stuck out of the covers long enough to set her phone on the nightstand. That way he could answer it in the morning when her mom called. Sakura had a moment to imagine the funny face her mom would make when Sasuke answered her phone then she went back to sleep.

Her phone ringing woke her just as she expected it would.

“Mushi Mushi?” Sasuke answered it. “Thanks Mrs. Haruno. Yeah we all came out ok from this last one. A blizzard huh? Thanks Ma'am we'll phone in our report such as it is. If it has been declared unsafe to travel out of doors then we had better just stay in. You want to talk to Sakura now? Here she is.”

She talked to her mom for a bit. Naruto exclaimed a greeting as he came back to bed with his biggest bowl and three sets of chopsticks. It looked like four helpings of ramen out of the package instead of cup ramen. Ramen in the package had more noodles anyway. Somehow she had guessed this would be breakfast around here. She had to get Naruto interested in cereals. They at least had some kinds of nutrients in them.

The noodles actually tasted pretty good. It took her a second to come to the conclusion that Naruto had been up a lot longer then she or Sasuke had been. He had made real noodles from start to finish.

“Wow Naruto! Thanks!” They sat in a triangular formation with the blankets draped around them and the big bowl resting on all of their knees. Chopsticks rose and fell noodles were slurped and then when all the noodles were gone the soup part of the noodle dish was evenly shared. Sasuke drank his portion first then he handed her the big metal bowl. She drank her portion and handed it to Naruto. He gulped his down until the bowl was dry and sighed contentedly.

The bowl went on the other nightstand, opposite from where her phone was sitting. She picked it up and dialed the Hokage's office number by heart. Finally she got through to Tsunande Sama and gave her part of their mission report. She handed the phone to Sasuke and finally it was handed to Naruto.

Naruto made a face as he hung up the phone and put it back by the bed. “We have orders to rest all day and not do anything that requires getting up out of bed for longer then it takes to cook food or go to the bathroom. Granny Tsunande says we always seem to push our limits and then decide we don't have any. So for our own good we better rest.”

Sakura agreed with Tsunande Sama's conclusion. They all did push the envelope a little to far. She just as much as the guys just because she tried her best to keep up. She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. On the way back she grabbed a few scrolls out of her bag. They could all study together without using the Chakra that would actually activate the techniques. That sounded easy and useful too.

After studying for a few hours they all found themselves yawning hugely. It was not time for dinner yet and they had breakfast late enough for it to be considered a lunch. So nap time was declared until dinner. Naruto set his gopher shaped alarm clock for about a quarter past five and they all snuggled back down to sleep some more.

It was a luxury to sleep so much during the day and it was one that Sakura enjoyed all the more for being with her team mates. She would be freezing in her own apartment too if it weren't for Naruto's nice offer.

Sasuke curled his arm around Sakura's middle and rested a calloused hand on her bare stomach under the fluffiness of her sweater. She was a good person to snuggle with. Hell come to think of it she was the only person Sasuke would ever willingly `snuggle' with at all. Oh how the single women in the village would wail to hear that news.

He cared for her as his team mate and friend but not any more then he did for that silly dobe who was their third. Most other people would consider it aberrant or weird somehow that he loved them both the same. Only other Shinobi would understand. They were his team. They were simply his and he was theirs in return. It was just right all the way through.

Naruto's hand landed on his hip and he didn't protest it. Naruto was so deeply asleep that he wouldn't do more then mumble something derogatory at him and roll over to go right back to sleep. That was how the Dobe was. Sasuke was the only light sleeper on the team when Kakashi was not present. He was their alert member even when fully asleep. He had even sleep jutsued an enemy once before fully waking up. Kakashi had teased him mercilessly about that one for months.

Sakura woke up briefly to feel a warm rough hand on her stomach just over her navel. It was Sasuke's hand. Naruto had rolled over and his left hand was draped someplace on Sasuke's person. His right hand was on her hip. Luckily his bed was soft enough that it had enough give to keep his hand from going numb under her weight.

When she woke back up again it was to the gopher alarm clock going off. She sat up and yawned. Naruto was mumbling curses at his alarm clock. She smiled at the variety of languages and dialects that he muttered in before waking up. Hell Naruto probably didn't even know half of those when he was awake. Sakura would bet even money it was Kyuubi who was doing all the swearing.

She would have won that bet too since slit pupils flashed for a moment before Naruto woke completely. The Kyuubi saw her seeing it too for a soft, fanged, grin of recognition flashed over that familiar mouth before Naruto snapped too and asked what she was staring at. She just laughed lightly and went to the kitchen. It was her turn to produce a meal out of whatever was in Naruto's house.

She thought about her team while she beat batter into the proper thickness for some breakfast for dinner pancakes. A high pile of each for Naruto and Sasuke with three eggs on top and a short stack with two eggs on top for herself she carried the three plates easily. For a few months, back a year or two ago, she had been waitressing at a little restaurant in the south side of town.

Sasuke-kun was growing less moody and broody around the two of them though he still had a long way to go. Naruto had grown up a lot though he still could be as silly a prank playing kid as he ever had been. Kyuubi seemed to be the reason behind his fast maturing. She had a feeling that he and the fox talked a lot when no one else was around.

Sakura found that though she still adored Sasuke she did not have the all fired up super crush that she had on him when they were first put into team seven. She loved him a lot but she shocked herself by admitting that she loved Naruto just as much. Hell she even recognized the Kyuubi as a separate person and could probably admit to loving the scary fox spirit just a little for all the times it had saved Naruto and their team.

Sakura woke up the next morning to find that the blizzard was still in effect. Nothing was going to dare go outside in conditions this adverse. Her body was warm and she didn't want to get it cold again. She didn't smell badly so she was going back to bed. Naruto lifted the covers enough to let her back in. Naruto wasn't even supposed to be willingly awake at this hour. It was the Kyuubi who looked at her from behind sleep tussled gold bangs. Red slit pupiled eyes seemed sleep muffled and mellow.

“Normally he won't let me speak to you or the dark one. Today he is napping and I am awake. Will you listen?”

“Yes Kyuubi-San. I will listen.”

Kyuubi spoke softly to her. Naruto's arms had embraced her at the beginning of the speech, as if Kyuubi was worried she would pull away and try not to listen. What she heard just echoed what she had been thinking about for the last little while. The Kyuubi saw them as mates, her and Sasuke as well. It was as close as it had ever been to love before it was sealed. Now it knew more about the illusive emotion through Naruto's feelings.

“Kitsune no baka. We love you too. Now lets all get some more sleep.”

The sharp bark of the Kitsune's laughter made Sakura grin as she snuggled down between her two (or was it three?) team mates. It was all right to love someone. It was all right to love them no matter what they had done in their past. Her mother had always said it. Now, after all this time, Sakura finally believed it.