[Fic] "Rituals" -- Naruto
Sep. 9th, 2005 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingSwear to god, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
askerian is going to take over the world.
This is another adult Saki-chan story. You can find other ones here, and a sort of explanation of the phenomenon here. (Basically, this is Naruto fanfiction on crack... but kind of sad and serious if you look at it sideways. And it's in present tense because all my Team 7 threesome stuff seems to go that way.)
(Cross-posted here on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
naruto_ot3, and here on FF.net.)
---------------------------------------------
Rituals
---------------------------------------------
When they come home from a bad mission, the first thing they do is check both doors, all the windows, the foundations of the house, and the shingles on the roof. When they are satisfied their home is still safe, they take a long bath, all three together. They sit in a circle on their wooden stools and scrub each others' backs: Sakura to Sasuke to Naruto to Sakura. Then they soak in the furo.
They don't talk about the blood they scrub from under their nails, or the new shadows in their eyes. Sasuke opens his mouth, but no sound comes out, and Naruto and Sakura pretend to ignore him until he stops trying to speak.
The second thing they do is eat out, in a public restaurant. This time, Sakura wins the argument and drags them to Choji's steakhouse. Sometimes Naruto wins and they squeeze against the bar at Ichiraku ramen stand, but Sakura likes real tables, and she cheats at stone-kunai-scroll. Sasuke prefers quiet teahouses, but they never use one for the homecoming meal. Silence is not the goal.
The third thing they do is sleep, piled on top of each other like puppies seeking their mother. Sasuke clutches Naruto's nightshirt with white-knuckled fingers, Sakura clamps onto Sasuke's shoulder, and Naruto slings his leg over Sasuke to rest his toes on Sakura's ankles.
Sometime during the night, Sakura wakes, disentangles herself, and walks to the kitchen. Her eyes are blank and she stares straight ahead, never blinking even while her hands fumble through drawers in search of matches and a candle. She lights the candle, and holds it steady as it drips molten wax onto the table. Then she sets the candle into the wax, draws a deep breath, and slides the palm of her right hand over the flame.
Naruto and Sasuke watch silently from the kitchen doorway. Sasuke digs his fingers into the doorframe, and Naruto's breath is harsh in the midnight air, but they make no effort to stop her.
After several minutes, when both of her hands are red, cracked, and weeping from open blisters, Sakura blows out the candle. Sasuke rubs butter onto her palms and wraps soft cotton around her hands. She keens softly, and he whispers, "Shh. We won't leave you." Naruto puts away the candle, scrapes wax off the table, and helps Sasuke carry her back to bed.
The next morning, Naruto wakes up thrumming with tension. He leaps out of bed at the crack of dawn and cooks breakfast for Sakura and Sasuke. They wake groggily and pick at the food. Sakura spits the eggs back onto her plate and yells, "You don't cook the shells, you idiot!"
Sasuke silently nudges the eggs to the side of his plate.
Naruto grins, wide and desperate, as if his mouth wants to split his face in half and swallow his ears. "Hey, hey, they make your teeth stronger!" he says, and flips himself out the window with a jaunty wave.
When Sasuke turns in their mission report, he hears stories of giant graffiti swirls all over the village, exploding toilets at the academy, and stink bombs in the Hokage's tower. A snarling chuunin follows him home and demands that they control their insane partner better so he won't stuff filing cabinets with cake frosting. Sasuke slams the door in the chuunin's face, and Sakura giggles quietly to herself as she rubs herbal lotions into her skin. When Naruto returns home, exhausted, and kicks the door shut just in time to block a shower of kunai, Sakura cooks him ramen and fusses over his scrapes and bruises.
"Don't you love me too, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto asks between mouthfuls of noodles.
Sasuke frowns. "Moron," he says, and dumps Naruto's ruined clothes into the trash.
The second day is quiet, but by the third, Sasuke is uncomfortably tense and hypersensitive to any physical contact. Naruto and Sakura exchange glances, and on the fourth morning, Sasuke wakes to find a lacy shirt and a swirling, many-layered silk skirt laid out on the dresser, waiting for him. A note informs him cheerily that Sakura and Naruto are out grocery shopping and will be back in an hour.
Sasuke eyes the clothes like snakes waiting to bite him, and then slowly pulls a box from under their bed and opens it. He ties back his cock and slips on the lavender panties. Then he shaves his legs, taking exquisite care with his kunai, and pulls on silk stockings and elastic garters. The skirt is next. As the fabric settles around his hips, he can feel the knot in his chest starting to ease. By the time his hair is tamed and painted fingernails smooth cherry gloss over soft lips, he's gone.
Sasuke sheaths himself like a sword, and Saki unfurls like a flower starved for sunlight.
"Saki-chan!" Sakura says as she opens the door and dumps a bag of vegetables onto the kitchen counter. "I haven't seen you in ages! Listen, I ran into Ino at the fish shop, and she said she found a dress that would look just perfect on you. Let's leave Naruto and have a day to ourselves."
Saki smiles and almost skips out the door, blowing a kiss at Naruto as she and Sakura run down the street.
The day is filled with gossip and clothes, with a walk in the park and a pause for ice cream sundaes, with laughter and shrieks and blushes and everything Sasuke doesn't know how to find by himself. As twilight falls, Sakura and Saki return home, where Naruto is waiting. He's cleaned himself up and dressed in something more black than orange, and he offers Saki his arm.
"I got reservations at the teahouse down by the academy," he says. "Is that all right, Saki-chan?"
Saki nods, and takes his hand.
Naruto is a perfect gentleman. He opens doors for Saki, pulls out her chair, tells her she takes his breath away, feeds her dessert from his own fork. They walk home slowly, stopping to sit on a park bench and kiss. "Love you," Naruto murmurs in her ear. Saki nibbles on his neck, and Naruto shivers.
Sakura is already in bed when they reach the house, and her bandaged hands tug something deep in Saki's heart. She gets one day, and now the day is done.
Slowly, Saki pulls the butterfly clips from her hair, washes the makeup from her face, swabs acetone over her nails. She pulls off the blouse and skirt and hangs them lovingly in the spare closet, and tucks her stockings back into her special box.
Sasuke sighs.
The next morning, they all wake up together. Naruto tickles Sakura, who squeaks and clings to Sasuke. He reaches over to poke Naruto, only to find his finger caught between Naruto's teeth, and his breath freezes in his throat. Sakura smiles, slowly and with a wicked glint in her eyes, and her bandaged fingers loosen and trail down his stomach.
Later, they take another bath together. This one is full of insults, splashes, and laughter. The candle is shut in the drawer. The paints and explosives are thrown away. The clothes are hidden behind winter coats and spare sandals.
The world is right again, until the next time.
---------------------------------------------
End
We now return to your regularly scheduled authorial struggle with recalcitrant WIPs. :-)
askerian is going to take over the world.This is another adult Saki-chan story. You can find other ones here, and a sort of explanation of the phenomenon here. (Basically, this is Naruto fanfiction on crack... but kind of sad and serious if you look at it sideways. And it's in present tense because all my Team 7 threesome stuff seems to go that way.)
(Cross-posted here on
naruto_ot3, and here on FF.net.)---------------------------------------------
Rituals
---------------------------------------------
When they come home from a bad mission, the first thing they do is check both doors, all the windows, the foundations of the house, and the shingles on the roof. When they are satisfied their home is still safe, they take a long bath, all three together. They sit in a circle on their wooden stools and scrub each others' backs: Sakura to Sasuke to Naruto to Sakura. Then they soak in the furo.
They don't talk about the blood they scrub from under their nails, or the new shadows in their eyes. Sasuke opens his mouth, but no sound comes out, and Naruto and Sakura pretend to ignore him until he stops trying to speak.
The second thing they do is eat out, in a public restaurant. This time, Sakura wins the argument and drags them to Choji's steakhouse. Sometimes Naruto wins and they squeeze against the bar at Ichiraku ramen stand, but Sakura likes real tables, and she cheats at stone-kunai-scroll. Sasuke prefers quiet teahouses, but they never use one for the homecoming meal. Silence is not the goal.
The third thing they do is sleep, piled on top of each other like puppies seeking their mother. Sasuke clutches Naruto's nightshirt with white-knuckled fingers, Sakura clamps onto Sasuke's shoulder, and Naruto slings his leg over Sasuke to rest his toes on Sakura's ankles.
Sometime during the night, Sakura wakes, disentangles herself, and walks to the kitchen. Her eyes are blank and she stares straight ahead, never blinking even while her hands fumble through drawers in search of matches and a candle. She lights the candle, and holds it steady as it drips molten wax onto the table. Then she sets the candle into the wax, draws a deep breath, and slides the palm of her right hand over the flame.
Naruto and Sasuke watch silently from the kitchen doorway. Sasuke digs his fingers into the doorframe, and Naruto's breath is harsh in the midnight air, but they make no effort to stop her.
After several minutes, when both of her hands are red, cracked, and weeping from open blisters, Sakura blows out the candle. Sasuke rubs butter onto her palms and wraps soft cotton around her hands. She keens softly, and he whispers, "Shh. We won't leave you." Naruto puts away the candle, scrapes wax off the table, and helps Sasuke carry her back to bed.
The next morning, Naruto wakes up thrumming with tension. He leaps out of bed at the crack of dawn and cooks breakfast for Sakura and Sasuke. They wake groggily and pick at the food. Sakura spits the eggs back onto her plate and yells, "You don't cook the shells, you idiot!"
Sasuke silently nudges the eggs to the side of his plate.
Naruto grins, wide and desperate, as if his mouth wants to split his face in half and swallow his ears. "Hey, hey, they make your teeth stronger!" he says, and flips himself out the window with a jaunty wave.
When Sasuke turns in their mission report, he hears stories of giant graffiti swirls all over the village, exploding toilets at the academy, and stink bombs in the Hokage's tower. A snarling chuunin follows him home and demands that they control their insane partner better so he won't stuff filing cabinets with cake frosting. Sasuke slams the door in the chuunin's face, and Sakura giggles quietly to herself as she rubs herbal lotions into her skin. When Naruto returns home, exhausted, and kicks the door shut just in time to block a shower of kunai, Sakura cooks him ramen and fusses over his scrapes and bruises.
"Don't you love me too, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto asks between mouthfuls of noodles.
Sasuke frowns. "Moron," he says, and dumps Naruto's ruined clothes into the trash.
The second day is quiet, but by the third, Sasuke is uncomfortably tense and hypersensitive to any physical contact. Naruto and Sakura exchange glances, and on the fourth morning, Sasuke wakes to find a lacy shirt and a swirling, many-layered silk skirt laid out on the dresser, waiting for him. A note informs him cheerily that Sakura and Naruto are out grocery shopping and will be back in an hour.
Sasuke eyes the clothes like snakes waiting to bite him, and then slowly pulls a box from under their bed and opens it. He ties back his cock and slips on the lavender panties. Then he shaves his legs, taking exquisite care with his kunai, and pulls on silk stockings and elastic garters. The skirt is next. As the fabric settles around his hips, he can feel the knot in his chest starting to ease. By the time his hair is tamed and painted fingernails smooth cherry gloss over soft lips, he's gone.
Sasuke sheaths himself like a sword, and Saki unfurls like a flower starved for sunlight.
"Saki-chan!" Sakura says as she opens the door and dumps a bag of vegetables onto the kitchen counter. "I haven't seen you in ages! Listen, I ran into Ino at the fish shop, and she said she found a dress that would look just perfect on you. Let's leave Naruto and have a day to ourselves."
Saki smiles and almost skips out the door, blowing a kiss at Naruto as she and Sakura run down the street.
The day is filled with gossip and clothes, with a walk in the park and a pause for ice cream sundaes, with laughter and shrieks and blushes and everything Sasuke doesn't know how to find by himself. As twilight falls, Sakura and Saki return home, where Naruto is waiting. He's cleaned himself up and dressed in something more black than orange, and he offers Saki his arm.
"I got reservations at the teahouse down by the academy," he says. "Is that all right, Saki-chan?"
Saki nods, and takes his hand.
Naruto is a perfect gentleman. He opens doors for Saki, pulls out her chair, tells her she takes his breath away, feeds her dessert from his own fork. They walk home slowly, stopping to sit on a park bench and kiss. "Love you," Naruto murmurs in her ear. Saki nibbles on his neck, and Naruto shivers.
Sakura is already in bed when they reach the house, and her bandaged hands tug something deep in Saki's heart. She gets one day, and now the day is done.
Slowly, Saki pulls the butterfly clips from her hair, washes the makeup from her face, swabs acetone over her nails. She pulls off the blouse and skirt and hangs them lovingly in the spare closet, and tucks her stockings back into her special box.
Sasuke sighs.
The next morning, they all wake up together. Naruto tickles Sakura, who squeaks and clings to Sasuke. He reaches over to poke Naruto, only to find his finger caught between Naruto's teeth, and his breath freezes in his throat. Sakura smiles, slowly and with a wicked glint in her eyes, and her bandaged fingers loosen and trail down his stomach.
Later, they take another bath together. This one is full of insults, splashes, and laughter. The candle is shut in the drawer. The paints and explosives are thrown away. The clothes are hidden behind winter coats and spare sandals.
The world is right again, until the next time.
---------------------------------------------
End
We now return to your regularly scheduled authorial struggle with recalcitrant WIPs. :-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 04:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 01:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 04:36 am (UTC)oh. ;;_____;; so sweet and sad and poignant and cute and ahhh. ;__; i love the way they cope and the way they're entangled in each other and god i love. and not even only because of saki-chan. you put her within my favorite trio and it works so well and ahh ;;____;;
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:10 am (UTC)Besides, I like Team 7 best together.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 01:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:36 am (UTC)my head managed not only to tilt, but to flip like an owl's for a second there...;______;And I like how after they get the brunt of ugly out of their systems they bottle it up for another day after another mission.
'cause really. to a ninja, retirement is an oxymoronI like how Sasuke's the only one who really needs his outlet though. Sakura's really just torturing herself with guilt, and Naruto's using his hyperactiveness as a front to get rid of stressful energy.
But Sasuke? He needs Sakichan so very much, and that to replace his everything with her, for just a day, pushes away his horror, pain, and brokeness. So that he can continue on.
It just seems that he takes everything harder than his teamates/friends/lovers/whatever you'd call their relationship, you know?
< is starting to confuse herself...XxAnyway, love and all that jazz. <3<3
^-^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 01:11 pm (UTC)In this little world, at least, Sasuke takes things harder because he closes so much of himself off. His normal mode of interaction simply doesn't have options for dealing with certain types of stress and pain. Naruto is anything but self-reflective, but he has a sort of bone-deep sense of Who He Is. And Sakura shuts Inner Sakura away, but still listens to her and acknowledges her reactions.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 06:25 pm (UTC)< actually just jumping at the chance to reread it again in generalI love a good fic with layers. *pets it*
Well... he could mindlessly train until he falls unconscious, or something? But I see what you mean. He can't really show his guilt
he hides everything awayand he can't regress into thoughts of old times with a sense of selfbecause they are painful as welllike Sakura and Naruto can. That's just not who he is, or who he can be. So he becomes she, one who doesn't have those masculine limitations.(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:30 pm (UTC)I don't know how to find words for how much I love this. It's all pain and home and finding your way back and reminds me of the songs of Terence Chua for some reason.
And this line --
Sasuke sheaths himself like a sword, and Saki unfurls like a flower starved for sunlight.
-- beautiful and absolutely descriptive and ouch.
(And I empathize with your struggle with recalcitrant WIPs. I have so many of those it's long since ceased being funny.)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-12 03:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-13 05:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 03:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 04:30 pm (UTC)Wow, I'm wierdly lyrical today. Friended you, hope you don't mind, I like to keep track of the kick ass writers.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-16 07:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-25 09:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-26 11:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-26 11:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-28 03:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-07 05:47 pm (UTC)and i noe i'm sliding away from comments directly related to this fic, but i jus love the amount of detail and background u put into all the fics in general, like the history of the uchihas and hyuugas, the descriptions of all the jutsus and their uses, the traditions... i could go on and on. it's all these that really flesh out ur stories and make it a very interesting read. looking forward to more of ur work. and lolz, u've got urself a new stalker ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-07 11:41 pm (UTC)Background details are one of my great loves, and I often have to fight myself so I don't overload stories with too much information that isn't immediately relevant.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-27 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-27 05:42 pm (UTC)One of the interesting things about Naruto is the way the series, while definitely showing some very nasty stuff and some of the psychological fallout (*cough*Kakashi*cough*Tsunade*cough*Gaara*cough*), skips over a lot of the darkness and lingering trauma associated with ninja. I mean, these people are hired killers. That's got to do weird things to your head, or to your society.
So I like to explore that, a little. :-)