Disclaimer: When grass is purple, kids.
Three Plus One
A Naruto Fanfic
by midnightdragoness
Team 7 always followed their formation through their three stages of life. They were a part of each other, as necessary as oxygen; even if it cost them Sacrafice, Hesitation, and Tears.
There are stages of their life. A time before time when they were strangers. But living began the moment they became a team. And from there on it had been three plus one.
They weren't a team when they first formed. They were children, separate in dreams and minds. And their formation went like this: Naruto liked Sakura who liked Sasuke who disliked both Naruto and Sakura who disliked Naruto who disliked Sasuke.
That was it. Like and Dislike. No depth, no deep feelings. After all, that was a time before life.
They decided later that it was Haku(stupid, caring fool) and Zabuza(bastard, had to kill himself like that) who made them a team. It was the first sacrifice that they made, the first hesitation, and the first tears. And in the end, that was what their life would be filled with. Sacrifice, Hesitation, and Tears. The mission ended in tragedy, but then tragedy always was the best creator of all things beautiful.
Before those days, there were three people with hardly an attachment.
After that, there were two brothers and a lover.
Because she was crying for the boy in her arms and the one still fighting, even if she would never admit it. You didn't cry for someone you liked and certainly not someone you saw as a nuisance.
Because you don't die for someone you dislike. You die for someone you Hate. Someone you Love.
Too bad Sasuke had another brother too.
Then there was the Chunnin Exams. After all, they may have been a team but they still had their biases. They weren't complete yet. Sakura still loved Sasuke more and Naruto still loved Sakura more and Sasuke still loved Naruto more. They were misshapen, ill-fitting.
For the first time, Sakura saw Naruto as something more than the team idiot. He was a protector, a dogged fighter, and a loyal companion. She loved him then.
For the first time, Sasuke saw Sakura as more than the weakest chain. She was a nurturer, a rare purity in this ugly, ugly world that he had to protect. He loved her then.
For the first time, Naruto saw Sasuke was not as untouchable as he pretended. He was a frightened child, a broken man in need of harsh repairs. He loved him then.
But even then, Orochimaru had spit his poison in their perfect formation of three plus one.
Their first stage of life ended when Sasuke turned his back to them. But the second part did not begin. It could not; they only lived as three plus one. Instead it was this dully numb feeling that revolved only around living again, of completing themselves again. It was then that they realized why it was three plus one and never four. Team 7 was a part of each other and needed each other like oxygen. They never had all of Kakashi, they only borrowed parts of him. It wasn't Kakashi's fault; he was just already missing too many pieces to give them all out. But they cared for him, even if they could never be a part of him. He was their teacher and maybe a little bit of a (perverted, inconsistent, teasing) father.
Stage two began when Jiraiya found his pupil strewn across rocks by the seaside. They had fought and Orochimaru had left Sasuke's body in fear of it being destroyed, only to be caught in leaking youkai and burnt out.
Sasuke was an unholy mess—all blood and ashen skin and a large whole where the curse mark used to be and tortured, dark eyes.
Naruto was a sore sight—his (obnoxiously) yellow hair coated red and legs bent askew as red flickered dangerously in and out of his blue eyes.
But Sakura was worse. Because she wasn't coated in sweat and effort like the other two were. Instead, there was one wound on her entire body. A fist-sized, straight shot that went clean through her abdomen and bleed on the ground. Somehow, she had even managed to crawl over to the two boys who put a hole in her gut and give them enough chakra to survive even as she herself died. She scared Jiraiya the most because she looked so damn peaceful.
When Sasuke woke from the hospital, he didn't try to escape. Orochimaru had killed Itachi in Sasuke's body (just so the teme would stop nagging at him like a mother hen) and he had no reason to run anymore. Instead, he pushed himself up against the pain to peer over at the blond head in the bed beside him.
"You better not be dead, dobe."
"Like you could kill me, teme." He had struggled out of the white sheets weakly and both boys shared a true, knowing smile that had waited three years to come out. It faded as soon as Shizune entered though, looking shy and sad.
You see, Sakura was one of those people the world just seemed to leave alone. She was too good for it and it wouldn't touch her. It feared the wrath of the two boys that guarded her. But those same people had fought and in the madness they recalled something as Shizune spoke.
A chidori and a rasengan, going straight into the pink that had jumped between them, not crying or begging; but still refusing to see them suffer.
She was dying and not even Tsunade could save her.
Naruto had never felt like an evil person before. He had never felt this kind of ravishing guilt which ate at everything inside of him. He wondered why people would choose to do these things everyday if it hurt so much.
Sasuke, however, was all too used to the guilt off killing someone. He already knew that he was a traitor, worse then cold-blooded killers. And now he had hurt one of the last, innocent things in the world. He decided that is Sakura did die, he would soon follow her.
The Fifth herself showed up soon after that to ask Shizune to tend to her student. When the other woman had left, Tsunade got to the point. She would save Sakura with a circumstance.
When Sakura found out that her mentor had traded her life to save her, she didn't cry. She closed her eyes and whispered the most horrible words from that mouth that she would ever say.
"It wasn't worth it."
And that was when Sasuke and Naruto began to realize, that even though they had Sakura back; she was changed. In fact, they had all changed. They may have been three plus one again; but there was a world of doubt, and pain, and betrayal lying between them.
Sakura was numb for weeks, repeating that it wasn't worth it despite Naruto's pleas that it was. That she was worth everything and so much more. But she couldn't believe him. Because Naruto was Naruto and he thought she was better than she was. Maybe if she trained enough she could be worth her teacher's life.
It only stopped when Sasuke caught her learning to heal faster by burning the skin off her own hand and healing it back up. It was the pain that gave her speed, taught her quicker as she bit her lip to keep from screaming. His black eyes had seen it, taken it it, and then stopped it with brunt force.
The candle fell away, the text was snapped away, and she was against the wall.
"Don't do that!" He had yelled.
"But I have to... I have to be as strong as her or it was all worthless."
"What is it you want?" The dark boy was nearly hysterical. "What is it you want to stop?"
"What do you mean?" She was quiet, but her green eyes were dull.
"You're not the same! What will bring you back? What... what do you need?" His voice had lowered and he let her peer for a moment at the pain and the confusion and the love in his eyes.
Somehow Naruto ended up in the room for her answer.
"I need... I need you both." She was pleading again, but not crying. "I need you to never leave again, to never hurt another again! I need you to just be happy."
"Okay, Sakura-chan. Okay." Naruto promised and he never broke his promises.
Sasuke didn't know how to promise something so deep, so instead he kissed her gently. She whimpered and folded, allowing him to carry her out of the room.
In the beginning, their connection had Naruto in the middle. He was Sasuke's rival and Sakura's brother. But it had changed. Now it was thing fallen angel whose wings they had torn of, in between. And together they would become her wings again. Because seeing her broken would kill them quicker then any poison.
The second stage ended in the same night the third began. It was intimacy.
None of them lost their virginity during the threesome, though they all wished they had.
Sasuke lost his to some girl when Orochimaru decided that the he had to be the best at everything. Even sex.
Naruto lost his to Sakura during that dead time without Sasuke. They were lonely and broken and drunk. He had apologized and she had thanked him. It was the only moment she had really forgotten.
Sakura hadn't told her teammates before; but she lost hers first. It was a solo mission that only Kakashi knew about. She seduced a feudal lord's son in order to get more requests for Konoha right after the invasion and money was tight. She had flirted, slept with him, and made the request.
Kakashi was there to pick her crying, shuddering self up the next day with the only comfort he could offer.
"It helped."
When she told her lovers, they were beyond angry. Loosing it out of choice was one thing, but to them a mission was another. (They didn't add that they had both wanted to be her first. It would admit too much.)
The next day, Kakashi was confronted by two very angry former pupils of his. He did nothing but confirm it and then offer Icha Icha Paradise tips until they retreated. But he was happy for them. His kids were together again, and if they had to fuck it together to be happy; who was he to judge?
The feudal lord's son died that night too.
Sasuke tried to kill himself once. It was after a mission where Naruto had taken a fatal hit for him and Sakura had to patch him up and she was so scared she almost failed. And so Naruto was bed-bound and she was guilt-stricken and it was all his fault.
It was a good thing it had been the Dobe who found him about to hang himself because Sakura had never been good at persuading him. She used words. Sasuke didn't know words. Itachi had used words.
Instead, Naruto, who had gotten up for ramen, managed to throw a kunai on the rope so when Sasuke jumped, he simply hit the floor.
"You bastard!" The blond had exclaimed, obviously in pain from re-opening his wound. "I dragged my ass across the world just to get you from that snake, get the shit beat out of me several times and you're just going to die on me?!"
Sasuke did the only thing he could. He crossed the threshold, leaving the rope behind; stuck Naruto in bed again and fixed him ramen.
"I'm sorry."
However he didn't realize how sorry he was until the kunoichi came home, found out, and beat the shit out of him while crying like she hadn't done in five years.
They had incredible make-up sex that night.
Jiraiya(who had become Hokage on Tsunade's last request) eventually succeeded the title to his pupil; making Naruto Uzumaki the Seventh.
Sakura had become the head of the hospital, and Konoha's best medic. She had indeed surpassed her mentor. After all, Tsunade hadn't been able to save her precious people.
Sasuke had become an ANBU captain, and wow the people never loved him again, they respected the cunning; powerful shinobi.
They had three separate lives.
There were times that Sasuke was out on week-long missions or Naruto was buried in politics or Sakura was working at a particularly nasty shift at the hospital. The may not see each other for a span.
But then somehow, the star, the sun, and the moon would all gravitate back to earth. And Sakura would heal any of Sasuke's wounds while Naruto would re-account his happenings. Then the three of them would bathe together. After all, it was only together that they wiped off their red hands.
During this time, Sasuke would begin to shortly question Sakura about her work. Because they worked in such a sync that when Naruto had a problem, he bitched about it. When Sasuke had a problem, he destroyed it. When Sakura had a problem, she kept her mouth shut and diligently worked at it, even if she fell a few times.
Sometimes, his short questions would yield fruit while they relaxed in the hot waters. Other times, Sakura's ordeal had been too bad and she had seen too many deaths. Then the Uchiha would hound her harshly with his interrogation skills until she snapped and told them everything.
And in her tears Naruto would get out of the water, grab a towel; and wrap it around her shoulders as he cradled her to his chest.
There were three nights after that. One involved Naruto comforting her quickly and the three of them having a love-making session. The second was when the blond was a little too slow in his warmth and by the time she was pacified, all three of them were too exhausted to do anything but sleep.
However the worst was when the truth was too much for the medic. Then she demanded a fuck from them both, and they obliged, worriedly knowing that she would remember her pain in the morning.
But they would heal her soon. She healed them enough, that they owed that to her.
Naruto was not the same as he once was. He had achieved his dream, and he lived with the two people he loved so deeply he was never sure where the penny dropped. But there had been sacrifice, and hesitation, and tears to reach the goal. Somewhere along the road of betrayal and blood, he had let parts of his soul go. He released the dreamer to give way to the determined. (It was no longer an ambition to find and return his teammate, it was all he had left) He released the naive for the trust.(The world had to kick in at sometime)
If there was one thing Naruto wished, it was for the pieces of himself back. He was happy, but there was always that what if in those moments of pain.
What if he had stopped Sasuke and never known betrayal so strong it killed him slowly and quickly in one?
What if he had never met them? Been on a different team?
What if he he had never been given the Kyuubi?
What if he had simply never been born?
He was the Seventh, the lover of both Uchiha and Haruno, the demon.
But somewhere along the way; he had lost Naruto.
Sasuke caught him in one of those melancholic moods.
"Some of it was good to leave behind." The man said finally, experienced as he looked at his best friend. "You left behind the loneliness too."
Kakashi visited once a week, and was always late to dinner. To his surprise, his former students stopped chiding him about and got straight to talking about his new team and how he was.
"Dinner looks wonderful Sakura." He praised, managing to stick it under his mask without them once seeing his secret. They had stopped pestering him about that too.
"But tell me, what has put you all in such a particularly good mood that my tardiness is given no reprimand?"
The hostess winked at him as she filled his glass again. "Nothing, I just made dinner two hours later than I told you to be here."
His one eye blinked. "And you've all stopped asking about the mask."
"We are three plus one, and we'll always be Kakashi-sensei." The Hokage admitted as he slurped ramen noodles. "We are have everything of each other, but not all of you. That is why we stopped; you don't belong wholly to us even though we love you and you love us."
Naruto always had a way with words.
They always thought Sasuke would die first. Naruto was protected now from his status and between the two of them, the shinobi had the more dangerous job. But it was the girl who died first, in the same way as her mentor.
Except for the person she saved was a little boy growing up to be only twelve and madly in love with both his ninja teammates. He went by the name Konohamaru.
Kakashi had died in a mission before, so only the sun and the night were left to mourn.
It was the first time Sasuke cried since his parent's had died.
It was the first time that a shrine was built out of cherry blossoms, ordered by the Hokage himself.
"We should have protected her better." Naruto said in bed that night.
"No," Sasuke muttered his reply. "She was just giving us a sign."
Sasuke was too much of a selfish bastard to wait for Naruto to give up his title. He killed himself the next day in a suicide mission. Of course, no enemy ninja would come near Konoha for almost two years for fear of the 'red-eyed devil'. He was following that healing, guiding hand into the next world because he trusted her. He loved her.
It's been ten years since then. Are you still waiting? The Seventh mused as he lay in that stretch between the Uchiha compound and the Sakura trees. After serving his village for another decade, their beloved Hokage had passed on the title to a boy named Konohamaru and left all his possessions behind. And now he was finally done, the katana in his heart saturated with poison enough to kill a demon.
"I'm coming home, guys." He breathed, blue eyes shutting finally.
He was smirking, dark eyes grateful under their dark cage of bangs. "Dobe, you cerainly took your time. Get lost?"
She was smiling gently, green eyes innocent and beaming. "Baka, I was beginning to worry."
Slowly, a silver-haired man walked up. He stood a little farther back. "Welcome home, Naruto."
And the boy gave his old foxy grin at them, and all their Sacrifice, Hesitation, and Tears suddenly fell away with the years and they were twelve again. Just newly a true team and filled with hopes and dreams and love.
The little black haired girl blinked her green eyes again. " Tell me the story again Uncle Iruka."
The old professor laughed a little until her brother joined it, his blond hair straight and eyes rosary. "Yeah, a story."
And Iruka couldn't help but place them each on one knee and ask, "Which one?"
And the two children looked at each other, grinned, and spoke in unison.
"The one about how love was born; when Hope and Compassion and Understanding were taught by Magic." The little girl remembered.
"Yeah," The boy agreed. "Love is three plus one."
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