(their?)
which wasn’t really surprising; his lover always was an early riser. Rolling off the bed, Sasuke shrugged into a loose, comfortable yukata and padded out to the garden.
“There you are,” his lover said softly, and held out a cup of tea. “I thought you were going to sleep the day through and I would have to wake you.”
Again something tickled at the back of Sasuke’s mind, some little voice that said this was all so wrong, but it was overshadowed by the peace he felt here. “Think I wouldn’t want to spend my waking hours with you, ‘reo?”
Orochimaru scowled. “Don’t call me that,” he said in a half-serious tone. “Else I’ll call you Sassy.”
(When did Orochimaru-sensei become like this?)
Sasuke sat and curled his arms around Orochimaru’s waist. The sannin lord was also wearing a yukata, a lovely purple one that contrasted nicely with his pale skin. Sasuke couldn’t resist touching him. Lips curving up in the closest thing to a smile the snake could come to, Orochimaru turned his head to plant a gentle kiss at Sasuke’s temple, then tilted his chin up and placed a burning kiss on his lips. All the desires they shared came to the forefront and when Sasuke blinked his eyes open again he was snugly settled over his lover’s hips, yukata sliding off slender shoulders.
Orochimaru’s eyes were narrowed, the snakelike pupils dilated in his excitement. “Your friends are coming, remember. It would be quite a social mishap if they were to walk in on us.”
“No more than we’ve done on them.” Again something pestered him, but Sasuke shoved it away.
(when…?)
“The strange taijutsu user will go on about how we’re enjoying our youth or somesuch nonsense – I’m older than he is by decades – and his mate, that Kazekage, he’ll try to get me into a discussion of trade and missions. The ANBU – Sai, was it? - and Sakura are an even stranger pair. And no matter how solid the kyuubi boy’s relationship with that slip of a Hyuuga girl, he’ll be jealous of me for the rest of his life. I got the cream of the crop, after all.”
“No less than the great sannin Orochimaru deserves?”
“Think of it not like that, pet. You are not a spoil of war that I appropriated for myself.” Cool white fingers stroked his cheek. “You chose me, remember?”
(No I don’t-)
“Of course I remember. You made me feel needed. I was good enough for you to acknowledge my existence.”
Orochimaru shifted under him, intentionally or unintentionally rubbing their most sensitive places together and Sasuke shivered. When he could open his eyes again Orochimaru was smirking up at him, and then neither of them were able to speak for some time. As he lay confidently snug in the arms of his lover while the sweat cooled on their bodies, the strangest thought floated up through Sasuke’s mind:
If I had a choice, life would be a paradise such as this.
Sasuke couldn’t understand what that thought meant.
They sat around a large lacquered table, enough food for an army laid out before them. When guests came to the home of the Otokage and his mate, they never went away hungry. Naruto alone was eating enough for a four-man squad. Hinata was more composed about it, her white eyes darting over to the man she’d been married to for three years. Naruto had turned out to be a fine Hokage, having
(Naruto, Hokage? When did that-)
learned well from both Jiraiya and Tsunade. Sai and Sakura were the quietest of the lot. Even Gaara was talking more than they were – but it was mostly to Orochimaru about disbursement of missions –
Their bodies twined together on the grass; he could feel something scratching at his shoulder through the thick grass but his mind was entirely on the hot mouth suckling his nipples, moving back up to lock his lips in a kiss that left him breathless and gasping for more
“It’s been ten years now, hasn’t it, Sasuke? We should throw a party. Ten years is a long time to be together.”
“You are so handsome, Sasuke. So perfect. I lov-”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh STOP IT STOP IT!
“So that’s what your idyll would be. Your own user is the one you treasure the most...”
“You’re a sick fucking freak.”
Red eyes stared emotionlessly at him. “I suppose so. Putting you under that genjutsu may have been a little much…foolish little brother, for a moment you thought that was real, didn’t you?”
I can still feel Orochimaru’s hands on me – I can feel his eyes on me – I can feel how right it was – ah, god!
“Or maybe it was that you wanted it to be real so badly that for a moment it was.” Itachi nudged the body of the sannin at his feet. Blood oozed out slowly. “You can do better than this trash.”
I am an avenger.
Pulling himself together, he grabbed the lingering power of the genjutsu and used it to fuel his movements, to fuel the jolt of pain that shot through his chest when Itachi’s hand shot out Orochimaru’s back, to fuel his depleted chakra to power his forbidden third shot.
My place is in the circles of Hell, not the vaulted peaks of Heaven.