Mind, Body, and Soul

A/N: Short ficcy I decided to write, the topic has been stuck on a piece of paper, clamped up in my locker since November…so yeah. Here goes "inspiration."

To my dearest ex-best friend, Nick.

So on rainy days, when training was canceled, Naruto would go outside anyway. It didn't make sense to a lot of people, he hated getting sick. But when it rained, he went out and did everything that would be done on a normal day. Like it wasn't raining. With days like this, he would get Sasuke to come to spar with him. And Sasuke wouldn't deny him a chance to show his skill. So on days when it rained, Naruto and Sasuke would always spar, and on those days too, Sakura would come and she would watch. They would spar and dance with each other in fluid and graceful movements, and Sakura would sit on a stump and watch, her green orbs sparkling and following every part of it.

On rainy days, they would do this until Sasuke and Naruto got tired. Until Sakura got exhausted just from watching them move so quickly with attacks. And then, Sakura would get up and move to wherever they were, and together they would lay on their backs, regardless of how muddy and wet the grass was. They would lay on their backs, hair spread out between them, so close their heads were touching.

They would watch the sky, and each drop that fell from it to various places of their bodies.

During this time, sometimes they were completely silent. Sasuke would listen to Naruto's breathing, Naruto would listen to Sakura's breathing, and Sakura would listen to Sasuke's breathing. But sometimes, sometimes she could hear Naruto's labored and unsteady breathing, so much unlike Sasuke's steady and soft breathing. It was easier to hear Naruto's breathing when they were silent like this. Sasuke would agree that they even breathed differently. Sasuke in long, breathless strokes, and Naruto in short, ragged ones. And sometimes both boys could hear Sakura's breathing. Soft, and calm. Quiet and peaceful. And when they could hear her breathing, they were able to relax all that much more.

But sometimes they weren't silent. On those rainy days, Naruto would talk to fill some silence because he didn't want to hear the thunder, or acknowledge any lightening moving across the sky blindingly. Naruto would talk, Sasuke would throw in an absent comment here and there, and Sakura would nod her head to both of them, and they spent some hours, talking about everything, yet talking about nothing at all. Sometimes they were able to sit out, watching fat drops of rain fall on each other, soak their bodies, and forget about everything else except the rain and the breathing of the other person.

They had all believed it was supposed to be this way. And if you asked Naruto, maybe even meant to be this way. Destined to be, almost.

So when Naruto had brought up the topic one day, while they sat and listened to rain fall and cover everything, neither one of them were surprised. In all honesty, they had thought the same thought before.

"…What do you mean, Naruto?" Sakura whispered, her voice getting tiny from disuse.

"I mean, maybe there was a reason that we ended up in a team like this. That we ended up like this, something meant to happen." He said slowly, stretching out every word like it was a sentence by itself. Sasuke had chuckled softly, his voice rumbling along with the echoing thunder.

"Destiny, dobe?" He whispered throatily, experiencing the same issue as Sakura. Their voices were so dry…

"Yes, I mean destiny. We were paired together for a reason!" He squeaked, and then closed his eyes to let a flash of lightening strike past his eyes. He didn't like lightening as much as he liked the rain. Thunder came second on his list, the rumble reminded him much of Sasuke's quiet voice, silent but demanding in every other aspect.

"Other than our grades?" Sakura mumbled through wet lips, drops were coating her face, sticking to her eyelashes, so she kept them closed. She relied on her hearing to follow the conversation.

"Besides all that, there's a bigger reason. Like, we complete each other almost."

Sasuke laughed at that. Naruto made a noise.

"I'm serious, teme! I mean, we're like…a complete person like this. Like, the three of us make something complete, rather than relying only on ourselves. Like, a trinity or something..." Naruto had furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke, his voice trailing off a sentence. He wasn't explaining this as good as it had shown up in his mind, and he maybe thought that he shouldn't have brought it up, it was just a fleeting thought from his mind, as most things are. But then he felt Sakura nod her head in thought, and he recognized that he was really close to them. Sakura on his right and Sasuke on his left. They were really close to each other. He wondered what their hair must look like, sticky and wet and tangled into each other.

"I understand Naruto. You mean like the three-part trinity saying. What was it…mind, body and soul?" Sakura supplied helpfully, and then coughed after she spoke. Her throat was really bothering her so she parted her lips and allowed some of the rain to fall into her mouth and wet her drying tongue. Clear, and tasteless, the rain always was. She felt Naruto's head move vigorously to her suggestion.

"Yes, Sakura-chan! That's what we are, the Trinity. We're like this for a reason." He said thoughtfully, his voice energizing and excited. He heard Sasuke make a noise in the back of his throat, and more importantly felt his head shake slightly.

"Oh, is that so dobe? So then, what parts do we all play in your Trinity?" Sasuke mused, clearing his throat as Sakura had, but keeping his voice low and soft, a softer rumble, Naruto noted.

"Well…" Naruto frowned.

Sakura licked the moisture from her lips.

There was a silence for a while, while Naruto thought of what to say. Sakura kept her eyes closed, and tried to listen for breathing. She caught Sasuke's long breathiness for a moment, before Naruto started talking again.

"Well, if I had to say, I'd think that Sakura-chan would be the mind." He said softly, his bright voice eased, being careful on what to say from here.

"…The mind, Naruto?" Sakura hadn't really been paying attention until now; too busy enjoying the lightness of lying out on slippery grass, the falling rain and her soaking clothes. It all felt so nice…

"Because you're so smart, Sakura-chan." He said flatly, as if that were a given.

She giggled at his tone.

"No, really! I think out of all of us, you're probably the smartest out of all of us, and not just in that academic way either. You've got more wisdom than us, and by far the best control on emotions. And I'm pretty sure about this, but you make very good assumptions and connections between things during missions. Like, putting information together, or maybe just figuring out an effective plan. It's all so creative and…dynamic…in a way." He said, and then closed his eyes again, listening to the banging of God's drums as the thunder washed over the three of them. He sighed outwardly.

Sakura blinked and drew her lips in a line. Then she blinked again. She had never thought of herself that way, and if the flush across her face was any indication, she was quite flattered too.

"Wow, Naruto. I...wouldn't have guessed you thought that way of me…what...what do you think, Sasuke-kun?" She couldn't help but push Sasuke into this conversation. It was about all of them anyway.

"I'm happy he could use big words like 'academic' and 'dynamic'." Sasuke murmured and turned his head to the side, allowing pellets of washed rain to hit his cheek and run down his pale, slim neck.

"Teme. Do you agree with me or not?" Naruto grumbled.

"Yes..."

More lightning. Naruto closed his eyes.

"Yes, I agree." Sasuke sighed. Sakura murmured a gracious 'thank you' and blushed some more, now fully attentive to the conversation.

"Well, if I get to play the mind, then Sasuke gets to play the body." Sakura suggested, blinking more.

"Are you just saying that because you like Sasuke's body?" Naruto asked and Sakura vehemently shook her head.

"No! I'm serious, I mean, Sasuke playing the body part of our Trinity." Sakura repeated, making herself clearer, but the thought of Sasuke's body did make her blush again.

"I'm the body?" Sasuke echoed out.

"Yeah, I think you can play the body, being so skillful and fluent in movement. Definitely the better one at agility than you and I, Naruto." Sakura said, trying to crane her neck to see Naruto's reaction. She could only see his thick eyelashes, pink, supple lips, and those deep whisker scars of his.

Naruto thought this over. "Yeah, I guess. I guess he would fit the body part of our Trinity. But I can beat him at agility some days."

Sasuke snorted jokingly. "So I get to play the body then, huh?"

"Yep, you're the body." Sakura smiled and then giggled at her own sentence.

A lengthier silence followed after that, their minds stirring with thoughts.

"Guess what that makes you, dobe?" Sasuke broke the silence this time.

Naruto thought for a moment, eyes blinking. "….the soul?"

Sakura nodded. "The soul."

Naruto paused, and then smiled, feeling his eyes get a bit wetter than before. But that was probably just the rain in his eyes.

"I think you're the perfect kind of energy to fuel my 'mind' and Sasuke's 'body'." Sakura continued.

"Energy?" Naruto flushed. "..The soul…"

Sakura nodded along with Sasuke, and then they all got silent, bodies cold, but faces warm.

They were so, so warm.

"I love you guys." Sakura blurted without thinking, only trying to cherish this moment. She could feel their might not be any more like this.

Naruto didn't hesitate in response. "I love you guys too." Then he outstretched his hands and grasped Sakura's tiny fingers in one hand, and Sasuke's elongated fingers in the other. Neither one of them moved their hands; instead Sakura's other hand moved and cupped Sasuke's hand in hers, intertwining fingers with the both of them.

"Our Trinity." She whispered.

"Our Trinity." Naruto repeated.

"…Our…Trinity." Sasuke murmured, face hot.

And that's how they sat in the rainy on that day. That day that carved into their memories and each swore to each other to never forget. To never, ever forget.

"Sasuke-kun? What is that picture frame you're holding?" Kabuto smirked and attempted looking over Sasuke's shoulder, only to have him recoil back and tuck the frame inside of Sasuke's wandering bag.

"Nothing for you to be concerned of. Fetch Orochimaru, I'm ready to train." Sasuke said curtly and then left the room. Kabuto hesitated, and then reached his hand into Sasuke's open bag, and pulled out the picture frame, staring blankly at the picture of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. And even Kakashi-san too. He held it close to his face, trying to look harder for what Sasuke was seeing, and then his nose picked up a small scent from the frame itself.

"It smells like rain…" He mumbled, and then took the frame away from his face, giving it another look and then putting it back where he found it, and leaving to fetch Orochimaru as he was demanded.

Comments, love, and hopefully suggestions of improvement are MUCH asked for. Thanks for reading and please review~