This one came out much more OT3 and much less silly. For whatever reason, Gaara's POV isn't really conductive to cracky humor.
Oh well. Whatcha gonna do?
Part of it was Gaara's wanting to be a part of their violent little game. Part of it had to be whatever wildness remained in him, and how it wanted to be rolled around in the grass. So he caught himself even as they landed on their sides, got his feet under himself first . . . and flopped over both of them.
Naruto caught an elbow to the solar plexus and wheezed. Sakura only had his legs over her and shoved them out of the way as she sat up, demanding "What are you—"
He barreled into her, rolled her over twice, grappled for some sort of a pin as he snarled against her shoulder—and found out the hard way that she was a lot stronger than he expected. Her limbs twisted, her hands fit in between their bodies—and with her shove he was flying again, twisting mid-air to land in a crouch between both of the Leaf-nins.
This was certainly shaping up to be fun!
Gaara set his fingertips in the dirt and glanced at the two, trying to figure out which he'd shoot for next. They stared back, their expressions mixtures of worry and amazement.
"Do you think he's okay?" Naruto finally said.
"He's grinning," Sakura replied. "I don't think I like it when he grins."
She'd do.
Naruto caught him just as he caught a hold of her, knocking him to the side even as Gaara grabbed a fistful of Sakura's shirt. The force pulled Sakura off her knees and halfway onto Naruto's back, dropping the blond onto Gaara hard enough to send sand flying everywhere. The redhead scowled and willed it away—he wanted contact, not walls.
On their knees over him as the shield dissipated, Naruto and Sakura gave him matching worried frowns. "Are you all right?" Naruto asked.
"I'm having fun," he said, and gave them his most practiced, most rational-looking "I'm sane, I swear" smile.
Naruto's expression said he'd need to work a little harder on that "I'm sane" smile.
"Fun," Sakura repeated . . . then relaxed, shrugged, and smiled brightly at both of them. She reached out for his hands almost hesitantly, then smiled again when he didn't pull away at her touch. "I can deal with that."
Her hands clenched against his, pinning him the ground with more than human strength. Sakura glanced over her shoulder to Naruto and grinned toothily. "See if he's ticklish."
Gaara couldn't remember having ever been tickled before, but he already wasn't impressed. It wouldn't be that big a deal—but he'd play along anyway, he decided, if only to humor—
Naruto's fingers dug into his sides and Gaara's stomach locked up, toes curled, legs and arms jerked of their own accord—and it didn't take both Leaf-nins stopping to stare for him to realize that yes, the awful gargling noise had come out of his own mouth.
"I guess that's a yes," Naruto finally said—then grinned so widely that Gaara's fight-or-flight response piped up with its least-used option. To hell with this!
Sakura let go of his hands and dropped her weight onto his chest as he started to squirm in earnest, her legs scissoring into a wrestling sprawl he'd seen before but never needed to learn as an extra pair of hands wriggled mercilessly against his sides and ribs. Not to be beaten so easily, he writhed, kicked ineffectively, bit and tugged on a mouthful of pink hair, and grabbed for anything ticklish on either of the two in an attempt to retaliate. His attempts only succeeded in getting hair stuck between his teeth. But he'd never been good at hand to hand combat anyway. So other than sand, the only thing that'd probably get him out of this would be—
"Hey!" Sakura jerked upright and turned on her comrade. "Watch what you're tickling!"
—Would be an act of Naruto.
"It was an accident?" Naruto offered.
Sakura dove at him anyway. Gaara grinned and crawled onto the grappling pair, not sure who he was trying to help and not really caring. And he realized they had the same idea—when he pulled Sakura's arm away from Naruto's throat, only to have the blond bite him as repayment. He went for the choke Sakura'd started, sinking his hands into Naruto's collar as Sakura climbed onto his back, narrowly avoiding Naruto's attempt to shove fingers up his nose as—Why was Sakura patting him on the head?
He let go of the choke and rolled, coming to his hands and knees over her. Naruto moved to their side, looking for an opening, as Sakura laughed up at him. "It was funny!"
Funny? He'd show her funny. Gaara grinned wider and grabbed her sides. Sakura shrieked and bucked under him, forcing him to adjust his position before her knees triggered his shields. Naruto's arms locked around his own while Sakura's legs wound around his sides, feet crossing behind him, and this was certainly interesting—
Later, he made a conscious decision to never again let a kunoichi with super strength wrap around him like that. Just then, though, his thoughts compressed (much like his waistline) down to one word: Organs!
And as Naruto hooked an arm around his neck and bore down with a chokehold, he gained another word: Air!
There was only one option other than sand that would get him out of this predicament . . . So as his control started to slip, he used it, signaling game over by reaching up with one hand to tap twice against Naruto's arm.
Giving in to both of them, he found, wasn't too terrible an experience. Sakura blushed a little and pulled her legs back from around him; Naruto cackled in his ear and rattled him from side to side before letting go.
He wondered if they'd want to try again. Soon.
Naruto backed away sheepishly, then grinned when Gaara faced him. "Truce?"
As long as it wasn't permanent. "Okay."
"Good," Naruto replied, and flopped onto his back to stare at the sky. "We're supposed to be relaxing."
Gaara glanced over at Sakura, who leaned back on her elbows and grinned. "Me too, actually."
Cautiously, almost waiting for either of them to start again, he stretched out between them. He reached out and tugged on a lock of Sakura's hair when she smiled again, just so she knew he still had fight left in him, and left his hand there when her only response was another chuckle—and because it felt right to make things even, to touch them both at once, he crossed his legs over Naruto's stomach. Naruto made a gruff noise in response and halfheartedly punched him in the thigh—and for his part, Gaara quietly thought very hard about which of them he'd jump on first. After all, relaxation was only for the people who didn't know what he was plotting.
But for him . . . He was filthy, covered in grass and leaves, probably more scuffed up than he'd been since the last time he'd fought Naruto . . . and so dizzyingly, unthinkably happy he wasn't sure what to do with himself.
"Y'know," Naruto said, and poked him in the knee. "Shikamaru always says watching clouds is fun."
"It is," Sakura said, and touched his fingers.
And it was.