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Title: The Replacement Must Go
Author: redbrunja
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
naruto_contest , week #25 - smirk. ...and then I realized I wrote way, way too much.
Characters: Sasuke, Sai, Sakura.
Summary: “After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.” Sasuke tells himself lies.
After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.
The Hokage sent him on missions, missions of higher rank than any he had taken before he had became stronger.
Sasuke once again spent his evenings listening to the empty creaks and moans of the Uchiha compound.
Naruto was as loud and obnoxious as ever, and seemed to have forgotten Sasuke had even left Konoha.
Kakashi still gave him that frustratingly cheerful eye-crease, and if Kakashi’s jaw was implacable even as he smiled, well, Sasuke never liked his sensei that much anyway.
And admittedly, the majority of Konoha’s citizenry eye him with suspicion, but Uchiha’s have always been stared at and gossiped about.
Really, the only difference, the only annoying, irritating change is Sakura. And Sasuke doesn’t mean the boots, which he secretly quite likes. No, it was the fact that she had ceased her futile efforts to entrap him into a relationship.
Her platonic behavior was even more annoying then her lovesickness had been.
However, Sasuke quite easily figured out the solution to that problem, the way to return Sakura to the girl she’d once been.
It was delightfully simple.
Sasuke needed to eliminate The Replacement.
Once that was done, everything would return to exactly the way it had been before.
That was how Sasuke thought of Sai: The Replacement. It was blatantly clear that’s what he was; a dark-haired, darker-eyed place holder until Sasuke returned.
It was almost flattering they’d missed him that much.
The Replacement was restraining Sakura from resuming her attentive behavior towards him.
The Replacement was the reason she never walked Sasuke home, the reason that Team 7 was always rearranging it’s meeting times around her duties for the Hokage, the reason that sometimes, when Sasuke talked, Sakura would clearly be thinking about other things.
Whenever Sasuke would say or do anything that should evoke Sakura’s concern and attention, The Replacement was there like he’d been Summoned, calling her Hag and getting punched and distracting her from who she ought to be paying attention to.
He’d been in Konoha a month, and Sakura hadn’t asked him on a date once.
Sasuke knew it was the fault of that whey-faced asshole.
Sasuke had been forced to actually invite her over to his house to cook dinner.
And when she’d came –late, apologizing, and saying something about the hospital, she didn’t meet his eyes, color residing high in her cheeks and the suspicion that her tardiness was truly because of The Replacement licked through his veins like flames.
A suspicion that was confirmed when she hadn’t even gotten the rice started when Sai appeared perched on the kitchen’s windowsill, masked, gloved, and body tense with pleasure.
He didn’t startle Sakura at all, flately chirped something about an ANBU mission, and then she just left with him.
When Sasuke informed Naruto of this interruption, Dead Last had grinned and said proudly, “Yep! She’s been helping ANBU with missions since she was a chuunin. It’s something about her being a medic.”
“Really,” Sasuke drawled, and made a mental note to thrash Naruto soundly next time they trained.
But Sasuke didn’t realize how cancerously Sai had wormed his way into Sakura’s affection until one night at Ichiraku Ramen.
Sasuke was sitting next to her, hands folded below his face. Sakura was next to him, fiddling with her chopsticks, and Sai and Kakashi were both on her left side, Kakashi fiddling with his udon while Naruto slurped up his ramen.
Sakura was chattering about whatever she’d done that day - it was either something about reattaching a leg or shattering steel, Sasuke wasn’t listening to specifics, focused on the comforting and over-dramatic rise and fall of her voice, when Sai started to hold her hand.
The Replacement was holding Haruno Sakura’s hand.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sasuke snarled.
Next to him, Sakura’s narrative stuttered to a stop.
“I’m holding Sakura’s hand. Hand-holding is an appropriate public display of affection between two individuals in a sexual relationship,” Sai said in his cheerful monotone.
Through the horrified rush of blood in his ears, Sasuke barely processed the image of Sakura slapping Sai’s shoulder hard enough that he had to catch Sakura’s wrist to avoid being thrown to the floor.
Kakashi added a little salt to his udon.
Naruto grumbled a bit and slurped harder.
Sasuke slammed his hands down on the counter as he rose to his feet, his bloodline limit flaring into life.
Sai had a painbrush in his hands but if was much, much too late.
A faction of Sasuke’s consciousness was still sitting in the over-warm ramen stand, the air redolent with the scent of broth.
The rest of him was standing under a bloody sky, Sai kneeling before him.
The Replacement was bound, helpless, dark eyes white with terror, freakishly pale skin dark in the light of Sasuke’s mind.
Sai’s fake smile on still on his lips, even as a droplet of sweat rolled across his temple.
“Traitor,” he said simply.
“Replacement,” Sasuke snarled back and Sakura punched him so hard he dug a furrow in the dirt of the street before his body stopped.
He blinked at her, standing in the warm glow of Ichiraku Ramen, fist upraised, Naruto gaping beside her. For some reason, the hitching along Kakashi’s back as he inhaled his dinner while no one paid any attention to him seemed somehow important. It was a much more pleasant image than Sai’s pleased smirk. Neither of which was anywhere near as pleasant as Sakura, her violent posture emphasizing the subtle curves of her hips.
“DON’T YOU DARE SHARINGAN MY BOYFRIEND!” Sakura yelled, at a volume she was supposed to direct at Naruto, never at Sasuke.
Sai’s smirk widened, his eyes smug.
“Hag!” he said, delighted. “This is the first time you’ve referred to me as your boyfriend in public. I’m pleased to see a reduction in the emotional barriers between us.”
Sakura shifted her feet, boots scuffing against the worn floor, rolled her eyes, blushed, and didn’t smack him when he ran his fingers down the line of her left arm, curled his fingers around hers.
Sasuke put a hand to his chest, felt the ribs Sakura’s punch must have broken throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
Author: redbrunja
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Written for
naruto_contest , week #25 - smirk. ...and then I realized I wrote way, way too much.Characters: Sasuke, Sai, Sakura.
Summary: “After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.” Sasuke tells himself lies.
After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.
The Hokage sent him on missions, missions of higher rank than any he had taken before he had became stronger.
Sasuke once again spent his evenings listening to the empty creaks and moans of the Uchiha compound.
Naruto was as loud and obnoxious as ever, and seemed to have forgotten Sasuke had even left Konoha.
Kakashi still gave him that frustratingly cheerful eye-crease, and if Kakashi’s jaw was implacable even as he smiled, well, Sasuke never liked his sensei that much anyway.
And admittedly, the majority of Konoha’s citizenry eye him with suspicion, but Uchiha’s have always been stared at and gossiped about.
Really, the only difference, the only annoying, irritating change is Sakura. And Sasuke doesn’t mean the boots, which he secretly quite likes. No, it was the fact that she had ceased her futile efforts to entrap him into a relationship.
Her platonic behavior was even more annoying then her lovesickness had been.
However, Sasuke quite easily figured out the solution to that problem, the way to return Sakura to the girl she’d once been.
It was delightfully simple.
Sasuke needed to eliminate The Replacement.
Once that was done, everything would return to exactly the way it had been before.
That was how Sasuke thought of Sai: The Replacement. It was blatantly clear that’s what he was; a dark-haired, darker-eyed place holder until Sasuke returned.
It was almost flattering they’d missed him that much.
The Replacement was restraining Sakura from resuming her attentive behavior towards him.
The Replacement was the reason she never walked Sasuke home, the reason that Team 7 was always rearranging it’s meeting times around her duties for the Hokage, the reason that sometimes, when Sasuke talked, Sakura would clearly be thinking about other things.
Whenever Sasuke would say or do anything that should evoke Sakura’s concern and attention, The Replacement was there like he’d been Summoned, calling her Hag and getting punched and distracting her from who she ought to be paying attention to.
He’d been in Konoha a month, and Sakura hadn’t asked him on a date once.
Sasuke knew it was the fault of that whey-faced asshole.
Sasuke had been forced to actually invite her over to his house to cook dinner.
And when she’d came –late, apologizing, and saying something about the hospital, she didn’t meet his eyes, color residing high in her cheeks and the suspicion that her tardiness was truly because of The Replacement licked through his veins like flames.
A suspicion that was confirmed when she hadn’t even gotten the rice started when Sai appeared perched on the kitchen’s windowsill, masked, gloved, and body tense with pleasure.
He didn’t startle Sakura at all, flately chirped something about an ANBU mission, and then she just left with him.
When Sasuke informed Naruto of this interruption, Dead Last had grinned and said proudly, “Yep! She’s been helping ANBU with missions since she was a chuunin. It’s something about her being a medic.”
“Really,” Sasuke drawled, and made a mental note to thrash Naruto soundly next time they trained.
But Sasuke didn’t realize how cancerously Sai had wormed his way into Sakura’s affection until one night at Ichiraku Ramen.
Sasuke was sitting next to her, hands folded below his face. Sakura was next to him, fiddling with her chopsticks, and Sai and Kakashi were both on her left side, Kakashi fiddling with his udon while Naruto slurped up his ramen.
Sakura was chattering about whatever she’d done that day - it was either something about reattaching a leg or shattering steel, Sasuke wasn’t listening to specifics, focused on the comforting and over-dramatic rise and fall of her voice, when Sai started to hold her hand.
The Replacement was holding Haruno Sakura’s hand.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sasuke snarled.
Next to him, Sakura’s narrative stuttered to a stop.
“I’m holding Sakura’s hand. Hand-holding is an appropriate public display of affection between two individuals in a sexual relationship,” Sai said in his cheerful monotone.
Through the horrified rush of blood in his ears, Sasuke barely processed the image of Sakura slapping Sai’s shoulder hard enough that he had to catch Sakura’s wrist to avoid being thrown to the floor.
Kakashi added a little salt to his udon.
Naruto grumbled a bit and slurped harder.
Sasuke slammed his hands down on the counter as he rose to his feet, his bloodline limit flaring into life.
Sai had a painbrush in his hands but if was much, much too late.
A faction of Sasuke’s consciousness was still sitting in the over-warm ramen stand, the air redolent with the scent of broth.
The rest of him was standing under a bloody sky, Sai kneeling before him.
The Replacement was bound, helpless, dark eyes white with terror, freakishly pale skin dark in the light of Sasuke’s mind.
Sai’s fake smile on still on his lips, even as a droplet of sweat rolled across his temple.
“Traitor,” he said simply.
“Replacement,” Sasuke snarled back and Sakura punched him so hard he dug a furrow in the dirt of the street before his body stopped.
He blinked at her, standing in the warm glow of Ichiraku Ramen, fist upraised, Naruto gaping beside her. For some reason, the hitching along Kakashi’s back as he inhaled his dinner while no one paid any attention to him seemed somehow important. It was a much more pleasant image than Sai’s pleased smirk. Neither of which was anywhere near as pleasant as Sakura, her violent posture emphasizing the subtle curves of her hips.
“DON’T YOU DARE SHARINGAN MY BOYFRIEND!” Sakura yelled, at a volume she was supposed to direct at Naruto, never at Sasuke.
Sai’s smirk widened, his eyes smug.
“Hag!” he said, delighted. “This is the first time you’ve referred to me as your boyfriend in public. I’m pleased to see a reduction in the emotional barriers between us.”
Sakura shifted her feet, boots scuffing against the worn floor, rolled her eyes, blushed, and didn’t smack him when he ran his fingers down the line of her left arm, curled his fingers around hers.
Sasuke put a hand to his chest, felt the ribs Sakura’s punch must have broken throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
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Oh, you nailed Sai on the head with that line. *want to make those heart-shape icons things right now but don't know how*
Seriously, if Sai and Ax from the Animorphs universe would meet in some freaky AU, they would get along great. *points to icon*
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I knew that I would have to. I actually re-read the nicknames chapter to make sure I got the last sentence EXACTLY right. & hearts ; without the spaces is how you do it. ♥
You're right, Sai and Ax WOULD get along great.
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And Sakura.
And now between this and "As For You" I'm seeing "women punching guys, who have crushes on them, hard enough to furrow the dirt" as a reoccuring theme in your fics.
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Missing an "at" in until one night Ichiraku Ramen.
This was fun to read.
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And now between this and "As For You" I'm seeing "women punching guys, who have crushes on them, hard enough to furrow the dirt" as a reoccuring theme in your fics.
I was thinking about that as I wrote it, and kinda flinching at the fact that I'm repeating myself.
In the first draft he gets punched over the counter, which just... didn't really work logistically, and I liked the image of Sakura standing in the light of the restuant. Besides, I can argue that consider how much Kishimoto hammers in the Sakura is Tsunade comparisons, I can repeat themes.
Frankly, I'm surprised you read this - I know you're not a naruto fan.
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Also, I love how you referred to Naruto as "Dead Last" LOL poor guy XD
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Thanks for the review!
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xD His reactions, his words, everything was just perfect.
Jealous!Sasuke is life.
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And Sai... I love him quite a lot. Probably to an unhealthy degree.
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Sai is fun, yet an utter bastard to pin down.
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“I’m holding Sakura’s hand. Hand-holding is an appropriate public display of affection between two individuals in a sexual relationship,” Sai said in his cheerful monotone.
and
“Hag!” he said, delighted. “This is the first time you’ve referred to me as your boyfriend in public. I’m pleased to see a reduction in the emotional barriers between us.”
Frickin' fantastic. (Also, this is the first SakuSai I've ever read.)
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The Sai dialouge was both fun and the most challanging part of the fic to write.
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I was so excited to see this on my f-list because well written SaiSaku is such a rare thing indeed DDD:
Amazing, I loved every sentence. Like how Kakashi smiles at Sasuke, gave the right vibe of I've-welcomed-you-back-but-you're-not-forgiven. Naruto's kind of grumbly attitude towards Sai and Sakura's relationship, and of course the awesome Sai x Sakura interaction itself. DON'T YOU DARE SHARINGAN MY BOYFRIEND needs to be icon'd crazy badly XD
Great work! +mems
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Like how Kakashi smiles at Sasuke, gave the right vibe of I've-welcomed-you-back-but-you're-not-forgiven.
Yeah, I imagine Kakashi would be the hardest to win over, frankly. Well nigh-impossible in my book.
DON'T YOU DARE SHARINGAN MY BOYFRIEND needs to be icon'd crazy badly XD
If you have any graphic talent, go for it. ^_^ I have to say, I loved writing that line.
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This was so enjoyable, even though I've never thought Sasuke was sexually attracted to Sakura. This situation was just too hilarious, and you NAILED Sai and Sakura. Sai being irresistible despite or because of his obvious retardedness (which is...endearing. LOOK OUT SAKURA IT'S A TRAP), and Sakura having her temper and just...growing up. It wasn't just that she wasn't attracted to Sasuke anymore. You showed her growing up in other ways: her dedication to her work, her skills in higher class missions; this was a detail I liked very much because some forget how smart and competent others subtly remark about her.
What made this so much better (if possible) is that I could TELL how much fun you had writing this. Gah; I haven't read a Sai/Sakura or a Naruto-fic period in a while, and I don't know why I had an impulse to click on the link but I did AND I AM SO MEMORYING IT. &hearts
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I know! Although I bet that I could rewrite this from Sai's pov and (if I got the voice right) have it come out as much more angst than this fic did.
This was so enjoyable, even though I've never thought Sasuke was sexually attracted to Sakura.
Frankly, in canon, I can't see Sasuke sexually attracted to ANYONE. He's too much of a cold fish. However, in fanon, I love making him want Sakura, especially when she's moved on. (And I would argue that Sasuke would take Sakura dating anyone ill, just because I think he cares about her and is very possessive.)
What made this so much better (if possible) is that I could TELL how much fun you had writing this.
Since I was litterally giggling at once point, I'm not suprised it showed.
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Wonderful fic, by the way. ♥ Very well written.
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And yeah, this was a fic that I just couldn't bear to try and cut down.
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Also, icon love.
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But the Sakura/Sai, totally loved ^^
Can't wait to read more!
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"I’m pleased to see a reduction in the emotional barriers between us.”
Favourite line^^ Great work!
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I had a great time writing it.
Jealous!Sasuke is win.
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This is one of my first and still favorite Sai/Sakura pieces.
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I'm glad you decided to delurk, and welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying Soul Eater and Tramps Like Us - those are probably my favorite anime and manga ever, respectively.
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That was hilariously awesome! Total poke in the eye and punch to ribs for Sasuke. I love the comedy of seeing everything from Sasuke's perpective. ^^
Absolutely perfect.
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P.S. Could you give me some tips on Sai's characterization? Your diaogue is really amazing.
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And Sasuke is so self-absorbed and self-involved that I imagine even in his most depressing there is a thread of melodrama. And I did add hints that Sasuke was unhappy, especially with the last line.
As for Sai's characterization... I sweated blood over each and ever line of his. Sai is VERY hard to write. What I did was reread the sections of the manga he's in to try and get the tone right.
Do you have specific questions? Or what situation Sai is going to be in? Because answering those might be easier than me just trying to give you general tips.