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Here is my DVD commentary on "The Replacement Must Go" for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
digthenym . You can read the original version here.
After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.
...he wishes.
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.
Which is actually, kinda depressing.
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.
I imagine that Kakashi is the one member of Team 7 would is fine with Sasuke being gone. He has, after all, betrayed the two things Kakashi holds dear: his teammates and Konoha.
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.
Because the boots are hot.
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.
I think Sasuke secretly liked Sakura wanting to date him, and I think one reason that he always said no to her is that he was assured his continued attention if he didn't go out with her.
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.
Sai as a replacement/upgrade for Sasuke is explicitly stated in the manga, and I love it. In my mind it highlights ALL Sasuke's faults: that he betrayed Konoha, that he betrayed his teammates, and emphasizes Sai's humanness: that even after ROOT attempted to destroy his emotions, he still wants to be a real boy. Actually, comparing Sai to Sasuke is so unflattering to Sasuke (imho) I'm almost amazed that Kishimoto wrote him. Sai's abs> Sasuke's chest. I have a wee bit of a Sai-crush, can you tell?
Once that was done, everything would return to exactly the way it had been before.
Keep dreaming, Sasuke. I have to admit, it a lot of ways this fic is a screw-you Sasuke fic.
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.
It is flattering how much they miss him. Unhealthy, but flattering.
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.
What I'm trying to show here is that Sakura grew up: that she had a life that doesn't revolve around Sasuke, that she's important, that Team 7 rearranges itself around HER.
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.
Sai is a smart boy, he knows when someone's a threat to his relationship.
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.
Oh, my god, Sasuke, how will you ever survive actually having to be proactive?
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.
I am not totally sure if Sakura's tardiness is due to Sai or not. It could go either way.
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.”
Favorite bit of personal canon, right there: Sakura being badass and going on ANBU mission while she's a chuunin.
“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.
I can just hear Sasuke's brain breaking.
“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.
I held off writing Sai for a long time, because he is HARD, and I thought very, very hard about each and every line of dialogue he has. That said, I'm really pleased with how Sai comes across in his face. Also, you know Sai and Sakura totally had a discussion about what is permissible to do in public. "Okay, you can hold my hand in front of people, and you can kiss me if no ones watching and if I'm in the mood, yes, we can have sex in an alley." "That seems rather unhygienic..."
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.
Someone pointed out that this almost reads like Kakashi ignoring the fact that Sakura has a love life. My inner kakasaku shipper can buy that. ^_^
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.
This is why Itachi is and can never, ever, ever a good guy: tortured. Kakashi. for. hours.
Sai’s fake smile on still on his lips, even as a droplet of sweat rolled across his temple.
Sai, of course, is trained to handle torture....
“Traitor,” he said simply.
I have no doubt that Sai has just been WAITING to say that.
“Replacement,” Sasuke snarled back and Sakura punched him so hard he dug a furrow in the dirt of the street before his body stopped.
mzminola pointed out that in the fic I wrote previous, I also had a girl punching a guy through a wall. Yeah, it's a little repetitive, but since it's Tsunade and Sakura, it's very IC and I just love the image of her punching Sasuke out of the Ramen stand.
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.
This is possibly my favorite line I wrote this year.
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.”
Oh, Sai, you rock. I am very pleased with this line, because I think I nailed the Sai-characterization here.
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.
And Sasuke's heart is broken, but since I think Sasuke needs a bit more consequences for his actions (you leave Konoha=your girlfriend moves on to better men) I end this fic giggling.
digthenym . You can read the original version here.After Sasuke returned to Konoha, everything was the same.
...he wishes.
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.
Which is actually, kinda depressing.
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.
I imagine that Kakashi is the one member of Team 7 would is fine with Sasuke being gone. He has, after all, betrayed the two things Kakashi holds dear: his teammates and Konoha.
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.
Because the boots are hot.
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.
I think Sasuke secretly liked Sakura wanting to date him, and I think one reason that he always said no to her is that he was assured his continued attention if he didn't go out with her.
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.
Sai as a replacement/upgrade for Sasuke is explicitly stated in the manga, and I love it. In my mind it highlights ALL Sasuke's faults: that he betrayed Konoha, that he betrayed his teammates, and emphasizes Sai's humanness: that even after ROOT attempted to destroy his emotions, he still wants to be a real boy. Actually, comparing Sai to Sasuke is so unflattering to Sasuke (imho) I'm almost amazed that Kishimoto wrote him. Sai's abs> Sasuke's chest. I have a wee bit of a Sai-crush, can you tell?
Once that was done, everything would return to exactly the way it had been before.
Keep dreaming, Sasuke. I have to admit, it a lot of ways this fic is a screw-you Sasuke fic.
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.
It is flattering how much they miss him. Unhealthy, but flattering.
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.
What I'm trying to show here is that Sakura grew up: that she had a life that doesn't revolve around Sasuke, that she's important, that Team 7 rearranges itself around HER.
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.
Sai is a smart boy, he knows when someone's a threat to his relationship.
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.
Oh, my god, Sasuke, how will you ever survive actually having to be proactive?
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.
I am not totally sure if Sakura's tardiness is due to Sai or not. It could go either way.
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.”
Favorite bit of personal canon, right there: Sakura being badass and going on ANBU mission while she's a chuunin.
“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.
I can just hear Sasuke's brain breaking.
“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.
I held off writing Sai for a long time, because he is HARD, and I thought very, very hard about each and every line of dialogue he has. That said, I'm really pleased with how Sai comes across in his face. Also, you know Sai and Sakura totally had a discussion about what is permissible to do in public. "Okay, you can hold my hand in front of people, and you can kiss me if no ones watching and if I'm in the mood, yes, we can have sex in an alley." "That seems rather unhygienic..."
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.
Someone pointed out that this almost reads like Kakashi ignoring the fact that Sakura has a love life. My inner kakasaku shipper can buy that. ^_^
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.
This is why Itachi is and can never, ever, ever a good guy: tortured. Kakashi. for. hours.
Sai’s fake smile on still on his lips, even as a droplet of sweat rolled across his temple.
Sai, of course, is trained to handle torture....
“Traitor,” he said simply.
I have no doubt that Sai has just been WAITING to say that.
“Replacement,” Sasuke snarled back and Sakura punched him so hard he dug a furrow in the dirt of the street before his body stopped.
mzminola pointed out that in the fic I wrote previous, I also had a girl punching a guy through a wall. Yeah, it's a little repetitive, but since it's Tsunade and Sakura, it's very IC and I just love the image of her punching Sasuke out of the Ramen stand.
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.
This is possibly my favorite line I wrote this year.
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.”
Oh, Sai, you rock. I am very pleased with this line, because I think I nailed the Sai-characterization here.
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.
And Sasuke's heart is broken, but since I think Sasuke needs a bit more consequences for his actions (you leave Konoha=your girlfriend moves on to better men) I end this fic giggling.
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