The Fox's Brush.

It was Saturday morning and Naruto had been hoping to sleep in until at least eleven. Unfortunately the person thumping on his door had other ideas.

A quick glance at the clock on his wall showed that it was only a little past eight, he groaned and hid his head under his pillow (although the fact that in his studio apartment the front door was less than four feet from his bed made it difficult to block out the noise), hoping that whoever it was would take the hint and fuck off. Minutes passed and it was becoming obvious that ignoring them wasn’t going to work; if anything the knocking was just getting louder. The idea that it might actually be something important occurred to him and he begrudgingly sat up and called out “Give me a minute!”

That finally shut the asshole up and Naruto clambered out of bed, rubbing at the crust in the corner of his eye and cursing when he stepped on a discarded (and dirty) spoon on the floor. He swung the door open, all set to bite the head off of the person he found on the other side but felt his mood improve when he saw who it was.

“Sakura-chan!” he managed a sleepy smile. “What’s up?”

“My shift starts in less than an hour and I wanted to talk to you before that” her tone was all business “Why were you still in bed anyway? We might not have a mission at the moment but you should be preparing for our training today. Taijutsu has never been your strong point.”

“I was going to get up soon!” he lied and crossed his arms defensively. She just stood there with her hands on her hips; her mouth was drawn in a disapproving line and the silence dragged out as if she was waiting for him to say something else. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. “Uh… Sakura-chan?”

“When were you going to tell me?”

Naruto was suddenly very awake. “Tell you what…?” Of course he knew what she was probably talking about, but he wasn’t going to admit anything he didn’t have to when she might actually be here about something else. It was better to be safe than sorry.

She frowned and exhaled loudly through her nose, obviously unimpressed “Sai came to see me the other day.”

He was kicking himself for not asking Sai to keep it under wraps for a while; he had stupidly assumed that that was implied when he said that he needed time to think about things, but of course he couldn’t expect Sai of all people to know that. He was so not ready to talk about this with Sakura, especially this early in the morning, but it didn’t really look like he had a choice. “Do you want to come inside?”

oOo

Sakura immediately regretted accepting Naruto’s invitation into his apartment; the place was a complete pig sty. Unwashed dishes filled the sink and covered most of the kitchen surfaces, the wood of the table was barely visible under old magazines and various ninja tools, packets from instant ramen were scattered on the floor and around the overflowing bin. To top it all off she couldn’t help but notice how the floor was slightly sticky under her sandals… how on earth could he live like this?

Naruto moved a pile of clothes from one of the chairs, plopping them unceremoniously onto the floor, before offering her a seat. She resisted the urge to wipe at the chair before sitting down; he leaned against the edge of the table beside her and refused to meet her gaze when she tried to catch his eye.

“I waited all yesterday, expecting you to come and talk to me.” She said, not even trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.

“I was going to tell you, Sakura-chan, probably today… or maybe tomorrow… I just wanted to think about it a little bit…” He sighed and pushed away from the table to cross the room and open the fridge, he rooted around inside and grabbed a carton of milk. “How much did Sai tell you?” he asked while he poured them a glass each.

“I’m not going to repeat what he said-” she probably couldn’t even if she wanted to “but I’ll just say that he gave me a very… detailed account of what happened on Wednesday night and Thursday morning…” she watched Naruto fumble and nearly drop the carton in his hand. “I’m pretty sure that he told me everything.” Including at least one thing that Naruto didn’t know about, she thought to herself as she remembered Sai’s painting. She had been wavering on the subject, but seeing Naruto in person had made up her mind; she would stay true to her word and not tell Naruto about the picture, not just because she had promised but also because she couldn’t stand the mortification of Naruto knowing what she’d seen… or even worse, what if he knew (somehow) that she’d liked what she’d seen? That was just unacceptable. “But I’m not going to just take his word for it… I wanted to hear your side of the story.”

His face was bright red when he placed the glass of milk in front of her and while she had never been much of a dairy fan she reached for the glass anyway. She was just glad to have something to do with her hands other than fidgeting in her lap. Naruto gulped his down in one go and Sakura couldn’t help but smile when she saw the milk moustache he was left with, spoiling his look of pensive seriousness a little; he really was just a big kid sometimes.

Naruto cleared his throat awkwardly “We did some stuff while I was drunk” he paused for a moment and rubbed at his left arm self-consciously “But I’m not saying that I only let it happen because I was out of it… I mean, I was sober the morning after and I still… you know” she nodded to spare him the embarrassment of having to elaborate “Maybe it wouldn’t have happened in the first place if there hadn’t been booze involved, but I guess that at the end of the day that doesn’t really matter…”

A few heavy seconds passed in silence and it didn’t look like he was going to say anything else without prodding so Sakura spoke up softly “So, was it just a once off thing…?”

He looked a little startled by the question “I… I don’t want it to be” his voice wavered a little “But I don’t know what he wants…”

He looked so lost that it made Sakura’s heart ache. She reached out and touched his forearm reassuringly “I don’t think that you need to worry about that, Naruto” He looked up at her questioningly and she smiled “When I spoke to him about this it was plain to see how much he likes you” Hell, the more she thought about it the more she realised it should have been obvious long before that.

He smiled then, and even though it was small in comparison to his usual grin it still made her feel better. She was glad that her initial fears about Naruto using Sai had been totally unfounded.

She glanced at her watch and saw that she was going to have to leave soon if she didn’t want to be late, but there was still one thing that she wanted to ask him about. Something that had been nagging at her ever since Sai had come to see her.

“I just always thought that you liked…” me, she willed herself to say it but chickened out at the last second “…girls”

He actually looked offended; puffing out his chest in a show of macho bravado “I do like girls! I love girls!” he cried “Sai is just…” he trailed off, looking confused again.

“An exception?” she offered and he nodded enthusiastically.

“Exactly!”

“So, what are you going to do now?” she asked “I mean, you haven’t told him that you want to be in a relationship with him, have you?”

“Ah, Sakura-chan, don’t put it like that” he said, blushing again “It sounds so…”

“Gay?” she couldn’t keep from giggling when he pulled a face. “Seriously though, you weren’t going to just show up for training today without having sorted this out, were you?”

“Maybe…” Naruto said shiftily and Sakura sighed, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how badly that might have turned out.

“It’s been two days, Naruto. You need to talk to him” she said, trying to catch his eye. He made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat but she persisted “Before we have training, okay?”

“Okay, Mom” he relented with an eye roll and a cheeky grin. She tried to look annoyed but couldn’t quite manage it and ended up smiling back instead. Naruto had that effect on people.

She set her glass (still half full) back down on the table and stood up “Well, I really need to get to work.”

He walked with her to the door and they stood awkwardly for a few seconds before she stepped forward and hugged him. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and his chin rested on her head, making her feel very small by comparison; it was so weird to think that he was actually shorter than her when they first met. When she pulled back a little she noticed how flustered he was and she felt strangely validated knowing that she could still affect him like that. Her eyes were drawn to what was left of the milk residue just above his upper lip and she was gripped by the sudden urge to kiss him.

But those thoughts lay in a direction that she knew she shouldn’t go in, not now. She pulled away and the moment was gone just as quickly as it had surfaced, she said her goodbyes and asked Naruto to tell Sai that she said hello before leaving hastily.

Once the door was closed behind her and she had gotten about halfway down the hallway she stopped, her legs felt a bit shaky and she reached out to steady herself against the side of the stairwell. What was that all about? She had had years to act on the feelings she knew that Naruto had for her and it was awful of her to think about it now, when he was just getting into things with Sai. This was only compounded by the fact that she had a sneaking suspicion that a big part of why Naruto was looking more appealing to her was because of his unavailability…

When she got down to the street and into the sunshine she felt a little bit better. She shouldn’t be dwelling on the matter anyway, she reasoned. She would just try to be happy for her friends even if a small part of her was always going to wonder about what could have been.

oOo

Naruto took Sakura’s advice to heart, she was right (of course) and it had been ridiculous of him to put this off until the last minute like this. He had gotten washed and dressed quickly, having some instant ramen for breakfast before heading to Sai’s apartment. It would be simple enough, he thought, he’d show up at Sai’s and say that he was willing to give the whole relationship thing a try. Then either Sai would accept (maybe they could even fit in a little fun before they had to show up for training) or he’d get shot down… he wasn’t quite sure what he’d do if that happened. He’d probably ask Baa-chan if he could be assigned to a different team for starters and if that didn’t work he was sure that life as a missing-nin wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be.

His plan hit a snag when he got there and after fifteen minutes of waiting around (and even climbing the front of the building to peek in through the windows) it was becoming obvious that Sai wasn’t home.

He felt a little stupid when he realised that he had no idea where Sai spent his free time. Thinking about it, he was pretty sure that every time they had hung out together outside of work the location had always been decided by someone other than Sai. Searching Konoha in its entirety wasn’t really an option but it looked like that was what he was basically going to have to do. He let out a long suffering sigh and headed in the direction of the dango shop. It seemed like as good a place to start looking as any.

oOo

Sai sat by the waterside at the training field most frequently used by his team. He had spent most of the morning practicing his jutsu (and trying to keep his mind off Naruto and how he hadn’t seen him since Thursday) but now he was carefully inking his sketch of the family of ducks that were swimming on the other side of the river.

He was trying to decide what would be the best way to capture how the sun’s rays brought out the green highlights in the mother duck’s plumage when a shadow fell over his sketchpad.

“Hey, Sai” Naruto’s voice came from directly behind him and he jumped a little in surprise. It was very poor form for him to have not noticed another ninja until they were right on top of him, especially when that ninja was Naruto (who was not exactly known for his stealth skills). It spoke volumes about how much all of this had been affecting him. Sai could almost hear Danzou lecturing him for letting emotions dull his shinobi training, even though the man had been dead for years.

He turned to look at Naruto at the same time that Naruto leaned down to peek at his sketch over his shoulder and they almost bumped noses. Their eyes met and Sai considered the way that his heart rate and breathing accelerated with interest. He toyed with the idea of leaning across the short distance and kissing Naruto but something held him back, he supposed that it was uncertainty. What if Naruto had decided that he didn’t want anything more than a platonic relationship? Yes, what he was feeling was definitely best described as uncertainty… that and fear of rejection.

Naruto jerked back sharply as if he’d gotten an electric shock and landed heavily on his backside. Sai set his sketchbook to one side and turned so that they were facing each other; he reached out and rested a hand on Naruto’s knee in concern, feeling surprisingly happy when he made no move to pull away “are you alright?”

Naruto grinned sheepishly, one hand rubbing the small of his back gingerly “uh… yeah, I think so”

“What are you doing here?” Sai asked curiously. He could tell from the position of the sun that it wasn’t quite noon yet, meaning that there was still more than an hour until they (along with the rest of team Kakashi) were supposed to be meeting up.

Naruto scratched at his nose absentmindedly before he spoke “I just wanted to ask you where you wanted to go for our date tonight.”

Sai felt his heart jump in his chest. Naruto had never outright referred to their outings as dates before. “I was thinking that you could come to my place” he started, the slightly shaky sound of his voice was alien to him and a little off putting but he pressed on regardless “I can cook for you again if you want.”

Naruto was blushing and obviously (even to Sai) nervous but he held Sai’s gaze when he spoke “and maybe I could stay over again…?”

oOo

Naruto watched Sai’s eyes widen a fraction in surprise and silence hung heavily in the air for a moment. Naruto began to feel a little panicky and was just about ready to apologise and run for the hills with his tail between his legs when Sai leaned forward and pressed their lips together. He caught Naruto’s lower lip between his teeth and bit down gently, Naruto groaned and Sai took the opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth. Naruto didn’t think he’d ever gotten so hard so fast in his life.

The hand that Sai had innocently placed on his knee earlier slid up the inside of his thigh, fingers ghosting over his erection before slipping under his t-shirt, his hand came to rest in the centre of Naruto’s chest and applied gentle pressure there. Naruto took the hint and lay back on the grass; Sai came with him, straddling Naruto’s hips and laying flush against him.

Sai’s mouth was on his again and he answered the kiss hungrily. Naruto moved his hands down Sai’s back, grabbing his ass and thrusting upwards so that their erections rubbed against each other in a way that made his eyes roll back in his head. “Fuck…” he moaned as Sai ground back down against him.

With another playful bite Sai broke the kiss and sat up, unzipping the front of his shirt and shrugging it off. It had been covered by Sai’s high collar but now Naruto had full view of the love bite that stood out angrily against the pale skin at the base of Sai’s neck; knowing that he was the one who put the mark there filled Naruto with an odd sense of self satisfaction and also made him feel strangely possessive. Naruto’s grip on Sai’s ass tightened for a moment before travelling up his sides, he ran his hands appreciatively over soft skin and hard muscle; pinching a pink nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he grinned mischievously when Sai inhaled sharply and shivered under his touch.

Sai tugged at the end of Naruto’s shirt and he sat up a little so that Sai could pull the t-shirt over his head and toss it aside. The way that Sai looked at his bare chest with open hunger made a spike of arousal twist in the pit of his stomach and he decided that he’d had enough of the touching and teasing; he grabbed the waistband of Sai’s pants, unbuttoning and unzipping them in quick rough movements (faltering only a little when he realised that Sai wasn’t wearing anything underneath) before his hand wrapped around Sai’s cock.

Naruto was feeling much more confident this time around and there was no hesitation in his movements despite the slightly awkward angle he had to hold his wrist at to get into a decent rhythm. Sai thrust back into each pump of Naruto’s hand eagerly, moaning loudly when he used the pad of his thumb to tease at the head.

He maintained a relatively slow speed at first, appreciating the way that Sai’s muscles flexed under his skin with each thrust but he began to pick up the pace when Sai was obviously getting close to orgasm; his breathing speeding up and his legs trembling. Every muscle in Sai’s body suddenly stiffened and he came hard, crying out and spine arching as the first few shots of semen landed on Naruto’s bare chest and the rest spilled over Naruto’s still moving fist.

As Naruto withdrew his hand and tried to figure out what was going to be the best way to clean up, Sai surprised him by catching his wrist and drawing his hand up to his mouth. Naruto watched dumbfounded as Sai ran his tongue up the side of his palm and dipped it in between each of his fingers, getting every last drop of come before sucking the middle finger into his mouth and teasing at it with his tongue. Naruto felt his cock jump in anticipation at the promise that he saw in those dark eyes as Sai drew his mouth slowly up the digit in his mouth before releasing it with a wet pop.

Sai used his knee to part Naruto’s thighs and settled between them, he kissed and licked his way down Naruto’s chest and stomach stopping when he reached the waist of Naruto’s pants. Sai undid the button and zipper with slow deliberate movements that were obviously designed with teasing in mind and Naruto was once again struck by just how differently Sai behaved in these situations. Although any higher thought slipped through Naruto’s grasp when Sai freed his cock from his boxers and licked him from base to tip.

Naruto propped himself up on his (slightly shaky) elbows so that he could watch, Sai’s eyes were open and he held Naruto’s gaze as he slid his tongue seductively around the head of his cock and planted a soft kiss on the tip. Naruto bit down hard on his lower lip to keep from crying out as he was engulfed in that hot mouth; Sai’s dark head bobbed up and down in his lap, his tongue working the underside of Naruto’s cock expertly in a way that made his toes curl. At this rate he was not going to last long.

Sai drew back for a second and Naruto felt his heart leap a little in his chest when he saw the very small smile his friend was wearing. He was obviously up to something.

Naruto’s eyes went wide like saucers as he watched Sai take him back into his mouth and inch all the way down until his nose was nestled in Naruto’s pubic hair. Naruto made a small breathy sound (that sounded suspiciously like his teammate’s name) and could barely fight the urge to thrust back as he felt the walls of Sai’s throat contract around him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, that felt amazing, Naruto managed to think before Sai made another swallowing motion and it pushed him over the edge into an orgasm that was so intense it was almost painful.

All of the strength went out of his arms and Naruto collapsed back onto the grass, panting heavily. Sai crawled back up his body and caught his mouth in a lazy kiss; there was a salty twang to the kiss that Naruto knew was the taste of semen and he was surprised by how little that fact actually bothered him.

Laying there in the warm afternoon sun; completely satiated and with Sai cuddled up to him Naruto began to feel himself drifting off.

He was pulled rudely from the brink of sleep when a flock of birds suddenly took off from the top of one of the nearby trees. The beating of their wings and their twittering sounded incredibly loud to Naruto; it was enough to break through the afterglow and the fact that they were half naked, all over each other and in a semi-public place finally sunk in. Oh god, what if someone came along and saw them?

He sat up abruptly as if a fire had been lit under his ass, dislodging Sai in the process and scrabbling madly for his t-shirt. Once he pulled his shirt over his head he felt a lot better and was glad to see that Sai was following suit, albeit at a more relaxed pace, without any complaints. A quick glance at his watch showed that they had less than twenty minutes before training and, unlike Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan and Yamato-taichou usually made a point of being early. He may have decided that he wasn’t going to hide this thing with Sai (whatever it was) but he wasn’t quite ready to be caught with his pants down.

Sai stood up and gathered his inks, brushes and sketchpad from where they had been discarded at the riverside and put them away before returning to Naruto and sitting down beside him on the grass. A heavy silence fell between them and Naruto was struggling to think of something to say when he felt something brush against his hand. He looked down and saw Sai’s hand next to his, their pinkie fingers overlapping.

Naruto couldn’t help but smile at the small gesture; he sighed and leaned to the side so he could rest his head on Sai’s shoulder.

“So, what were you planning on cooking for me later?”
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Okay, there's the fourth chapter!

I'm so sorry for taking this long to update but I have valid excuses, I swear! I've been very very sick with the flu (a lot of this chapter was written under the influence of flu meds or while I was delirious with fever... hopefully the chapter didn't suffer for it!) and then my internet was gone and I couldn't post!

Anyways, onto my beloved reviewers:

Valmasy03- Sorry for taking so long! I'm glad that you've enjoyed what I've written so far and that it made you laugh.

Assassins Kiss- Your review really put a smile on my face. I'm glad that you like my interpretation of Sai, he's very hard to write but it's also a lot of fun!
I might not make any money from this story but reviews like yours make it more than worth it :)

BoyChaos- This story is probably always going to be fluffy rather than angsty (I'm a big softy at heart) but there is going to be a bit more angst in the future. As to whether that's a good thing... we'll have to wait and see!

Ajablue- Thank you for the lovely review. It always makes me feel good when someone compliments my Sai-characterisation just because it's one of the hardest things in writing this story.

YamiTenshi- I completely aggree with you and that's probably the biggest factor in NaruSai replacing NaruSasu as my favourite pairing. Sai is just so adorable!

chiken-skratch- I already contacted you through DA but I'll say thanks again for the awesome review! I'm looking forward to seeing your drawings!

satterb- I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the first three! It's so important to me that people are happy with the way that I'm writing the characters, I try very hard to keep them as in character as possible while still getting what I need out of them.

Stacy- Ah, someone that I have to convert to being a Sai-lover! I'm touched that my little story could actually affect your opinion of one of the characters and I hope that you enjoy this chapter.


I love you guys!