Haha! Finally! It begins! This chapter was going to be longer and I have more written but meh, got lazy and didn't type it. Hope you enjoy, I don't own Naruto. Reviews are loved!
Sai wanted to avoid Sasuke but knew that would be nearly impossible seeing as how they now lived in the same house. Itachi had asked him to move in after he broke the news to Sasuke about their relationship, and Sai hadn't resisted. He had nothing in his small apartment that made him want to stay and the Uchiha compound had the one thing that mattered to him.
If someone asked him how he had fallen in love with Itachi, he wasn't sure he could answer. He had met the Uchiha after a solo mission and in all honesty, was feeling a little worse for wear. Ever since he had learned about Sasuke's endeavors to feel, he had decided to try and be more social, doubling his earlier efforts. So far, he was finding nothing good about feeling; he felt miserable and guilty every time he took a life during a mission. So he decided to drink his new found emotions away, seeing as how the mask that had once come so easily to him wasn't helping.
And that was how their relationship started; a lonely corner in a seedy bar over cheap alcohol. Sai spilled out every secret of his own life to a man who was the brother to the first person Sai had ever felt a small amount of emotion for.
That talk had led to another, weeks later. And soon they were talking once a week, and then once a day. They grew closer and closer, and soon, it wasn't just one miserable feeling Sai was filled with. There was something lighter, brighter. He stopped coming home full of guilt and going to bed restless.
"Sai?"
Sai looked up as he arrived at the door, surprised to see Itachi.
"Oh, hi," Sai muttered.
"You seem lost in thought," Itachi said. "What's wrong?"
"Just thinking. I'm fine," Sai told him, letting the older Uchiha pull him inside.
"Neji wants to talk to you," Itachi said quietly. "He's out in the center courtyard."
The look of terror on Sai's face was fleeting but Itachi saw it, just before Sai shielded it behind his mask.
"Neji isn't short tempered like my brother. You'll be fine," Itachi told him. "I'll be waiting for you in the bedroom when you are done."
Sai nodded and headed for the courtyard. Halfway there, he decided it was useless to worry. What happened, happened. That ideal would be much easier to follow through with if he didn't have so much to lose.
When he reached the courtyard, he saw Neji training, moving through the fluid motions of the Hyuuga fighting style technique. silently, Sai sat down on the wooden platforms that ringed the area, not wanting to disturb the man. Several aching minutes passed and Sai's stomach wound in tighter and tighter knows as he contemplated what Neji could possibly want to talk about.
Abruptly, Neji stopped, freezing. Sai didn't dare breath, knowing how sometimes when someone was in the fighting mode, they would lash out at others, enemy or no. After Neji visibly relaxed, Sai stood and approached him.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Neji said, turning to face him.
A few beads of sweat were on his brow but he wasn't panting. His Byakugan faded as well.
"You wanted to see me," Sai said. "So I'm here."
"Yes. I wanted to talk to you about our...situation," Neji told him. "And we can't really do that with Sasuke around. He is not the most...rational person I've met."
Sai smirked, his only indication of agreeing. "I..."
"Why don't we sit down?" Neji asked, sitting quickly, leaving Sai to follow suit.
"Now, we have a bit of a dilemma. The Hokage wants the clan revived, Sasuke wants the clan revived, and Itachi wants the clan revived. However, both have taken male lovers."
"Yes." Sai tensed, waiting for the next question he knew was coming.
"So let me ask you and please answer honestly. Do you love Itachi?"
Sai swallowed thickly before answering. "Yes, I do. No, I don't doubt it. No, I'm not willing to leave him for you or for Sasuke."
Neji smirked. "That was the answer you needed to give to convince me there is no way to break you two up. Now we are left with one question. How do we get an Uchiha Heir?"
Sai let out the breath he had been holding, his tense muscles relaxing as he realized Neji wasn't against him, and was instead very much on his side.
"This is not a nice situation," Neji said. "It's leaving us both tense and making it impossible for us to act normally around those we care about."
"So what do we do?" Sai asked, eager to find a solution.
"Convince one or both of them to impregnate a women with an heir but not marry them," Neji said.
"But...that's cheating, isn't it?" Sai asked. Though he hated to admit it, he wasn't quite clear on what was socially accepted in a relationship and had not been sure if it was wrong until Itachi had told him.
Neji shifted awkwardly a few times before answering. "Not really. Not if all three parties are okay with it."
Sai nodded, trying not to look confused. "So how do we convince them?"
"We'll talk to them separately. You could even talk to Itachi right now if you wanted."
"I...will do that. And if he says no?"
"Then maybe Sasuke will agree to it," Neji said.
"And if he doesn't?"
"Don't be a pessimist. It's bad for your health," Neji said, smiling.
Sai allowed himself a small smile before standing up. "I will leave now, and talk to Itachi."
"Alright. I hope this works for all of our sakes."
Sai nodded and quickly left, feeling better now that there was a possible answer to all their problems.
(INSERTBREAKHERE)
Itachi looked up as Sai entered their shared bedroom, looking timid but determined. He didn't think Sai realized that he was getting easier and easier to read as time went on. It reminded him sometimes of a small child finally realizing what it was like to feel and having to control it.
"It looks like you're alive," Itachi said, stepping over to him. "I take it Neji was easy on you?"
"Sort of," Sai said uneasily. "We have a solution to our problem."
Itachi raised a thin eyebrow, his red gaze calculating. "Continue..."
"You or Sasuke should impregnate a women, but not marry her," Sai said, tone filled with hesitation.
"Sai...I can't do that. I could never cheat on you," Itachi murmured.
"But you promised Sasuke you would carry on the line for him!" Sai protested, his voice raising for the first time that Itachi had heard. "I'm willing to let it go if it means you don't break your promise!"
Itachi searched Sai's gaze and found raw determination to convince him not to break his word. But under that was a fear. Fear of making him angry, fear of rejection, fear of being left.
"Sai...you remind me sometimes how hard it is to be a good person," Itachi sighed, grabbing Sai's thin wrist and tugging him forward. "How about we talk to Tsunade? Just us. We'll see what we have to do so I can keep my promise."
Upon realizing Itachi wasn't angry with him, Sai went limp in his arms, the tension draining out of him abruptly. "Thank you. I couldn't stand to cause you and Sasuke to hate each other. I remember what he went through when he found out it wasn't your fault. I don't want to see either of you like that again."
"That Sai, is what makes you a better person. You care more than you realize, and that's a good thing. Now, let's go see Tsunade."
(INSERTBREAKHERE)
"Hey Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru stopped, sighing when he heard Ino's shout. Honestly, he just wanted to go home but the damn troublesome women wasn't going to let it happen. He turned and made his way back down the street towards the flower shop where Ino waited, tapping her foot on the ground like the impatient women she was.
"Ino, you've already delayed me thirty seconds from my dinner. Please don't waste me time any longer," he grumbled.
"Oh hush. You're so lazy. Now come with me!" Ino ordered, seizing his hand and dragging him inside all the way to the back room. "Pick a crate and sit your ass down. We need to talk."
Shikamaru obeyed quickly, but only because it meant he could get food sooner. "So?"
Ino stood before him, mint green eyes staring into his worriedly. "People are beginning to talk. About you and Kakashi."
"And you assume I care? I thought you knew me better than that."
"Yes but they've been talking to Kurenai. Especially Anko. They want her to choose someone else for Tatsuki's godfather," Ino said quietly, breaking Shikamaru's gaze to stare at the ground.
"Hell no." The anger was thick in his tone, the anger that he rarely showed and only exploded with when something he cared about was threatened. Anger she hadn't seen since Hidan...
"That's not what I think! Shika, I'm on your side!" Ino said, nibbling her lower lip.
"Then who? Besides Anko, tell me who."
"Promise you won't do anything to them," Ino begged. "I just want you to know so you're prepared."
"Ino, tell me. If you don't, I'll just get it out of Anko."
"Fine! Kotetsu, Izumo...Raido. That's all that I know of."
Shikamaru stood up. "Thanks, Ino. Now I know who to avoid."
"Talk to Kurenai about it. And Kakashi."
"Yeah, I know." The anger was drained out of him by now, buried completely and under control once again. "Thank you. I'll talk to you later."
Ino hugged him before he could move to leave. "I wish you and Kakashi could be happy without being judged. I don't want to see you hurt. You two deserve happiness."
Shikamaru hugged her back and gave her a brotherly kiss on the forehead. "Goodbye, Ino."
(INSERTBREAKHERE)
Kakashi looked up when he heard his apartment door slam close, leaving his small kitchen to see Shikamaru fuming angrily on the couch.
"Why are you so angry?" he asked.
Shikamaru didn't look up, keeping his head down, cradled in his hands. "Damn troublesome women."
Sitting down beside him, Kakashi sighed. "Who?"
"Anko. Trying to take Tatsuki away from me."
"What?" Kakashi tried not to look alarmed, or sound that way either, keeping his tone neutral.
"Apparently I'm not good enough to take care of her."
"Why?" He asked, sure, but he was confident he already knew the answer.
"Because of what we are. Damn women is shoving her prejudices on everyone else."
"Kurenai is not like them. You deserve the role of Tatsuki's godfather and she will not take that away from you. You know that. And as for Anko...I'll talk to her."
Shikamaru straightened up to look Kakashi in the eye. "You know, I knew some people were going to think of this as wrong. I didn't think they would try to make me give up my Godchild."
"Don't worry about it. Anko can just be...rude," Kakashi said lightly.
Shikamaru snorted, reaching into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. "That's one way to put it. I was thinking more of judgmental bitch."
"Um, right." Kakashi chuckled, eye crinkling at the corner. "Let's just worry about it tomorrow."
"Hm...if you insist."