Replacing Sai

A/N: Ahhh, it's been too long since I've written anything other than essays for English class... Hope this is good!

P.S. This is SaixSasu, so if you don't like it, I'm just going to warn you now =)

Warnings: Yaoi, possibly M in the future, mild swearing, etc etc.

Chapter One: When one door closes, another opens. Right?

Really, how irritable was it all? He had tried at it just for the fun of it but actually, it really did have a promising outcome. But on the contrary… The relationship ended with a bang and he couldn't say he didn't have it coming. After all, it was really suspected… With him merely being the substitute. And really, if the real deal comes along, what's the point of a substitute? They were incredibly similar on some aspects, but then on the other hand, they had such a contrast. Sai was a creator and Sasuke was a destructor. Sai painted and brought it to life. Sasuke liked to ruin everything. But nevertheless, in appearance, they were similar. They both showed off a raven hairstyle and both were tall and slim in shape.

Anyways, the point was that Sai was the replacement for Sasuke for a year or two. As soon as Sasuke left to go to England to study, Sai transferred into Oshiro Gakuen. Although Oshiro Gakuen was plenty high class for the Uchiha Sasuke, he demanded a higher education, not in America, but in Europe. He successfully was accepted into a top boarding school, and as well as Sai being accepted into Oshiro Gakuen. It was really perfect timing for Uzumaki Naruto, due to him just-at-that-moment losing his best friend/enemy. He had gained one, simply on the same day. Although Haruno Sakura would have much rather ogled Sasuke, she would have to make due with ogling/kicking Sai's ass. Literally.

They all managed to get along fairly decently, although Sai did have some sort of personality issue that really was to both his advantage and disadvantage. He failed to have female relationships of any kind, other than insults thrown back and forth in an all-out battle. Of course, there must have been at least one person Sai didn't insult. Exactly! Her name was Yamanaka Ino. In his eyes, she was the most attractive out of all the girls, but still nevertheless, not his type. To make up for his lack of female interest, he would call her 'beautiful' and other compliments, while Sakura gained the nickname of 'forehead' or 'hag'.

But strangely, the more Sai pushed, the more Sakura got pulled. Maybe it was the fact that Sai looked somewhat like Sasuke, but it seemed to attract Sakura, the more he pulled away from her. So for awhile, they decided to date. It seemed harmless to Sai at first… He didn't know about Sasuke and his resemblance, nor did anyone find the need to tell him. Sai decided this 'dating' thing would be a good experience to have, since he had lost his memories and his feelings and emotions had seemed to go away with them. But as soon as this experience had started, he immediately felt confused. He read in novels and other resources that he was supposed to feel a certain emotion… Get jitters around the certain person, sweaty palms, a thumping, irregular heart rate… But he felt his cool, dry palms around her, and his heart rate had never acted strangely anywhere near her. He assumed there must have been something wrong, but he still dated her for the sake of the learning experience. Of course, she always wanted to do things he never wanted to do. Shopping, holding hands, going to expensive restaurants that did nothing but drain his wallet, kiss, and do things called "cuddling" or "making out" or even the "making love". That was a lie. They didn't get to the last part yet, although Sai wasn't looking forward to that. He had researched it and from the video resources he received, it didn't look all too great. He didn't understand what the hype was. Nor did he understand what all this 'surging emotions' bullshit was about, either. Until he met Uchiha Sasuke, of course.

Sai had been waiting for the day he met Uchiha Sasuke. He didn't even know a Uchiha Sasuke existed until Sakura let it slip that "Sasuke would never decline a challenge!", when Sai had allowed himself to be pushed around, and challenged to fight by a pure stranger. He just didn't understand why he had to fight someone whose name he didn't even know. But apparently this "Sasuke" character didn't allow anyone to make him look foolish. And Sai decided he wanted to pry a bit of information out of Sakura just this day.

"Why don't you just tell me who this guy is?" Sai said, crossing his arms like the angry man did in the movie, where he was demanding information from his cheating girlfriend.

"He's no one important," Sakura fiddled with the tablecloth draping over her knees. "and why does it matter anyways? Even if he was important to me, he's in the past."

"Well, okay."

"You're just going to leave it like that? You're not going to ask me anything else?" Sakura's eyes slowly widened. Sai made eye contact with her for a long minute, then looked her up and down.

"No…" He gave her a blank stare, as usual.

"Why not? Any boyfriend would be so much more curious! Are you interested in me or not?" Sakura demanded in the routine noisy voice she exhibited.

Sai shrugged. "Not really."

That was enough for Sakura to slam her tightly clenched fists down onto the table and leap from her seat.

"Excuse me?"

"Would you like me to repeat it?" Sai replied earnestly. Was it possible for a man to be so clueless?

"Sai, we're over! I can't believe you are such an uninterested boyfriend!" Sakura turned on her heels and began to gather her belongings for a quick exit. Actually, Sai had been somewhat expecting this as of late. He noticed her constant glancing around and fidgeting in public, as if she were expecting someone to interrupt.

Sai just looked at her, bending over to pick up her purse and huffing about how inconsiderate he could be or how without a clue he was. He continued to have a blank stare until a slim figure bent down to pick up a shopping bag that Sai had bought for Sakura. As soon as Sakura's eyes met the other's, she gasped and jumped up quickly, adjusting her hair on the way up.

"Sasuke!" She shrieked, swinging her pale little arms around his shoulders. It then occurred to Sai who this Sasuke fellow was.

"It's been awhile, Sakura." He let her hang off his shoulders.

"I missed you so much, ohmigosh!"

"I know, I know." He said noncommittally, practically waving her off.

Sai looked at the two and pushed himself out of his chair. It seemed like a nice, old friends meeting and he didn't need to disrupt them. He was about to walk away, until Sasuke's eyes met his. His eyes held a look of interest to them, as he eyed Sai.

"Introduce me to your friend, Sakura." Sasuke pulled the clingy thing off of him and nodded in his direction.

Before Sakura could open her mouth to say something, Sai swiftly pulled his hands out from his pockets to shake Sasuke's.

"I'm Sai, Sakura's boyfriend." He gave the other a small smile. Sai's pale hands slid into Sasuke's tan hands and gripped them tightly.

"I see," Sasuke smirked. "Well, I should leave, seeing as you two are having such a great time." He emphasised 'great'.

He stared at Sai, almost competitively, and gripped his hand one more time before he slowly let go, almost in slow motion.

"B-but! Sasuke! He's n-"

"Nice seeing you again, Sakura." He glanced at Sai furtively. "Sai."

The taller male nodded Sasuke off and then looked back seriously at Sakura. She was practically seething, smoke could be sensed coming from the top of her pink hair.

"Sai, you bastard….!"

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at 5pm, okay?" With that Sai dashed out the door, leaving Sakura in complete puzzlement, just standing there with all her bags in her hands. She could feel the heat rising to the face. But it wasn't like she didn't enjoy the spectacle - she didn't mind two boys fighting over her.

Sasuke shook his head as he thought about Sai, the utter fool. It was really quite the show - Sasuke had actually eavesdropped for a little while before he made his presence known. Now, Uchihas weren't famous for their eavesdropping skills, nor did they feel the need to eavesdrop, when they could easily interrogate anyone with a blink of the eye, but Sasuke felt the need to be hearing a bit of this heated conversation. He didn't know that Sakura had a boyfriend. It had been a fucking year, for god sakes! Only a year, and Sakura moved onto practically a clone of himself. However, he had to admit, his little replacement was quite handsome - almost as himself. Although his clone was much paler than he, and sported a shorter, cleaner haircut, he was similar in some aspect that he couldn't put his mind on. His eyes, nose, lips… Incredibly kissable lips, he might've wanted to add, they were all completely different features… But yet he felt a strange tug to his similarity. Then again, Sasuke was a complete egomaniac - it wouldn't be hard for him to fall in love with himself.

He shuffled his feet as he began walking out of the doorway. Sasuke had come to this expensive restaurant due to his brother owning the hotel that the restaurant was placed in. Without his parents' presence, he had to let somebody know that he was back. It had been awhile since he had spoken to his brother in a civilized manner. Part of the reason that he had left was because his brother had been acting like a complete prat.

Of course, it didn't help that Sasuke was also in that little phase all teens went through, called "rebelling". In Sasuke's case, it wasn't just the normal scandal and rebel here and there, it was the everyday thing…

The teen turned around and stopped abruptly as he felt an aura behind him.

"What do you want?" He snapped, eyeing the taller doppelganger.

Sai put on a fake smile. "I was just curious about you."

"Well, make it prompt." He grimaced and turned on his heels, beginning to walk again.

"I presume your Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Obviously." A quick retort. Sai was beginning to think that the man he saw at the restaurant was a complete front…

"So you're the one Sakura is constantly comparing me to…" Sai took long strides to catch up with Sasuke. He stole a glance over at the shorter teen. Sasuke exhaled loudly.

"Listen, I don't care what Sakura says or does."

"Where are you headed?" Sai broke the small silence and pointed. "I'm going this way."

Sasuke looked at the direction Sai pointed at. Shit, that was the way he was going as well.

"I'm…" Sasuke looked around for any excuse. "…Going here." He pointed to a large building labelled in crude katakana, 'RABU HOTERU' and sparking neon fuchsia font. Sai raised a brow and took a good look in front of the hotel. It couldn't be - Uchiha Sasuke going to a love hotel in the midday! He crossed his arms at the thought and looked Sasuke up and down.

He laughed and pointed at the building. "Here? Who's your date?"

"Him."

Sasuke walked over towards a small boy waiting at the entrance, looking like he was looking for a bit of business. Sai's eyes widened as Sasuke grabbed the boy's arms and began walking inside. That was impossible, Uchiha Sasuke, gay and doing you-know-what in a dirty love hotel? He was more impressive than Sai could've imagined.

"Were you waiting long?"

He pulled the boy into the double doors and shut it quickly, leaving Sai at the entrance, stunned.