Disclaimer: I don't own Naaaaaaruuuuto. No sir. 3

Authors Note: A thoughtful one shot. I adore Sai but he's rather hard to get right, character-wise. XP For me anyway.

Setting: This would be set a few years after the current manga events. In this little thing Naruto would have failed to get Sasuke to return and well, he'd a little lost and turning to others. XP

Cherished

It wasn't love, not really. It was a strange friendship built around a desire for comfort. While they were together they could forget their troubles, forget who they were and delight in being held by another. It was bond that they never acknowledged in words but both still felt in their own way.

For Naruto it was a chance to push aside the memory of another dark-haired man, one who would never share his bed or even his life. The loneliness would melt away and that constant aching hurt would fade for a time. It was something that kept him going when all he could feel was the weight of utter defeat.

I failed.

Please let me forget it within your embrace.

Please let me forget that I wasn't strong enough.

For Sai it was simply a chance to feel. In his lifetime he had lost much of who he was and was now only just beginning to regain it. Here he had the chance to remember the smile of a person who had been as close to him as a brother. It was a chance to be human. To be real and wanted.

Love? For him perhaps, it was love.

I am alive

Please let me be someone you want to know

Please let me give you happiness

In the end it was Naruto who needed it the most. He needed to feel connected to someone, or else he would float away into the abyss of nothingness. It kept him feeling alive and worth something. In those moments was the only time his ever reached his eyes anymore.

Sai lived for that smile. Even if he knew it wasn't really for him. He understood better than anyone what it was like to loose someone you cared for: a brother, friend and lover. So when Naruto called a different name or buried his face in dark hair he wished was someone else's, Sai forgave and smiled.

These were precious moments; these were moments to be cherished. And he would cherish them dearly. His paintings were a testament to that: paintings of golden-haired gods with sorrowful blue eyes.

Someday Sai hoped that those eyes would be bright with happiness again. Even if he was no longer needed, he prayed for that day to come. It would, he told himself almost desperately. He would wait for it patiently.

The paintings…

All of them had names now and only because of the man who lay beside him now. Naruto had given Sai something very special. Because of that he could smile a true smile and be content to remain at the side of a broken man; ready to pick him up when he fell and soothe away his tears with a kiss.

I failed.

…

I will cherish you.

And maybe one day, Sai could utter the word 'love' and see a brilliant smile all for him.