Beta'd by JellyBean12

A/N: Updates far quicker, see? But shorter. Yeah.

Sai is awkward. But fun.

Make It or Break It

Part II

Arrangements and Associates

Sai liked to listen to Naruto working. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was about watching Naruto, but it was just something he enjoyed. It wasn't that he liked Naruto especially. The guy was loud and always snapped at Sai when he talked. No one could deny that he had talent for drawing, but Sai found his series extremely boring and never missed a chance to say so.

But when Naruto was working, bent low over his desk, he was never completely silent. He would mutter the lines his characters were saying in the panel he was working on, mimic their expressions and try out sound effects. It was odd at first, but never as annoying as Sai would have expected that kind of childish behavior to be.

He was working on a rooftop a character of 'Whirlwind' was jumping off. Naruto hissed a warning and made the sounds of a car crashing just as the doorbell rang.

"Go 'way," Sai heard Naruto mutter. That was the only reaction he gave. The next noise he made was another sound effect, something scratchy and low.

The door opened without the visitor being invited in. Sai had no doubt it was Kakashi, Naruto's editor, who knew what Naruto was like and had started coming in on his own a long time ago. He glanced sideways toward the small hallway, anyway.

Kakashi wasn't alone. There was another guy behind him. He wasn't very tall, he had dark hair, and despite his attempt at nonchalance, his curiosity about Naruto's house was obvious.

"Hello, Naruto. Sai." Kakashi greeted cheerfully.

"Yo, Kakashi, look at this," Naruto said, lifting his eyes from his work with difficulty, "This is going to be… what the hell is that guy doing here?"

Curious about Naruto's reaction to the newcomer, Sai turned to face them properly. Naruto stood up behind his table and was pointing an accusatory finger in the direction of the guy behind Kakashi – who suddenly didn't look curious at all.

"Yes, Kakashi, what am I doing here?"

"I don't want him here!" Naruto protested without giving Kakashi time to explain. "He's, he's going to…"

He frowned and gave up on trying to name a horrible scenario about what the newcomer would do in his apartment. Kakashi used that chance to talk.

"I am Sasuke's editor as well, Naruto. I have business to talk with both of you."

Sai sat up straighter. He gave a second once over to the newcomer. It was Sasuke Uchiha. Sai wouldn't have bothered checking his manga out, but this guy was all Naruto talked about lately. He was constantly pointing things out and demanding Sai's opinion on Sasuke's work at least once a day.

There wasn't much to see, though. He was just another guy. He wasn't as talented as Naruto, but he was apparently ranked higher. He hadn't sounded all that interesting when Naruto was moaning about him, but looking at the two of them glaring at each other now, as Kakashi was trying to get them to sit around the coffee table, was interesting.

"Sai, please come here as well. This concerns you."

For the first time since he had walked inside, Sasuke Uchiha fixed his attention on Sai. It suddenly felt as if there were small poisonous snakes scrawling underneath his skin, especially in the forearms and shoulders. He didn't especially like this person, either.

Sai made his way across the room and sat down next to Naruto, so he could keep an eye on Sasuke on the opposite side of the table.

"Right, so we're sitting. What'd you bring him here for?"

"Sakura's due in half hour at my place. She'll be waiting in the hall until I get back."

"I contacted Sakura and gave her Naruto's address," Kakashi answered Sasuke first. "She will come straight here today."

"Who is this Sakura?"

Seeming startled by his words, all three of them turned to look at Sai. People did that a lot, usually telling him that he had no sense for when it was proper to say what. But he had only asked about a person they were talking about. He didn't know her, after all, so he couldn't be expected to follow the conversation without finding out.

"She's an assistant, like you. She usually works with Sasuke."

"Why did you tell her to come here, Kakashi? I need her today."

"No, you're not going to need her today – or not for what you think. Your series is going on hiatus."

"What?" Naruto jumped to his feet instantly, like Kakashi had said that his series was going on hiatus.

"That's not possible," Sasuke said calmly, though Sai could see by the way he grasped the edges of Naruto's couch that he was actually upset. "It doesn't make any sense. My anime is starting in April and the rankings are excellent."

"Yeah, you can't put him on hiatus! I can't beat him if he's on hiatus!"

"Naruto…" Kakashi started, but Sasuke rudely snorted.

"That's the only way you could beat me." His own words seemed to have given Sasuke a clue, and he suddenly narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. "Actually, maybe that's why Kakashi is doing it. What are you doing, playing favorites?"

"He's not playing favorites! I don't need him to do that to beat you!" Naruto passionately shot in Sasuke's direction. Sai blinked and noticed for the first time that they were bending toward each other across the table. Naruto was practically looming over and Sasuke, instead of backing off with his personal space in jeopardy, was leaning forward from his sitting position.

Well, maybe Sasuke didn't mind people in his personal space. Sai had always thought that people were unreasonably twitchy about it.

He looked at Kakashi, who was sitting on the armrest next to Sasuke. He had a curious expression on his face, almost as if…. he was trying not to laugh?

"That's never going to happen," Sasuke said clearly, right to Naruto's face. "You can keep dreaming."

"He draws better than you, though." Like the first time he spoke, everyone turned to look at Sai. He ignored Naruto's half-confused, half-grateful look and Kakashi's raised eyebrow and faced Sasuke.

"He doesn't," Sasuke denied instantly. "And it's not just about drawing talent. You have to have a good story and you have to present it well through the panels."

"Naruto's story is boring," Sai shrugged his right shoulder. "It's getting too complicated. But he draws better than you."

"And who are you, anyway?"

"Oh!" Naruto dishonestly chuckled a bit. "Sorry, I forgot completely to introduce you! This is my assistant and friend, Sai – and Sai, this is Sasuke Uchiha, the author of 'Kaleidoscope.'"

"I've figured that out already," Sai answered, frowning. Kakashi had mentioned Sasuke's name, so of course he had recognized him. "He's all you've been talking about lately, so I recognized the name when Kakashi said it."

"I haven't been," Naruto muttered. He seemed to be talking to Sasuke, but he was answering what Sai said.

In order to defend his observation, Sai elaborated, "You have been. It's a bit tiring, but it usually makes your art better, so I don't mind. It's easier to work on the details when your work is of higher quality."

Naruto glared at him sideways, sitting back on the couch. He missed the satisfied smirk Sasuke flashed in his direction, but Sai caught it.

"Well, now that everyone's ego has been stroked," Kakashi spoke finally again. "Naruto – your series is on going on a hiatus as well."

Naruto, who had barely had the time to touch his ass to the couch, jumped to his feet again, "What? No, no way! Why?"

"What's going on, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, with much more grace.

"Well, you are both on a hiatus for a month because…" Kakashi stretched the silence, smiling. He was about to deliver some very good news, there was no doubt about it. "You are going to do a oneshot together!"

Unlike his previous declaration, this was initially met with silence. Naruto's mouth dropped open as he stared at Kakashi before switching his focus to his co-author to be. Sasuke did approximately the same thing, only with his mouth closed.

Kakashi's smile had tricked him; this wasn't good news at all. Sai was confused. "They seem to fight a lot. How will they work together?"

"Well," Kakashi smiled, "that's not our problem, now is it? They have to find a way to work together because if they don't, their series will be canceled and their contracts broken."

"But…" Naruto said, looking stunned. "That's not fair. I don't think I can work with him. We'll never agree on anything!"

"He's bluffing," Sasuke told Naruto. They had been fighting just a few minutes ago, but Sai thought he sounded like he was reassuring Naruto. It was a little strange but he had no time to ponder it further, because Sasuke continued, "This is because we fought in the editorial department, isn't it? It's some sort of ploy to get us not to do it any longer? Point taken, now knock it off."

Kakashi shook his head, "Sorry, Sasuke. It's not that. The editor-in-chief was looking at your work and thought that if you joined forces, you could come up with something spectacular. But because you've been fighting so much, he felt we had to put some pressure on you. It's not a bluff."

"This is stupid. He's so… arrogant! How do you expect us to work together, when he'll just make fun of anything I suggest?"

"I'm not going to make fun of you if you suggest something that isn't stupid," Sasuke denied. "And who would draw anyway?"

"Naruto is better at drawing," Sai reminded them. They ignored him.

"He'd going to refuse to do mainstream!" Naruto complained. "He's going to insist on some boring, complicated story!"

"I doubt it can get any more complicated and boring than what you are doing now."

"Shut up, Sai! And stop saying that, my manga isn't boring – and it's the only manga you've ever read, so you wouldn't know the difference even if it was!"

"No, he's right," Sasuke agreed. "It's gotten so complicated, it's boring. All the themes you were trying to cover are losing their impact with the insane powerups your main character is getting."

"And you can't draw human hands for shit," Naruto shot back. He was right, too. "And you're too stupid to let an assistant do it for you because you're so arrogant!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto, but Sai felt those words didn't cover nearly enough of Sasuke's drawing flaws, so he added, "Actually, you can't draw human anatomy in general; hands are just the worst of it."

Sasuke's glare intensified and shifted to Sai, "And who the hell are you, again?"

Naruto beat Sai, saying, "Um, that's my assistant, Sai. Remember?"

He had correctly answered the question, but Sasuke turned back to glare at Naruto again, "Seriously? How can anyone be so fucking…"

"That is enough!"

At the sound of Kakashi's voice, all three of them fell silent. He hadn't raised his voice, but there was authority in his words. Authority was something Sai could easily recognize; it was simple. He waited to hear what Kakashi had to say.

"Let's try out an experiment, okay?" Kakashi said, softly. "Instead of shouting out what's bad, let's hear about what you think is good. Naruto, is there something you like about Sasuke's work?"

Sai was confused a little. He had been expecting an order. Kakashi had a weird way of using his authority. But he wanted to hear the answer as well.

Naruto looked away¸ fixing his frown at the cushion that was lying next to him. For awhile, it seemed like he would refuse to say anything. Kakashi waited patiently, just looking at him. Sasuke was also looking at him and he actually appeared a bit worried, which was strange after all that arrogance.

Finally, Naruto spoke, "Well, the story of 'Kaleidoscope' is a bit too dark for my taste. The idea of a children's toy with a pattern so fascinating it keeps you staring at it, forgetting to eat and sleep, until you die… But I like the way he tells it. I like how it feels like every panel is telling a story for itself, and how each panel is significant, even if it just shows scenery. I don't know how to make every panel perfect like that."

Thinking about it… Yes, Naruto was right. Every panel of Sasuke's manga was like an art piece on its own. Too bad his anatomy was so bad.

"Sasuke?' Kakashi prompted when Naruto's words were left hanging in the air for too long.

Naruto's eyes darted up to the left, as if shy. He was probably, like Sai, expecting Sasuke to say something nasty.

"He," Sasuke said clearly, not looking at anything in particular, "he's a better artist than I am."

"But we all knew that already."

"Shut up, Sai," Naruto snapped, though he was still staring at Sasuke. "It's not about what we know or don't know."

"But it's so obvious," Sai protested. He didn't feel it was very fair. Naruto had given serious thought to what he liked about Sasuke's work and in turn, he only got something everyone knew anyway.

"Sai…" Naruto started.

Sasuke cut in, "Fine. The original idea for "Whirlwind' was good - as far as mainstream stories go, anyway." For the first time since Kakashi came up with the idea to make them say what they liked about each other's work, Sasuke and Naruto were looking at each other instead of elsewhere. "You made a couple of mistakes early on, though. That's why you're struggling now."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "Kakashi said so, too. It's not like I can go back and fix it, so I have to work with what I have."

"Hmm," Kakashi mused, "This conversation is turning to be much more pleasant than I dared to hope. You could learn so much from one another. Sasuke, with someone to take over half of your work, you can concentrate more on your art. It's not that you lack the talent, after all, it's that you lack the time to focus on your art."

Sasuke nodded stiffly.

"Naruto, let Sasuke do the name," Kakashi advised. "And watch him carefully, because you can learn more about how he is laying out a story that way."

"Okay."

"I don't understand," Sai had to say, because he was losing the sense of the conversation. "Aren't you trying to beat each other?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but Sasuke answered for him, "It's harder to get better if the people you're competing against aren't getting better as well."

"…So you're fighting because you're trying to get better, not to beat each other?"

"No, it's like…" Naruto attempted to explain. "I can't beat him if I don't get better."

"But if he does get better, he might do better than me," Sasuke added.

And that was exactly the part Sai had problem understanding. "So don't help him get better."

"He's set on getting better anyway. This way, I'll know exactly where he's standing."

"But that means that you're lying and he can beat your rankings." Sai insisted.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, a look of mild confusion on his face. Naruto shrugged with an odd smile, "Yeah, he gets that way. Last week I spent three hours trying to explain why someone would hesitate to ask someone they like out, or open a very important letter. It's like fear of rejection is beyond him."

Three hours or not, Naruto certainly hadn't managed to convince him of anything.

"Apparently, the concept of rivalry is also beyond Sai, so we better let him get back to his work and start thinking about the story for the oneshot," Kakashi instructed with that authority back in his voice. "Sakura and Sai will assist you and you'll both be working here, at Naruto's."

"Why?" Sasuke protested. "My place is bigger."

"Yes, but this is closer for me. I'll be stopping by every day to check on your progress and Naruto's apartment is on my way."

Sai left them on the couch, heading toward the desk he had been working on before Kakashi and Sasuke arrived. He sat back to finish a large panel of Naruto's hero jumping off a building, listening with mild interest to the conversation behind him that occasionally jumped several octaves.

He hoped his bookstore had a decent selection on rivalry.

Part III - exchanging ideas. Bound to go well, right?