Kunais and Paintbrushes

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. There is a scientific explanation in here for how Orochimaru made such a thing possible. It may or may not make sense. If it sounds logical good. If not, well just file it under the crack (silly) fic department. Happy reading!

Chapter Notation: Well I debated which way I wanted to go with this story. I think at its heart this is a fairly easy going fic as far drama and fight scenes go and so I decided that we're going to go the short, happy ending route. This fic is almost certainly going to be less than 15 chapters, but it fun sometimes to try out unconventional pairings.

Chapter 11

A year had passed since Sasuke's first paint lesson with Sai and in many respects, he had never been happier. He had been reinstated as a Ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village and was now working as one of Kakashi's advisors. His friendship with Naruto, Taka, and Sakura to a lesser extent was flourishing. And well, he had Sai.

"You seem highly contemplative this evening." Sai smiles at him as Sasuke eats his bowl of tomato soup. "What's on your mind?"

He never thought that he would find love after every thing that he had done, but Sasuke had. He had found it with Sai. Now, there was only one thing left on his mind. One thing that would make him complete and it wasn't just the delicious tomato soup that Sai had given him to eat!

He bites his lower lip as he considers it. Sai had said that he was open to it before. "A lot of things." They hadn't really discussed it since then though.

No. They were more focused on each other. Hell, Sasuke had even let his lover get away with painting him without his clothing on a few times. (Something that never failed to delight the artist). And well as strange as it was, Sasuke was teaching the other man about what different emotions meant.

Naruto in particular seemed to get a kick out of that last part. One of the most emotionally stunted ninjas was teaching another ninja how to feel things. Whatever. Sasuke didn't care though. He could easily ignore the blonde's teasing.

"Well I'm listening." Sai smiles at him as he caresses Sasuke's cheek. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

That was sweet. Sai was surprisingly sweet in his own very awkward way. Again, Sasuke blamed Danzo for that awkwardness. Then again, the artist might never have looked at him twice, if he hadn't been in ROOT to begin with.

Most normal people would never get involved with him. The other ninja had been through Hell, but it had made Sai who he was. Sai was Sai and that's what mattered most at the end of the day.

He glances at his lover with anxious eyes. "I know. It's just I don't want to pressure you into doing something that you might not be ready to do." And Sasuke wouldn't have him any other way.

"Is this your way of saying you want to paint my kunai?" Sai beams at him. "Because I don't mind letting you do an erotic painting of me!"

Sasuke almost fell off of the couch in shock at that! He didn't know why. In hindsight, the last Uchiha probably should have seen that one coming. For some reason though, he hadn't.

"No!" Honestly, Sai had to be the biggest pervert that Sasuke had ever met! "That's not what I meant!"

Sai chuckles at his protests, but nods at him in understanding. "Alright. Then what did you mean?" His eyes soften in concern.

Those eyes were really beautiful. Sai didn't need a bloodline to make them so either. They were just so kind when he wanted them to be. Dark as night, but somehow endlessly warm in a paradoxical way.

Wait. He was getting off track here. "I've been thinking about what Orochiamru said." Sasuke really needed to focus here!

It was glaringly obvious that Sai hated Orochimaru. Not that Sasuke could entirely blame him. The artist knew as well as anyone that the Sannin was the reason why Sasuke had left the Leaf in the first place.

Truthfully, Sai would have had to be a simpleton not to be worried about the snake lover's presence. "That viper says many things." Though his lover seemed to especially despise the other man.

"That's true, but this one was actually important." The last Uchiah didn't know how he felt about the Sannin in general, but he knew one thing. "It's about us. Our future." Orochimaru wouldn't gamble when it came to his life.

In his own twisted way, Sasuke was almost certain Orochimaru genuinely cared about him. Those warm feelings manifested themselves in unconventional ways to put it charitably, but they were still there. Well at least that's what he thought.

Even if they weren't though, he was the last Uchiha Orochimaru wouldn't risk his safety for that reason alone. So in a way, Sasuke trusted the Sannin.

"What could Orochimaru possibly know about our future?" Sai raises an eyebrow.

It was clear that his lover was less than pleased about Sasuke bringing the Sannin up. Unfortunately, it couldn't really be helped.

True there was always surrogacy, but Sasuke liked this idea better. He liked the idea of their child having a piece of both of them. Though he wasn't entirely certain that Sai would go for it.

Sasuke sighs and takes a deep breath as he decides just to be blunt. "Do you remember when he said it was possible for two men to be the biological father of a child? That he had found a way to do it?" And there would be a biological mother, but Sasuke didn't care too much about that last part.

As long as the mother was healthy and preferably powerful, he could live with that. In essence Orochimaru would jus combine their DNA into one entity instead of two and then the rest of the process for surrogacy would proceed as normal.

"Yes, I remember." Sai eyes him warily. "The idea of having a child with you is an appealing one, but do you really trust him?

The implication hung heavily in the air, even if it was unspoken. Sai thought he was crazy for even considering trusting Orochimaru and part of Sasuke, had to agree. The other par though, well he was happy to have this opportunity. The fact that it was the Sannin offering it didn't mean anything to him.

Sasuke nods as he tries to reassure his lover. "I trust him on this." How could he ever explain this to Sai? "He wouldn't risk the life of the last Uchiha. The Sharingan fascinates him too much as is." There was also the Rinnegan to consider.

No. Orochimaru wouldn't risk it. No matter what the other man's personal feelings on the matter were, someone like Orochimaru would see the Sharingan and especially the Rinnegan as too valuable to gamble with.

"Maybe, you're right." Sai sighs as he considers the matter. "And if he did something to me, the Sannin knows that would anger you." Which would be rather suicidal of Orochimaru to do.

Once again, there was no need to communicate fully with words. The two of them understood each other in a way that was difficult to articulate. Not even Naruto had the same bond with Sasuke.

Theirs was a bond between brothers. Which was far different from the one he had with the gorgeous artist. Their bond was the bond between lovers. Perhaps the strongest in the world.

Well at least it was the second strongest. "That's true. He wouldn't risk it." Second only to the love between a parent and a child.

It was for that love, that Sasuke was willing to risk his lover's irritation. He doubted that Sai would leave him over a request. He might say no, but Sai wouldn't leave him. They loved each other too much for that to be a real possibility.

"Alright." Sai shakes his head. "Though I will want proof." He pauses and adds. "Proof that this can be done safely. It's been a year." Sasuke nods at that. "Surely, he must have run some trials by now."

Sasuke nods again. "I imagine he has." That was a good point. "We can do that. We'll make sure it's safe first." He looks at his lover hopefully. "If it's safe though, do you want to?"

"I want to make you happy and as I've said before, the thought of having a child with you is a pleasant one." Sai smiles and kisses his forehead. "So if it's safe, I see no reason why we shouldn't."

The last Uchiha beams at the artist and the two of them head off together. They were going to the Sound. To Orochimaru. And hopefully with any lucky, they were going to have a baby.

Meanwhile Suigetsu smirks as he cuddles to Naruto after their latest Sexy Times. That's what he called it anyway. Sexy Times. Sexy Times with his Foxy.

In his mind, this made perfect sense. Naruto was the host of the Nine Tailed Fox. That meant he was a foxy. His sexy little Foxy. So that was how Sexy Times had come about.

"Do you really think that they'll do it?" Naruto looks up at him.

The two of them were laying on a bed and snuggled up. This was always a fun thing to do. Suigetsu had never thought that he would like cuddling, but life could be weird sometimes. He hadn't previously thought he had a thing for blondes either, but apparently he did.

The white haired man didn't even need to ask what his Foxy meant. "I'm not really sure." Sasuke definitely wanted kids at some point. "It's always been Sasuke's thing. Killing and wanting to have lots of babies. You know?" Though he didn't really know about Sai. "With Sai well it's hard to tell."

The artist had several reasons not to trust Orochimaru. Gods and Goddesses knew that Suigetsu certainly didn't trust the freak and that was who had the magic answer to Sasuke's issue.

He could understand wanting to have a child that was biologically yours and your lovers. It was romantic in a weird way, Suigetsu supposed that Sasuke was seemingly willing to go to such a extreme lengths just to be fair to his boyfriend, but still.

He was taking a huge risk. "Yeah. That's what I think too." And they knew it, even Naruto.

Naruto was gorgeous, funny, loyal, and well damn good at Sexy times, but he wasn't really the sharpest kunai in the pouch sometimes. Not that his blonde was dumb. It was just that he was better at reading people than strategizing.

Which was fine with Suigetsu. He was hardly an academic either. He'd rather slice people up than read books, really. That was just who he was. It was part of being a Mist Ninja, but mostly it was just his personality.

"If that was you know safe and assuming we could trust Snake Face, is that something you would want?" They'd never really talked about it. "A kid, I mean. We could always use the traditional surrogate route, if you did and you didn't want to trust Snake Face."

Well no time like the present, he supposed. Besides, there was no point in beating around the bush. He and Naruto were two very direct people. They didn't really know how to do subtle and Suigetsu doubted that was going to change anytime soon.

The blonde blinks and looks at him with a stunned expression. "H-How long have you been thinking about it?" Not that Suigetsu could blame him.

The violet eyed ninja had never broached this topic with his lover before. The lover who had passed out when the swordsmen had first hit on him and who it had only finally given into his advances when Sakura locked them in a room together.

Needless to say, the room hadn't been in great shape when they left. By the time they did though, well they had just finished some really great sex and those hickeys took a fucking week to fully disappear!

"Eh not long." It had been a spur of the moment thing to ask about really. "I just figured since we were talking about Uchiha Babies, we might as well talk about babies in general."

That had definitely made more sense in his head, Sugietsu muses. Oh well. The issue was out there now. The ball was in Naruto's court. It was up to his sexy blonde how he wanted to respond to it.

Though the violet eyed ninja didn't really know what he wanted Naruto say. Did he want to have kids with Naruto? Did he want to have them at all?

He was hardly the poster child for a father figure. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense." Still that didn't mean that the Hozuki couldn't be a good father.

Hell, if Sasuke could do it, then he could definitely do it. There was no way that he would ever let the other man show him up, if he could help it.

Privately, the white haired man knew there was a reason for that. Not only was Sasuke a cocky son of a bitch sometimes, but he was also Naruto's former teammate. The teammate who the blonde had chased across the Five Great Nations to find and even forgiven when the last Uchiha had blown his arm off!

"So what do you think?" He smiles at his lover.

So yeah. He couldn't help it. There were times that he felt a little insecure compared to Sasuke. Naruto and the dark haired ninja obviously had a powerful bond.

Fortunately, there was Sai. The violet eyed ninja highly doubted that anything could have kept Sasuke away from that guy! Those two were absolutely inseparable!

It was probably the strangest match that he had ever seen, but somehow it worked. "I'd need to think about it, but first I'd have to know if that was something you wanted." Really well, apparently.

Sasuke had never looked at another guy besides Sai as far as he could see. It was just like him and Naruto now. Maybe, they really were ready for a baby when he considered that.

The two of them were dedicated to each other. That much was obvious. "Sneaky. Turning the question back onto me like that!" And Suigetsu couldn't really imagine wanting anyone else.

That and the baby would probably be cute. This was especially true if he had Naruto's big blue eyes. For some reason, Suigetsu had decided their kid would almost certainly be a boy. Though he wouldn't have minded a girl.

That would be pretty funny. To teach the girl how to use a sword and scare off all the boys. Traumatize her instructors. Yeah. Good times. Good times.

"What can I say?" He smirks. "I learned from the best when it comes to being sneaky."

Suigetsu laughs at that. His Foxy was definitely learning how to be a badass fast. "Well I guess it might be cool." He smiles and kisses Naruto. "To have a kid of our own, I mean."

A few days later, Sai wasn't sure what to think exactly. So far everything actually seemed to be on the Up and Up. Of course, that didn't necessarily meant that it actually was and his instincts told him that trusting the Sannin was a bad idea.

"How you told Kakashi that you're considering this?" Orochimaru looks at Sasuke. "I wouldn't want to upset your Hokage." He smirks.

Ha! Sai would have laughed, if it wouldn't have made the other ninja suspicious. There was no universe in which he could envision the Sannin carrying about what Kakashi thought about him (or what anyone thought of him, really).

Well not unless it applied to whether or not the ninja could manipulate someone. Orochimaru was definitely good at that. Manipulating people. The artist doubted he had an honest bone in his body. The man only told the truth, if it benefited him in some way.

Sasuke glares at Orochimaru. "I've told him." Obviously, he didn't care for the interrogation. "He would have asked about the child's parentage eventually and I've kept more than enough secrets from him."

That was true. There were times when Sai wondered how Kakashi felt about Sasuke in general. The man must care for him to pardon the last Uchiha and to insist on art lessons, but did he feel like he was second best compared to Orocohimaru?

Sasuke had left the Leaf, but he had also left Kakashi's team. It was in a way, telling the silver haired ninja that at least at one point, Sasuke hadn't felt that he was a good enough instructor. That or he at a minimum saw the Sannin as superior in some way.

It might not have been personal and Sai doubted that twelve year old Sasuke had thought about that aspect of his decision, but it was there. "And what did he say?" Orochimaru's smirk grows wider, making Sai want to hit him even more.

This man wasn't fit to shine the Hokage's sandals. The artist truly didn't care what sort of abilities Orochimaru may possess. He simply wasn't in the CopyCat Ninja's league.

Admittedly though, he was biased. Without the silver haired ninja's help, Sai never would have gotten a chance to get to know Sasuke. They never would have gotten together. They likely never would have truly noticed each other.

Sai supposed that he would always be in Kakashi's debt, really. "He's obviously not stopping us from pursuing it. That's really all you need to know." It was petty, but the artist was happy to hear the irritation in Sasuke's voice directed at the Sannin.

Whatever his lover's feelings were towards the other man, they were not completely positive. That was good to know. It was very good to know, actually.

"Well that's very good to know." The Sannin smirks more.

Warning Scientific (or Silly) Explanation Scene

He was really testing the limits of Sai's patience. "If we got through with this, how does it work?" This could be painful for all he knew and Sai did not like the thought of putting his beloved through unnecessary pain.

Orochimaru nods at Sai in acknowledgement. It was still a pity that it was Sai and not someone with a bloodline or the Nine Tailed Fox, but the Sannin would take what he could get.

If this was the only way to keep the Sharingan Bloodline flowing easily, so be it. Besides, Sasuke could have done worse for himself. "I would of course need a sample of both of your genetic material first." Though it was annoying.

It was annoying how Sai was glaring at him. It was becoming painstakingly clear that Sasuke's lover had an issue with him. That wasn't entirely surprising, but it was unfortunate.

Anything that made Sasuke feel uncomfortable about this, might make him bulk and that was just unacceptable. If that were to happen, the raven haired ninja might very well be the last Uchiha and the Sharingan bloodline would fade out of existence with his death.

Whether that was now or a hundred years from now, it would happen. "Of course." Thankfully though, at least Sasuke was being reasonable.

Which was a bit odd. He was used to his former student being the more headstrong and defiant one. Orochimaru hadn't really anticipated such a reaction from the artist though.

"After that I place the sample into a container which thanks to a very special Jutsu will go at extremely high speeds causing the very molecular structure of your DNA to spin around so fast, it will split in half and reform with the other sample. Creating new DNA that belongs to each of you and will essentially function like any other male sample of genetic material."

End of Scientific (or Silly) Explanation Scene

"Oh." Sasuke blinks. "Well that makes sense."

Sai seemed less than convinced though, the last Uchiha notes. Though he knew that was only because the other man cared and that touched him deeply. More than words could ever describe.

"And how many infants have been successfully delivered using this technique." That was a good question.

Orochimaru looked entirely too smug though. "So far sixteen. All have developed normally for infants of their age thus far."

Right. Well that was good. They wouldn't be the first ones attempting this and it had been done successfully in the past.

"What do you think?" Sasuke looks at his lover.

He wouldn't do this without Sai. As much as it hurt him, Sasuke would let the matter drop or just pursue regular surrogacy, if that was what his lover wanted.

"I think it's still risky, but markedly less so than I initially anticipated." He glares at Orochimaru. "So we'll do this. I warn you though, if you try to betray us or anything goes wrong, you will be held personally responsible."

The venom in the artist's voice was enough to make even Sasuke shiver. He hadn't known that Sai was capable of using such a cold voice before, but apparently he was. He was when it came to protecting them and their potential children.

It was both terrifying and sweet at the same time. "I'll keep that in mind." Orochimaru shrugs, seeming to decide that feigning a sense of cool indifference was the best approach to dealing with such a threat. "Now, there are several factors that we should consider."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at that. He was almost afraid to ask, but he would. There was very little that he wouldn't do for Sai or their child, after all.

"And what are those factors?" He dares himself to glance at the Sannin.

Orochimaru smiles happily. "Well the mother mostly. Do you want her to have a bloodline? Do you want to know her personally and be there for the duration of her pregnancy or do you wish to keep a respectful distance?"

That was a good point. "Would the mother want to be in contact with the child?" That could make a big difference.

"It depends on the potential mother in question." Orochimaru shrugs as if the thought mattered very little to him and it probably didn't. "Some women do and some don't." Right.

Well that wasn't very helpful. Sasuke didn't really know which would be preferable. On one hand, it'd be easier if the woman wasn't involved. On the other hand, did he really want to deny their child access to a maternal figure, if the woman was willing to be involved?

He risks at look at Sai. Hmm. No help there. It didn't look like the artist could decide either.

"The mother's is our primary concern. Everything else is secondary." He looks at Sai. "It doesn't matter to me whether she wants to be involved or not. I feel that should be up to her to decide. Unless Sai has something else in mind." It was best to include Sai in this. This child was going be his child too!

"That sounds fine to me." He eyes Orochimaru warily. "May we see a list of potential surrogate candidates and their files?" Orochimaru smirks and hands them the list.

It seemed he had been prepared for this. "Of course." And knowing Orochimaru, he likely had.

That didn't matter though. All that mattered was the fact they were going to have a child together and it was up to them to select the best woman possible to be that child's biological mother. This wasn't going to be an easy decision to make, but they would make together. So somehow, Sasuke was sure that they would make the right decision because they had to. For their baby's sake.