The Replacement

Questions

"Come on in Sai-san!" Lee chirped from the kitchen.

The artist was standing awkwardly right inside Lee's door. He hadn't fully committed to entering the exuberant ninja's apartment and still had the front door open.

In fact, he was still mildly in shock. Something that Lee's incessant chattering on the way over had prevented him from overcoming. He had been invited to dinner while grocery shopping. It was something that all his days in Root and ANBU never prepared him for.

Sure, he'd had dinner with his team in the old days, but this was a relative stranger. He wasn't there simply to be included, he had been invited.

Deciding there was something unmistakably alluring about the idea, he closed the door and slowly made his way through the apartment.

In the living room there sat a very green couch in front of the television ,which had stacks of videos with titles like, Gai-sensei beats Kakashi-san at limbo, and Gai-sensei does a 52 hour handstand. Sai curiously rifled through a few of those before moving on.

The walls were nearly solid with pictures. Pictures of Lee, pictures of Gai, pictures of Lee and Gai posing with hips thrust out and glinting teeth. Several of the photos were of Lee's old team, with Tenten and Neji making four. One in particular made Sai pause, it featured Lee hugging a very disgruntled Neji who was incidentally sending a murderous glare at whomever was taking the picture.

The centerpiece of the room, however, seemed to be the rather large picture above the couch. It was Team Gai in matching green jumpsuits, complete with orange leg-warmers. Lee and Gai were positively beaming, while Tenten and Neji looked slightly less thrilled. Sai thought it must be a good picture if Lee was so proud of it, but made a mental note to inform Neji that green did not flatter him.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," Lee gestured toward the couch as he walked into the room. "If you'd like to watch something, I have many wonderful videos of Gai-sensei."

Sai glanced at the extra large rendering of the sensei in question above the couch and shook his head.

"No thank you," he replied. He rifled through the contents of his brain for the appropriate action in this situation. "I will assist you in the kitchen."

This was evidently the correct response because Lee's face lit up. Sai decided then that he liked this ninja, he was very easy to read.

Sai turned out not to be much help as he wasn't much of a cook. Lee didn't seem to mind and he was rather good at assigning the artist with tasks that he could easily perform.

All the while he kept up a constant stream of conversation. "Neji is on your team, correct?" When the artist nodded, Lee continued. "He is a most excellent ninja, Is he not?"

It seemed to be a rhetorical question so Sai didn't answer.

"I hope he has not made you feel unwelcome. It is difficult to see the friendly side of Neji, but it is there, I assure you."

Sai wasn't sure how to respond. Neji was the guy that showed up, did his job exceptionally well, and didn't rock the boat. He wasn't the nicest guy, but he couldn't really find anything bad to say about him either.

Lee was almost the polar opposite. He went out of his way to accommodate others and always did it with a smile on his face. It was hard to dislike him for that.

Seeing that this was not an ideal line of conversation, Lee switched topics. "What do you like to do for fun, Sai-san?"

"I do not... have fun."

Lee spun around to face the artist, who was now sitting at the table with his hands folded neatly in front of him. Frowning, he said, "Surely you have fun. What do you do in your free time?"

Sai thought for a moment, "Sleep." Then he added, "Train. I'm trying to broaden my use of a variety of weapons."

Lee almost smiled. "I like to train as much as the next guy, if the next guy is Gai, but even sensei has fun."

Sai shrugged. Something like discomfort was tickling the back of his mind and he shifted in his chair.

"We will most definitely have to remedy this!" He exclaimed. Then he gasped and turned back to his cooking.

Sai mulled over it a few minutes before asking, "What do you do for fun, Lee?"

The exuberant ninja turned around with a huge grin on his face, "Besides cooking and training, sometimes Tenten and I go to the cinema. Other times she insists on trying out her new weapons on me. You know, contrary to popular belief, Tenten does not always hit her target."

Sai wasn't very interested in the kunoichi's aim so he said, "Are you and Tenten romantically involved?"

"Certainly not. Tenten is like a sister to me."

Sai nodded and Lee worked in silence for several minutes before turning back around with completed plates of food.

By then the artist had decided to ask what he really wanted to know. "Does Neji still speak with you now that he's on another team?"

Lee looked confused for a moment, "Of course. Tenten and I even persuade him to spend time with us occasionally. He's very busy though."

Sai had thought so. It was only he who was cast aside, forgotten. What was it about him? Was there something wrong with him?

But then Lee's welcoming smile and scrumptious food distracted him from those thoughts and he tried very hard to enjoy his dinner.

Sorry this is a day late, guys. I had tons of homework, seriously.

Next update: Ill try to pull it off tomorrow, should have plenty of writing time.