Naruto woke up that day at four in the evening. He couldn't believe that he fell asleep for almost ten hours straight! That was maybe because of that weird dream he had the night before in Berlin, and the sleepless night afterward. He sighed as he got up from his bed and went straight to the bathroom. He had to go gather some medicines first in the pharmacy near their hospital before he went to go grocery shopping. He had promised the morning to Sai that he would come to his apartment this evening. Might as well spend the night there.
After he finished taking a shower and dressed in casual outfit, he grabbed another pairs and put them in his backpack. He took his phone, wallet, and his keys before he left his apartment.
While driving, he called Ino after connecting his phone with the car through the bluetooth.
"Ino, can you please write me a receipt? I will send you the details. I'm on my way there and I will get it in a few minutes."
"At least say 'how are you' first, Naruto." Naruto laughed imagining the woman rolling her eyes with a smile.
"Thanks, Ino!" Naruto smiled and hung up the connection.
He texted the list of the medicines to Ino once he stopped under the red light.
Just when he arrived at the hospital, Ino already had the medicines with her.
"I better get something out of this." Ino demanded, crossing her arms around her chest while smirking.
Naruto scratched his cheek with his pointer finger. "Err… Is a kiss on the cheek okay?"
Ino rolled her eyes but then she smiled. "Just kidding. Now go. Sai must be waiting."
But Ino still got a peck on her cheek and a thank you before she watched the blonde man's retreating back. She shook her head with a sigh and entered the hospital.
Naruto meanwhile was thankful to Ino as he hurriedly hopped in his car and hit the road. He needed to get to Sai as soon as possible.
He eventually arrived at Sai's apartment at six. He had an hour to cook for dinner. He got his groceries and went inside. He had Sai's card the last time so he could enter whenever he pleased by now.
When he entered, he spotted Sai was looking at him from his living room's couch, sitting lazily holding a cell phone.
"I was about to call you." Sai said with a smile as he put the device down.
Naruto gave him his own smile that always succeeded in making Sai's heart flutter.
Sai stood up and approached Naruto, helping the man with the groceries. "What are we having tonight?" Sai asked excitedly.
Naruto grinned. "What do you want to eat today?"
"Hmm… You?" Sai teased, making a face.
"You are lucky I am holding bags, Sai."
The two laughed as they made their way to Sai's spacious kitchen and put the groceries on the counter. Sai helped Naruto with his backpack. "Where do you want to sleep tonight?" Sai asked. He was slightly worried of the outcome if Naruto wanted to sleep with him or not.
"Do you want to get hit so bad, huh? Of course with you, stupid!"
Sai shrugged as he put the backpack on his back. "I could be wrong."
Naruto rolled his eyes and gave a peck on Sai's pale lips before he shooed him way.
Sai grinned and left.
Naruto sighed as he started cooking. Sai loved steak, so he would make that for their dinner. Maybe they could eat it with a soup with rice, and maybe some wine. He grinned as he got the wine out and put it aside. He bit the inside of his cheeks to hold the sudden emotion building up. When he thought things were seemed great, they weren't. When he was beginning to enjoy his life with Sai together, shit happened. He wanted to make Sai happy, but he was a mess. He wanted to take good care for Sai, then his past happened. It was haunting him. Sasuke was having it worse. He felt at fault but he didn't know what to do with the guy.
He looked at where Sai had disappeared earlier. The guy seemed happy, but he was suffering. Life appeared to be a bitch it seemed. He was stuck between Sai and Sasuke, his present and his past.
"I told you to chew some bubble gum while chopping that." Sai appeared suddenly. He went to the drawer and get him a bubble gum. He opened the wrapping paper and put the content inside Naruto's mouth as he wiped the tears out from Naruto's face with his thumb with a smile.
"I forget." Naruto respond as he began chewing the gum while chopping the onion.
Sai took a seat across and watched Naruto cooking. "I want to help but I could only hold two things properly. One is the brush and knife isn't the other." Sai sighed dramatically.
Naruto raised his blonde brow. "Then what was the other then?" Naruto asked without thinking, almost regretting asking for such question when Sai smiled creepily. "Dick."
"I knew it." Naruto held the knife in the air as he shouted. He eventually continued cooking as Sai's laughter filled the room for a good three minutes.
~o0o~
"So, what's the plan?" Itachi asked calmly as he sipped his black coffee. Sasuke watched the man in astonishment as he seemed to really enjoy the black liquid. Sasuke looked at his own cup. What's so special about this liquid? All he could think of was that it tasted crude and bitter, ironically, just like his life was. He shrugged internally, finding that his thoughts were useless.
"I think I might learn Naruto's new man first." Sasuke replied as he sipped the black coffee. When was the last time he went here? Ever since that encounter with Naruto, he hadn't been thinking on coming to the place. He was even here because Itachi asked to accompany him.
Sasuke watched Itachi smirked. "Why?" What's so funny?
"You seemed to be okay that Naruto already has a new man." Itachi shrugged. "The nerve, you know?"
"Naruto said so…" He shrugged back as he put the cup on the table.
"Well, aren't you going to answer my question or not?" Itachi raised his eyebrow as he put the cup on the table as well.
"I ordered Juugo to get the guy's complete information. Juugo hasn't sent the information yet."
Itachi nodded when Sasuke's phone vibrated. Itachi scanned the area silently with his hawk eyes as he waited for Sasuke to check the phone.
"Oh."
"Who?"
"Juugo. I will forward it to you."
Itachi raised his eyebrow and nodded at the information. "What are you gonna do with him next?"
Sasuke took a long breath. "Study this guy first and maybe have him in an agreement."
"About?" Itachi asked, quite curious on what's on Sasuke's mind.
Sasuke smirked. "You will see."
~o0o~
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Sai
DOB: Nov, 25th
Sex: Male
Height: 6'1'
Weight: 132.2 Lbs
Bl. Type: A
Sai is an artist.
He had parents and a big brother, named Shin. His parents died in an airplane crash and his brother, Shin, died of blood cancer the following week after the incident.
The night of his brother's death, Sai reportedly almost had into a car crash.
The following months, Sai moved to Berlin, German, to continue his study in art in a University.
He began a relationship with a man named Naruto Uzumaki years later after they were together for two years.
He moved back to Tokyo, Japan, after finishing his school.
Recently he was diagnosed with blood cancer, stage four. The disease is related with his brother's condition where he undergone radiological examination to check his marrow to transplant it to his brother.
According to some oncologists, in order to cure the cancer, the patient has to do marrow transplant. In order to do that, the patient needs someone with matching marrow. Not all relatives could match marrow with the patient, even the patient's brother or sister.
~o0o~
The email ended with Sai's number and email address.
~o0o~
"Hn." Itachi smirked as he sipped his black coffee, after reading the information about the artist.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow, questioning his brother's sanity. What's so funny? "What?"
"Naruto sure has a bad taste when it comes to men."
Sasuke gave Itachi a look. "What are you talking about?"
"Look at this guy…" Itachi paused as he studied the guy on his screen phone.
"What are you implying for?"
Itachi looked at the screen to Sasuke, back to the screen again. "Black eyes, pale skin, short hair, et cetera… Don't you think you look the same?"
"Come again?"
"It's just… You and this Sai guy are quite familiar in so many ways…"
Sasuke sent Itachi a glare.
Itachi almost smirked, almost. "At least this Sai guy has a better taste when it comes to his hair."
Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked. "Ya… You are right… Not like someone with his hair like a fucking girl with a fucking ponytail."
Both brothers rolled their eyes.
"And, he is paler than you. Other than that, you two look the same."
Sasuke scoffed. "No way."
"Yes way… If only Naruto would-"
"Shut up, Itachi."
Itachi sighed dramatically. "No matter in what condition Naruto is in, unconsciously, his taste in men will always be like some sort of you two. Maybe if that Sabaku guy had black hair, or the Hyuuga guy had black eyes, he might end up with them, too."
Sasuke gritted his teeth.
"Calm down, I'm just joking…"
~o0o~
Sai took a deep breath as if he had solved all the problems in the whole world by himself. He was worn out too fast because of the cancer that had taken its toll on him.
He was in his usual wardrobe consist of white button up shirt, black jeans, and white sneakers.
The pale man was standing under the glaring sun in front of a restaurant in Shibuya.
Yesterday night when Naruto was asleep next to him, his phone vibrated from its position on top of the drawer next to the bed. It was a text message from an unknown number, asking him if he had time tomorrow to have lunch together. He texted back to ask who was it. But he got no answer. Until this morning he looked at his phone that he had received a reply. He guessed that he already fell asleep when the person replied his text.
All he got was initials.
U.S.
Naruto left that morning, but before he left he ordered him to take a rest. When the doctor was gone, he called the unknown number. Sasuke Uchiha was the owner of the number.
So he came to thinking about the possibilities for the reasons behind the invitation to eat lunch together.
Was he going to threaten him? Was he going to tell him to leave Naruto? Or was he going to kill him?
The latter was impossible, given that Sasuke asked him to have lunch in a public area.
He had been thinking about meeting Sasuke, but he never thought that Sasuke would be the one to offer. Now that he had the chance, what should he do? Naruto was his priority in life. But ever since he discovered his disease, he had become selfish. Now it's his own self as his priority. He loved Naruto and he wanted Naruto all to himself. But in the other hand, he wouldn't let Naruto to be sad or even have mental breakdown when his time finally came.
He wanted to become selfish, but he just couldn't. Naruto would always be his priority to him. Damn the cancer! Naruto's happiness was number one for him. If he hadn't had this cancer, he would fight tooth and nail to keep Naruto as his, after all he had been through. But he loved Naruto too much. It pained him to watch the man cried every time his patient died. He couldn't imagine if the guy cried alone without nobody to give a chest to lean on when he left later.
The only person he could think of to replace him after he died was Sasuke. The guy had history with Naruto. Hell, he could even admit that the two were still couple if only Naruto didn't lose his memory.
He had to do this. He looked up in the sky, silently asking why his life was too cruel to him, but he looked down again when it was useless for him to do so. He looked at his phone to see the address and looked up at the billboard of the building to see if it was the same restaurant Sasuke had instructed him to go to. When he was sure he was right, he entered the building eventually.
When he entered the restaurant, he was greeted with warm greetings from the waitresses and waiters. He nodded in acknowledge as he scanned the room. He asked one of the waiters there when he wasn't sure which one to look at.
"Uchiha Sasuke's table."
"Please follow me, sir."
Upon arriving to a booth where they eat by sitting on tatami, he greeted the man who was already inside with a smile. The guy was from the office. Sai could tell from the crisp dark blue suit the man was wearing.
"Am I late, Uchiha-san?" Sai said as he made himself to sit across the man.
"No, you aren't. I'm just a little bit too early. Sasuke is fine."
Sai nodded. "Sorry for making you wait, Sasuke-san."
Sasuke just waved his hand off and gestured the waiter before who had escorted Sai inside for the menu. "Let's just eat first before we talked, shall we? I guess you haven't eaten."
"Fine with me." Sai agreed and the two ordered their food. The two ate in silence and both of them were okay with it.
"So…" Sai started the conversation after they finished their lunch. No sane person wanted to meet his ex's new partner just to have lunch, right? Unless he was a psychopath. Or wasn't he?
Sai watched as Sasuke took a sip from his glass before he spoke. "For starter, I would like to say that I really appreciate you for accepting my personal request."
Sai smiled. "You are too formal."
"Can't help it. Secondly, I apologize sincerely for what had happened before back at the coffee shop."
Sai nodded. "Apology accepted. To tell you the truth, after that encounter, I was so curious I asked Naruto's guardian about what had happened at the shop and asked him if he knew you."
"Oh yeah, Kakashi, isn't it?"
"Yes. I'm not stupid enough to think that there's nothing going on between you and Naruto after seeing that. I was practically frozen at spot for the act you and Naruto pulled out for a good one minute. If you were mistaking him for another blonde man, you wouldn't know his name. There is only one Naruto Uzumaki with blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan skin in the whole Japan."
Sasuke smirked.
Sai continued. "So I asked Kakashi. He told me about what was going on between the two of you. You were in a relationship with him and Naruto involved in a car accident which caused him to lose his memory. Anyway, I was the one who saved him before it's too late."
"I heard about the accident."
"Kakashi revealed all about the two of you even though he refused to tell me first. I needed to know since I am Naruto's new man. If you haven't known about this, I just want to tell you anyway. After the accident, Kakashi assumed things and decided to change Naruto's surname from Namikaze to Uzumaki, just so he could keep Naruto's whereabouts a secret. He had succeeded in making Naruto Namikaze never existed."
"I didn't know about that. I was admitted in the hospital before and Naruto was my doctor. My brother noticed his nametag and it was written Uzumaki N. on it, not Namikaze N. To tell you the truth, I have been looking for him for years now but I never found any traces of him."
Sai nodded. "I will be honest here. So Kakashi told me you are the villain. I have heard his version of you. I might as well hear your version so I could weight it down."
"Hn. I thought you would be difficult."
Sai smiled. "So?"
"Well… Where do I start? Long story short, Naruto and I were childhood friends. We were together until the elementary Naruto had to move to German. I got to meet him again when we were about to enter high school. We became a couple on a graduation day. We decided to live together in an apartment when we entered college. In two years, we had an argument. He left me, I went into depression. He disappeared, I had to go to therapy. When my mental was stable, I began to look for him. I couldn't find him ever since, not until that day at the coffee shop."
Sai raised his eyebrow. "That sounds fishy. Kakashi said that he had waited for you for a year but you never gave him any information in that time span. That was why he did what was done."
Sasuke shrugged. "I went into depression for two years, to be honest. I never went a day without suicide crossing my mind. I don't know… I was just too sensitive at that time and I was a teenager."
Sai nodded.
Sasuke continued. "I haven't heard anything about Naruto for six years now and my life was a mess. When I finally met him again, he was with another man and he had no idea that I existed. If you were me, what would you do?"
I see… Sai thought. "But, what kind of argument you had with him that caused Naruto to leave you and caused you to have depression to the point that you wanted to kill yourself?"
Sasuke looked at Sai dead on his eyes, like he was looking at Sai's soul, making the paler guy gulped unconsciously.
"That's something I don't want to discuss right now, or ever."
Sai scoffed. "So, the conclusion I got from this lunch is that, what you want to tell me is that Naruto is yours and you want him back?"
"No… I haven't finished yet. You got what information you want from me now I have mine to spill." Sasuke smirked.
Sai knitted his eyebrows.
"I'm not childish and Naruto is not a toy I can snatch whenever I want. He is mine in the first place. I won't steal what's mine to begin with."
"You are an asshole." Sai smiled.
"So I have been told."
"Then…"
"Then, let's just make a deal between us, shall we? Technically, we are his boyfriends. There were no parting words between Naruto and I, if you are wondering."
"…I'm all ears." Sai said a little bit hesitating on his part. This is an Uchiha for fuck's sake! There are these rumours about them for being too cold to people without giving others second thoughts.
Sasuke sensed something from Sai, he smirked. "Relax."
Sai took his mineral water and drank them in one go as he nodded. "Please continue."
"I know about your condition."
Sai knitted his eyebrows, non-verbally asking, "what do you mean?".
Instead of asking Sai's silent question, Sasuke pointed his own nose and then he pointed his own finger to Sai's direction.
Sai getting what Sasuke meant, he frowned as he touched the area between his nostrils and his lips to find warm liquid there. He suspected his fingers and sighed. He used his other hand to grab something inside his pocket. Sasuke silently watching Sai's every move. He followed Sai's hand to see the pale hand holding white handkerchief, with an orange thread stitch, Naruto's favorite color. Sasuke could catch a glimpse of what was written on it, something about happy birth- and initials U, probably birthday presents from Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke seeing that had no idea what to feel. He wanted to smirk about the obviousness, but in the other hand, he felt jealous. He had the same handkerchief which was inside his pocket right now, courtesy of the Dobe as a present for his 17th birthday.
The fact that he wasn't the only special person in Naruto's life now made his blood boil. But what was he to do? Right now he could be nobody in the Dobe's life anyway… Now, who would he blame this to?
Sasuke sighed inwardly as he watched Sai wiping his bleeding nose and held it under his nostrils to prevent from staining his white shirt. He nodded his thanks to Sasuke which receive a nod back before Sasuke continued.
"You are suffering from blood cancer." Sasuke stated.
Sai could only sigh with eyes closed as he nodded.
"I know everything about you and your background. Your disease can't be helped."
"You sure you aren't a big fan of me?" Sai said sarcastically.
Sasuke ignored the man as he continued. "Do you know what kind of person Kakashi is? He will do anything to remove whatever in his path or his adoptive son, Naruto, if he finds that person or that thing as a threat."
Sai hearing that fact, he sighed again and nodded whilst still holding the handkerchief under his nostrils.
"You know that life is a bitch, and that's the fact. Not to sound rude but, have you thought about what you will do when your time is up? What I am saying is that Kakashi might hunt you down even under the cemetery."
Sai sighed again for the nth time that day. Where's the world heading to? "I agreed to this because I have my own resolutions on this matter."
Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"That's why I agree on meeting you. I was actually planning on calling you first but I haven't had a chance to do so."
"I suggest that you better make sure that Naruto won't tell a word to Kakashi about your condition."
Sai nodded. "I told him before, but I can't guarantee if I will die of my disease or Kakashi." Sai deadpanned.
Sasuke almost snorted, almost. So he smirked instead. "So, what's your plan?"
Sai studied Sasuke's face before he started. "So let's just say that I don't have much time breathing. If I were lucky, I could make six months. But I'm afraid that I couldn't since the disease has spreading too fast. I was thinking that I would give you chance to make it up to him but with one condition. I get to spend six days with him and you have a day for all you want, given that I only have little time left than you. He will be yours in the end, anyway. I just want my little time I have with him, that's all. It's a win-win situation. You got the chance to make it up to him and I had the chance to make up mine. If you agree, then we are good. If you disagree, it's your problem."
"But, how do I tell him to spend a full day with me? He was too cold the last time we met."
"Don't worry. I have my way on him with it. I will inform you what day you get to meet him."
"Why are you so considerable?"
Sai shrugged. "First, I don't want Kakashi to know about this. Second, I love Naruto too much, just thinking about him crying pained me. I can't imagine what he will do if I were to die. Few days ago we flew to German and I had to comfort him all day just because one of his patients died. Hell, even he cried over the neighbor's dog when it died, so I wanted someone to be there to replace me to comfort him when the time come."
Sasuke was silent for a few seconds studying the guy's face before he spoke. "Sounds like a plan."
Sai nodded. "Anyway, I have a question."
Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"I admit that you are gorgeous. You could have anyone you please. But why you went this far just for him? I mean, you didn't even know where he was but you still waited."
"What do you mean?"
Instead of answering, Sai mumbled. "You must really love him so much." Sai smiled absent-mindedly. "That dickless…"
"That di- What?" Sasuke said, unconsciously raising his voice. What did he just say?
Sai looked at Sasuke in the eyes. Sai was shocked to see the ever-composed Uchiha raising his voice. Sai smiled. "Well," Sai paused, calculating on how to get out of there safely. He grabbed his wallet silently and took money out of it, put them upside the table. "…for almost two years Naruto and I have been dating. I always wonder why he always refused to have sex with me. He said that…", Sai paused as he felt black aura radiating through the man across him. He gulped and smiled as he stood up. He bowed for the last time before finishing, "That's why I called him dickless, because he refused me so… Hahaha" Sai nervously rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous laugh.
"You…" Sasuke said darkly.
Oops. Sai gulped. "Thanks for the lunch. Well, to make you feel better, I haven't had sex with him." Sai quickly exited the room as fast as he could and out from the place before he yelled, "just yet!" without waiting for any replies. He'd rather died of cancer than Kakashi or Sasuke.
None of those were any better.
TBC
Published: Thursday, November 23rd 2017 04.44 PM (JST)