My first Sai fic, yay!

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Title: Artistic License
Author: desolate butterfly
Genre: Humour, Gen
Pairings: SaiNaru, hints of NaruSakuSasu
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Sai finds it difficult to paint the pictures he wants to see.

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The brush dipped into the inkpot once again and Sai frowned in concentration.

The grass around him was littered with crumpled pieces of paper, ink dotting the surface like rain drops, with the dark-haired boy in the middle, bent over the easel on his lap, lips pursed and eyes focused.

He made one stroke. Two.

Lines formed and arced and streamed wetly across the paper. A breath drew slowly from between Sai's lips as the lines joined to form a picture. If he could only…

The brush thunked against the side of the inkpot and Sai's eyes widened.

It had happened again.

Sai looked helplessly at the scraggly bunch of sunflowers he was trying to draw, and then down at his paper, where the arc of line that was supposed to be a spiky, sunny petal had turned out, instead, to be the outline of a very familiar blond head.

'Naruto…why does this keep happening? What does it mean?'

Frowning, Sai touched a hand to the tracing of his team mate's chin, fingers coming away smeared with ink. The sunflowers rustled together in the breeze, mocking him.

"Hey Sai!"

Immediately, the painting was ripped off the easel and crumpled between Sai's hands. He had just tossed it to the ground and twisted his face into a bright smile when a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Yo, dickless," he greeted.

Naruto's grip on his shoulder suddenly turned harsh and his nails dug into Sai's skin. Sai only smiled wider.

Naruto was always touching him; to punch him, or shake him, or greet him. It was something Sai wondered about, because the one time he had touched Sakura in order to wipe teriyaki sauce from her chest so he could rescue her from making a faux pas—just like the book he was reading suggested a friendly person should do—she had punched him clear across the street.

Then again, maybe she had just been ashamed of how small and unexciting her chest was. Sai figured boys didn't have that problem.

"What have I told you about calling me that?" Naruto seethed.

Sai considered for a moment, closing his eyes in thought. Then he cocked his head to the side and smiled at Naruto again.

"That it's the most accurate description of you that you've ever heard in your life?"

Naruto's fist trembled as he brought it up, eye twitching in frustration. Sai watched it, fascinated at how the boy never bothered to conceal his emotions. Didn't he know how weak that made him?

"That's not it," Naruto grumbled, tearing at his hair.

Sai ignored him and pulled another sheet of paper out, taping it to the easel with cool efficiency. Naruto watched this curiously.

"Hey, hey," he whispered, as if it was a secret, "what are you drawing?"

Sai kept his face carefully blank.

"Sunflowers." He nodded to the tall stalks in front of him.

Blue eyes followed the direction of Sai's gaze, and softened slightly at the sight of the brightly coloured flowers that almost rivalled him in height. He reached out a hand to touch a waxy petal.

"We got Sasuke sunflowers once," Naruto mused, quietly, "Me an' Sakura-chan. For his birthday. He told us that he wasn't some silly girl that needed flowers the clutter up his apartment, and Sakura-chan winced, and then I punched him. And then Kakashi-sensei got him a flower pot."

Sai felt something itch uncomfortably in his chest and said nothing. There was really nothing he could say. This was just one of the many places where he didn't fit. And he really didn't want to hear about Sasuke-kun anymore.

Instead he dipped his brush in ink and started to create lines on the paper in front of him. The action seemed to break Naruto from his reverie and he turned back to Sai, grinning.

"I almost forgot what I came down here for! Sakura-chan and I were going to go get something for lunch. Do you want to come with?"

Sai paused in his brush-stroke and watched a drop of ink spatter on the page. He smiled back.

"…I'll catch up later. I want to get this sketch done."

"Sure, whatever man," Naruto said, giving a careless shrug before bounding away with the ceaseless energy that never failed to amaze Sai.

He watched him go silently, then turned back to his easel, where the lines were already coming together to form wide eyes and messy hair, a determined chin. Sai didn't stop and tear the paper this time, letting it go where it wanted to. Soft lips, large hands, strong chest, wide grin…

Sai sat back and looked at his creation, dark-eyes regarding it critically.

He sketched a tiny penis onto the paper and instantly felt better.

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fin.

Any commentary is appreciated.