The Thin Line Drawn in Water

Summary: Sai is an artistic high school student who has a pretty bad thing on attractive boys. Suigetsu is someone he wants to get friends with, not to lust after. Could Sai keep himself under control, or will his incipient friendship with Suigetsu fail perfectly? (Sai's POV)

Pairing: mainly Suigetsu x Sai, some others included

Rating: T, might change to M

Warnings: Yaoi/shonen-ai, OOCness, AU, grammatical errors, non-explicit stuff, some minor things like alcohol etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden so the characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is mine, though.

A/N: Written to compensate the lack of this pairing. Y U PEOPLE NO WRITE SUISAI-FICS?!

Chapter 1. More than lust

I'm Sai Shimura. I'm sure that's not my real name but that's how they called me when I was little. I don't really know where I came from. In my earliest memories I was already living in an orphanage. It was called "Root's Home for Boys", owned by an old man called Danzo Shimura. He wasn't the best man to call a father. We had strict routines and we get punishments from every little mistakes we made. The rules were everything. I didn't call the children there my siblings, nor the nurses and Danzo my parents. But inside those walls I still met someone I wanted to call a brother. Shin was kind and pure. He knew about the world outside the orphanage and he told me about it when we were alone. Shin protected me from Danzo, who was keeping his eyes on me. They didn't like one another very much. Shin was too independent for Danzo to control. Shin just didn't care very much. Once I was drawing, Shin came to me.

"Hey, Sai. What are you drawing?" he asked, sitting next to me. I hided the picture from him and shook my head. Shin pouted and looked at me, begging. I frowned, handing him my drawing. Shin's victorious smile turned to a confused look. He groaned, looking at the picture from the different angles.

Then he sighed. "I don't get it. What it is?"

I gave him a slight smile. "I don't know", I had to admit. "I just drew it when Danzo was yelling to Fu and Torune again. I don't even like this. Maybe I should give it to him…"

Shin grinned. "You know, Sai. You should draw pictures of things and persons you like. It would suit you better than drawing something that only comes to your mind while thinking that old coot." He mimicked Danzo, making me hold back my laughter.

"I guess you're right", I said, still giggling. "From now on, I'll draw only drawings I really want to show you!"

"It's a promise, then", Shin laughed, ruffling my short raven hair. "And when you someday make an exhibition of your favorite drawings, I'll be sure I'll be there."

Shin really adored my drawings, and I adored his happy smile. He was my family for three years, and all that time we dreamt about our future and how when were old enough we'll move away from Konoha and went to college together somewhere else. But he died before we could. I broke. When he was gone, Root was all I had. When I was sixteen, Danzo decided to send me to a public high school. Besides Shin I never had many friends in the orphanage, nor did I have after I get out from it, though. At the high school I barely get any people to hang with. They were better than nothing and I didn't felt so lonely. But I fought a lot with them. Perhaps the fact I had a thing on pretty boys was a problem to them. Or my personality was. Probably both were. Teachers moved me from one class to another, because I just didn't integrate in any of teams within them. At last one teacher, Yamato, took me in his team after one of the original team members had changed schools. I faked smiles because I hadn't reason to smile truly. It was weird for me to interact with them. I tried but they didn't understand my friendliness at first. It took from us almost a week to get known each others, almost a month to respect one another and a full course to gain trust from another. They weren't actually bad persons, and I finally started to consider them as my friends.

One of my teammates was called Naruto Uzumaki, the cheerful and childish, maybe even a bit stupid boy with whisker marks on his cheeks. We sat at our usual spot in the class, next to the windows, eating our lunches and waiting for our other teammate, Sakura Haruno, the pinkette with great physical strength. She was also Naruto's "almost" girlfriend. Their love drama was a bit too complicated for me but I knew it had something to do with certain Sasuke Uchiha who had been in their class. He had transferred to a boarding-school before I moved in their team. As I said, I didn't get a very warm welcome. I mean, I look a bit like Sasuke so everybody thought we'd be the same but nowadays both, Naruto and Sakura, keep reminding me how our personalities differ so much. But it was clear that both of them liked, loved, him very much. It was hard for me to understand. I had never loved anyone unlike they had. Shin had been special to me but hadn't been love. I hardly even knew what love was. Lust instead was something I understood. Lusting over something or someone seemed more normal than loving. To put it simple, I didn't do relationships so it actually didn't matter was Naruto with Sakura, or Sakura with Sasuke. Or Naruto with Sasuke.

Naruto had got a text message from Sasuke few days ago, saying that he wants to see us on Friday, and by us meaning Sakura and Naruto, and he told he'll take some his friends from school with him. Naruto was immediately taking me with them but I hesitated, almost denied his invitation. He asked me to think about it and tell him if I change my mind. I had already finished my lunch so I decided to bring Sasuke up. The day when he wanted to meet them was today, after all.

"You have met Sasuke's friends earlier, right?" I asked from Naruto, uneasily. The blonde looked at me a bit surprisedly, interrupting his lunch for answering.

"Yeah", he replied simply. "Why do you ask?"

"You know I'm not good at making friends", I reminded him, turning my eyes to the floor. "I was just wondering what kind of people they are?"

"Redhead bitch, shark dude and giant", Naruto spat, finishing his bowl of instant noodles. "But don't worry. If Sasuke approves them I see no problem there. You'll get along well."

I was kinda skeptical so I just nodded. You'll get along well. As if.

You see, I had met that famous Sasuke Uchiha only once before, and he hadn't left very first impression. It was after the second grade when I had went to pick Naruto up from a house party at Orochimaru's place. But that place was like a maze and instead of finding Naruto, I run into Sasuke. At then I didn't knew who he actually was but it was sure he wasn't in the best possible condition. He was wearing white shirt which revealed his abs and chest and blue pants from the last evening and his black hair was like a duck's butt. And he couldn't even stand upright! I wrinkled my nose. He smelled like cheap alcohol and sweat. A terrible hangover, I noticed as he frowned in pain and glanced at me. I offered him my help but he denied it by pushing me harshly aside. He raised his hand cover his mouth and hurried to the direction where I thought the bathroom would be. A moment later I found Naruto from the living room. He looked tired. Probably the sofa wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep.

"You seem to have drunk a lot", I noted, looking at the empty bottles all over the room. Naruto nodded, ruffling his hair and yawning.

"But it was totally worth it", he told me. "It was a pity you weren't here with us."

I gave him a smile. It was nice to see he cared but I didn't really like boozing and having fun in that kind of way.

"Get yourself dressed", I said to Naruto, smiling. "Hyo wants his car back as soon as possible."

Naruto pouted, pulling on his t-shirt. "I need to use the bathroom", he whined when finished.

"I don't recommend it", I stated. "Some guy with duck-butt hair and revealing clothes is probably using it at the moment."

"It must be Sasuke, then", Naruto mumbled. Then his eyes widened and he touched immediately his neck. He looked at me embarrassedly and whispered. "Did he leave a bruise…?"

I took a look of his neck and grinned. "I guess it was worth it, eh?"

Remembering Naruto's face when I told him Sasuke had left actually half dozen hickeys on his neck made me smile widely.

"Well, that's a rare sight!" the pinkette noted while walking to us. She was clearly meaning my smile. "Did Naruto say something stupid again?"

I shook my head. "No, I just remembered something funny."

Sakura shrugged. I hadn't told her about Naruto and Sasuke's little time together so she just gave me a look. "Oh, before I forget, Sai, are you coming with us to see Sasuke after school?" she asked.

"Of course he's coming!" Naruto told her, grinning. He had finally finished his lunch. Sakura slapped the back of Naruto's head.

"I didn't ask it from you, idiot!" she yelled. Naruto held his head. He looked to be in great pain. No wonder why Sakura was a part of schools boxing team. But I think Naruto had become immune to her strength. An average guy could have got a brain damage.

"Sakura, calm down. I'm coming", I told her while she was shaking Naruto to death.

The pinkette gave me a wide smile. "Really?"

I nodded. "It can't be so bad." Maybe I could even make couple new friends.

Our meeting spot was a small café in the center of the town, within walking distance from the metro station. Sasuke has chosen it and Naruto and Sakura had instantly accepted to go there. Sasuke and his friends hadn't arrived yet. As I knew he lived on the other side of town so it wasn't surprise that we were at the café before them. We took a table from a corner and waited. Sakura sat between me and Naruto. I was a bit nervous but I didn't let it bother. Just act natural, I told myself and took a deep breath. I heard door opening and the atmosphere changed. Three teenagers approached us. I recognized Sasuke Uchiha among them, he walked ahead and two others followed him. Unlike us, he and his gang didn't wear school uniform. Sasuke himself wore white opened dress shirt, blue jeans and typical men's shoes. And his hair looked still like a duck's butt.

"Naruto, Sakura dear", Sasuke greeted, giving us almost a warm smile. Sakura blushed deeply, and the girl next to Sasuke made a disapproving sound. The girl had long red hair and magenta eyes, not forgetting her eyeglasses. She was wearing very short black shorts, sandals and lavender colored long-sleeved shirt. Naruto and Sakura changed greetings with Sasuke very intimately until the girl took Sasuke's hand, gaining his attention.

"Well, Sasuke dear", she hissed. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

Sasuke smirked. "You sound a little jealous, Karin", he said, turning to us. "This is…"

"Karin Uzumaki", the girl told, finishing the sentence. "Nice to meet you."

Naruto looked choked. "U-Uzumaki?!" he repeated. He had been sure that he was the only member of Uzumaki family in Konoha. The girl called Karin smirked. Actually she somehow reminded me a bit of Naruto. Perhaps because neither of them didn't really have anything worth of mentioning in their pants.

"I'm Jugo", the other of Sasuke's friends told shyly, ignoring Naruto who stared now at Karin his mouth wide open. His red eyes avoided contact. He was taller than Sasuke, wearing gray hoodie, bluish jeans and old sneakers. His hair was messy and orange colored. Naruto was still in shock when Sakura decided that she will introduce me to them. She smiled. Everything had gone well.

"Sasuke, I want to introduce to you our friend Sai Shi…"

"Sasuke! How dared you?!"

Everybody at the café, including myself, turned eyes to the speaker. That voice gave me vibes. Karin giggled as Sasuke frowned. The white haired teenager marched peevedly towards Sasuke.

"I thought we left you to the station", Sasuke sighed when the whitette glared him straight to the eyes. I stared at them. Mostly at the guy next to Sasuke. He was pretty good looking in my eyes. And actually he reminded me a bit of my brother.

"That's what you did!" the whitette yelled to Sasuke. "Dammit!"

"Well, we didn't want you to come with us, Suigetsu", Karin hummed. "Isn't that right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, Jugo instead looked sorry, Karin raised her glasses and grinned.

"Whatever", the whitette spat, getting ready to leave. "But I'm going, you know. I just came here to yell you."

I did have no idea why I stood up then. I just did and my heart skipped a beat. Sakura turned to me, Naruto turned to me, Sasuke and his friends turned to me. And I gave them a confident smile.

"I'm Sai Shimura. Nice to meet you all. Would you all sit down with us?"

Sakura blinked couple times before smiling widely, Naruto grinned. They both glanced at Sasuke.

"Sure", he said. "I didn't come here for nothing. Get your ass back there, Suigetsu. We're not leaving yet."

Sasuke and his friends sat on the other side of the table. In front of me sat that whitette. Sasuke, Karin and Juugo were having a nice conversation with Naruto and Sakura, well, Jugo just listened them, smiling once in a while. Suigetsu instead was sulking. He had ordered a portion of vanilla flavored ice cream and he was eating it, glaring annoyedly at his friends. I took a closer look of him. He was wearing a purple top and black jeans, and pair of new sneakers. He had a slender, yet muscular body, and his short bluish white hair almost reached his shoulders. His purple eyes were always glowing like amethysts.

"Are you staring at me?" he asked all suddenly, pointing at me with the spoon.

"No", I blurted out, making him raise an eyebrow. I shook my head. "I mean, yes. I'm sorry I just didn't catch your name"

"It's because I didn't tell it", he told, his lips twirling into an adorable grin. It revealed his two rows of white shark teeth. "It's Hozuki. Suigetsu Hozuki. And you're Sai, right?"

I nodded, making his grin even wider. He smiled for a moment before talking again.

"Are you going to eat that?"

I blinked, very startled, taking a quick look of the piece of lemon cheesecake I had ordered. I had actually eaten one spoonful of it but except that the cake was untouchable. "No."

Suigetsu leaned on his hands. "May I get it?"

I pushed the plate to him willingly. "Sure."

Friends do share stuff, that's what Naruto always told me while stealing meatballs from my lunch. Maybe I was getting friends with Suigetsu. Friends like Naruto and Sasuke. That kind of friends. I pulled that thought back, getting a glimpse of Naruto and Sasuke chatting with the girl members of our teams. I licked my lips, sharing the cake would be almost an indirect kiss. Jugo, who was sitting between Suigetsu and Sasuke, gave a disapproving look to the whitette.

"You already ate your ice cream", he mumbled. "If you wanted more you could have bought instead of..."

"Quit nagging", Suigetsu snarled, cutting off Jugo's sentence. "I asked nicely."

"That's not the point, Suigetsu. Perhaps he was just being polite even though he wanted to eat it by himself", Jugo told him. Suigetsu looked at me a bit guiltily, then at the cheesecake, then back to me again, and I had no idea how to react. He was almost ready to push it back to me.

"No, it was okay", I told quickly, hiding the way I was looking at him earlier. I clenched my fists under the table. No, do not turn-on right now, I said to myself as he tilted his head innocently. "I don't even like cheesecake."

He gave me another amazingly sweet, teeth revealing grin. My thoughts had started to wander again. I wanted him to bite me. I wanted to feel his shark teeth on my neck.

I was now feeling definitely too hot. Things like that had happened to me before. Rarely, but yet so often. But this was worse, I needed to get away.

"Hey, are you alright?" Suigetsu asked. "You're kinda red."

"I have to go."

Suigetsu made a confused face. As I stood up and grabbed my schoolbag I heard Sakura asking where I'm going. I gave her a slightly nervous smile but didn't answer. I just left, feeling my face becoming red. I didn't get far, only couple blocks and then to the back alley, until it got too hard to breath evenly. I stopped, panting. My hands went on my too tight school pants. How could I ever become friends with him if I can't even control my urge to be more?

A/N: Yeah, that's the first chapter. I do appreciate constructive criticism.