The Broken Fan

xXx

It was an unusually cool day in Konoha. It was late summer, but today, fall threatened to come early, compelling villagers to don jackets and scarves. A light breeze blew through the trees encouraging open windows, but a warm sun coaxed even the laziest ninja out of their homes. Altogether, it was a perfect day to train, or so thought team Kakashi, but when they reached the training grounds, they found themselves more interested in cloud watching and chasing each other than running laps.

Sai leaned back against his tree, balancing his brush on one knee. He was trying to paint his teammates, but they insisted on moving. He had part of a laughing Sakura, half of a posing Naruto and a corner of a playful tussle between the two. They were still for the moment, flicking flower petals and leaves at each other, but soon, Naruto would say something and Sakura would be after him again.

When he thought about it, Naruto was only saying what was he was thinking. In the instances when the rambunctious blonde boy grew quiet, Sakura often asked what was on his mind, but when he answered honestly, she became angry. Sai wondered if it was more Sakura's fault for asking questions that might have answers she didn't like or Naruto's for saying things to provoke her.

Sai knew that he wasn't good at social interaction. He thought that since he had been studying people so much that he would have improved even a little bit, but this didn't seem to be the case. His childhood isolation was probably the root of the problem, but he was beginning to wonder if there was just something wrong with him. Nothing he said ever seemed to be contextually correct and it bothered him.

"Naruto!"

Sakura's yell heralded a new round of chasing and empty threats of physical violence. The perpetrator scampered off, waving his arms and laughing gleefully, always only a few steps ahead of his incensed pursuer. So many things about human interaction were confusing. For example, though he shouted in protest, Sai was pretty sure that Naruto actually enjoyed being chased and punched in the arm. He was also fairly certain that Sakura enjoyed it as well. Was it some kind of game?

Sakura collapsed next to him, still laughing through her heavy gasps and shaking her pretty pink hair from her eyes. Heat rolled off her body, warming him and causing his knee to shake, jostling his brush so that it fell.

"I think we've pretended to train long enough, what do you think?"

Sai nodded, "Were we pretending?" he asked, speaking lightly to indicate teasing. He quickly retrieved his brush to capture the remaining curve of her cheek, but found that the ink was dry. "I think we should do at least a few laps so that coming here was productive," he added to cover his mistake.

A pair of sparkling green eyes twinkled at him. "You're probably right. Hear that, baka? Let's get going!" she yelled, springing back up. She hadn't even been sitting a whole minute.

xXx

After training, it was usual for the team to meet somewhere to eat and discuss training or battle strategies either at a restaurant or a bar, or occasionally at someone's house. Today, they decided to meet at Sakura's apartment because she promised them tea. She cast a critical eye around her kitchen and small dining room, embarrassed by the sink full of dishes and stack of old magazines, but Naruto and Sai were sniping at each other and didn't seem to notice. She peered around inside her fridge for something to feed them.

"What does everyone want to eat? I've got some rice... or sandwiches..."

"We... we're not hungry," said Naruto quickly, cutting her off.

"Don't be ridiculous. We may not have worked very hard, but I know that neither of you ate breakfast." She turned just in time to see the tail end of a significant look between her teammates. Oh, she thought, they hate my cooking. She forced a smile and backed down, "Alright, just tea then."

"Tea... would be good," said Sai suddenly, smiling broadly. Sakura looked at him oddly, but returned his smile anyway and turned back to put the teapot on the stove.

Sai had been acting very strangely lately. When he thought she wasn't looking, she would find him watching her for long periods of time as though she was the answer to a question he didn't quite understand. When she spoke to him, his facial expressions were exaggerated and he occasionally arranged his words wrong with amusing consequences. Ino teasingly suggested that he was in love with her, but after a good laugh, Sakura dismissed the idea. Sai barely had normal feelings, much less powerful emotions like love.

She shook her head to clear that spiteful thought. Just because she hadn't been loved in a good while didn't mean that other people couldn't love each other. She threw whatever teabags she laid hands on first into the boiling water as well as some other things from her cabinets. Everything in her kitchen was medicinal in one way or another, so it hardly mattered what they were, but she liked her tea to be interesting. It steeped for a moment before she served it.

"God, Sakura... What is this?"

"Just drink it, it's good for you."

"I'm not sure it's actually drinkable..."

The tea actually was quite drinkable and had a pleasant, minty aftertaste. The kitchen was too small for any more than two chairs to be in it at once, so she leaned against the counter and sipped it. Naruto quaffed his before it cooled and suffered a burned tongue. Sai, on the other hand, was more cautious and sniffed his experimentally before sampling it.

Sakura watched Sai drink from the corner of her eye. He held his cup very precisely with one hand underneath for support and the other completely around the bowl of the cup, firmly guiding it two and from his barely-opened lips. She saw that he tasted the tea in his mouth for a moment before swallowing with an inclined head. It was a very careful dance executed and perfected by long practice. She wondered what possible use such practice could achieve.

The boys immediately began to gripe at one another again, so she turned away to wash dishes, not wanting to play mediator. Sai's lack of visible expression made Naruto uncomfortable, so the overactive boy regularly did everything in his power to attempt to elicit a response from his teammate. Sai's response was always stoicism and dick jokes.

Suddenly, Naruto jumped up, bumping the table and knocking over his chair. He picked it up and dashed for the door. "I'm late! I have to go meet Jiraiya-sensei for a mission!" he chirped. "Thanks for tea, Sakura-chan!"

"See you later, Naruto," she said to the slammed door.

Sai remained behind, still thoughtfully sipping his tea. Sakura wasn't used to regularly communicating with him, but he seemed to be unbothered by silence. Finally, he placed his empty cup on the table and turned to her. "Sakura? May I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure," she said, drying her hands on a pink dishtowel. She brought her remaining tea to the table and sat directly across from him. Sai paused before speaking; he wanted to phrase this correctly.

"It is apparent to me that there is something lacking in my abilities as a ninja. I have trained hard in every art and easily surpass many of my peers, but I am prevented from using these skills to their fullest extent by my greatest weakness."

This sounded serious. Sakura folded her arms on the table and looked directly into Sai's typically expressionless face. "If I can help with whatever it is, I'll do my best. What is it?"

"Will you teach me how to talk to people?"

Sakura's eyebrows shot up into her bangs, but when she thought about it, she couldn't honestly say that she was surprised by his request. On more than one occasion, his insensible bluntness had insulted her or her friends and on even more occasions, his attempts at correct social interaction had made the situation worse. It was more shocking that he would ask for help than anything else.

She shrugged. "Okay. I don't think I can make you any worse at talking to people, at any rate, but... why ask me?"

"Because you know me; you know that I'm not trying to be mean. I just never learned what to say." He smiled, but this time his eyes also smiled. "You seem to be the only one who has patience enough with me to explain things."

Sakura couldn't help but grin back. "Alright, then. We'll start immediately." Abruptly, she leaned across the table and slapped him in the face with all of her natural strength. "Never, ever, call a woman 'ugly'!"

xXx

A/N- I found that life was less awesome when I wasn't writing something, so my planned break sort of dissolved. Ah well. This shouldn't be as long as my other, but sometimes these things get a bit out of hand.