Author: IFoundNowhere
Summary: When Tsunade assigns a rather unconventional mission, Sakura is left to bemoan her fate and helplessly hope that the property damage to her apartment won't devastate her paycheck.
Wordcount: 2,415
Tell Me a Truth
-xxx-
People are strange when you're a stranger; faces look ugly when you're alone; streets look uneven when you're down.
-Unknown
Sakura had known since the beginning of their last mission that something like this had been coming. After Sakura has nearly been killed because Naruto had not trusted Sai's warning, it was obvious that something needed to change. Despite the fact that they had been on a team together for two years and loved them both dearly, there were some kinks that needed to be straightened out.
"So you're ordering us to get drunk together in order to work out our problems and build trust?"
She knew Tsunade-shishou had an unusual outlook on life, but her thought process had clearly become more terribly skewed that Sakura'd previously thought.
"Essentially, yes. Think of it as a teamwork exercise," Her smirk was a clear window to her nefarious plans.
Sakura glanced to her left, where Sai stood with his usual impassive expression on his beautiful face. She briefly wondered if he felt anything about this situation at all before quickly dismissing the thought. He was unable to feel any emotion. Besides amusement at others' expense.
The prick.
Naruto has been much too quiet about this so she turned around to find him lounging comfortable with a hip against Shizune's desk, an equally devious smirk on his face.
Oh shit.
"I think this is the best idea you've had in a really (really) long time baa-chan." His smirk quickly morphed into a full-blown grin, eyes shut and upturned.
Sakura quickly turned back to Tsunade, "With all due respect, shishou…"
She trailed off as Tsunade tossed a scroll at Sai who caught it with one hand. He deftly unrolled it and read it, his expression unchanging. He tossed it carelessly at Sakura and formed a seal with his hand.
"Your place at eight o'clock, Ugly."
And then he disappeared in a splash of ink.
Sakura sputtered indignantly at being informed that they would be invading her apartment so abruptly.
She looked down at the scroll in her hands and skimmed the contents quickly.
"You actually made this into a mission?" she asked incredulously.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Do you refuse it?"
Sakura choked on air before hastily replying, "No! I just…oh whatever. I should have expected this."
Naruto popped up in front of her and grabbed the scroll from her hand and waved it around, sending a wink to Tsunade, "Well I believe this is one mission I'll have no trouble completing. Eight o'clock Sakura, I'll bring what we need."
He hopped on the windowsill, sent one last smirk Sakura's way, and leapt into the late afternoon.
Sakura sent an aggravated glare towards Tsunade before bowing shortly and striding out of the room.
I'm going to be evicted from the apartment complex come morning.
-xxx-
Eight o'clock came entirely too early for Sakura. She sighed in exasperation as Naruto and Sai appeared in the windows of her sitting room simultaneously. Why couldn't her boys use doors like other people?
She moved to open Sai's window first and he threw an empty smile at her as he passed her inside. She turned to Naruto's window and unlatched it, then almost fell on her ass when he pushed it open impatiently and rushed by her to the kitchen, brown packages in his arms. Sai grabbed her wrist to steady her before she fell over completely, and she sent a grateful smile his way. He merely let go and turned to head into the kitchen.
"Watch where you're going, dickless."
"Fuck you, asswipe!" was the only reply he got.
Sakura sighed and shook her head; her hand lightly touching the spot where Sai's surprisingly warm hand had held her.
She entered the kitchen, expecting to see a pack of beer at most, but was met with the sight of three large handles of clear, hard, and all-together evil looking alcohol sitting on the counter.
"Oh no." She groaned.
"Oh yes." Naruto grinned back evilly.
Just then a knock sounded at her door, and Sakura looked in confusion to the two boys. They shrugged back at her.
She walked to the door and stood on her tiptoes to peer through the peephole. A masked face greeted her through the warped glass and a small huff escaped her when she realized that her apartment would be housing more men than she thought tonight.
Quickly opening the door she ushered Kakashi and Yamato inside and into her kitchen, where Naruto greeted them with loud shouts and happy laughs.
"Feel unusual to have men coming to your house voluntarily, Ugly?" Came a stoic yet entirely too innocent sounding voice from her left.
Her head snapped to the side and she growled at Sai, "There's so much testosterone in here I'm surprised you're not swooning!" before angrily stomping over to the other men.
"Alright everybody, it's too hard to fit in here so let's take this to the sitting room. You can leave that package here Kakashi-sensei, I'll bring the drinks in a moment."
That said she ushered everyone into the other room, smacking Naruto's hand off a glass figurine of a cherry tree as he sat down on the couch.
Yamato sat on Naruto's left while Kakashi took the loveseat, leaving Sai to sit on a low stool. Walking back into the kitchen Sakura started to unwrap the package Kakashi and Yamato brought, gasping when she recognized the green substance.
Across the bottle written in tidy print the words "Undiluted Absinthe" stared back at her, mocking.
She gulped with unease and carefully set it down, aware of its ominous presence even as she turned away to pull out a serving tray. Opening one of the kitchen cabinets she glared up at the liquor glasses, twinkling innocently on the highest shelf. Sakura looked around for the wooden stool she usually kept in the kitchen before sighing when she realized that Sai was sitting on it in the living room.
She glanced up at the cabinet again, before remembering she was a ninja and berating herself. She could just climb onto her knees on the kitchen counter and then glue herself to the cabinet using chakra.
Duh, Sakura.
Once she was up there she with two glasses in each hand, she realized her mistake.
You idiot! How are you going to get down?! You've been hanging out with Naruto too much lately obviously since you've forgotten to think things through!
Sakura let out a tiny moan of despair, scolding herself for not just asking one of the boys to reach the glasses.
She was aware that she was deplorably short; it was a sore subject for her and she preferred to avoid asking for help whenever she could.
She was too busing bemoaning her situation to notice someone enter the room, and startled dangerously when she heard an amused snort behind her. She would have toppled to her untimely death (or at the least a very large bruise) if two surprisingly warm hands hadn't grasped her on either side of her waist, steadying her. Letting out a sigh of relief Sakura relaxing a bit, despite the fact that her face resembled a strawberry.
"Look at the position you've gotten yourself into, Ugly. You know for someone so manly you should be at least a bit taller," Came the smooth, deep voice right next to her ear, and she shivered before stiffening in anger.
He saved you, Sakura. And right now he holds your life (again being melodramatic) in his hands. Do NOT give him a reason to drop you.
Calming herself to the best of her ability, and she took a deep breath before asking,
"Could you please…Help.Me.Down..?"
"Certainly." He replied with his inane smile.
Well that was unexpected- was her last thought before he let go.
"AIEEEEE-oof!"
He had let her go, watching her fall a ways before catching her across her back and knees and lifting her up.
She sputtered and glared at him, but he paid no mind to her, chuckling in that infuriating way.
When he carted her into the sitting room and set her down on the stool he had vacated before walking back into the kitchen to retrieve the alcohol, she finally let go of her almost-crushing grip on the glasses.
All the men in the room stared at her, but she simply turned her head away, sniffing disdainfully.
"That all could have been prevented if you'd simply adhered to your flaw and asked for help, Ugly. Perhaps your parents should have named you 'Sapling'," Said Sai, back with the tray loaded with doom.
Somewhere off to the side Naruto snickered while Yamato coughed to hide his laugh. She heard Kakashi snort but when she looked at him he appeared to be engrossed in his dirty orange book.
Little shits!
Her head snapped back to Sai and she opened her mouth to snipe back at him, "Well I'm no shorter than your damn shirt!"
He simply continued to smile at her, his eyes laughter-bright, and she grudgingly let go of her anger.
Another time.
-xxx-
The night had progressed rather quickly, and through shots of vodka and sips of sake and even some absinthe that left her feeling dangerously tingly, Sakura was now absolutely and completely without a doubt sure that she would be feeling everything in the morning.
Naruto was currently crooning at her potted fichus, eyes glinting disturbingly and hands stroking the glossy leaves. Yamato had his headgear on backward and was holding a rather slurred conversation with Kakashi, who had replaced his mask with a bright pink scarf from Sakura's closet after he had forgotten to pull his mask down when he turned away to take another shot of vodka.
Sakura looked around but could see Sai nowhere, so simply shrugged and decided that some fresh air was in order. She climbed clumsily onto the windowsill before crawling up the outside wall slowly to reach the roof. Aware that perhaps this wasn't the best idea seeing as how she was rather still inebriated, she stopped to contemplate going back inside. Before she could turn around, hot hands grabbed her wrists and lifted her easily onto the roof, where she was deposited next to an adorably flushed Sai.
She blinked in confusion before smiling and chirping, "Hi!"
Watching with amazement as his featured transformed into an honest smile, Sakura decided that if all it took were a few shots to get him to smile, she would spike his water supply.
He's beautiful.
"Hey, Ugly."
That train of thought quickly derailed and she huffed, sending a mild glare his way.
They sat that way for a while, simply enjoying each other's presence, before Sakura decided to look at him.
His hair was mussed slightly, no doubt from his impromptu wrestling match with Naruto earlier, and his cheeks held a delightful pink tinge from the alcohol still burning through his veins. Midnight eyes reflected the pale sliver of moonlight, and his skin glowed like he belonged in the sky with the stars.
Sakura quickly realized she was admiring him, and turned away from him quickly, her face burning. She chanced a glance his way and found him staring at her curiously.
"What, Ugly?" He asked.
She looked away from him again with a slight frown, before turning back determinedly.
"Tell me a truth." She spoke.
He raised his eyebrow at her in inquiry, and she repeated,
"Tell me a truth. Do you really think I'm ugly?"
Sai's other eyebrow rose, before he looked to the sky. She waited patiently.
He watched her from the corner of his eye before speaking,
"That depends."
Sakura turned to him, surprised that he had actually answered, before deciding that he was talking to her at all was the fact that he was still drunk.
"Depends on what?"
Sai turned to look at her directly.
"You."
She gazed at him, waiting for him to elaborate on his confusing response.
He turned away again, fixing his view on a star.
"When I saw you for the first time, I thought you were one of the ugliest people I had ever seen."
Sakura gasped lightly, but he remained fixated on the stars.
"You were still in love with the Uchiha-traitor. I may not be an expert on emotions, but I could see the agony you hid behind your smile. And in you, I saw myself."
He turned to look at her intently, the flush still on his cheeks but his eyes undeniably sober.
"You reminded me of myself after I had lost my brother. Abandoned, lost, solitary. As if nobody else in the world could understand what I was suffering. And it made you ugly to me."
Sakura was reeling from this explanation, disbelief running thick through her veins.
I thought he couldn't feel? I'm so confused.
"The look in your eyes was a reminder of what it was like to feel. I had been numb for so long, this spark of pain was so hideous, I associated it with you."
Her eyes watered slightly, partly hurt by this explanation and partly from the overwhelming sympathy it made her feel.
She cleared her throat before asking, "And now? Am I still ugly?"
Sai looked away again, pulling out a paintbrush and twirling it absently with his long fingers.
"You have changed, as have I. When I decided I wanted to feel again, to create bonds, as Naruto-kun states, you slowly turned into bearable, then preferable-"
His head swiveled around and he gazed at her intensely,
"Even beautiful."
Eyes wide with incredulity, Sakura brought a hand to her chest, feeling her heart racing beneath her fingertips.
She slowly reached out and laid her hand on top of his, surprised by the heat radiating from him. He flipped his hand upward, awkwardly lacing his fingers through hers, and gave her a gentle, tentative, but heartbreakingly true smile.
She gave him a breathtaking grin back, and they sat there in comfortable silence, hands linked tightly together, until the sun rose.
-xxx-
"Sai, why do you call Ino-pig, 'Gorgeous'?"
"Take a look at her Ugly, I bet she can even reach the top shelf."
"Sai, you moronic ass!"
"Ow, Ugly, stop beating me. I thought honesty was an essential part of every relationship."
"Not when you're using it just to be an insensitive ass-Mrgph!"
"…"
"…"
"You can thank Naruto-kun for instructing me on kissing."
"Just shut up and kiss me again."
-xxx-
I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading! Reviews make for happy writers, so please leave one!