Arigato Sasuke
He found his left arm nearly being torn out of its socket as his female teammate tugged him, down the streets of their village. His dark eyes remained elusively dull as he blinked in confusion at her action.
They were on their way to Yamanaka Ino's house, where everyone had brought at least one dish, in order to contribute to the meal, except himself of course. Sai had never cooked anything before, and he didn't really feel he had the time to pick a receipt from a cookbook.
"Inform me again…What is this…Thanksgiving?"
She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him, her face holding a sincerely happy smile across her pale lips, "Thanksgiving is the day in which we give our thanks."
Sai rolled his eyes, annoyed at Sakura's simple response. "I understand that much." He tore his arm from her grasp, ignoring the shocked expression that came and went across her facial features. "What I want to know is why it's so important to celebrate it-And with a dinner at that…"
Sakura tilted her chin, as her hand rested beneath it. "After the First Hokage had finished building Konoha, a surprise attack from Oto had nearly wiped out more than half of the Leaf Shinobi." She lifted her head, her sparkling green eyes meeting his, "But Konoha won in the end. And on the day of our victory, the First Hokage gave thanks to the people of the village, and proclaimed that day to be Thanksgiving, in which we remember the lives risked, loved and lost. Where we honor them, and give our thanks. Through the years everyone has also started to give thanks for other things."
Sai raised his eyebrow, "Like what?"
Sakura shrugged, "Just, things you're thankful for."
Sai found himself crossing his arms, still unmoved by the historical tale. "And why do we celebrate…Thanksgiving with a dinner?"
This time she shrugged her shoulders, "We celebrate it with friends and family, the dinner is just a nice gesture."
"I don't completely understand…But I'm curious. And when I was curious about Halloween-it turned out to be fun…" He found himself narrowing his eyes in her direction as he clenched his jaw in memory to the Halloween party, "Until you punched me in the face."
She glared her emerald eyes at him, "You had dressed up as Sasuke-kun."
Sai wrinkled his nose and shoved his hands into his pockets, "I think the costume was nearly identical-Right down to the purple rope." His pride was eminent in his voice.
Sakura's hand began to shake from its place down at her side, as she tried to suppress her need to punch him. Grinning and bearing, she bit her bottom lip in obvious frustration. "We're going to be late," she announced through gritted teeth. This time she didn't reach for his hand, or arm, or any part of him as they continued on their, hastily walk.
This became more unsettling-for some unknown reason.
He studied her back as she continued to walk ahead of him, ignoring his existence.
His lips twisted from their normal, upside smile, to an unpleasant frown.
His female teammate was always like this after the mention of the Uchiha's name.
After their first encounter with him and Orochimaru, she had become stiff and frozen whenever he was brought up in conversation or missions. Her eyes would only look at the ground, as she tried to avoid everything else.
When Orochimaru had been defeated, and there was still no sign of Sasuke, his name had become forbidden word. A breath muttered with his name would send her into a new phase. One where she would avert her eyes to the clouds as she would pretend to feel something different, with a clever fake smile on her chapped lips.
His eyebrow furrowed in annoyance as he glimpsed back up at her backside.
What had she been like before the Uchiha left?
Had she been as miserable then as she was now?
He allowed his mind to flashback to his first meeting with Sasuke, and how he had replied with cold eyes, his feelings towards Konoha and team seven, before he had tried to kill them.
Sai's dark eyes glanced at Sakura again.
There was no way she could be happy loving someone like that.
If the Uchiha was still here, he imagined more days in which Sakura would cry in secret by the river, thinking no one was watching. There would be more days where she would put on a fake smile and pretend to be interested in the ground or the sky. Instead of these actions taking place whenever he was mentioned, they would take place every time he was around.
As they walked into Ino's house, Sai moved to Sakura's side, his arm rubbing against hers. The contact forced him to jerk back from her slightly, as if he was burned.
She raised a pink eyebrow at him, and then turned her attention back to Ino, explaining what kind of dessert she had baked.
"Sai-kun," Ino stated as she placed the last plate on the table. "You can sit next to Sakura."
He followed her advice, and found the chair next to Sakura, with the male Hyuuga to his left. He sat down in between them, acknowledging the fact that with a pissed off Haruno Sakura, and a typical Hyuuga, he wouldn't exactly be engaging in much conversation tonight.
He turned to his left, to accept the bowl of roasted potatoes Neji was handing him.
"Once everyone gets their food, we'll start the thanks." Announced Ino as she took her seat beside her boyfriend, Nara Shikamaru.
Once Chouji had placed his appetite of desired food onto his plate, Ino had begun the Thanksgiving tradition: "I'm thankful that we could all be here together on this day."
Next was Shikamaru's turn:
"I'm thankful for memories."
Chouji was after Shikamaru, followed by Rock Lee, who gave a very long speech of "Spring Time" and "Youth."
Neji's response had come quicker than the others: "Freedom."
Had suddenly it was Sai's turn. The problem was however, that Sai hadn't dwelled on what exactly he should be thankful for.
Teammates and friendships were obvious, and already stated.
Bonds went deeper-needing no explanation, nor thanks, sometimes just reassurance.
He found himself glimpsing at Sakura who stared at him with curiosity and confusion.
"I'm thankful for…" He found himself trailing off as he held her gaze in his intensely coal-colored orbs. "I'm thankful for Sakura-san, without her I wouldn't know emotions."
At first he had intended the words to be translated as:
"I'm grateful for Sakura-san's help."
But he knew from the shocked expressions and from the way her eyes had suddenly enlarged, that they were taken in a different manner.
A manner he couldn't exactly deny to be false.
Though he hadn't thought too much on the effects the cherry blossom Kunoichi had on him, he had acknowledged them enough to understand what they were.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called.
She shook her head, and stood from the table, "I'm thankful for quick exits." Without looking back, or apologizing, she headed for the door.
Sai immediately stood from the table and began to chase after her, ignoring the confused looks from the people at the table. He followed her out of Ino's house and into the streets of Konoha, as she began to head in the general direction of her house with the sudden down pour of rain soaking her with water, her clothes clenching to her curvy frame.
Sai found his legs moving swiftly, in an attempt to catch up to her. "Sakura-Sakura wait!" He called out to her, only to be ignored. He frowned once more and grasped her wrist, pulling her around to face him, paying no attention to the drops of rain that fell from his hair and into his eyes. "What are you thinking?"
Her hands pushed against his chest as she tried to shove him away from her, "Go away I don't need this right now!"
His eyes flickered with confusion for a second before returning to their cold gaze, "Need what?"
She wrenched her wrist from his hold, "These games! First I'm "ugly" now you're thankful for me?"
Sai clenched his jaw, "T-that's not what I-"
"Then what are you thankful for!? Or does Team Kakashi mean nothing to you?" She interrupted him.
He stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say as more raindrops cascaded down from the sky and onto her, soaking every inch of her that had up until this point, remained dry.
He moved into her frame on instinct, disregarding her widening eyes as he yanked her head near his, crushing his lips to hers forcefully, shutting up her shouts and demands.
He pulled his lips from hers, "Sasuke," he whispered in her ear.
Her head snapped up to look at him, uncertainty written across her features, "Huh?"
He smiled at her, his lips hovering over hers again as he leaned in for another kiss. One he knew she would respond to this time. "I'm thankful that Sasuke left."
Author: Lol-my contribute to the American holiday. I thought it would be cute to see this happen. So I wrote it and decided to put it up the week of Thanksgiving. Panic Studios is almost done with our latest project, so The Uchiha Secret should be up by the weekend or by next week-depending on my work schedule.