Sai loved flowers.
They smelled sweet and very beautiful to the eye. They could say things he couldn't say through words, express things he couldn't seem to phrase correctly.
But mostly, Sai loved the flower shop.
It surrounded him with wonderful smells. He loved to watch the people come in and out; boys rushing for flowers for their girlfriends before their date, old people coming in hand in hand to smell each flower only to buy one daisy to put in the woman's hat or hair.
But his favourite thing about the flower shop was Ino Yamanaka.
Her hair was a golden shade of blonde that he found frustrating since he could not draw it with the ink he always used. Her eyes were a beautiful blue, something that changed like the sky with her emotions so Sai could understand what she was feeling or thinking more so than others. She smiled a dazzling smile of white teeth that could tell was pure and genuine, something she gave him without price. She was nicer than anyone was to him, and he loved going over to the flower shop on the excuse of drawing the flowers merely to see her or even be graced with a conversation.
His nickname for her was gorgeous. It was something Sai had come up with when he first met her, since he had thought girls would be happy if he named the opposite of what they were. This turned against him once again, because Sakura had attacked him.
Sai had been on a mission lately, so he was looking forward to his visit to the flower shop this morning.
But today, Sai had something for Ino in return for her generosity of letting him sketch the flowers and her warm treatment. He had drawn her a picture, which was one he was very proud of, maybe even his best work.
However; giving it to her proved more difficult than he assumed. How he cursed his social skills.
"Gorgeous?" Sai asked, coming up to the counter Ino was checking out flowers out. As always, she blushed furiously. She had never really grown out of the habit of blushing when he called her that, since she rarely got attention like that.
"Yes, Sai-kun?" Ino replied, smiling brightly.
Sai placed the picture on the counter before he walked out of the shop.
Ino watched him with puzzlement for a moment, before she gently grabbed the picture.
It was a picture of a rose, with some one petal sliding out of the flower and a few others blowing in the wind. The rose had no thorns, and it was coloured a light golden yellow that faded into the black & white background.
Ino was an expert in flowers, so she knew what each kind of flower meant. Roses were a common sign for love, and yellow roses meant joy or friendship. But somehow this was a slightly different yellow. She leaned in to get a better look at it, and lock of her hair fell against the paper.
She smiled. It was the shade of her hair perfectly. Did this mean she was the flower?
Ino sighed happily to herself as carefully folded the drawing and tucked it into her work apron. She would have loved to hug it to her face, but she was afraid to crumple it.
Oh how she would have to confront Sai later.