Summary: Haruno Sakura. Pretty talkative. Pretty loud. Pretty smart. Pretty fun. Pretty sweet. So much uglier than Dickless too.

A/N: My very first attempt at Saisaku, and also my second Naruto fic! Please go easy on me; the characters might be slightly OOC. The idea for this story actually occurred to me out of nowhere, and I hadn't written anything for for ages and ages and ages, so I decided to give it a go! Oneshot. Slight SaiSaku because I love Sai. And I love Sakura. And I love SaiSakura. Reviews will be lovely!

Disclaimer: Naruto, Naruto, wherefore art thou Naruto?

Pretty

Sakura frowned and put a finger to her lips as she studied Sai's latest work of art. He had been feverishly painting people rather than his usual abstracts for the past week, and she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why. Sakura had innocently asked a few days before and had received a very crude reply in return.

Well for one thing, it has nothing to do with you, Ugly.

Sakura huffed. It was only a simple inquiry. Then again, he was Sai, after all.

Just so you know, I happen to know a whole lot more than you do about the human anatomy, Sai, so don't start with me.

After all that practicing, he still couldn't master even the basics. Such nerve to call himself an accomplished artist! Sighing, Sakura bent over to scrutinize his painting, and was too engrossed to notice Sai walk into the room.

"What are you up to, Ugly?" He greeted, with a little fake smile plastered on, as usual.

Sakura didn't take her eyes off the painting and tapped her foot in annoyance. "I've got to hand it to you, Sai. You're pretty serious about studying the human anatomy. On the other hand, there are still a lot of noticeable flaws. For instance, don't you think some certain features are a little…exaggerated?" Sakura gritted her teeth at the obscenely large forehead of the girl in the painting.

"You're right."

Sakura blinked and straightened up. "I am?"

Walking over to stand beside her, Sai leaned back to analyze his latest creation. "Well, I suppose it would have been a good idea to add some bright pink hair to go along with that giant fo-"

With the crack of a knuckle, Sai's picture was butchered into pieces. Sakura was going to make sure he wouldn't forget his senseless remark anytime soon.

Sai slapped an oblivious smile onto his face and turned to watch the livid expression on her face.

"Ugly, if you're going to make such a fuss…"

Dejectedly, Sakura heaved out a sigh. Sai's indignant remarks were soon forgotten as she noticed a cloud of dust spiral up from where the painting hit the floor.

"Sai, don't you ever clean your apartment?"

"To put it simply for your inferior brain, Ugly, my way of cleaning is to sweep the room with a glance."

Sakura snorted. "What a sad excuse for humour. Typical."

Sai watched the dust float absently, the smile on his face never faltering. "I was hoping you would laugh, Ugly. It was a joke. At least, that's what the books say."

Sakura felt her jaws clench in frustration. 'Again with those darned books.'

"Here's what I'm going to do, Sai. Starting tomorrow, we'll go three days without me speaking to you. Got it? Think of it as training."

After a moment of silence, Sai's smile seemed to broaden even more. "I hardly think of that as training, Ugly. I'm quite positive that your hideousness is by far enough to put up with."

Sakura seethed. She exhaled slowly and left before being overcome with the insane urge to punch Sai's face in.

Day 1:

It started out with a trip to Ichiraku's with Naruto, and Sakura's day was already looking much brighter, due to the fact that she wouldn't have to put up another bleak argument with Sai.

Team training lasted for the majority of the afternoon, and Naruto was left completely confused as to why neither Sakura nor Sai were uttering a word to each other. None of them bothered to explain, either.

On her way home that night, Sakura breathed in the cool evening air, enjoying the soft breeze at dusk.

'It's not often I get such precious time to rejuvenate. After all, it looks like I'll have to resume medical studies tomorrow with Shishou; getting away from Sai is a great bonus at a time like this.'

Day 2:

Sakura had a very foreboding feeling as she absent-mindedly skimmed the contents of her medical book.

'I really can't concentrate like this. I wonder what Sai's up to at this moment…speaking of which, I haven't seen him at all today…'

Too preoccupied with doodling onto her textbook, Sakura failed to notice another presence in the room with her.

When she finally looked up, Sakura found Sai staring at her intently, two inches away from her face. She yelped and cursed inwardly for not being able to retaliate.

Sakura huffed and resorted to crossing her arms and glaring.

Sai immediately assembled a fake smile into place. "Hello, Ugly. Having fun?" He greeted, watching her face carefully for a reaction.

Sakura furrowed her brows in slight confusion and irritation.

"You never said I couldn't talk to you, if that's what your ugly forehead is trying to comprehend. I'm surprised Dickless isn't here to keep you company, although I suppose your incomparable hideousness is quite the man repellent."

Sakura ground her teeth together and refrained from lashing out. Unfazed, Sai leaned forward to study her sketch, hastily scrawled onto the page.

He stared momentarily, "This picture isn't very becoming. I suppose it's fairly exceptional for a hag like you."

"…"

A shadow passed over Sakura's face as she snatched her textbook from him and proceeded to burrow into its contents. Sai continued to watch her for what seemed like eternity, Sakura never taking her eyes off the book for the rest of the time.

Day 3:

The rain pouring outside matched Sakura's current mood perfectly. Due to the horrible weather, her teammates had decided to camp out at her apartment for the time being.

Naruto had decided to provide some entertainment, earning a few good laughs from Sakura and tasteless remarks from Sai.

During this time, Sakura continued to shift uncomfortably as she felt Sai's eyes boring into her.

Naruto seemed to notice the tension between the two. He still couldn't figure out what was going on, but picked up enough to quickly make an excuse to scurry off and buy ramen.

The room grew unbearably quiet. Sakura stole a glance at Sai, only to find him looking at her, as expected. He put up a fake smile.

Sakura scrunched her eyes together and curled into a ball.

'After today, I won't have to put up with this awkward silence anymore. It was such a stupid idea to begin with.'

The minutes dragged on slowly, and Sakura wondered if Naruto would ever return. She plucked up the courage to open her eyes and turn to face Sai. He surveyed her from across the room and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Sakura blinked in curiosity. Her thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening.

Sai turned his attention away from her, "Welcome back, Dickless."

Another round of bickering instantly broke out, and the moment was over. The rest of the night went quite smoothly, much to Sakura's favour. Thank god for that.

The next day, Sakura was unexpectedly caught up with errands at the hospital and was unable to leave until late afternoon. She finally arrived at Sai's apartment just when the last rays of sunlight were about to disappear.

Stepping through the clutters of paintbrushes and scattered artwork, Sakura at last found the artist crouched on the ground, hard at work with a canvas in hand.

"Sai what are you doing?"

She decided to let him finish whatever he was up to, and after awhile, he finally got up to admire his latest masterpiece. Sakura gasped as Sai stood back to reveal his painting.

"Sai, that's—"

She brought her hands to her mouth and stood there in awe. This was what Sai had kept hidden all this time. The reason why he had watched her for the past few days was finally clear to Sakura. It was a picture of her. A picture of her sitting with her medical book and a bright smile on her face. There was such life and character built into it, and it was everything that represented Sakura. There were no flaws. It was Sakura, and it was perfect. The masterpiece of a true artist.

"…It's beautiful, Sai."

His lips quirked up into a small smile. A real smile.

"Pretty, don't you think?"

Pretty, because it's you.

A/n: Well there you go. Hope it wasn't too bad! I'm really sorry for making Day 1 so painfully short, but I had momentary writer's block, if that's at all possible. Then again, all the days were rather short, weren't they. I did write this in the middle of the night, after all. Ehehee. Well, off to bed for me. Please review!