Alright, so this is my first fanfic ever. So, I really appreciate any comments; constructive, positive, or even flame, either way. I'd really like to know if my first story was a success or there are a lot of points that I should work on. So, yeah, feel free to message, comment or whatever.
This is a little one shot between Sai and Sakura: What would happen if Sasuke suddenly decided to come back to Konoha? What if Sai started to realize he had feelings for Sakura?
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor Shippuden.
Enjoy my first story!
The pink haired kunoichi sat down, leaning against the tree behind her, silently watching her teammates spar. She chuckled at just how different does two were; Naruto's hits were a little bit everywhere, unplanned and somewhat sloppy. Just winging it, he calls it. Also, every time Naruto went for a punch, he screamed his heart out, not being very stealthy at all.
But then again, he's always been that way, Sakura thought to herself, smiling.
She then watched Sai, how his every movement was precise, planned, and you could just see in his eyes that he was always thinking. Thinking of his next move, thinking what he could do better next time he was faced with the same attack, thinking of... just thinking.
Just like him.
One look at Naruto, you could immediately guess that he's an overly excited, hyper active, happy boy, with a big heart. All those statements simply radiated off of him. But even though he could be annoying and he always stuck his nose where it shouldn't be, Sakura couldn't deny that he was the closest friend she had.
Her eyes then fell on Sai. That guy was simply unreadable. She tried to get close to him but he simply ignored her. He insulted her and cast her to the side like... trash.
Just like him.
But, deep down, she knew that there was good in him. She had her doubts, up until the point where Sai had actually shown true emotion, at the memory of Shin, the boy who he looked up as an older brother.
Sakura was so lost in thought that she was surprised to hear Sai's voice slightly rise after calling her name more than a few times, "Sakura-san!" The medic-ninja shook her head, getting out of her daze and looked up to Sai's usual fake smile.
"Yes?" she answered bitter-sweetly.
"Were you thinking about how ugly you are, Hag?" he asked in a tone that implied that there was nothing wrong with what he just said.
Sakura frowned and stood up with a menacing aura emanating around her. Though in the end, he's always the same bastard that I hate so much, she thought to herself before balling her right hand in a fist, wound it back and punched him right across the face; making him fly across the training ground and into a tree. Sakura's brow twitched as she said, "Maybe you should take a break, Sai-san," she said his name dangerously.
She straightened up and cleared her throat, turning to face Naruto. "You ready to train?" He looked at her with wide eyes saying 'please don't kill me'.
They were about to start before Yamato came running at them. "Is everybody here?" He seemed quite frantic, which piqued Sakura's interest.
Sai came up behind them, having recovered from Sakura's vicious attack. "What's up Yamato-taichou?" The blonde boy asked, jumping up in excitement. "Is it a new mission! Oh, maybe we're going to escort some royal back to their country! Or, no, maybe we need to retrieve this really important scroll that could save the world! Or-"
"Naruto! It is not a mission... It's a lot more important than that..." Yamato's sentence trailed off as his gaze lingered mostly on Naruto and Sakura. He cleared his throat and became serious once again, "Hokage-sama wants to see Team 7 in front of her desk within 5 minutes," he said and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The three shinobis didn't waste any time at heading towards Tsunade's office; jumping from roof to roof until they were at Tsunade's front door. Sakura knocked.
"Come on in." They all did so and all lined up in front of her; expecting for a dangerous mission of some sort, expecting information about the Akatsuki... expecting anything but the scene that unraveled next.
"Now, I expect you all know why you are here?"
They all glanced at each other, slowly shaking their heads. Tsunade sighed and scowled at Yamato.
"You didn't even tell them the main reason why I called them here?" Yamato swallowed hard and started to stutter.
"U-Uh... You s-see, its b-because I wasn't r-really sure h-how to break it to t-them..."
Tsunade held back a scream of rage, annoyed that she had to be the one to break it to them. When she was hoping that she could just move on to what where they going to do next part. The fifth Hokage sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"We have a certain guest that came back... and before you are to overreact, we have proof that he is innocent... Well, at least his intentions are innocent," she muttered that last part.
The three teammates glanced warily at each other, knowing that when Tsunade started rambling, you knew that it couldn't mean good news.
Obviously, Naruto didn't quite understand the meaning of 'patience' and walked up to her, slamming his hands on her desk, hard, "C'mon Granny Tsunade, I want to get back to my training!"
The Hokage sighed and got up from her chair, gesturing towards the shadows where a dark silhouette lurked. "You can come out now."
The person, or more like man, who came out made Sakura's heart skip a beat… Sasuke Uchiha. The Sasuke who she had obsessed over for so many years. The same man who she had loved and would've given him her heart if he would've just accepted it. The same man who had made her cry for so many nights when he had abandoned her…
Her mind were a jumble of thoughts; there were so many things going through her head as she watched the man she once loved standing right in front of them.
Still love, her inner Sakura said cockily. The pink haired kunoichi ignored her inner as she tried to calm herself down. She looked at Naruto and Sai from the corner of her eyes.
Naruto looked surprised; his mouth was agape, not knowing how to react to this situation. You could just see it in his eyes that he was remembering all those moments that he and Sasuke had shared. All those times when he was still in Team 7, before he left.
Sai, on the other hand, had his fake smile on his face, clearly not understanding the seriousness of this situation.
"Sasuke will be rejoining Team 7, but he will be guarded by five ANBU until he is proven to be completely innocent," Tsunade explained, talking as if this traitor hadn't abandoned his friends for revenge against his brother.
Before anything else was said, Tsunade dismissed them to go back to the training grounds to try and get used to their new member.
When they got back to the training grounds, they all stayed silent, not too sure what to do next. Of course, Sai was the one to break the ice.
"So, are we ready to train?" Everyone stayed silent.
Sakura sighed and grabbed a clueless Sai, dragging him to the side.
"Sai, you should really just keep your mouth shut," she said, refraining herself from smacking him up right the head. She needed to keep telling herself that Sai simply did not understand the situation right now and that she needed to be patient with him.
The confused ex-ROOT member raised an eyebrow, "Did I say something wrong?"
Sakura shook her head and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "No, not necessarily… It's just that… It's complicated Sai."
He shook his head and frowned, "Ugly, if even you can't explain to me what I did wrong, how am I supposed to improve my social skills?"
Sakura's eyebrow twitched. It's really hard to feel sympathy when he's acting like such an ass.
"Look, I'll explain later, just… just keep your mouth shut for now… please," she added that last part, trying to be polite, proving that she was quite desperate for his cooperation. Sai nodded and they made their way back to Naruto and Sasuke.
Sakura cleared her throat, "Well, we're here to train, so… umm…" She wasn't quite sure where she was going with this, but thankfully, Kakashi decided to appear right there and then.
"Hm, it seems that we are now back to the original Team 7, but with an extra member," he said, his eyes creasing as he smiled behind his mask. "Alright, let's start this training session. Naruto and Sai, you two can spar, as usual. Sakura and Sasuke, you do the same."
The two groups separated; Naruto and Sai going to a more open space. Sakura, Sasuke, and the five ANBUs following him, went to a more secluded place in the forest.
The two of them faced each other, keeping quiet. Sasuke was the first to speak.
"You seemed to have changed, Sakura," he said, a smirk playing on his lips.
She hated how does words made her catch her breath. She hated how she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. And before she could even think of a retort, he had already disappeared and he was now behind her, his face close to her ear.
"Do you know why I came back?" he whispered huskily in her ear.
Sakura chuckled humorlessly. Was this really happening? Was her fantasies of Sasuke, coming back to whisk her off her feet and run away together to live happily ever, actually coming true? She shook her head. No. She wouldn't let it happen; she couldn't. No matter how much she wanted to. After all, they weren't called fantasies for no reason.
"Let me guess, you came back because you missed me, Sasuke-kun?" She turned to face him, tears threatening to fall. "Well, sorry to break it to you, but I won't be buying your bullshit anymore."
There didn't seem to be any emotional change in him, except for the slight tension in his jaw that Sakura's trained eyes could see. Sasuke looked down at the ground. What he said next was the last thing the medic-ninja ever expected him to say,
"I'm sorry… I know what I did was wrong…" She stared at him, wide eyed and in shock. Was this really the Sasuke-kun she knew? Or did he really change?
Sakura was at a loss of words, not able to say anything. The only thing that came to mind was to punch the man in front of her in the face and let out her anger and frustration; and that was exactly what she did.
The former traitor had definitely not expected that. He flew right into the tree behind him, landing on the ground with a thud.
He got back up, wiping his mouth from blood.
"What was that for?" he snapped at her.
She shrugged and crossed her arms. "I dunno, I just really felt like punching a traitor right now, and it just so happened you were the closest one," she said overly sarcastic, letting him know that she was still mad.
The next sentence did not come from Sasuke's lips, but the man that was walking up behind her, "Now, now, Hag, don't you think you're being a little harsh?"
She took a deep breath and turned around to find Sai's body a little too close to hers.
"What do you want, Sai?"
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Naruto wants to spar with Sasuke and it doesn't seem like we interrupting anything, anyways."
Sakura gave one last glance at the Uchiha behind her, and then followed Sai to where they'd be sparring together.
When Naruto saw them, he started walking to where Sasuke was, passing Sakura while saying, "No worries, Sakura-chan, I'll make sure we never lose him again…"
She gave a small smile, not too sure how to react, even though she knew he would keep his word.
"I don't seem to understand why you two are so bothered by his coming back," Sai said; and after one look, she knew that he actually had no idea why.
"Sai, he was an old teammate of ours and he ran away for revenge."
"I already know this from the Hokage," Sai interjected, not letting her finish.
She kept reminding herself to be patient with him, "It's like…" she struggled to find an example, "It's like if Shin had become evil, left you behind like some trash, and then he randomly decides to come back, hoping, no, knowing that everybody would be grateful to receive him with open arms!" She didn't realize that the tears she had so desperately tried to keep back were now falling freely down her cheeks,
"The same man that you would've given up your life for! The same man that you loved your whole life and that only saw you as weak and useless! The only person who you thought could bring you happiness…" Her voice was dying down as her voice cracked.
Sai had a very strong feeling that she wasn't speaking about Shin anymore. He stared at her confusingly.
"Ug—Sakura-san," he started, thinking it would be better not to make her mad in this state, "Are you upset about something?"
She squinted her eyes at him and grit her teeth, "What was your first clue, Sai? That I'm actually crying in front of a cold hearted bastard like you?"
That stirred something in him. Like a sort of boiling in his stomach. Like he wanted to scream to the woman right in front of him for accusing him of such. He thought for a minute, Anger… That's what they call anger…
He remembered when Naruto and Sakura had erupted at him for being so emotionless. That, when he feels something, he shouldn't be afraid to let it out; and that's what he was about to do.
Until Sakura broke down crying; her hands covering her face as she sobbed.
Sai frowned and watched her intently. He suddenly felt bad for the girl on the ground before him. He never wanted to see her cry. All the times he insulted her and made fun of her, it was only to make her mad. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to make this girl cry.
He crouched down beside her, laying a hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly. He had read in a book that that is one of the best thing to do when a friend is upset.
Although, he never expected her jumping into his arms and sobbing onto his chest.
His whole body went rigid. Was she so desperate for comfort that she would actually go to Sai? Or was she just going for the first person she could hug.
Hug… Wait; is she expecting me to hug her back? He thought, feeling his heartbeat go ever so faster. In any other situation, with anyone else, he'd probably just push them away and tell them that there's no point in crying… But he just couldn't bring himself to do that to this heartbroken girl in his arms.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. He didn't know what else to do or say, so instead he simply stayed silent and let her make the next move.
When she had finally calmed down, Sai expected her to pull back, but that wasn't the case. He felt butterflies in his stomach as she pulled him closer and leaned close to his ear, whispering,
"Thank you, Sai, you're a good friend," she said, leaning back to smile at him.
Friend. Somehow the word felt wrong; like it didn't quite fit in between them.
Sakura saw the confused look on his face, which made her ask, "What's wrong?"
He shrugged and got back up, dusting his clothes off; realizing that the front of his shirt was now soiled with Sakura's tears. The thought didn't cross his mind twice as he outstretched his hand towards her.
She grabbed it and pulled herself up. She was about to ask again until their sensei cut her off.
"Alright everybody, let's call it a day and meet each other tomorrow! Same time, as usual."
She sighed and turned back to look at Sai, but he was already gone.
She gave a small frown and turned around to see Sasuke and Naruto walking towards her.
"Where'd Sai go?" Naruto asked, looking around.
"Probably home," she said with a shrug. Her eyes kept trying to avoid Sasuke's at all cost.
"How'd your training go?" she asked, looking straight at Naruto.
He gave his goofy grin and made a thumbs up. "I totally kicked dattebayo's ass!"
Sasuke smirked, "If by that you mean me wiping your face on the floor, then yeah, I guess you did."
That made Sakura chuckle. It felt like the old days; before Sai, before Sasuke had ever betrayed them, and before he broke her heart.
"Well, I'm glad you two are getting along," she said and turned around, preparing to leave.
"Wait, Sakura…" She heard Sasuke's voice say behind her.
She turned around, only to be met by a kiss on the cheek. Her eyes grew wide and she was very surprised not to feel her face flush, or butterflies in her stomach, or her heart racing like crazy. She was simply surprised that someone like Sasuke would do such a thing.
"Thank you… for everything… And I'll hope that one day you'll be able to forgive me." This didn't sound like Sasuke at all.
He must be really serious about gaining our trust, she thought, smirking a little. Maybe I should give him a chance.
"Okay, Sasuke-kun… As long as you promise to never leave again…"
They looked at one other; the original Team 7. All that was missing now was Kakashi and it'd be just like old times.
Then Sai popped into her mind once again. That's right, she had wanted to go and see what was wrong.
"Alright, well, I need to take my leave, so I will see you all tomorrow," she said and started sprinting back.
Naruto and Sasuke stood there, eyebrows raised, wondering why she was in such a hurry.
The exhausted kunoichi stood at the ex-ROOT member's front door. She took a deep breath and knocked. She heard footsteps, and then the door opened.
"Ugly, what are you doing here?" Her fists clenched, but she forced herself to not punch him here. She can do plenty of that tomorrow while they were training.
"You never answered me back there," she said, relaxing a bit now.
He didn't seem to catch on, but when he did she saw the noticeable way that he shifted his weight, feeling uncomfortable now. Though his face stayed impassive.
"Look, I am quite busy—" Before he could finish, she had already walked in and was now sitting on his couch, looking at him.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me, so you might as well just give it up." She said, giving him a bitter-sweet smile.
He sighed and closed the door, walking towards his kitchen. "I'll go and make some tea."
With Sai now gone, Sakura was able to look at her surroundings now. She had never really gone into his apartment, since every time she came to get him it was either for a mission or if he wanted to come and hang with her and Naruto.
His apartment was quite simple; he had white walls with a few paintings that were hanging on them. There was a shelf beside the couch with a few books placed in them. On the far corner of the room there was a table with all his ninja tools, including his brushes and blank scrolls. She looked back at the kitchen entrance and watched as Sai was walking out with two cups of tea. He placed one of them in front of her and sat down beside her.
"So, do I need to ask again, or are you ready to tell me," she said cockily. He sighed.
"You can be quite perseverant when you want to, you know?" She simply stared at him for him to continue, and that's what her was going to do,
"Usually I know it myself because of all the books I am reading, but this emotion seems to have escaped even my comprehension," he started, looking at the ceiling in thought.
"Although, I do have a theory as to what I am feeling, but I guess I should ask you to make sure that I am right… or I might be wrong," he said, rambling.
"What is it Sai?" she asked, not sure where this was going. Sai never rambles. And she didn't even want to think about the reasons why he would, so she simply listened.
He turned his head towards her and looked her straight in the eye when he said, "Sakura-san, I think I'm in love with you."
From anyone else, it would've sounded like a confession; but she knew that Sai actually thought that he might love her. He was clearly confused and he was hoping that Sakura would be able to organize his jumble of thoughts.
Even though it wasn't quite a confession, Sakura still felt her cheeks getting a little warmer.
"What makes you say that, Sai?"
"Well, every time I see you, it's like my heart is about to burst out of my chest. And when you punch me because I made you mad… It sort of makes me feel good, like you're noticing me… I'm not sure how to explain it, but…" his sentence trailed off.
Sakura scooted closer to him and placed a hand on his arm.
"As much as I'd like to say yes, I must say that… Well…" she was hesitating, not really sure how to say it.
"Look, Sai, when you fall in love, you'll know." She stated finally, looking him in the eyes.
Sai looked down, his eyebrows knitted together. "Alright, let me rephrase this, then," his black orbs stared into her emerald ones, "I know that I'm in love with you, Sakura."
There was a moment of silence as they simply stared at each other.
"Sai," she whispered, barely able to say his name. She slowly slid her hands up to his shoulders and immediately pulled back.
"I can't," she said, looking at the ground, frowning. Sai pursed his lips, feeling a little hurt; not that he'd let her know.
"Is that what you usually call a rejection?" he asked, looking at her.
She snapped her head up in surprise, just now noticing how it bothered her how easily he gives up on things sometimes.
"N-No… it's just… I… I can't handle to be hurt again…" she hesitated, not letting go of his gaze.
He raised an eyebrow. "Who said I would hurt you?"
She stayed silent, shaking her head. Sai had no idea what was going on in her head and it was bothering him.
"What are you—"
"Will you leave me?" she blurted out, cutting him off.
Sai chuckled, finding amusing that she was still comparing him to that guy, Sasuke.
He answered her by softly pulling her head towards him and planting a soft kiss on her lips. He pulled back almost immediately and watched her for any reaction. All he saw was shock and he suddenly wondered if what he did was completely out of hand.
"I-I-I'm so—" he started stuttering, which was an odd thing for him to do, until she interrupted him with her own lips.
He didn't waste any time in responding and pulling her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her hands in his dark locks.
They were now caught in a hot and passionate kiss.
That's when Sakura realized that the man kissing her didn't think as much as she thought. I mean, even though he knows nothing of romance or such, he was still able to make her heart beat 100 miles an hour and make her blood rush to her face; making her feel happy.
Unlike him.
She realized just how gentle he was as he laid her down along the couch, deepening the kiss. He held her as if she would break at any moment, like she was the thing most thing important to him in his life.
Unlike him.
That's when everything settled in, and it all became crystal clear:
Sasuke and Sai were nothing alike. Sasuke acted cold and heartless because he sought out revenge. Sai acted like so because that's who he was.
Sasuke didn't want anything to do with them so he kept himself isolate from Team 7 and betrayed them in the end. Sai decided he wanted to be different and be like Naruto and Sakura, so he betrayed Danzo and stayed a member of Team 7.
All this time she kept telling herself that the only reason she had feelings towards Sai was because he resembled Sasuke… but she was wrong.
She had fallen in love with Sai, himself. He had actually helped her move on from Sasuke with all his insults and snarky remarks. He had done it without her even realizing it.
Sakura pulled back and smiled at the man above her,
"I love you, Sai."
He gave her a smile, a real smile.
"I'd have to say the feeling's mutual," he said before bringing his lips to hers once more.
The end!
Did you like? Did you hate it? Feel free to comment and let me know!
Yeah, I dunno if it was too short or no, but it's still my first, so I'll try to get better. Oh, and before I forget, I'd really like to keep writing, so if anyone would like me to make a fanfic about a certain anime, either romantic, funny, crossover or whatever you like, you can let me know and I swear I'll get to each and every one of them! I have too much time on my hands anyways, so might as well make the most of it!
Okay then, I leave you here.