Just A Feeling

Summary: Sai is more in tuned with his feelings, but love still eludes him. Falling in love is supposed to be natural, but how will he know if he's truly in love? Will his friends help him or make things worse? Requested fic. R&R please!

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Naruto or its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a fanfiction written for fun. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1:

Another successful mission. Another party to celebrate. Naruto insisted.

Sakura complained at first but the allure of a gettogether with friends was too much to pass up. They gathered at Naruto's apartment that evening to celebrate Sai's return.

He was bombarded with questions from Naruto, the blond ninja wishing he had come along to assist. Sai told him it was a mission like any other, but Naruto wanted all the details.

"I brought snacks!" Choji shouted from the doorway. "Now the party can get started!"

"I wasn't aware it was a full-on party," said Sai. "Just a mild celebration."

"Party!" Kiba and Naruto shouted at once.

"I guess it's a party."

The recently declared party lasted several hours with plenty of talking and joking. The genders remained separate for the most part. The boys were getting a bit rowdy so the girls didn't mind staying out of their way, preferring to talk instead.

At some point Sakura became aware that someone was missing and went to have a look around. She found Ino sitting by herself against the wall. She looked sad switch Sakura didn't often see so she went over to check on her.

"You ok, Ino?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Sakura sat down next to her. "Then why are you back here like a wallflower? Aren't you having a good time?"

"I am."

"You were more talkative in the beginning. What changed?"

Ino sighed, realizing that Sakura wasn't going to drop the subject. Ino didn't want to insist the opposite and decided to express her true feelings. Not just to vent but because she hoped Sakura could give her some advice. Even if it was bad advice, at least she would know which direction to take.

"I tried talking with Sai earlier."

"And?"

"He talked, but not much." Ino sighed. "He kept giving me these short answers to questions I asked him and when I talked, he just stared at me and when I finished he didn't say anything. Not even an 'uh-huh'."

"Well, that's just Sai. You know he's socially awkward."

"Still? I thought he got better. He's not as quiet. Usually he stayed near the wall at parties. Now he's talking with everybody else."

Sakura knew Ino had feelings for Sai. She wasn't shy about it. Sakura doubted that her teammate picked up on the not so subtle signals she was giving to him. Unless Ino came out and said it to him, Sai might never know.

"You have to be blunt with him, Ino. Just tell him you want to go out on a date."

"And if he doesn't want to?" she asked, giving Sakura a serious look. "What if I ask him out and get rejected? What if he doesn't feel the same way? I'll be humiliated. I'm certainly not going to ask him in front of all these people."

"I'm not saying now. I'm saying when you get him alone."

She sighed again, looking at the floor. "You already have Sasuke. Do you have to have both teammates to yourself?"

"I already told you I don't like Sai," Sakura said angrily. "Not in that way. Why are you-"

"I know you don't have feelings for him, forehead-girl. I meant having two guys I like care about you while neither of them care about me. Even if it is only as friends."

Sakura began to understand what Ino meant. She was angry but didn't want to start a fight so Sakura decided not to give her any attitude back. She could tell Ino was hurting.

"He'd rather talk to those guys than me," Ino said, gesturing with her cup towards Sai. He was still surrounded by all the boys, chatting away. "When would I get the chance to talk to him?"

"I can pull Sai over here."

"No, stupid," Ino hissed. "Then he'll know! He'll know I said something to make you do that. Are you trying to embarrass me? I want him to come over without having to be coaxed. How would you feel if I dragged a guy I knew you liked over to you at a party?"

What was she thinking? Of course, that would be awkward. She couldn't tell Sai to go over to her either. Sai was better at being social, but he was still blunt and would probably tell her that Sakura sent him over to talk with her, even after telling him not to.

Ino was right. Sakura did have Sasuke. She won that fight. Even if Sasuke was not in the village, she still declared this a win. Sakura was pleased and shocked to hear Ino admit it out loud and give her this win. It showed how upset she was. At least, that was how Sakura interpreted it.

It wasn't fair for Ino. Sakura had to do something.

She thought all night and into the next day about it. She kept trying to come up with a complex way of getting them together so neither of them would know it was a setup. So far, she had come up with nothing. The only sure way she could get him to pay any attention to Ino was if he was asked to do so, which wasn't an option.

Frustrated, she went to Naruto and Shikamaru for help. She told them that she wanted to set Sai up on a date with Ino or at the very least get him to talk with her for a little while.

"Just tell him to talk to her," said Shikamaru. "Why are you making things complicated?"

"No!" Sakura whined. "Then he'll tell her and she'll know I told! I wasn't supposed to say anything so you guys have to keep this a secret."

"Which means in a matter of minutes, everyone will know," Shikamaru moaned.

"Just get him to hang out with her without telling him what you're after. Ok? Simple."

"I think we can do that," said Naruto.

Shikamaru raised his brow at both of them. "Does Sai even like her? We should address that first, don't you think? If he doesn't, then that might be the reason why he isn't paying her a lot of attention."

"That's why Ino doesn't want to ask him directly just in case he rejects her. Even if he doesn't mean it. You know how oblivious he is. He might not think she was asking him out on a date. Or he might not be in the mood at the moment and decline which she'll take as him not wanting to at all."

"This is sounding way more complicated than it needs to be," said Shikamaru.

"Maybe we should just tell him up front," suggested Naruto.

Sakura smacked him on the shoulder. "Weren't you listening? I said that we can't tell him. He'll tell her and if they do go out, he'll probably tell her that we told him to go out with her and then Ino will know I said something. She doesn't want that. She also doesn't want him to go out on a date with her if someone told him to do it because she'll feel like he was being forced to do it."

"You might have to force him to go on a date with anyone," said Naruto. "This is Sai, after all. I don't think he knows what a date is."

Sakura growled. "You know your assignment." She pointed to each of them. "You're her teammate and you're Sai's. Figure it out!"

"Now we're being assigned? I thought you were asking us for advice."

"Well, now I'm telling you. Even if you don't manage to set them up on a date, find out if Sai likes her. I don't think I'm asking for much."

"Setting them up on a date, whether they know it was a setup or not, is a bit much, actually."

Sakura growled again. "Then don't worry about the date part. Just find out if he likes her. But don't tell him anything."

"That's a bit more doable."

Naruto agreed. If they needed a plan that would work, they could always count on Sakura, Naruto believed. She was very good at making things happen.

"Yup," Naruto said without thinking of how the words would come out. "Sakura and doable go hand in hand."

Shikamaru bit his lip, knowing Sakura would misinterpret Naruto's intended compliment. It came out all wrong.

Sakura punched Naruto in the face, leaving him in the street to wonder what he had done wrong.

"Ok, our mission is to find out if Sai likes Ino," said Naruto. "Sounds simple enough."

"If it was simple then why did she ask for our help?" Shikamaru questioned from the bench he was resting on.

"We can do this," he insisted. "Let's see. How do we find out if Sai likes Ino?"

Naruto paused a while to think.

"Got any ideas?"

Shikamaru slapped his forehead in annoyance.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "It's so obvious. Why don't we just ask him?"

"What if he asks us why?"

"Huh?"

"What if he asks why we want to know? Then we'll have to tell him and if we do that, he'll know and then Ino will know if he tells her, which he might."

Naruto grinned. "Then we tell him a lie. We don't say it was from Sakura. We just tell him that we were wondering if he did."

"Same problem," said Shikamaru. "He could tell Ino we were the ones asking and then she'll know Sakura told and it will all circle back."

"You're right." Naruto paced the ground. "Oh! We can tell him that someone commented on them being a cute couple and we wanted to know if he liked her and was willing to be a couple with her."

Shikamaru thought about it, then shook his head. "No. It would still risk him telling Ino that we said something, even out of context. He might also ask who thought they would make a cute couple. I doubt it, but it's still possible."

"Ok…" Naruto thought again. "Then we…"

"Face facts, Naruto," Shikamaru said sitting up on the bench. "If it involves asking Sai directly in any way, we risk him telling Ino that someone said something. Sakura said that we couldn't ask Sai directly anyway. We'll have to find another way to find out if he has feelings for her."

Naruto's shoulders slumped at a sudden thought. "What if he doesn't know?"

"What?"

"If he has feelings for her. Sai's pretty clueless when it comes to certain things. What if he doesn't know if he has feelings for a girl?"

Shikamaru frowned, unconvinced. "He cannot be that dim. When you're in love with someone, you know it."

"How would you know? Are you in love with anybody?"

Shikamaru flinched. "Huh?"

"Are you in love with someone?"

"Well, I… Uh…" Shikamaru could feel his face turning red. "Th- This isn't about me, it's about Sai. Let's figure out what to do about him."

"We could drop hints. Maybe Sai will get those."

"You just said that he was clueless. Besides, are we hinting that Ino likes him or hinting that he might like her? Which is it?"

"Either. Well, maybe not the first one because then she'll know."

Shikamaru flopped back down on the bench. "Let's face it, Naruto. The only way we can get a straight answer is if we come out and ask Sai directly."

"But we can't do that. Sakura said that if Ino finds out, she'll know Sakura told the secret."

"And you do not want to piss off Ino. I bet Sakura knows it would ruin her life if Ino finds out she breathed a word of their conversation."

Naruto didn't want that, and not just because if Sakura was miserable, she would make sure he was miserable. He wanted to help his friend.

"What it comes down to is this," said Shikamaru. "We cannot tell Sai anything or ask him whether or not he likes Ino, but the only way we can get the information we need is if we ask him."

"Sounds like a stalemate," said Naruto.

Was this mission really impossible? He wouldn't give up that easily. There must have been a way around it. Between the two of them, surely Naruto and Shikamaru could figure this out.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

What are they going to come up with and will they actually help or make things worse?

Please review!