Sai was Sakura's lost puppy. Constantly around, always searching for approval. Sure, he was a little starved for attention, was a social retard and had the eagerness to learn, but sometimes he was comparable to some of the 5 year old children Sakura dealt with at the hospital's day care.
Unlike the children at the hospital, where Sakura could easily plunk them down with a book or crayons, Sai was not so easily amused. He would simply say that he wasn't in the mood to read and that he gained most of his inspiration at night for drawing. Sai was not a child Sakura could easily manipulate to her benefit.
However, she may have just the thing to pacify his lust for interaction and knowledge, at least for a few weeks. Sakura showed up at his doorstep, a small blue cube in hand. When he answered the knocking, his face was smudged in ink, he was wiping his hands off on his pants. He looked down at the cube in her hands.
"Game Cube, Sai." She said, handing it to him.
He took it and shook it. "You have given me another empty present, Ugly."
And he handed it back. Sakura shook her head and pushed into his apartment, spotting the small TV that mostly collected dust and art supplies and began to hook cords up to the matching sockets.
"It's a game, Sai. Like Naruto plays." Sakura explained. "You've played them right?"
Sai nodded slowly. "If stealing cars and killing prostitutes is called playing a game, then sure, I've played one." and he frowned. "But why one would kill a woman after seeking her affections is beyond my understanding."
Sakura held up a DVD case to Sai's face. "This Sai, is Animal Crossing. I was hooked on it about 3 years ago. It's life simulation game, quite juvenile, yes, but you could learn a little from it."
She sat on the ground in front of the console and patted the spot beside her. Sai crouched down beside her, watching her put the disk in, close the lid and press power on both the cube and the TV. The poppy music and colours sent Sai toppling to his behind as Sakura gave him the controller.
"SO basically, your a human living amongst little animal hybrids." Sakura explained as one of said little animals popped up on the screen and began to talk in garbled speech with their crude translation bubbles down below their feet. "You're given a house, you pay off your debit, while you make friends in the process. I already have an existing town, at one point Naruto and Sasuke played this game so they also have characters in the a game, so there should be one house left in town."
Sai loaded the game with his character and scowled when he saw he was sitting on a train facing a purple cat.
"It's head's too big, it's voice is too high and it doesn't speak my language."
"Read along with it. You don't need to understand the voice parts, just the words." Sakura huffed.
The purple cat introduced itself as Rover and asked for Sai's name. It commented on how that was a cute name for a cute girl and Sai's jaw dropped.
Sakura giggled. "Don't worry, you can say your a boy."
"For someone with no penis, this Rover sure has a lot of balls to question my masculinity." Sai muttered, restoring his pride when he confirmed he was in fact, a boy while receiving an apology from Rover.
"Am I going to meet more wads like this dickless feline?" Sai asked as the game started with him getting off the train.
"That guy right there." Sakura gestured to the tanuki in front of the station. "He'll get you set up."
"He shows little shame in walking around in just an apron." Sai nodded. "He must be what Naruto's games call 'the man'."
With Sai set up in Animal Crossing, living in the wonderful world of PepTown, Sakura decided to take her leave.
"Keep it for as long as you like, Sai." She said before she left.
He grunted in response as game Sai picked up another sea shell.
Sakura thought that would be the last she saw of Sai. She remembered how that game took control of her life for a solid month, she didn't quite get her house as big as she could get it, though. she'd lost interest and gave the game to Naruto, who in turn gave it to Sasuke, who in turn gave it back to Sakura a whole year after she lent it to Naruto. Now it was Sai's turn.
It was only two days later when she heard a thump on her bedroom window. Sai waved her over as she sleepily approached the glass.
"Sakura chan. I have a question." He looked as though he hadn't slept for a long while. "There's this girl that likes me."
Sakura blinked the last bit of sleep from her eyes as her jaw dropped, soon turning into a wide grin.
"Who?" Sakura inquired.
"This girl named Sally... she's a squierl." Sai replied, stepping through the window. "I don't know how I feel about it. Can you tell me what to do?"
Sakura throttled him out the window.
"It's a game, Sai!" She shouted. "Get a grip!"
A week passed and soon it turned into two and while Naruto was still the sun in her life, shining happily down upon Sakura, the shadow that it created was no longer there. Noticeably absent from training, the library and social outings, Sakura knew exactly where he was, despite Sai calling sick everyday.
"I thought you treated him?" Naruto asked absently as they walked home from training.
"Uh, yeah... I treated him good all right." Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Then why isn't he here?" Naruto pressed. "I'm usually up and around a few hours when you get your hands on me."
"Well, this is different." Sakura furrowed her brow and bit her lip.
"How?" Naruto dug his hands into his pockets.
"Remember Animal Crossing?"
Naruto tripped on his feet, falling foward, face first into the worn path ahead of them. Rolling over onto his back, he pointed at Sakura, shaking his finger as he gasped in shock.
"Oh, no you didn't."
Sakura nodded. "I saw him two days later. Haven't seen him since."
Naruto got to his feet. "And you haven't went to visit him?"
Before Sakura had the chance to voice her reply, Naruto grabbed her arm and was yanking her towards Sai's apartment with a sense of urgency.
"This could fuck him up more than anything ANBU could have ever done." Naruto said frantically. "6 months! Sakura chan, 6 months I was hooked on that game. I never did complete it, but by the God's we must stop Sai before this escalates."
Sai didn't answer the door. No foot steps were even heard from within the apartment after the second knock. Naruto furrowed his brow and tapped his foot anxiously before thumping on the door again. He tried the handle, locked securely.
"Bastard! Open the door or I'm kicking it in." Naruto yelled. "I'll alert your neighbours, one of them has to have a key..."
In mid rant, the door clicked and creaked open. Most of Sai's face was hidden behind the door, lighting up one of Sai's eyes as he winced. Sakura wanted to laugh. She remembered Sasuke and Naruto from their youth, playing video games on their time off from academy. They'd go for days, emerge from their rooms, pale, hungry, greasy haired and tired.
If Sai didn't already look like that before he started playing Animal Crossing, Sakura would have been more concerned.
Sai let them in, Animal crossing on pause as he sat down on the couch and resumed playing. Naruto took a seat beside him, eyeing him tentatively before poking him in the cheek. Still, Sai stared at the screen. Naruto blew in his ear, getting little reaction, just a wrinkling of Sai's nose. Sakura sighed, grabbing at Sai's hair, regretting it moments later. The normally soft ebony locks were coated in a heavy grease.
Sakura eased herself over the couch and slid in between Naruto and Sai, slowly, she eased a leg over his thigh, then the other, carefully, she put her arms around his shoulder as she slid her body onto his lap.
"Sai." She said softly, he tilted his head to look around her, vacant eyes avoided hers as he pouted his lips and scrunched his nose. Sakura pushed herself into his body more, applying her weight in all the right places only to receive an annoyed grunt from Sai. Naruto grabbed Sakura's shoulders and pulled her onto his lap as he giggled, pointing at the screen.
"Sakura Chan... look." He whispered.
Peptown was cleaned up nice. No weeds, trees were flourishing fruits and the population had doubled since Sakura last visited. A monument was even constructed in Sai's name for having the biggest house. Game Sai stopped and talked to a hippo, who finished his sentences with 'dickless'. The hippo handed over a present to Sai who went happily skipping back to the house he resided in. Dropping the present off in the basement, Game Sai continued on his merry way through Peptown. He struck up a conversation with a chicken who called him 'ugly' and a frog who said 'penis'. He even ran into the squirrel that had the crush on him. Game Sai chatted to her, she gave him a cherry and he ate it. He proceeded to walk into the squrail until she got annoyed and locked herself in her house.
The museum was finished as well, full of fish, bugs and fossils, mostly collected by Sai, but with the aide of the other members of team 7 from so many years ago. The town was complete really. Sai had managed to bring the whole place together, that 4th house in the left bottom corner with the little blue roof was meant for Sai. Sakura smiled. Once again, Sai had managed to find his place amongst Team 7, even if it was through a video game addiction.
Sai saved his game and stretched, cracking every joint in his body, in the process.
"That was fun, Ugly." He admitted, yawning.
"Are you finished?" Sakura asked, a little sad that he had turned off the game that had brought back so many fond memories for her.
Naruto even had that nostalgic look twinkling in his eyes.
"For now." He replied. "You guys want to go out and do something?"
"Shower first." Naruto and Sakura said in unison.