A/N
Hello, my darlings! This is a story that I wrote about a year ago but never posted on the net. I just recently edited it a little bit, but the basic storyline is still there. I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and TV Tokyo, I hold no claim whatsoever to the following characters or settings.
Ino was watching the shop, bored out of her skull. Since Pein's attack on Konoha everyone was too busy to have any time for flowers, therefore she wasn't getting much business. That meant she had plenty of time to think.
Ino did not like thinking too much. Whenever she found herself thinking idly, she always somehow ended up reviewing her own life. It made her a bit nervous, to think about such things. Was she happy with her life? Was she happy with her image? Was she happy at all?
The bell rung. "Welcome to the Yamanaka flower shop," she said automatically, and then she noticed who it was.
Pale skin, onyx eyes, and the ever-present smile, it had to be Sai. "Hello, Sai," she said curtly.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he replied.
She could have stabbed him.
"What do you want?" she asked shortly. Sai was a little bit confused. The last time he had used that nickname she had nearly swooned right into his arms, but this time she seemed to be getting angry. "I would like to buy some seeds, a pot, and some topsoil if that's all right," he answered, this time with more caution.
She snorted, "Yeah, right, you want to buy some seeds, a pot, and some… wait a second, since when do you garden?" Sai smiled again.
That was the last straw. Before he had any reaction time Ino had leapt over the desk and smacked that smile right off of his face.
The artist staggered back, putting a hand to his reddening cheek. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly. Ino took a deep breath to calm herself down enough to speak. "You lied to me, Sai," she growled, "You made me believe that you actually meant what you said that day in the restaurant. That is the first time a guy has ever called me gorgeous, and now I find out that it was just an effort to gain another friend, that I was just another experiment of yours."
"But, I was nice to you…" he began, confused, "I thought that was all it took to be friends." Ino curled back a fist, "Dead wrong, Sai, dead wrong," she replied.
After several minutes of being mercilessly beaten by the irate blonde, Sai was left in a heap outside of the shop. After much groaning and scraping across the street he finally managed to crawl to the hospital, where Sakura took him in. "What happened to you?" she asked in a scolding voice. Sakura had gone into full mother-hen mode now.
"Ino," was all he could rasp out. A brush and paper were thrust into his hands. "Don't talk," the medical ninja admonished, "You've got green-stick fractures on five ribs encasing the lungs and a full fracture on two others. You might as well punch yourself in the stomach as talk now."
The artist started to write:
Why?
He wrote this over and over again, until he had used up all the space on the page. "Why what?" asked Sakura, confused. Sai turned the page over.
Why am I like this, Sakura?
Why are you like that?
Why is Ino the way she is?
Why is anyone the way they are?
Why are these questions coming now?
Who am I, Sakura?
The kunoichi was starting to get a little bit creeped out. "Why, you're Sai, don't you remember?" she said with false heartiness. He merely wrote again:
Who am I, Sakura?
Sakura sighed. "I don't know," she admitted, "It's up to you to find out. As for the other questions, people just are the way they are. They get moulded by feelings throughout their lives."
Sai wrote:
Then I must start from nothing?
Just those six words were probably the most upsetting thing she had ever read. Sai didn't have emotions; he had been trained not to. Yes, it was true, at 18 he had to start his life from nothing. She couldn't bring herself to say it, but she knew it had to be said. Sai knew what she was thinking, and for the first time in his cold, emotionless life, a single tear rolled down his cheek.
* * * * *
Truth be told, Ino was feeling kind of bad about what she had done. It wasn't in her nature to hurt, and she didn't like it now that she had done it without cause. It had felt great at the time, but the more she thought about it, the more she found she could see from Sai's point of view.
He had no idea of how to make friends, but he desperately wanted to find out. He thought that he could learn it simply through research, and so he had read everything there was to read on the topic, but he still didn't understand it. He had simply been doing what the books had told him to do that day in the restaurant; he hadn't meant it as an insult.
Ino decided that the best thing to do would be to visit him with a peace offering. She looked around her current location: the shop. There were flowers there, and, well… flowers. Ok then, flowers were her best bet. She snatched a few lilies and slipped the appropriate payment into the cash register.
After locking up the shop temporarily, she made her way to Sai's house.
Wait a minute, she thought, I don't know where Sai lives. Change of plan: she would go to Naruto's instead; he probably had some idea of where his teammate resided. Of course, she would have gone to Sakura, but Naruto was closer and she really wanted this errand to be over and done with.
When she knocked on the door, a groggy looking Naruto greeted her. Obviously he had decided to sleep late that morning (and well into the afternoon) and was still in his pajamas. He looked from Ino's expressionless face to the flowers in her hands. "Uh…" he said. She could almost see the gears turning in his head. "Um, I like you too, Ino, but just as a friend, you know? I mean, any friend of Sakura's is a friend of mine but I had no idea that you felt…" he was interrupted by a fist colliding with his jaw. "Idiot!" she screamed into his confused (and newly bruised) face, "These aren't for you, I just want to know where Sai lives!"
"Ow!" he moaned, rubbing his jaw, "That really hurt! Anyway, I don't know where Sai lives…"
Well that was a bloody great waste of time and embarrassment, thought Ino, irritated.
"…But Sakura called a few minutes ago. She said he'd been taken in at the hospital, and that I should visit, that's why I'm up. What time is it anyway? Seven, eight?" asked the ninja in orange.
"It's two in the afternoon," answered Ino, "And I have to go." She finished off her sentence by disappearing into the air. Moments later, she arrived at the hospital doors. Why did the doors have to look so much more imposing today? She was a medical ninja for heaven's sake, why should hospital doors intimidate her?
She inquired about Sai at the front desk, then made her way up to his room. He was sitting up in bed, propped against several pillows. Had she really beaten him up that badly? He looked like he had broken several bones, but at least Sakura had healed him as best she could. She stood silently outside the door, simply waiting for him to notice her. He was looking out the window
"Come in, Ino," he said. Apparently her presence had been noted.
"Sai, I'm so sorry, I just lost my temper, I'm really really sorry!" She blurted. He raised a hand for silence. "Ino," he said softly.
"Y-yes?" she stuttered.
"What is love? I read about it, but it doesn't say much in any books. I'm feeling things deep down inside of me and nothing is making sense. Sakura says that all feelings can be traced back to love. So, what is it? If you could tell me, maybe I can make sense of these other feelings."
"I…" she began. What was he asking? Here he was, a boy a year older than her asking her about love? Maybe she should start with something of an analysis.
"Well, that depends, is it a good feeling or a bad feeling that you've got?" she asked. He shook his head. Great, she thought, shaking head means it's too bad to put into words. Wonderful.
"Well then, I'd say that you already know what love is. The first thing that comes with it is pain, and that's what you're feeling. At least, that's what I think."
For a while he didn't say anything. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he shakily stretched out his arms and hugged her. After a moment of surprise, she returned the hug.
"Thank you," he muttered, "But why is it coming now?" Ino almost giggled. "Probably because I hit you on the head in a place that was blocking emotions. Your guess is as good as mine."
He smiled a genuine smile. "Well then," he said, "Thank you for beating me up."