All I know is a simple name, and everything has changed.

-Taylor Swift

UN

Summer has come to Konoha, the sun blaze its heat on the clear blue sky above. The dry weather soon would dehydrated any living things out there quickly. Luckily, Ino had tend her garden meticulously to keep them barely alive. She picked two sunflowers from her own garden and wrapped them carefully. After checked everything, she locked up her shop for a while and went out.

As soon as she went out, the summer heat struck her. The blonde quickly use paper fan to send the heat away. If only I had bigger fan, a fan so big that could sent these hot wind away… she found herself amused at the thought of Temari and her giant fan. If she thought about Temari, she'd unconciously thought about Shikamaru too. The last time she heard, Shikamaru finally had the gut to ask the Suna Princess out for a date. About time, Ino laughed inside, that lazy bum finally have someone that can make him awake from his sleep.

Ino entered Konoha hospital, wiped out some of the sweat on her forehead. It felt nice being inside a building, being protected by the sunstroke and heat. She took the lift to the third floor, going to the furthest door on the right wing. Just on the corner, Sakura came out of the room which Ino intended to go.

"Oh, Ino?" Sakura greeted her first, she didn't close the door in purpose, knowing Ino would enter the room.

"You're lucky you're in here since morning until night, Sakura. I swear the heat is trying to claw my skin." Sakura threw her a cynical look.

"You can take my shift anytime you want, I'd be more than happy to have another life outside here anyway." The two ladies chuckled at each other's comments. Sakura waved her goodbye before Ino strode inside the room.

"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully to the man sitting on the bed.

"Yamanaka-san." Sai greeted her back, usual smile playing on his pale face. Ino closed the door and walked to his bed, put down the plastic of sun flowers on the table beside his bed.

"How are you? I met Sakura outside." She took out lavenders she put on the vase on table yesterday, replaced them with the bright, cheerful sun flowers.

"Sakura said I can go home tomorrow." Sai watched the new flowers on his vase. Ever since he was sent to the hospital after the incident of Gengo in the Land of Silence three days ago, Ino always came to visit him and brought him flowers. His injury were nothing serious in his opinion, the external injury he experienced didn't bring him into a fatal condition, Sai himself didn't know why it took almost three days for him to be discharged. He had overheard Sakura talked with Tsunade outside yesterday about his mental state, he thought it must've related with the genjutsu casted on him.

"It's good then." Ino glanced at him. She took a chair and sit beside his bed. Her eyes took a sight of him, like she usually did whenever she visited him. An unusual habit developed since three days ago.

Sai stared at her equally intense, his eyes scanned over her face. Although Ino always came visited him during his stay in three days, they haven't really been catched up to each other. On the first day, Sakura was with him along with Naruto when she came. Ino only sent him a smile from afar then wave him goodbye after putting Peruvian lilies on the vase.

The second time she came, he was under strong psychotic drugs that knocked him up. His blurred vision saw her form came inside his room, changing lilies into lavenders, then ever so lightly he felt a little tap on his shoulder. She whispered him something but he couldn't catch it right before he fell into a deep sleep. At night the only visitor for him was Sakura who only came to check on his medicine then leave without further ado.

They never actually talk much, both of them. Even before the Land of Silence mission, they haven't even gone in mission together along with their own respective teams. For Sai, Yamanaka Ino was the matriarch of Yamanaka clan, a grown-up woman who wore revealing clothes of purple, had long blonde hair and baby blue eyes. He didn't add up much of her info in his usual notebook of his own opinion, other than her jutsu ability and maybe some unnecessary things like her nicknamed from Sakura.

Other than that, Sai never know about her personally. And so did she. He's pretty much sure they haven't really talk to each other at all.

There came the awkwardness when he was left alone with people he didn't really close with, a person he practically owned a lot for saving him before.

"Ano, Yamanaka-san…" he decided to start the conversation.

"Just Ino is okay, Sai." Sai hesitant a bit, since the Land of Silence accident he realized he became a lot more self-conscious now, eventhough Sakura said his 'remarkably annoying blunt comments' hadn't gone at all.

"Ino," Sai tested the name rolling on his tongue. It came out awkward since he didn't usually address someone without honorific outside Naruto and Sakura. "I haven't thank you properly."

"Me? for what?" she looked genuily curious.

"For saving me back there." He saw her expression fazed, then slowly she forced a smile that came out as awkward as he did before with her name. "I supposed to thank you three days ago, but I usually blacked out before I could actually talk to you…"

"You'd do the same if it was for your teammates too. No big deal." She reasoned, eyes wandered to the floor, avoiding his gaze. Maybe she was right. It was for the team. No big deal for her.

"Well… I should go now. Hope you recovery soon." Ino gave him a usual smile of her and exited herself calmly.

He had seen her interact with her teammates and judging from her dynamic with Sakura, he conclude she was a loud woman, maybe close enough to be Naruto female counterpart. But somehow right now he felt she act more cautiously at her. Maybe it's because she had seen the darkest part of his mind, that now it's kinda hard not being a self-conscious one when she faced him and vice versa. Afterall, letting someone came inside your mind, seeing the darkest part of you, your very core of weakness, is a big deal for him.

No matter how inconvenience she tried to say it was no big deal for a mind-jutsu user like her.

Sai turned his gaze into the vase of sunflowers beside him.

Ino was the first person and maybe the only one ever sent him flowers.


Ino had promised to pay Hinata a visit today. She planned to give her flowers buds to be planted on Hyuuga manor's garden. Her mind replaying the awkward scene she just ended minutes ago from his bedroom. Sakura would surely laughed at her if she knew Ino now felt a little bit scared of talking with Sai. Ino couldn't help that, as if she didn't careful enough with her words and action, he'll fell into the same pit of darkness again. She didn't know how to act normally ever since she knew the deep of his mind.

He was a lot stronger than you actually thought, she said to herself. He wouldn't break apart just because some genjutsu casted on him and bring out the worst of him. And why I thought about him this much lately? She frowned. Ino understood a lot that she always had soft spot for the pale nin, but apart from his similarity with Sasuke, now she began to look at Sai as… Sai.

As if the Land of Silence incident made her discovered a whole new Sai. And she couldn't help but curious at this man she always had her eyes on but not really know him personally.

Those type of man like Sasuke and Sai was not really a close friend material for her. As she grew up, she understand some people just give in distant vibe, as if they're out of reach. They're only fun to chase, to adore, to look at, to dreamed of. But when it comes to more serious matter of feeling, Ino knew it'd take more than a mere feeling of crush to be with them. Sakura's never ending loyalty to Sasuke had proven her theory.

Sometimes, she wonders how it feels to love someone that much, that way.

True, she cried when Konoha 11 planned on take down Sasuke once, but it was a friend's tears. She'd cry the same too if it was Chouji or Shikamaru. She basicly swept her tears for those she care about.

And she realized it a little bit late that Sai fell into that group now. There's something about him that made her jump and dive deeper and deeper with sole reason; to find him and save him no matter what. A reason she herself knew but not yet known how to deal with it.

How much do you like someone to call it a love? Do I like him as… like a friend? Or something else?

"Konnichiwa, Hinata-chan." Ino greeted the indigo haired woman who opened the door of Hyuuga manor's gate.

"Konnichiwa, Ino-chan…"

"I brought the flower buds you ask, here." She handed Hinata three sachets of buds. "watered them a little bit more until they show first leaf, okay? Then you could decrease the watering frequency little by little, but I suggest you still watered them plenty on this dry weather." Hinata listens to the florist's explanation carefully.

"How about coming for a little bit, Ino-chan? I can give you a glass cold water as a thank you…" Ino quickly accept the idea.

They both came in to the main house of Hyuuga manor, sitting on the veranda that face the Hyuuga garden. Ino could easily tell the garden was tend neatly, all the flowers and tree didn't seem to dehydrated at this dry hot weather. It made her happy to see a garden being carefully tend by people. After gulped down a glass of cold water that felt like heaven, she initiated the conversation with her shy friend.

"So how are you? Everything's going well with Naruto?" Ino looked at the blushed maiden beside her.

"It is… going well…"

"Thay's beyond expectation…has he ever do something stupid?" Hinata thought a second, then laughed silently.

"Yesterday Naruto-kun just came back from Suna … he said the summer there could dehydrated people just by standing on the outside for an hour."

"I bet he just knew that basic thing because he did that to himself." Hinata's laugh confirmed Ino's theory. Ino lied down on the tatami, eyes staring at the ceiling on Hyuuga's household, her mind still working on her previous question.

Is it when you thinking about that someone non-stop? Is it when you started to think you wanted to know more about that person, everything about him suddenly mattered to you?

"Something bothering you, Ino-chan?" Hinata looked at her friend, who gave her a little smile. "It's unusual for you to be like this… you and Sakura are bestfriend, did something happen?" Ino woke from her position.

"It's not like I'm on a fight with Sakura, Hinata-chan. We are fine. It's just… I have matters that can't be discussed with Sakura right now." She just not ready to talk about her feeling toward Sai to anyone, while she herself not even sure.

"…is it about Sasuke?" Ino shook her head lightly. "Sai?" her baby blue eyes widened at Hinata's guess. "I heard about what happen in the Land of Silent three days ago from Naruto-kun. Is he okay now?"

Ino's eyes looked afar to the garden ahead. "I hope so. Tsunade-sama told me he's going to be fine. We all agree we wouldn't tell much about the way he attack us before, since he himself didn't know what he had done while under genjutsu."

Hinata watched Ino's expression carefully. "You're worried about him." Ino frowned a little bit before answered her statement.

"Well... maybe. I've seen what's inside his mind, Hinata. It's dark… and he was there alone…" she recalling the memories, it's not a very good feeling to resurface the memory. "he had constantly worried about blankness in his heart. I just wonder how to stop him feeling that way…"

"Do you like him?" Ino's face blushed at the sudden question. Talking to Hinata about feelings was way different than talking with Sakura, of course. There's different weight being talked here.

"Well, eventhough he made stupid comment sometimes, it doesn't make me think of him less of a friend…"

"How about as a woman to a man?" Ino didn't answer her quickly. She seemed not sure about the answer either.

Ino let Hinata's question hanging on the mist of her thought.


The next day, about two past thirty on the afternoon, Ino went across an unexpected man on Konoha street after she finished sending a buqouet to Shizune-senpai. He held a sketch book on his right hand, and a sling bags attached on his back. He donned his casual long sleeves buttoned shirt, it meant he had no mission today.

"Sai!" she waved hand at him. The called man smiled back at her, stopping right in front of her.

"Good afternoon." He acknowledged her greetings politely, then added; "Ino." He had tried to roll out her name in a more comfortable way now, although it still sounded weird for him to address someone without honorific.

"So you had been discharged, I see. How are you?" He blinked, listening her question.

"I think I'm fine, I wouldn't be discharged if I weren't, was I?"

"I meant... well, how's your day?" Ino wasn't sure she had the right way of arranging words to make this clueless man understand a standart way of talking, but she surely couldn't just bluntly asked 'do you still have nightmares of driving people away and constant worry of your blankness?'

"I'm not doing anything this morning, and I'm thinking about doing sketchs on Hokage Mountain this afternoon."

"Oh, you're back on sketching!" she said way too excited, a little surprised him.

"Back on sketching? Where had I come back from, exactly?" he put on thinking face. "Ino?" he pressed her more. Curiosity as big as a little kid, Ino noted.

"Well … you know, about what you had faced back then… on Shikamaru's mission…" Ino stopped midtrack. Put things as simple as it meant was the only way to deal with him, probably. "I meant to ask… are you okay now?"

He looked at her thoroughly, seemed getting held of her real question. Sai went silent for seconds, before giving her his signature smile. This time, Ino frowned.

"Why do you always smile?" she asked.

"It helps me getting out of trouble," the pale nin's smile hasn't fade yet.

"My question troubling you?"

He looked at her thoroughly before answer slowly. "No… it's because I don't think I myself able to answer your question."

He still the same unreadable, cluless man. Ino sighed. Her intention of befriended him can wait some other time. What's important now is he's recovered.

"Alright, alright. I should go now anyway. See you, Sai!" she finally said, gave up on his silence. They exchanged one last respective smile before parted ways.

Ino glanced at his back, wondering if he ever have actual smile.


A/N : English is not my first languange, sorry for the grammar spelling mistake :)

Hope you like it.