Sai Knew All Along?

Naruto snapped out of his daydreaming. Now that Sakura made the young boy remember whom she truly loved, Naruto retreated on his attempt to tell Sakura he loved her.

As Sakura continued gazing into space, Naruto bowed his head down and negative thoughts came rushing through his mind.

'Snap out of it, Naruto! You can still have a chance with her. You just got to believe in yourself.'

As Naruto tried to cheer himself up, he couldn't resist letting go of the thought that, 'Sasuke was the one who is in Sakura's heart… who she truly desired… and who she wanted for a…' Naruto felt strong pressure at the pit of his stomach at his next thought, '…boyfriend.'

The Uzumaki caught a glimpse at the young Haruno.

Naruto wondered what Sakura had seen in the Uchiha. Although he was once his best friend, how could she love someone who betrayed his own village, who left his comrades just to have revenge? How could she love someone like him… how could she even like… 'No!' Naruto thought, he needs to stop having such nonsense thoughts about Sakura and Sasuke, his own friends…well, friend that is. He was confused of whether to call Sasuke a friend or not…

'You just got to relax, Naruto.' Letting out a sigh.

Maybe it wasn't the right moment to tell her after all…

Several moments later, the sun was almost out of sight, Sakura had fell asleep and Yamato sensei was back with food and other resources from his search in the forest.

"What's wrong, Naruto… you look some-what depressed. Is something bothering you?" Yamato questioned with worry in his voice.

Naruto did not want his sensei to have any concern, so he gave Yamato a rather fake smile and said, "No, I'm all right, sensei. Don't worry about a thing. I've never been better!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh.

Yamato have the boy a suspicious look and continued to search the ground for somewhere to sleep. "All right then, Naruto. Get some rest for tomorrow."

Naruto smiled at his sensei but it didn't last long as he looked at Sakura's sleeping face beside him.

Was Naruto a fool taking the chance to reveal himself…?

As the night drew close and darkness overcame the squad's surroundings, everyone decided to take it in for the day and get some good sleep, but since they still did not manage to get to know the forest that well, the fellow teammates had alerted their quick senses for some unexpected danger that might crawl the night.

"Don't worry, guys! From the searching I've been through this forest all day, I didn't get to see any danger or mischief, whatsoever. I think we'll get a pretty good chance of having a good night's sleep tonight." Yamato sensei said as he comforted the team.

Everyone felt relieved except for Sai, who appears to have no emotion to show at all.

Moments later, almost everyone was asleep, except for Naruto. Something in his mind was keeping him awake…

…'Sasuke…'

Naruto glared at the stars above him as he faced the dark-blue sky with both of is arms at the back of his head acting as a pillow.

Too many thoughts filled his aching head…

He once remembered the old days; how Sasuke, Sakura and himself were in D, C, B and even A-ranked missions with Kakashi sensei, having all the fun in the world.

'Yup! Those were the day.' Naruto thought as he continued reminiscing about the past.

Naruto turned his body sideways, facing Sakura. Was it best to tell her? … Or should he, again, wait a little longer, like what he has been doing for the past three years.

It was such a long, hard night for the young ninja…

"Oh, man. I have got to get some sleep… stop thinking about her, Naruto. We still got a long way if we're going to get Sasuke back. You made a promise and a true ninja never goes back on his word… You'll still have a chance with her… somehow." As Naruto whispered to himself, he suddenly heard Sai, turning his body sideways, facing the forest.

He tried carefully to look at Sai's face, but since Sakura is between the two men, Naruto would have to stand up and walk to be able to see Sai. And since he had an injured ankle, he couldn't take the risk of trying to walk with it. Plus, it would make too much noise for everyone to wake up. So he aborted instead.

Once the Uzumaki finally got tired of thinking, his eyes slowly closed and his brain just shut down and finally fell asleep.

…It was Sai's turn to have the night to himself.

Sai opened his eyes and got up. He leaned against a tree behind him. The beautiful crescent moon had shown and with its amazing glow, it struck Sai's face, showing his beautiful pale skin. The moon definitely complimented him.

He looked up at the night sky and his eyes quickly switched on the image of his teammates beside him. He knew, at that moment, that there was something both Sakura and Naruto had in common…

And it was…

(Snores)…

Naruto snored for a moment and turned his back on the left side of his body. Just seeing him snore like that made Sai lose his thoughts and also made him remember that it was a big day for the team tomorrow and he needed to get rest. Sai caught one last glimpse at his comrades and fell asleep.

The next morning, everybody had their bags and medication supplies on their backs and looks like they're ready to go. Yamato sensei had checked all of their weaponry and everything seems to be fine.

Sai suspiciously looked at the Uzumaki and thought that there was something different about him… What Sai didn't know was that Naruto was faking his emotions, trying to pretend he was a happy camper, like he always was. 'Is that Naruto? Why did he suddenly cheer up? … After what I've heard last-…'

"All right! Everything seems to be fine… let's move out!!" Yamato sensei burst out, as he was the first one out of all ninjas to leap unto the trees and into the forest.

Sai was, once again, disturbed out of his trail of thoughts.

Following their sensei, all three teammates also leaped high above the trees like the true ninjas they are. Sakura followed Yamato sensei in the front while the other two boys followed behind the squad.

"Be careful, everyone… a huge colony of bee hives are up ahead! It would take us forever to go around it, so we're going to go through the hives! So, watch your step! It will be slippery!" Yamato yelled as the team drew closer and closer into the area of the hives.

As soon as Sakura caught a glimpse of a hive, her body gained pressure as if she was carrying a huge boulder with her. Knowing that one of Sakura's fears are bugs, it was easy for Naruto, Sai and Yamato sensei to see that she was… afraid.

"Sakura…" Yamato whispered. "It's okay, just be on your toes."

As Sakura tried to listen, the carelessness in her came to reality. One of the branches she was about to leap onto was covered with very slippery honey. She tried to dodge, but it was too late.

A serious fall is created…

"SAKURA!!" Naruto wailed at the top of his lungs.

While Sakura kept free falling, Sai was able to make a move, he didn't like his plan but it would be worth saving Sakura.

Since Sakura couldn't snap out of it, Sai leaped from tree to tree and finally… he managed to save Sakura.

He disliked how he did it very much though, as Sakura fell on top of him. He used his own body to act as a rebound from Sakura's fall. As much as he hated the situation, still showed no emotion upon his face.

While Naruto came down from atop the tree, he's face turned bright red as soon as he saw Sakura and Sai.

Sai took a glance at Naruto.

"Nice job, Sai! Let's get moving, we're slowing down every minute!" Yamato declared.

Sakura and Sai slowly got up and followed their sensei. While Naruto followed behind them, Sai turned around to face Naruto and said…

"Don't worry, Naruto. She's not my kind of girl."

'What was that about?' Naruto questioned in his mind. 'Does this mean that he knew all along…?'

Sai gained ahead of Sakura following Yamato sensei. While Sakura and Naruto was left behind following Sai and Yamato.

'Sai…' Naruto spoke in his thoughts.

'He… he knew all along?'

(Cool story, huh?...don't forget to review!!)