Wiping the Slate
After hearing a gurgle from above, Sakura relinquished her squeezed hold on her lids as she felt something warm and liquidy splatter onto the top of her right cheek.
Emerald orbs stared into brown, their spacing but mere inches from one another, as the pale man above bled from the mouth and various other places on his body; the thin needle-like weapons sticking out of her savior's arms, back, and legs, not unlike the dangerous quills of a porcupine.
"Sai," The kunoichi's whisper trailed off as she called the man's name, who merely managed a weak smile in return as the blood running down his chin dripped onto her own.
Hands suddenly fisting in the covering shinobi's shirt, the frantic kunoichi cried out, "Stupid! You-"
Slowly hanging his own forehead down upon her other shoulder, the ink-user's voice gradually tailed off, much like his waning consciousness, "I believe…I have…returned…the…fa...vor…"
Sakura's grip tightened as tears stained her cheeks and the man's uniform, her suddenly trembling voice muffled under his still chest, "You stupid bastard…"
"Ah! You're awake!" Naruto all but bellowed, his voice hurting the ears of the one, who tried to sit up between those crisp white seats of his hospital bed.
Ino hip-checked the excited blonde out of the way as she eagerly pushed her own presence in front of the hospital gowned individual before them, "Oh my god, Sai! How're you feeling?!"
"Not well," Sai hoarsely admitted as he tried to steady himself in his place, the catheter in his arm hampering him from doing so fully.
"Sakura will be relieved at the news," Yamato spoke up from his place standing by the door, Shizune standing a safe distance to his side.
Dark eyes surveyed the small crowd in his section of the curtained off space, "What has happened?"
Ino, who hadn't even been there, relayed the events, "You saved Forehead's ass. That's what." Crossing her arms and huffing, she added with full blown irritation, "If she hadn't of been goofing off-"
"She was saving a little girl from a Cloud-nin!" Naruto barked, with his own irritation rising.
The kunoichi pressed on however, completely disregarding that tidbit, "If she had been a little more careful, then poor Sai wouldn't have ended up a human pincushion in the first place!"
Naruto rolled his eyes as Yamato spoke up from behind them, "Regardless, I'm glad to see you up and about, Sai."
"Yes," Shizune added, with a slight frown, "It's too bad you hadn't woken a few minutes earlier. I had just recently forced her home."
"Yeah," Naruto frowned as well from his space standing by Sai's shoulder, "Sakura-chan felt really bad about what happened and wouldn't go home when we brought you in yesterday. She ended up spending the night here." Patting Sai's shoulder Naruto added, "Man, if you would have died, she would have totally blamed herself."
"And for good reason!" Ino scowled.
"Now, now," Shizune began, going about steering the two out of the room, "It's time to change his clothes. Besides, it's best to let him rest more at this point."
"Senpai sends his regards. He was here earlier, but was called away to the Hokage's office just before Sakura went home," Yamato explained as he made his own way out of the room behind the three.
Naruto called over his shoulder before the door was shut, "I'll be sure to tell Sakura-chan you're ok, Sai!"
Opening his eyes for the second time that day, like the last, he found himself not alone as the woman beside him sliced up an apple to his side.
"You look like shit," The kunoichi sitting on the stool told him as she placed the cut pieces onto the plate resting on her aproned lap.
Looking over the dark circles under the female's eyes, Sai remarked while slowly sitting up, "It seems you are equally lacking in physical appearance. But then again that is only natura-"
"Here," The blank faced kunoichi cut him off, the plate of fruit being thrust out to his reach.
Feeling hungry himself, with hospital food not ranking high in his desired favorites, Sai took the offering with his usual smile.
Sakura took that as her queue to leave, but not without giving the words she had wanted to say as she grasped the room's doorknob in her hand, her back to him, "We're even now. So, don't feel you ever have to do that again."
And then, she was gone.
