Sai's P.O.V.

I casually walked towards the house that Sakura shared with Lee. I knew that Kyoko was not very well versed in the ways of women, considering she was barely a woman herself, and so I was going to seek the sage advice of Sakura. While she looked like a hag, and had in some ways taken on the habits of one, deep inside she was indeed female. If anyone could help me win the heart of Saya, it was Sakura.

When I arrived at the small house, I knocked politely on the door. I saw a pink head peek through the door and give me an extremely disappointed look. "I thought you were Lee," she muttered.

"But I look nothing like that spandex-clad idiot," I replied happily.

"Never mind. What do you want, Sai?"

"Sakura, I have come to seek your advice with lady problems."

Her eyes suddenly lit up with a life that had been missing since she and Lee had been 'given the youthful privilege of caring for triplets', as Lee had liked to put it. "Only if you help me get someone to take care of the dolls," she begged desperately. "I have done nothing but take of the crying demons since we got them, and Lee has done nothing to help."

Then it occurred to me that Kyoko had this afternoon off, and by now she was probably back at the apartment. I helped Sakura take the dolls to the house he shared with Kyoko, where I found my partner sitting at the table immersed in the project she would be starting the next day with Ibiki. "Kyoko."

She glanced up from her work with a flushed and oddly hopeful look on her face. "Yes?"

"I need you to take care of Lee and Sakura's triplets for a couple hours. Oh, and I need some cash too."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm taking Sakura to Shiori's Café."

Kyoko, for some reason, looked crushed for a moment, before her face took on a neutral expression that was actually a little terrifying. "Sure," she muttered. She gave me the money and took the triplets.

"Kyoko, you are the best friend a person could ever have." At this, she smiled a little, but still stole a defeated glance at Sakura.

"What's wrong?" asked Sakura.

I was a little sad to hear that I hadn't picked up on the expressions on Kyoko's face. As her friend and partner, I would have to be more observant in the future. "Something's wrong? Don't tell me that Mika is going to keep the baby. That would be something to be sad about, as she is clearly an unfit mother."

"Why would you say that, Sai?" Sakura may be able to memorize facts out of a book, but that did not seem to mean that she was smart – she lacked logic.

"Sakura, if she is not smart enough to remember birth control, think of all the other things she may not be smart enough to remember. When you have a baby, there is a lot of really important stuff you need to remember," I explained.

"It doesn't matter anyway," said Kyoko. "I convinced her, and today she's going to start looking at prospective parents."

"What reason would you have to be upset then?"

"It's personal," she sighed. "You two go ahead; I have a lot of work I have to get done tonight."


Sakura and I sat quietly in Shiori's Café devising a plan for my valiant crusade for Saya. "You said she has a boyfriend, right?" I nodded. "Then, that makes matters a little more complicated. There are lines you cannot cross when a girl has a boyfriend. Get a list of things she likes from Kyoko and put together a bunch of grand gestures that say 'I care about you'."

"I should paint a portrait of her. Girls like that, right?"

Sakura nodded affirmatively. "That would work excellently." She paused and gave me a serious look. "How does Kyoko feel about you and Saya dating?"

"She says that I should give up, and that Saya and I wouldn't make a good couple anyway."

"First of all, I think you should put a little more stock by Kyoko's opinion because she knows both of you personally and probably knows whether or not you are compatible. Secondly, in the event that you and Saya start dating be sure not to do anything that would hurt your friendship with Kyoko, because it's the type of thing you'll regret."

"You mean like you and Ino?" he asked. Normally, Sakura probably would have punched someone for that comment, but because Sai was so socially inept, and because he had freed her from the demon dolls, she would let it slide this time.

"Yes, like me and Ino," she replied flatly. "The last thing I have to say is to be even nicer to Kyoko." What she said next she whispered very quietly. "I heard from Kakashi-sensei that she was crying this morning."

I shrugged. "Girls cry."

"Not Kyoko. Nobody saw her cry when her dad was put into a coma, although I'm sure she probably cried later when no one was looking, so keep in mind that it's probably something huge that's bothering her. Try not to make even more upset, if you are even capable of that." Looking me up and down she decided, "In fact, you probably shouldn't talk to her, if you can help it."

Later, when I got back to our house, Kyoko was already asleep, even though it was too early for a teenager to go to bed in my opinion. I personally still had hours before I had to go to bed. So, I gave a morose Sakura back her triplets, drew a lovely portrait of Saya, and headed over to her house. Thankfully, Kiba wasn't there, which gave me plenty of privacy to woo Saya.

At first, she looked really angry when I handed her the portrait, but then she calmed down and thanked me. "In fact, Sai, as a thank you for drawing the portrait, would you go on a date with me?"

Mission accomplished. "That's great. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at 7:00. Wait, what about your boyfriend?"

"Oh, don't worry about him."

As I walked away, had I been more observant, I may have noticed the devious gleam in Saya's eyes, or heard her whisper, "After this date, Sai won't be infatuated with me anymore. You're welcome, Kyoko."


I had brought flowers for the date, just as Sakura had suggested, but Saya didn't seem to notice them and breezed right past me in the direction of Shiori's Café. In fact, I had to jog to keep up with her, and I couldn't fathom how she managed to go at this pace in the tall heels she had changed into for the date.

Unfortunately, matters only got worse. Throughout the date, I hardly managed to get three words in, which I normally wouldn't have minded too much were it not for the subject matter of what Saya was talking about.

"Well, you see I got my first period when I was twelve years old…"

It was enough to drive a person insane. Plus, to make matters worse, she made the most disgusting sounds when she was eating, and didn't close her mouth. To sum up her table manners, they were worse than Naruto's.

However, I pressed on; after all, this was the girl I had been attracted to since I first saw her in the classroom. "So Saya –"

"Did you just interrupt me? Oh, you are just like every other man out there. You don't care about my traumatic personal experiences, you don't care about listening to my top one thousand favorite songs ever, nor do you care about hearing me recant the romantic story of The Star-crossed Lovers verbatim. You know what, Sai? I don't think this is going to work out." With that, she stormed out of the Café, leaving me sitting there very confused. Maybe Kyoko had been right.


The next day went as most days went for me: I said goodbye to Kyoko as I headed to work, and then I went on an obnoxiously easy mission with Sakura and Naruto, which ended up lasting a couple days. I had to tell Sakura about the shocking revelation that Saya was a crazy bitch.

"I honestly have no idea how Kyoko puts up with her as a teammate, nevertheless as her best friend. I thought Kyoko wasn't a patient person, but I now have a much larger respect for her than I previously thought possible." I sighed. "Now I don't know what to do with my free time besides draw and take care of our doll."

"Did you ever figure out what had upset Kyoko?" Sakura asked conspicuously.

"No, I was too busy trying to prepare for the date, which was a catastrophe." I now also felt really bad for Kiba, who had dated Saya for a while.

"Well, talk to her about it, and make sure she tells you."

"You're acting strange, Sakura. Do you know what's wrong?"

"Yes. Kyoko didn't tell me, but my woman's intuition made the situation quite clear."

"Then tell me what's wrong and I'll talk about it with Kyoko. I'm her closest friend who can actually remedy the situation. Kai is irresponsible, and Saya is crazy, and refuses to listen to other people."

"She needs to tell you herself, Sai. Besides the fact that it wouldn't be decent to tell you personal information about Kyoko, there's also the fact that she would probably kill me if I told you. She's very sensitive about personal matters, even if she doesn't always show it."

"See, Sakura, this is why I ask you about girls and socializing. You need to tell me. Otherwise, I will be sure to keep Lee occupied into the wee hours in the morning, and you will be stuck with the three doll demons for the duration of this exercise. We still have weeks and weeks ahead of us, Sakura," I fiendishly reminded her.

She gazed at me, gauging whether or not I would follow through with my threat and determined that I was dead serious. "Fine. I'll tell you half of the information. Kyoko has romantic feelings for a boy that he doesn't share for her."

I stared blankly at her. "I can't help with that at all. Therefore, I still intend to make Lee my best friend on the mission to make you miserable, Hag."

She glared and we had a stare down, which I clearly emerged victorious from. Finally, she gave in. "Kyoko cares about you, Sai."

It was as if the entire world as I knew it had fallen apart. Kyoko had romantic feelings for me? It was as if someone had told me that Naruto no longer liked Ramen, or that the Akatsuki had stopped their plans and were now opening an orphanage for underprivileged children, or that gravity wasn't real. None of this seemed possible. "That's not possible, Sakura. Kyoko has made her distaste for me very clear."

"No, you're wrong there. Maybe Kyoko didn't like you at first, but have you noticed that lately she's been willing to do the most awful favors for you, including babysitting the demon doll trio, and lending you money."

She was right. Kyoko would never have done that for me before, but now Kyoko did a lot of nice things for me, although she grumbled while doing them. Her personality hadn't changed, she was still Kyoko, but she had been going out of her way to be nice to me. "Sakura, I don't know if I feel that way about Kyoko."

"Well, figure it out soon. Otherwise, Kyoko is going to end up hurt and I'm sure she's seething after your date with Saya."

Sure, Kyoko could be nice, but she seemed to have a lot more flaws than good qualities. She wasn't very pretty, she had a temper, and she was a perfectionist and with her, everything had to happen on schedule.

But then, when I thought about it, I began to remember the good qualities that Kyoko possessed. She was willing to at least try and explain some social things to me and she seemed to surround herself with people who weren't perfect and made mistakes left and right. She put all she had into everything she did. I began to realize that maybe Kyoko was special, and worth at least one date. If nothing else, it couldn't be any worse than my date with Saya.

We arrived back at Konoha and I went straight to the house I shared with Kyoko. It was empty, but then again, maybe Kyoko had been held up at work. It was a possibility. The light in the house began to fade as the hour got later, and Kyoko still hadn't arrived.

Since the matter I needed to discuss with her was so urgent, I thought maybe I could find her at work. I swung by Ibiki's office and asked for Kyoko.

Darkness swept over his face. "She didn't come into work today, or yesterday for that matter. I'm concerned." His face remained neutral, and Sai came to the conclusion that Kyoko had learned a thing or two from her sensei. "You must be aware by now that Kyoko prides herself on punctuality and being trustworthy. She hasn't missed a day since she first started working for me. Do you have any idea where she is?" I shook my head. "I think we should file a missing person report. Here." He handed me the phone. "Call her friends and if we can't find her in an hour, I'm filing the report."

Nobody managed to find Kyoko.


Kyoko's P.O.V.

I stared at the cloaked figures as they argued amongst themselves.

"You got the wrong girl, you morons."

"What are you talking about? I saw her talking with Naruto earlier today."

"That doesn't mean she's the friend, nor was she the target. You were supposed to pick up a girl with pink hair and green eyes. Does that hair look pink to you?"

The man in the black cloak with red clouds glared at Kyoko. This could not be good.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, and I won't give any excuses. Just please review, that is if anyone is still reading this story.