Disclaimer: Do not own characters.
Pretty short chapter apologies in advance.

x

Mad laughter rang through the air.

"Shikamaru? Choji?" She looked for her teammates wildly. Her voice sounding small and frail; almost completely drowned out by the echoes of the wild laugh. His laugh.

She was surrounded by darkness. There was nothing but pitch black all around her. She couldn't see what was ahead, behind, above or below- everything was smothered in shadow. But she could feel it, those dark amethyst eyes that reveled in pain. Panic gripped her and she ran.

It made no difference. No matter how hard she sprinted, the darkness enveloped her, the laughter seemed to get louder by the minute.

Then all of a sudden it stopped.

She was kneeling over Asuma Sensei, her hands over his chest glowing the familiar green. He was coughing blood and she could feel that her chakra was the only thing holding his heart together.

'Don't bother. I wouldn't make it anyway.'

No. Don't say that. She concentrated her chakra, but it was fading. She felt his heartbeat get more and more sluggish under her palm.

No. Please. No.

'I bet you know it too.'

I'm not strong enough. But I'm trying, please hang in there.

'Ino..'

No. No. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to, not again. You can't die.

'Ino..'

NO, I can't do this again.

'Beauty.'

Her head snapped up to look at the fallen shinobi. It was no longer Asuma Sensei under her hands but Sai. The deep red crimson of the blood from his mouth stood out against his pale skin, his intelligent onyx eyes looked a dull washed out grey, his breathing labored and his heartbeat slowing under her own hands.

She froze. Tendrils of terror curled into her stomach. Her hands trembled as the chakra flickered erratically.

Not him. Please. Not him too.

'Beauty.'

His voice was hoarse and was followed by fit of coughing. Blood seeped through the gaps in her fingers on his chest.

Why is there so much blood? Where was it all coming from? I can't. I don't know how to do this.

His heartbeat stuttered…and stopped. No. NO. NO. Tears stung her eyes and trickled down her chin. She started to manually press down on his chest to pump his heart.

He lay there motionless, his eyes vacant, mouth ajar. She raised her hands which were still warm and slick with blood. His blood.

She screamed.

XXXX

"Beauty!"

His voice was like beacon in the dark for her.

Ino's eyes snapped open to see Sai's face peering at her in the dim moonlight. He looked tired and weak, his face flushed his breathing hard but very much alive. Without another thought she threw herself at him, and buried her face in the side of his neck whimpering as the tears fell freely from her eyes.

"Y-You're okay…y-you're okay… it was j-just a bad dream," She squeezed him tighter as she stammered.

"Beauty..? Uh..It is difficult to breathe like this…you are crushing my good lung…" Sai's voice was strained.

It was then that Ino properly took in her surroundings and everything clicked in place.

She was in Sai's hospital room and must have fallen asleep at the foot of his bed at some point. She then noticed her current position, half sprawled on Sai.

"I'm so sorry Sai!" Color rose to her cheeks as she quickly retracted her arms from the injured ex-Root member and repositioned herself to sit at the foot of his bed again.

Sai clutched at his side tenderly and winced.

Hope I didn't tear any stitches. Ino felt a pang of guilt.

He was sitting up now and the sheets were bunched around his waist, the left side of his chest was completely covered in bandages. He was lean but his shoulders were comparatively broad, the tendons of his neck were slightly outlined in his current position further accentuating his collar bones. He wasn't overtly muscular but lean, sinewy and lithe, there was something graceful in the way he moved to readjust his sheets.

If Ino had not been so distracted by the sight of him, she would notice the dark haired boy was staring intensely at the kunoichi.

"Beauty…are those for me?"

His voice was quiet but enough to bring the blonde out of the trance she was seemingly in. She blinked at him trying but failing to understand what he asked.

Sai furrowed his brows and gingerly leaned over towards her, and to Ino's surprise reached for her face and gently brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. They glistened wet with her tears.

She immediately started to self consciously rub her face and eyes with the back of her hands, embarrassed at him seeing her cry over a nightmare.

"You said my name before you woke up." He furrowed his brows as he looked at his fingers, "Did I make you cry in your dream?"

Ino fidgeted uncomfortably, her mind had gone completely blank and no excuses were coming to her.

"I dreamt you were dying and I wasn't good enough to save you. Just like how I couldn't do anything to save Asuma Sensei or my father." She fought to keep her voice steady and focused her gaze at anything but him.

"You cried… because you felt responsible for my death?" His blunt answer made Ino look at him.

"No," she snapped at him without meaning to, "I cried because you were dead, period."

His normally impassive face faded away as his pupils dilated and darkened, "Why would it matter?"

His tone had changed; it was no longer deadpan and serious. It was one of those dark, deep voices, the kind that made men listen and women shed their clothing.

Her heart thudded against her chest so hard she was sure he could hear it, her mouth went dry as her stomach started to knot itself. Forcing herself to tear away from his gaze she tried her best to regain her composure.

"Why shouldn't it?" Ino kept her voice as impassive as she possibly could.

He seemed taken aback by her reply and a moment of silence passed between the two.

Sai spoke softly his voice having lost its previous edge, "I cried when Shin died. He told me it was a sign of weakness."

"Yeah shinobi rule 25, I know the drill Sai." Ino tried to keep her emotions in check as she thought of all the people she had lost, "I don't care if it makes me weak. I weep for my father, I weep for my teacher and I would weep for you."

"But unlike them I am not a normal Konoha shinobi. I am a member of Root. If I die it would be like I never had existed, there are no names on the memorial for us. No one cries for members of Root. We have no one. We are no one."

He stated it like a fact, there was no bitterness or hint of lament. It almost threatened to break her heart.

"You know that it isn't true! You're one of us now! All of us would be devastated if anything happened to you!" She tried to blink back the tears that were welling up.

Sai looked shocked at Ino's outburst but once again surprised her by leaning over and wiping away her tears. She felt herself stiffen as his fingertips ghosted over her cheeks, and despite whirlwind of emotions wracking her, she felt her heart flutter under his touch.

"I may have said the wrong thing. I did not mean to upset you…" Sai was looking at his wet fingertips with his brows furrowed again, "I was trying to cheer you up."

Ino snorted in spite of herself, cheer me up? With that speech? Ok he needs professional help. "That was you trying to make me feel better? SAI!? That was morbid!"

"I was informing you that you didn't need to be sad over me." Sai looked at her seriously.

Ino rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Oh yes, someone telling you that you don't need to be sad over their death because their whole life is non-existent is just what I needed to hear."

"Exactly."

"Sai, that was sarcasm."

"What is sarcasm?"

Calm down. Calm Down. He's hurt I can't hit him. Ino tried to rationalize with the inner part of her that wanted to strangle the boy in front of her. Deep breaths. Deeeep breaths.

"Sarcasm is when you say something but mean the opposite."

"You mean like when I call you Beauty?"

She hit him hard and immediately regretted it as he doubled over coughing.

XXXX

The bruise on his cheek took little to no time for Ino to heal but she felt incredibly guilty nonetheless. He was lying back again and fast asleep, he dozed off while she was taking care of his cheek, the warm green chakra had a lethargic effect on him. She checked the clock on the wall and it read 3 am.

Her neck and back started to feel stiff and her eyelids heavy, she stretched and checked his vitals one last time before she sat down on the bed next to him.

Shaking her head mid-yawns she tried her best to keep her eyes open and focus on the sleeping shinobi. His breathing was still labored, but his fever had broken. She brushed his mussed up hair out of his face and wondered if he had any idea about how she felt. Judging by their most recent conversation it seemed very unlikely.

That was her last thought when sleep took her.

Had she been awake a minute longer she would have heard Sai softly murmur her name in his sleep.

x

Author's Note:

Wanted to update asap so went for a shorter chapter, hope you guys liked it! I'm not sure if I executed this one as well as the others, please let me know if anything seems off or needs work. Reviews make me feel special :x so umm please? Also if you have any cute InoSai ideas for this story PM me or comment, would love some prompts :)