During ch.8 YMBiS


You Must Believe in Spring
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Seasons In-Between


Thursday, March 26th 7:25 AM KST
Konoha, Sunflower Diner

Sai was an early riser. His body was conditioned to wake when he needed it to, only sleep when he needed it to, and to adapt quickly to changes in schedule.

Jiraiya had encouraged him to consider approaching Ino as an "S" class mission, so he knew he had better go into it prepared.

After following Dr. Haruno and Ino home last night, he made his way to his apartment, laid out his clothes for the morning, gathered whatever supplies he might need. He spent the remainder of his evening brushing up on the ins and outs of female speech.

He planned ahead; he left nothing to chance.

Sai might be the most socially inept person in all of ANBU, but he absolutely missed nothing. His artist's eye for detail made him a particularly effective spy, for all of his social awkwardness. In this group of friends, it meant he was consistently underestimated, often overlooked, and rarely understood. Sai felt that in this case, it might be a huge advantage. Impressing them might lead to more confidence and a level of trust that would make his assignments much easier.

He dressed quickly but with care, and was soon on his way to the proposed meeting place. He wanted to make sure he didn't do anything to jeopardize Ino's faith in him. If she doubted him, his interactions with her would suffer, and in turn, so would his multiple missions. He arrived at the restaurant at 7:25 AM. He had his bag with him, and sealed away in various places were scrolls, ink, and other accouterments pertinent to this business and his life in general. He settled in to read a few more pointers, the cover of the book carefully substituted with one that he had made and decorated with delicate ink drawings.

He was finishing a particularly interesting chapter detailing how what women say and what they mean could be markedly different from the male perspective, when Ino entered the smallish café.

Sai glanced at the clock on the wall.

7:46 AM.

Was she a person who was normally early, or did she deem this conversation as being important enough to arrive as soon as she was able?

He watched her scan the small restaurant quickly, looking for him. It was another chilly spring morning with a sky heavy with clouds that hadn't decided if they would rain or drift on the wind and out of town. She had a trench coat and scarf on, and a messenger bag on her shoulder. Once she spotted Sai, she moved purposefully toward him, her strides measured and confident. Ino was not afraid of eye contact, and her forget-me-not blue gaze held his own impassive one as she crossed the room, stepping around small obstacles with no trouble.

Sai was used to sizing up an opponent in seconds. He already knew she was a trained kunoichi; possibly the most over-all natural and well-rounded of the Konoha 11 women. Her body language radiated confidence in herself and her abilities, and she was absolutely not intimidated by him.

That gave him pause.

She was aware of his abilities as much as he was of hers, and by all rights should be at least a little uneasy. Perhaps it was because they were meeting in a social setting where she was at her most natural and he, admittedly, was at his least?

Then again, they were not meeting as enemies. She was meeting him to give him a chance to state his case in soliciting her help. His vast arsenal of skills as an elite assassin, former member of ROOT, member of Team Kakashi, and S-ranked ANBU agent were essentially useless in this situation, giving her an obvious advantage. He had to rely on his skills in intelligence gathering, and… And what? The advice of Jiraiya?

Suddenly, the difference in their relative battle grounds seemed drastic in the extreme.

Ino slid into the small booth across from him and seemed to be taking his measure as she unbelted and unbuttoned her coat to be more comfortable as she sat. A waitress appeared at the table, prepared to take their order.

"Good morning, Ino," she said warmly, putting a large mug in front of her and filling it with coffee and handing her some creamers.

"Morning, Sumire," she smiled at the dark-haired woman. "How are the two little ones?"

"Growing," the waitress chuckled. "They keep their father and me on our toes. What will you have this morning?"

Ino looked over to Sai. "Did you order?"

He shook his head. "I was waiting for you."

Ino glanced down to the open menu in front of him. "Are you ready to order?"

"If you are," he said, his face placid.

"I'll have my usual," she said to Sumire.

Sai's mind was cataloging details at a rapid pace. She had relationship with the wait staff and a 'usual' order. She was a regular here. Something about the restaurant appealed to her. He couldn't base his order on what she was having as she had given no contextual clues as to what her 'usual' was. Should he order something larger? Something smaller? He had been counting on her order giving him a hint as to how long they would be there by the size of the meal she ordered.

"This, please," he pointed to the menu.

"Good choice," she nodded. "I'll put the order in for you."

Sai's expression remained impassive, but he congratulated himself. Now she had no data from him, either.

Once Sumire was out of earshot, Ino looked Sai up and down. He calmly raised his handleless mug of tea and took a sip, meeting her critical eye without flinching.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked. He had read that this was a generally accepted conversation starter over breakfast.

Ino's eyebrow quirked ever so slightly, and the corner of her mouth twitched upward. She was amused. "I did, thanks. You?"

Sai nodded perfunctorily. "Yes. Thank you." He hesitated before offering, "I heard from Naruto. He has departed for Suna with Dr. Haruno. They left without incident."

She smiled into her coffee, having heard that perhaps 'without incident' wasn't entirely true, but it would be the official byline. "That is good to hear," she replied. "So," she put down her coffee wrapped her fingers around the steaming mug. "What do you have to tell me?"

Direct. To the point. He had heard of Ino's love of gossip, but he also knew that she had a sharp mind for details and an excellent memory. Between her time at the flower shop and growing up with Inoichi as a father, she was highly skilled at reading people. His one advantage might actually be his preternatural lack of observable emotion.

Sai reached into his bag putting away the book he had been reading and taking out a smallish sketchpad where he had jotted down notes. He kept Ino in his peripheral vision, noting how she watched his every move. In seconds his photographic memory recorded the scene with an artist's eye. The cup of coffee was at her elbow, and wisps of steam curled upward from it. Her long, blonde hair was in a high ponytail, like it usually was. The trench coat was open just enough for him to see the purple sweater he had no doubt was fitted. He pretended to drop something and looked quickly under the table. Leggings. Boots. Skirt. She'd presumably change once she got to base.

"You indicated you would like to know how I can be of help to you," Sai began putting his things on the table neatly. "Perhaps if you give me a better sense of what kind of information you would value, I can better answer that question."

Ino arched a perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow at him. "And you said that you would like to 'understand,'" she used air quotations, "my best friend. Perhaps if you gave me more specific criteria for what you would like to know," she leaned on her elbows, wrapping her fingers around the warm mug, "I can better answer your question." She sipped her coffee. "What do you bring to the table?"

"My sketchpad," he answered promptly. "Today and every morning, actually."

He waited for the next question.

"Not this again," she sighed, leaning her forehead against the warmth of her coffee mug. When she looked up, her face was carefully composed.

"Tell me one thing – only one thing – that you want to know about Sakura."

"Will this be my only opportunity to request information?"

"No. Just a starting point."

He thought about this. "I want to know more about her relationship with Sasuke."

Ino leaned back. "That is one subject," she conceded, "but that is many 'things.' Why should I tell you so much about her, especially her private life? Do you have a good reason or a bargaining chip to get this information?"

"I have several," he said, flicking open his sketchpad to look at a list he had written. "I have scrolls on both Sakura and Sasuke, and I have already spoken with Naruto and Sasuke about Sakura and –"

"Wait," Ino suddenly leaned forward, put down her coffee, and placed a hand on Sai's arm. "You asked to Sasuke about Sakura?".

"Yes."

"And he actually spoke to you about it?"

"Yes, he did."

"Well what did he say?" she asked, eyes bright.

A light clicked in Sai's head. He had the bargaining chip he needed. This was like those gambling books he read; he had to keep a poker face. Sai was certain he would be an excellent poker player.

He raised an eyebrow at the blonde, beautiful woman. "What would you like to know, exactly?"

"Everything!"

"Everything? You want to be a little more specific?"

Ino looked at him, realization dawning on her. "Oh, very good," she said appreciatively raking her eyes over him. "Very, very good," she chuckled picking up her coffee and taking a sip.

"Congratulations," she shook her head in disbelief. "I never would have guessed you would convince me before our breakfasts even arrived. "Ah," her eyes lit up. "Here they are."

Sumire expertly carried her tray over, and began setting items down in front of them. Sai quickly put everything back in his bag and moved it to the side to protect it from any spilled items. He recalled that breakfast foods could be particularly sticky, and that did not bode well for a man with a bag full of scrolls and ink.

Sai looked up to see that Ino was sitting in front of a large bowl of fruit, two thick slices of toast, and an egg-white omelet. He made no outward sign of his inner congratulations. Ino looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, well, well," she said softly. "The surprises just keep coming." She looked from Sai's identical breakfast to his placid features. She leaned back in her seat, twirling her fork, absently. "Well, at least I can say you have good taste," she said dryly.

She glanced at the clock. "Dig in," she nodded. "We don't have time to get into the details I'd like to here, and I have to get back to the flower shop. We are doing all of the floral arrangements for Hanabi's party, and I have loads to do."

'When a girl is having a problem, it is important to listen, first' his book had said. 'Not every problem requires action as a solution; sometimes girls just need to talk about what they are feeling. If the girl poses a specific concrete problem, however, be ready to jump in and help out, no matter what.' Now that he thought about it, that might have been on a blog somewhere, but nevertheless, he felt it was pertinent advice.

"I can help," he offered.

"You?" she asked, looking up in surprise.

Sai held her gaze steadily. "Why not?" he asked. "Floral arrangement is about composition, isn't it? I have a good eye for that and skills in multiple art disciplines. This will be multiples of the same design, won't it?"

"Yes," she said slowly, "but there are some really complex designs and a large number."

"As you pointed out before," Sai offered. "I am a 'good little soldier.' I can take direction well."

She weighed the option. "Why not," she finally said. She looked over to his plate. "Eat up," she gave him a sly smile. "You're going to have a very busy day."