Another First Time
Chapter 5: When Mission Calls
a/n: This chapter has some (rather poorly-constructed) shinobi code. Try and see what I (or actually, the characters) are trying to convey. If you're really stuck, the answers are at the bottom XDTwo months had passed since Sakura and Sai first departed from the village of Konoha. Neither of them could believe how fast time had past – the only indication of the time that had gone by were the carefully folded letters from their friends back home.
Perhaps it was because of their rather fixed routine that caused them to lose track of time. After all, when change is removed from life, time seems to stop because of the constant repetition.
Every morning, Sai would wake before Sakura, and after he was done washing, he would flick his wet towel at her to wake her up. She would respond with grumbled curses, grudgingly get up, and have her turn to wash. After a light breakfast, Sakura would start on her warm-ups – several sets of laps around their camp area and a quick spar with Sai. Then came stealth and target practice, both of which Sakura quickly excelled at. Sakura would then cook them a lunch, Sai would complain about its quality, he would get himself a beating for that, and then he would resignedly do the dishes. Next came the usual ninjutsu lesson, and the occasional taijutsu pointer. Time passed especially fast in the afternoon, its flow interrupted only by laboured breathing and the occasional injury. After dinner, Sai would again do the dishes while Sakura took a bath, and then Sakura would set out their sleeping bags while Sai took his bath. From then until the time they slept, they would sit and literally do nothing. There were the occasional conversations (which often ended with an irritated Sakura and an injured Sai), Sai's drawing sessions (but as to what he drew, Sakura never found out), and Sakura's letter-writing sessions (Sai called her letters sentimental and unnecessary. He got a punch for that.)
Some nights they would train in the dark as well, and the mornings after those nights would generally be a lot more slow-paced.
Once in a while, their conversation would actually go somewhere without getting Sakura pissed off or Sai confused. And it was in those moments that Sakura caught glimpses of the person Sai truly was.
When he told the story of how he had refrained from killing one crying little girl from a town he had been ordered to destroy, she discovered that he was capable of kindness (although he had told her the story to ensure she wouldn't make the same "mistake" as he did).
When, by firelight one night, he had hesitantly told her the story of how his brother had taken a kunai in the chest for him, Sakura discovered that apart from being capable of feeling guilt, Sai was also capable of feeling gratitude.
And when, one gray morning, she had found Sai standing outside, letting the rain wash over him, Sakura discovered that Sai liked the rain. And as she watched the rivulets of liquid run from his drenched form into the ground below, Sakura decided that she liked the rain too.
And in return, Sakura began to tell him stories about herself too – she began to find it uncomfortable that though they had been teammates for a good three years, they still didn't know each other that well.
She told him about how she had been bullied as a little girl for her supposedly big forehead. He responded by telling her that her forehead was hideously large.
She refrained from hitting him.
She told him about how Ino had come to her defense. He said that Ino was stupid for getting mixed-up with someone as ugly as she was.
Sakura cracked her knuckles menacingly.
She told him how Ino had once said that she wasn't a flower yet, but merely a bud that would one day bloom. Sai, ignoring his instinct to keep quiet, informed her that she was merely a bud that had gotten eaten by a bug.
She socked him in the jaw.
But, hidden by his teasing of her, Sai was actually making many observations about his teammate. For example, he noticed that whenever Sakura was getting upset or frustrated, she would bite her lip and clutch at the left corner of her skirt-like apparel. And whenever she was pleased, she would unconsciously hum underneath her breath. And she also had an uncanny fear of spiders – there had been more than one occasion in which Sakura had forcibly vacated Sai from his own sleeping bag to tell him to kill a spider that was too close to her.
It was through all these small moments that Sai began to truly understand the roseate kunoichi. But more than that, he began to understand the difficulty of being a kunoichi – the difficult balance between being just a girl and being a female warrior. He had never seen it before – he had always seen kunoichi as mere shinobi who had an added advantage of seduction. Well, the pretty ones anyways.
Never before had he realized that being a kunoichi was so tough at times. He could see it in Sakura's eyes when, on a rare occasion, she would peer into a pond or river and see her own reflection. She would reach up to finger her often unruly locks, and sigh. Sometimes she would find a spot on her face, and she'd poke at it while shuffling around, checking to see that he wasn't looking. When she changed at night, he would sometimes see the silhouette of her painstakingly unwrapping her (rather uncomfortable looking) chest bindings through the tent fabric from his position outside. But most of all, he knew that whenever it was her time of the month, she still trained relentlessly, although the clink of pills inside her shirt told him she was suppressing the pain she felt.
Sai found himself not only beginning to respect Haruno Sakura more, but also all the kunoichi that he had come in contact with.
A week later, Sai and Sakura were out of supplies. Deep within the misty plains of the Cloud Country, they had to trek for two days before finally finding a town that could offer the supplies they needed. When Sakura grumbled, Sai replied that she could take it as more survival training. She rolled her eyes but decided to do him a favour and kept quiet.
After replenishing their food stores, Sakura found a decent and quaint-looking ramen shop that offered the exact ramen that they had eaten daily at Konoha's Ichiraku Ramen Stand. Feeling a wave of nostalgia hit her, Sakura insisted that they sit down for a bowl (or two) of the comforting food.
Halfway into their meal, Sai tensed up. Sakura noticed only by the slight stiffness in his posture and the slower pace that he ate his ramen at.
Frowning at him, she made to ask him what was wrong but he sharpened his gaze at her. She took it as a sign to keep quiet, so she did. Without moving his head or interrupting his eating, he gestured farther into the restaurant with his eyes. Mirroring his actions, she found the man Sai had found so interesting.
There was nothing spectacular about the man she was looking at, apart from the fact that he was wearing a forehead protector that proclaimed he was a shinobi from the Cloud Village. She turned back to Sai, who had started speaking.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, do you know how to play bingo?"
Sakura stared dumbfounded at the male in front of her. Of all things to talk about…bingo? And what was up with the whole "Sakura-chan" thing? She also noticed his forehead protector had disappeared within the couple of seconds she had spent examining the Cloud shinobi.
"I have a book about it. I'd play with you, but I'm missing the chips. D'you think I should hire a nin to help me find them?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. Was this some kind of a joke? What exactly did that gibberish have anything to do with that man he had been all hyped up about? The way Sai was talking made him seem like some village dolt who didn't know a thing about the way of the ninja.
As Sakura's mind processed Sai's words again, the answer came to her and her eyes widened. Reaching up to her own hair, she removed her own forehead protector-turned-headband under the pretense of finger combing her hair. Formulating her own reply, she said, "I don't know. Would they take the chips back home for you? Or would they just leave the chips alone?"
Sai snorted in fake laughter. "Of course they'd take the chips back home for me. Or else, why would I pay them?"
Sakura laughed falsely as well, and answered, "Of course, silly me."
Quickly paying the bill, the two left and began walking as if they were just two people strolling down the musty street.
"So…do we take him out?" Sakura quietly asked, bending over the stand of a street vendor to look at a particularly fetching piece of jewelry.
"Rhetorical question," Sai replied, looking past her shoulder at the necklace in her hand. "The question is, how and when."
"True enough," Sakura agreed, putting the necklace down. "I suppose somewhere away from the civilians would be the best."
"Yes," Sai replied, taking her hand and leading her to another jewelry vendor several paces ahead. Sakura's act dropped slightly as she felt the warm pressure of his hand press into hers. He simply smiled his fake smile and said, "This is a lot less conspicuous."
Sakura murmured something unintelligible and turned away from him to look at a ring.
"This village is in a pretty desolate area, surrounded by open plain. A place devoid of civilians will not be hard to find. We just have to make sure he gets there," Sai said, giving her a ring to try on. Sakura took the ring and said, "Yes. But we don't know the scope of his abilities…"
Sai interrupted her by saying, "I do. I've memorized the bingo book from back to front. I should get you to do that too, Ugly."
Sakura smiled (a bit too) brightly and tapped him on the nose affectionately, as if she was just this guy's girlfriend and he had said something to amuse her. But Sai knew her better than that. He was quite certain that his nose had a date with Sakura's chakra-infused fist sometime in the near future.
"Back to the point though. This guy is not quite an S-rank criminal, but we can never be too careful. He specializes in Katon jutsu, so we obviously should use Suiton jutsu to counter that. The environment is also in our favor, since the moisture in the air will decrease the effectiveness of his fire jutsu."
Sai casually draped an arm around Sakura's shoulder and steered them into a much quieter café, intent on creating a more structured plan. Much to Sakura's dismay, she found her heart rate speeding up at his closeness. Physically proximity during sparring and training never bothered her before, so why was her body acting up like this? Sakura couldn't deny the fact that he was (drop-dead) gorgeous and smelled rather nice (she did wonder what soap he used), but that didn't quite make up for his atrocious personality.
An atrocious personality that's getting better as you know him!!! Inner Sakura chose to make her opinion clear at that moment, causing Sakura to unconsciously scowl.
Noticing, Sai gave her another fake smile and said, "Your act is dropping. Smile or I'll make you seduce the missing-nin into an open area."
"You wouldn't dare," Sakura said in honeyed tones while slapping on a syrupy smile.
"Try me," Sai replied just as sweetly. Sakura chose to dimple at him but inside she was seething, as well as horribly flustered. While she had been a jounin for a couple years, she had never been sent on that kind of mission. Yet. Tsunade had always said that Sakura's talent would be wasted on missions like those. She was far more useful on field missions with her team. Sai had said that Tsunade just needed an excuse because Sakura was too ugly to be able to seduce anyone, even perverted old men, to give up information.
Satisfied that the café was full of civilians who minded their own business, Sai said, "Ugly, I'm actually serious about you seducing that missing-nin into a place that would suit our fighting."
Sakura's jaw dropped. "What. Did. You. Say??"
"I said," Sai repeated, until a furious-looking Sakura stopped him from speaking further.
"Okay, okay. I understand that this is part of what may be expected of a kunoichi, but still. I have absolutely no experience in missions like these. And I don't think you'd like it if I screwed this one up. Right?" she asked hopefully.
Sai shrugged and said, "There's a first time for everything, Ugly. According to the bingo book, he likes his women. So just throw a lot of compliments at him and act feminine or something like that. It shouldn't be too much of a challenge, even for someone as ugly as you."
Sakura mentally dismembered Sai once again as she thought it over. Practically speaking, it was a pretty good idea. Approaching him as a couple would be rather suspicious, and it wasn't as if the two of them could drug his drink and just drag him back to Konoha. The missing-nin obviously wasn't going to fall for any story that the two might concoct, so why not target his weakness for women?
Glaring at him, she poked him hard in the chest and said, "Fine, but you owe me one."
"Owe you one?" Sai asked. "You're not doing me a favor, Ugly. You're doing this for Konoha."
Sakura removed her finger slowly, and placed her hands in her lap. She couldn't believe what she had been saying before. Complaining just because she had never been asked to do something like that? She was a kunoichi of Konoha, and it was pretty damn well known that kunoichi of Konoha were strong.
Eyes shining in determination, Sakura said, "Yes. For Konoha."
"Mhmm," Sai nodded, slightly amused at the way his companion had steeled herself.
In twenty minutes, Sai and Sakura had outlined their plan. After locating their target, Sakura would go ahead and try to get the missing-nin to go with her to the rather deserted south side of the village. Sai would be there already, with traps set up to hopefully gain an upper hand on the missing-nin before he realizes that something is off. Sakura would also try to cast a genjutsu on the missing-nin to increase the chances of Sai pulling off a surprise attack. In case all else fails, the two's combined strength and skill would be enough to take him down in an all-out fight.
So with most of her weapons relinquished to Sai, Sakura bravely stepped into the ramen shop that their target was still in. He was still sitting in that seat, eating what appeared to be his fourth bowl of ramen.
Reminds me of someone I know…Sakura quietly thought, as she made her way slowly over. Her chest bindings had been hurriedly removed and the zipper of her red vest had been pulled down to reveal a sufficient amount of whatever cleavage that she had. Her elbow guards and black gloves were nowhere to be found. The buckles on her skirt-like piece of clothing had been tightened to the maximum so that the cloth wrapped tightly around her posterior and thighs, making it seem as if she really were wearing a skirt. With only a dozen senbon tucked into her long black boots and the raw chakra in her system, Sakura had never felt more vulnerable.
With a small drink in her hand, Sakura slowly sidled up to the man. Up close, he really didn't look like he belonged in the bingo book. Everything about him screamed 'innocent and clueless civilian'. But as he turned around to look at her, Sakura recognized the look in his eyes – his eyes had the cold glint of a seasoned killer.
"Hey there, big boy," Sakura coyly purred, looking at him through her dense lashes. A self-absorbed smirk curled on his lips as he replied, "Hey there, sweetheart."
Sakura giggled, and said, "I came in for a drink, and I couldn't help but notice the muscles you've got there." Running a finger delicately up the man's large biceps, Sakura couldn't help but think Sai's toned muscles were a lot more attractive.
"Hey girlie, if you think those are worth checking out, wait 'til you see the rest," he replied with a crude wink. Sakura rolled her eyes internally, not believing this guy could be so straight-up about his desires, but fluttered her eyelashes and giggled again.
The missing-nin hastily wiped his mouth, plunked several bills on the table and swooped down to land a kiss on Sakura's lips. Knowing his intention, Sakura turned her face away and put her hand up, causing him to kiss the back of her hand.
"Playing hard to get, eh?" he smacked his lips, not at all fazed by her behaviour. She giggled and averted her gaze, a charming blush on her cheeks. However, that wasn't an embarrassed blush – it was an angry flush. But it worked all the same.
"We're in public," she simpered. "A girl has shame, you know."
"Then why don't we relocate to a more…suitable location, eh girlie?" he asked, tilting her face back to him with a finger.
Sakura giggled again and got up with him, and linking arms with him, headed out the door.
What the missing-nin didn't know was that all the time they had been flirting, only one of Sakura's hands was visible. The other one had been under the table, doing one-handed hand seals that had created a flawless genjutsu. His sense of reality now a slave to Sakura's will, as they hurried down the street.
Several giggling-full minutes later, Sakura's mouth muscles were sore from all the fake laughing and smiling. She believed she had also used up her flirting tactics for the rest of the year too. But for the sake of the mission, it would be worth it. Besides, the man seemed to be buying it too.
From his hidden vantage point, Sai could now see Sakura and man strolling towards their target location. He was not surprised that Sakura had managed to successfully get the missing-nin to follow her – after all, for all her innocence, Sakura did have some quirks that were apparently highly tempting for most men. Except Sai wasn't like most men, so he really didn't notice. Until he had overheard some Konoha jounin talking rather crudely about her. He had never known that Sakura had so many admirers.
Thinking back to the situation at hand, Sai finally noticed what Sakura's many admirers were always talking about. He could see everything Sakura was doing to the missing-nin. It was the slightly coy, yet confident way she held herself. And the way she fluttered her eyelashes ever so harmlessly. And the way she would place fleeting touches to the man's arms, face, chest…Sai felt himself getting uncharacteristically worked up about her actions. That man had no right to Sakura's affections, however fake they were. He was a no-good, perverted murderer, and-
Sai's musings were cut off when the two wandered into his hearing range.
"Why'd you take me to the south side of town, girlie? It's so empty, it probably isn't very safe," the missing-nin said.
"Really?" Sakura looked innocently oblivious. Her expression faded to surprise as the nin disentangled himself from her.
"Alright girlie, you've had your fun, so now it's my turn," he said, his expression turning malicious.
"Huh?" Sakura asked, a slightly fearful expression on her face.
"I'm giving you ten seconds to run while I release that genjutsu of yours, alright?" he said, a rather maniacal smile plastered on his face.
Sakura never wavered from her position beside the missing-nin though. But, feeling a silent presence beside him, Sai couldn't help but smile a little bit. For all the faults from her strong emotions, Sakura was one of the stealthiest shinobi he had ever worked with. When she wanted to be undetected, even he had trouble finding her.
In several seconds, her genjutsu had faded and it wouldn't be long until the missing-nin would be able to sense Sai. From his vantage point, Sai saw the missing-nin turn to Sakura and say, "Alright, since you still haven't run, I'm going to finish you off, girlie."
A swift punch landed right on Sakura's face, but imagine the nin's surprise when the clone disappeared with a puff of white smoke.
Turning to the girl next to him, Sai smiled, a true one, and said, "Shall we go?"
Sakura grinned back and replied, "You don't even have to ask."
a/n: Ah, another chapter :) This one was kinda fun to write. At the end. I had to literally unplug my Internet and take my laptop into my own room and shut the door to write, because I was getting completely distracted by the wonders that the Internet has to offer...aka Livejournal and deviantART XD
So, for those of you who weren't able to figure out that (rather poorly-constructed) shinobi code, here is what it meant (or was supposed to mean):
"Ne, Sakura-chan, do you know how to play bingo?"
"I have a book about it. I'd play with you, but I'm missing the chips. D'you think I should hire a nin to help me find them?"
"I don't know. Would they take the chips back home for you? Or would they just leave the chips alone?"
"Of course they'd take the chips back home for me. Or else, why would I pay them?"
Basically, it's all jargon about the bingo book and missing-nins, and Sakura's asking whether they should deviate from their current training mission to take this guy out or just leave him to the hunter nins.
So once again, many thanks to my wonderful betas - I absolutely would not be able to post this without them. :)
I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please tell me how you liked/not liked it :D