Sakura and Sai had met at one of Sai's early expositions.
Sakura had been walking around the room for a while, admiring all the beautiful landscapes. She hadn't planned on going to this particular exposition. She had just gone out to get some groceries when she walked past the building. The beautiful painting of a sakura tree at the entrance had made her curious.
And that's how she found herself here.
The room was empty except for her and a man about her age that was standing in the corner. He had black hair and black eyes and was dressed in jeans and a white button-up shirt. His shoes were splattered with paint. He was watching her, he had been doing so since she entered. Sakura occasionally glanced back in his direction. Only to quickly turn away with a faint blush on her cheeks. The guy never showed any emotion though.
As Sakura started to walk out again he grabbed her arm. Sakura turned around and took a better look at the man standing in front of her. The only way she could describe him was beautiful.
"Would you like to come and get some coffee with me?" He asked her.
Sakura smiled.
"Only if you tell me your name first."
"I'm Sai." The man said and took her by the hand as they walked out the door. He locked the door behind them and lead Sakura to a nearby coffee shop.
Sakura sat down at a table while Sai was getting them some coffee. She didn't know why she had accepted the man's invitation, but she couldn't say no to free coffee. She looked around the coffee shop. The place was filled with round tables with mismatching chairs around them. In the back of the room was a stair that lead to a little platform where there were just couches to hang on. The colours where warm and earthy. A soft jazz tune was playing in the background and the whole place smelt like coffee and muffins. She loved it.
Three of the walls hung full with paintings. On the other wall, behind the counter, were poems, pieces of music, lines from books and movie quotes written down and different handwritings and different colours. She stared at the wall for a while when suddenly Sai came back, two coffee cups in his hands.
He sat down opposite of her and smiled.
"You like it here?" he asked.
"Very much. I don't think I've ever been here before." Sakura said, still looking around.
Sai was quiet for a while, just looking at the pink haired girl in front of him. She truly was beautiful.
"What's your name?" Sai asked, realizing he didn't know this girl's name yet.
"I'm Sakura, nice to meet you" Sakura smiled.
'Her name fits her' Sai thought. 'Just as beautiful as the spring sakura.'
"I'm guessing you're the artist from the exposition?" Sakura said.
"You guessed right." Sai answered. "Although I've been painting my entire life this was one of my first expositions. I was quite amazed someone I didn't know actually showed up."
"It was because of the painting at the entrance, it was beautiful" Sakura said smiling.
Sai nodded. The painting of the sakura tree was one of his favourite works. He had put it by the entrance on purpose, hoping it would convince people to have a look at his other work.
"Why did you ask me out?" Sakura asked when he didn't respond to her comment.
"I had been standing there all day without any visitors. I was about to call it a day when you walked in. Besides, you looked like you could use some coffee." Sai smiled.
Sakura smiled back at him.
"I can always use some coffee" she answered.
"That's something we have in common then." Sai commented and he took a sip from his hot coffee.
They sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each others company. Sakura hadn't imagined her day would end up with her having coffee with a cute guy. Sai hadn't imagined meeting someone that would be interested in his paintings, or in him for that matter.
The sun was setting outside when Sakura stood up.
"I've got to go. I still have to get some groceries" She said.
She reached into her bag for a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly scribbling something down and handing Sai the note.
"It was fun hanging out with you, we should do it again some time." She said before leaving him behind and walking out the door.
Sai looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. On it were her name and phone number. Sai gave a little smile. He paid for the coffee and started walking back home. The smile still on his face and Sakura's note in his hand.
Sakura entered her apartment just before the sun had set completely. She put the bag of groceries on the kitchen table and went to the living room. She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Not really watching. After a while, she fell asleep.
She was woken up when her roommate, Ino, came home.
"Hey forehead." The blonde said in a way of greeting her. "You haven't started dinner yet?"
Ino walked over to Sakura and sat down next to her.
"No, I fell asleep." Sakura answered sleepily. "Can't we order pizza or something?"
"You can if you want. I'm going out for dinner with Naruto." Ino said. "I'll probably stay at his place tonight. Will you be able to handle things around here on your own?"
"Don't I always?" Sakura said, sticking her tongue out at her best friend.
"Well, I'm going to take a shower then." Ino said smiling and walked to the bathroom.
Sakura waited until she heard the water running before finally turning the TV off and getting back to the kitchen. She put the groceries away and reached for the phone when Ino came out of her bedroom, wearing a beautiful purple dress.
"How do I look?" she asked nervously.
"Stunning as always." Sakura reassured her. "Go have fun with Naruto. Tell him I said hi will you?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow." Ino said before walking out the door.
Sakura waved goodbye at her and turned back to the phone, dialling the number of the nearby pizza place.
When she had eaten Sakura decided to go take a nice hot bath before going to bed. She filled the tub with hot water and some of her favourite rose-scented bathing oil. As she relaxed in the tub she started thinking about Sai again. She wondered if he would ever call her. She didn't expect him to though. Sakura never had any luck with guys. She just kept on staring at the ceiling and thinking about her little date with a guy she didn't know. She should have asked him for his number as well. Sakura sighed and climbed out of the tub, the water was getting cold.
She walked to her bedroom and put on her favourite pyjamas before sliding under the covers. Even if Sai never decided to call her she had had a fun day with him, that's all that mattered.
AN: First off, I wanna thank the people who already reviewed this story. Thank you very much, it motivated me to write some more. I'm not to happy about this chapter but I figured I should start with the beginning, which is them meeting. As some of you might have guessed by now. The prologue is actually the end of the story, I just thought it was a good way to start the story off. I don't think I've ever read a story that was based on a relationship between Sai and Sakura, it just sounded right to me. And the whole Ino and Naruto thing? I just needed a way to get Naruto into the story. But if you think about it long enough they sound like an okay couple. Their relationship probably won't last forever but they would have a lot of fun.
This AN is getting way to long so I'm cutting it of here. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I'll try to make my chapters a little longer in the future.