The sun had barely risen in Konoha by the time Sakura reached the gates of Konoha. It was a quiet morning, moisture hung in the air and what she could see of the sun was a watery orange glow on the horizon.
It interested her to see that although she was fifteen minutes early, Sai was also approaching their meeting spot... although he did look rather more alert thank Sakura felt, having spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable in her wonderfully comfortable bed.
He seemed to inspect her readiness as they arrived in their meeting place at the same time. It was a long sweeping glance, taking her measure as her mother might have said.
He seemed mostly satisfied with his findings, and rightly so, she thought, because they were both high ranking Jounin. She knew how to prepare for a mission.
"It seems you didn't take my advice Ugly, you look even more tired than you did yesterday."
She was prepared for the comment this time, refraining from trying to cover her face, to hide it from his scrutiny. Sai was the first person in a while that she'd known to actively criticise her appearance, other than Ino telling her how to dress. Having spent a large part of her year around the civilian friends of her old flatmate she had grown used to people making comment on how she was 'a real looker' and that she had such a unique look. But civilians in the village often looked upon their kunoichi that way. That was how it was supposed to be, they were supposed to entice and seem harmless.
She supposed she should have punched Sai for his comment. Instead she gave him a small tired smile.
"It's odd trying to get to sleep in a new apartment. I only moved in two days ago." It amused her a little to see he looked ready to defend himself.
"I see." She was interested to see that closer up he looked a little tired also, but she was too tactful to say anything about it. Whatever it was that had kept him up, she was sure he could handle it.
"Shall we get going then?" She turned her back to the village, looking out at the road ahead of them. The sky was awash with the golden orange hues of the morning sun, but the sky was mostly clear.
"Naruto spoke to me this morning." Sai informed her suddenly. "He suggested that we don't go straight through the Land of Hot Water, apparently there has been some unrest due to an upsurge in Jashinism."
It surprised Sakura to hear that Sai had heard from Naruto that morning. Ordinarily he would have spoken to her; instead he'd gone to Sai? She pushed the tinge of hurt away telling herself that it was probably just that they'd happened across each other.
"That religion Hidan followed right?" She saw him nod minutely. "Great, just what we need a bunch of psychos' intent on creating havoc." She considered for a moment. "I guess that leaves us three options."
"Travelling through the land of sound and either getting a boat up to the Land of Frost or skirting the coast of the Land of Hot Water. That or taking a boat from our own cost straight to Lightning." Sakura gave Sai an approving look.
"Wow I said that without moving my mouth." Her lips twisted into a wry smile his remained mostly blank except for the frown that appeared in order to show he was thinking.
"Ordinarily I'd say we take the third option but if we're travelling as married civilians then it's unlikely we'd be able to charter a boat."
Sakura nodded in agreement, her own frown returning. "How about we attempt to get a boat from Sound, then if we're unsuccessful we can skirt the Hot Water coast."
"I said that without moving my mouth." That earned a laugh from Sakura. Sai plastered his fake smile on his face.
"I'll cast a Genjutsu over us now and we can set out." The laughter was still in her voice.
She was glad that she was feeling comfortable with her old team mate. After the previous night she had worried a little that maybe it would be an uncomfortable experience, working alongside him.
But as she formed the hand seals, weaving a complex Genjutsu which would make them appear different, she realised that she didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Sai's presence and abruptness were actually quite refreshing.
Once the Genjutsu was in place they quietly left the village, neither of them looking back once.
They walked for most of the day, stopping when the sun had reached its peak in the sky to have lunch in a small tea room, and then continuing until the sky was once again a mass of oranges pinks and reds.
There hadn't been too much conversation during the day, only the odd comment on how they needed to slow their pace slightly. Or Sakura telling Sai that a he shouldn't be calling his wife 'Ugly'. They'd also discussed who they were supposed to be and straightened their stories out so that they'd be able to lie perfectly.
When she had noticed that the sun was setting Sakura had suggested they stop, because not many civilians would be foolish enough to travel during the night. Sai had agreed reluctantly, travelling as a civilian was so inconvenient; normally they'd be most of the way to the border and still travelling.
Instead they were a few hours away from the village – as the shinobi runs – and they were wasting precious night time hours.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep at all tonight." Sakura commented sitting down on the ground by the fire they'd built. They had already eaten a small dinner.
Sai looked watched her for a moment, noting the interesting colour her hair looked in the light of the fire. It was almost amber in colour, and her eyes looked dark in that light also.
"Mmm. Think how difficult it will be for me, trying to sleep in a tent with someone so ugly." Her eyes narrowed.
"Hey! You know that's not what I meant, I just have so much energy left over, usually I'd have used it all travelling at full pelt." She picked up a stick and poked the fire and they both watched as the bright sparks flew off into the inky black night.
Sai pondered for a moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase his question.
"Hey Ugly, shouldn't you have hit me by now?" He was still watching the dark sky but he saw her head turn in his peripheral vision. "You always used to hit me for calling you ugly." He explained as she continued to look at him. "But now you barely react at all. I'm not sure I understand it."
Finally he brought his eyes down to meet hers. The light of the fire shone in them warping their colour. She seemed to be considering her answer carefully.
"Well I guess I just feel more forgiving Sai, because I haven't really seen you in so long." She poked the fire absently with her stick. "You know I can't even remember the last time we worked together, or were even in the same room together for more than five minutes."
Sai could remember but he decided that wasn't the point she was trying to make.
"So you're saying that you missed me?" He deduced. He had an odd feeling that she wasn't telling him the entire truth about it, her features were just a little too static, but he let it go.
"Uh yeah I guess I did in an odd kind of way." Her response was a little awkward. "But I guess I miss the whole team." She added softly. "It seems we've all grown apart quite a bit."
Sai didn't understand what she meant by that. He knew that she and Naruto were still very close; he could have deduced that from Naruto's visit to his apartment just that morning.
But here she was saying that the team had grown apart.
"I haven't seen much of anyone lately." He said aloud, not really noticing that Sakura turned to face him.
He'd spent a lot of time working with the old ANBU Root, integrating them into the Hokage's ANBU. But that meant he couldn't spend a lot of time around other people. Because the old Root lot didn't like the idea.
He saw Naruto a bit, because he had to report to him, but other than that he seldom saw anyone else.
It had been so long since he'd talked to Sakura that he was completely taken aback by how different she was to that girl he'd met when they were both sixteen.
Back then she'd been a short fuse, still ignorant of anything but her Sasuke, and most of all she'd been ugly. Of course not everyone had thought she was ugly, and there had been a few positive things about her. For instance; she had been fairly patient in helping Sai begin to learn about emotion, and she was a dedicated friend.
Now, well now she was refined, she'd reigned in that temper of hers and seemed to be thinking less about the Uchiha – which he supposed was healthy considering he was dead. Her voice was softer but she seemed less expressive than she had been. Her voice was not the only thing that had softened over the past six years.
He realised she was staring at him, wearing that expression he'd never been able to replicate a slight frown was all there seemed to be to it, but her bright green eyes seemed to swim with emotion.
What had he said to make her look like that?
Her eyes flickered back to the fire, unseeing. When she finally spoke it was halting. "Sai, I had no idea you'd been alone."
Naruto stretched as he finished writing his letter to the Daimyō to state that two the two shinobi requested had been dispatched. His mind had been preoccupied all day.
He felt that maybe he'd been neglecting two of his best friends. Sakura had seemed lonely when he'd spoken to her the night before. He had the feeling that while she wasn't particularly broken up over Ryou – who, incidentally, had been having a string of bad luck since Naruto had heard what had happened; a courtesy of Kakashi – she was disturbed but the situation in general and was having a hard time adjusting to being alone in that new apartment of hers.
He decided right then and there that when Sakura got back he'd make sure she got settled in properly, and that they'd get back to their regular ramen dates.
Reflecting back on his visit to Sai that morning, he realised that he was even more concerned about the old Root member.
The sun wasn't even up when Naruto arrived at Sai's tiny apartment, but as he had anticipated the door was answered quickly.
"Sai, I just wanted to give you a heads up that there's been some trouble in the Land of Hot Water, you might want to avoid it as much as possible."
"What's the trouble?" Naruto was gazing around Sai's little apartment curiously, he knew that Sai was being paid enough to upgrade, but for some reason he seemed content to live in that one room apartment, with a communal bathroom. Most of the space was taken up by the paintings that leant against the walls.
"There's been a huge upswing in Jashinism." Sai's expression didn't change as he watched Naruto move through his apartment to the window.
"Oh." Naruto warred with himself as he watched the first glow of the sun appear in the sky.
"Sai?" There was no response but Naruto continued anyway. "Take care of Sakura will you?"
"She can't take care of herself?" Sai's tone was confused, "She's a shinobi, surely she doesn't need looking after."
Naruto turned to look at him. Surprisingly, Sai's expression was troubled as if he was wondering what's wrong with the pink haired kunoichi.
Naruto sighed; it was probably a little too early in the morning for him to be explaining things to Sai. "It's not that she needs to be looked after. It's just that sometimes it's good to have someone looking out for you. You know someone to watch your back."
"I see." If he hadn't been looking at him, Naruto would never have known that something was wrong with Sai, his voice was perfectly emotionless, but there was a tiny flicker of something in his expression, which concerned Naruto greatly.
Suddenly, Sai picked up his pack and turned to the door. "I should be leaving now, I'll be sure to keep what you've told me in mind."
And then he was gone, leaving Naruto to look around his box like apartment with renewed eyes.
It was only then that he noticed that all the paintings propped against the walls had something in common. They all lacked colour.
His eyes fell on the most recent one, still in the easel with paint that still looked a little tacky.
He might not have noticed that his painting was black and white if it had not been for the scenery and people in the background.
He considered running to Sakura then, to ask her to look out for their emotionless team mate, but he knew that she would already be doing that.
He took one last look at the painting before he left, allowing it to become firmly imprinted in his mind, along with its name.
'Self Portrait'
Sakura stared at the forest green wall of the little tent.
She had come to several revelations that day. The first being that she couldn't punch Sai for calling her 'Ugly' because she needed it, she needed someone around who would just talk to her as she was, on equal footing.
The second was that she had been wrong in thinking that she missed just Team Kakashi as a whole, and that she really missed everyone individually.
The third revelation had been that Sai was lonely, even if he didn't know it himself. But it had been there in his voice when he'd told her he hadn't seen much of anyone. There had been a touch of it in those obsidian eyes. It was a wonder to her that he got by without someone watching his back.
She listened to his quiet breathing for a while. The tent was small so they were sleeping back to back, she could feel his warmth seeping through his sleeping bag into hers. Maybe it was that final revelation of hers, but she imagined she could hear the underlying sadness in every intake of breath.
Laying there, staring at the green canvas of their tent wall, listening to Sai's breathing, she resolved to be a better team mate from that moment on.
Tadah, chapter three; do tell me what you think, I'm not sure if this story is being lame or not tbh,