Ch.2 – Open Wounds

"Your partner?" Sakura nearly shrieks. "What the hell do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Sai states blandly. "They wanted to test how much control they had over us in various ways. We were put through different tests and had some tests in common. They wanted the best of both worlds. That was Kagome and I. We were the best of our sexes, so we were confined in a room together and told we were meant for each other. That we were to connect to each others' soul. We were to have a true bonding, but that never happened. We hated each other at first, but they had us spend every waking minute with each other for months. I fell for her, the way she handled everything they gave her, the way she handled our test mates, the way her body fluidly moved with grace as if she was dancing instead of fighting, the sound of her voice when she was told to sing, the way she could cook, how she could sit there silently for hours. I was not well-liked among the females so I never ran into any trouble. But she was quite popular with the males and she didn't take well to any advances. Always let me hold her after escaping them. I promised to protect her as she cried in my arms. And my drawing of the outside world always seemed to cheer her up. The day they came for me she had fallen asleep on my lap, a clear sign that she truly trusted me. They tore her away. I fought as much as I could, but there were more of them. They gassed us and threw black fabric over our eyes. When I came to, I was in the Hokage's office and they were talking about trying to simulate me into the world. I never saw Kagome again. I thought they might've killed her that day. But I never tried to go back to find her. I just left her and forgot."

"That sounds awful but there was nothing you could do. She's here now so why don't you make up for lost time? I'm sure she can forgive you in time, right Kaggie?" Naruto goes to ruff her hair playfully when she latches onto his hand with sharp teeth. He yelps as she bites down on him, drawing a small amount of blood.

"… Those weren't there before." Sai glares as he pries open Kagome's mouth skillfully, as if examining a dog, inspecting her very canine-like teeth. "These are completely different teeth." He releases her as she swipes at him with small but sharp nails. "Tell me what they did to you Kagome."

She only snarls at him and tries to attack him once more. Naruto once again intervenes, bringing noodles up to her lips with his own chopsticks. "No Kaggie. Sai is my friend and teammate. You are not to attack him or I'll bring you right back to the Hokage's tower. I'm taking care of you remember? Now eat your ramen." She doesn't speak, but slowly pulls the warm noodles off Naruto's chopsticks and into her mouth, keeping an unblinking eye contact with Sai the whole time.

"I think you should just give her to Sai." Sakura speaks up. "It's his fault for pissing her off so he should take care of her. And you're still too immature to have a girl in your apartment."

"I'm a Hokage-in-training. I was told not to let her go anywhere without me until told otherwise. Taking care of her is my mission. She may be different then a normal assignment but I'm gonna do my best. You just don't like the idea of me being in charge of something so important. Well one day I'm gonna be Hokage and I'll be giving you jobs."

"Hinata is going to be so mad if you spend all your time with another girl!"

"I already talked to Hinata and she's already met Kagome. She wants to take Kagome to the marketplace tomorrow to shop. Sai, why don't you come with us so I don't die of boredom by myself." Naruto suggests. "Besides, being around will help Kagome warm-up to you again. Perhaps you can get her to talk?"

"She can't speak?" Sai is up again, inspecting her mouth with well-placed hands as she claws at him. "Besides the change in teeth everything else looks normal. Hm…" He starts putting pressure on different spots on her neck with two fingers. "You still have your voice box…"

"Sai STOP!" Naruto warns as Sai looks up to find tears trailing down Kagome's face.

"Kagome…" He releases her, her hands immediately moving to block of access to her neck. "I wasn't trying to hurt you Kagome… I'd never hurt you…"