AN: Beta'd by ShipperTrish, because she is AWESOME!
Chapter 2: Embarrassment.
The restaurant quarter of Konoha was always busy for lunchtime. People filled the tight streets, pushing and shoving to get by. Sakura hung on tightly to the back of Naruto's jacket as they weaved in and out of the crowd towards Ichiraku's ramen bar. She looked up at the patterned canopies and marvelled at the brightly coloured paper lanterns, which swung in the midday breeze. The smell of a hundred different flavours bombarded her senses as they squeezed past sushi bars, fish restaurants, delicatessens and teahouses. She turned her nose up in disgust as she passed a stall of frozen fish heads which gawped up at her as flies swarmed over their glassy eyes. The stallholder gave her a smirk as he wiped a greasy hand on his stained apron before taking a long drag on a self-rolled cigarette. She was further repulsed when he tried to pinch her bottom.
Don't punch civilians…she thought bitterly, giving him the fiercest look she could muster through her shock.
They turned down the next alley and onto its adjoining street where the crowds thinned, allowing her to see the striped canopy of Ichiraku's which was thankfully quiet and welcoming with its simple wooden stalls and clean counter.
"Morning, Naruto!" Ichiraku said with a wide smile.
"Morning, Ichiraku!" Naruto beamed as he thrust the little yellow ticket into the old man's hands. "Two ramen feasts for me and my gal."
"Naruto!" Sakura growled.
"HA, HA! I was just um…err…" His nervous laughter trailed off and he quickly guarded his vital organs.
"I mean, two for me and Sakura-chan."
She giggled despite herself.
"Coming right up!"
Naruto's stomach rumbled in anticipation as heaped ladles of miso ramen were poured into two bowls, noodles and bean sprouts slopping over the edge as Ichiraku masterfully added fresh leafy sprigs of coriander and a boiled egg to the top.
Sakura noticed her own stomach clench a little as the large bowl was sat down in front of her.
"Itadakimasu!!" they both chorused, breaking their chopsticks and digging in.
She listened patiently as Naruto recited what he had been doing the last couple of days through a mouthful of noodles and tried to control her temper as specks of miso soup hit her face and top. She found herself relieved that even he had run out of things to amuse him and had resorted to playing practical jokes around town.
"I thought you'd grown out of that, Naruto," she mumbled, trying not to look too amused as he gave an in-depth description of the last trick he'd helped Konohamaru play on Tsunade involving superglue and a sake bottle.
"She didn't get it…I don't know…slurp…I had to spend the day back at the Academy as Iruka's class assistant teaching brats… like I was ever that…slurp… bad…" Naruto finished up his bowl and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
Without hesitation he raised his arm up high in one sweeping motion, announcing as if to the whole street, "Old man, another miso ramen!"
It was then that Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder followed by a soft...
"Yo."
Sai sat by the riverbank, watching the people of Konoha crossing over the bridge above him. He watched quietly as a young woman struggled with overflowing grocery bags. Her skirt hitched up on the breeze, exposing white panties which she hurriedly tugged back down, causing her to drop the bag so that its contents spilled all over the wooden walkway. A lemon and two apples rolled out and slipped through the bars, landing in the water with a loud plop. He heard her curse loudly and she scooped the rest of her groceries back into the brown paper bags.
A man about the same age stooped down to save another apple from drowning and sat on his heels in front of her, passing her the rest of her groceries item by item: a box of tissues, a large bag of rice, a now misshapen cake. Sai saw their hands brush accidentally as the man passed her the last item, which caused her to blush.
She stammered a brief "Thank you," allowing him to help her up.
They paused, studying each other's faces for what seemed like a whole minute before he said, "Let me help you with those. Where do you live?" in what Sai guessed was supposed to be a casual manner. He followed them with his gaze until they moved out of sight, watching the woman talk animatedly to the man with a warm smile, the blush still clinging to her cheeks.
Interesting…Sai thought and tried to mentally list the emotions he had just witnessed:
Embarrassment indicated by the fierce red that had fired up under her cheeks.
Gratitude at the help the man had given her.
Awkwardness while wondering what to say to each other.
And another…
Lust perhaps?
He thought about the Icha Icha series, which Kakashi had seemed to find so interesting and educational, and made a mental note to pick one up in hopes of understanding such puzzling exchanges.
He turned his attention back to the task at hand and focused on the canvas in front of him. He had painted the scene opposite of him almost photographically: a moored boat with water gently lapping at its hull, a large bough of cherry blossoms cascading over the stonewall behind it.
A thought occurred to him and he decided to change the boat's paintwork from blue to red. He took a black ink brush out of the pocket of his rucksack and carefully inscribed the bottom right hand corner with neat calligraphic handwriting that said "Embarrassment."
That's when he heard a small familiar voice behind him say, "Sai, the boat is blue, not red."
"Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"I thought I might find you both here. I need you to go home and pack supplies for a three day mission."
"Alright! Finally, a mission!" Naruto stood up excitedly, forgetting his half eaten second helping of ramen, a single noodle dangling ungracefully from the corner of his mouth. "What is it, what is it? Are we handling top-secret information? Protecting a princess from some faraway land? Please say we'll be fighting a group of S-class mercenaries, Kakashi-sensei! Or we could be…"
"Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi said, his voice quiet, but still possessing an authoritative tone. "I'll tell you everything on the way. Just meet at the gates at three. I want to get a good five hours trek in before dark."
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, biting her lip lightly. "Is it a dangerous mission?"
"No, no. Quite simple."
She felt her heart sink a little at this. It had been awhile since she'd had a challenge.
He continued. "Just a B-rank mission, so bring minimal equipment. We'll be staying in a few towns overnight, so bring a little money. Do either of you know where I can find this Sai guy?"
"I'll get him. He'll either be in the library or painting." Sakura said, then she nodded politely and gave Naruto and Kakashi a quick smile before leaving.
She made good time through the town, which was noticeably less crowded. Families were either at home eating with each other or were filling the restaurants of the food quarter. She was planning to head for her apartment and find Sai once she'd packed, but had spotted him as she walked over the bridge toward the housing district. She gracefully jumped over the thick red railings and picked her way down the grass bank to join her teammate on the river side.
"Sai, the boat is blue, not red."
"I know, Sakura-chan," he replied softly without looking up.
"And you've titled it!"
"My books have told me great paintings are not necessarily dependent on the skill of the artist, but on how well an artist can convey emotion. I felt like it should be red."
He stressed the word "felt" as though it were unfamiliar.
"…And you were the one who told me that I should title my work," he finished with a pleasant smile.
"It's a great start, Sai-kun. I think it's very beautiful. Come on, we have a mission."
She stared intently at the picture before her and felt honestly touched by his explanation, smiling slightly on how far he'd come since their initial meeting. Most of the time she wanted to hit him for his inappropriate comments and bad language. His reliance on stupid psychology and social study literature drove her around the bend, but the smile that was always plastered on his face had started to seem more genuine lately and she was comforted by the fact that he was trying so hard to learn. He hadn't called her ugly for at least a month - that on its own was an improvement. She couldn't help but feel a little sad around him because despite the obvious fact that they were completely different, he still reminded her of Sasuke.
She wondered what had happened to make the boat feel so embarrassed.
They'd walked together for some time, hardly speaking.
Sai didn't feel awkward around Sakura. He didn't completely understand the concept of enjoying someone else's company, but he definitely didn't dislike having her around. She was patient with him and always gave him advice in understanding others and their intentions. Granted, she could be irrational and unpredictable, but she was direct about her emotions on the whole. He often understood he'd done something wrong because she would hit him, plain and simple. Physical pain was much easier to translate than being ignored or spoken to in riddles and hidden agendas.
They'd parted ways outside Sakura's apartment and she walked up the three flights of stairs quickly, thrown her front door open, and started tearing through the chest of draws in her bedroom hurriedly. She threw undergarments and a change of clothes quickly into a tatty rucksack, and stripped off completely in the center of the room, kicking her clothes into a pile in the corner thinking, I'll clean them later.
She moved into the bathroom turning on the shower and giving the boiler a quick smack before it hummed and hissed into action. She stepped under the hot water, letting it soak through her pink hair and leaned her forehead against the tiles, breathing in the hot steam. She washed herself quickly and thoroughly before turning the shower off and towelling herself down. She wiped away steam and condensation from the mirror and studied her face. To her, her forehead still looked enormous and looked even bigger with wet hair.
I was hoping I would have grown into it by now…she thought miserably before opening the towel up to study her bare breasts. She squeezed them together with her arms experimentally, noticing with disappointment that it didn't really do much to enhance her cleavage. She rocked up and down on the backs of her heels, watching as they jiggled gently in the mirror. Frowning ruefully, she took a roll of bandages out of the bathroom cabinet and started to bind them tightly.
No wonder they never seem to grow…
Sighing, she walked back into the bedroom and got dressed into fresh clean cloths, pulling the tight lycra of her training shorts up underneath her skirt and strapping her weapons pouch securely to her right leg. She ran her hand through her wet hair and tied her forehead protector across the top of her head to keep the wet strands from sticking to her face.