Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.
A/N: A short fic written about Sai and his personal journey to improve himself, not only art-wise but relationship-wise as well.
Summary: Sai struggles to improve himself. It used to be about art, but now he's got friendship to think about too. Can't it be simpler?
How to Improve
How can I improve? Sai stared down at the table. He propped an elbow on it, supporting his head with his hand. His other hand thumbed through one book, and then another. What should I improve?
He stared at the two books, eyes moving between them. One was an art book, full of interesting illustrations and words of inspiration to get the mind itchy for drawing. The other was a book on relationships, talking about friendship and showing diagrams of ordinary, everyday things like people sitting together at a picnic.
What should I improve?
Drawing meant so much to him. It had been his only emotional output since he was young because his own face could not be a canvas for emotion. The Root division had tried so hard to keep him from giving even a smile, but they couldn't help it when he decided to put smiling faces on his creations.
But now, things were different. Slowly, he was learning how to paint emotions on his own face, replicating the ones he'd drawn so many times in his life. He knew the faces, like the tiny motion of furrowing of brows for concern, and when one teardrop shone on the edge of an eye in the build-up to taking in loss. And now he had people to show them to, friends.
Friends he wanted desperately to show more appreciation for. But where would he start? The book suggested such strange things, like picnics and going to movies. He'd never done those things before. And what would you talk about? But weren't you supposed to not talk when you were inside a movie theatre? How do you build relationships if you're not allowed to talk?
Sai tapped his finger on the page of the art book.
Appreciation… drawing… friendship… smiling… talking… gifts… Gifts?
His eyes moved between the books again. There, on the pages was one similar sentence: Art can be a wonderful gift to share.
He didn't know if they meant it in the same context, but he had just found his inspiration. Sai closed the books and placed them back on the shelves.
It's like any other day of the week, he said to himself as he set up a blank canvas. But this time I'm drawing for my friends.