Hi readers!
Thanks for your review in my previous chapters!
It's holiday already and it seems like I got too much time around so I decided to write more chapter! Pardon any of the writing mistake, I'm not very good in English as it's not my main language and finally, enjoy!
If there were one thing that Sai could learn from Ino's whole ordeal with Genma, it was that he needed to temporarily stop himself from observing and took the action himself. After all, the only reason Sai decided to make his little research was because the subject of affection and love was still a very foreign feeling toward him. Hell, feeling was a foreign subject to him until not so long ago. Nevertheless, he was a person eager to learn about human's relationship and love was not excluded. Hell, even the Kazekage held it in such high regard that he had the kanji of it carved into his forehead.
The circumstance of his research was of course perfectly understandable; isn't the first reason of anyone to be attracted to anyone else was because of their attractiveness? However, in the end, attractiveness was only the spark that ignites the fire, and it was her personality, her attitude that kept the fire blazing. Sai definitely couldn't have experienced all that just by simply watching from afar. He had to do something and as soon as he made his resolve, he went to the library and took a vast amount of book regarding love and relationship. Seeing the amount of books regarding that particular object which were there, he could tell that he was not the only one who was clueless about love. It's just that some would just charge into it without thinking but not him; he was not used going against something unprepared. This was going to be perfect. Despite his iron steel resolve, as he progressed with the books, he learned that there are so many huge boulders blocking his way toward Ino, no matter how seemingly outgoing and easy to get close to the girl is. He couldn't ask her out just out of the blue like Genma because he didn't have the necessary skill set that Genma had. He was not close with her and every book told him to start small to get close to her. Patience was always one of his virtues, but he couldn't possibly start from zero. It took the others all the years during academy days until now to be as close to her at the moment and he didn't have 10 years or more to get close to her.
His solutions had been rather brave; he was going to learn the necessary skill set in order to get close to her; just like Genma. Funnily enough, there was indeed a book which covers that: a book titled "A 10 Ways Guide to be A Playboy : How to get women fall head over heel for you". Sai had hesitated when he took the book earlier, the book was thick and small and featured very detailed pictures and some of them were not innocent, thus the dirty feeling kept overflowing when he was reading the book and he had to constantly remind himself of a certain silver haired ninja that kept himself occupied with erotic novels in public and was totally fine with it. The reason as to why Kakashi did that had amused him too, was there something amiss in his past? Was that to attract people? He had entertained the idea of researching about him but had to drop the research when he found out that the damn Hatake Kakashi was too, interested on Yamanaka Ino. Who won't be curious at Ino after that finding?
It was when he was seriously working his way throughout the book when Sakura approached her. Déjà vu, he had thought.
"Sai! What are you reading?" Sakura's greetings had been friendly and sweet while he swiftly changed his book to one of random book he was reading. He was not stupid enough to let her know what he was reading. So, when Sakura peeked the book cover, she found out the 'Love,Love,Love' book instead and she instantly frowned but then her expression when she asked him about it was amused.
"Such an interesting book to read, Sai." It can't be any more obvious that she was trying hard not to grin and Sai sighed at that. She found it funny for him to be interested in love and he perfectly understood that. He was a newbie at the whole 'emotions' things, and it could be said that love was one of the most complex emotion and he knew he was not emotional enough to feel that and that's why Sakura was laughing.
He was wrong, apparently.
"Are you interested in a girl, Sai?" There was a hint of patience on her voice that was rarely heard on Sakura's voice. She was not exactly famous for being patient after all. She sat across of him and started to look at the title of the books he read.
"Why are you smiling? Is it funny?" Sai asked and Sakura looked and him and quickly shook her head while chuckling.
"I am glad for you," She said and leaned in curiously, "So who, if I may know, is the lucky girl?"
Sai had trouble weighing the options he had. Should he tell her about Ino? Sakura was a close friend of Ino and she might be able to help, IF she wanted to help. She must have wanted to, though. By far, Ino was her biggest rival on capturing Sasuke's heart, and she knew that. Sai could easily pretend to be troubled by telling her that Sasuke was interested in her too and Sakura would be dying to help him by that time. Yes, that is perfect. He could feel his mouth forming into a smirk but then he replaced it with a fake smile that he didn't expect to use ever again.
"I am interested in Ino." He had said that matter-of-factly and Sakura was taken aback. He didn't understand yet the concept of love. Should he be more embarrassed when he said that?
"Wow." Sakura's eyes were gleaming.
"So, back then when you called her beautiful …" Sakura reminisced about their previous conversation. Sai nodded and kept smiling.
"Yes, I had meant that." He said. Sakura took a short breath and looked at him in amazement and he should say that he was astonished.
"She might be playing hard to get at times, but winning her heart wasn't all that hard I think." And then she proceeded on telling him about how to make Ino's happy which basically was to feed her vanity and power craving personality. He appreciated her help but he couldn't help but not to be curious. He didn't even have to play the Sasuke card and Sakura was already so eager on helping him.
"Why are you so eager on helping me?" He asked suddenly when Sakura was amidst talking about Ino's favorite place to hang out. It was a mere millisecond but Sai could catch a glimpse of her expression that seems like she was caught doing something she shouldn't. But Sakura managed to muster up a smile and said, "I think you deserve your happiness, Sai. Loving someone could help you achieve that."
Bullshit. It must be about Ino. It had been always about her.
XXX
He waited for her to walk out of the T&I department before approaching her. She noticed his presence and smiled at him.
"Hi, Sai-kun. What a wonderful afternoon." She said. Sai nodded in agreement as he joined her walk.
"What's in your mind?" She asked after a long moment of silence.
"I heard you like sweet things. Let's go to a confectionery and eat a cake together." His tone had been flat and unemotional, but Sakura previously told him that it made him 'cute' and interesting that way. Ino hadn't given him an answer for what feels like a long time that Sai started to think that she didn't listen to his previous plea.
"So you watched me from the dark for several weeks and then asked me to go out on a date? Interesting." She said out loud suddenly. Sai let out a sincere small smile. He should have expected it; of course she had realized that he had been watching her; he hadn't been too discreet about either. However, the way she talked about it, it might actually give him an advantage. She said it like he had been attracted to her for several weeks. Yes, he could work with that.
"Don't get involved with me, Sai-kun. You might fall in love." Ino winked and despite how it was true, he couldn't decide whether she had really meant that or it was just an innocent joke. Her date with Genma several days prior had successfully made him second-guess everything she did and said.
"Yeah, so I heard." Sai said, opting on using a diplomatic answer, "I am eager to try." He was not really lying actually. His heart never beats faster just because of a presence of someone or a light touch, it was supposed to be irrational and he'd like to see if Ino was able to do that. Ino let out a hearty laugh and then she stopped and patted his shoulder.
"What I was trying to say was, sure you are handsome and cute but we are not close enough to have a date yet." She said. Sai looked evenly at her cerulean eyes.
"But you went out on a date with Shiranui-san." He said matter-of-factly. Ino frowned.
"Genma is a special case."
"How is he special? Do you like Shiranui-san, Ino-chan?"
"I can't say. He's ridiculously charming though." Ino hummed. Sai stopped his step, the moment he entered the conversation with Ino, everything had been felt like plastic. All of her sweet smiles and laughs was fake beyond any comprehension, Ino was not herself when she was talking to him; it was like she had put up a barrage, like she was hiding something.
"You seem really defensive, Ino-chan." He gave her one of his fake smile, "I wonder why?"
"I just don't understand what your intention was, surely you are not interested on dating with me, but then what is it?" Sai gave her a meaningful look before handing out his notebook. She received it and immediately read it without his further instruction. She would raised her eyebrows occasionally but she read it in silence most of the time, drinking all the information in. It didn't take her more than 15 minutes before she handed the book back to him.
"Well, I'm flattered." She said and then sighed exasperatedly.
"What do you think about the book? Aren't you happy to be liked by so many people? Aren't you supposed to be this vain egoistical maniac?"
While it usually would garner him a hard punch on the face from her, all she did was laughed bitterly.
"It doesn't matter if they are only interested in me," She said, and she leaped onto the top of a fence and made her way through the roof, running away from him.
After the incident, he didn't ask around about her because he simply didn't – or at least was not supposed to- care. His interest was purely on her love life and how she could have many suitors, not her feelings. He had continued watching her after the incident though; and she would just look at him anytime she noticed him and went about her own activity. He watched her fighting with Shikamaru regarding her date with Genma; Shikamaru bluntly told her to stay away from 'the-man-who-can't-even-properly-keep-his-dick-in- his-pants' and she had shouted that it was her life and she'd do as she pleased. Shikamaru told her that it made everyone worry and she dared him to define the so-called 'everyone' , and before Shikamaru could answer she spoke in a softer tone that he was not even her boyfriend or family. At that, Shikamaru looked taken aback and hurt, but the argument ended right there. Shikamaru told her to do whatever she wants and left the flower shop and as soon as he's outside the building, he lit up a cigarette that has been a long time since the last time it was touched. Meanwhile, Ino cried after that. Sai watched her sob for a while before Ino finally called out for him.
"You were watching, right? Show yourself." She had called out to him and he hesitated. There are some parts of him that told him that he should go down and answered her call. Didn't the first reason he's watching her is because he wanted to experience love? He should rush there now, saving his damsel in distress. Another part of him told him to ignore her because his instincts told him she reeked of trouble and he didn't want any part of it. He's not Naruto who could easily meddle with everybody's business and save the day. He was no hero his blonde friend was.
With that in mind, he left.
XXX
Sakura, who thought that Sai was really interested with Ino, kept forcing the two teams into having lunch or dinner together frequently, Sai never talked to her, despite Sakura kept kicking him on the shin to start a conversation. And at last, during one dinner, Sakura had brought him faraway from others.
"What's with you, Sai? If you're really interested in her, you have to collect your bravery and actually started talking to her!" She told him. Sai didn't know how to respond to her and chose to give her his fake smile instead.
"I am afraid that I am no longer interested in her anymore, Sakura-chan."
Her expression was shocked for a second before she looked away and muttered, "I see."
He only nodded and went back to his seat and proceeded listening to one of Naruto's daily life story; today about him training with Gai and Lee. He caught Ino throwing glances at him and he gave her one of his fake smile. Sakura joined them not so long after, her expression rigid; and it made Ino once again throwing glances at him. He ignored it this time. The dinner finally ended and it's time for them to head home. It was always the usual; Shikamaru and Chouji would take Ino home while Naruto and Sasuke would go with Sakura. Sai is welcomed to join one of the two party, but most of the time he'd just go straight home. He planned to do so too this night, at least until Ino suddenly took the liberty on clinging to his hand and changed the whole going home plan.
"I'd go home with Sai-kun tonight." She announced;much to everyone's surprise. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in dismay and Chouji looked bewildered.
"Be careful, Sai." Naruto teased him, "She might suddenly pounce on you and left you no longer innocent." Ino laughed.
"I'll save my pouncing when I walk home with you, Naruto. Okay, we'll see you later guys." She didn't even wait for Naruto's response and practically dragged Sai out of the restaurant. Several moments later, she let go of her iron grip.
"What are you talking about with Sakura?" She asked directly.
"You."
"Me? What about me?" There was a hint of defensiveness in her tone.
"I told her that I was interested in you."
"Oh, hence the sudden frequent eat-out." Ino nodded in understanding. Silence followed and Ino didn't say anything for more. Maybe she had a lot of questions in her head, or maybe she didn't care at all. She hadn't brought up about him leaving her on the flower shops a few weeks ago as well.
"So, how are you with Shiranui-san?" He didn't know why out of all the ice breaker there is, that question had to be the one that was coming out of his mouth.
"Fine. We have several mote dates after the first one." She said casually.
"Does Shikamaru take that well?" A long, agonizing silence followed.
"No, not really." She said in a softer tone. "We had countless worse fights after the one you watched."
"You two sounds like a couple." It was a genuine comment coming from him for the first time during the night and Ino didn't say anything. There was no immediate denial.
"He's concerned, that's all." Ino said, "But youth doesn't last forever, and I'm determined to make the best of it. So, well … things happened."
Sai didn't know what the correct response was and decided to stay silent.
"So, why are you so curious about love?" Ino opened up a new topic, finally made a comment regarding his notebook.
"I never feel things they described on novels or books. I am fond of Naruto and Sakura and regard them highly, but my heart doesn't beat faster nor did I lose the ability to speak normally."
"And you thought I could help with that." Sai nodded at Ino's conclusion.
"They said that at its peak, love bring one ultimate happiness." Sai said, quoting one of the book he had read earlier.
"Aren't you happy?"
"I feel nothing."
"You should just be more grateful then," Ino laughed, "To have such wonderful friends, wonderful skills and all." She said, "When it comes to happiness, you have to look around first before looking up." Ino stated. She looked at his eyes then.
"Love had this tendency to strike at the most unexpected times; it could be tomorrow, or a decade from now. You can't just stay unhappy waiting for it to come."
They reached Ino's house by the time she finished saying that and they stopped at her doorstep and Ino smiled at him.
"Will it really strike me?" He asked. He knew he had sounded like he was a pathetic teenager at that point, but he had stalked her for several weeks and one more curious question would be harmless.
"Yeah, you will. I promised you that. Everyone deserved their ultimate happiness after all."
"What about you, Ino? Have love struck you?" Sai asked her back.
"Maybe." She said after a long pause. "Or not, I guess I'll just wait patiently, then."
She then leaned in and unexpectedly gave him a kiss on the lips.
"Good luck, Sai-kun." She whispered and went inside her house. Sai touched his lips.
It had felt bland.
XXX
Sai had stopped watching her after the kiss; he figured that it was the end of his research if he was not going to love her. He'd occasionally go for an eat-out with her team, and there is that one time when she dragged him to go for a shopping spree with her, reasoning that no one else was available. After that, it was just a few nods and smiles and several months later, when he was training with Naruto and Kakashi, Neji popped out of nowhere and approached him.
"You were sent for the Hokage tower," He said.
"Only me?" He asked. Neji gave him a brief nod.
"Only you." And then he made a handseal and turned into a puff of smoke. A bunshin. Naruto and Kakashi approached him and Naruto made a comment about his call. Something that Sai had learned about Naruto, it was that he always had to comment about everything. Naruto was complaining as to why that Sai had to be the one that was sent on a cool, lone mission. He was about to respond when Kakashi calmly reminded him that making the Hokage waits never ends well with anyone. He nodded and rushed to the tower quickly. He was about to enter the Hokage office when he heard a familiar but rare voice. Gaara's.
"I am a Kazekage, Hokage." He said, his tone was heavy and demanded respect. Sai immediately yet gently hid his chakra presence.
"I figure it out as much, Gaara-kun. But Ino was taken first by the Kumogakure and I wasn't going to give you a special treatment just because you are THE Kazekage." Tsunade's voice had been strict and Sai frowned at the mention of Ino's name.
"You are exiling her like that."
"I'm not exiling her," There was hurt in her voice when he told her that, "She was the most capable kunoichi suited for this mis … condition. She had been trained for years under the best possible people for this. Kumo will love her inside out."
"So does Suna," Gaara retorted immediately.
"Stop this, please, Gaara. Sakura had tortured me all the time by bringing up this topic every five minutes. It was Ino's decision to agree to a marriage with Darui of the Kumogakure." Sai raised his eyebrows; the piece of news was shocking him, and he wasn't an easily shocked person to begin with.
"She was 13. She was very young and immature."
"Now she's 17 and still don't have anything to say about it."
"And what if she had something to say about it?"
"We don't force kunoichi out of their will for this kind of case. The mission will be cancelled, even though I don't think that by the time she's cancelling her mission she'd want to be married to a Kazekage either."
"I have time until she's 18."
"Konoha and Kumo's village couldn't be any stronger after the marriage. With that, the five alliances could make strong line of defense and offense against anything. We are lucky enough we could secure Sasuke safely back to the village. So please, don't sabotage this."
Sai left after that. He's going to wait for a half hour before he showed up again. He jumped to the nearest café just a few meters from Hokage's tower and ordered a cup of tea. He reached for his notebook and flipped the pages quickly before finally arrived at his abandoned research.
"Sai! What are you doing here?" The familiar voice startled him.
"Sakura. I was waiting for the Hokage. What are you doing?" He said awkwardly. He slowly closed the notebook and put it on his pocket.
"Can I sit here?" She didn't wait for his answer to take a seat across of him, "It was lunch time before I should be heading back to the hospital. The western food is great here," She said.
"Can I ask you about something?" He asked as Sakura looked at the menu.
"Shoot away."
"It's about Ino."
"Oh, you're interested again in her?" Sakura lit up. Sai figured that Sakura was very concerned about her best friend. He had come to the conclusion that Ino is the only person that could stop the marriage and Sakura thought that if he were to be in a relationship with Ino, she'd cancel the marriage and stay. Sakura didn't want her to leave.
"While you were training under Tsunade-sama, who trained Ino?" Sai asked. Sakura shifted her seating position uncomfortably against the question.
"She trained under many people. Why the question?" She asked; defensive.
"Who?" Sai pressed in.
"She was trained by Asuma-sensei, and then later she was trained under his father, Morino Ibiki, Shizune and Kurenai-sensei." Sakura told him, "Why?" She asked him, a look of concern filled her face.
"No, it's nothing." Sai stood up and paid his bill.
"I should go now, Tsunade-sama is waiting for me," He went and walked away from the café; ignoring his pink haired friend's call for him.
XXX
Sai was sent for a two months mission tomorrow. He was sitting alone in a restaurant, getting himself a dinner while waiting for his companion. Everything made sense now. He figured that Ino trained under Inoichi to improve her kekkei genkai, under Shizune for medical jutsu, under Ibiki for human psychology that she seemed to like and played around with and under Kurenai for the womanly prowess. All to prepare for the marriage, that is going to take place in less than 7 months.
"What about you, Ino? Have love struck you?" Sai asked her back.
"Maybe." She said after a long pause. "Or not, I guess I'll just wait patiently, then."
The conversation was still fresh in his mind and Sai could tell that she was going to wait for love to embrace her before cancelling the mission. Love hadn't embraced her until now, and that's why she said that it doesn't matter if everyone liked her. She was waiting for one of them to make her fell head over heels for them and yet none of them had been brave enough to make the bold move. He didn't understand the reason, but he's not going to just sit around about it despite the nature of the mission. Ino deserved her ultimate happiness.
But mostly, it's because it would be interesting to watch, he thought with a smirk curving on his mind. So when he shrugged his head, he saw people coming his way and he smiled. He had invited people that he thought had the ability to make Ino fell in love with.
The dinner went on and Sai decided that he'd just throw the information as a gossip. He waited patiently until Naruto finished his argument with Kiba.
"Guys," He said in a louder voice. "It's a classified mission, but do you know …" He told them the mission.
Let the battle begins.
So, this chapter is finally finished. Thoughts? Please review it would make me very happy
By the way, I decided that the world is a little bit different from the manga, it's after the Fourth World War WITHOUT Neji, Inoichi, or Shikaku dead.
Life's better like that.
Anyway, don't forget to review ,thanks !