I know that SaiIno isn't a very popular couple, but they look good together and balance each other. I wish they have more interaction in the Gaiden. I loved Sai and Inojin's panel.
Please drop a review as you are done reading this. It matters a lot to me. Thanks in advance
Chapter 3
Occupying a person's mind and reading all their thoughts without their consent is probably one of the most illegal things to do. But that's my Yamanaka clan's speciality. Reliving some of the painful memories in the name of 'Intel' makes me less human day after day. Maybe this is what being an Anbu is about. Since I am accustomed to this routine, thinking otherwise makes me feel weird.
Earlier it used to be like entering a stranger's house and watching them without their knowledge. Some part of the information would save the life of my comrades. But now, even in the times of peace this process has to be done to remove any stain that taints this unity. Sometimes after my interrogation duty I feel frightened that I'll lose my thoughts to them. That I'll never be the same. Thinking of this mixes my emotions and memories with that of the victim's. It gives me shattered pieces of image whose rightful owner I don't know. It's like a puzzle. I end up connecting them until I fall asleep. But it doesn't end there. It takes a different form and torments me giving nightmares. Their worst fears become mine and I'm brought into a void where I hear their screams and curses. They did warn me.
This has become my lifestyle. I think mending an injury is better than knowing how you got it. Some injuries can't even be healed by Sakura and those are the ones that happen to the mind. Maybe mind was always my forte.
Ibiki taichou is pleased with my stubbornness during an interrogation and my alertness during a mission. He says I may look like a dumb blonde, but in my case appearance deceives. He loves the aspect of seeing a pretty girl be a tough kunoichi. I show no mercy when it comes to my job. Ibiki taichou says it is funny that he sees my calm and girly self in the flower shop but my bossiness and rashness once I don the Anbu uniform. I think I like that about myself. I have my own team and the freedom to make my own decisions. I have to report to no one but my Taichou and the Hokage. He says at this rate I will surpass my father and all of my clan members to which I don't react much. Praises like this comes out of his mouth rarely and if I acknowledge them it will become even rarer. I never thought that I would get along with Morino Ibiki- ruthless and heartless interrogator of all time. If Asuma sensei was still alive, he would have been proud of me. Proud for putting up with a person like Ibiki taichou.
After all the tough missions the only thing that keeps me sane has to be my friends and my shop. I don't share any of this with them. Still they call me by my name (we use fake names in Anbu) and remind me in small ways that how precious I am to them. They know that I have changed. And changed is an understatement. Yet they treat me the same. Maybe the change was necessary. My former teammates - Shikamaru and Chouji have grown into handsome and responsible young men. Although I still think Chouji should reduce his weight. And Sakura has been studying the intricacies of the Medical ninjutsu and Hospital administration. Since Tsunade sama has retired, she spends a lot of time advising Sakura. Sakura has matured so much that she wishes to start a Mental Healthcare Clinic for children who have suffered this war. I wonder why nobody thought of this earlier. When she broke this news to me, I was elated. Maybe the life of her teammates(Sasuke and Naruto) had inspired her to start this. But whatever the reason maybe, I hope we are the last generations to have experienced the war.
I have seen enough of orphans and spies who have lived their life starved of love. The thought of them automatically brings me to Sai. Someone who is totally the opposite of me and yet continues to make me feel an equal. The need to save him from his world of doubts and uncertainties is strong in me. Though half of my job is done by Team 7 but the other half is reserved for me. I have never felt this duty to save someone who has decided to tangle himself with lies and shut himself away from a world that is still brimming with hope. My need to save this man is greater than my need for anything else in this world. It is the purest form of love. That's what my best friend Sakura says. When I compare this with the crush I had for Sasuke kun, I feel I had understood the meaning of love in a wrong sense. I wholeheartedly accept my defeat to Sakura although I realise now that it was never a competition between us. It was just a lesson for me.
To prove Sai that he can love someone and that it is ok if he doesn't understand certain feelings will be me. And only me. I had decided this when he started to share his thoughts with me. And it further deepened when we had each other backs during missions. He told me about his brother Shin and swore that he would never lose anyone dear to him. That's when I secretly promised the same. That I would protect him at all costs. I will do anything to give him a life that he deserves. After all that's what a beautiful bush clover does.