Sakura abruptly woke up sometime near midnight feeling very, very tired. She could still hear her Master's words ringing in her ears.

"Sakura Haruno! I am giving you the responsibility of your teammate, Sai! You are to teach him what he has been trained to forget, and I am expecting progress in a month's time. Do you understand?"

Shoving the blankets off her groggily, she rubbed her eyes sleepily and was considering on getting a glass of water when she heard a strange sound coming from her balcony. Frowning, she pulled the curtains open and nearly screamed bloody murder when she saw Sai's face pressed against the glass. He tapped the window with a finger, then pointed at the lock.

Thinking that this was a bad dream, she slapped her face once, winced at the disappointment that it was not, and opened the window. "Sai?"

"Good morning," said the former ROOT member, hopped into her room uninvited, and sat beside her on the bed.

Sakura unceremoniously knocked him to the floor. "What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"I was hoping we could start on your mission early." Sai clambered into a sitting position on the floor, not showing the least bit shame that he was disturbing her beauty sleep.

Sakura stared down at him as if he were something gross stuck on her shoe. The boy merely stared back, and after a moment flashed her a winning smile. Groaning inwardly, Sakura looked at the clock on her side table. Twelve-fifteen. Great. What a perfect way to start the day.

"Sai, I don't know how to say this politely, but can we please do this in, say, eight hours' time? Just like normal people do?"

Sai looked at her, clueless. "What's wrong with right now?"

Sakura took a deep breath, willing the anger to melt away. Too tired and too sleepy to even argue any further, she closed the window and sat on her bed in resignation. "Fine. How do you propose we start this then?"

Sai, who apparently had brought along with him his backpack right now close to bursting, started taking out book after book after book and neatly stacking them on the foot of Sakura's bed. The Mystery of the Human Mind, Listen to What She Isn't Saying, The Birds and the Bees…?

"I took these out of the library right after we were dismissed and I thought of – "

Sakura stopped him from taking out any more. Yawning loudly, she shook her head. "That's where we start, Sai. You will not open those books of yours for a whole month. You will return these to the library at first light and you will not borrow anything that concerns things you have been diligently researching ever since you became my teammate. Understood?"

It was obviously not understood. "Why?" he asked.

"It's because we can't learn emotions from a book, Sai. People just don't work that way. Emotions are imprinted in the brain, things that we learn when we're little, like pain, sadness, happiness, jealousy." She shifted her legs and scratched her head. "Let's put it this way; do you remember when you first cried?"

Sai stared at her with an unreadable expression. "I don't remember my childhood. The farthest I've gone to remembering my past was my sketchbook."

Sakura bit her lip. She could remember that all too well, too. It had been the earlier times when Sai had just joined Team Seven. This was going to be harder than she thought. "Okay, fine. That time when you remembered what you were supposed to draw in that final page, what did you feel?"

Sai, this time, looked like he was genuinely thinking. After a while, he said tentatively, "Accomplished. That was the only thing I was taught; failure or success."

Sakura gestured at her heart. "But what did you feel? Was it a good feeling? Or a bad feeling?"

"… a good feeling, I suppose."

This made the kunoichi smile. "There we go. I guess that's a good start. We can make a bit of progress if we start by dividing things into good and bad. So tell me, what did you feel when the Hokage was looking at you, asking you about the events in the Sand?"

Sai frowned more. "… Confused."

"And was that a good feeling?"

"It was… very uncomfortable… It was a bad feeling."

"Yeah, it was."

Sai scratched his head. "But then what?"

"Then you start to memorize that feeling, and order your body how you would react to those feelings. For example, if you were a child, and you felt a bad feeling, you would cry, and when you feel a good feeling, you would smile. Do you get it?"

Sai stared at her for the longest possible time. Sakura felt her eyes water from the sleepiness. She opened her mouth for a yawn but was suddenly interrupted when Sai's lips parted into a half-smile.

"Watching you, brings a good feeling," he said silently, then started packing his books back into his backpack. "Is that an accurate assessment?"

Sakura felt her cheeks burn. Quite pleased that Sai made a comment that didn't make her feel angry, she returned his half-smile. "If it's an honest one, then it's accurate."

"It reminds me of this sick raccoon I saw in the training area two days ago, and now that I've tried to analyze it, that made me feel a good feeling, too. It looked interesting eating some weird fruit it must have found somewhere."

Sakura knew it was all too good to last. Grabbing Sai by the collar, she shoved him out into her balcony, and slammed the window in his face. One of these days, she was going to make him understand empathy.

Sakura had problems going back to sleep even after Sai had left that night. She tried her hardest for a few winks but ended up waking at around six in the morning. Finally giving up, she got dressed, went downstairs to wash her face, and decided to walk around the Village to wake her brain cells.

Big mistake. She ran into Ino Yamanaka the moment she passed by their flower shop. The kunoichi was taking out some potted plants, her long blond hair in a high ponytail, a red apron draped over one arm, and a very, very alert face the moment she saw Sakura.

"Good morning, Sakura," Ino greeted. When Sakura came close enough, she noticed that her friend had her hands bandaged.

"Good morning. What happened to you?"

Ino raised an injured hand. "Oh, this? It's nothing. I'm given the task as flower arranger in Temari's wedding. She wanted white roses for her bouquet, but…" she laughed tiredly. "If the wedding were to be held here, it would have been easier, but roses don't bloom in the desert so I've been looking around the groves in the Leaf Village for them. Thorny little things, aren't they?"

Sakura looked at the potted plants she had just taken out. Three thorny rose bushes almost ready to bud were enjoying themselves in the rays of the sun. Sakura frowned. "Lucky the wedding was postponed. They look like they won't be blooming in two weeks or so."

Ino looked at her wearily. "These were ordered because the wedding was postponed. I think Temari ordered these out of spite. These roses won't survive the weather in the desert, but what with the whole misunderstanding, I just couldn't refuse."

Sakura's gaze shifted from the roses to Ino. She waited for a blunt remark about Sai being an ass for doing something so insensitive, but none came. Sakura looked away. "It's because of Sai angering Temari, wasn't it?" She felt kind of responsible for her teammate's actions. "Sorry about that."

It was Ino's turn to look embarrassed. "However stupid he may be when it comes to understanding women, he is still a Leaf shinobi." With this, she laughed. "It's still our job to cover up for our friend's mistakes. No need to apologize, Sakura."

Today was turning out to be one weird day. First, Sai barging in on her room in an illegal hour, then Ino actually being civil.

Ino, too, seemed to have realized she was being out of character and she instantly blushed. "Anyway, I have to open the shop now. Where are you off to?"

Sakura groaned to herself. "I have no idea."

"You don't know where you're going?"

Sakura rubbed her eyes. "Sai had me up almost all night – "

Ino's eyebrows climbed her forehead, a malicious grin spreading across her face. "Sai had you up all night? And what exactly have you two been doing all night?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at her. Count on Ino to think dirty thoughts about the silliest of things. "The Lady Tsunade wants me to make sure Sai masters his emotions in a month to avoid other predicaments like what we had in the Sand, and weird enough, Sai seemed so eager that he came to my room in an unearthly hour for it. It's a mission. Probably the hardest one I've ever gotten."

Ino scuttled nearer, so near it was starting to be very, very uncomfortable. "Sounds interesting. And what have you been teaching him last night, in your room, in an unearthly hour?"

Sakura could feel her temple throb in annoyance. She shoved Ino away. "I taught him never to do it again, Ino. Grabbed him by the collar and threw him out the balcony."

For some reason, Ino looked disappointed. "Oh. Well… Of course." She donned her apron and nodded at Sakura. "If you need any help, let me know." She gave her a knowing grin. "I wouldn't mind having Sai over in my room in the dead of night."

And that was when Sakura felt something very unfamiliar in the pit of her stomach, and it made her grab Ino by the shoulder and whisper in her friend's ear. "You're not thinking of getting your claws on him, are you?" she asked menacingly.

Ino jerked away from her, and started rubbing her shoulder painfully. "Geez, Sakura I was kidding. You know me. That hurt, you know."

Sakura, shocked at what she just did, looked down at the hand that grabbed Ino, then at her friend's shoulder where she had left angry red finger marks from squeezing too hard. "I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

If Sakura hadn't known herself better, she would have thought Ino's remark had made her… possessive of her teammate.

Ino shook her head. "You need more sleep. Go back to bed and get your sense of humor back. I'll see you later in the mission admission counter, all right?"

Sakura, who was still staring at her hand, nodded. "I'll see you later."

Ignoring Ino's advice of going back to bed, Sakura found herself wandering into the training grounds at the outskirts of the village. Not really knowing what led her there, she gazed at the nostalgic tree stumps lined in the clearing, tree trunks with painted targets, all battered and splintered from the thousands of kunai thrown at them. At this early, no one would usually be training, but she could feel a presence of someone in the clump of bushes in the far side of the grounds.

Curiosity getting the best of her, she made her way across the clearing, making sure not to make a sound. She doubted that whoever was in there was not hostile at all, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Much to her surprise, it was none other than Sai, dressed in his casual dark pants and matching shirt, crouched at something she could not see.

"Sai? What are you doing here at this hour?" She asked, pushed her way through the bushes to crouch beside him. It was then did she see what he was looking at.

There, barely moving, with a bit of froth coming out of its mouth, was a little raccoon. Patches of fur were missing here and there, and its legs were twitching as if in pain. One look at it, and Sakura knew it had been poisoned.

"It's dying," Sai said. "I knew it was sick when I saw it before."

Sakura looked at her teammate. Nothing could be read in those eyes. She hovered her hands over the animal, tried to probe it, sending chakra flowing through her fingers, examining the raccoon. She frowned. "It must have eaten something poisonous in the forest. The poison's reached its vital organs already. I don't have my gear with me right now, Sai. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do…"

There was something that sparkled behind Sai's eyes; something that Sakura couldn't have imagined existing in the boy.

Sai sat back on his heels. "…. This is not a good feeling…"

Sakura watched the raccoon give one final twitch before it stopped moving. "What do you feel?"

Her teammate started to struggle for words. "…Regret."

The answer caught her off-guard. She was expecting sadness, or maybe even pity. "You… feel regret in seeing this animal?"

Sai frowned, once again choosing his words carefully as if it were the hardest thing he had to do. "When I first saw it, I knew it was hurting, that it wasn't all right. Now that I look back at it, I could have brought it back to you, then maybe it wouldn't have ended this way."

Sakura tilted her head to examine Sai's face. "Why didn't you? Bring it back to me, I mean."

Sai shook his head. "It didn't matter to me at all then, this creature's life. It was meaningless to me." He looked at the dead animal, once again as if in a struggle. "In ROOT, everything was the mission. You have no name, you have no emotions. No past, no future. This creature… it had no significant value to me."

Sakura watched Sai's face, those dark eyes, usually stoic, were a bit glassy as he averted them from looking at her. "And yet you feel something. A bad feeling?"

The boy turned to face her, eyes catching the rays of the sun penetrating the branches of the trees above them. "It wasn't until last night that I had associated this raccoon with you. And I saw it dying, and remembered you. And I felt… a bad feeling. I wonder why."

Caught off-guard again by Sai's answer, Sakura drew back from him as if burned. She fell on her behind on the grass, face heating up. Sai did not seem to notice her sudden reaction.

"Sakura? How do people react to this emotion? When something of little value to you dies, how do you usually feel? I've read once that when your parents, or family members or friends die, they mourn," Sai said, the last word seeming very unfamiliar to his tongue. "But this animal, it means nothing to me, but seeing it made me remember you, and I thought that if you were gone, I'm almost certain that it wouldn't bring a good feeling. What do I do now?"

Willing herself to stop blushing, Sakura gestured at the creature. "Would you like to bury it?"

Sai looked at her questioningly. "What is the purpose in that?"

Sakura smiled ruefully. "It is a form of respect, Sai. If we leave it here to rot, other animals will come and eat it. This may be just a raccoon, and it may mean nothing to us, but it, like us, had lived, and we try to honor that life by burying it so that other animals do not disrespect it."

Sai looked like he was deep in thought. After a few moments of silence, the boy said, "I would like to bury it."

Sakura nodded, satisfied with Sai's decision.

Somehow I'm really enjoying writing about this couple. XD And it happened to be my day off today so I started another chapter. This is very, very rare for me. I usually don't update my stories in months, or even years.