Here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

Ino didn't know what to make of this strange boy with the fake smile. He was giving her a weird feeling; like he has no idea how to act around other people.

He just kept smiling until someone came up from behind and made himself known, "You two must be here for our mission."

Ino and Sakura looked over to the man who spoke, he had a regular Jounin outfit, he had brown hair, black eyes and his forehead protector was connected, to a metal plate that framed his face.

"Who are you?" Ino asked first.

The man answered, "I'm called Yamato; I'm here to fill in for Kakashi-Senpai on his team as Captain."

Sakura asked, "So we call you, Yamato-Taichou?"

Yamato nodded and then he added, "Since the three of us will be traveling, there wouldn't be any time to get to know each other, so introduce yourselves."

Ino looked over at the boy and uneasily introduced herself, "I'm Ino Yamanaka."

Sakura followed with, "And I'm Sakura Haruno."

Then the boy put on the fake smile and replied, "I'm Sai."

"Well now that we got that out of the way, we'll briefly talk of our objective; capturing Sasori's spy at The Tenchikyou Bridge. Since I believe that Naruto Uzumaki is not attending this mission, we won't have to be worried of them possibly capturing him. But we hope to capture this spy as he may have information on Orochimaru and Sasuke."Yamato paused briefly before adding, "All three of you, we meet at the main gate in an hour; pack all that is necessary for you on the mission."

They nodded and then they dispersed, Sai going a different while Ino and Sakura walked the other way together.

"What do you think of the replacement for Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Ino thought it over and answered, "I don't know what to think of him, he seemed off somehow; like he;s never interacted with people his own age. He really seems strange to me."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement and then said, "But don't you think that he looks a bit like Sasuke-kun; in his appearance and his voice?"

Ino thought it over and then answered, "Yeah, he does look a bit like him but I do know that he's not him."

Sakura then said, "Yeah and besides, Sasuke-kun is a bit cooler than him."

Ino smiled sadly as she agreed with Sakura. So they went their separate ways to prepare for their mission.

Elsewhere in the village, Sai is packing supplies in his bag. Then he picks up a small book and gazed down at it. It had a picture of himself as a child on the front; he seemed to be lost in thought until he took his tanto out to strike someone who suddenly appeared behind him.

"Nice move; never let your guard down," a man with an Anbu mask and cloak said.

Sai nodded and asked, "What is it you want, Senpai?"

The man handed an envelope too Sai and he took it from him and opened it. When he saw the contents, he seemed a bit surprised but not much.

"The top secret mission given to you by Danzou-sama is…" but then he suddenly threw his kunai out the window, startling a cat.

He continued, "Anyway, Danzou-sama's vision for the future rests upon this secret mission. Faliure will not be tolerated."

Sai replied, "I know."

The man nodded and then turned his attention to the book on the table.

He asked, "Are you carrying that around?"

Sai looked down at the book and murmured, "This is…"

Then the man said, "In Root…" Sai turned back to the man.

He continued, "You have no name. You have no emotions."

Sai added in monotone, "You have no past, you have no future; there is only the mission."

Then the man said, "That is the purpose of Root. We exist in the underground, unseen, supporting the great tree we call Konoha; don't even forget that."

Then the man disappeared in a puff of smoke as Sai said to himself, "Right."

After their hour, all three had shown up at the gates. Ino and Sakura both glanced over at Sai with unease.

Yamato made sure everyone was there before turning around and saying, "Alright everyone, let's go!"

So they went on their way down the path. As they were walking down the path, Ino observed Sai at the corner of her eye.

"Looks like him… Maybe he does look a bit like Sasuke a little," Ino thought.

Sai noticed her and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Ino didn't answer but only thought, "He sounds like Sasuke too."

"Please don't look at me like that, or I'll attack you," Sai said to her.

Now that really set her off; she retorted, "And what makes you think that you can?!"

Then she thought, "He's nothing like Sasuke!"

Sakura looked between the two of them and stood close Ino to make sure that she wouldn't do anything rash.

Sai replied, "I have no ill intentions." Ino looked at him skeptically and then he added, "I was hoping for such a situation."

Sakura asked, "Situation?"

Ino then accused, "Then you do have ill intentions!"

Sai merely walked ahead and then she added, "You're not an acceptable replacement after all."

Sai then turned around to look at her; there was a small, tense silence.

Then Ino glared at him and said, "At first, I didn't know what to think of you, but I'm starting to really not like you at all."

Yamato intervened, "You can't just ignore the team's well-being and say that, Ino! Kakashi-san must have taught you as well as Naruto of the importance of teamwork and trusting your teammates. You are a member of the great Kakashi-san's team. So why are you making things difficult?"

Ino retaliated, "This guy isn't a member of Team Kakashi! Even if Naruto is not right now; he would agree that he is just a replacement. The last member of Team Kakashi is…Sasuke Uchiha. I simply won't accept him."

Then Sai put on a smirk and said, "That's fine with me; that puts me at ease me at well."

Ino was surprised that he actually didn't argue against it.

Then Sai added, "Someone who betrayed Konoha and joined Orochimaru, I don't want to be put into the same group as trash like that."

Ino glared at him and stepped forward and growled, "Why you..!"

But then Sakura blocked Ino to stop her and then said, "It is true that teamwork and cooperation is important. Sai, Ino doesn't know you very well, so she may sometimes lash out to argue."

She paused for a moment, lowering her hand to say, "Sai, please forgive Ino."

Ino whispered, "Sakura…"

Yamato let out a sigh of relief, saying to himself, "At least one of them isn't hot-headed."

Sai replied to Sakura, "Oh, there is nothing to forgive."

Sakura then smiled and replied, "Of good, I'm glad."

Sai attempted to smile again when he was suddenly punched hard in the jaw by Sakura, as she glared at him with contempt in her eyes. Ino and Yamato both looked at her in shock.

"You don't have to forgive me," Sakura exclaimed with a feral growl.

She added, "You don't know anything about Sasuke-kun, you have no right to say those things about him."

She clenched her fist as she continued, "If you say another bad thing about Sasuke-kun again, I won't hold back."

Sai wiped the blood coming from his mouth and then replied calmly, "Okay, I won't say anything bad about him again." He paused for a second and then added, "But still, a fake smile ca be used like that; I'll remember that."

Ino lashed out, "You just got punched; what exactly are you saying?"

Sai replied, "The best way to pass off something bad is with a smile, even if it is a fake smile. That is what I've read anyway; people will get fooled by it. Though, it doesn't seem to work as well if I do it."

Ino glared, whispering, "Why you little bastard!"

Then Yamato did some hand seals and murmured, "Shichuurou no Jutsu!"

Then quite suddenly, a wooden cage had appeared from the ground behind Yamato, while the others had looked on in surprise.

Yamato said, "You three, we have little time to get to Tenchikyou Bridge, so I have proposal for you. Either you spend all day beating each other up in a cage or we take a little detour to a hot springs town."

Both Ino and Sakura had the same question in their heads, "How does Yamato-Taichou know Mokuton techniques?"

They were brought out of their thoughts when he added, "You don't know me very well right? I like to lead nicely, but…"

He paused and then added eerily, "I don't mind leading by terror either."

Ino was somewhat unnerved by the face Yamato made to make him look scary so they decided on the second option. So later on, they went to the hot springs where they had separate bath areas. Ino and Sakura had gone in together and they dipped into the water of the hot spring. Ino admitted that it was really relaxing and it helps with her scar on her abdomen.

While relaxing in the hot water, her thoughts had drifted back to Shikamaru as she absent-mindedly felt the healing scar where he caressed her gently and of how much he cared. Then she lifted her hand out of the water to her forehead, still feeling his soft lips on her forehead. The small gesture from her childhood friend puzzled her as much as it made her heart pound. She also had thought of how he made her pleasantly shiver from his gentle touch and how well she fit in his embrace. Then her thoughts ran away from her, drifting into thoughts of what it would be like if she kissed his soft lips. But then she shook her head violently to rid herself of the thoughts while a crimson blush formed on her cheeks in embarrassment.

Sakura saw her best friend shake her head quickly and she noticed her face was red, so she asked, "Do you think you've been in the water too long, Ino?"

Ino had momentarily forgotten that Sakura was with her but she quickly recovered by answering, "Oh yeah, I guess so. I'll just get out now."

So then she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself and got out of the water. She went into the changing room to grab her clothes while breathing a sigh of relief. She tied on a robe and went into their room to relax.

Later on, everyone had gathered into the dining room to find many different dishes of food on the table.

Ino exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, it all looks delicious!"

Sakura agreed, "It does look good."

Ino asked, "Yamato-Taichou, can we really have all of this?"

Yamato then nodded and answered, "Yes, don't hold back."

Then they enjoyed their meal and soon they had gone to sleep, since Yamato had said that they would talk about their mission details tomorrow.

The next morning…

Sai was seen already up and about with his stuff; he snuck out through the window of the room he was sleeping in. In the other room, Sakura had just woken up; feeling refreshed. She opened a window to breathe in the fresh air but then she noticed Sai outside gathering some supplies from his bag and sat down. Curious, she closed the window and then got changed. When she finished, she snuck out of the room, tiptoeing quietly to not wake Ino up. While with Ino, in her mindscape, she was having a strange yet pleasant dream.

In the dream,

Ino was in the flower shop, arranging a beautiful bouquet of white, red and pink roses. When in the dream, a silhouette of a man came up from behind her, wrapped his arms around her and then started to trail kisses from her cheek to her neck. She moaned when the mystery man started to suck on her neck, leaving a small bruise. By the strong grip, she felt that he seemed familiar, like she's been in his embrace before. While she was enjoying the kisses, she smelled the familiar scent of fresh grass and pine trees. Then her breath hitched as he licked her neck to soothe the bruise and then he felt his hand on her cheek to turn her towards him. Her eyes were lidded, so she didn't see his face but she was only able to gaze into a pair of chocolate brown eyes, eyes that she'd recognize anywhere.

She whispered, "Shika…" Then she closed her eyes as he leaned forward.

Until she slowly woke up from her dream, opening her eyes to find herself in the room. She sat up, stretched her arms above her head and then noticed that Sakura was already up. Then as she got up and got herself ready, was thinking about the dream she just woke up from. She felt her face go hot as a blush crept up across her cheeks.

She thought aloud, "Why did I dream of Shika like that? It felt so real; almost like he really was kissing me so sensually. And he almost kissed my lips…" Her face turned redder and then she shook her head to try to not think about it.

Then she said, "I shouldn't overthink this, it was only a dream, right?"

Then she went out of the room where she ran into Yamato and he was talking to her about something. While outside, Sakura was admiring a picture that Sai was drawing. In his sketchbook, the picture was colored with multiple colors in a set pattern of swirls.

Sakura asked, "What is the title of this picture?"

Sai paused his hand in response to the question and then Sakura asked, "You don't know yet?"

Sai replied, "It's nothing like that. I have drawn thousands of pictures but they don't have titles and in truth, I couldn't give it a title."

Sakura then replied, "Well, all pictures have titles and it usually expresses your feelings that you are feeling when you draw them."

"I don't think I could that, feelings are a bit foreign to me; I have no emotions, I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing." Sai explained in a calm monotone voice.

"It's no wonder that you act like a jerk most of the time," Ino called from behind them. Then she added, "Yamato-Taichou says that it is time to go and he sent me to get you two."

Then Sai was packing his things back and Sakura offered to help. She picked up a little book that had a picture of Sai and on the back cover there was a picture of another boy with silver hair.

Sakura asked, "Did you draw this as well?"

Sai took the book back from her when she handed it to him and answered, "Yes."

"Oh, so it's a picture book. Could I look at it on our way?" Sakura asked.

"I can't allow that; it's not complete yet. Besides, this was my older brother's precious treasure," Sai explained with an expressionless look on his face.

Ino thought, "Maybe, I can't get a reading on what he is thinking, but maybe if he carries something like that with him; he can't be all bad."

Then they all left the hot springs town and had walked a good few miles before walking off the path and into the forest to be more cautious. Until they stopped in a clearing, it was already dark and the sky was cloudless.

Then Yamato weaved hand signs and said, "Mokuton, Hichuuka no Jutsu!"

Then the ground shook until a fully built house appeared with Yamato sitting on top of it. They all gathered in a room inside all the while admiring the house. Yamato lit a candle wick to illuminate the room as their light source.

"Now that we are here, I would like to go over the mission details. Ino and Sakura, I want you two to give me any details about Sasori since you two had fought with him. The spy would be expecting Sasori so give me any information you know concerning him. I will go in first to apprehend him. Our objective is to capture the spy, not fight him. So to operate this mission, we'll use a buddy system."

They all nodded and then Yamato continued, "As I've said, if it does turn out to be a trap, we won't have to worry too much if they were after Naruto since he's not with us."

"Of course, we have to assume that the spy will be very careful, since he's only expecting only one person," Sai added his observation.

Yamato agreed and said, "We'll go into groups of two. Sakura, you're with me and Ino you're with Sai."

Ino was a little startled about the pairings and then turned her attention to Sai, who was sitting across from her. Ino stared intently at him, while he gave only a blank stare back.

Ino thought to herself, "I have to work… with him?"

I hope that you liked this chapter and here is a little challenge. What symbolism could you find in Ino's dream and what does it mean? Please feel free to leave a review.