Aside from the crowd of ninjas and fellow medical ninjas Sakura worked with, there was a great deal of neighbors and civilians milling about taking sips of sake and sampling the vast array of snacks sold by the stalls.
"It seems as if the whole of Konoha's residents are present to enjoy the festival…" Ino breathed, staring at the scene before her.
"You're right for the first time." Sakura laughed, instantly getting into the contagious festive mood.
Walking among the villagers, Sakura took in her exquisite surroundings. Admiring the multicolored kites floating above her in the wind, attached to the ground with a string almost invisible to the eye, the streets of Konoha village looked even more beautiful with the cherry blossom blooming trees adorning it.
Ino decided to join her teammates for a chat after the duo bumped into Shikamaru and Chouji laughing away at Asuma's failed attempt to hug Kurenai which resulted in the latter playfully pinching Asuma's ear as he winced in pain.
Observing the way Shikamaru and Chouji's eyes widened when they caught sight of Ino emitted a giggle from Sakura as she waved goodbye to her best friend, taking to wandering the enchanting illuminated streets of her home.
It did not take long for the pink haired ninja to find her own teammates.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, her two favorite males and another not-so-favorited one were snacking on sticks of dango at the dango shop.
Striding over to them, Naruto grinned at her while Kakashi gave her a slight wave of his hand along with his signature eye crease. Sai simply ignored her.
Sakura gritted her teeth. Did he have to look so emotionless and hostile? Or was he trying to rile her up?
That thought was dismissed as quickly as it came to mind. She was undoubtedly an idiot if she even considered that Sai actually had even the smallest bit of concern over her feelings. Really, she didn't know why did his coldness even bother her.
Sai had been raised like this. He grew up lacking the knowledge of any form of emotion. It would be a wise decision to pretend he was invisible.
Choosing to ignore the blacked haired boy, she claimed the only seat available- one that was right next to Sai.
She didn't want to admit it, but he looked… decent in his yukata. Sakura had to fight the temptation to allow her gaze to linger a little longer on the boy seated next to her.
"You… You look very pretty…" Naruto stammered sheepishly with a piece of the confection sticking between his teeth.
"Naruto, ease up on the ogling and concentrate on wiping that slobber of yourself," Kakashi nudged the wide-eyed blonde.
"Or you could suffer another concussion if Ugly here decides to punch through you. "
That was the first time Sai spoke up ever since Sakura's arrival.
Sakura could feel her fists clench and temper flare.
Kakashi spared a sideways glance at the only female of the group, then to the pale skinned boy seated next to her and sighed.
"Sai…" the masked ninja began.
Kakashi never got to finish his sentence as Sakura stood abruptly.
"Hey guys, I'm afraid I interrupted you guys. Sorry, I'll leave you guys to your unfinished conversation."
On her face was a flawless cheerful façade, but Kakashi knew her mood was ruined and she was going to find some way of letting out the anger and frustration that she had bottled up in her small frame. He really hoped that she wouldn't decide to destroy a few buildings in the process. It would be a hard time explaining the destruction to the Hokage.
She gave both Naruto and Kakashi a quick hug before she hurried off, drawing very worried expressions from the blonde next to him and himself as the pink-haired girl walked away. There was no mistaking the tension in her posture.
After she was long out of earshot, the three of them sat in uneasy silence. The newcomer of Team 7 didn't seem to feel anything as he continued to chomp on his dango, watching his teammate and team leader stare at their sticks of dango, obvious that the comfortable mood before had been replaced by an awkward one after the encounter with Sakura.
This time, it was Naruto who decided to break the silence.
"Did you have to do that?"
Sai didn't respond until Naruto had to nudge his shoulder.
"What?"
"If you didn't already know, females have a tendency to loathe people who question their appearance. And you did not just question it, you insulted her, and even going to the lengths of using the taboo word to describe her exterior." Kakashi said matter-of-factly.
"I thought one was supposed to laugh at jokes."
That response earned a splutter of Naruto's green tea and an exasperated sigh from Kakashi.
"You… You actually meant that as a joke?" Naruto managed to get the words out of his mouth in between obviously exaggerated choking noises.
" Isn't laughter supposed to be present at joyous occasions such as festivals?"
Another sigh emanated from Kakashi.
"What?" The ANBU member next to him seemed very, very confused.
"Then I guess you had better go apologize to her and explain that you did not intend to insult her straight to her face."
"Oh, and tell her it was your horribly failed attempt at a joke!" Naruto had almost shouted while suppressing a guffaw, attracting glances from the nearby festival-attendees.
It didn't take long for the both of them to shove Sai off his chair to tell him to track down the monstrously strong girl he'd supposedly offended a few moments before to apologize and ease that temper of hers.
She felt defeated.
If only she had surrendered to that ever tempting urge to break those facial bones of Sai's, or pull out his tongue so he would remain silent for his whole life.
Jolting out of her stupor, she gave herself a mental shake and a slap for even considering such murderous thoughts. She was really losing control over this temper of hers. But still… What did she ever do to Sai for him to hate her so much?
Fine, it wasn't entirely his fault, growing up in a less than pleasant environment. But still, it was partially his fault.
She tolerated most of the times when Sai labeled her as ugly but insulting and ruining her mood on a festive night like tonight pushed her to her limit.
Snarling, she picked up a stray stone off the ground with a chakra enhances hand while she crushed it to measly grains of powder.
How she wished he would spout an insult to Tsunade about her age. She would buy some extra sticks of dango and savor the confection while she stood by the sidelines to witness her master beating the bastard to a pulp for his obvious lack of proper manners.
In the midst of yet another bloody scene where she fantasized about Sai's various agonizing experiences of going through torture, Sakura found her steps faltering in front of Naka Shrine, a few minutes away from the Naka River where the festivities were commencing.
Did she just walk up flights of stairs and passed through the woods while she was lost in thought?
She immediately purged the sadistic images from her mind.
There was no way she would entertain such barbaric mental pictures in a place of worship.
The deadly mood she was in before seemed to evaporate as her emerald eyes took in the beauty of her surroundings.
Tonight, Naka Shrine was decorated elaborately with all kinds of lights twisting up the wooden pillars in account of the festival that was taking place a few steps away, giving the whole place some kind of magical, fantasy-like ambience. It suddenly seemed like a scene from her cheesy romance novels when the male surprises his lover with beautiful lights and a wedding proposal or something of the sort.
Chirping sounds could be heard from the bushes and cherry blossom trees lining the shrine, accompanied by the laughter of the villagers as she proceeded to sit on the stone steps leading to the shrine.
The feeling of being alone wasn't a new one to her, and she enjoyed it in a way. She was free to think about anything, without having to worry on what type of tale she would spin if someone could see through her very obvious expressions and ask her what was the matter, or looking for various facades to plaster on her face.
Taking in a deep breath of the cool spring air, Sakura relaxed her shoulders as she decided to lose herself in her thoughts, putting in extra effort to distance herself from the sadistic images of tormenting a certain pale-skinned, insolent boy.
Really, emotions were troublesome.
One was supposed to laugh, giggle and snicker at jokes,no?
Not throw a tantrum and storm away.
Sai shook his head as he made his way through the trees, pausing at intervals to pull up his yukata. Maybe he should've walked. But it would take a long time to track Sakura's chakra signature since he was quite horrible in that field.
After minutes of hopping from tree limb to tree limb, he detected her chakra signature in the direction of the Naka Shrine.
Of all places, Sakura decided to choose a place where one had to climb steps. He considered heading back to where he was before since climbing flights of stone steps with a yukata and his pair of geta did not appeal to him. But then a certain blonde in an orange jumpsuit would surely annoy and tease him to no end by telling him how gutless and cowardly he was while Kakashi looked on with that bored expression of his.
Not to mention that the time journeyed through those trees with geta and getting dirt on his yukata would be a waste.
Maybe confronting Sakura wouldn't be such a bad idea. After all, he did come all this way. Getting her to hate him a little less would be advantageous to his mind and body.
She was the one he always went to when it regarded questions about emotions.
Since emotions were such a new and confusing thing for him, he needed someone like Sakura to answer his questions and doubts. He had considered asking Ino, but instead of answering him properly, she would try to talk him into grabbing dinner with her and compliment her on her looks while doing that weird action of blinking her eyes where her eyelashes followed.
Sai still wondered if it was an eye exercise or another gesture of emotion he had yet to learn about.
That was why he often resulted to Sakura when he had to confirm his doubts or needed help with particular issues concerning feelings.
The information that she provided him with seemed much more reliable and unbiased.
It would do him no good if Sakura were too angry to answer any of his questions. He liked answers and disliked being confused.
Not to mention he would suffer a lesser amount of injuries if she were satisfied enough with his apology that she wouldn't feel like castrating him every time they met.
Brushing the filth off his yukata, he started to climb up the steps, frowning every once in a while when he stepped on his inconvenient garment.
If Sai was one thing, it was efficient.