Chapter 4
"Ugly? What are you doing here?"
Sakura jumped.
"Sai!" She laughed nervously as she lowered the canvas.
"Watcha doing back so early? You know the missions you're assigned to are usually really long. Isn't that funny? How you're always on missions?" She laughed nervously.
She knew she was rambling, but it was what she did when she got nervous.
But come on, this Sai, we're talking about. He doesn't really get nervous.
Sai stood quietly for a moment before speaking.
"That's okay. I know hags do random things all the time."
Yep. That was Sai. Nothing to be worried about.
Sakura scoffed at the thought of him truly being angry at anything or even feeling anything other than neutral.
"Whatever Sai. I just came to drop something off. See ya."
And with a wave, Sakura sidestepped Sai and walked out of his flat, closing the door behind her.
SAI POV
I sense that I have angered her. Sai thought to himself.
He picked up the canvas and walked over to the counter where he saw a pouch, which must have been what she came here to give him.
How strange. I don't remember losing anything.
Sai opened the pouch and his stomach flipped.
Paints.
Inside the pouch were paints.
But why? He didn't recall making her buy them for him, so why had she?
In Root, the only reason one gave something to someone was because they had expected something in return.
Sai stood there quietly, wondering if he had made a deal with Sakura about something, but he couldn't recall.
Sai figured that if he did make a deal with Sakura and she had supposedly fulfilled her part of the deal if Sai didn't do his part, she would be very angry.
Am I supposed to get her something as well? I suppose if she brought me limited edition paints, his side was supposed to get her something not easily found in Konoha.
Yes. That must be right.
Sai took the pouch and the canvas, walked over to the last door in the hall, and walked in. Inside was his makeshift art studio.
His flat was fairly small. it had all the necessities and nothing more. He had a small kitchen, his bedroom with a single bed and nothing else, and a bathroom. He found no need for such things as decoration as they held no purpose in his eyes and would only take up room. He didn't feel the need to add "a splash of color" as Sakura said because it simply wasn't necessary.
The color of his home, how did that affect Sai in any way?
He also had a small guest room at the end of his hall, but since was he ever going to invite "guests" into his home?
With this logic, he turned it into his studio. It was a special place to him and he never allowed anyone to go into it.
He took the paints out and stored them in color order according to the rest of his paints and finally turned to the back wall with the canvas.
15 images of Sakura came into his view. All hung up on the right side of the wall. The left side held pictures of random views, objects, and animals.
The right side was purely for his favorite form of art.
He placed the canvas on the wall next to the very recent one he had just made. It was one of Sakura sleeping.
Sai remembered when he first saw her sleeping. It was when team 7 was on a mission and they had stopped to rest. Sai was on watch and while the rest of the team was sleeping, he took notice of Sakura.
It was so strange.
Never beforehand had Sai thought of someone as interesting. Well, not enough to paint them.
But with Sakura, he suddenly gained the urge to.
So he mentally saved that image in his mind and that very moment was what had started the Sakura painting saga.