Domestic, Flowers & Colors
Ino had risen early, much to her dismay, as she noticed the early colors of orange and yellow seeping in through her open window curtains. On her few days free from training, missions, or running her family's flower shop, she enjoyed her extra hours of sleep. Still, she decided to get out of bed due to fear of messing up her sleep schedule and being yelled at by her mother if she were to open the shop late.
She stretched her arms behind her head as she walked into the bathroom to get ready for the coming day. Taking a shower, brushing her long hair, brushing her teeth, doing her daily skin care and eventually putting on her 'off-day' clothing.
She walked into her apartment's kitchen and prepared breakfast, going over how she would make use of her day.
'Hmm. I should do the dishes first, then vacuum. Tending to the plants won't be too hard of a task,' she thought smiling. 'I also have to do those reports on the new barrier system. . .but I suppose I should do that before getting to the plants.'
And so, she did just that. Doing her basic chores first and then moving on to her reports. While there were many parts of the new system to review and assess, she was beyond excited to be put in charge of this crucial line of defense for the village, so the work went by quite fast. Just as the day did, when she looked out her window after finishing her reports to the sound of a knock at her door.
The sky now shined yellow, while the colors showed purple, white, pink and red within the bouquet of flowers Sai was holding.
"Sai!" Ino exclaimed as she threw her arms around Sai's neck, careful to avoid crushing the flowers between their weights.
"Hello gorgeous," Sai said while burying his face in Ino's neck. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
Ino smiled at Sai's new-found 'humor' he had been working on. This was one of the many ways he was using to try and flirt with Ino.
"I hope you like these flowers I got you." He said with a gentle smile and soft blush on his cheeks.
Him blushing caught Ino slightly off guard, but once she looked down and realized why he was blushing, her own blush far outshone his.
In Sai's hands were white gardenias, pink and red camellias, and purple heliotropes. Representing secret love, 'you're a flame in my heart', longing, and eternal love and devotion.
"Sai. . ." Ino said, and she gently shook her shoulders. Being far too flustered to speak, she gently grabbed his hand and guided him inside.
"I should put these in a vase as soon as possible." She said, reaching for a vase in a hallway closet.
She took the flowers from Sai with a shy smile and put them in the large vase now filled with water, along with doing other care to keep the flowers fresh for longer.
"Oh! That reminds me, I was just about to tend to my flowers before you knocked. If you want to turn on the tv while I water them, you can, I'll be quick."
Ino turned away from Sai, and reached for a spray bottle filled with water. When she turned around to grab her scissor to trim dead leaves, she found Sai holding them and smiling.
"I'll help you. You know, I've gotten quite good at tending to flowers." He added, "your mother should hire me at the shop, pretty soon I'll be making better flower arrangements than the flower goddess herself."
Ino smiled and rolled her eyes at his playful comment. While Sai never told her, she knows from Naruto and Hinata that he had been reading up on flower care and their meanings. Something the other couple saw on their weekly dates, this one being to the library, so Naruto could try and impress Hinata with his 'knowledge'.
"Well, if you insist. . ." Ino said, turning to a flower pot infront of her. Sai walked to a hanging basket on her left and began to trim the dead leaves.
Ino felt her heart beat thud in her chest, and her cheeks go hot as she realized just how dedicated Sai must have been with his research. He was doing more than just trimming the leaves, doing things only master gardeners knew and that required much practice as to not kill the plant. The fact Sai was willing to put that much effort into learning something Ino carried about made her weak in the knees.
She quickly looked back to her flowers when Sai glanced at her and smiled. They continued on from room to room in her apartment, having small conversations about life and their jobs. She was quite happy to learn that not only did she have a new job position, but so did Sai. Being tasked with leading the Anbu, Sai had quite the idea of how he would conduct it.
Ino made no mistake in telling him how she felt about these ideas. From a child who was forced to hide his emotions and even kill his own brother, to a man who was putting systems in place that would never allow such things to happen again, at least not if he could help it.
While Ino showered him in complements, Sai denied them saying it was all thanks to Ino, for the fact that she saved both his body and soul just about a year or so ago. For that, Ino sprayed him right in the face with water. While she never denies praise, she absolutely hated when Sai would ignore his own achievements.
Alas, she couldn't hold an angry face for long, as the way Sai stared at her like a confused puppy and said "you look so cute the way you puff out your cheeks when mad," made her give a slight blush and she gently 'karate chopped' him on his head showing her disapproval. Yet he still smiled at this.
As they finished tending to her large array of plants, Sai sat down at one end of the sofa and patted his lap. Ino rolled her eyes and giggled as she laid down, putting her head on his lap and staring up at him.
Sai didn't say anything for a moment, and just started at her features. While she was naturally beautiful, and he could stare at her for hours, he couldn't help noticing just how well the colors of her face complemented each other. It was as if she was truly a piece of art that a master artist created, taking hours to choose complementary colors and perfect her proportions.
Her lips were a gentle shade of pink, like the roses she had at her bedside. Her eyes were the color of the stream they sat by on their dates and the color of the sky they always looked up at from the grass. While her soft hair was the finishing piece, reminding him of snow, which was once a sign of dark times for him.
But now because of her and all the things she showed him, such as playing in the snow with their friends last winter when Naruto accidentally brushed snow onto Choji's warm drink, when they spent a whole day from dusk to dawn shopping for gifts for her family, decorating their houses and the flower shop, and spending the night together by a fireplace which had conveniently placed mistletoe.
All of which were things Sai never knew about up until meeting Ino, and even then would have never been a thought under Danzo's dictatorship.
Sai was snapped out of his daze by Ino reaching up and playing with his hair.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about whatever you are," Sai said with a soft smile. "Would you be willing to let me stay here tonight?"
Ino was slightly shocked at his request, but accepted nonetheless.
"What for?" While she was fine with him staying over just to spend some time together, she had a hunch he may have other motives as well.
"Well. . ." Sai said, trying to stifle a smile, "I have a surprise for you in the morning."
Ino smiled at that thought of what he might have planned, but decided if she truly wanted it to be a surprise, then she might as well not even have an idea.
"Then, what should we do tonight?"
Sai thought for a moment. The whole reason why he hadn't gone to Ino's house sooner was because he was caught up in Anbu business, which left him feeling quite drained. He hadn't realized, though, until he had sat down.
Sai looked to the side and gave an unusually large blush for someone like him.
"If you don't mind. . . I was thinking we could. . .cuddle." Cuddling, let alone any act of intimacy, was also a foreign concept to Sai. That was once again, before he met Ino.
While they had held each other before, he never outright asked. Usually, Ino just tackled him to the bed or sofa and refused to let go.
Ino gave a large grin and wrapped her arms around Sai's neck and pulled him to her face.
Sai's breathing rate stayed the same, but Ino could feel his heart beat quicken right next to her ear. They were staring into each other's eyes, and to Ino's enjoyment, Sai became shocked when Ino quickly pulled him down more so that their lips were touching.
Ino quickly kissed him, and once Sai recovered from his shock, he kissed her back.
They stayed like that for a while, until Sai pulled away for breath and Ino said with a grin, "Why don't you lay next to me? After all, I don't have any plans of stopping."
Sai 'hmm!'ed in agreement as Ino brought herself to a sitting position and gave him more room to lay next to her.
Sai wrapped his arms around Ino's back and kissed her as she brought one hand to his face, and the other to play with his hair.
For the rest of the night, that's how they stayed. Wrapped up in each other's loving embrace till dawn, where Sai would gently be awoken by Ino burying her face in his neck. From there, Sai's admiration of his lover would start all over again.