Chapter 6
It is difficult to discuss the habits of Hanyou with any kind of scholarly consistency. Half demons display very little universally recognizable or characteristic behavior, as they are not a truly distinct species, but a hybrid form. While true demons generally maintain three physical manifestations that they can transform into at will, given a decent state of health, hanyou are usually caught in a single form somewhere between the three. A demon can appear almost wholly human, a form that costs little in energy to maintain, or a resting form in which their demonic characteristics are apparent, but not the dominant features. Demons can, of course, fully transform into their true appearance which generally has no recognizably human features at all. Hanyou are usually unable to transform, caught in a body with some true demon features and some human, which has been traditionally regarded as an abomination against nature. Half demons cannot achieve full transformation, if they are capable of change at all, without powerful emotional stimulus. Though often paradoxically beautiful, Hanyou are commonly despised by both their human and demon brethren. Hunted by all and unable to hide in another form, few of these hybrid creatures survive to full adulthood.
Koumyuo Sanzo, Lives and Habits of Far Eastern Demons
"Sasuke…please. Please talk to me." Naruto pleaded through the door.
Only silence greeted him from the other side of the portal and Naruto groaned as he leaned his head against the doorframe. No matter what he decided to do, it never turned out right. Sai was fast asleep on the couch, cuddling Sakura like a stuffed toy and utterly content, while Sasuke treated him to a new form of silent torture. Sasuke was hurt and confused and miserable and locked in the room with no indication of ever coming out. All of it was his fault. Naruto felt his breath catch and struggled not to let the tears come. Stupid Kyuubi! Naruto had always known that bringing another person into the delicate balance of his family would have terrible repercussions, but Sakura had seemed so confident about the idea, so sure…
"Still nothing?" She whispered over Sai's hair.
"No." Naruto said and it was more like a sob.
"I'm sorry. It isn't fair though, Sai has loved us even before Sasuke knew he could love at all!" Sakura said, sounding miserable.
"He doesn't like change and he doesn't like people. He has every right to be upset, I just wish…" Naruto sighed and trailed off.
"That he would talk to you." Sakura finished for him.
"Yeah." Naruto replied, sliding down the door to sit miserably on the floor.
"Everything will be okay." Sakura whispered.
"I know…I just…I hate it when he's mad like this!" Naruto said and the tears that had been threatening for the better part of three hours finally came.
"This is my fault. I should have waited, everything happened so…fast. Want me to try?" Sakura asked softly.
"N…No…If it didn't work this morning it isn't gonna work now." Naruto sobbed.
Naruto sobbed, pressing his face hard into his sleeve. He had known that Sasuke was mad, but he hadn't really expected him to be totally uncommunicative for three days. The night Sai followed them home, dinner had actually gone surprisingly well with everyone helping to cook. Sasuke had eaten in silence, but at least he wasn't snapping at everyone anymore. However, as soon as Sakura was asleep, Sasuke had locked himself into one of the many guest bedrooms and had not come out. Naruto had brought food and tea, oddly reminded of how things were when Sasuke was first released into his care, but Sasuke had not eaten anything. Naruto was beginning to feel desperate, but if he used the thrall his beloved subordinate would surely never speak to him again.
"Teme! Please! I don't care if you don't want to talk to me, but can you at least let me bring you something to eat?" Naruto shouted.
Silence.
"I could break the damn door down, you know! I could!" Naruto shouted miserably, giving the portal a kick for good measure.
Silence.
"Sasuke! PLEASE!" Naruto wailed.
Silence.
"He's just aching, that's why he won't eat." Sai said drowsily, yawning, roused from sleep by the shouting.
"W…What?" Naruto asked, sobbing hard now.
"It aches, to be away, and so he can't eat." Sai explained.
"Sai, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked, looking worried.
"The pain. The love-pain. He feels it and it can be very bad." Sai said.
The artist moved from his place on the couch and crouched by the door. He cocked his head, face blank and quizzical, and moved to press his face against the door. Sai closed his eyes, listening intently for a moment and then moved back to sit on his heels. Sakura stood also, moving gracefully to sit on the floor in front of the closed door, letting her hand rest against the portal.
"You hurt, you ache. I understand this." Sai said to the unmoving wood.
Naruto did not hear anything stir within the room, but held his breath anyway just in case. Sai seemed to consider a thought for a moment and then rose, moving purposefully towards his pack. The artist pulled his sketchbook from the military issue bag beside the couch and slid it under the door.
OoOoOoO
Sasuke sat, leaning against the door, listening to the pleading and the shouting and aching to have things back to the way they were. At first, Naruto had spoken through the door as a person might write a letter, telling Sasuke of his feelings and worries and how much he loved him. Sasuke believed him, of course he did, Naruto never lied, but all the truth in the world barely mattered. The blond had rambled on, as if wanting something to fill the icy silence, but now the door quivered with his sobbing and Sasuke could feel his own breath catching hard in his chest. Damn him. Naruto was not manipulative, but the sheer intensity of his honest affection was powerful enough to almost make Sasuke want to try…almost. The raven haired ninja was still angry, furious, and he had no intention of speaking to his alpha unless forced to by the thrall. The jinchuuriki was lucky, lucky he hadn't just left. Even with the thrall, Sasuke knew that he might have still managed to disappear…he also knew that Naruto and Sakura would not have stopped until he was found. Nothing had stopped them from coming after him before. Sasuke brushed a shaking hand through his hair and listened to Naruto weep and hated it.
Sakura would not cry, she would merely shut down. The girl internalized almost everything, burying her pain until she could no longer escape the emotion and then everything about her would shatter. He didn't want that, he didn't want to see her crumble as she had when he left Konoha, but all of this was her fault! Sadistically, he hoped that Naruto was hurting, badly, and Sakura too. They should hurt, they should suffer for the pain and the lonely anger that their stupid choices caused him. Sasuke loved the blond idiot and the pink-haired beauty; he was not ready to share them, not with Sai or anyone else. He heard Naruto crying and the sound hurt somewhere deep and tender, but he was still too angry to reply. He said nothing; there was really nothing to say. The balance of his world had been altered and all for the sake of a teammate who had only ever been meant as a meager replacement. Sai had no right to the love of his mates. He was only a placeholder, someone to make three while he studied under Orochimaru. Sai had never meant anything, though it ached to think of the artist with them in his absence for so many years… Sasuke struck his fist hard against the floor, letting the angry tears stream down his cheeks as Naruto sobbed on the other side of the door. If only he had never left in the first place, then Naruto and Sakura might never have met Sai and both of them would still be his alone.
The jinchuuriki belonged to him, he always had: his to love or his to kill, and Sakura as well. Though he knew from Gaara that most jinchuuriki took multiple subordinates, Sasuke had never thought that Naruto actually would. The blond, though he possessed a voracious sexual appetite, had never seemed unsatisfied. Naruto was happy and so why add another? Sasuke had never thought that anything like this would ever happen, at least not until Naruto was Hokage and forced to appease foreign powers through political marriages. Political marriage meant nothing any way; the other subordinates would have been little more than hostages and nothing would have changed. With Sai, there was real feeling, a kind of affection that had grown up in the emptiness his vengeance had left for them. Sasuke hated the pale artist for it, for making Sakura love him when he should not be able to feel anything at all. As for Naruto, he had always tolerated Sai and while it wasn't true romantic love, Sasuke knew that it easily could be. Like a warm coal, Naruto's affection for the artist could be easily moved to heat, to true lust and then…even love. The whole situation was simply intolerable and Naruto had no right to ask him to tolerate any of it. The blond was pleading with him again, sounding both angry and desperate. The sound of it hurt and so Sasuke ignored him and tried to meditate.
The blond belonged to him in a way that no one else could ever comprehend, and Sakura had always been there, always his if only he had reached for her. True, it had taken torture and the threat of losing both of them for him to actually see how much Naruto and Sakura meant to him, but nothing had actually changed. The thought of others terrified him because…because then perhaps there would be something less and he needed all of it just to survive. He needed Naruto's and Sakura's love, the same love that saved him from a future as a lord of corpses, a kind of hell he had barely been able to comprehend. He needed them, both of them, and if there were others then…life would not be the same.
"You hurt, you ache. I understand this." Sai's blank sounding voice said through the door.
Sasuke bit his lip and let the sobbing rock him. He understood? The idiot boy with no past and blunted emotions that were barely more than a reflex understood, of course he did. The sentiment was only words, empty, foolish words and Sasuke felt his face heat with rage at the sound of Sai's voice. The whole idea was ridiculous. Sai had been groomed, broken and re-broken until he could hardly feel anything at all, and yet he claimed to understand. Sasuke might have laughed if he wasn't crying so forcefully. This was the man Naruto and Sakura had chosen to love, to offer the love that had before been reserved only for him. His family, he had managed to lose them again, though this time in a smile and a few words instead of a night filled with bloodshed. Perhaps if he had been a little kinder, if he had tried harder to please…there was a gentleness to Sai's manner that Sasuke knew he could never achieve. He was not a gentle person and perhaps that was why…why they needed another. The thought hurt and Sasuke had the unreasonable urge to scream.
There was a pause and silence from the others waiting on the other side of the door. Perhaps they had finally left. Sasuke let out a shuddering breath, feeling empty and miserable. A sketchbook suddenly appeared from beneath the door, its cover scratched and bent, obviously old and very heavily used. Sasuke hesitated. He had heard Sakura say more than once that the drawings, the paintings, were Sai's only true emotional expression. She had once, laughingly, said that the sketchbook was his soul. Even if he wanted to shove the object aside, he could not do so without recognizing its importance. Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling the hot tears drying against his skin and hating the weakness even if no one was present to see it. There was a heartbeat and then another and he reached for the book.
The drawings in the beginning were obviously very old, years old. There were many sketches of birds, of trees, of weapons and Naruto's smiling fifteen year old face. Another drawing of Sakura, looking very young and very stoic, sitting in the fading light of a sunset caught Sasuke's attention. She had been beautiful even then, lovely, but so cold…Sai drew her again, polishing her weapons even as blood dripped from an ugly wound on her arm. Her face was captured perfectly, each lovely plane and shadow lovingly drawn, and her expression made it obvious that she did not feel the pain from her injury at all. There was a drawing of teenage Naruto sketching the Uchiha standard in the sand, crouching low on his heels and more defeated than Sasuke had ever seen him. A dark charcoal drawing of Sakura kneeling over a fallen enemy, her face distant and closed had been hastily drawn on the opposing page. Had she ever looked so thin, so hard, so distant? Sai had seen it, even then, the feeling that he had chosen to ignore. The artist had seen how badly Sasuke had hurt her by leaving. He had drawn the destruction left in the wake of Sasuke's choices. The images were hard to look at, drawn so perfectly from life, illustrating all the moments he had missed, how Naruto and Sakura had grown up without him. Sasuke swallowed and turned the page, startled to see Naruto's fierce, scowling face. The jinchuuriki stood upon a battlefield, his expression filled with bitter hatred and suspicion as he surveyed the corpses. Sasuke had never seen him look like that, the image was a snapshot of the monster Naruto might have been if pushed far enough. Sai had chosen to only add color to the blond's eyes, painting them an awful, burning blue. Sasuke shuddered.
Sasuke moved through the book, looking at images of animals, pottery and other ninja with the occasional drawings of his younger, sadder mates. He saw his own, younger, face drawn into a malicious sneer reflected in the wide blade of Sai's tanto. The hatred in his expression was forceful and it was obvious that their meeting had made a distinct impression on the artist. He flipped through a few pages of Shino and various insects, Sakura weeping, Naruto drawing his kunai across his own hand in the moonlight…All drawn so candidly, so accurately. Then, somewhere towards the middle of the book, long after Naruto's smile had come to look forced and Sakura's face had become a permanent mask, something very important changed.
There was a drawing, in full color, of Sakura. The girl was bent over a stream, washing the smoke of battle from her long pink hair. Sai had captured the warmth in her green eyes and the gentle, frail smile on her mouth. He must have sketched her there, in a moment, moved by the rare expression. Her clothing was wet from the stream, sticking revealingly to her powerful, sensual curves, hugging the sharp points of her nipples through the thin fabric. The wet tangle of her wild pink hair sparkled from the paper. Sasuke turned the page and his wife was there again, wading into the water, her naked back curving sensually as the water hugged her hips. Several drawings, all in startling color, of Sakura bathing and Sasuke knew that her startling beauty had finally penetrated the cold layers of Sai's training.
He drew her, again and again, each image more breathtaking than the last. There was an element of frustration in the artwork, some works abandoned before they were finished, pages torn away. So, the artist had noticed that the true impact of her beauty was in the color of her body. Sasuke smiled, remembering his own revelation about her subtle aesthetic. He eagerly turned the pages, watching Sakura grow, mature, drawn in elegant detail during all the years he had missed. Then, Sai began drawing Naruto's hands. He captured the way the jinchuuriki held his claws up and away from Sakura's skin when he embraced her, the way he liked to curl his fingers in sleep. Naruto's hands, again and again, more often touching Sakura's flesh than holding a kunai or flinging a shuriken. So, he had fallen in love with the jinchuuriki's hands first. Naruto's hands, rough hands that could be both hard and soft at once… the thought made him shiver. Sasuke sighed, despite how he wanted to deny it, the love was obviously there. The affection was pressed into each careful stroke of the pen, each sensual shadow.
Sasuke closed the book with snap, hands trembling and unsure if he wanted to see anymore. Sakura was right. Sai did feel everything, even if he had no idea how to interpret the emotion, but the revelation only made Sasuke feel worse. Sai had loved them, both of them, while he had been busy making war on everything that they loved, worshipping his own hatred. Sasuke did not want to see this poignant window into the dark years they had lost, a mirror into a time when Sakura was ruthless and Naruto privately miserable. New tears sprang from his eyes and Sasuke allowed himself a deep groan as the nagging pain filled his belly with ice. He deserved it, this agony, just as surely as Naruto deserved his silence. He wanted to burn it, burn the book and Sai's soul, all of it to ashes. Instead he opened the thick tome of images and looked again.
A drawing of the night ski, empty and still filled with some unseen yearning met his eyes. Sai drew the ski many times, the stars aligning themselves with the horizon in several patterns. A few more pages of everyday objects and Shino with his ever present insects and then Sasuke found it: a drawing of his wedding. He saw himself, dressed in the Uzumaki livery, bending knee to Naruto as the jinchuuriki smiled and cried at the same time. Sakura was there, kneeling as well, her face rosy with joy and green eyes sparkling. The scene was so beautiful, obviously drawn from the back of the temple and yet painstakingly detailed. He had drawn every strand of Sakura's hair, every steel bell sewn onto Naruto's belt, every fold of the silken kimono he had worn. Every detail perfect, every stroke meticulously careful. Sasuke smiled. Sai had even managed to draw the lavender sword, hidden in its sheath, tucked behind Naruto's kimono and waiting to be offered. Everyone else had been so shocked, but the artist had noticed the weapon at once and had obviously guessed its significance.
The pages following the wedding were filled with images of the night ski, almost a year's worth of stars obviously drawn from a tall building in Konoha, and occasional achingly beautiful images of Naruto sleeping or Sakura smiling in the market. Sasuke frowned, something had changed again, the art had a different quality than before. The drawings became obsessive, detailed and so filled with desire that it almost hurt to look at them. The stars and Naruto, the stars and Sakura, Shino's disapproving face…drawn over and over again. Sai started drawing Naruto and Sakura together, embracing, kissing, and even a few rough drawings of them making love. Obviously drawn from Sai's imagination instead of real life, the sketches still managed to capture the tenderness and heat of his mates' intimacy. Sasuke blushed and felt himself stir looking at the images, but continued turning the pages nonetheless. When he found the pictures of Naruto holding, kissing his own likeness, he could barely breathe. Sai had drawn him as one might a very beautiful landscape, every scar and angle rendered perfectly by a curious hand. Sai had drawn his face, from every angle, fascinated by every detail of Sasuke's visage. He drew him, shoulders bare, practicing jutsu in the moonlight and the image was so devastatingly sensual that Sasuke almost closed the book again. So, his mates were not the only target of Sai's obsession. Sasuke felt hot and a little uncomfortable at the thought. True, Sai had only drawn him, but in drawing it was almost like the artist knew him…almost like he understood him.
Sasuke swallowed around his suddenly dry throat and licked his lips. Tentatively, almost afraid, he turned to the final drawing in the book. He saw himself, leaning against a door, arms hugged tight around his knees. Naruto had been drawn on the other side, pressed against the unforgiving wood, his face in his hands. The Jinchuuriki was obviously weeping, his shoulders low and arched with misery. Sakura had been drawn beside him, her expression blank and tight with misery as she stood beside him. Sai had drawn the tears, running through Naruto's fingers and Sasuke was suddenly exceptionally aware of the soft sobbing still issuing from behind the bedroom door. However, the most startling aspect of the drawing was that Sai had drawn himself, the only self-portrait in the entire book, sitting beside Sasuke in the manner of someone waiting. He had drawn himself waiting, posture closed and sad, separate from his loved ones crying on the other side of the barrier. Sasuke gasped, throwing the book to the side. It landed with a soft thump and the raven haired ninja glared at it as if the thing might come to life and attack him.
Damn Sai! There was no way the utterly clueless, awkward, damaged person he had met in the teahouse was capable of such depth, such intensity. He wasn't human, he had to be some sort of shade or demon to know so much and still be so ignorant. Sasuke wiped a quivering hand over his face and pressed his fist hard against the ache in his chest. Sai knew. He did, there was no question of it now. Sasuke swallowed hard and rose shakily to his feet.
"Dobe, get off the damn door or I'll break your face trying to get out of here." He snapped tersely.
"Sasuke? Thank KAMI! Whatever you want…" Naruto said, voice cracking hysterically.
Sasuke gathered his composure and opened the door. Naruto stood waiting for him, rubbing hard at his eyes and generally looking terrible. Sakura looked like she very much want to touch him, but unsure of what his reaction might be. Both of them were there, waiting, and someone had even dragged one of the couches into the hall so that Sakura could sit comfortably while they all waited for him to emerge. Suddenly, Sasuke was considerably less angry. He had thought, had been so sure, that they just didn't care…Naruto swallowed hard, his blue eyes red from crying and lack of sleep. Sasuke still felt the urge to punch him hard in the skull, but tucked his hands into the sleeves of his kimono instead. Sai was still resting on his knees, looking up at him with an innocent kind of fearfulness. They were all waiting, frightened to see what he would say, or worse that he would say nothing at all. Sasuke bit his lip, not sure how to express his thoughts.
"I will go now. Thank you." Sai said and moved to leave.
"Wait…I don't understand…" Sasuke said, startled, moving to follow him.
"Wait! Sai!" Sakura shouted.
"I do not want your hatred. I have no desire to cause your family to suffer." Sai replied, looking steadily into Sasuke's face.
"I…I mean…I thought that you loved them." Sasuke whispered.
"I do…I think. Shino always says that if you love someone you don't want them to be hurt. I know I don't want you to be hurt." Sai replied.
"I'm not hurt. Stupid, as if the likes of you could ever hope to accomplish that!" Sasuke hissed.
"You are powerful, but still a very bad liar." Sai asserted.
"Tch…whatever. Obviously I'm not as good a liar as you are." Sasuke hissed haughtily. Sai cocked his head.
"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.
"You have everyone in this whole fucking kingdom convinced that you can't feel anything, that you have no emotions. They all think that you're like some kind of machine, perfectly objective, which is total shit. I've seen your book, how you draw, I know that it isn't true." Sasuke whispered, pinning the other ninja with his eyes.
"I…I do feel some things. I do not really know what it is that I feel and so I draw. I try to understand." Sai whispered, looking slightly perturbed.
"Where would you go?" Naruto asked, worried.
"I don't really know." Sai replied, smiling his fake smile.
"I really hate that expression, stop it." Sasuke snapped.
Startled, Sai let the false smile from his face leaving an odd absence of expression in its place. Sasuke nodded in approval. Naruto cocked an eyebrow at his subordinate, utterly confused, but too relieved to be finally having some kind of interaction with him to interrupt. Sasuke rolled his eyes. The dobe could be awfully stupid.
"Yes, that's better. Now, at least, you don't look like one of those awful creepy little dolls Tsume-san always puts in the windows of his shop. You look almost human." Sasuke said tersely.
"Oh?" Sai asked.
"It's real, your real face."
"Yes…I guess so."
"Well…without that stupid fake grin, at least it's not intolerable." Sasuke declared.
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked, looking concerned.
"Okay. Well, goodbye." Sai said, blinking slowly as he turned away.
"Wait! I…I…just…Stay." Sasuke whispered, his voice shaking only a little.
"You…you would let me stay?" Sai asked, eyes wide and hopeful.
"Well…they'd only throw you back into the psych ward anyway and being as how you managed to blow the whole damn place to pieces…that would be troublesome for everyone." Sasuke said, examining his sleeve.
"Oh…Oh…THANK YOU!" Sai shouted, smiling widely.
Sai moved towards him, almost too fast to see, and then the artist's mouth was against his own. Sasuke flailed, utterly shocked as Sai practically leapt into his arms. There was an odd moment of vertigo and then they landed in a heap. Naruto grunted softly as Sai dragged him to the floor as well. Sasuke coughed and tried to shove the effusive ninja off of his face, but the other man was surprisingly strong. Naruto's arms were tight around him and the jinchuuriki was holding his shoulders like he would never let go ever again. Naruto was kissing his neck and Sai was just kissing him and, while awkward, it wasn't nearly as gross as Sasuke had thought.
"Sasuke! Oh Kami, please, please, please never do that again. I thought you hated me!" Naruto whispered, lips shaking.
"He really will break the door down next time and that can be quite expensive." Sai said as Sasuke tried to catch his breath.
"First, I DO hate you, moron!" Sasuke snapped.
"Oh…" Naruto sighed.
"Second, do NOT kiss me!" Sasuke snarled.
"Oh…" Sai said looking honestly disappointed.
OoOoOoO
"You look ridiculous." Hanabi sniped.
"Shut up." Neji snapped, as he applied the eye liner.
"Naruto doesn't like his men to wear make-up. Sasuke doesn't wear make-up. You look stupid." Hanabi continued, crossing her arms haughtily.
"It's traditional."
"You still look cheap." Hanabi replied.
"You don't even know what that means." Neji replied and tried to ignore her.
"Well…That's what Kiba says about those ladies on Cho street and they wear lots of eyeliner…"
"Obviously you're the expert." Neji muttered sarcastically.
"Sissy thinks that this whole thing isn't fair."
"No one cares what Hinata thinks, except Kiba." Neji sighed.
"Well, that's why she's marrying him. Obviously." Hanabi sniped.
"Hanabi, go away."
"What if Naruto doesn't want you? I heard he just married Sai…" Hanabi asked, not making any move to leave.
"That…well, Hiashi would be very offended by that." Neji whispered.
"Oh. Like, he'd be really mad?" Hanabi asked.
"Yes."
"Like how mad?"
"Hanabi…don't you have something better to do?" Neji griped.
"No, and Father says to spend time with you now since we won't see you for a while…" The girl replied softly.
Neji sighed, setting down the slender stick of kohl and regarding his reflection unhappily. The dark liner made his eyes look glaringly, silvery white and the effect was more ghoulish than seductive. Unlike the people of Suna, who wore liner habitually to guard against the sun, the ninja of Konoha used cosmetics rarely and Neji found the enhancement unnerving. His opinion, however, about his face or anything else was totally irrelevant. A person, any person, offered in a political marriage between clans prepared themselves in a certain way. The process was a ritual, a way to demonstrate a kind of surrender to the party being accosted, and could be used as a legitimate cause to reject the marriage offer if performed incorrectly. The only problem was that Naruto was more than likely totally unaware that the tradition even existed, the importance of the offer or how to appropriately react. Neji felt his mouth go dry at the thought of the jinchuuriki's refusal; it would be grounds for civil war if he read Hiashi's concerns accurately. War between Uzumaki and Hyuuga would be an unmitigated disaster, far worse than any kind of conflict with a foreign power. So many people would die, all family and friends, leaving wounds that would never heal and making Konoha vulnerable to outside attack. Neji did not believe that Naruto would ever be a threat to Konoha, but he had not realized how tenuous the relationship between the two houses was. There was obviously information that was missing, variables that he was unaware of. Hiashi clearly believed that war was imminent or something as drastic as treaty through marriage would never be considered. Everything could depend upon this, upon the liner and the kimono and the damn aphrodisiacs. The lives of almost everyone Neji knew could be at risk, balanced upon Naruto's decision and his own ability to make peace. The thought made Neji vaguely nauseas.
"Do you even like Naruto?" Hanabi asked, tired of being ignored.
"Yes. I respect him."
"Enough to kiss him?" Hanabi pressed.
"I hope so."
"Will you let Sasuke kiss you too?" She asked.
"Yes, I suppose I'll have to." Neji sighed.
"He doesn't like you very much and Sissy says it's because you helped Kiba poison him. I wouldn't kiss anyone who poisoned me." The girl said.
"You should enjoy the fact that you still have the choice." Neji snapped.
"Sissy says you always have a choice."
"Hinata is very naïve." Neji replied.
"Do you think she did a bad thing by wanting to marry Kiba? Do you hate her?" Hanabi asked quietly.
"No. I don't hate her."
"But you think she betrayed us? Father thinks so, he is very angry…"
"I don't really know anymore." Neji said to his reflection.
OoOoOoO
Naruto moved like a bullet through the forest, pushing himself to the limit to stay hard on Sasuke's heels. The raven haired ninja launched himself into space, flipping expertly around a wide tree limb and bringing his feet hard into the jinchuuriki's gut. The air woofed out of his lungs, but Naruto rolled with the impact, sparing his body the true force of the attack. Sasuke sprang at him, sword held at right guard, swift and merciless. Naruto caught his subordinate in a hard knee lock, swung his body like a pendulum and slammed Sasuke with a resounding crack into the trunk of a large oak. Sasuke took the hit, but used the momentum to push Naruto's throat against the wicked edge of his katana. Naruto blocked at the last moment with a kunai and shook as he felt the force of Sasuke's attack reverberate through the bones of his arm. The sword shed sparks against the jinchuuriki's blade, and the two weapons parted with a shrill scream of steel. He kicked out, catching Sasuke in the thigh and sending both of them tumbling away into the foliage. They fought, even as they fell, punching and kicking with enough force to rattle the changing leaves around them.
Sasuke landed first, springing swiftly into the air again to catch Naruto's arm and flinging the jinchuuriki away like a ragdoll into a stand of aspen. Naruto flipped himself in midair, contacting the supple tree trunks with his feet and shooting himself back through the space towards Sasuke. The dark haired ninja fell seamlessly to his knees and Naruto's blade whistled through the air barely an inch from his face. Sasuke drove the heel of his hand hard into Naruto's jaw and the resounding crack of the blow echoed through the shady peace of the forest. The jinchuuriki moved well, letting his body flow with the blow, but blood was still dripping slowly from his lips when he found the Earth again. Naruto rolled and came up flinging a shower of kunai. Sasuke deflected the weapons easily, closing the distance in less than a blink. For a breathless moment, Naruto had the upper hand, moving gracefully into a low stance as the raven engaged him again. He struck with the thundering force of a freight train, straight towards Sasuke's unguarded face. The movement was powerful and perfectly aimed, but not fast enough. Sasuke avoided Naruto's fist, moving fluidly like a swimming snake around the blow. The raven haired ninja redirected the strike, shifting his weight back behind Naruto's shoulder to catch the jinchuuriki's arm. Sasuke trapped him in an arm bar, jerking Naruto's shoulder sharply. The jinchuuriki grunted, made a swift gesture with his free hand, and Sasuke released him.
"Tag!" Sasuke shouted excitedly, moving to lick at the blood still smeared across Naruto's face.
"Ugh, I think you broke my fucking jaw!" Naruto whined, rubbing his chin.
"If I broke it, you wouldn't be able talk, idiot." Sasuke said, still smiling fiercely.
"Are they always so rough?" Sai asked from his seat beside Sakura on a small blanket spread across the forest floor.
"Oh yeah, this is nothing. Usually they break more trees and more bones, at least no one has been stabbed yet." The girl said, smiling fondly.
"Ah." Sai said and smiled as the two men sprang after one another again.
"You can go too, go play with them if you want." She suggested softly.
"I can't." Sai replied.
"Why?"
"It isn't play to me."
"Oh…but you must spar, you know? To train?" Sakura pushed.
"Last time I trained that way, someone died. That is just how Root was. We did not play." Sai said.
"That's horrible!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Not really. I didn't die." Sai replied with a yawn.
"Yeah…but, your friend…"
"I didn't have friends until I met you. He was just another body to break, I don't even know his name." Sai said.
"Oh…Kami…" Sakura whispered.
"Tag!" Naruto's jovial voice called out from the forest.
"It isn't 'Tag' unless I give, moron!" Sasuke shouted.
"You never give!" Naruto whined.
"Then it's never tag…" Sasuke replied and the heavy crack of a tree trunk breaking resounded through the forest.
"Sai…How old were you?" Sakura asked tentatively.
"Oh, I don't really know. Maybe seven." The artist sighed as he sketched an image of Sakura's horrified face.
Sai watched as Naruto emerged at a run from the woods, Sasuke moving like a deadly shadow just behind him. The jinchuuriki turned at the last second, launching himself into a jump and up into the trees once again. The raven haired ninja moved without hesitation, climbing the tree with the practiced skill of a true forest nin. They fought high in the thick bows, using the dappled shadows to try and confound one another's senses, laughing wildly and striking hard. Naruto flung a kunai, pinning the sleeve of Sasuke's kimono to one of the trees and using the opportunity to lunge close into his mate's guard. Sasuke butted him hard in the face and both of them grappled frantically, each trying to gain the upper hand. The way that they moved together was actually quite lovely and Sai regretted that he would never be able to capture the beauty of it in a still media like paint or graphite.
"Ow! Teme, you broke my nose! Again!" Naruto complained, pinning Sasuke beneath his knee.
"Well, you tore my kimono." He huffed, writhing around to break free of Naruto's hold.
"It's just a kimono! What about my nose!" Naruto snarled, holding his face.
His nose was bleeding rather impressively and obviously broken. They grappled a bit more, tumbling until Sasuke managed to maneuver himself on top, holding Naruto into the turf by his hair. Despite the dirt and the blood, Sai knew that they were happy and so he decided he was happy too.
"Your nose will heal, stupid. My kimono is ruined!" Sasuke snapped, cocking an eyebrow with mock displeasure.
"Don't be an ass." Naruto said, smiling fondly at Sasuke through the blood.
Sai felt himself smile, watching them, but the smile failed to stop at his lips and soon his eyes were smiling too. Laughter, strange and ticklish and warm bubbled up from deep inside his chest, moving in a sparkling flood out to his lips. Sai knew how to make the sounds of laughter, but he had never known what it felt like to truly laugh. The laughter made the tight things in his chest loose, made the cold and stillness fluid somehow. Sai laughed, feeling the blood rush to his face and his lips tingle with the sound. Sakura smiled at him and she was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her. Sasuke moved to stare at him and the raven's normally fathomless eyes were warm with playfulness and curiosity. Soon he too was laughing and Naruto as well, wincing and giggling in equal measure as he tried to laugh without moving his broken nose. Sasuke held his sides, laughing in giddy little gasps and Sakura laughed like silver music together with her mates. The sound and the sensation were both beautiful and powerful and as the tears streamed from his eyes, Sai knew that he had found the cure for the terrible obsession he had suffered for so long. Shino was right, he had always been right. Sai was in love.
OoOoOoO
"Hokage! I need to speak to you. The data from the tests I ran on Sai, I have the results." Shizune said.
"Test results?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Yes. There were no previous medical records available and so I had to do all the basic screenings over again as soon as he was admitted." Shizune explained.
"Screenings? For a psyche case?" Tsunade teased.
"Yes! Having a complete health profile is integral to treating any ailment!" Shizune argued.
"Don't you think that blood work for someone obviously suffering from a psychiatric disorder is a little compulsive?" Tsunade asked, smiling.
"No." Shizune said firmly.
The medical nin stood impatiently in front of Tsunade's desk, looking over the papers in her hands as if reluctant to let them go. Tsunade was about to pour herself another glass of sake and tell her student to go relax when a cheerful looking Tonton poked his snout around the door. Tsunade smiled to see her pig and called out to him. Tonton snorted excitedly and broke into an all-out run when Tsunade revealed a piece of honey comb hidden beneath her desk. Shizune closed her mouth, looking annoyed by the interruption, but Tsunade knew her apprentice was just as indulgent with the pet as she was. Tsunade bent to pet the pig, enjoying the joyful snuffling as Tonton ate the treat. Shizune sighed, obviously wanting to discuss her lab data. Shizune was an excellent physician and assistant, but she had a profound tendency to get over invested in minutiae. The young woman bent over Tsunade's desk, brandishing the papers like some kind of jutsu and Tsunade finally turned away from Tonton.
"I'm tired and as interesting as all of this is, I'm sure we can talk about it later." The Hokage said, yawning expansively.
"No! This is important! I need to speak with Sai!" Shizune argued.
"Sai has already been discharged and unless one of those pages is his marriage contract, I doubt he will care." Tsunade replied huffily as she sipped her sake.
"I know he's discharged, but we have to call him back!" Shizune said urgently.
"Why?"
"The tests…I…I've never seen anything like this!" Shizune exclaimed, moving to hand the Hokage the lab read-outs.
Tsunade took a moment, reading quickly but thoroughly through the material. The numbers did not match up appropriately and obviously some kind of lab error had occurred. While annoying, a sleepy lab tech's mistake was certainly nothing to get upset over.
"It's a mistake." Tsunade sighed irately.
"I had them check it three times, that was why it took so long to get the result back! That is the real data, not a mistake, I'm sure of it!" Shizune hissed urgently.
"But…that's impossible…" Tsunade whispered, confused.
"I thought so too, at first…"
"These numbers don't make any sense, Shizune, there's no way this is accurate! These results show that Sai's cell count is almost triple what it should be for his amount of metabolic output. His heat measures and levels cellular bi-products are way too low for anybody with this many cells." Tsunade said.
"I know! I wasn't sure what to make of it either, but the effect is the same, regardless of tissue type!" Shizune said, gesturing to another row of numbers.
Tsunade frowned at the readout, but it was as Shizune said. Sai had three times the number of cells that any normal person did and, moreover, they were inactive. Certain ninja had elevated cell counts, usually as a genetically encoded pre-disposition associated with some kind of favorable trait. The sharingan, for example, required tremendous cellular turnover and so the Uchiha clan members often had high cell counts. Still, she had never seen anyone with cell counts this high or so homogenously across all tissue types.
"What does this mean?" Tsunade asked.
"He has an entire population of stem cells, alive, but inactive, basically existing in a kind of extended stasis."
"Stasis? Why?"
"I don't know. It's almost like a kind of developmental cell proliferation archetype." Shizune replied, shrugging.
"You mean as in, undifferentiated cells awaiting some kind of growth factor in order to divide?" Tsunade asked, rubbing her temple.
"No, more like an activity perpetuating signal. The cells don't need to divide, they just need to…to wake up." Shizune said, struggling for the right way to describe her theory.
"A signal?"
"Yes."
"What kind of signal?" Tsunade asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a hormone or some kind of chemical factor, there's really no way to say." Shizune sighed, biting her lip.
"So…Is Sai sick then? Some kind of inactive neoplasm?" Tsunade asked, worried.
"A neoplasm? Everywhere in his body? I doubt that, but we still need to call him back." Shizune laughed.
"I'm not dragging Sai back into this hospital on a hunch. I just need to know if this can make him ill, put his health at risk, that's the important consideration." Tsunade said seriously.
"I don't know if this can make him sick…"
"So, as of now, he's healthy?" Tsunade pushed.
"At this point, I'm not even sure he's entirely human." Shizune whispered.