Honestly, I actually thought this was going to be another one of those very predictable Sai/Saku stories where Sai miraculously learns to "feel" and all goes well but it wasn't.
Wow. Just wow. You deserve a million round of applauses for this heartbreaking, yet beautiful piece of work. It's the perfect angst story, if I might add. To me, inside my head, this kind of played out like an old black and white film, very dull and grey, because colour has been slowly washing away from Sakura as each loved one dies, until finally, there isn't any more colour. And I just love the ending, which is perfect by the way :)Any, I think this story is beautiful and you are a genius :)

Omg that was the most sad and heart wrenching story ice ever read. I cried like 3 times at least. It was fantastic angst.

A very thoughtful sketch of Sakura & Sai's relationship. I always believed that Sai would never quite be able to grasp the fundamental human emotions that Root's conditioning leached out of him. You portray that static aspect of him very well - the comparisons to his beautiful, but ultimately meaningless pictures captured him in a snapshot. Sakura, too, as the strong but broken woman, was characterised beautifully. Their personalities are like jagged pieces of a puzzle that will never quite fit, though the inevitability of their attachment results from the simple fact that there is nobody else. The ending was especially bittersweet; Sai's love was nothing but a flash of instinct and words stolen from others. Sakura holding desperately onto the only person she has left and probably thinking of what she would have given to have heard those words from those long dead. A gorgeous fic with an even more gorgeous conclusion.

I liked this a lot. It reminds me of Orange flavoured jam. Bitter, but still enjoyable anyway. I thought the description of Kakashi was perfect, as (I think) Kakashi never really thought of Team 7 as more than just students he had to teach. Also, I've read many SaiSaku fics resulting in Happy endings, but this one seems more...real, I guess. I like how, although they are considered to be in a relationship, Sai and Sakura were never anything more than acquaintances, and at most friends. Kind of like a never ending Masquerade, where broken people wear perfect masks, if only to dance and forget the pain, ultimately becoming shells of their former selves.
Also, I like the ending line, shows how much Sakura has grown from the dependent Sasuke fangirl to a strong, albeit broken, woman.

Signed,
Charlatan Quintessence

If he doesn't know what love is, why did he say it?... *thinks on this*

Thank you for sharing! :D

Sublime. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of chronological events, memories, flash backs and foreshadowing in your writing.

This story was colorful and sweet like strawberries--although not all of the strawberries in the package seemed to be edible still, since some had come to rot. The ending was one of the sweetest in the bunch: you couldn't have come up with a better ending--I'm sorry, but I can't see anything before the horizon that could improve that terribly wonderful end.

I wonder, is it difficult for you to belt out a story like this one? Or are you able to come up with a new one the way Sai does with his colorless paintings?

I very much enjoyed your insight on her childhood memories and her memories of her team. I had a cat much like the one Kakashi was portrayed as, his name was Toby, and your description of Kakashi's character was so accurate that I felt my heart skip a beat. He was a big cat--muscular in only the way that a cunning, stray cat could be--often catching birds getting into fights with other cats in the neighborhood, coming back home to sit on the trunk of an old car we had sitting in our lot with terrible cuts all along his body, all over the top of his head and some missing patches of fur like a burn victim has bubbling reams of skin. When I would return home after school, he would mewl and I'd pet him. I never was one to believe that cats are at all affectionate--their affection always seemed forced and only there as a means to attaining food and water from us silly humans.

I don't know if Toby was like that, but anyways--

One day he wasn't waiting on the trunk of the car and I knew... well, you know.

I'm sorry for going off topic. You have a very interesting, and perhaps beautiful artistic sense--it shines through in your writing of this story.

OMG that was so buetyful. I kinda want to cry because it isn't poorly written like most of the stories out here. Do continue to write these kind of stories.

I debated for a while whether or not to try and review this because I couldn't. I was at a loss for words because I had so many conflicting emotions going through me that it would just be too hard to sort them out and give any form of review.

The most I can say is that I like this. I like it very much.

So beautiful ... so harrowing

This is the best written Sai and Sakura one shot I have ever read.

I made the mistake of beginning to read this while listening to Down by the Sally Gardens by Orla Fallon. I nearly cried.
It's good to see a fic. portraying just how badly Sai would be damaged from his upbringing without pretending a "can do" attitude could fix it. I found the portrayal of Kakashi as a beaten up old alley cat perfect.
Great fic. top to bottom. I don't think it has to be expanded at all.

Oh, my God. I'm in love. This story is just so heartbreaking and so lovely and so beautiful that I have no words at all. It's just...WOW. Kinda speechless here. :D

That was such a sad story! I loved it, though. Great job!

That was so sad. I loved it though.

This is /gorgeous./

I'm in awe.

Oh, this was heartbreaking.

I love how numb and hanging on by her fingernails Sakura is, and Sai trying to piece his humanity together.

The last line stings, and I think Sakura does him a disservice.