Closer

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Comfort
The first time Sai tried to comfort Sakura was when she failed the jounin exams: “Think of it this way, Konoha will have more shinobi now that you’re not leading them to their deaths.”

Kiss
He decided that it would also be the last time when she made him kiss the ground for it.

Soft
Absently, he thought that she had a soft and surprisingly gentle touch when she begrudgingly healed his broken nose.

Pain
Sai wished for her touch a lot, especially during solo missions when no one was around to stop the pain.

Potatoes
Of course, he always managed to say the wrong thing and her gentle touch would become not-so-gentle as she dropped him like a sack of potatoes into the hands of a medic-in-training who, coincidentally, had yet to perfect her chakra control.

Rain
Sakura saw Sai sitting in the rain once and went outside to keep him company; something he appreciated immensely.

Chocolate
He awkwardly gave her a bar of chocolate as a token of his appreciation only to realize that she didn’t like them: “I’m not the sweets kind of girl.”

Happiness
Sometimes Sai wants to ask her what happiness felt like but he always decided not to because in hindsight, it was a really stupid question.

Telephone
The first concrete sign of her friendship was when she handed him a scrap of paper with her telephone number scrawled on it.

Ears
“Call me anytime you have questions on anything or want to practice casual conversations, Sai; I’m all ears.”

Name
In that moment, Sai had the strangest urge to ask her to call him by his real name.

Sensual
Sai laughed when he found out that Sakura was assigned an espionage mission, thinking that the last thing she could ever be was sensual.

Death
Of course, he stopped laughing when she shot him a death glare.

Sex
He overheard Kakashi expressing his concern over her situation and was startled by her blasé response: “It’s just sex, Sensei.”

Touch
He noticed that, in the days following her return from the mission, Sakura didn’t allow anyone to get close enough to touch her.

Weakness
He bumped into her when she cracked during that period and although a cutting remark was on the tip of his tongue (“Why don’t you start acting like a kunoichi for a change?”), he allowed her the moment of weakness when he saw the severity of her tremors.

Tears
He was glad when she was finally able to piece herself together and walk out of the small alley with a smile on her face.

Speed
Sometimes, Sai was surprised at the speed in which her moods changed – it made it hard to trust her.

Wind
He was mildly shocked when she informed him that Naruto was a Wind Type.

Freedom
“It suits him,” Sakura remarked with a sad sort of grin, “he’s always been able to go and do things his way regardless of the consequences.”

Life
‘Yeah, he’s going to risk his life for that traitor again,’ he thought grimly.

Jealousy
Sometimes, just sometimes, Sai felt a strange tightness in his chest when he thought about the bond Naruto was trying to salvage because it was something that he had lost a long time ago.

Hands
Then he felt the weight of Sakura’s small hand on his shoulder when she needed his attention for something, and a small part of him thought that perhaps it was time to start a new one.

Taste
The first time that Sai had ramen, he concluded that it was an acquired taste but he still went with Naruto and Sakura to the ramen stand to develop his budding friendships.

Devotion
When Sakura saw the drawing in Sai apartment entitled “Friends,” she couldn’t help but smile and decide to devote just a little more time out of her day to him.

Forever
The most memorable mission that he had with Team Seven involved Sakura unconsciously scooting closer to him and gripping the bottom of his left pant leg lightly in the clearing when he was on watch; for some reason, he imprinted the moment in his head along with the desire for it to last forever.

Blood
What made the mission memorable was that Sakura took a hard hit when they were engaged in battle; there was so much blood that they weren’t sure she would make it (he could still hear a devastated Naruto chanting her name hysterically).

Sickness
The absolute fear and panic that had seized him lingered like a sickness long after Sakura’s recuperation.

Melody
At first, he would sneak into the hospital to watch over her until the first medic slipped in to check on her, but later he found himself lulled to sleep by the melody of her weak and sporadic (but beating, still beating) heartbeat.

Star
When Sakura caught him, she smiled softly and the light in her eyes reminded him of the light from the star-freckled night sky in the clearing.

Home
After Sakura saw him by her bedside, she thought it only made sense to ask him to bring her home when she was released.

Confusion
Recently, Sai couldn’t make heads or tails out of their relationship, despite all of his research, so he hid his confusion behind his insults.

Fear
When Sakura left after sending him a scathing glare, he feared that he might’ve taken two steps back in their relationship.

Lightning/Thunder
Nowadays when Sakura touched him, his heart thundered in his chest so sharply that it was to the point where he winced and she would check him for injuries again out of concern.

Bonds
It took Sai quite a while to figure out that he wanted a different kind of bond with Sakura than the one he was trying to build with Naruto.

Market
Sakura learned quickly that going grocery shopping with Sai and Naruto was a migraine waiting to happen.

Technology
Sai sometimes questioned the efficiency of the villages’ communication system when he would effortlessly tap into Sakura’s phone conversations (strictly for research and not because he wondered what she thought of him).

Gift
For her birthday, Sai painted her a portrait of the original Team Seven in hopes of showing her that he understood her feelings.

Smile
When Sakura saw the stiffness in his jaw after she handed the painting back to him, she smiled a little bit and told him that he forgot to include himself and Yamato-sensei in it.

Innocence
A few days later, she asked him how the revised gift was coming along and he smiled innocently in response (which, in perspective, is an improvement from the fake ones).

Completion
The truth is that Sai’s holding off on finishing it because it gives him an excuse to interact with her more.

Clouds
He realized, while staring up at the clouds, that he was lonely and he didn’t want to be anymore.

Sky
Sakura was deeply surprised that the sky didn’t fall when Sai managed to crack a funny joke.

Heaven
Sai decided that the feeling her laughter stirred in him was heavenly because it chased away his loneliness (perhaps this is happiness?).

Hell
The first time Sakura was sent on an S-rank mission with a jounin squad, it took her three weeks to return; it was arguably the most nerve-wrecking period of Sai’s life.

Sun
Although Sai realized that the bond he wanted with Sakura was different from the one he was forging with Naruto, his feelings weren’t too clear until he saw her stumble into the village with the sun shining on her bruised and weary form.

Moon
Sakura decided that it was fine that Sai, after a painfully awkward conversation about his feelings, just informed her that they would be best friends from now on (“I’m sure that’s what my feelings are trying to tell me,” he said), because tonight was a full moon and people said and did strange things when it was out.

Waves
She waved off his assessment and told him that he still had a lot to learn about emotions.

Hair
Sai thought that she was probably correct because, as a best friend, he shouldn’t have been so distracted by her skirt and her legs and her hands and her eyes and her voice and her hair.

Supernova
He took a chance once day and grabbed her hand, refusing to let go even after she sent him a questioning glance (when she laced her fingers with his and gave a squeeze, he felt his senses jerk awake and brighten with nervous energy).

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Author's Notes: This was a livejournal entry and I decided to stick it here too. Hope you like it! Also, I wanted to just say thank you to all the wonderful reviews I received for In Red. There will not be a continuation of it, not because I didn't want to, but because I would most likely destroy a good thing, hehe.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto in association with Shonen Jump magazine.