Between Life and Living

Between Life and Living

Chapter Eleven: Time Has Changed

 

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The trip to Sakura's house was a short one, as she did not live far from the village. That and, unknown to Sakura, Sai had already memorized his way from the last time he had been there.

As they neared the small winding stone path that lead up to the front porch, Sakura withdrew a key from her pocket and walked up the steps to unlock the door. Sai waited silently on the edge of the small 'welcome' carpet beside her as she fumbled with the key, trying not to notice the miniscule, but visible splotches of dark red over the light brown. It wasn't the fact that there was blood on the carpet that bothered Sai; it was the fact that it reminded him so well of the night when he had first seen his partner in an absolute panic.

Something that truly bothered Sai, and he never wanted to see it again.

"There, got it" Sakura announced. The front door squeaked open and she walked inside. Sai lifted his gaze from the carpet when a cool draft sailed over him and into the warm afternoon air. He stepped inside with her and gently closed the door.

The interior of the house was nothing spectacular, but it had a certain, pleasant air about it that told of the young woman that lived there. On the end table, near the front hall was a row of picture frames. Taking a closer look, Sai noticed that the photos were all of either Sakura's friends from team seven, or other people he suspected were her parents.

All of them wore happy faces and stood next to Sakura who smiled especially in the middle of each photo. The picture on the very end of the table was one that appeared to be the most recent. Sai recognized the two men in the photo as Naruto and Sasuke, both with an arm slung around each of the pinkette's shoulders while she did the same to them. The three posed for the snap-shot with grins and a peace sign held around Sakura's left side, while bunny ears were held over her head from the right.

Sai was trying to figure out who was making what gesture when he heard Sakura calling out to him.

"Sai?"

"Yes?" the ANBU turned away from the table and walked out of the hall. Sakura stared at him suspiciously for a moment, but then reeled away from the hall and started up the stairs. Sai blinked after her curiously, and silently followed behind her.

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Sakura's room was an absolute horror.

When they reached the door, Sakura had twisted the knob a few times and had to pushed the door open with a little more force than Sai thought should be necessasary, but when they stepped inside, he immediately knew why.

The floor was impossible to see.

Was that a sandwich on the desk, or an old shoe?

Books of all kinds littered the floor. Scrolls opened to the fullest and twisted across the bed and over chairs along with clothes, weapons, bits of trash, you name it; it was there.

Sai, himself, was a fairly neat person aside from the various pieces of art he had on easels around his small studio of an apartment. He'd never owned a house and that was fine with him, and although the amount of extra space would have been nice, he never had any particular complaints about the living quarters that had been given to him.

He'd been inside of Kakashi's apartment on a number of occasions when asked to come in for some tea before their missions, and he thought he knew the definition of disaster, but apparently not.

This was an absolute catastrophe.

And Sai, being the selectively opinionated person that he was, felt the need to give his two cents on what he thought of it.

"I believe this is what they call a pig's sty," he mumbled wretchedly, lifting up an article of clothing and dropping it onto the floor so he could sit on the edge of the bed. Sakura stumbled over a pair of shoes peeking out from underneath it, and walked over to the dresser to begin tossing out whatever clean garments she could find to take with her. Normally she would have complained along with him, but admittedly, she was the one who had made the mess and she didn't have any intentions of cleaning it up anytime soon. Cleaning meant you cared what people thought about the way you lived; Sakura didn't.

"There's a suitcase in the closet over there," she offered, pointing behind her without turning around. "It's black. Do you think you can pull it out for me?"

Without a word, Sai stood up from the bed and toed his way through the ocean of undone laundry and pulled open the small closet door. Inside he found an empty shoe rack (empty, because most of the shoes were scattered around the floor) and a bare rod that was meant to hold clothes; it only held a few lonely hangers and purses, but that was all.

On the floor of the closet, back in the corner he found the requested black suitcase. He bent down and dragged it out.

"Thanks," Sakura said, once he'd managed to haul it over to her. The thing had wheels on it, but the idea of them was completely useless when trying to move through this clutter.

The pinkette grabbed the folded clothes she'd set out for herself and after pulling open the zipper to the larger compartment, she stuffed them inside.

Wouldn't they get wrinkled like that? Well, if she liked wrinkled clothes…

"I'm going to get a few things from the bathroom, so I'll be right back," she told the ANBU. He nodded once in reply, and then watched her disappear through a second door in the room.

Sai's attention shifted back to the rest of the bedroom, making his version of a disgusted face until his eyes settled on to the edge of the dresser where Sakura had been moments ago. There, turned slightly enough to face the window, was the same picture he had seen in the hallway. He couldn't understand why she had the same picture twice, except for maybe it was just that important to her and she wanted to look at it often. Kakashi had similar pictures all scattered along the bookshelves in his house, and for the most part, they were very similar to the ones Sakura had. Maybe they all received copies of them on the day they were taken.

ROOT never did anything like that. Sure, they took a picture of you on the day that you were admitted but it went into your file, and trust me; you were not wearing a happy face. In fact—

"I think that's about it," Sakura emerged from the bathroom with a handful of things. Sai's eyes followed her as she went over to the suitcase and stuffed them into smaller compartment and then zipped it up.

"Are you positive that you have everything you need?" he asked the pinkette when she picked up the bag and dropped it to the floor with a heavy thud. She stared down at it thoughtfully for a moment.

"Yeah, I think this is everything," she replied. She began to drag the suitcase behind her to the door, and turned when she realized Sai wasn't following her again. "Well…are you coming?"

Sai lifted himself from the bed and walked out of the room behind her. He glanced back at the messy room and the picture on the dresser once more before closing gently closing the door.

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Sai's apartment was closer within the vicinity of the village, so the two did not have far to walk. This was a good thing, because Sakura's arms were starting to get tired from pulling the giant suitcase along with her; she never realized just how out of shape she was until now.

Several times, her ANBU escort had offered to carry it for her, but she claimed it was fine and she could handle it herself. Of course, that wasn't the truth and it was obvious. Sai wasn't too keen on allowing the woman to have such a potential weapon on her, but he kept his mouth closed in case she realized what just what it could be used for.

As they walked up the apartment stairs and down the hall, Sai extracted a set of keys from his pocket and stopped at the door second to last, and went to unlock it. Seeing that they had finally reached their destination, Sakura pulled the bag closer to the door and waited near the wall until it was open.

Unlike Sakura's house, which was usually freezing, Sai's little apartment was quite warm. The kunoichi had no particular complaints about this, as she'd just spent nearly an entire week in a freezing cold hospital.

Sai allowed his new house mate inside first, and once she was in, he closed the door behind himself. "You can bring your things to my room, if you would like," he suggested. After dropping the bag near the door, the pinkette heaved an exhausted and then looked around.

"Your room?" she repeated. The ANBU left the small hallway and disappeared into another room. Abandoning her luggage, she followed after him.

The next area led from a tiny dining room into a kitchen, where she found Sai leaning against the counter and standing slightly on his tip toes to reach a cupboard. Once he grabbed onto the handle, he brought down two cups and set them on the counter.

"I am going to make some tea. Please go ahead and get yourself situated and I will call you when it is done," he said, when he noticed Sakura standing there. The pinkette nodded once and then turned back to the hall, grabbing her luggage before wandering off into the next room.

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Sakura stopped at the end of the short hall once she reached what appeared to be Sai's room. Well…she was sure that's what it was meant to be, but it looked like it was being used for something entirely different instead.

There had to be at least twenty different easels in total.

They were all cluttered together in the tiny makeshift bedroom, facing different directions and baring some sort of beautifully painted canvas. Setting her bag down carefully in the doorway, the pinkette weaved through the maze of tripods to survey a particular painting standing off on the corner by itself.

It was a portrait of a luminous, navy blue sky adorned with a large, softly glowing white moon. Tiny glittering stars randomly dotted the painted midnight expanse, and trailed down to an assortment of barren, spindly-branched trees. A violet-colored butterfly was painted up-close and off to the side of the canvas as if it were in mid-flight of taking off to the sky.

Sakura had never seen something so breath-takingly beautiful…

Allured and curious, she lifted her hand as if to touch the painting, but dropped it to her side when she realized it was still wet. The shuffling of feet and someone entering the room pulled her out of her trance and she turned to see Sai standing in the doorway.

"That is the third one this week," he explained, almost sadly. His stared at the painting she had just been admiring and then lifted the cup in his hand. "The tea is done,"

"The third one?" Sakura repeated, dismissing his side comment. She glanced back at the easel.

"You painted this right?"

"That's correct," he said, and then gestured to the other easels around them. "I painted them all. None of them are how I wanted them to look though…I am not sure what I'm doing wrong,"

It was only then, that Sakura took a good look around the rest of the room to see that the others, like the painting she had found to be so beautiful, all withheld similar pictures. Each one was altered just a bit, with something missing, or rearranged. She wondered if the image had come straight from Sai's imagination or if he spent his time in this unknown area and painted it whenever he went for a visit.

Sai crossed the room and placed the cup of tea in Sakura's hand, but her thoughts were still lost on the mysterious art. When she felt the cup warming her palm, she looked down and stared into the rising vapor; it smelled nice. She told him so.

"Thank you," he replied politely, watching her take a tentative sip. The rich taste of apples and cinnamon enchanted her taste buds and she closed her eyes as the warmth traveled through her body. When she opened them, Sai was readjusting the position of the drying canvas on the easel. After placing it the way that he wanted it, he turned back to her and glanced down at her bag. She spoke before he could ask her about it.

"Um…this is your room right? Where do you sleep in all of…" she gestured to the disorderliness.

"I don't," he replied, casting aside the fact that, back at her place he might as well have asked her the same thing. "I sleep in the front room,"

"Right, but…then…" the kunoichi trailed off, not quite understanding where she was expected to stay in all of this. Did he intend for her to sleep here? She hadn't even slept in her own bed since it'd become a mess at the time of…

She didn't want to think about that right now.

"I have an extra futon. I'll sleep on the couch and you can take that," the ANBU answered. He set his tea on the edge of his dresser and then made his way over to a door on the far side of the room.

"I'm going to have a shower now, so please make yourself at home until I return," he insisted, while running his fingers through his still sticky hair. They had tried to get most of it out before they left Sakura's house, but to no real avail.

"Alright," Sakura agreed. After he disappeared into the bathroom, and she heard the door shut, she set down her tea beside his and strolled over to the lone painting again. Sai had positioned it so that it faced the open window where it would dry quicker. Looking at it again made her realize why it was so attractive.

She had seen it before; the place where she had met him for this first time; it was that place.

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Flashback

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"Sakura!" a voice interrupted Sakura in the middle of the book she was reading. Reluctantly, she lowered the novel into her lap and squinted against the bright sunlight shining over the horizon above the calm ocean waves. Naruto was swinging one arm around, waving to her excitedly while his other was wrapped around Sasuke's shoulders, pulling him out of the water.

"What is it?" she asked doubtfully, as she watched the two boys stumbled out of the shallow waves and onto the sand. Sasuke dropped onto the beach towel she had set out for herself under her umbrella and reached for the bottle of water sitting near her bag.

"S-Sasuke! Hey, that's my—"

The raven smirked up at her as he unscrewed the cap and lifted the bottle to his lips; the water was gone within a second.

"Aw, man…"

"Sorry," he said unapologetically, a teasing look marring his handsome features when he tossed the empty plastic container onto the towel and then stood to stretch.

"We're going down to the consession stand," Naruto announced, while brushing the excess sand from his tanned body and orange shorts. "Is there anything you want, Sakura?"

The kunoichi thought for a moment. All she'd managed to get into her stomach today was a piece of toast, before her boys had come to her house and dragged her down to the beach this morning. Her stomach growled anxiously at the thought of food.

"Sakura?"

"Um, I'll pass for now," she decided. Sakura lifted the empty bottle of water and held it out to Sasuke. "But, you could get me another bottle of water? You totally owe me,"

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke smirked, and grabbed the bottle away.

After the two boys left, Sakura picked up her novel again and began to read it. She was giggling to herself at a part she thought was funny, looking for all the world just as mischievous as her sensei when she found him huddled in a corner reading one of his smutty Icha Icha books, when suddenly a voice of warning rang out.

"Hey! Watch out!"

Dropping the book into her lap, Sakura shifted her body out of the way just in time to avoid a beach ball hitting her square in the face. A small boy in swim shorts ran up, grabbed the ball off the towel and then skipped away at the sound of his mother's beckoning voice.

"Damnit…Now I've lost my place," the kunoichi mumbled, pulling herself up and digging the book out of the sand. She flipped through the pages, and swept the grains of sand away from each of them.

So far, it seemed as though Sakura wasn't going to get any reading done today; not unless she moved to another area. Glancing around, she searched for an unoccupied place on the beach, safe from the range of beach balls or water-bottle-stealers. Her eyes found a small area near the very end of the left side, an almost secluded little section tapering off from a patch of trees to the sand and leading out into the water.

A small smile came to her lips when she decided it was perfect.

Getting up from her place and dusting herself up, the pinkette grabbed her book and began to make her way over to her new found haven. She began to wonder if she should have stayed until her boys returned, but dismissed the thought when she realized they probably wouldn't even notice.

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The late afternoon was turning into early evening, and the warmth from the lasting glow of the sun was beginning to fade. The powdery white sand had grown from hot to slightly cold under Sakura's feet and there was a slight chill on the breeze that carried through the canopy of small palm trees. After the kunoichi found a comfortable spot, she sat down and opened her book. Finally; a quiet place to read…

"OW!"

Sakura jumped with a start after suddenly feeling something kick her right above the ass. Turning the upper half of her body around, she looked behind her, hands pressed firmly into the sand.

Her eyes narrowed incredulously when she saw a leg half exposed in the underbrush behind her. It kicked again, and this time she crawled onto her knees and grabbed it, and dragged it out of the woods.

"Hey! Do you mind?" a husky, irritated male voice exclaimed. He jerked his leg away as soon as he had the chance and sat up, rubbing his eye. Sakura stared at the dark haired boy with a combination of anger and disbelief marring her features.

What, had he been sleeping up until now?

"Yeah, I minded when you were kicking me in the ass a second ago. Just what the hell gives a person the idea that it's okay to just sleep on the beach, let alone in a secluded area like this?"

The pony-tailed nin regarded her with a scowl, dark eyes still bleary from his recent comatose state. "Well excuse me, lady," he dusted himself off and then got to his feet. "I happen to do just whatever the hell I please. If I wanna to sleep at the edge of the beach, then I will—"

"—In the bushes," Sakura corrected, sitting back down in the sand again and reclaiming her book. She turned her back to him and flipped through the novel for the dog-eared page, where she had left off. The lazy young man watched her become submersed in the novel, and after realizing she was lost on him as if he'd never been there, he grumbled and trudged away.

"Well, whatever,"

Whatever?

Sakura slammed her book closed and dropped it in the sand by her feet. What a jerk she grumbled inwardly, watching him walk away. Her hands pressed into the sand at her sides until she felt something hard and ridgid biting beneath her left palm. Half startled, she lifted it and smirked when she saw what it was. Her green eyes flitted mischeviously to the man who was now at considerable distance away from her, scratching the back of his inky black hair.

The kunoichi scooped up the pink shell from the ground and tossed it through the air; it hit the nape of the man's neck with perfect precision.

"Ow!" was the next thing she heard, and then the man wheeled around to fix her with a dark, bleary glare. Sakura only grinned back, looking for all the world just as satisfied and guilty as she was.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Oh, I think you know," the pinkette replied, crossing her arms and reclaiming her irritated look. "I can't read my book when I'm not in a good mood, so you're going to have to stay here and keep me company now,"

The man made a face. "What a dumb excuse. I've got things to do, so I'll be going now. Thanks for the offer though," he said, and began to walk away again.

"Oh? Like what?" the kunoichi shot back before he could get any farther away. She hardly believed a man who laid around sleeping so carelessly in a place like this did anything rationale with his time.

Slowly, the nin turned and slipped his hands into his pockets. He studied her for a moment, as if trying to decide whether he cared enough to make a smart remark.

"Hm. Guess nothing…" Sakura smirked triumphantly. He made a sound of reluctance and then she watched him stroll back to her. When he sat down beside her, Sakura scooted further so there was a comfortable distance apart from them, and then turned her gaze where it followed his.

The placid waves of the translucent, teal-colored ocean lapped forth and pulled the sand in with it, leaving the powdery white smooth and wet as it receded. Sakura closed her eyes and drew her knees in to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She could smell the faint scent of sea salt on the ocean spray, and feel the small, cool sprinkles of water as the waves rolled and crashed, lightly hitting her skin.

Finding comfort in both their silence and the scenery, she yawned and rested her chin against her knee. Maybe she would have even nodded off and slept right there, if it hadn't been for the voice that reminded her she wasn't alone.

"Hey,"

"Hm?"

The kunoichi's lids flew opened and her eyes were immediately assaulted by the golden glare of the setting sun. She narrowed them and tilted her head to look at the boy sitting beside her.

"What is it?"

"Don't you have some place to be?"

Some place to be? He was asking her this?

Well, that was rude…but…

"I do," she admitted, and then turned her head away. The sparkling light dancing on the ripples of the water attracted her attention. Like tiny, glowing fairies frolicking across wavering glass, it had moved and transcended to moonlight before their eyes.

"Oh?" the young man asked. He stretched out on his back in the sand and folded his hands behind his head. After he'd said nothing for a long time, Sakura assumed he had fallen asleep again, and was just about to yank him by the pony tail or poke him when suddenly he spoke.

"So this place…where is it?" he opened his eyes, half-lidded. The moonlight captured the surface of them and shone upon it like small silvery dimes.

The pinkette stared down at him thoughtfully for a minute and then looked up to see the clouds rolling by. For a brief instant, they were shrouded in shadows, and when the moon re-emerged the nin was smirking up at her.

"A place…well…" Sakura smiled at the question, and then re-adjusted herself on the sand so that she was closer to him and began to explain.

She told him about Naruto and Sasuke; her boys. How they'd dragged her to the beach earlier that morning and how Sasuke had stolen her water; about how she'd nearly been struck in the face with a beach ball. She told him about how she had snuck off to find a quiet place to read and hadn't seen them since.

There were places in her story where she thought he would ask her questions, but they never came. The lazy man simply nodded, eyes closed, or intently fixed on the darkening sky.

When she was done, he opened them.

"Hm," was all he said, and then sat up.

"Well?" Sakura said expectantly, now waiting to hear the reason why he had been there; the real one. Surely, there had to be another reason why he was out here all alone in such a secluded area, where he could have easily been swept away by the tide.

The man arched an eyebrow when she continued to stare at him, relentless in getting an answer to her question. Finally, with a troubled sigh he lay back down and threaded his fingers on top of his stomach.

"I was sleeping, okay?"

"Sleeping," Sakura repeated scornfully. The man slapped a palm to his forehead and rolled over.

"Yeah, woman. Can't a guy get some peace and quiet away from all those noisy children? You weren't the only one, you know,"

The kunoichi opened her mouth to argue, but she found that she couldn't.

"Still…" she mumbled, poking a hole in the sand with a small stick that had washed up earlier. "…What were you doing before you fell asleep?"

The nin rolled onto the other shoulder and began to draw lazy circles in the grains with his index finger.

"Watching," was all he said.

Sakura waited to hear more, and when she didn't she simply frowned at the boy's anti-climatic explanation. She dragged the stick across the ground and jabbed the boy in the side with it.

"Hey!" he jerked away and then rolled over to glare at her. "You're kind of annoying me…"

Sakura smirked and replied with equal disdain, "So are you, Mr. One-Worded-Answer-Man. Now tell me what you were watching,"

The sleepy nin drew in a long breath and let it out in a wary sigh. He sat up, having finally been defeated and then wrapped his arms around his legs much in the same position as hers. Again, his eyes lifted to the sky, as though searching through the light blue clouds that were outlined and still glowing against the starless expanse.

"Sometimes," he began. "I come out here when I don't have a mission. As a shinobi, I don't get to really stop and see things like the sun set, or the moon rising, y'know?"

Sakura nodded knowingly; he continued.

"It might not seem like a really big deal, but we see these things everyday and we don't really give them much attention; we don't really think about them,"

"And you do?" Sakura leaned forward, hugging her knees. She tried to get a better look at his expression, but it was hard to see, half shadowed by darkness and bathed in the cold light.

"…I used to. Lately it's all I've been able to think about,"

A warm, gentle breeze rolled over the beach and set their hair fluttering under its ministration.

Silence passed between them, and Sakura leaned forward to see that the nin's eyes were fixed on the sky again. She stared up at it curiously, but she failed to see anything out of the ordinary about it. Why was he so fascinated by it? Was there something she wasn't seeing?

"Why?" was all she asked.

It was probably a dumb question, and he probably didn't know the answer himself. Her voice rang out softly in the silence that settled between them, and when he didn't respond she began to shift uncomfortably. Maybe she'd even offended him.

"I don't know," came his answer, finally. He stretched out his legs and lay back on the sand again with his hands folded over his chest. "Some days I barely notice and sometimes I can't stop thinking about it. But it feels like…" he paused and a small huff of self-doubt fell from his lips. Sakura looked down at him questioningly until he opened his eyes and stared up at her.

They exchanged weighted gazes, uncertain of whether one wanted to give an answer, or if the other was that interested in hearing it. Finally, the lazy nin sighed; he had to give her credit for being so persistent.

"…it feels like time is slowing down right here. Changing…more slowly,"

"Here?" Sakura looked around, searching for any signs that might give a hint or tell them that atmosphere surrounding them was doing just that. When she found none, she stared back down at him but found that he was staring up at the sky again, eyes forever or who knew for how long, lost on the sea of peeking stars.

Nothing more was said in regards to that conversation. From there on was idle chat, or nothing at all; merely the solacing sound of the waves rising and crashing quietly against the sandy floor, or the hush of the wind brushing gently through the palms of the trees.

Finally, realizing the time, Sakura stretched her arms and legs out and got to her feet. The ponytailed nin watched her stand with dark, reflective orbs.

"Leaving already?" he asked, turning his head back to the now obsidian sea. Sakura stared on as the moon shivered along the waves, and then willed herself to look away. Her limbs felt heavy and her body felt tired from sitting in the same position for over an hour. With a soundless yawn, she ran her fingers through her short pink hair and rubbed her eyes tiredly with the sides of her fists.

"Yeah," she said. "I'll have to walk home alone, though. I'm sure my team mates have already gone off by themselves,"

She stared down at him, waiting to see if he would say anything, or even offer to go with her, but wasn't disappointed when he didn't. They barely knew each other, after all.

She didn't even know his name…

With an unsatisfied sigh, the pinkette turned and began to leave, when she felt a hand wrap around her ankle. She paused before she could trip and fall, leg still lifted in mid-step, and she looked to see the boy with his arm extended. He wasn't even looking at her! Even now!

"What is it…?" Sakura asked uncertainly. When she spoke, she felt the nin's firm grip release her, and she lowered her foot to the ground.

"What I told you," he said, his tone a low timbre. Sakura stood with her arms crossed over her chest, shivering beneath the mismatched bikini and sarong she was wearing. She was starting to think he wasn't going to say anything more, but once again he surprised her within the next moment.

"…You won't think about it,"

Was it a question? A statement? This guy was so vague. The kunoichi let out a shaky sigh, half due to the cold and half due to her impatience with this person.

"No. I probably won't," was all she said, and then turned to trudge off towards the other side of the beach, leaving the man she had spent the last hour talking about nothing in particular with, laying in the exact same position that she had found him in.

The rest of the beach was otherwise vacant, given that it was long past early evening, let alone afternoon, and the swimmers, surfboarders, and everyone else had all gone home. The sound of Sakura's sandaled feet shuffling across the sandy boardwalk was deafening to her own ears, but it did not distress the thoughts of the recent conversation that were replaying themselves in her mind.

"…it feels like time is slowing down right here. Changing…more slowly"

Right here? Right where? That guy had to be on something…

Whatever…the kunoichi shook her head as she reached the block where she lived. She slipped her hand into her bag and withdrew a set of keys, ready to unlock her door.

After unlocking the front door, Sakura dropped her keys into her bag. She paused when her hand came out to reach for the knob.

Just once…she thought, fingers trembling as they came to rest on the silver knob. She dropped her hand to her side and gave the tiniest of glances over her shoulder. What she was expecting to see behind it, was unknown even to herself.

The sky around her was pinned with stars, colors blending into awing shades of purples and blues. She stared at it willfully; waiting for the smallest change to happen within those few seconds.

But there was none.

Feeling half disappointed and half relieved, the pinkette turned back to the door, twisted the knob and opened it. The dark and coldness of her house welcomed her. It enveloped her and she gave a small shiver as she slipped inside.

What had she been thinking, anyway? Silly girl.

Time will never seem to change; when you're watching it.

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End Flashback

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Sakura frowned and reached out to gently swipe her fingers across the very surface of the painting; it had begun to dry since Sai had moved it to face the sun.

After another beat of silence, she heard the shower stop running. Giving the canvas one last glance, the pinkette grabbed her tea and walked out of the room.

Time had changed, and she hadn't thought about it once.

Slowly…but not slowly enough.

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A/N: I'm going to be honest, writing ShikaSaku in this story is a lot harder than doing it in the one shot that I wrote. If only there were more ShikaSaku to inspire me...Hm!

 

Until next time~