The Scheme

Disclaimer: Look at chapter one. I do not own this canon or the characters from it. My inventive use of them is from my twisted imagination.

The Scheme

Chapter 3 – Sakura’s date

While arranging the medical papers Sakura read, memorized, labeled, and sorted, she took the liberty to do her duties in the privacy and silence of the Hokage’s office. Tsunade-sama was peacefully dozing in and out on top of a large stack of papers and important mission documents. After finishing her task, she inched towards Tsunade-sama’s desk to rearrange some of the papers and to actually complete some of the menial paper work required of the Hokage. She knew she would be the lackey to do these while Shizune-sama would work the more important documents.

Hearing the rustling of the papers, the blond women appeared to be finally awakening. “Mmmhhmm… What time is it Sakura?”

“It’s three in the afternoon Tsunade-sama. You should wake since you have a surgical operation to perform in an hour.”

“Okay. Okay,” said the blond woman as she yawned and stretched out her limbs which caused some of the empty sake bottles that were also littered on her desk to roll around and clang against each other.

Sakura smiled sweetly and giggled as she tended to do recently.

Tsunade’s eyebrows were raised as she observed Sakura’s vibrant mood. “You seem to be in good spirits lately.”

Sakura internally smiled. She did not rise one day to execute her plan. No, this was months in the making and a year of planning.

“What do you mean Tsunade-sama?”

Tsunade tilted her head in quiet study before smiling. “You’ve been doing your exercises.”

“Oh yeah. I think my chest has gotten much larger. Thank you.”

“Well, it shows.” The blond woman rose from her desk and stretched out her legs. “So what are we doing precisely this afternoon.”

“It appears that one of the Anbu encountered a jutsu that has yet to be identified. His consciousness is wavering in and out, and the chakra movements in his brain seem to be reversed and clashing with the charka from the rest of the body.”

With a deep sigh, Tsunade went towards some open medical journals she had been studying the night before. “Okay, then you and I should do some preparations.”

“Mmm Tsunade-sama, I asked you yesterday if Shizune-sama can replace me for this, and you said it was okay.”

“Oh yes.” Although, Tsunade may be an old woman, she did possess the heart of a teenager. “As my apprentice, you should have many suitors. Just look at how big your chest has gotten,” she teased at her blushing apprentice. Sakura knew from years under her tutelage, the old woman loved bantering with her especially about her chest.

“Well yes, I do.”

“Really? No wonder you are in a good mood today. Who is it?”

On key, Sakura blushed. It was not hard to pretend when, unlike Jiraiya-sama, she actually respected Tsunade-sama and wanted a good opinion from her.

Tsunade’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me it’s Gai’s fuzzy brow student Rock Lee. Gah Sakura, I taught you to have better taste.”

“It’s Sai,” Sakura meekly replied giggling.

Tsunade became quiet all of a sudden. She looked down at her shorter apprentice with creased brows. “Sakura-”

Before her master could get a word in edgewise, Sakura beat her to the punch line. “I know what you are going to say Tsunade-sama. You think it’s about Sasuke but you know that I have been over him for months.” The blond woman looked at her skeptically, but Sakura refused to relent in her explanations or carrying her plan to term. “I loved Sasuke at first because he was handsome but I never really got to know him,” said Sakura while cringing in the inside, “ and Sai looks just like him, just as handsome. What’s more is that Sai actually talks to me and takes notice of me like Sasuke has never done. Besides, it’s just one date. There’s no harm in that.” Sakura had something up her sleeve that she knew Tsunade-sama would eat up. “And, hate can turn into love, right sensei? Although Sai and I fight a lot, we do have moments when we can actually connect.”

Sakura watched her sensei’s eyes flicker at her last two sentences. She recalled Naruto telling her about her sensei’s fiancé Dan whom the sannin met when she was eighteen and with whom she did not have the most cordial of relationships at first.

“I suppose not,” Tsunade’s sighed wearily. “Have fun since I taught you to guard yourself.”

“Trust me sensei. If anyone hurts me anymore, I will make him pay by breaking every bone in his body,” Sakura commented to her smirking sensei.

Nodding to her student, Tsunade gathered the books in her arms. “Well, I’m off to the hospital. I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

“Bright and early,” Sakura said cheerfully at Tsunade-sama’s departing back. The pink haired girl smiled deviously. After years of being acquainted with the sannin, Sakura was confident in her acting abilities. If Naruto managed to win Tsunade-sama over and influence her easily, Sakura knew that she could rise to the challenge. Unlike Jiraiya, the slug sannin still retained notions of romantic love and hope after having loved ones and losing them. She was also a woman who by nature tended to be more empathetic.

It was another fifteen minutes before a knock was heard to reveal a chunin who announced that Sai had arrived.

Giddy from the prospect of having accomplished the first step of the plan rather than actually seeing the detestable man even if he was very attractive, Sakura rushed to the reception area after having smoothed her hair. She saw Sai sitting on one of the waiting room chairs impatiently tapping his foot while ignoring the appreciative looks some of the female nins were directing at him.

With a playful thought in her head from her overly inflated ego, she wanted to present him to the world like a trophy belonging solely to her. For god’s sake, she knew that no female would like him if she ever had the privilege to get to know him. But alas, he never permitted anyone of the female sex to feel the harsh brunt of his nasty personality except for her because she was his teammate and his medic. ‘Lucky her,’ she thought sardonically, but she may as well make the most of it and flaunt him in front of his numerous fangirls.

“Sai-kun!” Sakura yelled while she threw her arms around him. In surprise, he caught her and did not immediately remove himself. He figured that if he did so, she would exact some sort of punishment. Indeed he was right.

“Haruno, get off,” he hissed in her ear to convey that he resented her actions.

Sakura kissed his cheek and smiled her most luminous smile at him which only a few close people knew to be utter crap. She especially liked it that his pleasant mask was in place as well, and from the many observers in the room, they would be labeled as the new shining couple of Konoha in no time.

“Let’s go Sai-kun. I planned a picnic basket so we can have an early dinner together.” She took his hand and gave it a hearty squeeze that could easily snap steel.

“Okay,” said her new boyfriend through gritted smiling teeth.

With another peak on the cheek, she led the reluctant jounin forcibly away with a strength that could literally move mountains.

While walking closely and ignoring all the happy smiles directed at them from ninjas and citizens alike due to their popularity as seemingly affable ninjas who always wore smiles on their faces, Sai whispered to Sakura. “I thought that by being your boyfriend you would stop being so violent, you ugly tomboy.”

She walked so close to him that their sides were almost glued. “Then stop being a jerk, and do as I say. I wouldn’t be so violent to you if you stopped being an idiot. Didn’t Naruto teach you anything?”

“Don’t compare me with that worthless dickless wonder.”

“Pssh. He probably has more dick than you can ever dream of. Stop being so jealous penis envier.”

“Whatever ugly mosquito girl. I would appreciate if you stopped rubbing those little bumps on me. I think I might get a rash from the friction.”

“What you are doing is projecting misplaced anger of your penis-less existence. I do have breasts idiot. I need to bind them because as a ninja, I can’t have them bounce on my face and distract morons like you who would end up getting killed,” countered Sakura allowing her inner Sakura free reign of her mouth.

“Misplaced anger? You should look at yourself in the mirror. You should definitely blame your mother and father for giving you men tits.”

While they bickered like hated enemies, to an outsider, they appeared to be the quintessential loving couple. They smiled at each other while holding hands and sharing a warm conversation sans any profanity or vice grip. Moreover, he carried a large picnic basket which appeared to be their objective for a quiet and relaxing date.

As they inattentively passed by the flower shop owned and operated by Ino’s family, they heard a loud girlish squeal.

“Sakura!!”

They immediately stopped, and Sakura offered an endearing look at her beau silently conveying the message, “you tell her and you will pay with your life,” which he understood. There was surely a bond between the two, but it was the bond of unique individuals who detested each other but were grudgingly working together with perfect harmony.

“Where are you guys going?” Ino-chan peered over at Sakura inquisitively and then over to Sai whom Sakura knew Ino did not like much after getting only a glimpse of his true colors.

“We’re going out by the river near the sakura trees to have a picnic.”

The blond’s appeared annoyed, and she huffed by putting her hands on her hips. “Forehead girl, don’t pretend to be stupid and tell me you forgot about the monthly meetings with the rookie nine and Gai’s team.”

Sakura’s eyes widened expectedly, and her mouth gapped in -- what she believed to be and hoped it was -- a surprise. “Oh I’m so sorry Ino-chan. Sai and I have other plans. I’m sure you can use that big mouth of yours and make an excuse for me. It’s just this once, promise.”

Ino stared at her for a minute. Sakura was slightly worried about her best friend seeing through her façade. Out of everyone in Konoha, Ino was the most dangerous person to ruin her plans. Blue eyes pierced right through her, then it stabbed at Sai who was unaffected by it as his tendency to ignore pretty much everyone.

“Okay, but Sakura, you and I are going to talk soon,” she urged before returning to her duties in the store.

With a heavy sigh, Sakura took several breaths to calm her nerves.

“You didn’t forget did you?” asked Sai.

Sakura’s eyes rolled. “Of course not. This way Ino would go to the meeting to tell Naruto and Sasuke where we were. Even if she was to lie, they would have heard the gossip from the nins in the Hokage tower. They had to stop there anyway. She will cave to their demands. Did you not hear me give the exact coordinates of our rendezvous?”

Sai remained stoic and silent for a minute refusing to allow Sakura to drag him along. With his deceptive mask shattered, his attention turned to her, and in his eyes held something unexplainable.

“You are a dangerous kunoichi,” he said in a serious dead pan voice.

“And don’t tell me, you are not enjoying this.”

“I have yet to decide,” he replied but the ends of lips were twitching.

She grabbed his hand once more and tugged him along to their destination. When they finally arrived while more verbal garbage were being reciprocated, they somehow managed to spread the blanket on the ground and place the food on top of the cloth without that much spillage.

“You know Sai, after the entire town gossips about us, no one would ever suspect that you are gay. It will be our little secret,” Sakura winked at him.

“Stop saying I’m gay, ugly. You know that I’m not.”

“Then how come you never have any female friend or acquaintance?”

“Because all the women I’ve encountered thus far are annoying.”

Sakura laughed at his statement. She wondered how much like Sasuke he truly was inside. Maybe all handsome shinobis with tragic pasts possessed the same retarded personality or some semblance of it.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing, but have you ever wondered that it may be something in you that is repelling all the women.” God, it was so much easier to assess him more objectively than Sasuke-kun no matter how hard she tried with her crush.

“If you had not noticed ugly, unlike you, I do have admirers,” he said standoffishly.

“Admiring you is like admiring Jiraiya-sama’s wart or Ibiki’s burns. But don’t worry, even though I think the words coming out of your mouth are repulsive, I don’t mind you at all.” After saying something nice for a change, Sakura did not regret her words. She really did not mind him and believed him to be a good person at heart if one digs through the piles of rubbish he placed on top. While she was deceptive and manipulative, she gave herself credit to believe that she was genuinely a kind person.

Sai shifted his eyes for a second, and he paused from offering his own asinine remarks. He frowned for the first time in Sakura’s presence before he reasserted his blank face back on. “Well, I…. I” he started slowly, “I don’t find you that annoying.”

“Really? And why is that?” Sakura asked sincerely wanting to know his answer partly because she wanted to understand Sai and partly because it would explain Sasuke’s psyche to some degree.

“Because.”

“Just because? That seems like an incomplete answer or is it because you can’t conjure up complete thoughts.”

“No, ugly. I just meant that you have a modicum of intelligence behind that colossal forehead.” When he saw Sakura’s hands curl into fists and with her in such close vicinity to his precious face, he quickly said, “And you don’t fawn over me like the other women so I don’t have to fight you off with a stick.”

“What?” asked Sakura, actually surprised. “You mean that you don’t like all that female attention?”

“Isn’t that what I just said? Maybe that forehead is expanding and swallowing up your ears too, you deaf mule.”

Ignoring the offensive comment, Sakura sat back down in contemplation. She looked Sai squarely in the eye to retrieve some more important information. “So what is it about certain shinobis like you, Sasuke-kun, and Neji who all have these fan clubs dedicated to you with hundreds of adoring girls and who don’t care for anyone of them?”

“Why? I didn’t know that you wanted to join mine. I think there is an opening but you might not be accepted since there is a requirement that all the women be somewhat attractive,” he said in a pleasant voice.

“Shut it. HHmmmm. Maybe you are really gay and you just prefer unique looking men with green spandex jumpsuits and yellow leggings. You must prefer them large because Lee-san’s outfit leaves nothing to the imagination.”

“Stop it,” he said seriously as he gripped her wrist.

“Why? Because you get turned on by his long eyelashes as they flutter every time he sees you?”

“I don’t want to talk about him. He’s just too weird.”

“Well maybe… hey!” Sakura cried when Sai leaned closer to her. They were inches apart and his calloused fingers delicately pushed the long strands of her bangs behind her ear. With that same hand he held her face in place while he adjusted their position to appear intimate, and in actuality, their mouths were adjacent to the other’s ear for close private communication. She felt his breath against the side of her face.

“I take that back about your intelligence. Can’t you tell that they’re here?”

Sakura was about to look out for them but he refused to relax his hold.

“Don’t be so obvious. What kind of ninja are you?”

Sakura closed her eyes and honed in her skills. She could hear the slight crinkling of the leaves from a bush a hundred yards away. It was obvious Naruto was the culprit because no matter how powerful he became, he was still considered the village’s number one loudest ninja.

“What should we do?” whispered Sakura innocently while her hands were not so innocently partaking in the illusion of intimacy. One caressed the hand that had contact with her while the other one stroked the powerful muscles of his shoulder.

Although, his eyebrows lifted a scant centimeter, Sai’s immutable smiling disguise was sustained. “If I do something that will really disturb the dickless wonder and the traitor, you promise as a ninja not to punch me?”

She met his eyes because only those features translated any hint of emotion. She found the black orbs glistening with excitement. Inner Sakura observed Sai as well and vocally demanded that she consent to whatever devilish undoing he concocted. With Sai, inner Sakura always won over, so with a hesitant nod outer Sakura followed suit.

Sai immediately angled her head and descended upon her lips with his own lush mouth. While Sakura could feel the warmth from him orally transfer into her, the air whooshed out of her lungs making her feel light headed. She experienced a tingle of sensation start from her toes that slowly traveled up her body. She basked in the heat of this seemingly frigid young man for a moment or two but was rudely disrupted when she felt a large calloused hand seize her right breast. She was about to slap him senseless for this unexpected mauling when Naruto beat her to it.

“Get your filthy hands off Sakura-chan you BASTARD!!!!!” the blond man shrieked as he began to pounce out of the bush towards them effectively separating them. While in midair, his legs were caught by a fuming Ino and surprisingly enough, a steadfast Hinata which successfully halted the blond ninja from rushing to defend his innocent teammate from the wretched and vile lust of his hated nemesis.

“Naruto, don’t you DARE interrupt!” shrieked Ino.

Hinata who had become more confident in her skin and in her abilities refused to budge and release the struggling blond. She held her ground to achieve her own objective and silently allowed Sakura to help her knock some sense into him.

Naruto’s actions exposed the location of a myriad of other onlookers. Shino was behind the excitable blond leaning against a tree doing a perfect impression of that tree by standing stoic, silent, and unmoving behind his dark glasses. Kiba, to the right of Shino, whistled loudly and shouted “Go Sakaru!” with Akamaru barking to support his master. Shikamaru was perched on a branch of the tree with a leg dangling down while he lazily gazed at the sky not minding any attention to the excitement down below. Choji whipped out a gigantic bag of chips and resumed munching on his snacks loudly as he candidly watched the drama unfold. Rock Lee was a few meters away hunched over and wailing pitifully with Tenten consoling him with gentle pats on his shiny black bob. Neji, with his arms crossed across his chest, was walking away indifferently, uninterested in the dramatics. And finally, Sasuke stood apart from the others a few yards left of Naruto. His face was covered by his unruly dark locks but one can see the glints of swirling red penetrate through the veil. His hands were fisted, and his knuckles turned white from the pressures he inflicted upon them. Dark energy radiated off him in waves thickening the air with tension which was greatly subdued by Naruto’s boisterous whining and hollering to be released so that he could punch the bastard and by Ino’s equally noisy dispute.

Sakura’s mind instantly suppressed all the cozy and tingling sensations from Sai’s embrace, and she logically assessed the situation before it got seriously out of hand. When she glanced over at Sai, she saw his eyes targeted upon Sasuke-kun’s fuming body, and Sai was posed in a semi defense stance with his hand edging closer to his pouch to retrieve his brush and papers. She had to alleviate the situation now before chaos ensued.

Taking a step forward, Sakura slammed her fist on the ground causing a massive crater to form around her which successfully attracted everyone’s attention.

“ENOUGH!!” she roared. She pointed her finger at Naruto. “Naruto, stop being an idiot. You know Sai and I were on a date, and people kiss on dates moron!” Then she turned to Hinata and sweetly requested, “Can you please close some of his charka holes?” Then she silently pleaded for some assistance with Ino who began shrieking with her most bitchiness tone to help assuage the situation. Ino dragged Shikamaru from the tree and convinced Choji to violently pick up Naruto’s now immobile body that was still howling in anger. Choji made sure as he carried Naruto, that the blond’s head would “accidentally” smack against the trees limbs causing Naruto to yell more vocally than before. As the pack slowly retreated with the help of the girls from each respective team, Sakura was left with a cautious Sai and a murderous Sasuke.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura had waited for this moment to arise. The little lovelorn Sakura whimpered in her mind and implored for her to treat the angst ridden perfect specimen of an Uchiha with kid gloves. An older second Sakura who had her heart trampled heatedly demanded that she help Sai beat the Uchiha for her to get the chance to kick that selfish jerk in the groin. The most convincing was her inner Sakura who smugly announced that she had planned for this, and she better carry it through or else she would fail to preserve the little self esteem she established these past few years. Now the exterior Sakura who was the most logical one of them all decided that all three could be appeased in the end, and thus the plan was a go.

Gathering all her courageous, she managed to adorn her most annoyed expression.

“Sasuke-kun. Are you bothered by this? I don’t know why you should be when I asked you out on dates all the time. Use that Uchiha genius mind of yours and see that I won’t wait around for you.” She daringly sauntered next to Sai whom she imagined to have remained guarded while listening very attentively. She had one more thing to say that would exponentially rile up the normally glacial man in ablaze. “Besides,” she started demurely placing a hand on Sai’s stiff shoulders while staring intently at her objective who now fixated his own red eyes upon her, “you are not the only attractive and powerful ninja around for me to choose.”

With the last statement, Sakura essentially slammed the nail on the coffin with all her might. She had dared the power driven Uchiha into a challenge. She subtlety and explicitly claimed that Sai, a man who resembled him and a man who replaced him in the team he held in great value, equaled if not surpassed him in power and skill. Sakura who represented the Uchiha’s fiercest supporter had become a turncoat in the most unexpected way.

Sakura sensed an overwhelming gnaw of guilt, but she rationally believed that the only way for Sasuke-kun to initiate any romantic relationship with her would be to shake him out of this sheltered world he encapsulated around himself. Even if he never felt anything romantic for her, she had to make him appreciate her for who she was and not what she was. It would be the starting point. She needed to make him realize that she was not just a stupid fangirl nor was she twelve years old desperately and naively in love with him. The status quo must be destroyed so that for once, she would hold the cards and have the advantage.

She could see the red eyes that had shone brilliantly before flicker in and out. The normally controlled features fought for preservation but lost when his lips began to tremble. His eyes sought hers for a moment in a desperate move to undercover whether her words held any kernel of truth. Sakura readied herself and quashed the little Sakura who adored her Sasuke-kun into the deepest corners of her mind. He then blinked and pressed his lips tightly together. With a snort, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

This was the most difficult and the most emotionally draining incident in her entire life, but when quickly recapping all that has happened in the past up until this point, she knew that she was true to herself. She had to remind herself that whatever depressing feeling swept over her now would be rewarded. Still, she could not help ruminate over what just happened. While she resumed staring at the location Sasuke-kun once occupied, she was rudely awakened from her thoughts with Sai’s words.

“That was fun,” he said lightly wearing his cheerful mask.

Sakura wanted to bitch slap the man but could not muster up the energy. Furthermore, she was the one who instigated this showdown.

“I just want to go home,” whispered Sakura feeling her limbs wobble from a lack of strength.

Surprisingly, Sai nodded and kept any asinine comments to himself for once. He quietly gathered their picnic and escorted her home silently. He even allowed her to lean against him for some physical support. For his rare considerate actions, Sakura was glad to discover that like Sasuke-kun, Sai possessed some compassion.

Once again at her door, Sai offered the picnic basket back to Sakura and said, “You know that you are no fun when you are this melancholy. It makes you look uglier.”

“Shut it dumbass,” Sakura replied. She wore a real smile for her repugnant but now less repugnant teammate. He successfully helped her lighten her mood from its depressed state.

“I can’t see you tomorrow because I have a mission with the dickless wonder. You’ll be okay right?”

“Of course. I’m known to jump right back up. I’m quite resilient,” she replied with a cheeky grin.

“You should be for someone who is in a constant denial of her hideous looks.”

Before Sakura could retaliate, Sai left leaving his signature trail of papers.

She huffed a bit but settled down with a smile. Her inner Sakura was cooing to her that Sasuke-kun would not be lost to her. Everything went according to plan. Outer Sakura allowed her inner’s optimism to wash over her. Shaking her head to discard her fleeting gloominess, she began to imagine what it would be like to have a much more affectionate Sasuke-kun. Once he rushes to claim her, which he will be if she had anything to do about it, he would be molded by her strong hands and ingenious mind to be her perfect man. HELLZ YEAH!

With lightened steps, she was about to enter her apartment thinking about what she needed to say to Lee-san when she paused at the threshold of her door. She loudly screamed out in manic rage when she remembered that her abominable teammate, who recovered his status as the most repugnant of them all, took her first real kiss and even took the liberty to grope her. “THAT BASTARD!!!” While thinking of numerous ways to castrate a man, she slammed the door behind her which caused the hinges to detach from the wall. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately for her, she failed to recognize that a set of dark eyes were conspicuously watching her from afar.

A/N: I’m sure a lot of readers are probably wanting Sai and Sakura to hook up. But rest assured my readers, I will write more about Sasuke, and you will think again.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I’m enjoying writing this. This is the fastest I’m progressing in any story. I spent three hours straight to complete this, but when the urge strikes, I always say to go with the flow.
I would greatly appreciate feedback. =)