Smile For Me



He was doing it wrong again.

His spindly fingers shook slightly as he gripped the pencil, making a line on his canvas so light and so straight it looked as if the spiders themselves had drawn it in thread.

There were a lot of spiders where he was perched, high up in the thick branches and watching her.

She always came here to rest, usually in her ANBU attire with her hair a mess and her muscles aching. Her fatigue was always evident of the way she nestled lazily against the tree's base, too tired to prop herself up on her arms. What he most liked about watching an exhausted Sakura was that she smiled. No matter how sore she was she always smiled.

Always, but not today.

He finished sketching the tree and started on her face, finding that his own lips curled downward with hers. She wasn't supposed to affect him…he wasn't supposed to feel. He justified the frown by thinking he mourned for his art, and his art alone.

Sai's conscience began a fight it couldn't win as he drew her lips, and he smudged them with his smallest finger to show dark lipstick, though the makeup was imaginary as she wasn't wearing any. He knew he messed up the way the light reflected onto her lips, glossy but still wrong.

She was clothed in a demure long-sleeved dress—White, as if for an occasion. Her shoes were white as well, and someone (likely his beautiful friend Ino) had taken the time of day to give her a white manicure, completing the ensemble.

Everything was so crisp and clean; He'd have to resist painting and leave the canvas with nothing but graphite decorating it.

He wanted, almost more than anything, to draw her as ugly as she looked caught in this instant. Instead, he decided to be generous and sketch her hair done up in a handful of elaborate clips. He mused that she looked as if she were going to a wedding.

Their wedding. No. Not their wedding. A wedding…definitely not theirs. As if he'd marry such an ugly broad.

Her hands were nearly as white as the dress, and they were clenched in fists as she made an angry scowl.

"Bastard," She said bitterly.

He heard her, but knew she was not addressing him. She couldn't possibly have sensed him.

"Bastard bastard bastard!" She screamed, slamming her head against the tree's trunk.

His hands stopped and the picture's development ceased. He contemplated helping her, or comforting her, but thought better of it.

He would sit and watch, because really, that's all he ever did.

She stood up in a frustrated huff and grabbed the edges of her dress within her fists, storming away.

He'd sleep there. He would sleep there, and tomorrow she would be back.

She always came back, and tomorrow she'd find a picture of a beautiful bride waiting for her.

If he was lucky, maybe she would smile again.


Author's Notes: Dedicated to the "Smile For Me" SaiSaku comminity. Sorry I didn't do a better job; I know this is a half-assed story but I wrote it around midnight and wanted to post it.