𝐊𝐎𝐊𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈 | 𝐍.𝐔𝐙𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈

[16]

Asami entered her apartment and switched on the lights before making her way to the bedroom. Suddenly, she felt a strong urge to take a shower. She began removing her dirty bandages, slowly revealing her pale skin. Sitting on her bed, she gazed at her stomach, which had mostly healed but still bore some scars that would take time to fade completely. Her lavender eyes filled with sadness as she examined her marked skin. "I can't tell him about this," she thought.

A small ink cat meowed as it jumped onto her bed, causing her to narrow her eyes at it. She turned around and found Sai sitting on her dress, wearing a fake smile. "Hi," he greeted.

Asami dropped her hand in exasperation. "Really? Breaking into my apartment?"

"I was already here when you entered your room," Sai shrugged. "I wasn't sure why Danzo called you his prodigy when you couldn't even notice my chakra."

Sai had become sort of a close friend from the Foundation ever since they were assigned missions together. It took her a while to get used to his blunt remarks due to his training.

"What do you want, Sai?" Asami rolled her eyes and stood up, walking toward him. "Danzo assigned me to join Team Kakashi."

"What for?" She raised an eyebrow in shock.

"To find out more about Uchiha Sasuke."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why would he send you and not me?"

"He still has doubts about your emotions when it comes to him," Sai simply stated, causing her to avert her gaze from him.

Sai jumped down from her dress, still wearing his fake smile. "Well, I'm looking forward to learning more about your bond with Naruto-kun."

Before she could reply, a knock came from her door, causing her to freeze. "Asami? Are you in?"

"Naruto," she whispered, her eyes widening in panic. She quickly pushed Sai toward her window as he diverted his attention toward the door. "Sai!"

Sai opened the door, revealing the blond leaning against the door frame. "Oi," Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sai simply gave him a smile. "Nice to see you again, Naruto-kun." He glanced at Asami, who nervously began biting her nails. "Goodbye, Tsukuyo."

"I'm talking to you!" Naruto called out as Sai walked away from them, leaving her apartment. "Idiot."

Uzumaki turned to the girl in question. "Are you okay? Why was he here in your apartment?"

She quickly stopped him from bombarding her with questions and put on a calm smile. "I'm okay."

"Why did he keep calling you Tsukuyo?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She bit her lip and replied, "He mistook me for someone he once knew."

Naruto sighed and walked into her apartment. "That guy has issues."

Asami chuckled and smiled at him. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto stared at her for a while, enchanted by the calm smile she wore that he had missed so much. Finally, he snapped back to reality. "I've been wanting to ask you... Why did you leave in the middle of training?"

His ocean blue eyes locked with her dull lavender ones in desperation. She looked away, consumed by guilt. She couldn't continue lying to him. Since their first meeting today, she had been lying, and the guilt was eating her up. But if she told him the truth, he might distance himself from her, and she didn't want that.

"Tsunade

-sama summoned me for a mission," she lied once again. It was better for her to bear the guilt than for him to carry the burden of his actions.

"Oh," he replied, scratching his head. "You could've said goodbye."

"If I did, would you have let me go?"

"..No."

The two stared at each other before bursting into laughter. "Once I'm back from the mission, we'll have a ramen night, alright?" he grinned at her, causing Asami, the Hyuga, to smile widely. "Alright."