Naruto the Fairy Tale (BOOK ONE)

Chapter Thirty One - Home.

It seemed like the moment after he kissed Ino he could see her even better, like now she was in high definition. Gods, he could have swore she was glowing after their kiss, it could be that or the golden lanterns. Even as they got off the boat Sai constantly noticed small details about her, like how when she began to walk she always started on her right foot. He spotted the small silver ball in her ears looking past her blonde veil of hair.

"What was your brother like?" Ino murmured.

They were in the forest, Sai suggested to sleep one more night then go to the Corona Palace, it was dark now. The Kingdom was asleep so the King and Queen most likely would be too. Ino had surprisingly agreed quickly- he thought she would have been more reluctant to delaying her reunion with her parents. But he also noticed she seemed almost scared.

"Shin was quite like Naruto Uzumaki. He didn't look like me though, he had blue hair."

"But I thought he was your brother?" Ino questioned.

Sai nodded "not blood related brothers. We were orphans put together then trained up as spies." He thought of Shin as a brother.

They were lying on the grass looking up at the stars, Ino had her hand in his hand- it was comforting to him. She was so warm. He was unsure at first if they were to act like the kiss never happened, but she didn't. Instead she took his hand while they walked to the forest putting her head on his shoulder lightly.

He continued "he was a tenacious man. Also loud and impatient."

"He sounds like the total opposite of you." She said. Her hair was splayed out like a curtain underneath her, some of her locks tickling his arm. It was surprising even after he cut about 60 feet of her previous golden hair she still had long hair. He could never see her with short hair anyway.

"He was."

Ino sounded unsure "so, what happened to him?"

"He had an illness, there was no way to cure it so he died." Sai was telling her the truth, maybe not all of it but he didn't want to scare her. He did have an illness, but if he didn't Sai would have had to kill Shin or Shin would have killed Sai. As a spy you eliminate all emotions and feelings, so at the end of the course you would have to fight to the death with someone close to you.

"How old was he?"

"Fifteen." He was close to turning sixteen at the time.

Ino asked no more, but he felt her hand squeeze his hand. They had both shared pain in their lives- Sai had lost a brother, he was an orphan, he had lost all emotions after losing Shin, his mind was confused and lost until he met Naruto. Ino had been ripped away from her loved ones at the age of ten, she was all alone in a small tower for ten years, only being out the outside world a few days ago.

Sai hovered his eyes over to Ino, maybe they could heal each other's pain. After Shin he always had a gaping hole in his heart, it was filled gradually after making friends, and he realized as he held Ino's hand she was filling it too.

Her eyelids slowly closed over, she had fallen asleep. Sai smiled gently then looked up at the dark sky. He had a conversation with Shin once.

-

Shin and Sai were sitting at a small wooden table eating stew, it was stew every day, but Sai was never bothered by it. As long as his big brother was with him nothing ever seemed to bother him- he was always happy. Shin was his light.

"Do you think you'll ever fall in love?" Shin suddenly asked.

Sai looked up blinking, he was only fourteen so he wasn't exactly thinking about love right now. "I'm not sure, why?"