Chapter 10: Epilogue: The End and the Beginning

Sai didn't really hate the hospital the way many of his fellow shinobi did. Of course, he didn't exactly enjoy it either. As was the case with many things he experienced, he was…indifferent. He had been hospitalized occasionally and each time it was like waiting for a weapon to be repaired or sharpened. He accepted the necessity of fixing the damage so he could get back to his next mission.

In this way, he was the model patient, calm and compliant. Well, except for that time Naruto dragged him into sneaking out for barbecue when they were both still recovering from serious injuries. Sakura had been furious and he vowed never to provoke her wrath again when he cycled through subsequent stays at the hospital.

That was good, since Sakura was now insisting on putting him through every test imaginable. Sai was like a brother to her and she genuinely feared what might have been done to him while he had been unconscious in that infirmary, especially since there were an excessive number of needle marks in both of his arms. She and Ino spoke in hushed voices in the doorway of his room as they reviewed his test results—it would be weeks before they knew for sure what had happened to him.

"But, you're doing pretty well for someone who lost two collection bags of blood." Sakura said with a smile.

"It was three." Sai corrected.

She frowned. "I'll recheck the report."

When he wasn't being subjected to countless tests, he spent his time reading books on weddings. Iruka brought a few at Sai's request. He came to the hospital at the end of an academy day, with a two small children in tow. Sai watched through the open door as Iruka parked the children on a pair of hallway chairs and gave each a book to read while they waited for him. He observed the interaction with fascination and pulled out his sketchpad to draw Iruka, crouched down in front of the tousled haired boy, patiently pointing to a part of the book while the child nodded seriously.

"Their mother is away on a mission." He explained as he entered the room. Sai casually handed him the rolled up, hastily created sketch in exchange for the books he had brought. Iruka unrolled it curiously. Soft shades of gray captured the fall of the child's hair as he looked up intently at Iruka, whose hand was outstretched to the book with a look of encouragement, not quite a smile but, reassurance, etched into the slight, upturned curve of his lips.

"It's amazing."

"It's just how I see you," Sai said simply, "Thank you, for everything."

Sleep came with the help of painkillers while his chest wound healed. Ino, of course, never really left him. She slept in a chair in his room and worked rounds on his floor but always returned to him quickly, like the sun returning from behind a passing cloud. It was as though she feared he would be suddenly taken from her, again.

"You were kidnapped twice." she insisted.

"I believe I was actually illegally arrested the first time," he murmured.

"I'm glad you think this is funny." She pulled the thermometer from his lips and offered him a chaste kiss. His lips parted seductively and she felt herself leaning into him, her mouth hungrily returning the intensity of his decidedly wicked invitation. He reached his hand up into her golden hair and pulled her down to him. His pulse raced as she slid slowly down onto softness of his bed, followed by the loud beeping of the heart rate alarm, and the disgruntled sigh of the floor nurse as she slammed the door open and closed it again, embarrassed, for the second time that day.

After a few days, Sakura decided to release Sai into Ino's care at the Yamanaka compound. It was odd to think of the spacious house as his future home. Soon he would also have the Yamanaka name. He would have a wife and eventually a child. Ino made the child part very clear at their engagement—the exact amount of years until that happened would be negotiated with her teammates but it was definitely happening. He would be a father. His journey was startlingly real and close.

He wished he had even the slightest idea of how to be a parent. Of course, he would devour every book on the subject but he decided he might try to model himself on Iruka who was, ironically, not a father. He wished he could have learned more about his own mother. Now that the relationship with the Rain Village had been, well…torched, that link was now gone forever, leaving him feeling…he wasn't sure what to call it. Maybe it was just a quiet emptiness.

Sai's welcome home was an impromptu gathering of team ten and team seven.

"Where's Naruto?" Choji asked as he leaned back on the sofa with Karui lounging beside him.

Shikamaru sat near them on the floor with Temari. "He's meeting with Tsuanade and Kakashi to discuss a response to the Rain Village. If their leader hadn't taken responsibility, we would have been forced into an escalated response. He may have saved his people by his actions," he looked at Ino, "although I've heard rumors that he could still be alive."

Ino said nothing. She thought of the look on Reina's face when they parted.

Ino and Sai were nestled together at one end of a larger sofa with Sakura and Sasuke together on the opposite end. The low serving table was covered in cups of tea and sake.

"They're also going to decide what should happen to Koharu," Shikamaru continued, "She'll likely be removed from the council."

"She deserves it." Ino said bitterly. "It's weird to say she's gone too far considering the awful things she's been a part of over the years," she caught the look Sasuke's face, "but we don't have to put up with this kind of nonsense anymore."

Sakura broke the ensuing silence as she sipped her sake, "So Sai, I heard your parents might have been star-crossed lovers? That's so romantic. Apparently he may be part Uchiha, Sasuke." She poked her perpetually stoic boyfriend. "You could be cousins."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "He's not my cousin...there's no way he's Uchiha." But there was an undercurrent of uncertainty in his tone as he continued. "He doesn't have the sharingan...If anything, he looks more like-" He stopped abruptly seeing the concerned look on Sakura's face.

Sai was unsure who he was referring to and felt a little weird being the center of this discussion. He had always existed comfortably in the shadows and had never thought much about his true origins. His memories began with his foster brother and with Danzo as their violently abusive father. His life had simply been enslavement to the Foundation until Danzo placed him on team seven for replacement and assassination. After his teammates convinced him to relent, it was ironic that his target would later kill Danzo, freeing Sai from the curse seal.

The idea that he previously had a mother and father was an unforeseen new wound that had been broken open by his encounter with the Rain. It was a new longing in a part of his psyche that he had never thought of before. His fingers tightened around Ino's as his mind returned to the quiet conversation around him.

"So, if Sai's from the Rain, then all of the new Ino-Shika-Cho spouses will be foreign. Interesting." Temari remarked casually as she swallowed her drink.

Karui suddenly choked on her sake. "What do you mean spouses?"

Ino looked at Choji in disbelief. "You didn't talk to her?"

Karui's eyes widened with creeping understanding but she remained speechless. Choji took her hand nervously, pulling her up from their seat, his face was completely flushed as he whispered to her. "Can we go talk in the hallway?"

Temari squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her head back against Shikamaru. "Oops…"

"Wow, anyway," Ino turned to Sai, suddenly serious, "that reminds me…I have a wedding present for you Sai."

It was morning and Sai and Ino were in the meeting room in the Yamanaka compound. Ino's great uncle Hajime was there along with several other family members.

"The clan is going to help us, they'll keep us both safe while we do this. Their chakra will keep us anchored." They were seated, on the floor, sunlight and moonlight, facing each other. Ino's family surrounded them in a circle. The power of the clan's chakra was both comforting and overwhelming.

"Okay." Sai realized he was hardly breathing. He was suddenly terrified but so desperately ready.

Ino took his face in her hands and kissed him slowly. She looked into his dark eyes.

"Relax, breathe."

He felt himself exhaling, hesitantly. She was guiding him. He felt like he was floating.

"Close your eyes," she whispered. He leaned into the feel of her hands on his face. Reality was falling away from him. He exhaled again, more smoothly this time, and slowly closed his eyes. Instead of darkness there was light, dim but present.

He looked around slowly, blinking, and saw a room. He was in a cabin. Looking down, he saw toys and crayons on the floor and, in his confusingly small hand, was a toy lion. He put the little stuffed lion down, picked up one of the crayons and started to draw a picture of it. The crayon followed the outline of the animal as he focused on it. He heard a soft voice from nearby. "Are you ready to go? Let's pack your things." He looked up from his place on the floor and saw her. Her hair was long and dark, she smiled at him. He felt his head nodding as he reached up for her hand, it was gentle and warm wrapped around his. He held the drawing up for her to see as he stood. "I love it! You're quite an artist." He felt the press of her lips on the top of his head. "We'll bring this to show him, okay?" He nodded again, pleased. Rain fell against the roof, beating angrily against the windows like a warning. But he didn't feel afraid. He gathered his things. It was time to go.

"Sai, Sai," the voice, quiet and comforting but insistent rose around him, like a breeze, like a hand tugging him backwards. "Come back to me." He was confused—that wasn't his name. "Sai, come back." He opened his eyes blankly to hers, disoriented and out of breath. Where was his cabin? She was breathing hard but her voice remained calm. He could feel the press of her hands on his face. "Sai, come back," she persisted, she was pulling him with her words. "Are you alright?" She had tears in her sea blue eyes now. There was a shift, a tug of his mind slowly realigning with reality. He could feel the force of the collective chakra swirling around them but all he could focus on now was Ino.

His voice was breathless, a whisper. "I…saw her. I remembered." She wrapped her arms around him. It was the end and the beginning.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm so grateful for the feedback.