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“It looks like someone's finally waking up from their little nap. It's about time.” As your eyes began to flutter open, and the haziness of sleep left you, you felt someone gently brush your hair away from your face. “How do you feel?”

“Horrible. Why do I feel like I got hit with a boulder, and more than once?” Groaning weakly, you forced your eyes to open. The first thing you saw, was Sai sitting beside you with a smile resting on his face. Immediately after that, you realized where you were. “Why am I in the infirmary? What happened?”

Though his smile didn't fade at all, you couldn't help but notice the worry that flashed over Sai's face. “You don't remember?”

“No, I don't remember.” You weren't sure how long you had been asleep, but judging by how stiff your muscles felt, it must have been a long time. As hungry as you were, you would have guessed a few days at the least. The fact that you couldn't remember how you had ended up in this situation understandably concerned you. If you had forgotten that, what else might you have forgotten? “I don't remember anything. That's why I'm asking.”

“Hmm, you must have temporary amnesia.” Nodding at his own explanation, Sai gave your head a reassuring little pat. “I'm sure it'll wear off before too long. Just rest and everything should come back to you in time.”

“I hope so.” You had never had amnesia before, at least, not that you remembered, so you could only hope that he was right. Still, you had no idea what had caused it in the first place. “What happened to you though?” For the first time since you'd woken up, you noticed that you weren't the only one injured here. Sai's injuries weren't extreme, just a few bandages here and there, but he was hurt nonetheless. “You look pretty beat up.”

“Don't worry about that.” With a shake of his head, Sai tried to dodge your question. “Just wait for the amnesia to wear off and I'm sure you'll remember.”

“Why?” The fact that he didn't seem to want to tell you any more than he had, only made your curiosity grow. “Are you trying to hide something from me? Is there something I should know about that you don't want me to know about?” Gasping, you suddenly sat up in the hospital bed and grabbed Sai's face. “Did I do that to you? I didn't do that, did I? Did I go crazy or something?”

“No, of course not. You didn't go crazy and you certainly didn't hurt me.” Placing his hands over yours, Sai smiled. “Now please, calm down.”

“I don't believe you, and I can't just calm down.” Refusing to let go of him until he told you what you wanted to know, you narrowed your eyes. “Just tell me what happened already. Until I know, I'm not going to be able to stop worrying.”

“You're rather pushy today, aren't you?” Freeing himself from your hold with ease, Sai let out a quiet chuckle. “Fine, I'll tell you, but I don't think you're going to like it.”

Those words caused you to inwardly wince. Whatever had happened was your fault, you just knew it. “I did something stupid again, didn't I?”

“It's possible.” He nodded. “Do you still want to know?”

“I might regret it in a couple of seconds, but yeah It's better to know.” You sighed. “Go ahead, I'm ready.”

“If you insist.” As Sai began his explanation, his smile turned crooked. “If you recall, you and I were on a mission with a few of the others. The objective was to capture a couple of rogue ninja and bring them back here for interrogation.” Pausing his story, Sai tried to gauge whether or not any of this was sounding familiar to you. Quickly realizing that it wasn't, he continued. “Once we located these ninja, however, you decided to rush in head first without consulting your teammates.” As if trying to keep himself from laughing, he cleared his throat. “Your plan, unfortunately, didn't go very well for you at all.”

“Oh. I see.” At this point, you were actually kind of glad that you had lost your memory. Remembering something like that would have been humiliating. It was still humiliating even without your memory, but at least this way what happened wouldn't haunt you over and over again. “That explains why I'm hurt, but what happened to you? You didn't follow my lead or something, did you?”

“That isn't important.” Yet again, he was dodging your questions. “You should rest.” Hoping you would simply drop the subject, Sai attempted to get you to lay down.

Refusing to do so, mainly because you were sure you'd fall back asleep of you did, you crossed your arms over your chest. “Sai...”

“Come now, I don't think that sort of tone is needed here.” In one, final attempt to persuade you just to let it go, Sai gave your shoulder a little squeeze and tried to turn away from you. “Go back to sleep. I'll come check on you again later.”

Though your ribs groaned at your quick movement, you still managed to grab his hand and tug him back to your bedside before he was too far away. “Nope, not until you tell me.”

Shoulders slumped, he sighed. Even though he was still facing away from you, you could tell he really didn't want to say anything. “You were unconscious only seconds after rushing in, so I ran in after you to keep you from getting even more injured. I should have waited for the others, but for some strange reason, my feet moved on their own.” Slowly, in an almost embarrassed way, he let his eyes meet yours. “Strange, isn't it?”

As calculated as Sai was, strange didn't even begin to cover it. You had never seen him act without weighing his options first, not even once. “Very strange.” You agreed. “That sounds nothing like you at all.”

Sai didn't even try to argue, but why would he? He had acted completely out of character for himself. “You're right.”

Clutching his hand tightly in yours, you pulled him even closer to the bed. “So why did you do it?”

“I really do think you've asked enough questions for now.” Despite how many questions you had already asked him, this question, caused his pale face to go pink. “I read that trying to restore the memory of someone suffering from amnesia can be dangerous. I don't want to risk doing anything that might permanently damage your memories.”

“Yeah, I've read that too, but I'm asking why you did something, not why I did something. Amnesia or not, I wouldn't have known why you acted that way. Also, if I was already unconscious, I wouldn't have the memory of you saving me. No matter how you look at it, you telling me isn't going to hurt me.” Knowing he couldn't argue with that, you let out a little snort, almost daring him to challenge your logic. “Now, out with it.”

Taking a moment to think, Sai was silent for a long time before saying anything. “I suppose when I saw you lying there, I simply stopped thinking and started acting.”

That still didn't make any sense to you at all. “But why?”

“Hmm, I wonder.” Unsure if he actually wanted you to hear him or not, Sai's voice lowered to barely above a whisper. “Perhaps I've developed, feelings for you.” Speaking even softer than before, he shook his head. "No, I'm sure I have." Feeling that you should have seen this coming from a mile away, you let out a loud sigh. The once barely noticeable blush covering Sai's cheeks burned as his eyes went wide. “What?”

“It took me getting amnesia for you to admit that?” His admission hadn't surprised you, at least, not in the way he expected. As often as you and Sai were together, it had become increasingly obvious that the two of you had feelings for each other. Sure neither of you had ever said it out loud before, but the whole village already thought the two of you were together. Still, hearing Sai admit that he cared for you caused your heart to flutter. “You've been reading so many romance novels your life has actually turned into one.”

Blushing terribly, he sat down on the edge of your bed and hung his head. “You say that like it's a bad thing.”

“No, it's not a bad thing at all.” Ignoring the protests from your sore body, you wrapped your arms around Sai and kissed his cheek from behind. Using his body to support your own, you let your chin rest on his shoulder. “As long this all ends the same way as your books, I don't mind at all.”