*Saika’s POV*

“Today, you all will be meeting your new teammate,” Kakashi spoke.

I was listening from my rooftop to what he had to say in the forest. His words brought a montage of memories into my mind, pulling at my once again broken heartstrings. Sasuke’s words sounded through my thoughts, “I’ll never, never hurt you…” What a liar. And I fell for it all over again, just waiting for my heart to completely dissolve in my chest cavity.

A single tear slipped from the brim of my watering eye, falling down all the way to my chin, thence falling onto my folded legs. I quickly wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, hearing Sakura beginning to choke while trying to contain herself.

“His name is Sai, and he should arrive here shortly.” Kakashi said as Naruto tried to calm down Sakura.

I could hear his heartbeat; he was approaching from the southeast, approximately five hundred yards away from them.

After about five minutes, I could make out his silhouette in the light from the early morning sunrise. A few moments later, he approached the small group. He looked around at all of them, no emotion shown on his face. He bowed to Kakashi.

*Kakashi’s POV*

Sai bowed to me. He reminded me somewhat of Sasuke; minus the actual action of bowing. I sighed, thinking of Saika and how much she must still be hurting.

She had been cold since Sasuke left. I was happy that she had finally opened up again after what happened with Shiro and her village, but now…since Sasuke’s gone…she’s worse than the way she was before.

Sai was glancing around the group, no real expression on his face.

“You should all be at the stadium tomorrow morning at six. Saika needs your support in the ANBU tournament. Sai, I’d especially like you to meet her, she’s one of your teammates.”

“Who is this Saika?” Sai asked, a look of interest on his face, looking at Naruto.

“I don’t really know much about her, Kakashi-sensei can tell you more than I can.” Naruto replied; Sai turned to look at me. I set my book down, sighing as I prepared to tell the horrible story from Saika’s past.

“She was born of the legendary Hikawa clan. As such, she carried the Chishiogan gene; a very strong strand of it, in fact, the strongest the world has ever seen.” Sai nodded, taking in my words. “She was to be married the day of her thirteenth year to Prince Shiro Hikawa, a carrier of another strong strand of the Chishiogan gene.

“She was meeting with him one evening, when he lashed out, brutally attacking her. He was attempting to provoke her enough to use her extremely powerful Chishiogan-to test her, in a sick sense-, but she refused. She had known him most of her life, and she truly loved him to the point of death. She would rather die herself than hurt him in any way.

“As I was saying, he was trying to provoke her. I don’t know the exact details, but from what I heard, her Chishiogan is powered partly on her emotions. She lost control, and as a result, her village was destroyed. She was brought back here to Konoha to heal.

“She blamed herself for the downfall of her village, and the death of her beloved Shiro. She was cold and heartless until she got close to Sasuke, the teammate you’re replacing. At first, she refused to get near him, fearing that she would be betrayed again. Despite her earlier hesitation, she steadily got closer to him, and she soon became his girlfriend. She trusted him, only to be betrayed again.

“She has become just as cold as she was before she met him, maybe worse. She will not hesitate to kill you, or anyone for that matter, so don’t make her mad.” I finished on a harsh note, looking them all sternly in the eyes.

Sai looked utterly puzzled.