Sai was born with a red string around his wrist. Almost all babies were. The string was supposed to lead you to your soulmate, to that one person who you were meant to be with. Sai did not remember his parents or his earliest years. The first memory that Sai could recall was the day that he untied the string. When the knot came undone the thread leading out of the room ceased to be visible, leaving only a short length of string dangling from his hand. He placed it in his bedside table and resolved to forget about it. He was a member of ROOT and this was no place for soulmates. Emotions and desires did not belong here.

For a few years it worked and Sai did not think at all about that red string or the fact that his perfect match was somewhere out there, unable to find him. He served under Danzo in the organization, following orders without question or feeling. It took until he was sixteen for things to change. It took meeting Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto had a way about him that made you believe in things, made you

feel

things. After only a few months of knowing Naruto, Sai began to think about the string that he had hid away from himself. If he tied it back on what would he find at the other end? Could there really still be a match out there for someone like him? After all the things he had done he was inclined to believe he didn 't deserve them.

With doubt in his heart, Sai put things off for a long time. He reasoned with himself each time that he was only being practical. He needed to help Naruto search for Sasuke, there was little time to spend on his own agenda. He needed to serve Konoha in the war to save shinobi kind, that wouldn 't be a good environment to meet someone in. He needed to help support Kakashi-sensei, now Hokage-sama, as he sought to calm the world after the upheaval caused by the war and usher in a new era of peace.

Years went by and Sai made up excuse after excuse until finally he admitted to himself what was really going on. He was afraid. Tying that string on his wrist and following the thread to the other end was a huge risk for someone like him. What if he had been broken by ROOT? What if he wasn 't capable of loving his soulmate the way he was supposed to? He was terrified that they wouldn 't understand and he would lose them before they even had a chance to begin their journey together.

Once again it took Naruto Uzumaki to get him going.

'Don 't be stupid, ' were the exact words that the tactless blond had used, Sakura nodding beside him. 'They 're your soulmate, of course they 'll understand! Of course they 'll want you! ' With that said, Sai had been marched straight in to his sparse bedroom where he opened his bedside drawer and observed the treasure inside. The red color of the string had never faded, staying as bright and bold as the day he was born. Plucking it from its dark resting place Sai held it up in front of his eyes, wondering if it had been this long when he was a child. Did the string grow with him to fit whatever size he grew to be?

'Get on with it! ' Sakura huffed, having no patience for his philosophical wonderings. 'Here, gimme. ' Without further ado the pink haired woman had grabbed his wrist and tied the string around it with an intricate knot. As soon as it settled in to place Sai could see the thread that led from his wrist out the window, leading him away through the village and possibly beyond. It would be visible only to him and whoever waited at the other end.

The ex-ANBU frowned in uncertainty. Should he follow it now? Should he wait for his soulmate to find him? Perhaps there was a book in the library that might tell him the protocols of a situation like this.

'Come on! Let 's follow it! ' Sai looked up in slight alarm as Naruto and Sakura both grabbed arm, turning him about and dragging him through his tiny apartment.

'But it doesn 't go this way, ' he protested faintly. His two teammates stopped and stared at him. 'Should we be doing this? Am I supposed to follow it? Maybe I should go to the library ' '

Naruto groaned and declared, 'No libraries! No books! Where does it go? '

Reluctantly, Sai pointed out where the thread was leading him. The three of them turned around as one unit and headed back through his bedroom, climbing out the window and down the fire escape. As unsure as he was about this whole thing, he found that he was glad to have such strong bonds as he did with Naruto and Sakura. He was grateful not to be doing this alone.

Following his string took them on a meandering journey through back alleys and side streets, showing them a side of Konoha none of them had taken the time to explore before. Sakura told him it was a good sign that the string spent so much time wandering through the village. It increased the chances that his soulmate was here instead of somewhere in another village. If that were the case then he would have needed to request leave to try and go find them.

Eventually the thread led him to a building. More specifically, a hotel. Ignoring the girl at the desk despite her polite greeting, the trio followed the trail all the way up to the third floor. There, they found themselves standing outside of room 316. Sai stared at the wooden barrier before him, his heart beating wildly. On the other side of this door was his soulmate. On the other side of this door was hope. He was not so distracted, however, to miss the significant look that passed between his two companions. He offered them what he hoped was a curious face.

'What is it? ' he asked. Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

'That 's Sasuke 's room, ' the blond informed him. 'He 's back for a while. Checking in with Kakashi-sensei, you know? I wonder why your soulmate is visiting Sasuke. '

Sakura gave her friend an incredulous look as she muttered, 'You are such an idiot. ' Then she turned back to encourage Sai to knock on the door.

With his stomach in his throat, he did so. A deep voice called from inside, asking them to wait. Sai looked down and fiddled with the string on his wrist, running a finger along it and trying to imagine what his person would look like. Would they be tall? Short? Thin? Muscled? He tried to think of what he might prefer but such preferences had been beaten out of him at a young age. He wondered if they would mind that.

When the door opened, Sai slowly looked up from his wrist to see Uchiha Sasuke standing in the doorway. It wasn 't so surprising. It was, after all, his hotel room. What was surprising was that the string around Sai 's wrist ran along the ground to connect directly to the one tied around Sasuke 's wrist. The Uchiha followed where he was looking and his eyes widened in shock.

'You! ' Sasuke exclaimed. He didn 't sound happy, although he didn 't sound upset either. He mostly just sounded surprised, like he had never considered this outcome.

'Holy crap your soulmate is

Sasuke

!? ' Naruto 's voice boomed right next to his ear.

'Such an idiot, ' Sakura mourned. 'Did you really not see it coming? You told him it was Sasuke 's room! '

Sai eyed the man in front of him with a critical eye and found himself not at all disappointed. Once he thought about it, it actually made a great deal of sense. He couldn 't think of a single person he could relate to more. Sasuke was every bit as broken as he was; they would understand each other very well.

With happy feelings blossoming inside him, Sai put on the most sincere smile that he could muster.

'Hello, soulmate. '