[ That's a long story -- or more, it's a difficult story.. One Naruto doesn't understand entirely and yet one that he feels like he's known all along. His reply is delayed. ]
[...huh. Sai would not have guessed that. He was sort of assuming it was revealed by the Council or the Hokage or even Itachi himself. To hear it was Madara, the man who the entire war is being fought against, is certainly something of a surprise. Still, would he have cause to lie about it? Sai isn't sure.]
[Nope. But he's probably the closest you can get to one in a human.
And there's. Definitely a pause at that text. Because this is one of those moments where he's having a critical empathy failure on them social niceties/moral norms.]
Sai is tempted to object with something like "but we have only spoken once" to the assertion that he's cool, because how could she possibly know anything about him from one conversation and also what does that word even mean, people keep using it and he doesn't get it. But ultimately, he can't quite resist his curiosity. So:]
alright i admit i am still not entirely certain how to go about these things but perhaps we can "hang out" sometime
alright whenever you are available is fine with me
[Technically he goes to school and has a job but. He's registered so job security, and he's 17 now so they can't make him go to school if he decides to skip a day, so, whatever.]
[And how strange it still is, expressing something like that. Having things he would like to do. Preferences, choices, an identity. It's been a year since "Sai" came into being, and he's still getting used to it. It's difficult much of the time, and frustrating....and maybe he doesn't know how to measure whether or not it's been worth the effort, but he's found that he likes it, living for himself.]
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