Iruka told them to take a lunch break, after which they would be introduced to their respective senseis. Most of the children took that as permission to completely ignore anything else the teacher did and started loudly talking to and about their new teammates.
The new Ino-Shika-Cho trio hadn't been a surprise to anyone, seeing as the original version—which was composed of their fathers—was well known for their exceptional teamwork. The Nara and Akimichi of this generation seemed happy enough with the arrangement and had apparently been friends for years. The Yamanaka, however, had—like most of the girls—been hoping to be on Sasuke's team and was now quietly sulking. At least until she noticed the pink haired girl, Sakura, trying to introduce herself to Sai.
The boy predictably took anything she said at face value and otherwise ignored her because small-talk was another thing he had never heard of before. Ino had a field day throwing in mocking jabs, like how he wouldn't be interested in someone with such a large forehead. Sakura countered this by calling Ino a pig. Meanwhile Sai just kept staring ahead, seemingly content to stay in that exact position until his sensei came to fetch him.
Haruka watched the spectacle for a while, but got bored quickly. Both of her new teammates had left the room almost the second Iruka had told them to take a break, so she didn't get a chance to introduce herself. Ibiki would be at work this time of day and Kakashi was likely to avoid any and all genin until several hours after he absolutely had to meet them.
"Sai, come sit with me?" She called. He gave both Sakura and Ino, whose little fight seemed only moments away from involving more than verbal attacks, a look and then walked over to Haruka. Sai didn't even manage to sit down though before the girls noticed and refocused their ire. They got surprisingly creative in their threats when they accused her of first stealing Sasuke and now the new boy.
"We could kill them," Sai suggested in a very bland voice when he saw Haruka's half-panicked, half-confused expression. Neither of the girls took him seriously, cooing about his sense of humor instead, but Haruka wasn't so sure. It didn't seem very likely that he would have learned what jokes were in the past hour, so she shook her head just in case.
"Let's just get out of here," she told him. Sai didn't respond in any way, merely stared at her and waited. It reminded Haruka so much of herself that first time she had met Ibiki that her eyes widened in shock and then she took off running. Sai was right behind her, easily keeping up with her chakra enhanced speed. He didn't have a problem navigating the Roof Paths either.
***
Haruka ran for several minutes before she finally stopped on top of Hokage Rock. Her little panic attack had taken her straight to the giant stone face of the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Sai appeared at her side only a heartbeat later. They were both breathing somewhat shakily, but the boy likely hadn't even realized that she'd been trying to run away from him for the first part of that sprint.
How could he be so much like her, yet so different at the same time? He wasn't one of Orochimaru's children, she was sure of that much. His chakra felt completely normal, not a trace of the snake's sick experiments at all. But someone broke him. Just how many monsters lived in the shadow of the Leaf?
"What do you think about the other teams?" She asked him, just to distract herself.
He listed them off as if reading from a file. Team number, jonin sensei, members and some of their individual strengths and weaknesses, followed by the possible specializations. He didn't have information on everyone—mostly just those from prominent clans—but it was interesting nonetheless and certainly more than Haruka had known.
Team 8 under Yuhi Kurenai—a genjutsu specialist and new jonin—comprised of Inuzuka Kiba—primarily taijutsu, tracker—Hyuga Hinata—primarily taijutsu, tracker—and Aburame Shino—primarily ninjutsu, tracker. Sai noted that Kiba was stupid and brash, and Hinata shy and weak. He didn't seem to have a problem with Shino though.
It sounded as if he was repeating someone else's words, and not just because he rattled it off without any kind of inflection. Sai didn't seem to have an opinion on the character flaws he described at all, which meant he probably wasn't the one who had noticed them in the first place. Haruka didn't think that he had gotten some teachers personal notes on the students and official files—which he also shouldn't have access to—would not be this subjective. So where did he get his information? Could he still be in contact with his monster? Haruka had gotten a lot better after being away from Orochimaru for a few years, but Sai didn't even acknowledge orders—suggestions really—he just did as told.
If his monster was really still looming over him she couldn't ask about it. He was here, no chains, no collars, no watchers, free. There was either more she couldn't see, his monster had broken him so thoroughly that he simply never got better or he stayed with it of his own free will. None of these possibilities made her want to meddle and risk drawing the monster's attention to herself. But it might already be too late. All he'd said about her when describing Team 7 was 'unknown', on Sasuke, Naruto and even Kakashi he had quite a bit of information however.
Whoever Sai's monster was liked to know things, and it was interested in her team. If it were her she would try to learn everything she could about an unknown member. How much could she trust that assumption though? And how much was she willing to risk for an attempt at damage control that might very well have the opposite effect?
Ibiki had taught her a little about interrogation. "You want the subject to think you are on the same side," he'd told her. People didn't tell enemies anything and even if they did the information couldn't be trusted. Friends and allies, however, were an entirely different matter.
"Once a week," Haruka told Sai, not even bothering with a preamble he wouldn't appreciate anyway, "Ibiki, he's kind of my guardian, and I have lunch together. He's rather busy you see, but he tries to make time to ask about my day." She made a pause to think about how to best involve Sai in a conversation, when the boy actually took the initiative.
"The head of T&I is your guardian?" He asked and she was a little surprised at the tiny note of incredulity in his voice. It was the first sign of emotion she had noticed him display, since introducing herself this morning.
"Kind of," she repeated. "He isn't officially, but he still behaves like it."
"And you… report to him?"
'Not exactly,' was what she wanted to say. To explain that Ibiki wasn't her superior, but someone who genuinely cared for her. Sai wouldn't understand that though. He wouldn't think their situations were alike if she put it in those terms. So instead Haruka gave him a nod.
"Do you have someone like that?"
Sai hesitated, unsure, but then he gave a small nod of his own. She almost missed it with the way he froze up right afterwards. Was he expecting punishment? Was even that little bit of sharing prohibited?
"It's okay," she told him. "We don't have to talk about anything else right now."
So they sat, silently watching the village below them until it was time to go back. Haruka was a little uncomfortable at first, implications fueled by fear warring for dominance in her mind, but Sai's quiet presence was somehow calming. He didn't expect anything from her, didn't make attempts at empty small-talk, just kept her company.