Sinbad glanced around, taking in the tired and occasionally pain-failed expressions on people's faces. He walked through the rows of men and women making sure that no one was left without any form of medical attention, even if it was basic. It was amazing how much hurt the arrogance of one man could cause…..He helped an old man sit up and offered a flask of clean water to a mother and her son. The little boy couldn't be more than seven. He glanced at the East. The sun would rise in a few hours to signal the arrival of another day of uncertainty and fear.

His eyes searched the crowd for the unmistakable flash of pink that marked the presence of that peculiar woman. He couldn't possibly tell what kind of connection she had to Al-Thamen and it worried him. He had never liked not knowing and if it had to do with the Organization then it was of utmost importance that he was aware of what they were planning…However, he hadn't been lying when he told Jafar that he didn't believe that she was one of them. In fact, he was sure that the Eight-Pointed Star hadn't been put on her arm painlessly. Al-Thamen were clever and deceitful. They would never advertise their presence like that and she certainly wasn't the type of person they usually recruited in their ranks. But despite not being allied with the Organization, that didn't stop him from being suspicious. She appeared out of nowhere, she knew Alibaba and she even fought to protect him and the people while displaying impressive skill. Why? Why would anyone go through something like that and even put themselves in danger to help someone they barely knew? 'Damn it! Who is that woman?'

"Sinbad!"

Jafar's frantic voice broke him out of his thoughts and he turned around to meet his right-hand man's distressed face.

"Jafar? What's wrong?"

"It's Aladdin!"

"What? What happened?"

"He suddenly collapsed!"

Sinbad's eyes widened. 'Damn it!' "Take me to him. And fetch Sakura!"

XxxOxOxOxxX

She was exhausted. Exhausted and sweaty and dead on her feet. She hadn't had a proper bath in weeks and it was just her luck that she had no rations pills on her person. Her fight with the Princess and all that healing had left her with little chakra and all she wanted was to simply drop in a corner and sleep for two days straight. 'What I wouldn't give for a shower and a warm bed…..' Some food wouldn't be bad either. She couldn't remember the last time she had a proper meal.

She leaned her back against a wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. Not the most comfortable of ways to rest, especially if you had sore muscles, but she would have to make do. She had made it through far worse situations, anyway. Fourth Shinobi War, anyone? Her eyelids started dropping and she was ready to surrender herself to the blissful realm of dreams when someone stopped her.

"Sakura-san!"

Tired emerald eyes blinked open and she stared at the red-haired girl who was staring down at her. Sakura became instantly alarmed when she noticed the frantic look in the girl's eyes.

"Morgiana? What happened? What's wrong?"

"It's Aladdin! He needs your help!"

Fatigue and sore muscles forgotten, she quickly shot up to her feet with her mind going over every possible scenario that could have gone wrong. Had he been hurt and she hadn't taken notice of it? Could it be that this was some sort of after-effect of his fight with Judar? Was it something else? And more importantly…..Would she be able to heal it?

"Let's go! Lead the way Morgiana!"

XxxOxOxOxxX

Sakura cursed under her breath and wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm. She forced more chakra to the palms of her hands and pushed it into Aladdin's body only to have it repelled for the umpteenth time. 'Damn it! Why isn't it working?'

She had been trying to push her chakra in his body for almost an hour with no result. Something was blocking her; quite successfully, if she wanted to be honest. She glanced at the face of the little blue-haired boy and pushed harder. Healing chakra was…..compatible with almost every kind of chakra. And while it was not that uncommon for a medic ninja to be initially blocked, most of the times the patient's chakra receded after a try or two. So, wasn't Aladdin's?

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. 'Think Sakura, think.' She closed her emerald eyes and expanded her senses as much as she could before focusing them on Aladdin. There had to be something that she was missing….She let her hands hover above different parts of his body and furrowed her brow. The room was silent and the only sounds were the light breathing of the others and the soft buzz of her chakra. Her hands were hovering above his diaphragm when she felt it. 'There!' It was but a tiny spark but she could feel it flickering like a candle about to blow out. She focused on the small flare. The feeling of it was familiar and she realized that it was the same energy Aladdin and Judar had used during their fight.

"Magoi" she said, testing the strange word on her tongue. "They mentioned it in their fight. What is it? What does it mean?"

"Magoi is the energy created from Rukh, the world's natural life force." It was Sinbad who spoke up. "Magoi is contained in the body of every living being but only certain people can control it and call upon its power. However, it comes with a price. Should a person use too much of it, it can lead to extreme exhaustion and even death."

Sakura's eyes flashed at the word 'death'. It was, however, a relief to know that this magoi was so similar to chakra. No one understood chakra and its uses better than a medic and she happened to be an authority in the field. If magoi was indeed a form of chakra then all she had to do was find a way to make them mingle.

"What happened to Aladdin? Why is he in such a state?"

"When Aladdin uses too much of his power, it drains his stamina." answered Alibaba. "He was already weakened by his fight with Judar. He was extremely worried about Ugo's condition after what happened with the Princess and he tried to give him more magoi. It took too much out of him. It happened once more, in the seventh dungeon."

Sakura merely nodded and glanced at the flute that was placed beside the little boy on the bed.

"This is a dangerous state for him to be in." said Sinbad with a serious expression on his face. "Magi can use the infinite amounts of magoi that surround us, but only if they have the stamina to do so. In his attempt to help Ugo, Aladdin exhausted himself to the point that he couldn't command the Rukh to gather magoi for him to use. He had to use his own magoi, even at the cost of his own well-being."

"That's how much Ugo meant to him!" The blonde balled his fists and clenched his teeth almost too tightly. Alibaba glanced worriedly at his friend lying on the bed and the pained look in his eyes made Sakura feel the need to comfort him. "Don't worry, Alibaba. I won't let anything bad happen to Aladdin. I'll do anything in my power to heal him. I promise….." She smiled at him reassuringly as he stared at her with a startled expression on his face before he re-composed himself and nodded at her determinedly. She didn't notice the way Sinbad's lips curled up in a smile.

With newfound determination shining in her eyes, she decided to try something else. Forcing her chakra into his system obviously hadn't worked. This time, she would try to make it become one with his magoi. She took a deep breath and reduced the amount of chakra glowing around her hands. She rested her palms on his chest and let her healing chakra cover his body. Slowly but surely, she started guiding her chakra into his system until it finally reached his magoi. The moment the two forms of energy came in contact a wave of dizziness hit her. While chakra and magoi were similar, they were still different. She could feel them fighting each other for dominance and she furrowed her brow. That wouldn't do. It wasn't about one form of energy dominating the other. She had to make them fuse. Sweat ran down her temple but she didn't allow herself to be pushed back. If she was right, then she had the advantage. Aladdin was severely weakened and had no control over his magoi. She kept a steady flow of chakra and while it was seriously draining her already exhausted organism, she refused to give up.

The moment the fusion took place was one of the most overwhelming experiences of her life. She felt as if her senses suddenly came alive and her level of awareness increased so drastically that she could see small shining butterflies flying around them. She stared at them in amazement before realizing that she was probably a queer sight, staring around her in surprise like that at something that obviously only she could see.

She continued to pump chakra into him and with his magoi no longer blocking her, she could easily heal any possible damage to his organs or his system. From what she could see, there was no physical damage but he was suffering from one of the worst cases of depletion she had ever come upon. The only thing she could do was help speed up his recovery by feeding him more chakra and make him as comfortable as she could by relaxing his muscles and soothing his nerves.

"Sakura-san? How is he?"

"Don't worry, Morgiana. He's fine. All he needs is rest and he will be back on his feet in a couple of days. Please, fetch some water and a cloth. Keeping his forehead and neck cool will offer him some comfort." Her voice sounded weak and tired. It didn't surprise her though. She had little to no chakra left and she hadn't had a proper meal in days. It was a miracle that she could still stand. She didn't even register Morgiana leaving the room to carry out her request. Her knees trembled, her vision was getting blurry and she had to grip Alibaba's shoulder to steady herself.

"You are exhausted, Sakura. You should stop. You have done all you can."

"Just a little more, Alibaba. I need to make sure. Just….a….little….longer….." The words died on her lips as she collapsed. She felt strong arms wrap around her, stopping her fall before she hit the ground. She glanced up through half-lidded eyes. She noticed unruly red hair and piercing red eyes staring down at her as strong arms held her close to a muscular chest. Whoever this person was, he was warm….

"Sakura! Can you hear me? Sakura! Masrur, get her to a room." She vaguely registered Sinbad's worried voice calling her name but she couldn't find it in herself to respond. The room was spinning and she could barely keep her eyes open. She could hear voices above her head but she couldn't really make out what they were saying. With what little energy she had left she forced her head to the side. She blinked her eyes to clear them as much as possible. With one last glance at Aladdin, she surrendered herself to the arms of whoever was holding her and let herself be consumed by the blissful darkness of unconsciousness….

TBC

Don't worry Aladdin-kun! Sakura is here! We even got a bit of MasrurXSakura goodness! Alright, folks! That's it for now! Next chapter's coming up next week so stay tuned. Anyway, the poll's closed! I'm just going to post the results here but can always go to my profile and check if you wish.

Poll Results:

Unique Voters: 28

SinbadXSakura: 16

SharrkanXSakura: 7

MasrurXSakura: 5

And the winner is Sinbad!

I have to say that for the first week or so, before more people started voting, MasrurXSakura was a couple of votes ahead of the other two. Well, I'm fine with all three of them so to me it would make no big difference but since most people prefer Sinbad then…SinbadXSakura it is! They do make for an interesting couple, don't you think? Let's start building up some romance, shall we?

Well, that's it for now. I hope you liked the chapter! So…. READ AND REVIEW!

Lots of love!