Chapter Nine: Battle to Severe Ties, Tragedy Strikes

Sasuke had been fighting for 30 minutes with Juugo, and so far he had only managed to wound Juugo's shoulder. This guy was tough; Sasuke would give him that. 'Thank kami; I never had to face him until now.' Thought Sasuke as he dodged another punch that had attempted to knock him to the ground. Sasuke smirked and called out,

"This is getting boring, Juugo, you should have known by now, that my Sharingan can copy any of your movements, or track them." He then made a quick handsign with just one hand; he had been practicing over the years how to use just one hand to make hand signs. Juugo came at him again, but a nasty surprise happened as soon as he managed to grab Sasuke's arm to swing him.

"Chidori Nagashi!" Called out Sasuke with a growl, black colored lightning sprouted from almost every chakra point in Sasuke's back and arm, zapping those who touched him. Juugo was hit and sent flying onto his back a few feet away. Sasuke turned to look at Juugo, he then turned to look at Karin, and a smirk appeared on Sasuke's lips.

"Your next Karin…" was the only thing he said before he appeared behind Karin, sword ready to stab down at Karin's shoulder. Suddenly someone shouted out,

"SASUKE!!" Sasuke paused in mid stride, who, who just called out to him like that.

'Could…could it be?' Slowly he turned to look in the direction of the voice. There running towards him, was his reason for living.

"Sakura…" He mumbled, and quickly kicked Karin away from him, and turned to walk towards her. Not realizing that Karin might try something with him, while his back was turned. Sasuke began to transform back to his normal human appearance, as he tried to calm down.

As soon as he was near her, he grabbed her in a hug and kissed her on the lips passionately. "Are you okay Sakura? Did they…hurt you at all?" He was still trying to control his anger at this moment.

Sakura nodded, "I'm fine…they didn't hurt me…please just stop fighting them and lets go back to Konoha please…Sasuke-Kun…" She murmured these soothing words to him as she kissed his chin and face while hugging him.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he felt her kissing his chin and face; he hugged her back and nodded, whispering to her,

"Alright…let's go…" Sakura smiled at him when she heard him say these words, and was about to turn to move out of his embrace when she caught something in the corner of her eye. She quickly screamed out, "SASUKE!" Hoping that it would get his attention. Quickly she pushed him out of the way, just as Karin attempted to rush at Sasuke with a kunai blade in her hand, probably was going to try to stab Sasuke.

Sasuke managed to indeed get out of the way, but was too late to stop Karin. He heard Sakura's cry of pain. His eyes widened at the scene in front of him. Sakura had saved his life probably; Karin had only managed to stab Sakura in the shoulder, so far.

Karin's eyes widened as she tried to pull away from Sakura as best as she could. "Why the fuck did you do that for? Bitch?" She yelled at Sakura.

Sakura smirked as Karin tried to pull away from her. Sakura quickly grabbed the Kunai blade lodged in her shoulder and pulled it out carefully, wincing as she did this. She then spoke between clenched teeth,

"No one…screws around with my Sasuke, he's never been yours Karin, so grow up!" "He'll never be yours as long as he loves me, and I love him."

Karin's eye twitched at hearing Sakura's taunting. She then screamed on top of her lungs,

"DAMARE! DAMARE! We are going to see whom Sasuke's going to be with in the end! Oma Kora su (A/N: Means I'm going to Kill You!)!" Karin then rushed at Sakura again, but was stopped by a large form tackling her to the ground.

"You're not going to kill anyone…because I'm going to kill you instead Karin!" Snarled Juugo, "You're days are numbered, as far as I'm concerned, now...DIE!" He then attempted to strangle the hell out of Karin while the other two watched.

The couple was shocked at Juugo's turning against Karin. Juugo then turned to look at the two of them, "Go…" Was the only thing he said to them before returning to trying to finish Karin off.

Sasuke then quickly took Sakura by the hand and started heading back towards where he had left the rest of his team. He then turned briefly to Juugo who had been kicked off of Karin as she tried to struggle with the big man at this moment.

He murmured loud enough, hopefully for him to hear him, "Arigatou…Juugo…" He then took off with Sakura, glad that she was safe and sound for the moment. His mind was racing a mile a minute, wondering if Juugo would be all right or not. Right now though, he would have to get his fiancée out of here and to safety.

Sakura looked at him and spoke, "Sasuke…what's wrong? Come on, please…we have to get out of here." Sasuke turned back to his fiancée for a moment and then spoke to her as he kissed her on the mouth passionately.

"I have to go back…Sakura…please understand this…" Sakura frowned and looked at him,

"No…you can't go back…Sasuke please…" She tried to pull him towards the way they had been going. Sasuke removed his wrist from her hand; he suddenly disappeared, reappearing behind her.

"I'm sorry…. but I have to do this…I love you Sakura…" He whispered into her ear. Sakura knew what probably would happen next, and she wasn't disappointed. She felt a pressure on her neck and the next thing she knew she saw darkness.

Sasuke quickly caught her before she could hit the ground; carefully he picked her up into his arms and disappeared. When he reappeared he was about a mile from where he had left Neji and Kiba to fight Suigetsu. He then gently laid Sakura down against a tree and bent over to stare at her for a moment.

He then leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth and whispered to her,

"I will return…I promise…then we can be together…" With that he disappeared once more, this time he would not return for a while a long while.


Neji, Kiba and Akamaru found Sakura 3 hours after finally defeating Suigetsu. They had no idea where Sasuke had disappeared to; all they had found was an unconscious Sakura laying against a tree. They immediately treated the wound on her shoulder, and brought her back to Konohagakure, without any more trouble on their way.

When Sakura woke up, a day later, she would be given the news of what happened. Sakura slowly came around, moaning slightly in pain as she did so. Her hand reached immediately for her swollen pregnant belly. Her eyes fluttered open slowly as she sensed someone else was in the room with her.

When she finally opened her eyes, standing there was Naruto, dressed in his Hokage robes, his hat was off though, and a look of what one might think was depression or sadness.

"Naruto-Sama…." Whispered Sakura, "Where…Where am I?"

Naruto then spoke in a grim voice, "Your back in Konohagakure, Sakura-Chan, in the hospital."

Suddenly she remembered everything, Sasuke…. where was Sasuke? "Where's Sasuke-Kun?!" yelled Sakura. Panic began to show in her emerald green eyes, had he abandoned them again?

"I don't know where he is…Neji and Kiba found you unconscious under a tree…after they searched for you and him for about 2 and a half hours." "I'm sorry Sakura-Chan…" said a sad Naruto.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly even more. She remembered something, someone telling her that they would return, could that have been Sasuke? Suddenly tears began to well up in the corner of her eyes as she thought about this. She then broke down crying, right in front of Naruto.

Naruto winced and quickly grabbed Sakura in a comforting hug when she started crying. He tried his best to comfort her, saying soothing things to the distraught woman, and his best friend. Sakura continued to mourn for her lost lover, until her tears dried out and she couldn't cry anymore. She pretty much passed out, exhausted from crying so much.


A figure stood up on a cliff face, as he stared down at nothing in particular. Suddenly a voice spoke up, a raspy sounding voice as another figure walked over to the one standing beside the cliff.

"So what should we do now…that they took her back to Konohagakure, I don't see why you didn't go back with her Sasuke…she's in love with you and pregnant with your child…"

Suddenly the voice was silenced by the other figure. It spoke,

"I told her…I would return one day, for now, I need time to prepare…she will be alright until then, Naruto is with her, he'll do everything he can to protect her…and I'm not stupid, I know that's she's carrying the future of my Clan inside of her, Juugo…"

Juugo then sighed, "Don't keep her waiting for too long, though Sasuke-San…"

Sasuke smirked and said as he began walking away from the cliff face,

"I don't plan on keeping her waiting…I also have a funny feeling what exactly she's carrying inside of her…now come on…I have a few places I want to go to before I decide to go back to Konoha…"

Juugo agreed silently and the pair quickly disappeared into the night. Sasuke's only thought before he disappeared was this.

'Soon…my Cherry Blossom, I will be back for you….'


Author's Note:Hehehehehe how was that for you guys? I know it was short, but it was sweet wasn't it? I am so evil sometimes. Sorry for the long wait, my muse lately has been doing these weird kind of things ya know. So anyway, the Ending is at hand now for The Phoenix and the Blossom.

Preview for the Final Chapter: Sakura grieves for a long time, hoping against hope that Sasuke had not abandoned the village again. Will Sasuke return or will he stay away for good?

Find out in the Final Epic Chapter: Chapter Ten: Phoenix Reborn

Alright guys that's it for me, take care of yourself, and look forward to the ending of this epic and suspense filled tale of Love and action and other things that I've put into this story. –Evil Laugh-

I also would like to take this time to thank all of my fans out there, which've been keeping up with reviews, THANK YOU GUYS YOU FREAKING ROCK MAN YOSH! KEEP THOSE YOUTFUL REVIEWS COMING!

All right enough silliness; enjoy this chapter, AND NOOO FLAMES PLEASE! JA NE!