A/N: Hello, guys! I'm back after three months. Sorry for the ultra-mega late update. I've got a thousand reasons for why I was late this much, but I'd rather you read the story than my pathetic attempts at reasoning. But for those who wonder, I've been missing in action so long because of this: a bad case of senioritis.

Sigh, I never realized being a senior in high school would be so busy. I had to fill out applications for my college, take review sessions every weekend for the admissions test, review for my tests in school, do reports and projects, and lastly, write a short story that will be submitted to a publishing company. I had no idea it was a inter-school contest in our city until they sent me a letter telling me I'm one of the twenty finalists. Only shows that I barely listen to my teachers. -_-But still, it was good I was chosen as a finalist. :)

To thank my ever-faithful readers, I give them two blueberry muffins for reviewing:

~fictionally interesting – You'll know soon enough. :)

~Maskedgirl3 – Yeah, I thought so, too. ^^,

~IceMaidenOfLegend – I wanted to do that, too. But I wasn't sure how to plot it out. Sorry. -_-'

~Sam-AKA-SakuxSasuLover – True. It never is.

~raven rose 101 – That'll be coming soon. ;)

~tenshi303 – Thank you for the support. I've been very busy but I'll stick in some time to read your fic. :)

Just a little announcement: This chapter is completely in SASUKE'S POINT OF VIEW.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER IS APPLIED.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER RECAP:

Hinata already expected Sakura to react this way. After all, she was entitled to have her own hysterics fit since her life was being turned upside down by creatures she could barely believe existed. Nonetheless, she had to do what she was tasked to accomplish. She folded her wings back to avoid them from getting in the way and sat down next to the upset girl. In a gentle but solemn voice, she said,

"I have to tell you something very important, Sakura."

At that, the girl momentarily stopped her moping, lifted her face from her hands and gazed sideways at her raven-haired best friend.

"You have to save the world, Sakura-hime."

Sasuke was having a serious headache with all the things he had to handle these past few days. First, with that troublesome black dragon that almost fried him to bits (which was actually a very good blessing in disguise), then the difficult affair of having to kidnap a very obnoxious devil's angel, then the dilemmas he had to deal with all the troublesome girls his team had to abduct. Seriously, he was starting sound like Shikamaru now.

Speaking of that sloth, Shikamaru, Sasuke was just informed earlier ago that Sai and Shikamaru managed to find and capture the personification of the virtue of Temperance, a blonde girl named Ino Yamanaka. The two griped about how loud and whiny that girl can be since they captured her totally wasted.

And an hour before, two more of his team members reported the success of their missions. Neji submitted his report on his successful capture of the Personification of the virtue of Chastity, a fierce brunette named Tenten. Sasuke almost chuckled at the thought of Neji getting bitten by a human girl when the white-eyed knight grabbed the surprisingly violent girl by the waist.

Only one person of their team wasn't so unlucky with the person he was obligated to capture. And that was no other than his idiot of a blonde best friend Naruto. He was obliged to capture the personification of the virtue of Humility, which was no other than Neji's soft-spoken cousin, Hinata Hyuuga.

But with the capture of the four girls, they now had everyone they needed, and they were really damn lucky to have them all before they did. The personification of the virtue of Kindness was Chouji Akimichi, an often-bullied high school student. The embodiment of the virtue Charity was Kiba Inuzuka, a true animal-lover, while the quintessence of diligence was the energetic Rock Lee. And last but surely not the least, Sabaku no Gaara, the personification of the virtue Patience.

The seven personifications of the heavenly virtues are now complete. The soft-spoken Hinata as Humility, the forgiving Chouji as Kindness, Patience personified by the tranquil Gaara, the vigorous Lee as Diligence, the altruistic Kiba for the virtue Charity, Temperance embodied by Ino, Tenten for the virtue Chastity, and the most important of all, Sakura Haruno, the devil's angel.

So now, all they had to worry about was how to handle all of them without a riot breaking over the whole Hyuuga mansion. They all had such different personalities; it was hard to believe they were the people needed to stop the world's apocalypse.

Besides that, Sasuke and the other knights had to worry about the absolute safety of the eight mentioned earlier. And so Sasuke had Shikamaru raise protective wards around the whole Hyuuga estate, and Sai to place ink traps around various places in the manor. It wasn't impossible that they would still try to take one of them into their custody, and that wasn't such a good picture to behold.

Sasuke sighed, and rubbed the spot on his temple that was throbbing occasionally. He was now on his way to the room where he dumped the sleeping pink-haired girl who was supposed to save the world.

He rapped on the wooden door twice then opened it. He thought Sakura was still asleep, but apparently not. She was talking to someone, whom he realized later as Hinata, with her lavender wings tucked to her back. As he looked at Sakura again, he amended his previous thought, Sakura wasn't talking to Hinata, and she was gaping at the winged girl in front of her.

Her emerald eyes were wide and fully dilated while her mouth was popped open as he noticed Sakura was hyperventilating in raspy, wheezing breaths. Sasuke anticipated this kind of reaction from Sakura.

Sasuke and the knights had someone assigned to tell Sakura her duty from now on. Unsurprisingly, the person selected to do the delicate job was no other than Hinata. She was recommended by Neji while Naruto seconded the suggestion eagerly with a nod.

And now, Sasuke figured that Hinata had already mentioned it to Sakura. Sasuke presumed that no matter how gently Hinata may deliver the news, it would still shock the girl. After all, now she knew that the whole darn world depended on her.

He made a move to get closer but at the first step he took, the girl was shaken out of her shocked stupor. And the moment Sakura saw that Sasuke was the one at the threshold, she shot out from her seat, effectively scooting out of the hold Hinata had on her shoulder. She shifted backwards, never taking her eyes off of me, and probably Hinata. She was looking at us as if we were a coiled cobra, ready to strike with bared fangs.

Her almond-shaped eyes were wide with panic and desperation and she was glancing around, looking for a weapon, perhaps. The girl was in shock. He needed to do something before Sakura does anything stupid, and almost certainly, dangerous.

"Saku-chan" …"Sakura" Hinata and I spoke at the same time. And it seemed to make matters worse. Sakura looked like she was internally debating which was a good idea; jumping out of the open window, or making a run for the door just behind me.

"Calm down, Sakura. We're not here to hurt you." That seemed to take a bit of the wild, frantic look in her eyes. But she replied, sarcasm dripping heavily in her words like corrosive acid, "Yeah, says the man who kidnapped me."

She had a point. But I wasn't going to admit that out loud, especially if she's misunderstanding the real issue here. "Look, just sit down and I'll explain everything." I said, as gently as I can while holding up my hands, palms up front like a suspect caught by an officer.

But she wasn't going to ease up, even a bit. She was glaring at me, those green, green eyes glittering with fury and her dainty little hands clenched into fists. She looked kittenish to me, but I wasn't sure I should mess with this furious kitty cat.

"No! I've had enough of all this shit you're spouting about angels and me saving the whole goddamn world! I can't even Parallel Park, how could I save the world? I'm getting out of here, and if you're going to stop me, you'll be dreadfully sorry." She swiveled around and grabbed the ceramic vase by the bedside table, as if she'd be using at as a weapon.

Good thing the silent Hyuuga decided to interfere at that moment. Hinata stood up, her hands clasped to her chest, looking upset. "Please, Sakura-chan. I'm your best friend; you could trust me. You know I would never hurt you." She spoke compassionately, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. Sakura turned towards her. Then, the moment their eyes met, Sakura lost the wary stance and all her eyes reflected was being confused and lost.

"Please, Sakura-chan. Hand me the vase and we'll talk, okay?" The lavender eyed angel pleaded, her hand outstretched to Sakura. After a second or so, Sakura handed the terracotta vase to Hinata. I heard Sakura emit a tiny sound, almost a sob and launched herself to Hinata's waiting arms.

The pink-haired girl kept apologizing, repeating the words, "I'm sorry" to Hinata in small whispers; almost as often as Hinata would reply, "It's okay" to the sobbing girl as tears silently traced down her cheek.

Sasuke weirdly felt like a third-wheel. He really wanted to leave the two girls alone but he had to get his job done. So, after a few minutes, when Sakura's sobbing died down to quiet hiccups and Hinata's tears stopped trickling down her face, Sasuke cleared his throat and took a cautious step forward. Once both the girls' attentions were on him, he spoke in a clear ringing voice, "What you heard from Hinata is true. And we need to talk… Sakura-hime."

A/N: So, how was it? It was pretty filler-ish, and I feel awful for leaving it as a cliffhanger but at least you guys'll have something to look forward to next chapter.

Tell me any of your comments, violent reactions, or ideas. I'd like to know what you think about this story. :)

I'm done here, toodles!

WatashiNoTenshi07 signin' out!