Sakura gazed through the window, into the dark night beyond twirling a cherry blossom strand of her hair around her finger...A slight frowned marred the beauty of her face...

Their guests stay had been extended far too long...and each day they stayed, her heart melted. Sasuke...

A sigh escaped her lips...

Handsome, witty Sasuke... He could be her prince...No! Sakura snapped...he wasn't perfect...oh no...he was much too bossy and so, so gothic...he couldn't be a prince, much less her prince...

Even if the sight of him sent butterflies wild in her stomach, even if his smile made her heady...

" S-Sakura?"

Sakura turned to see a midnight-blue haired beauty standing behind her, holding a canvas so it's back was towards her...

" What is it Hinata?"

"W-well, I-I made th-this an-and I w-want-wanted y-you to t-tell m-me if it's, if it's good..." Hinata stammered.

Curiosity gnawed at Sakura...Hinata was shy, yes but this was too much shyness, the stammering and the blushing...even trembling!

"Alright, let's see it.." Sakura said eagerly.

With shaking hands, Hinata held up the canvas, turning it's face towards Sakura...Sakura gasped; the painting...it was beautiful...

The canvas showed the bank of the lake in twilight, two silhouettes sat there; the sky was a blend of blue, yellow and silver, constellations glittered in the sky, the surface of the lake reflected the beauty of the sky above... ( bad description I know...just imagine a beautiful painting k? K. ;p )

Sakura's mouth formed a perfect O...

" Hinata...it's, it's beautiful!"

" R-really?" Hinata stammered, her blush fading gradually...

" Yes, yes! I mean, it's just wow!"

Sakura moved forward to examine the painting.

"D-do y-you thi-think N-Naruto will like it?" Hinata inquired...

"Huh?" Sakura was snapped out of her trance. Narrowing her eyes suspiciously she said cautiously , "Um, I can't imagine him not liking it...but why does his liking matter?"

Hinata's blush returned instantly, her entire face turned ripe tomato red, "Oh, um I, I j-just, y-you kn-know..."

"No, I don't know," Sakura said slowly, dangerously, "Please, do tell me."

Hinata couldn't get out another word, she just stood there dumbly.

"Tell me, dear Hinata..." Sakura slowly began advancing towards the blue haired girl, who's blush had left long ago; now her face was a deathly paper white, " Is this painting for Naruto? "

Trembling, Hinata nodded.

Sakura was silent for a moment. Closing her eyes, she produced a wisp of emerald smoke from her palms. The wisp rose gracefully, and soared out of the room. A little while later Ino appeared, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail, " You called, Sakura? I was in my garden. I'm thinking I'm going to show Shika some flowers, you know! I mean, he probably...doesn't know...the beauty...of...never mind." Ino's voice faded into a an incomprehensible murmur. Indeed, the look on Sakura's face was enough to turn anyone to stone,

"Into the basement." She said icily turning away.

"I think I'm falling in love..." Naruto said, quite abruptly.

The trio were in the weapons room of the walls was adorned with axes, rods, spears, whips, ropes and chains. One wall was dedicated entirely to bows and arrows, sleek, deathly arrows with sharp, pointed tips; there were arrows with poison in them, there were those which burst into flames when their heads would come on contact with anything, those arrows which would open into nets and thousands more. One wall boasted swords, from tiny simple knives to huge, bejewelled swords. Sasuke was examining a shuriken that hung in a special case of its own, while Shikamaru was reading the history of a rusty, huge sword.

Naruto didn't think anyone had heard him, but Shikamaru's voice rang out in the room, "I know the feeling..."

Sasuke was quiet...although he didn't voice it, but he was all too aware of the feeling as well...

But it couldn't be possible...

"We have to go back." He said, his vice emotionless, his back towards others.

All was silent for a moment.

"But we can stay too, teme..." Naruto said in an unusually quiet voice, "I mean it's not like we have our parents waiting up for us, or any family for that matter."

"Don't you get dobe?! They're witches! We don't know anything about them!" Sasuke yelled.

The air rang with his cry. The other two were struck dumb...Sasuke never yelled...

"Well..." Shikamaru said slowly, careful to mask his voice free of any emotions..." Naruto, as troublesome as this is, Sasuke's right...we don't fit in their world...what if they go bat-crazy again? I mean, we can't hope to control them..."

"B-b-but! There has to be some way! No way am I gonna go! Not now!"

"Naruto...'" Sasuke said frowning, "You tell me how this is gonna work?"

Concentration was clear on Naruto's face as he tried to think of a way to live with the witches...

"There's gotta be a way we can survive you know? A way they can't kill us or something..."

Behind them, wind whispered through the leaves of the flowers decorating the walls of the corridor, the sun peeked through the shafoon curtains and certain shadows slinked in and out...

"Look, I don't know how this is gonna work, alright?" Naruto said finally, "But you know what? I don't care. Somehow, I'm gonna make this work, believe it! I'm not gonna let go of something I love just bee cause I'm scared of what ifs?... I'll deal with them when I can, and even if I can't deal with them, it'll be better then being safe and wondering about what could've been...you guys can go if you like, but I'm gonna stay."

With that Naruto began marching towards the door.

"Naruto wait!"

Naruto looked straight into Sasuke's onyx eyes, waiting for his best friend to start an argument, or call him a dobe or whatever, but nothing he could say would change his mind...

"I'm staying."

Naruto's jaw dropped,"WHAT?!"

"You're right...I...we shouldn't let fear make us let go of something we care about..."

"Who the hell are you and what have you done to my best friend!" Naruto yelled. He put the the back of his hand on Sasuke's forehead, "Dude, are you feeling alright?!"

"Get off me you dobe!" Sasuke slapped away his hand,"I'm fine OK?"

A grin spread across Naruto's face, " No, you're not! You've been bit by the looooove bug!"

Naruto began guffawing as a scowl appeared on Sasuke's face..."you'd better shut up..."

"Or else?" Naruto managed to challenge him in between his laughs. A little further from the pair Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle.

"I said shut up!" Angrily Sasuke began advancing towards Naruto.

Sensing that Sasuke really was serious, naruto began backing towards the wall, struggling to hold in his laughs...

His hand touched something cold and pointy, and a huge net came out from nowhere, trapping the two boys with in its nylon ropes.

"You dobe," Sasuke fumed, struggling to get out of the net but only succeeding in getting more entangled.

"Shikamaru help us!" Naruto yelled.

"No thank you, that would be too troublesome for me..." Shikamaru said casually, settling down on a nearby stool to watch his best friends struggle. Yelping Naruto grabbed Sasuke for support only to fall on top of him, and now Sasuke was punching him...

Tension crackled in the atmosphere of the basement, ad if electricity was sizzling in the air, waiting, just waiting for a spark to ignite it...

Sakura stood near a cauldron, green flames were lit underneath, licking the bottom go the cauldron, and lapping Sakura's feet...the potion itself was bubbling purplish-bluish, occasionally let out a gently streaming grey cloud that would dissipate...

"All these years..." Sakura said softly, "all these years we've been searching for the perfect one...we've never let anything stop us...hunters have come to kill us only to find themselves as the prey, police men have come to investigate this castle only to return with scarred faces and no memories...we've seen kingdoms rise and fall, we've witnessed the river change it's course...we've created plagues and disasters for the mere fun of it...However, we've never, never have we let ourselves be distracted...potion, potion, potion..." Sakura sighed.

She turned to face the rest of her coven..."Why now?"

Silence answered her...a silence heavy with guilt...

"Look Sakura," Ino began nervously, "I know that we've been working on this potion, we've given it our all...but..." Breaking off, Ino sighed heavily.

"But what, Ino?!" Sakura cried, "Never in our lives have we uttered the word but..,so why now?"

"Sakura, what if perfection isn't what we want, what we need?" Ino tried to explain. "No, listen..." Ino said to Sakura who was chuckling darkly, "In our minds, perfection is what? Someone who understands us, someone who listens and cares...someone who loves us, knowing what we are?"

Sakura looked up sharply, Ino continued, "What if, we've met our perfect prince? Yes, they have flaws but..."

Ino shrugged. Sakura chuckled slowly first, then began laughing; a humourless, sarcastic laugh. "Ino, honey listen to yourself...what are you thinking? That these, humans love you? That they care for you, understand you? Is that what you are deluding yourself with?M"

"Sakura..."

"We have to hide from humans, they loathe us, they hunt us! They burned our ancestors or don't you remember Aunt Greta? How they hung her in the town square and then burned her?!"

Tears sprang into her emerald eyes as she remembered her loving aunts warm arms around her, her kind laugh...but she didn't stop, "Do you remember Esmeralda? The adorable 7 year old they staked, because they saw her make flowers grow in her flower pot? Humans, Ino humans will never understand us!"

"B-but Sak-Sakura..,." Shy Hinata joined in, she didn't want to argue but, "it's not fair, we,we c-can't j-judge the-them for wh-what oth-others did, c-centuries ago..."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, when the door of the basement was thrown open. Lee stepped in, his hand on his forehead in a typical salute pose.

"M'LADIES!"

"Lee, this is not a good time..." Sakura said rubbing her temples.

"I understand m'ladies!" He said/yelled, "But this is an urgent matter..."

"Very well," Sakura said sighing knowing Lee wouldn't bother them unless it was an emergency.

"M'ladies! I was watering the vases in the corridor of the weapon room and I overheard the humans talking." Lee's face grew red with indignation, "They said things about my mistresses..."

The three looked up.

"What did they say?" Sakura asked quietly.

I have been getting really lazy recently so I'm really really sorry for late update...anyways I hope you enjoy and please lemme know in a review K?