Kay, fanfiction isn't e-mailing me anymore, so I have no idea if anyone is even able to read these chapters anymore. Oh, well. I hope they fix it soon.

Disclaimer: You know what to do. I don't own the chess comment. Go X-Men 3!!!!

Thanx: Jay(yourmaster) and my lovely reviewers!! You help me so much!!

Last time:

If you don't love her, back down.

He didn't know. And that scared him.

She was worth it, right?

No. He was the avenger...Yes. He couldn't bare to live without her sunlight, love without her heartbeat.

The two stood in silence, and it was deafening.

"Consider that. And before you presume to walk away, and be able to walk back to her arms, answer it for me."

With that the ageless youth was gone. Sasuke sat, leaning up against a sakura tree.

Why was this so much harder then it was when they were 12?

This time:

Chapter 14:

A wispered sigh echoed across the blank exspanse of an obsidian orb.

"She lives."

A man with ice blue lips and silver hair stepped forward from the flickering shadows.

"I failed. I apologize. Someone warned the Uchiha, he arrived before my frozed kiss reached her fluttering heart. Let me try again."

"No. I tire of these pointless mind games. Their confused fears no longer amuse me."

"We attack?"

"In chess, the pawns always go first."

Faces flickered across the orb's smooth surface.

Cale laughing.

Naruto grinning.

Sasuke smirking.

Sakura sparring.

Kakashi reading.

Xeni smiling wistfully.

Rishka cocking an arrow.

Leban meditating.

Ryu walking down a leaf covered pathway.

Lady Rose stared out angrily from the orb, her mouth frowning uncharacteristicly. She closed her eyes in consentration and uttered one word.

The feminine voice gasped as the obsidian orb shattered, sharpened shards flying in every direction. Skittering across the floor and smashing against the walls of the dark cavern.

"Yes. The pawns."

Cale walked into the Uchiha mansion, a makeshift base for the rag-tag team. His steps faltered as he passed the study, stopping completely as he took in the stoic figure by the window. Ryu had been drawn lately, submerged in himself.

"My freind?"

Cale walked into the room a small way, waiting to hear what was bothering the 'younger' man. Ryu's voice was weary, holding an exhaustion beyond his apparent years. His old soul showing through his young exterior.

"I keep waiting for the next wave to break, knowing that it's creeping up. I just don't which shore it will break on. And knowing that I can only sit on the beach and wait, it's killing me slowly inside Cale."

"At least you are not on the island alone. You don't have to bear this burden alone any longer. You have friends now."

Ryu scoffed, voice turning cold.

"And after this? After I have lost you all? After I have walked away from the final battle, leaving your empty shells to the poor soul who finds your rotting corpses? What then my 'friend'?"

Calke took a step forward, anger sturring in his chest.

"No one will die."

"Someone already has Cale! Have you seen Xeni? Where will she go after this? Where will she run to escape Barlos' memory? Where will any of us run?"

"We will not. We will hold our ground, those who run die."

"Those who stand die."

"Then I will die on my feet!" Cale roared, anger flickering in his steel blue eyes.

There was an akward pause. Ryu's shoulders sagged and he turned to face the giant norseman.

"I'm sorry. I always get like this when I'm preparing for the unknown. Rose spoke to you?"

"About the watch orb? Yeah, she did."

"They're coming. Whatever games they were playing is over. Fighting will begin in earnest now."

"Who else knows?"

"Xeni, Kakashi Rishka, and Leban. Kakashi said he would tell Sakura, Naruto, and the Uchiha."

"'The Uchiha?' You really don't like him do you?" A playful glint was in Cale's eye.

"Hn."

"He's rubbing off on you. I thought 'hn' was his thing."

Ryu rounded in mock anger on the large man.

"'Hn' is so my thing! It was my thing before you were born!"

"Feh. Yeah right."

There was a loud clatter and a resounding crash as the two friends got physical.

"Oh dear." KIakashi grinned as he and Xeni walked toward the mansion.

"We had better get there before anyone gets hurt."

A loud cry reached the pair. They exchanged a long look. Xeni shook her head, her braids whipping around her face.

"Too late now."

Sasuke ambled absent mindedly around Kohonah. Ryu's warning echoing around his head.

"Do you love her?"

His feet had a mind of their own. He didn't know how he got there, but he was standing in front of Sakura's house. The full moon illuminated the entire scene. Showing him the pink haired girl sitting on the roof, staring up at the stars. The moonlight caressed her face, enhancing her ethereal beauty. He forgot to breath. He forgot everything, loosing himself in the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He knew the answer to Ryu's question.

Yes. Yes I do.

He suddenly wanted to shout it. He wanted to stand on a mountain, listen to it ring in the canyons.

I love you Sakura. I need you to help me heal. My heart is dark and battered, but it's yours if you still want it. It was always yours, and I swear it always will be.

Before he realised what he was doing, he was standing beneth her, still enrapped in her porcelain features. Without thinking, he braced his legs and lept up, hooking his fingers around the edge of the roof, and swung his lean form up beside her.

I didn't like alot of things about this chapter, but oh well. I hate school and I am so fricking tired...(sigh)

Cliffy! I'll update soon!

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Gone crazy and staying there,

Wolfy101