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.Heaven's Gate: Princess.

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Chapter Eighteen: Gone, Not Her.

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Ten-ten appeared behind him. He didn't bother turning around, he didn't even care who it was. She took a few steps forward; her face was shocked beyond imagination. Her hand stretched out toward the fire.

"A…" Ino appeared behind Sasuke, her hair pin in her hand. She ran forward and stood next to Ten-ten. "W-what?"

"What have you done?!" Ten-ten screamed. She turned and grabbed Sasuke's shirt, lifting him off the ground. Ino ran into the fire, pushing and kicking any block of woods that were in her way.

Sasuke looked up, dumbfounded. Ten-ten grimaced as she saw the tear mark on both of his cheeks. She turned, scowled and joined Ino into the fire.

"She's not here!" Ino yelled, desperately.

"She can't be dead!!!" Ten-ten threw a block of log away.

Sasuke stared at the two shinobis. The memory of her smiles and laughs and her cries went through his head in fast flashbacks. He stood up and walked into the fire slowly.

He reached out for one of the burning log and grabbed it, not minding the fire that was now making its way on his hand. He threw it and took another one, and threw it, and took another one.

Ino and Ten-ten realized how easy their work on cleaning the place was now. They turned toward Sasuke. Ino gasped as Ten-ten's eyes grew wider. Sasuke's face was now a complete mask that showed no emotion. His eyes were dark as he grabbed more block of logs. He, somehow, threw the big ones away easily. But what shocked them both was how both of his hands were burning. Fire was eating them happily but he didn't show any sign of pain, he just kept on digging.

Ino ran toward him and pushed him away from the fire. They both fell on the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke's eyes flicked to Ino. She froze but stayed where she was.

"I need to heal your hands while it's still possible for them to look the same as before," she said quickly. She grabbed both of his hands, the fire disappeared as Ten-ten threw water on them. Ino watched Sasuke's face, looking for any sign of pain but none was seen.

She hurried to heal his hands. In less than an hour, they were healed.

"What…" Sasuke paused as his eyes were fixed on the blazing fire. "Who blow the place up?"

Ino and Ten-ten looked at each other, confused.

"None of the enemies are here yet," Ten-ten said. "That's why we came to check on the situation… but, it turns out we're too late." She looked away and cried.

Sasuke looked past the fire with his sharingan, just remembering that he had them, trying to look for Sakura… her body. He found none, and it worried him more. Could she have turned to dust?!

His sharingan focused to a figure running away toward the forest. From the shape of the body, Sasuke was sure that it was Juugo.

Anger filled him.

He stood up and was about to dash toward the forest. To chase Juugo. And to kill him.

Something moved from the fire. Sasuke's concentration broke. The two girls jumped backward. Sasuke stood in front of them, his right hand stretching in front of them. He promised her no more sacrifices were to be made. He wasn't planning on breaking his promise.

The figure kept on standing and rising until it was taller than the Sakura trees and the Forget-Me-Not tree that was at the back of the garden. Sasuke stared at the creature, emotionless.

The creature was a tiger. A white tiger with white eyes. It looked down at Sasuke and growled. Ten-ten frowned as she stepped forward, wiping away the tears.

"Neji?" she looked up and met his eyes.

The tiger nodded once and closed his eyes. His body glowed and the figure shrunken. Neji appeared out of the light, with Sakura in his hands.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide. He ran toward them.

"How?" he whispered the word, too shocked.

"I was just a few steps in front of her, remember?" Neji said, not taking his eyes off Sakura. "But… I… tried…" his voice was thick.

"Neji!" Naruto came up behind them, followed by Lee and Gaara. Their eyes followed his and stopped at Sakura.

"No!!" Gaara roared. He ran toward them and placed both his hands on her cheeks. "Sakura, wake up!"

Naruto fell onto the ground, crying. Lee looked up at the sky, cursing Gaara's brother for not telling them that this might happen.

Sasuke reached out for her, ignoring Gaara's hiss. He took her from Neji's arms. Gaara ran forward but was stopped by Neji and the girls. Sasuke walked to the Forget-Me-Not tree. He looked at the tree and fell onto the ground.

"Sakura… wake up," he cried. "You shouldn't have died…"

The wind rushed through them. Suddenly, the horn was blown.

The enemies were here.

Sasuke looked up and turned to the others.

"Matsuo Tabi shouldn't have come," he said. "Juugo done his job, Sakura's dead. He shouldn't have come."

Ten-ten leaped away and then come back not long after.

"Then maybe he's not convinced," she said. "They're here."

Sasuke's brows pulled together for a while and then he looked back at Sakura.

"Wait," Gaara looked up from his mourning. "Hear that?"

"What?" Ino looked at him, confused. "I can only hear my sobs."

"No…" Gaara turned to Sasuke and Sakura. "Sasuke… Sakura's heart beat… its beating."

"What?" Lee turned, shocked.

Sasuke placed Sakura on the ground and listened to her heart.

"She's not dead," he said, disbelief in his voice. At the same time, all sorts of joy overwhelmed him.

"Dragons have sharper ears," Gaara grinned, proudly. "Even sharper than bird's." he eyed Naruto.

Naruto punched him lightly on the shoulder and joined the others who were already gathering around Sakura.

"Sakura…" Sasuke called slowly.

"We should leave her here for a while," Ino said. "Her pulse is getting back to normal and her heartbeat is getting faster; a good sign."

"I wonder how Matsuo Tabi knows…" Naruto eyed Sasuke.

"Karin reads chakra well," Sasuke explained, his eyes were still fixed on Sakura. "She must've seen that Sakura's chakra is not dead even way before Gaara heard her heartbeat."

Another gust of wind went pass. Temari walked out from the wind and walked toward them.

"We're going to need some help…" she trailed off as she saw Sakura's body that was covered in sooth, no longer burnt as Ino healed her at the same time she checked her pulse and heartbeat. "Is she…" she gasped, shocked.

Gaara shook his head.

"At first we thought she is," he said. "But her heartbeat and pulse are coming back."

Temari sighed, relieved. She fell onto the ground as her knees weakened out with relief. It took her awhile to finally stand up, using her fan as support. She looked at the others.

"We're really going to need more help soon," she said. "My wind is doing their best, but I can feel some are weakening."

"Make more, then," Ten-ten said, looking at her.

"I can't," Temari said. "If I concentrate all the winds here, then the winds in the world would stop and that would be a catastrophe."

Ten-ten sighed as she put on her ANBU mask.

"Let's get to work then, Ino," she said as she opened a scroll and bit her thumb. Weapons came out from the scrolls as she leaped off with Ino who looked back once at Sakura, making sure she would be okay. Temari nodded once to her brother and then joined the girls.

Not long after they were gone, Sakura's eyelids fluttered open.

"Sakura?" Sasuke called out gently.

Her Keepers turned their heads toward her; their eyes were hopeful and glad as Sakura's eyes opened.

"Blue?!"

Naruto frowned, confused. He looked around and the others were as confused as he was. Sasuke leaned closer so he could see better. Sakura looked at him and pulled herself away from him.

"Sakura?" Sasuke was confused as she moved away from him.

The Keepers exchanged worried looks.

"Sakura, you okay?" Neji looked at her.

"Sakura-san…" Lee frowned.

Deep blue sapphire eyes stared at all the faces. And then, the tense muscle on her face relaxed.

"Aw damn, I come out at the wrong time," she shook her head, her expression disappointed.

All of their eyes widened. Sasuke looked at Sakura, shocked and worried. She… didn't speak like that.

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Okey dokey.

I can't believe I can actually make another chapter. My first exam, MATH exam is tomorrow. But it's so impossibly hard, so me and my friend are giving up already.

We are sure that we're going to fail. Hahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahaha!

We a' done. Obviously.

Crap.

Well, please make my day with more reviews that I would FOREVER appreciate and love.

PSIt'sRainy.