A/N- This is the last 'chapter' of TSAL. Please read the bottom for options. There will be an epilogue. Thanks to snowmew, Loku, iamNOTafangirl3221, rebel-girl, puppy444219, Sakura li 19 and Seyann for reviewing the last chapter. READ AND REVIEW!!! AND DON'T FORGET TO READ THE BOTTOM!!!

Disclaimer-I don't own.

Chapter 21

After she had leapt into his arms and he had appropriately greeted her, he had surprised her by scooping her up bridal style and carrying her back to the infirmary. At first she had struggled. "Wait…Sasuke, I can walk…put me down." When her cries attracted stares, Sasuke held her tighter and whispered into her ear, "I'm not letting you go. I didn't for that entire night and I'm not going to now. Now will you please stop struggling and just relax? I'm not going to throw you overboard."

Sakura growled under her breath. "Fine…but…" she sighed. "I'm not going to be happy about it." Her pink hair tangled as she snuggled her head into Sasuke's chest. Just beneath the dirty cloth, she could hear, feel, his heartbeat. A small smile crossed her face and she gently shut her emerald eyes.

"Not happy at all."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sakura jolted awake and looked around her. Sitting at her immediate left was Sasuke, with a small smirk on his face. On her right, sat Ino with Shikamaru standing behind her, beside her was Hinata with Naruto standing by Shikamaru. Tenten sat at the foot of the bed with a small smile on her face, a hand on her stomach and sad eyes.

The girls giggled. "You looked so cute when you came in here, asleep in Sasuke's arms," said Ino, a smile on her face. "You didn't even wake up when I placed you on the bed. That was about two hours ago."

"So…who all died?" she asked quietly. "From the officers at least, Sasuke do you know? Aside from the people we know," she added quickly, glancing at Tenten, who quickly looked down at her hands, twisting her wedding ring on her finger.

"Kakashi…didn't make it. No one saw him after the officer's quarters went under water. Kiba…. died. No one's seen him on the Carpathia so far. Iruka…died. Officer Shino survived though," his lip curled. "So did Orochimaru," he spat.

"What?" a gasp when through the room. "How come that bastard survived when others who should've didn't? How come he survived when…. when Neji didn't??" Tenten's brown eyes were furious and tear rimmed.

Hinata got up and comforted her cousin-in-law. "Some things just aren't…fair…T-Tenten," she said softly.

"Sasuke…what about him…what about Gaara, you didn't mention anything about him."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Officer Sabaku died. But there's a story there that you should know Sakura.

Flashback (night of sinking, just after Sakura's been shot)

"…Stay with me…" Gaara pressed his coat tighter against her shoulder wound as he heard her words to Sasuke, ignorant of the biting cold. "I promise Sakura…" Gaara watched as Sakura whispered to Sasuke "I'll hold you to that when I wake up…"

Gaara grimaced as Sakura fell limp, slipping into unconsciousness in Sasuke's arms. "Officer Sabaku, thank you for compressing her wound. She needs to get off this ship, now. I don't want you to be the one to do this but you're the only one around. Take her, take command of the next lifeboat, and get out of here. I'll stay here to help maintain control."

Gaara didn't move. "Gaara!" said Sasuke sharply. "Get moving. I know you care about her, regardless of what you tried, so get moving!" "But you just promised her you'd stay with her. Now you send me with her?" growled the red head to his commanding officer. "How do you think she'll react when she wakes up with me beside her instead of you? I'm not the one she made promise to stay with her!"

"Don't argue with me, just do it!" snapped the first officer. "I'm your superior, just obey the order and take care of her!"

"No." "What? There's no time to argue about it." "I'm mutinying. I refuse to do your order."

Sasuke picked Sakura up bridal style and made to hand the girl off to the other officer. "I'm not taking her. You go get on that boat and get off this bloody ship!" exploded the red head officer. "I know that what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have toyed with you guys like that, and I definitely shouldn't have tried to do to Sakura…what I did." His voice dropped. "This is my way of apologizing for what I did. Now get out of here!"

Sasuke made sure that Gaara's coat was tightly compressing Sakura's wound, before turning to the lifeboat. "Thank you Sabaku."

"Don't make me regret letting you leave with her. Take care of her," responded Gaara gruffly.

Sasuke nodded, before turning away. The last image he had of Gaara was the red head officer fending off the panicking crowd, and his voice shouting "Women and children only!!!"

End flashback

"…I think, that if he hadn't told me to leave with you, he would've survived and I probably wouldn't have made it off the ship."

Sakura's emerald eyes were wide. "He…after all that happened, he gave himself up for me…and for you…so we could be together?" she sniffed. "Does he have any relatives surviving?"

"A sister and a brother, both older, back in New York." "Where's the jacket?"

An uncomfortable flutter ran through the room. "I…I think the doctor threw it out Sakura…I'm sorry."

"Miss Sakura." A voice came from the door. "Is this what you were looking for?"

In the doorway, stood two young women wearing dirty maids uniforms. One had cropped blonde hair, the light playing off it turning it to spun gold. Her blue eyes snapped with laughter. The other had long brown hair in a loose braid and gentle mahogany colored eyes. In her hands she held a wrapped bundle. "Fa…ith. Delilah. You guys made it."

The two 'maids' curtseyed and walked into the room. "Here's Officer Sabaku's coat miss." "Can I have a moment alone with my maids…Sasuke, you too…" when her black haired officer moved to stay.

Once everyone had made their way out of the room-Sasuke as well- Sakura turned on her 'maids'. "I know, I'm probably going to sound a little vindictive when I say this but I told you I could save him." "Yes. You were stronger than we gave you credit for, to be able to shatter the thread of destiny. And as such…we've come to a decision. We're still obligated, of course, to do our duties as fate and destiny, however, we shall do them as your maids. Basically, you're stuck with us for the rest of your life." Sakura smiled.

"Of course I am. Must be fate."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Within several days, Carpathia had docked in New York. Meeting them at the dock was an army of reporters, all screaming questions about what had happened on the ship, and how many people actually survived?

Fortunately, because Sakura was a 'privileged' of the time and had her Aunt Tsunade (whom she was supposed to have met when she was younger…but she didn't remember.) to meet her at the dock, she managed to avoid the questions of the reporters and just head straight to her penthouse with her maids.

Sasuke got a room in the same hotel until his apartment could be made ready.

Several days after the sinking, a memorial service was held for Hyuuga Neji, paid for entirely by the White Star Line. Sakura and Sasuke went, of course, to comfort Tenten.

After the funeral, Sakura and Sasuke took a taxi out to Central park and ambled around before the reception at Tenten's apartment. "Sakura there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" "Well, this has been bothering me for a while. It's hard not to hear about various people and events, especially if they're of a higher-class people. I'd never heard anything about you before the Titanic, where did you come from?"

Sakura paused in her walk and looked out across the green park with the tall buildings in the background. "Sasuke please don't get mad when I tell you this. But the question you have…I can't give you the answer to. You wouldn't understand what happened, trust me." He looked like he was about to protest so she spoke up. "Please Sasuke. Just trust me on this. Don't ask, I can't tell."

She had him beat, without him even saying a word. "But I have a suggestion. Never make a wager with me about events that are going to happen. My intuition is too good, kay?" She smiled and began to walk on. Before she could, however, Sasuke gripped her hand and pulled her back in. She winced for a second because her shoulder was still in pain (not the one Sasuke had pulled) and looked up at her officer.

"Thank you for saving my life Sakura." She smiled and leaned her head against his chest. "You're welcome Sasuke, but it was no trouble…in saving yours, I saved my own."

A/N-And that's pretty much the end of TSAL. There's still an epilogue and here's the thing about that. I can do one of two things. I can either

update Saturday night and publish the first chapter of the WRBB sequel next Friday

OR

B) Update the epilogue next Friday and put the first chapter of the WRBB sequel out on the Friday before Christmas.