Authors Note: Pardon the OOCness on Sasuke's part.

Eripmav

Part Four, Chapter three

Very

Sasuke let one of his hands leave that back of Sakura's head and slide down her back.

"Wouldn't it be funny if Naruto came?" Sakura gasped. Sasuke nodded and started kissing down her neck. "That tickles," He lift his head to look at her and licked his lips before attacking her mouth again. Sakura leaned into him and tangled her fingers deeper into his hair.

"GUYS!" Stop eating each other for one minute! Emergency!" Sakura choked for a second and quickly untangled herself from Sasuke and scrambled into a proper sitting position. Sasuke glared.

"Very funny." He mumbled under his breath to Sakura. She frowned.

"You better have a good reason for interrupting." She growled dangerously.

"I think finding our Phoenix sooner than expected can be classed as a good reason, right?"

- - -

Sasuke and Sakura ran followed Naruto at a run. They started cursing in between short breaths when the blonde told them he had left Penelope alone at the top of the giant hill they were now running up.

The sky was just starting to brighten, and there stood Penelope, frozen with fear; a fierce looking bird, nearly as large as she sat in a nest for stones, head raised and black, beady eyes watching her carefully.

Another fiery head popped up, from no where it seemed, and watched the newcomers.

"It was sleeping when I left," Naruto whispered; Sakura latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"I can't remember, are Phoenix dangerous?" She asked. He shrugged and moved to stand next to Penelope. A third head rose and blinked at them before disappearing again.

"A nest of rocks…" Naruto mused quietly as the second head vanished as well.

"Those aren't rocks." Penelope said flatly. "Those are eggs… They've been hatching ever since you left." She continued after a pause.

"They look exactly like rocks!" Sakura gasped now hugging Sasuke's arm tighter. He thought 'Way to go Eagle-Eye.' He would have said it out loud, but he held his tongue.

"Because," Penelope took a deep breath. "Some of them probably are."

"I wondered: 'How the hell are we supposed to get a Phoenix egg without getting scorched?' at the beginning of this little quest, now I wonder how we're supposed to get an egg without getting scorched that is an egg!" Sasuke pulled his arm from Sakura's grasp and draped it over her shoulder.

/Damn/ Inner Sakura moaned shaking her head. 'I couldn't have said it better myself.' Sakura thought back.

Naruto suddenly stepped forward.

"What are you doing!" Penelope hissed; he ignored her.

"We're not here to hurt you…" Naruto slowly kneeled The Phoenix ruffled its wings and cocked its head. Head radiated off the bright red and orange feathers. Smoke trickled out of the beak when it slightly opened. The great bird hissed but did not move.

"Naruto!" Penelope pleaded "What are you doing?"

At first Sasuke thought Naruto out of his mind. Talking to a bird – a monster – that could kill them all if it wished. But the birds' reactions as Naruto told it the whole story about Sasuke and Sakura becoming vampires and wanting to change back, made him question his accusation.

Little blue flames sprouted on the birds head and quickly matured to a deep, glowing read as Naruto finished the tale saying they needed a Phoenix egg. This was an intelligent bird. It seemed to understand every word spoken to it. It screeched – Long and high, rising to his feet, now taller than all of them. It stretched out its wings and shook them, sending sparks dancing all over the rock, blanketing Penelope, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura in an intense wave of heat.

A hot windstorm raged around them as another Phoenix winged over from a neighboring cliff. Once it landed, it hopped awkwardly to Naruto and stuck out a massive leg; it squawked and placed its foot gently in Naruto's lap.

"What's it doing?" Sakura whispered to nobody in particular. The first Phoenix stretched out its neck and took two steps forward. It dipped its head to Naruto's and raised it again, pausing. Then it reached over tapping Sakura's shoulder then Sasuke's and finally the nest of eggs/rocks.

"It's trying to tell us something…!" Sakura said a little louder. Sasuke rolled his eyes and the Phoenix did it all over again.

"Oh!" Penelope kneeled next to Naruto. "This on is hurt!" She grinned up at Sakura and Sasuke. "I think she's saying that if we help this one, we can have an egg!" Both Phoenix bobbed their heads.

The two in the nest watched lazily as an egg started to shake. The first Phoenix turned hastily and nudged it.

"She?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Penelope smiled.

"Yeah! Obviously! She's the mother…! The two in the nest are some of the ones that hatched before you came. Most of the others left right away…" Sasuke's eyebrows knit together as he glanced at the two in the nest that were now quietly shifting their wait, watching the egg on the ground.

"Are you sure that –"

"This one here is either a father or a friend." She licked her lips. "Of course, it could be another hatchling too…!"

"Penelope, I don't think you saw right. The two in the nest are nearly as big as—" Sasuke was interrupted again. A thin crack spread over the rock-like egg, thin rays of light exploding from where it split. The shell suddenly burst apart. Flames swallowed whatever came out of the egg, but a dark shadow the size of a chicken told all watching that there was still something there. The shape grew… fast. Almost as soon as it started, the chicken-sized something was the same size as the Phoenix in the nest. The flames slowly disappeared.

"Amazing," Sakura breathed as the new-born Phoenix flapped un-gracefully to the nest, its siblings squabbled at it for a minute before quieting down and falling asleep again.

…

"Okay, this Phoenix isn't too badly hurt… A cut on the middle toe, but if it's not treated, the nail could fall off. Penelope stroked the oversized chicken foot. "Does anybody have any rags?" Naruto looked up at Sakura.

"My bag, front pocket." She nodded and knelt behind him, pulling a roll of cloth out of his backpack and handing it to the Vampire.

Penelope leaned toward the Phoenix foot and spat on its toe.

"What the hell are you doing!" Naruto gasped "Gross! Your disgusting saliva got on my leg! Eww!"

"Oh, stop being a child." Penelope rolled her eyes skywards. "Human saliva has something in it that helps heal." She unraveled the bandage and wrapped it tightly around the massive foot. Sasuke was going to helpfully point out that she was not human, but kept his mouth shut.

"That's all we can really do." She sighed. "Leave that on for at least seven days. It will keep dust from entering the cut and infecting it. If that doesn't help, then come find me. I am usually found in the Second World, or in Konohagakure Village." She nodded to the Phoenix and stood.

The bird lifted its foot from Naruto's lap and winged upward. When the smoke cleared, there wasn't even a tiny dot on the horizon proving it had been in the area at all. The great bird had already flown out of sight.

"Where did they go?" Sakura looked around. Not a single Phoenix was in sight. A single rock lay on the ground in front of Naruto. "Weird…"

Sasuke stepped forward and picked up the rock and tested its weight. He cocked his head and glanced back at his teammates.

"Well," he smirked, "One more to go."

- - -

"Where are we supposed to find a Nymph's pool?" Sakura wondered watching Penelope skip away happily down the path. Naruto shrugged.

"She comes and goes awfully fast, doesn't she?" he sighed.

"The forest I'd guess." Sasuke answered Sakura. "In fairy tales they are usually in a forest."

"So… We could go to any old forest?" Sakura asked looking down over the Cliffside. "One with small ponds? One like that?" She pointed down at the treetops.

"I guess…" Sasuke picked up his pack and wandered in the direction Penelope had left.

She had traveled with the group until they reached Low-Point Lookout, and claimed she had business to attend to in the Second World. It was the second time she had ever spoken of the place, and the first time she gave something of an excuse as to why she was leaving.

"What exactly is the Second World?" Naruto wondered out loud. Sasuke shrugged and turned to wait for Sakura.

Naruto felt hot jealousy bubble in his gut 'Everything good happens to him, lucky bastard!' Naruto thought, glaring at Sasuke and Sakura's entwined fingers.