The Gate Amidst the Ivy

Chapter Four

(Mama, what happens when people die?

Whatever gave you such ridiculous thoughts, Sakura?

Well, Granny Tsunade was teaching me about medicines—and then I started thinking about death—

I should have known better than to let you go with that batty old woman! A good girl like you, Sakura, should be at home, learning the truly important things, the truly practical things—washing, cooking, cleaning—

Mama! You still haven't answered my question!

Fine then, you impossible child. My answer is I don't know. I'd have to die to find out, and then I couldn't quite come back to tell you then, now could I?

But don't you have any idea, at least? Tanaka says that someone named God is going to judge our good deeds and our bad deeds, and depending on our deeds, we'll either go to heaven or hell—

Ha! And what gives this God the right to decide what's good and what's bad? I tell you, child, there's nothing after death—nothing but darkness, and a damn good thing, too. I lost my belief in a God worth worshipping years ago—I wouldn't want anything He created.)

The next time Sakura visited the garden, she found a black velvet jewelry box settled neatly on the fountain. She frowned in apprehension. Was it perhaps a gift from Ino? From Shikamaru? But no, Ino wasn't the kind of person to hide away gifts; she preferred to give them herself, in person. And Shikamaru was too lazy to do anything except give hand over his money to Ino and hope that the girl picked an appropriate present. And anyways, there wasn't any occasion coming up that warranted a gift from her two closest friends.

(Wow, Naruto! You shouldn't have!

Do you like it, Sakura?

Well, of course I do! How'd you know I had my eye on that necklace?

Every time we walked past this store, it was the only thing you ever looked at, Sakura…

Oh, Naruto, I don't even know what to say…)

Her next thought was that the box was from Lady Hinata. But no, she'd left days ago, and Sakura had just been in the garden last night. And there was only one other person who knew about the garden…

Sakura's frown deepened. So it was something from Prince Sasuke. But the very thought was inconceivable. The crown prince, the next in line to the throne, actually bothering to get her a gift of some sort? Of course not. Was the gift an anchor for some sort of tracking spell?

(I think it's time to teach you something new, Sakura.

Really, Granny Tsunade! What is it?

It's called a tracker, Sakura.

A tracker—what's a tracker?

A tracker is a spell that allows you to keep track on someone's movements. Indeed, it's very useful—suppose you have an unruly patient that keeps on escaping, or you need to know where someone is, immediately—

I guess…

Tracking spells can be applied either of two ways, Sakura. The first—the easiest—is when you know that someone's name. It's relatively easy to put the spell on them then.

And the second?

The second is anchoring the tracker to a physical object, and somehow putting the physical object on the one to be tracked. It's much more difficult to do, since there isn't a unique life force to anchor the magic to…)

The now black-haired girl stepped closer to the box till her knees collided with the edge of the fountain. Her nose was barely inches away from the soft velvet of the box. Usually, only touch could activate tracking spells. But some spells were sensitive enough that they activated at the slightest use of magic in the near vicinity.

She closed her eyes, spreading out her aura carefully, like a surgeon with a scalpel. (Careful, Sakura! You need to be much more precise than that!) But no, there was no magic surrounding the box. The only magic she did sense was the residual aura from the plants that she had used her magic with to help their growth. Satisfied there was no tracking spell attached to the box, Sakura reached a hand out and carefully picked up the box.

(Mama, you know we can't afford that dress!

Sakura, I know… times have been difficult. But please, just have fun tonight.

Mama—

Three words stuck in her throat that she could never say. A trembling hand reaching out for a beautiful, powder-pink dress…)

She half expected an explosion. But the garden stayed as quiet as ever, save for the bubbling of water in the fountain and the chattering of birds. So the girl opened up the black box, anticipating what the… gift was.

(Papa! Tell me what it is!

It's a surprise, Sakura!

You know I hate surprises, papa!)

Jewelry. Of all the things—treating her as though she was one of his lady lovers—jewelry! And when he didn't even know who she was! Why, for all he knew, she could have been fat, old, ugly, greedy—and he gave her jewelry!

(Jewelry, like the gift the not-quite-man-not-quite-boy with blue eyes and blond hair had given her so many centuries ago…)

It was a delicate bracelet. A bright silver chain—or bright platinum, she couldn't tell—with delicate, small, sparkling, flawless diamonds speckled on it at periodic intervals. Surely it cost more money than she had ever seen. Surely, if she pawned it, if she received even a small fraction of what the bracelet was worth, her father's treatment was ensured. And so was her mother's comfortable future. As if under a compulsion, her trembling, unthinking hands reached for the bracelet to wear it, to do something with it, when suddenly she felt an abrupt flash of wrongness.

(A medic's most important tool is her gut. Scientific inquiry, magic, that is all fine and well—but you would never survive a day if you didn't listen to what your intuition told you, Sakura.

But—there's nothing—logical about your intuition, Granny Tsunade!

And yet, my gut, my intuition, has saved me thousands of times more than my knowledge ever has, Sakura.)

Sakura had never been one to ignore her gut feelings. She highly doubted the bracelet was covered in poison or something ridiculous, but took a tentative sniff at it anyways. She discerned none of the scents she had been taught to watch out for during her medic training, but of course certain poisons were odorless. But those poisons would have been ineffective unless internally consumed, and since Sakura highly doubted she'd be eating the bracelet anytime soon, she wasn't too worried about those.

She stretched out her aura again and almost dropped the box with the bracelet in it. So the box had acted as a sort of cloaking spell, masking the potent magic of the bracelet within it. Her hand withdrew immediately from the bracelet, and Sakura examined the jewelry more closely.

This bracelet was a tracking spell, with a powerful compulsion spell added to it, a spell designed to make anyone who say the bracelet desire to wear it. Why, if she'd worn it, the creator of the spell—most like Prince Sasuke—would have been alerted immediately to her location. And she wouldn't have been able to take the bracelet off unless he himself took it off! Well, growled Sakura mentally, you can't outsmart me, can you, Your Bastard-ness! Then she felt slightly childish at her thoughts.

(Naruto! You're lucky that noble didn't haul you off to get beheaded!

He was a big fat jerk!

His Highness is a noble, Naruto! It doesn't matter if he's a jerk!

Well, His Bastard-ness had it coming to him!

Urgh! Naruto! I swear, you're going to get yourself killed one day!)

She snapped the box shut regretfully. If only she could have somehow disabled the tracking spell, then she wouldn't have had to worry about her financial situation for the rest of her life. But even though she had the precise control required for nullifying a spell, she didn't have nearly the brute force of magic needed to overpower someone with his sort of aura.

Sakura put the box back where she had found it. Feeling her trip to the garden had somehow been soured by the not-quite-a-gift Prince Sasuke had left her, she left the place soon afterwards.

When Sakura got back to the castle, Ino was waiting for her.

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

(It was dark, far beyond curfew. Her mother, exhausted, angry, bitter, staring back at her.

What is it, Sakura? What have you done?

Nothing, Mama! Nothing at all!

Ever since you started hanging out with that demon brat—

Naruto is quite possibly to best thing that's ever happened to me in my life! Just because once in my life I've finally started building a backbone—

There is no place for pride in the life of a peasant, Sakura! You ought learn that as soon as you can!)

Ino explained, "Aiko told me to tell you to go to the bird trainers. Prince Sasuke is expecting a missive from the King, but the messenger bird's been several days later than it should be. Check to see if it got in this morning."

"Are you sure Aiko said I should do it?" teased Sakura.

The blonde's nose wrinkled. "Well, maybe she expected me to do it, but all that bird poop everywhere is just disgusting!"

"And so you just decided to dump the job on me?"

"Well, I'm taking care of cleaning the second floor for you, so don't complain!"

(Naruto! Stop making all that racket! The neighbors would use any excuse to keep us out—

Sakura! I'm carrying all the bags here! Don't complain!)

Sakura rolled her eyes good-naturedly at her friend. She wondered whether she should tell Ino about what had occurred the last time she had visited the garden… Her eyes darkened and her mouth opened, and Ino waited expectantly. But for some reason, the moment seemed entirely too personal to ever be shared with anybody, even though it was something ridiculous like jewelry with a tracking spell on it.

"Never mind," sighed Sakura, and she waved goodbye to her friend and went on her way towards the bird trainers. She knew from the glint in Ino's eyes that the other girl wouldn't let it rest, but Sakura was certain she'd have thought up of an excuse by then.

As she walked down the corridors, she wondered whether she really should abandon the garden. It would do fine without her… the fountain was flowing, the flowers were nearly in full bloom… But the thought of the garden once again descending into darkness, once again being abandoned, filled her heart with pity. It was her secret little hideaway, and that pretentious little prince had better learn how to deal with it!

Lost in her thoughts, it wasn't long before she reached the bird trainers. They congregated around the pasture the horses often grazed in, training hawks and doves and sending and receiving missives from far-off countries. There was a sizeable group of trainers today, and Sakura immediately brightened when she noticed her good friend Tenten.

Mistress Suki, the head trainer, was taking a break, having lain down on the soft grass, and she nodded at Sakura as the younger girl passed. Sakura gave a tentative smile at the formidable, stern woman and crouched down next to her.

(A formidable, stern woman stared down at her—a nervous smile—

Don't smile at me unless you mean it, girl!

Y-yes, Granny Tsunade.)

"Aiko wants to know if Prince Sasuke's missive has arrived yet," explained Sakura.

Suki's sharp, almost hawk-like green eyes sharpened even more till they were like shards of glass. "Yes. It's there. It's state business, though, so none of us can deliver it since we don't have the clearance. I just took the bird to the missive room, which is where it is waiting for him."

"Thank you," said Sakura politely, and got up to leave.

Suki's next words stopped her. "Go see the girl Tenten," the woman ordered. "She's got something to tell you."

(G-go see your father, Sakura. He's got something to tell you.

Wh-what is it, Mama? Why are you crying? Is Papa worse?

Just go see him!)

Sakura nodded warily. She got up, bowed slightly at Mistress Suki, and walked past her. About to call out to Tenten, Sakura stopped and giggled at the sight before her.

Tenten was staring at the pigeon. The pigeon was staring solemnly back, ruffling its dappled gray feathers. "You got this, Lilac?" she was asking it.

The pigeon made a movement Sakura could have sworn was a nod before spreading its wings out and alighting from the brunette's wrist. Tenten then turned around and spotted Sakura. "Hey!" the girl called out, waving brightly at Sakura.

Sakura ran up to her friend. Smiling, she said, "Someone's in a good mood today, Tenten."

(Hey, Sakura-chan!

Wow, someone's in a good mood today!)

Tenten nodded. "You bet I am. Kiara finally returned—"

"Kiara?"

"She's a messenger pigeon. You know, the one carrying the prince's message? I think some idiot hunter tried to shoot her down for sport, though," sighed Tenten. "She barely made it back to the castle, and I don't ever know if she'll fly again—"

(Quite frankly, Mrs. Haruno, I don't know if your husband will ever walk again—)

"Oh, how tragic," sympathized Sakura. Tenten had always been particularly in tune with animals, even more so with birds, and the brunette was always saddened when something horrible happened to her animal companions.

"Yeah," sighed Tenten again.

"Anyways," continued Sakura, "Mistress Suki said you had to see me?"

The bun-haired girl blinked. "Um, no. Well, I did have a favor I wanted to ask you… but nothing actually official for you."

(Sakura-chan, would you do anything for me?

Well, of course, Naruto! Wait—what'd you get in trouble for this time? I don't want to have to bail you out every time you do something idiotic, Naruto!

N-nothing like that, Sakura-chan! I was just making sure!

A pause. Okay then, Naruto…)

"Oh," said Sakura cautiously, noncommittal.

Tenten's doe-like eyes saddened. "Please—I know you have healing magic—could you please… heal Kiara for me?"

(Please, Sakura, I know you've been taking healing lessons from Granny Tsunade, but she's left now, you know it, and we don't have enough money to pay for a doctor—and at his work his right arm was crushed—and I—we—

Wait, what, Suzuki?

Please… heal my brother for me! It's only the two of us, and without him working, I don't know how we'll eat, Sakura!

Oh, Suzuki, I wish I could—but I don't know anything, or at least anything of value—I can't help your brother—

And so you'd condemn him to being a cripple for the rest of his life! Please, Sakura, just this one thing, and I'll never ask you for anything ever again—

But Suzuki's brother had remained a cripple, and by the time Sakura knew enough to help him, Suzuki and her brother had died in poverty…)

"No, Tenten! I don't—I don't know anything about animals! Or at least nothing of value about them!"

"But don't you do something called a reversing spell? Oh Sakura, please, to think that Kiara might never fly again—"

(To think Papa might never walk again—)

"But reversing spells aren't like that! They're fine for small cuts and scrapes, but any larger and I die of exhaustion! And a bird's wing structure is completely unlike anything I've ever studied before, Tenten—"

(Granny Tsunade, why can't I use a reversing spell on Papa?

Why, indeed? Have you ever heard of anything called lifeforce exhaustion?

Yes—

Then that's why, you idiotic child! Death is sometimes far too insistent for even the best of us!)

"Please, Sakura! If Kiara can't fly, she'll be released, she'll die in the wild because she can't fly, and—" Tenten's eyes were wet, and Sakura felt herself crumbling.

"Dammit," cursed Sakura. "Fine. I'll do it! But, Tenten, I can't guarantee much of anything—I've never done anything with birds before—"

"That's fine by me!" accepted Tenten eagerly. "Sakura, I love you. You're one of my best friends, you know that?"

(Sakura-chan, you're my best friend ever! I love you!

Oh, Naruto, you're so sweet! I love you too—)

The pinkette gave the brunette an angry look. "Just take me to the stupid bird, okay?"

The hopeful light in Tenten's eyes dimmed slightly at Sakura's anger, and for a moment the former healer felt guilt. Then she cloaked the guilt in righteous anger. Tenten knew how uncomfortable Sakura was at showing her magic, and yet the girl insisted Sakura attempt to heal the bird.

Tenten grabbed the shorter girl's hand and started leading her back into the castle. "Wait," cautioned Sakura, "wouldn't Mistress Suki mind if you left?"

(Wait, Sakura-chan, wouldn't your mom mind if we went into the forest?

Well, she doesn't need to know, now does she?

Sakura-chan! That's naughty!)

"I've been working all day, so she won't mind if I took a break," insisted Tenten. "And anyways, Mistress Suki isn't like the other overseers here. She understands."

"Right," agreed Sakura skeptically. "And… where is Kiara, then?"

"Oh, in the missive room," shared Tenten nonchalantly.

"The missive room!"

"Yes. Why are you so shocked? Didn't Mistress Suki tell you that's where the prince's letter was waiting?"

"Tenten! You know that only nobility and authorized bird trainers are allowed in there! And in case you haven't noticed, we don't fall under either category!"

"Relax, Sakura. The prince'll probably be gone all day. And no one's expected there besides him, so we're safe."

"Probably!"

"Okay, let me rephrase that. The prince is going to be gone all day—everyone knows he's going for fencing practice—so we have all the time in the world!"

Sakura bit her lip nervously. "I know I said I'd help heal Kiara, Tenten, but I can't risk my job like this—"

"I'll take the fall, then!" interjected Tenten, frustratedly. "Just please, make Kiara better, Sakura."

"You know I can't do that to you, Tenten! Honestly, it's a bird—it's not worth your life!"

(It's a job, Sakura! It's not worth your life!

Mama, you don't understand. Being a medic is something I have to do!)

Tenten abruptly stopped walking and turned around to face Sakura. "Then you know what? I'll go ahead, and I'll try to help Kiara without you. It probably won't work, and perhaps I'll get fired, but to see a bird in such pain, Sakura, it's horrible! I'd hoped to have your support on this, but—"

(To see someone in such pain! It's just horrible. That's why I want to heal Papa, Granny Tsunade—that's why I want to become a medic!)

"Fine," acquiesced Sakura miserably. "If you say it like that, then I can't refuse."

"That's my girl!" cheered Tenten.

Sakura glared at the girl, but by then they found themselves in front of the missive room.

It was deceptively easy to get into the missive room. The room was at the end of a short, winding, oddly-angled hallway. It was unlocked and unguarded, as most simply assumed no one was idiotic enough to try and sneak into the room. And anyways, any message worth keeping secret was spelled with a self-destruct magic that would activate if anyone unauthorized to read it laid their hands on it. So all Tenten had to do was push open the ornate, ancient, wooden door and walk inside; and Sakura followed her.

Sakura had never been inside the missive room before. It was a smallish, simple room, made completely out of stone. There were no decorative tapestries or flowery incenses of which the nobles were so fond. For light, there was only a tall, thin window set into the wall which most often faced the sun, and several enchanted, everlasting candles placed strategically around the room to illuminate all its dark corners. In the middle was a stone table, and upon it lay a dying messenger pigeon with a small white letter attached to its leg. Dried blood, almost black, had crusted around its right wing. It lay on the table limply, not even struggling when Tenten tenderly caressed some of its feathers with a delicate finger.

Sakura stood near. The bird was so tiny. With steady hands, Sakura reached out for the bird and scooped it in her hands, feeling its labored breathing and the infinitesimal tremors that shook its body.

(The child in her hands was just so tiny, and it was trembling with fever and fear. Sakura stared at her mentor in apprehension, her eyes screaming: You can't actually expect me to do this alone, can you?

Granny Tsunade left the room without a word, left the terrified healer with the terrified infant. It was almost cruel, but the look in the older woman's eyes was almost loving.)

The bird in her hands, Sakura sat down on the ground. Without a word to Tenten, she closed her eyes and let her magic do her looking for her. Sakura explored carefully, poking gingerly at the bones in its undamaged wing, exploring the humerus and the radius and the carpal, bones that were not so different from human bones but different enough to be bewildering. She had been told her magic was a soft glowing green color, rather like her eyes (Like her mother's eyes, dead, limp seawater—), and she imagined the room lighting up with an emerald glow as she explored the bird's wing. And then, after leisurely surveying, she felt confident to rebuild the bird's other, ruined wing, its right wing.

She filtered her magic through the limp bird's body. Vaguely she felt someone's hand shaking her shoulder, trying to lift her out of her healing trance, but once one began such powerful healing magic, it was nearly impossible to focus on anything else until after the magic was done.

(Hey, Granny Tsunade—Granny Tsunade!

No answer.

Granny Tsunade! Granny Tsunade!

Sakura! Don't interrupt me while I'm healing someone! Would you like to have a half-healed arm? Stomach wound? Heart? No? Then let me heal in peace!)

The bird's tiny heart was beating at a slower and slower pace. Was that bad? Was that good? She had no idea—the average human's heart beat was seventy-two beats per minute, but what was a bird's? Did anyone even know? She opened her mouth to perhaps ask Tenten but found she had forgotten how to speak. So instead she focused on its right wing again, working meticulously until she felt its bones regrowing, its tendons rethreading, regrouping, its feathers rebuilding.

The bird began thrashing in her arms, panicking, perhaps in pain due to the healing, but Sakura held it firmly, gently.

(Sometimes healings are painful, Sakura. In that case, continue—it is necessary. Comfort the patient, if you can, but hold them firmly—never let them wriggle away, Sakura, or the healing will come undone.

Yes, Granny Tsunade.)

Suddenly she felt its tiny little heart speed up—now it was beating twice as fast, three times as fast—and abruptly its heart stopped. The former medic abandoned the half-healed wing, ignoring her mentor's advice, frantically calling her healing magic to the pigeon's heart to see if she could restart it—when unexpectedly she was thrust back into reality. Her eyes flew open; she blinked rapidly, attempting to focus on the blurry brunette in front of her. It took Sakura a moment before she realized her cheek was stinging furiously.

Tenten's hand was raised, and the bird trainer looked terrified out of her wits.

"Wh-what?" muttered Sakura slowly, feeling as if she were attempting to speak underwater.

(A sinister growl—blue eyes that she knew so well, alien and red—whisker marks on his face—sharp canine teeth—

Naruto! Snap out of it!

The sharp sound of a slap.

Wh-what? Sakura-chan? What—what happened?

What are you, Naruto!)

The other girl's eyes were fixed on some terror behind Sakura. Slowly, Sakura turned around as well, attempting to make her rubbery limbs cooperate. Healings always left her like this… but her sluggish thoughts came to a complete stop as she realized who was behind her.

He must have come in sometime during the healing. As it was, his impenetrable obsidian eyes stared at Sakura. He wore the same shirt he had worn the one other time Sakura had seen him, but with her medic's training she noticed his labored breathing and the paper-thin, bleeding cuts all over his body and concluded absently that he must have just come from fencing practice. Prince Sasuke was a noted fencer.

She curtsied as low as she possibly could with a bird clutched between her hands. Tenten, trembling, followed suit.

"Y-your Majesty," gasped Tenten. "We—we didn't know—"

The prince ignored her completely, his gaze focused on Sakura. "That was impressive magic you did there." Her ears drank in his silver voice.

(That was impressive healing you did, Sakura.

R-really, Granny Tsunade?

Warm, motherly eyes. Really, Sakura.)

Sakura's conflicted eyes met his for a moment before she looked back down. "Thank you, Your Majesty. But obviously not impressive enough, for the bird is dead." Without meeting his eyes, without moving from her spot, she placed the limp pigeon with the untouched missive back onto the stone table. Her second failure, and it had to be in front of this man… Tears came to her eyes, for that was the first time she had ever experienced the death of any creature mid-healing. (The heart stopping, making no more noise, a void where a once-bright life had been, a darkness, a quietness—Death is silence—)

"If you'd been earlier, you would have had a chance at saving the bird."

To another, it might have seemed like consolation. But Sakura knew better—it was an admonishment: Why didn't you come earlier?

The prince took a step closer, and Sakura's world narrowed down to two people—him and her. The sound of his breathing and the sound of her beating heart, beating as fast as the bird's, beating, still beating, unlike the poor bird's heart—

"Now how did a servant ever pick up such advanced magic?" interrogated Sasuke softly, silkily, dangerously.

(Granny Tsunade, where did you ever learn such advanced magic?

That's none of your business, Sakura!)

Sakura gave him a heavily abbreviated version, hating herself for the waver in her voice. "When I was younger, Your Majesty, a healer lived at my village. She gave me lessons and told me I had a natural talent. Then hard times came to our family, and I had to come here to work."

He took three more steps, until Sakura, with her eyes fixed firmly on the ground, could see his feet. He was taller than her, and he used that to his advantage to intimidate her. Sakura wanted to do nothing more than cower. And Tenten… well, Sakura had no idea how Tenten was holding up, but she hoped the brunette wouldn't collapse until after they got out of the prince's sight.

Suddenly Tenten spoke up. "P-please, Your M-majesty, Sakura only came here b-because I insisted that she d-did, to help heal Kiara—the bird. I-I am a bird trainer—you can ask Mistress Suki to confirm that. If y-you're going to punish a-any-anyone, please let it be me—the blame is on my shoulders only!"

(Please, Mrs. Haruno! This is all my fault! If you're going to punish anyone, punish me! Everything Sakura-chan did was because I told her to do it!

Get out of my home, you damn demon brat! I never want to see you again!

No—Naruto—Mama, stop it!

A gentle smile. It's okay, Sakura-chan. I'll be fine.)

Sakura's verdant eyes widened. She tore her gaze off the floor and glanced at Tenten, who was standing right next to her. The brunette's cheeks were pale, her eyes were wide, her shoulders were shaking with fear. She was touched by the loyalty her friend felt for her. At best, the prince could choose to fire them with no references; at worst, they could disappear and never be heard from again for "attempting to breach national security." The king was not known for kindness towards traitors.

So she placed her beseeching gaze on the prince, ignoring all protocol. "No—please—Tenten has an entire family to feed. If anything, I ought be punished because—because I was the one that did the healing." The fire in her eyes dimmed and became complacent. "I will accept any punishment you give me, sire."

His eyes narrowed, and Sakura felt an unwilling blush at his aristocratic features. "Sakura. So that is your name. And Tenten."

Sakura… the name rolled off his tongue like an exotic wine, and made her flushed like a drink from a cup of exotic wine would as well. Tenten reached out to grab her hand, and Sakura found it was sweaty like hers.

There was a silence that lasted a few minutes but may as well have lasted an eternity. Sakura got the vague feeling that he was memorizing their features.

"You both may go," he spoke after some time. "I wish to never see either of you around here ever again."

Sakura nodded fervently, Tenten looked like she was about to cry in relief, and both curtsied deeply and rushed past him. At the last moment, however, Sakura looked back and caught a glimpse of how he untied the missive from Kiara's leg and almost gently lay the pigeon aside.

Please tell me what you thought about Sasuke. Sasuke is always the most difficult character for me to write, and I felt like he was very bland in this chapter. –hide- BUT I promised some SasuSaku interaction this chapter so here it is!

It's a rough chapter because I wrote it all today (being hit with a major burst of inspiration) and wanted to get it out before it was too late. So if you notice any typos, please point them out to me. (:

So, anyways! I'm still alive! I hope you liked that chapter. It was really difficult for me to write, but I figured I should get it out sometime. So here it is. Poor Kiara the pigeon. If you noticed something off about the bird scene.

Erm… yeah. That's about it. Review! :D

If you review a wish will come true! Which wish? Don't you WISH you knew? (HAHA GEDDIT? GEDDIT? Pun.) Well, I guess there's only one way to find out... and that's to review!