Chapter Four

It was just as beautiful as she had seen it all those years ago. Crystals surrounded the area creating light effects that movie directors would kill to have in their movies, and here they were just casting light and shadows. Doing their crystal thing, whatever crystals do that doesn't evolve reflecting things. Not only were the crystals amazing, but the tunnel formations looked like there used to be some kind of underground river that swept through creating cone like rocks that with one good shake of the earth could come crashing down on some unsuspecting victim.

That was not the case, as Sakura and her team made it through the first tunnel to run smack dab into a dead-end. It just was not their lucky day as they backtracked three different times before finding a tunnel that looked promising. It was easy to tell that the path that they were on was used several times, either by humans or animals; so they followed it until they started to feel heat penetrate their highly developed suits. Before they knew it a pool of hot molten lava stood before them and it was quite obvious that there was something moving around in it.

Kakashi was the first one to proceed toward the pool, when he was stopped by a shy tentative hand. Sakura shook her head and made her way around Kakashi so that she could get a better look. The pool looked eerily familiar to her, as she approached. In some ways the heat was comforting to her and she was half tempted to just rip off the suit and jump in, but that would be absolutely crazing on her part. It would be like the first time she had met him. Her friends, not being prone to fainting, would get a taste of what it was like if she just happened to waltz right up to the edge and jump in. Then maybe they would understand what exactly she went through on that particular day.

Before Sakura let her thoughts get too out of hand, she slowly walked up to the pool and leaned over slightly to get a better look at the disturbance in the roasting hot pool of magma. What she saw was a head emerge from its depths and tilt slightly at her confused expression. As the head slowly started to make its way over to a now shocked still Sakura, one thought was repeated over and over again in her trembling head. It was him. He was gradually surfacing in his amazing glorified way.

Sakura couldn't look back to see what her friends were up to, but hearing a distant thumb was the signal of one of them meeting the faint of doom. It wasn't long after the first that the second was heard, considerably louder than the first. It must have been Kakashi, for Naruto is quite a bit shorter and lighter than Kakashi was. Once they have met their faint of doom, he stepped out of the pool and approached her slowly, as if he might scare away a frightened animal; but try as he mush he couldn't hide the growing smirk that was plastering itself on his beautiful face.

Deep ebony eyes that could look beyond the soul of any human. Sharp chiseled features that highlighted the high cheek bones, and strong jawline. He was also very lean but muscular, it look as if he was built for speed, but was not lacking any in strength. His hair stood at an odd angle at the back, as if he had touched an outlet and it had permanently stuck out like that. Long bangs framed his face giving him a soft, but mysterious look. If anything his hair had grown since the last time she had seen him. To snap herself out of her mini day dream Sakura thought about the reason she was there in the first place and felt her mind instantly go rigid.

"You! We have looked everywhere for you, and you didn't even bother to let out a signal or something?" He looked slightly taken aback as she took a few breathes to calm herself. She could tell that he wasn't expecting that reaction out of her, and all she could think was it served him right. Once the initial shock of her outburst was gone, back was the sideways smirk that planted itself on his perfect lips.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that you were looking for me? I mean this is the first time you have come to visit ever since that day." After hearing that, Sakura's cheeks turned a cute shade of pink and her eyebrows furrowed together as she pointed an accusing finger in his direction.

"This is not the first time that I have tried visiting you! For your information I was here two years ago looking for your sorry ass, but you were contently not here. So I spent my time doing something more proactive then chasing you everywhere!" She cocked her hip to one side and placed a hand on it. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is finding you?" He looked up for a moment contemplating his answer before meeting her eyes again.

"No, but you could have at least wrote a note or something." Sakura sighed loudly.

"And how do you expect a tiny piece of paper not to burn under this unbearable heat?" His smirk turned into a crooked smile that almost had her taking in a breath… almost.

"That is not what I meant, but without further arguments. How about you come join me and we can catch up like old friends."

"J-join you?" She stuttered, then pointed her pale finger in the direction of the lava pool. "In there?" He shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Of course, where else?" Sakura took a step away from the comforting heat and toward her friends.

"You're crazy if you think you are going to get me in there again. It was just sheer luck that I didn't burn into little bits of Sakura ashes." He chuckled. Before she could protest he quickly seized her arm and plunged right back into the fierily depths. They didn't emerge again until the suit had burn off and Sakura was lost for breath. When they both reached the surface the first thing she did was slap him hard across the cheek. She was surprised that he didn't retaliate from the hit but only allowed a look of pure annoyance to cross his features.

"That was uncalled for." He said in a flat tone. She nearly cringed at the coldness, but quickly regained her bearings when she saw that they were still in the heat consumed pool of lava. Sakura quickly started to panic, thrashing around until Sasuke pinned her arms against his chest, and used the rock ledge to give him some leverage against the rest of her body. "Calm down." She thrashed harder.

"Calm down? Calm down! How can I calm down when I'm not burning into little eiddy bitty bits of burning flesh! How is this even possible?" He sighed against her hair trying to find a way to explain it to her, when he himself didn't have an explanation.

"Listen, I don't know what to tell you, and what not to but I can control the heat that is around us to a certain point." Seizing in her thrashing Sakura thought about his words for a moment.

"How?" Easing up on his grip around her waist, Sasuke shifted to the side to relax next to her in his favorite spot on the rocks.

"It's hard to explain. I just kind of think 'cool down' and it does. I don't know why it does, but I haven't questioned it in a long while." Now free from his grasp Sakura lifted herself on to the ledge and experimentally dangled her now exposed feet into the pool. After swaying her feet a few times, a small smile lit its way onto her features and she started to laugh lightly. When Sasuke looked over to her, he couldn't help but smile himself. She looked so beautiful.

It was like her eyes had lightened up whenever she moved her feet back and forth. She reminded him of a child that had just learned that the water was safe and couldn't hurt them. In a since this was the same thing. Sasuke just watched on in silence when a rustle of clothing brought both of their attentions over to her fallen teammates. When a silver head shot up and wide charcoal eyes looked at his female companion, they could tell that his vision was swarming and he was fighting to stay conscious. Sakura brought her legs out from the pool in perfect condition, as she ran over to Kakashi who was now teetering backwards. She caught him and shook him a few times before he was able to form a few sentences.

"W-what happened to your suit? And h-how did you manage to do that without b-burning to death?" Sakura shrugged sheepishly then grabbed ahold of his hand.

"Well, you see… That guy over there is the one I was telling you about, and he can control the… um… lava temperature so that it wouldn't burn me." Kakashi nodded then took in a few stabilizing breaths.

"Oh, I see. He controls the lava… wait… what?" Sakura caught Kakashi again then laid him down flat on the floor so that he wouldn't suffer a head injury on her behave. When he was down, she looked over to Sasuke who had a smirk on his face.

"It's not funny!" He shrugged his shoulders casually.

"If you say so." Sakura jumped to her feet instantly and rushed over to where Sasuke had his arms laid out in front of him crossed so that his chin rested peacefully on top.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He shrugged again.

"Whatever you want it to mean." She pointed a finger at him.

"Don't play games with me! Can't you just give me a straight answer?" He sighed then closed his eyes. The smirk was gone replaced by a serious frown.

"I'm not playing games with you." Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. She couldn't get over his sudden mood swing and it had her kind of on edge.

"Then what are you doing?" He sighed again then lifted his eyes to meet hers.

"I was just trying to get a rise out of you." Back was the smirk that had disappeared. She took a step toward him and sat down so that she could dangle her feet back in the heated pool. He was playing games, but she could also tell that he was just trying to get her riled up so that she would stay and finish their pointless argument about playing games. Was it so hard to create a normal conversation with this guy? The answer… wait for it… yes, yes it was hard. He had no people skills what so ever and seemed to get some kind of amusement out of driving her insane.

Leaning back on her elbows, Sakura took in a deep breath to calm her rising emotions to see if her strategy of not getting angry at his comments would work. She felt the heat move around her again and opened her eyes to find deep ebony staring back. Sakura squeaked and tried to move away but her legs were caught in strong muscular arms. The culprit of the leg stealer was grinning mischievously at her pointless struggle. Before long she tired herself out and let her legs be held by the captor. He smirked in triumph before opening his mouth to speak.

"Before you started your pointless struggle I was just going to ask if you would like to see some more of my home." Her mouth formed an O and she nodded her head eagerly. He chuckled slightly then grabbed ahold of her hands to pull them close to him. Once he had accomplished that he slowly slide her off of the edge and dragged her over to the middle of the pool. He could see a nervous hint to her eyes as her forced the heat around them to cool somewhat. When they started to sink he could feel her tense up.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. When we go down just hold your breath until I say otherwise." She nodded then took in a few deep breaths to calm her shallow pants. Once that was done, he took in a deep breath himself and motioned for her to do the same. After they were under Sasuke went to work quickly to create and air bubble around them. When complete he left out his air and Sakura followed suit. The air around them was dense, but breathable. The gentle flow of the lava surrounding them instantly put them both at ease as they continued the journey downward.

Sakura didn't know what she was going to see, but she braced herself for all possible outcomes. Who knew, maybe there was the sunken city of Atlantis down there, or perhaps some elaborate home that looked like something that could be bought out of a magazine. The possibilities were endless, now all that would make her journey better, was to find out some answers to her growing population of questions.

AN: Yay, another chapter done today. I'm on a role! Wish me luck on the next one; I hope to finish It by tomorrow. Please send your thoughts so that I know that you guys are reading and enjoying. Much love and happy writings. :D