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.Heaven's Gate: Princess.

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Four: One Heck of Confusions and Surprises.

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Four figures. All of them were wearing kimono and hakama.

The figure closest to Sakura had blond hair with three "whiskers" on each side of his cheek. He wore a yellow headband with fire patterns on the sides of the band, the leftovers of the band flowed gracefully behind him. His hakama fell just 5 or 6 centimeters above his ankles. His kimono was orange, with black outline on his sleeves. His feet nails were sharp, as sharp as those of a bird. His eyes were blue, sky blue, and they stared at Sasuke furiously.

The second figure, the one standing behind Sakura had long, brown hair tied in a low ponytail. He also wore a headband, although his was white. His eyes were as white as his headband and there were nerves coming out from the sides of his eyes, he looked at Sasuke and he felt sick looking back at his eyes, although he had to admit the eyes were quite cool. His hakama fell right on his ankles, white kimono and hakama with black outline on the sleeves.

The third figure stood nearest to Sasuke and he was intimidated already. Green kimono and hakama, also another black outline on his sleeves, the first thing that Sasuke caught was the thick eyebrows and eyelashes, also the mushroom-styled haircut. His hakama fell right on his knees, there were white band covering his legs all the way to his ankles. His fists were clenched as he stared at Sasuke.

The last figure stood next to the third one. His color was dark red, with also black outline on the sleeves. His hair was red as well, and there was a kanji writing on his left forehead that reads "love". There were black lines around his eyes, as if he hadn't get enough sleep, his eyes were dimmed green, an opposite to those of Sakura's. His hakama fell also right on his ankles, he had a big gourd on his back and there were brown particles coming out from it as Sasuke entered.

All of them both frightened and intimidated Sasuke at the same time.

What is it with these guys? All they'd done to me so far is intimidating and scaring at the same time! Something is wrong with me! I had never been so intimidated, and frightened like this. Even the Princess scares me. There really is something Matsuo Tabi not telling me.

Sakura stared at him and sighed.

"I told you not to leave, didn't I?" she said. All four figures and Sasuke looked at her right away. Sasuke was more confused by the second. Was she under a spell now? Were these four people supposed to be friends? Were they strong? Strong enough to defeat him?

She looked okay. This could be a trick, though.

Sakura saw the confusion in his eyes and sighed again. She moved to stand and the four figures closed in on her, as if protecting her from any unseen danger.

For the first time, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"It's okay," she said to the blond one who was already holding onto her arm. She turned to the red-head whose sand was already flowing toward Sasuke. "Gaara." She called out.

The red-head turned and looked back at Sasuke. Sasuke's grip on his katana became firmer. A fight was about to start.

"Gaara, I'm serious," Sakura repeated. "Would any of you snap him out of it?"

The mushroom-styled haircut guy stood in between the red-head and Sasuke. He looked at the red-head and at Sasuke.

"Gaara," he said. "Sakura said stop."

"He might be a threat, Lee." His voice was dangerous.

Lee sighed and turned to Sasuke.

"Who are you?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. "What?" he scoffed.

Lee's eyes narrowed. "I mean what's your mission." He said. "I believe that would help."

"You are supposed to be taking care of Sakura-chan," the blonde yelled. Sasuke's head snapped at the blonde and he stared at him with shock. Did he just call the princess Sakura-chan?

"You are all putting pressure on him," Sakura said. "He's confused, I need to explain."

"I don't see why we should explain," the brown-haired guy said. His eyes were focused on Sasuke. "I see he's got quite a power in him, just look at the flow of his energy. They are all focused on his head."

"What?!" Sasuke yelled.

"Neji, don't play around," Sakura said. "You know that's not true."

"I know," he smirked. "I was just pointing out at how arrogant he is."

Sasuke clenched his teeth and jumped.

"He's making a move!" the blond guy screamed. "Gaara!"

The sand turned into a pike and it went toward Sasuke. He looked at the pike and took out his katana, he muttered something and lightning went across the katana. He cut the sand in half.

"That will never work!" Gaara yelled. Sasuke turned to avoid Gaara's kick and he blew fire toward the sand and it vanished.

"STOP!" Sakura screamed. Sasuke landed behind her, he punched the blonde away and grabbed Sakura by the waist. He jumped toward the far corned with her behind him. His stance was protective in front of her. They all looked at him and sighed.

"He's quite strong," Lee said, he turned to Gaara. "No one ever cut your sand in half before, that's something a normal shinobi is unable to do."

Gaara growled and his sand was attacking again, Sasuke kept on cutting them in half and blew fire on them. And they always vanished in thin air. Gaara growled louder in frustration.

A big amount of sand came out and it charged toward Sasuke.

"Stop!" the blonde yelled. "Sakura-chan is just behind him!"

Gaara didn't listen, the sand kept on coming.

"This is so annoying," Neji said. He jumped behind Gaara and closed the gourd. The sand vanished in thin air once again.

Gaara snapped at him, he turned and growled.

"You almost killed Sakura along, Gaara." He stared at his eyes. Gaara blinked and sighed.

"I got overboard," he said. He looked at Sasuke and growled quietly. "I'm not sorry though."

They ignored his last sentence.

Sakura stood and walked toward the blonde, Sasuke was about to move with her when she raised a hand at him; telling him to wait. She looked at the blonde as he looked at her, confused. She shook her head slightly and hit his head.

"Ow!" he complained. "What's that for?"

"You're the one who told Gaara to move!" Sakura yelled. "So it's mostly your fault I'm almost dead."

The other three guys looked at them and started chuckling, Lee was laughing already.

"Phew," a girl suddenly came out from thin air. Her blond hair was tied in messy pigtails. She also wore a kimono; she wore a hakama that was only a few centimeters above her knees. Underneath the hakama she wore a black legging. She was also barefooted, with a bell anklet on her right ankle. She carried a big fan behind her back. Her sapphire eyes looked around in confusion as the tension touched her, and then they stopped at Sasuke. "Oh." She muttered, understanding in her voice.

"Why do you let him in?" Gaara walked toward the girl. She backed away, looking at Sakura with even more confusion.

"Gaara, I asked her to," Sakura said. "Leave Temari out of this, you're just annoyed he was able to beat your sand technique… well, the basic one." She muttered the last part to herself.

"Whoa!" Temari looked at Sasuke with interest. "You're good." She smiled at him and he was at ease at once. At least someone was being nice.

"So, what's going on out there?" Sakura asked.

"The enemies are still closing in," Temari answered. "I did what I could to chase them away from this place, although all the repelling and bouncing seems to not be working."

"What?" Gaara's tone had an edge in it and Temari raised her hands protectively in front of her as she moved closer toward Sakura.

"I'm still doing what I could, I mean my wind is still going on," she said. "But they just keep on coming, no matter how many of them I repelled, more are coming."

It was her? Sasuke looked at Temari, shocked. The women in this place really are strong.

"They just don't stop," Neji sighed. "Do you want us to do something about it?" he turned to Sakura.

Sakura's forehead creased. She turned to the blonde after a while of thinking.

"Naruto, I think you should scare them," she smiled. Naruto's face lit up.

"Seriously?" he asked. Sakura nodded and smiled again.

"Not fair," Lee pouted.

"Next time it will be your turn," Sakura smiled again.

"Better be," he smiled back.

"Don't go pouty face, bushy-brow," Naruto smiled widely. "I'm about to go on stage!"

"You better not mess up," Lee called out.

"I can never mess up!" Naruto called back, he opened the door and dashed outside.

"He better not destroy another room," Neji looked around the room. "This room is already decorated so nicely."

"No worries," Gaara said. "My sand is already working on it."

Sasuke stared at them, confused. Sakura turned to him and smiled; she walked toward him and knelt in front of him. She patted his cheek and smiled again.

"Wake up," she said. "I believe you would want to know what's going on."

He nodded.

"We have to wait until it's all over, though," she said, looking outside. "It will be noisy for a while."

"What is that blond guy doing?" Sasuke asked, his voice was scratchy and he cleared his throat.

"He's transforming, just to scare Kuno's men away." Sakura answered; annoyance in her tone. It was clear that whatever Naruto was doing now was completely unnecessary. "Would you like to see?"

There were screams heard and she turned toward the red-head. "It started. Gaara, open a bit of your sand, will you?"

Gaara nodded and Sakura took Sasuke's hand as she guided him toward the door. She opened the door and a small squared sized window was made in the thick sand surrounding the room.

"There," Sakura pointed toward a big golden figure. "That's Naruto now."

Sasuke squinted through the sunlight as he looked through the small window. And then he gasped in shock and amazement.

A big, golden bird was in the air; its tail formed the seven color of a rainbow. Its beak was big and yellow and it shone under the sun. Everything on that bird was shining under the sun, even the gold feathers. It flew across the land as it screeched. Sasuke could see small black dots running away toward the forest, away from the land.

The scaring sure is working.

"What is he?" he asked, his voice too small to be heard but she heard, and the others heard.

"He's Suzaku," Sakura answered.

His eyes widened as he turned his head toward her. "What?!"

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I know there is not much romance in this chapter. In fact, this chapter is starting to reveal something big about Sakura (^v^)

Keep on reading, although it is guessed already what the secret is, huh?

BTW: Does any of you not know what Suzaku is?? Please tell me in reviews or mails so I can explain in the next chapter. If you know, then no need to explain the details. Google it, so much easier anyways X)

Thanks once again for all the reviews. I love reviews and I love all of you readers.

Again, reviews are very much appreciated.

~ButterCan'tFly.