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.Heaven's Gate: Princess.

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Eight: Shooting Stars and Wishes.

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It was extremely crowded as Sasuke had predicted. What he didn't predict was how informal everything was, but then again everything about the place, the princess, and the people were unpredictable. They barely called Sakura "Princess" or "Hime-sama" which had the same meaning as Princess anyways. They called her by name. Some of them even put the –chan in as if they had been good friends.

And Sakura didn't mind. It looked like there was nothing wrong with the informality.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall of the throw-the-ball-get-the-doll game when the owner suddenly spoke. Sakura was trying to catch a goldfish across the place.

"Sakura-chan is so nice like that," he smiled. Sasuke looked at the owner, shocked.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I meant the Princess; you should know her name, shouldn't you? You're her bodyguard after all," the old man looked at Sasuke questioningly. "Well, I was just saying she was just so nice. All the formality of calling her 'Princess' is just for the sake of the country's status. To let all those other blasted countries that we still have royalty in our country that can still rule. But then it became a habit on calling her princess.

"But she said we should call her Sakura on festivals, she said festivals are times where we should be having fun, not mind anything about politics," he chuckled to himself. Sasuke looked at Sakura and smiled. Her forehead was creased as she concentrated on trying to get the goldfish.

An ANBU landed next to her and Sasuke was alert, could something be wrong? But then the ANBU opened the mask and it was the annoying Chinese-pigtailed girl. Ten-ten knelt next to Sakura and tried as well. She caught it in one go and Sakura started protesting.

Sasuke relaxed. On festivals like this, nothing would ever go wrong. He should start enjoying himself; he had been so tensed all this time. Living in this country was a new experience for him, and it might be able to change how he had been living all this time.

Blood, war, blood, betrayal. In this country there was only warmth, loyalty, kindness…

Oh great, he thought. Now I'm stuck… between Matsuo Tabi's order and principal, and the country's thoughts and principal. From the look of it, I should side with the country. But one never knows when he is deceived. I should kill the Princess as soon as possible; maybe tomorrow night is a possibi—

"Sasuke-kun, you have got to help me,"

Sasuke's head snapped up and he saw the princess, fake tears on her cheeks as she tried to catch the goldfish. Ten-ten was grinning next to her with a caught goldfish in a water bag in her grip. He sighed as he walked toward them.

"Come on Uchiha, show me what you got," Ten-ten challenged. She knelt again.

Sasuke knelt next to Sakura and looked at all the goldfish. He sighed, he placed his finger in the water and all the fishes fainted, they floated on the surface of the water.

Sakura's, Ten-ten's, and the owner's eyes widened in shock.

"Did you just zap them with your electric thingy?!" Sakura gasped. Sasuke looked at them and frowned.

"You want the goldfish right? Well here they are, fainted, not dead, so it's fine, right?" he looked at her, confused.

"Holy macaroni, your bodyguard's crazy!" Ten-ten yelled. "Are you kidding me? Play fair, stupid!"

"What have you done?!" Sakura shrieked. "The fishes are dead!" she started sobbing.

"I told you they just fainted!" Sasuke panicked. "They'll come around soon!"

"Do something!" Sakura shrieked louder. Sasuke looked around; people were not looking at their direction, strangely. He poked the fishes.

"Hey fishies, wake up!" he yelled. "Come on! You're strong! Look at you, you breathe under water!"

The fishes stayed faint.

"Hello! Earth calling to fishes, come on! You'll make me lose my job!" he muttered. "Wake up! Nap time's over!"

Ten-ten started giggling, and then she was laughing so loud, joined my Sakura and the owner.

"What?" he looked at them, confused.

"Look at you, trying to wake them up as if they're babies!" Ten-ten laughed.

Sakura can't stop laughing, Sasuke's face reddened as he looked at them.

He waited until they had stop, and he had to wait a long time. When they finally stopped, he looked at them.

"Go Sakura," Ten-ten was still giggling. "I think they slept long enough."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke and laughed again.

"Oh, come on!" he said, rolling his eyes. "Like you never seen anyone do that before."

"Well to be honest," Sakura eyed Ten-ten. "We never!" And they started laughing again.

Sakura touched the fishes after she was done laughing. The surface of their bodies turned light green and they recovered, they started swimming again. When they saw Sasuke, however, they all retreated to one side of the small bucket.

Again, the two girls and the owner burst out laughing. Sasuke's eyes popped open when he saw what Sakura just did.

"W—what did you just did?" he asked her, shocked.

"That?" Sakura looked at him, confused. "That was nothing, basic medic stuff."

"Ba—basic?" he stared at her, his eyes looked as if they were going to jump out off their sockets anytime soon.

"Yeah," she looked at him, feeling confused herself. "My mother taught me this when I was eight."

"Oh," he said, understanding filled him because when he was eight he was able to do imitate other people's energy by controlling the power his eyes had. What he was still confused was that the princess actually has other ability other than having four Gods inside of her.

"Well, come on then," Sakura looked at Ten-ten who nodded and went away, taking the loud laughter with her.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as he narrowed his eyes and scanned the dark sky. Sakura smiled at him and took his hand.

"It's time to stop worrying and just believe us," she said.

He looked at her, sighed, and followed her back to the palace. The stars were now barely there, he started to wonder why it was called 'Starry Night Festival'. She looked at the top of the roof and turned to Sasuke.

"Do you think you can jump to the top of the roof there?" she pointed to one of the highest top. He looked at it and nodded. "Then can you carry me on your back?" she smiled.

He frowned but nodded anyways. He asked for her permission and she nodded while smiling, and then he carried her bride style toward the spot she pointed seconds ago.

"Did that scare you?" Sasuke looked at her, worriedly, as she wobbled when he put her down. She looked at him and grinned.

"Nope, it was fun actually," she smiled. "We should do that again sometimes."

He looked at her and grinned back.

"What are we waiting for again?" he looked at the sky.

"You'll see," she counted the movement of the clouds. Her lips moved as she counted the seconds the clouds stared to move away. Sasuke watched her with amusement. And then she turned to him, suddenly, catching him staring at her. He turned the other way abruptly and blushed.

She smiled a small smile and looked at the now clear sky. No clouds were in the air and her smile grew wider.

"We can start now," she said. Ten-ten jumped off from the higher roof toward the center of attraction. Sasuke saw other black figures jumped off toward other attractions. And then, everything was suddenly silent.

"What is it?" he looked at her. She placed her finger on her lips and pointed to the sky. "What now?"

"Now we wish," she told him.

He looked up. And gaped.

The sky was filled with thousands of stars passing by, leaving their trail of lights behind them. It looked as if white paints were splattered across a dark canvas. Sasuke gaped and then smiled at the view. He followed what Sakura told him, closed his eyes.

And they both wished.

Every single person in the country wished.

And the festival was officially over.

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Okay, I'd done another one. It was faster than expected but oh well. Personal Project is over, now we need to get ready for the big Grade 10 Assembly.

Thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate all of them, especially since they are all very supporting (^^)

Again, I am very sorry I can't finish Blood & Innocence: The Blue-Eyed Vampire.

By the way, I have a target on approaching at least 100 reviews,, I just hope I could reach it.

Thanks you again, so very much, for all.

Once more, more reviews are appreciated.

~ButterCan'tFly.

P.S. You might want to check out my newest one-shot: Winner Takes It All (^^)