Reviewers;

Duh Bomb: She has the people she has always wanted but she is missing one person for what her life can be perfect. So now you are foreshadowing the story? Could be exciting in a way, so I'll let you try your luck.

St3rfire: Thanks, I am hoping that everything will work out and then my summer can be fun and exciting.

7th Demon of Razgriz: Awe...thanks man. And I have seen the battlefield from the towers, I did create them after all.

Czar Joseph: Sasuke is who he is, and when he loses, he feels like it was a fluke. And yes, the Alliance is not ready yet to brake the peace that took so long to forge.

AN: Hey to all my readers and especially to my reviewers! I am still a little stressed, but I wanted to send out another chapter for you all to read. Now, it isn't the battle that you all may have wanted, but it would just be defensive tasks so that didn't seem like too much to worry about. So instead, a little time skip for you. Two years to be precise. So now, let's get on with our lives of reading fanfiction stories.

Fire & Ice

Arc 2: Let It Go

Chapter 23: A Longing to be Fulfilled

A swirl of snow swam through the air, moving airborne high above the clouds, and down below these clouds, a dense fog covered the area below them, trapping the forests in a deep murky slumber in the early morning hours.

This fog was soupy, as thick as could be, and had ensnared many a person before today, but for now, the swirl of snow trickled down through the canopy of the trees to the middle of the giant trunks that were as big as houses and in through a small slot in the bark of the tree.

The cold breeze brushed inside a room with decorative sheets and paintings hung upon the walls of the inside of the tree, and moved around the room as it circled around the center, its cold embrace being warmed and taken in by the wood itself.

In the trunk itself, it had been sectioned off into a few different areas, which included a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms, though one was used occasionally as an office and guest room. Along the living room were books of immaculate décor and study, and medical books lied inside the trunk itself, the shelves cut into the tree's living and breathing bark.

A girl's voice groaned at the breeze upon it entering her bedroom and snuggled closer into her lavender colored blanket, her small nose breathing in the freshly changed pillowcase. She tried to keep her eyes closed and let her mind drift off again, but it was not to be and so the girl leaned forward, her generous bust clearly on view as the girl stretched her body out and licked her chops.

The girl moved from the center of the bed towards the right side, and as her feet touched the cold wooden floor, a shiver spiraled up her body, making her legs and voice quiver uncontrollably as her body readjusted to the new temperature. The girl grabbed the glass of water next to her on the side table, and drank it, and then got up, her violet panties covering her well enough as she moved across the room and short hallway to the bathroom itself.

After a half hour of showering and changing herself for the day, the girl put her blond hair into a ponytail, before braiding a crown of hair around her head and moved down to the ends of her hair, which now draped over her shoulder, and stood in contrast to the purple long sleeved sweater she now normally wore. In fact, most people now wore winter clothing year round; it was a weird thing to occur, ever since Port Haruno fell, the entire geographic area around it had dropped tremendously over the last two years, and was continuing to get colder.

The girl's name was Ino Yamanaka-Haruno, and she was the new leader of Port Haruno, or rather, the citizens turned refugees from the port city. Now, Ino walked outside her house to stand on her wooden porch, and leaned against the railing, looking out at the fog that hid everything from view. The snow still fell down in front of her, but the number of porches above her prevented her from feeling them.

Ino remembered arriving here almost two years ago, when she was seventeen, and how the Nara had so graciously welcomed her and offered her a place inside the wooden castle that lay in the center of the village of trees. But Ino's place was with her people and so she declined, and got a house next to a friend where most of the refugees took shelter in. And still Lord Shikamaru came to visit her quite often, making Ino blush and smile. They were officially dating now, and Ino knew that she favored him more and more with each passing day. And the best part one might ask? Even though Shikamaru was the son of Lord Nara, but he never saw other royal girls alone besides herself.

Ino walked around the porch, her gloved hands sliding along the wooden railing gently, and looked to the east, hoping to see the great mountains which signified the area which was her people's home. Lord Itachi had told her and repeated what had happened after Sakura's death, how the Haruno are no more. Now, as the seasons grew colder and colder, cities were moving inland, and away from the cold and freezing waters. Snow blanketed the ground more often than not, and travel by sled was becoming more and more common, even in the forests of the Nara.

Was Sakura truly dead? Ino did not know if her friend was still alive or not, but she almost wished she was no longer here in this world. It would have been better for Naruto that way. Ino sighed and walked to the lever system, before balancing her foot in the single foothold, and pressed the lever near her shoulder.

The winch system had been hard to learn about, and for good reason. The Nara did not allow the system to be used in any other lands, and it made attacking their lands that much harder. The Nara had the best balance of all the lands, flexible and able to stay still for days on end, as if asleep in eternity if they had to be. And now, as Ino let go of the rope and jumped onto another balcony above her own, she could understand why they were so good, after jumping more than one thousand times from one rope to the next. One could not afford to miss a step up here in the trees, and Ino still shivered as she watched groups of children running and jumping around the canopy.

Ino also worked around the neighborhood as a small time clinic worker, learning to heal people's broken bodies, usually their legs from missing a jump, and helping out where she could. But some patients required intensive care and it was those times when she brought them to her home to watch them. But not right now; now her last patient had been cleared and sent home, much to the happiness of her mother. And besides that, she got to see her friend after a week of his travels.

Ino smiled as she rounded the corner, and there he was, leaning against his own porch, holding a small piece of parchment in one hand, and Ino blushed a bit and shook her head giggling as he was once again topless. His tan skin contrasted most people from Port Haruno, but he was simply…Naruto.

"Hey Naruto," Ino called out and Naruto turned to greet her, which was a hug that they shared as best friends. Ino recalled back to two years ago, and telling Naruto that Sakura had magic, and he went into a state of shock and his heart gave out.

Well, it appeared that the magic had strengthened Naruto's heart over the years, and he just passed out from the amount of pain and a lack of oxygen. The next morning, Naruto had woken up to Ino's still crying face, and hugged her as he cried as well. But then again, unlike Ino and most of the city, Naruto did not believe that Sakura was dead. He believed that as long as her magic flowed inside him, she couldn't be dead, and while Ino held hope for that to be true, Naruto had not moved past his love for her.

Naruto's memories had returned to the forefront of his mind, and in his mind, he had fallen not once, but twice for the princess, and he had decided all on his own that it was destiny and fate and everything in the world that Sakura and he belonged together. That was why, as Ino leaned against the railing and took her place next to him, she sighed at the note and what was probably written on it.

"Another confession, Naruto?" Ino asked knowingly. Many other princesses and nobles and commoner girls had begun to favor Naruto. Heck! Ino had once upon a time before she had met her Shika, and of course they would after they'd seen him shirtless like this. Naruto had his pick of girls, and went with Ino on occasion to a local nightclub to pick some girls up. Sadly, every morning, the only thing Naruto would have done with them is make out with them, and they would be understanding but frustrated that he wasn't moving further with them.

Ino stared in Naruto's saddened eyes, and felt sad herself, knowing that Naruto could simply not move on from Sakura. He would need a girl who acted like Sakura, and who looked kind of like her in order to be with them intimately, and wouldn't that be shallow and pitiful and shameful for being with a girl just because she looked like his love?

Naruto laughed bitterly and nodded his head. "Her name was Emily. She says that the kissing was magical, but that I clearly have my heart set on another, and until I get over her, we can't be together."

Ino smiled and jostled Naruto's shoulder with her own. "Did she have any defining characteristics?"

Naruto smiled. "She had red hair, though it was fake, and her ass felt like Hers."

"Geez, Naruto. Going for blondes and redheads won't mean that they can be Her." Ino spoke, remembering not to mention Sakura's name in front of Naruto.

"But Her hair is a mixture of the two. When I'm with them, I feel like I can feel Her breath tickling my tongue, their breaths become Hers. Ino, when I kiss them, I feel like it's the closest I'll ever get to kissing Her lips again, to be at her side."

"Naruto…Sakura would want you to move on."

"What?" Naruto breathed and looked at Ino fiercely, but Ino held her own.

"Yes, Naruto. I said her name. Sakura Sakura Sakura! Geez, Naruto. Just saying her name casually won't make her memory go away. The citizens say her name every day in their prayers to her."

"It's just…"

"She would want you to move on, and you know it." Ino sighed sadly. "I knew that this would happen."

"And why you tried to kill me." Naruto smirked and Ino blushed.

"I was trying to be merciful."

"And I appreciate it. Besides I know she is alive."

"How?" Ino asked as a breeze blew through the area, blowing through the two blonde's hair and tossing it around. "You think the breeze is Sakura, don't you?"

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes, taking in the coldness that he knew Sakura somehow controlled, and felt like she was touching his skin through the icy wind. "A bit, but actually I passed by the mountain range today."

"What did you see?"

"Just the same number of soldiers, but Ino! They're always injured and Sasuke is still trying to get into Port Haruno. Who else but Sakura could be defending our homeland?"

"Maybe Naruto, but then again, it was a spirit that attacked everyone two years ago before it disappeared. Perhaps the same thing is keeping Sasuke at bay."

"Even if it was Sakura's spirit, I would want to be with her."

"For eternity." Ino smiled and the two looked passed the trees, passed the vast expanse of land and sky to the range of mountains in which Port Haruno lay inside, frozen in time, and waiting for when the ice melted, and looked to the future of someday seeing Sakura's spirit, and returning home, to where they belonged.

Meanwhile, inside the very mountain range and even the mountain that the two blondes' eyes focused upon, a young woman, aged nineteen, stood on the ramparts of her new frozen city, her emerald eyes analyzing the bigger city below her. She had woken up exactly as Ino had, from stretching out her muscles in bed, to sleeping topless as it felt nice, and then on to bathing to make sure that she was clean and ready for the day.

The girl looked out past the walls of her city and out to the distant land to the west, her heart fluttering as she did so. Her heart was so far away from her body, but this was for the best right? Or maybe, just maybe, after two years of this freedom, her powers unrestricted, she could finally go and see him. The one person who could understand what she had decided to do. The one who could live here with her and they could live in peace and happiness for the rest of eternity.

The girl's pink tresses flipped into her mouth and she tasted them, before her eyes grew focused once more and she made her way down the castle, passing the servants as she did so, who still knew how to fight, but made sure that the city ran smoothly. Sakura smiled at them, waving her hand to them as they smiled and waved back. This was truly better than inside Port Haruno from so long ago. This was a place where she was herself, and her imagination was free to run and shout and create worlds that only she could control and live in, a world where all was happy and well.

Sakura made her way however to the ballroom of the castle, which doubled as an infirmary, and saw a few of her defenders limping around, filled with cuts, and amputated legs and arms from defending their home from the hordes of barbarians at the gates. Sakura smiled small as she remembered that this was the usual way of life. Soldiers defended their home, and the wounded came here, where Sakura could fix and take care of them.

Sakura sat down on a chair and the day of injuries carefully made a line, before Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated, her magic flying out in a swirl of a blizzard in the size of her hand and slowly, the limbs began to grow back, one by one as they passed their Queen by, and smiled at her. Sakura smiled sweetly as well as men and women thanked her again and again. She could never do this for real people, or herself anymore, though her healing had improved, she had to sacrifice a bit of it after Sasuke…

Anyways, Sakura had mastered her creations of her soldiers as her eyes flashed between a mixture of emerald and ice blue and could heal any of her soldier's injuries. After last week, Sakura was almost up to her full strength, because every week, she made another group of twenty or so soldiers, an even ten men and ten women, and they would be like amnesia victims for a few hours before they learned everything they needed to know.

Sakura smiled looking around at the number of wolves that now moved around the castle. Wolves could have litters of nine pups, and because of their well-being, over the last two years, most of the pups survived, and were now able to have pups of their own. Sakura smiled remembering that first spring when she helped Tanya deliver her first ever litter of pups into the world, the father guarding her protectively. Sakura smiled; that was exactly what she wanted her creations to do, to protect.

As Sakura finished healing the last of the injured, a cold body slipped beneath her skirt, and Sakura epped a bit before a girlish voice shhed her. Sakura smiled to herself and continued to do her work as a group of kids rushed around the ballroom and the rest of the castle, and as Sakura placed magic into her ears, she could hear one kid counting out loud just down the hall. Sakura looked down and pooled her skirt up to see a young three year old girl with black hair and blue eyes staring at her with a childish smile.

"Hey Suki."

"Hey, Sakura-Sama."

"Playing hide and seek again?"

"Yeah. Ronon will never find me here!" Suki whispered excitedly. "He'd never reach under a girl's skirt."

"Smart." Sakura smiled, and let her eyes wander over the girl's features as she let the skirt drop back down. Her head shook still at the thought that her creations could have children and ones that grew up twice as fast as regular kids.

A few minutes later, as Sakura was continuing in her work, a small boy ran into the room with two girls at his side before they began scowering the room in search of other kids, finding two more who frowned at their capture. "Sakura-Sama, have you seen anyone in here?"

"Well…I've been busy helping your mother with her wound." Sakura stated and Ronon looked bashfully at the woman in front of Sakura

"Hey mom."

"Don't hey me, young man. Now find everyone for me. Use your new pup."

"OH! Right!" Ronon whistled and a new puppy ran over to him, its weak legs making it fall over and over again as it ran forward. "Anyone hear boy?" The puppy sniffed the air for a minute before it barked and its nose moved to under Sakura's skirt. "Found you, Suki."

"No fair Ronon!" Suki complained as she slid out, "we said no dogs!"

"But Shadow is a wolf! And a puppy."

Sakura sighed happily as the children argued back and forth and giggled when they started to roll on the floor, just like what Naruto and she used to do whenever they fought as kids. Sakura's smile slowly faded at that thought and the kids stopped playing to look at her worriedly. Damn this mental connection to her feelings. And kids were so in tuned with their feelings too.

Sakura thought that maybe it was time to finish up and so pushed more of her magic out, quickly healing the soldiers and then walked out of the room, leaving everyone behind as she walked out to the small cliff side of the mountain, a barely used and small ice bridge running from her bedroom to this small circle of solitude.

Sakura looked out at the walls which shined clearly in the daylight and felt the soldiers and animals all around those areas relaxing. The fighting had stopped for a week now, and that thought made Sakura worried, but also happy. Sakura could not wait for the world to be made anew…in her eyes.

Sakura smiled as the snow and ice had moved two hundred yards past her initial borders and the cold atmosphere was spread even further than that, miles away to the lands of the plains and the forests, and Sakura knew that her plan was coming to fruition. She would not have to worry at all. Her freedom would continue to increase tenfold every day that passed.

A pain throbbed in Sakura's arm and she cursed a bit as she looked down and saw her left arm shaking uncontrollably in place. Sakura quickly reached over with her right arm and held it close to her body, but it only slowed down the shivering that continued the course as Sakura's fingers slowly turned blue and finally frozen in ice. The shivering stopped and Sakura shook her head in annoyance. The sooner her plan came to fruition, the sooner this would stop. It had to work! She didn't know any other way!

A shiver ran through her body as slowly, her finger thawed and turned back to their normal white flesh, but the damage was done. Sakura looked over to the west in agony. Naruto was over there, and with Ino as well. She needed to see him. She had to.

"Sakura-Sama?" A familiar voice sounded and Sakura turned to see Layla standing beside her once again. Sakura smiled.

"How was your hunt?"

"Enjoyable. My daughter loved camping out, though she mainly just ran around in the softer snow."

Sakura smiled at that thought. Layla had twin girls, one was Suki and the other Miki. Suki loved her father and Miki around her mother, but the two were exactly the same, having the childish looks of their mother.

"Layla? You can be honest with me, right?"

"Of course."

"Then why haven't there been any reports about Naruto as of late?"

"Oh! Um…I…don't-"

"Layla." Sakura sighed.

"Sorry. But there have been reports that…well since your 'death', Naruto has been seeing women who have a resemblance to you." Layla cringed at thinking that Sakura would be angry that her love was trying to move on. But instead, Sakura smiled at her and nodded at her.

"...Layla, I think it is time."

"Time for what?"

"My powers are under control for the most part, and the war has stilled. Now is the time to see Naruto. I know you told me that Ino told Naruto about my powers a few weeks ago, but that means that he remembers me! It is time to see Naruto once again."

"But, My Lady. How will we get past the enemy? They still control the borders."

"Oh…they'll be looking for a woman with long pink hair. We'll just need to change that, won't we?" Sakura smiled and Layla sighed. The people loved her hair. To see it changed? What was their Queen thinking exactly?

AN: There is the new overview of the world as it is. For this week, the question is: What is your favorite thing to do throughout the year?