Reviewers;

D36: Thank you for liking my story!

Duh Bomb: A nice long one, and the shaping of the world sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And with Naruto and Ino's views, it really wrapped the story in a nice blanket, though I thought Ino's was sort of weak this time around. As for foreshadowing, you did okay i suppose.

St3rfire: I think you'll like her hair, as I always liked it in the way that I am putting it now. Being with family is very important and I feel the same for my own happiness.

Czar Joseph: well, I suppose we shall see, now won't we?

PinkFox245: Well, then I suppose that you hate reading my story as it's not completed yet. Do you read stories all the way through or multiple stories at once?

AN: Hey everyone! So here we are, ready to go into Sakura's journey to see her lover once more.

Fire & Ice

Arc 2: Let It Go

Chapter 24: The Best Offense is a Great Defense

Sakura walked out of the cold weather and into her room, Layla following her inside before Sakura had time to shut the door closed. Sakura sighed as she took out a pair of clothes she had made a few months ago, that, when slipped on, it seemed to look like she was just a simple travelling merchant. She put the simple green sports bra across her breasts, before covering it with an emerald tank top, and followed it with a brown hunter's jacket to cover herself from the 'cold.' Sakura moved over to undo her skirt for a deep forest green skirt, with black around the top edge, and then put on her own black boots, still topped with Tanya's white fur to finish off the attire.

"Sakura-Sama, this is crazy. You expect to have Naruto see you and then suddenly he will follow you everywhere?"

"No, I will be going as someone else. I need to know what he feels about me, or more precisely, the Witch of Port Haruno."

"I've told you though, the people still believe in you."

"The people. Naruto is not one of my people, Layla. He is the man that I have selfishly wanted all my life, and now I finally have a chance to see him!"

"What do you plan to do once you affirm that he still loves you, Sakura?" Layla asked and Sakura paused her hands in her hair. Layla stepped up and held Sakura's hair as her hands spread over the silky follicles and watched as the hair slowly turned blonde from end to scalp.

"I don't know that far…I just know that I need to see him."

"…Are you going to lay down with him?"

"…I am going to see him Layla! If I lay with him, I will lay with him! Geez! You're not my mother!"

"I may as well be. You could hurt him, Sakura."

"I-I know…" Sakura sighed, "but I can't control that part of me and I haven't now for four years, two of which spent here in complete isolation. It reacts to my emotions. I just have to remain happy and neutral and nothing will go wrong. I think...How do I look?" Sakura asked as she finished her hair into a small braided crown around her head before it connected with another medieval braid down her back, just like the commoners and low noble girls did with their hair.

Layla smiled at her blond headed mistress. She looked beautiful in her casual commoner's clothes and her generous bust size now made her look like quite the harlot if she went into that line of work. "You look beautiful, My Lady." Layla whispered, her voice layered in admiration.

Sakura smiled and moved to get up, when she found she couldn't because Layla was holding her down by her shoulders. "What is it?"

"I-If you find happiness with Naruto, My Lady…don't come back here."

"What?"

"You can disappear from the world, with only Naruto to know where you are, and at his side. Please, you deserve to be happy."

"I…" Sakura remained stunned and nodded her head before Layla let go and they proceeded out of the room and down to the castle. Layla and Sakura got on horses and rode bareback off to the edge of the western walls before Sakura directed them towards a part of the canyon walls that did not exit at all.

"Sakura, why are we here?"

"Because of this." Sakura spoke before she reached out and her hands turned a nice glowing orange, burned into the icy wall of the canyon and suddenly an opening of darkness appeared and Layla watched as a tunnel appeared running under the canyon itself.

"This will take me out of the borders without anyone seeing me."

Layla nodded and smiled before her eyes turned confused. "But My Lady, the horses cannot go into there. They will not fit."

"They are not coming…and neither are you."

"What? But you need protection…even as a merchant! Those are bandit lands."

"No, I am a lowly merchant. The most I could have would be a cart and even that will not be able to fit in here. I must go alone."

"But-"

"Layla. I leave you to control the lands. Take care of it."

"I-I will." Layla cried and the two shared a deep embrace. Two years, and their friendship had grown to that of sisters, and Sakura loved Layla so much. "I'll miss you."

"Don't worry. I will be back soon."

"Be safe." Layla called out and Sakura waved back before holding a ball of fire in her left hand and descended into the tunnel of darkness.

Sakura descended down the metallic staircase, following the ladder down until she hit a hundred feet below until she touched the cold cavern floor. Sakura's fires parted and grew in little fireflies that moved around her, and following her line of sight as she moved forward, moving to reach the other side, and was in for a good ten minute walk underneath the canyon itself.

This old mine was a favorite of the Haruno royalty for collecting emerald and as Sakura passed, the emeralds glowed and twinkled in Sakura's eyes as the light refracted around her. The young royal smiled at the sight of the light in the darkness and continued forward. It was very quickly, maybe only an hour under the subterranean terrain when Sakura came face to face with her own reflection made of ice, and Sakura smiled as she thawed this as well, and soon stepped up another ladder and out of the hole in the canyon wall, onto a fresh patch of ice and snow.

Sakura stepped out of the hole in the rock, steeping further into the no man's land, and looked around at the sight of the evergreen trees straight ahead almost a half mile away. They looked so nice, green, and tall, and with a scent that Sakura had almost forgotten. It felt good to be outside her city's borders once more.

Maybe Layla was right; she didn't look like herself, and if her plan to meet Naruto again for the first time worked out, then he would love her again. Sakura would return to her people and come back on merchant wise trips to see him, and then they would consummate their love and he would love her…that's what she wanted.

But…Sakura shook her head and froze the entrance all the way through once more. Naruto would call her by another name. Such a silly thing, wasn't it? To call someone by another name? It shouldn't matter really, but as Sakura set forth from the canyon walls, she couldn't help but be irked by the knowing mention that Naruto would not call her his hime, or his lady, or just Sakura. No, he would not call her those pet names he had adored her with. It would be by another name, but at least Sakura would have him, and though he might not know it, if ever, he would have her.

Sakura began her trek through the forest at a leisurely pace. After all, her long graceful strides would make her step normally and she was in no hurry. It would be three days to the forest city of the Nara Woods, and she had no need to hurry. Plus, it gave her time to think on the last two years she had spent alone, almost like a hermit, from her own flesh and blood, even if her creations were what she considered to be human, for they were not. They were better than humans, they were life and death. That was as simple as Sakura could think of from when she died, wishing in the last moments of life to show the difference between the opposing forces and show that in misery, there is joy, and in horror, there is fascination, and in hate, there is love.

Sakura walked at this pace for a few miles, a nice day all around her as she decided to take a stop in a small clearing near the top of a ridge. Sakura looked around her at the many trees around her, each basking in slits of shade and sunlight. Sakura's eyes looked downwards, to see a nice small river about a quarter mile away and down the small slope of the hill.

Sakura sighed sadly at the beautiful sight. What a pleasant place to be on this day, and it could only get better right? She still had plenty of sunlight left in the day, and she had only begun her walk towards what she hoped was her future. Sakura closed her eyes as she listened to the forest winds blow through the trees.

Sakura's magic was a manifestation of life, and so in times like this, in her peace, she could feel the various animals around herself, and so it made hunting no fun at all for her, and in fact made her sadder to have to kill for her food at such a disadvantage to the prey. Sakura's magic fluctuated around four or five masses standing around the clearing and Sakura opened her eyes at once as the figures stepped from around the trees.

"Hello, gorgeous." One of the figures spoke, cloth wrapped around his mouth, and Sakura sneered at his cut eye and the blood on the white piece of cloth covering his face.

"We have quite the beauty today, don't we?" Another man spoke, and Sakura looked around to see that they were slowly surrounding her on all sides. Sakura slowly took a few steps back, ready to run at any moment.

"I-I don't have any merchandise to give to you, Sirs." Sakura spoke, her voice still as high as it used to be, and she had to remind herself that she sounded like a scared teenager, though she wasn't afraid right now.

"Oh, don't worry, my dear. Your body will do nicely as payment." A third man cackled and Sakura threw a disgusted look his way before Sakura's eyes widened as each of the men drew out swords from their backs, and waists. Sakura slowly reached into her boot and took out her knife, holding it floppily to make them think she was useless.

Sakura smiled inside when they laughed at her form. "Girl, you don't want to fight us. We can keep you safe from others. You would just have to please us until we reach a city. We could drop you off and be on our merry way."

"You don't want to be near me, gentleman. I suggest you all leave and take up honest work, instead of playing rapists."

"Rapists? We are no such thing. You will offer yourself up, or we might just use you for target practice instead. How your screams would bring satisfaction to us as well."

"Hey Boss! But we could still massage those melons right? She must eat okay to have those melons on her." The fourth man finally spoke excitedly in his questioning, and Sakura covered her upper body a bit. She didn't have melons. She had a nice bust, why compare it to fruit?

"You can defile her later, Buster. Now, My dear, throw down your weapon, or else we'll have to play around with you a bit roughly."

Sakura's feet took another step back, and she left the clearing, smiling to herself. They should have surrounded her. "Sorry boys, but this body is not to be touched by impure hands." Sakura took another step back, and…

(SHINNNNKKKK)

Sakura gasped and coughed up blood as she felt the sharp metal of a sword slowly sliced into her stomach from behind her. With Sakura's magic, time slowed down as the blade pierced her clothes and skin, stabbing into the side of her stomach, slicing just barely below her lowest rib, and then Sakura felt the splatter of blood, Her blood, as the blade exited her body, its point smeared in the red liquid, pointing up towards the tallest tree.

Sakura heard a maniac's laughter as a hand moved around her neck to hold her in place as a tongue licked the side of her neck. Sakura felt the man's long tongue slide over her ear and grimaced at the feeling of association of where that tongue had been.

Sakura whimpered as the man jiggled his sword, and then laughed at her pain as the other men laughed and walked casually over to her, as if they had already won. Sakura smiled darkly, her eyes glowing a dark white, as her blonde bangs covered her eyes from view.

"Don't worry, bitch. We'll make sure you feel Everything you can before you die. We haven't had a girl in two months, so forgive us if we all take you at once."

A soft giggle erupted from Sakura's throat, and the men frowned. Was this girl insane? Standing up to them and now laughing as her body died? But instead of fighting they touched her shoulders and pushed her against the bark of a nearby tree, the handle of the blade pushing further inside her, as Sakura giggled again through the agony.

"What's so funny?" The leader asked as they lifted Sakura's hands above her head and tied it to the branch above her. Sakura flirtatiously shook her head to get them closer and as they did, she smiled.

"You shouldn't have done that…I can't control my bloodlust if you touch me…and sadly, all of you have done so…so please die…" Sakura voice whispered in every man's ear before magical liquid flowed out of Sakura's body and faster than a swinging sword, the liquid shot out in six directions, each direction made into a point as small as a pencil tip but grew as large as a sword's hilt in diameter.

The icicles shot forth into each man's center, and though some men reacted, the cone shaped projectiles of ice shot through them, tearing out their innards and stomachs and ribs altogether, and like Sakura's wound, the ice stuck inside them, out the other side, with the men's lungs as frozen as ice so cold it burned and choked them to death in less than a second, before the sound of six dead bodies, each with holes as large as tree trunks in their centers, fell to the floor of the forest.

Sakura giggled a bit darkly as a frozen slice of hair cut the clothing holding her arms up before Sakura leaned forward and breathed out her giggles. She had been visiting the front line for over a year now, and there was something about seeing blood of murderers that she just found...enjoyable. These men were going to kill others and had killed and raped young girls; they had to die.

As Sakura's bloodlust subsided, her adrenaline left her and she grimaced at the sight of the blood on the ground. People couldn't know that she was here. Sakura sighed as she melted the ice from in and around the men and slowly, the men and the liquefied ice flowed slowly down the slope, and it would continue until they reached the river, far away from anywhere Sakura was going.

Sakura took a few steps forward and gasped as she fell to her knees and grimaced at the sight of the sword in front of and through her body. The man who stabbed her could have at least pulled out the sword before trying to defile her. Sakura grimaced as she flattened her hand and ice formed along her fingers, forming a blade to which Sakura cut off the handle at her back before quickly cutting off the front as well.

Sakura tried for ten minutes to take out the remainder of the metal inside her, but grimaced and yelped repeatedly in pain as the blade was touching her left lung. She had to keep it in until she reached a healer. Sakura's hands turned white hot and Sakura held in her hissed pains as she burned both sides of her new wound, cauterizing it for infections.

Sakura spent the next few minutes swirling ice through the air and burning it until it formed into a soft, thin piece of cloth of bandages that Sakura could use to address the blood that slowly pulsed out of her wound on either side. Sakura was quick to strip off her brown jacket and raised her top until the wound showed how it marred her once perfect body.

As Sakura wrapped the cloth around her wound, she thought back to this new injury. Her healing magic was growing weak since her apparent death. She used to be able to heal herself internally, battling infections and the differing weather. Now, her fingers froze when she used her magic too much, and her healing powers could only work on external wounds. It was the price that she paid for this new life.

Sakura breathed slowly as she covered her stomach and stood back up. The sword was still pressing against her, so she had to be careful and move fast. Sakura reached over to where the attackers had left a metal walking stick next to a tree. At least she had something to lean upon. With that thought in mind, Sakura continued forward, edging slowly closer to her goal.

Four days later, Sakura huffed with sweat glistening against her body, her breathing labored and growing shorter with every hour that passed. Sakura had passed out the day previous and now she was afraid that the sword had slid against her lung, and now she was bleeding internally.

She needed help, and so she breathed harder and jogged her way here, and had officially reached this area, where the Nara houses were up in the trees high above her. She needed a doctor, but she needed to find help to ask directions first! 'Damn it!' Sakura thought as she fell against the trunk of a nearby tree.

If this stupid piece of metal was taken out, then she could at least send her magic inside the wound to heal herself faster. She just needed it pulled out! Sakura's vision began to fill with black dots and she cursed as she slipped and fell to the grass underneath her feet.

People were looking at her like she was a beggar or something! Sakura reached the building in the center of the clearing without falling and caught the attention of the girl working the post office. "Excuse me. I need to find a doctor."

"Okay, well the closest doctor is down a quarter mile to the north and up to the tenth floor."

"T-Thank you," Sakura nodded and walked off, her body helping her in no way as she leaned too far to the east and so as she took every step, she moved closer and closer to getting lost. Sakura reached the next tree and placed a hand against it.

Where was everyone?! Where was the next tree? Where was the staircase to get up to the bridges? S-She didn't know where to go, and this PAIN! Sakura started breathing heavily, her throat closing up as she fell towards the ground.

A pair of soft feminine hands grabbed at her arms and hoisted her away from the ground just as Sakura's body collided with feminine breasts bigger than hers. "I'm glad Surimi told me that you were walking this way. You're heading the wrong way, miss."

"I-I need…a hea…" Sakura's head swam as she grew unfocused and her mind grew fuzzy. Suddenly, she felt as if her feet were airborne! She was flying!

"I'm the local healer. I'll take care of you, okay? Can you tell me your name?"

"I-I-I…" Sakura's throat closed and her eyes shut as her mind began to black out from the pain. All Sakura felt was her dead feet being dragged against a warm fur carpet, and then she was placed on a wooden table. Sakura felt the female healer begin to rip her clothes apart and let her mind go. At least if this healer had sex with her unconscious body, she would heal her in return. And with that last thought, Sakura succumbed to the pain.

AN: I thought you all would like this. Sakura is powerful, but one can still sneak up upon her. she has her weaknesses too. Question: What is your fatal flaw? Do you even know what it is?