Reviewers;

Duh Bomb: I don't now why, but I kind of liked all three of your reviews! They all held a strange aura that had me reading and truly appreciating every single part of your rhyming poems. I loved Sakura's views and by now, you know that your predictions have been so spot on!

St3rfire: Of Course, St3r. There is only peace with the payment of blood. Once can only truly find that in the sacrifice of something close to yourself, and in this instance, one can only wonder what Sakura is about to sacrifice.

Czar Joseph: Yes, but now you shall know peace...in your mind.

Wissing: Thanks to you too for loving my story!

AN: Hey everyone! So then, I see that everyone is caught up and ready for my next chapter! I must say that I absolutely hated watching this chapter play out in my head, but these last three chapters will be what I hope a fantastic finish for all of you!

(Bold-Goddess Voice)

Fire & Ice

Arc 3: Trust

Chapter 48: Ice against a Goddess

"There there, my precious acolyte. Come, Sasuke….Let us take Sakura's powers…together."

Sasuke and Akhlys slowly bent their heads and Sakura gulped back saliva that had been slowly forming from the natural fear of Akhlys since she had arrived. Sakura took a step back, and readied herself, her hand wound still healing as blood slowly trickled down her palms to drip upon the ground below. Her goal had been to her trying to defeat Sasuke and get him to join her side Before Akhlys appeared, but she should have known at any doubt in his psyche would cause Akhlys to feel it and return to his side.

Sakura breathed heavily through her mouth, as she assessed her options. She had already charged through two armies, been thrown from her horse, been stabbed by Sasuke countless times and had used her magic heavily all morning. Her hands shivered from the intense coldness and numbing that was beginning to form all around her, and her body moved against her as her feet were slowly turning into jelly from the exhaustion. And now she was supposed to fight Sasuke again as well as a Goddess who she had always failed to even touch! But Sakura's eyes narrowed as she felt her magic coil around the inside of her stomach, and remembered back to last night, or was it so long ago, when Naruto had been with her. She felt her magic pulse brighter and more powerful than ever before. Her body was changing and now it was more powerful than ever before; she could do this.

Akhlys smiled as black tendrils formed along the shadow that her earthly body made upon the ground, and circled slowly around her immediate area, sliding along the rocks and snow alike. Sakura's eyes darted around in focused concentration as Sasuke slowly stepped forward, his hand moving out towards her direction, as he pulled his sword back out, as flame ignited upon it, and Sasuke's eyes dilated in a deep and endless black.

Sasuke moved forward into the slush of the snow, his legs falling a foot underneath the snowbank, before he stepped back up onto the more level ground and stalked straight for the front of Sakura's stance. Sakura threw him a look that pleaded with him, and Sasuke kept walking forward, against the eyes that bore into him, until his feet crunched halfway into the snow, and he stalled.

Sakura watched as Sasuke's left hand moved to the side of his head and his eyes blinked rapidly, as tired as he was, as red began to reappear inside him, followed by the whites of his eyes. Sasuke swayed on his feet, and looked at Sakura, his eyes a mixture between hate and sorrow, as his irises swirled with the colors as he closed his eyelids and drew himself into a tight stance.

"I…I can't do it." Sasuke's voice moved across the small area and while Akhlys frowned and her eyes blared at his back, Sasuke's eyes opened to see Sakura's understanding eyes. Sasuke couldn't help her nor fight her, stuck between his need to follow Akhlys's order and trying to help change his destiny, but trying to keep what was left of his sanity, he could do nothing.

Akhlys's throat growled darkly, like a dark monster yet to be revealed, as Sasuke shrunk in stature as his lover stalked forward and as she reached his side, her hand pushed out at Sasuke's shoulder, as Sasuke stumbled to the side, his pride injured as he stumbled to the cliff of rocks and watched the events begin to take place. Now, it was a battle of one on one, though it was hard to tell between a witch and a Goddess. How could one truly rate this unknown event to take place?

"If you are too weak, then I will get rid of this weak little plaything myself." Akhlys spat aloud towards the two young humans before her. Akhlys burst out cackling to herself as Sakura's hands stopped glowing and she quickly reached back to her hip and pulled out her dual swords, her hands shaking as she held them. "You must be awfully stupid to think that your pathetic magic can harm me, little Sakura-Chan."

Sakura bristled at the honorific, a name she only liked rolling off one person's tongue, and that was just after their lovemaking that it sounded the sweetest. Sakura's ears peeled away the sweet hypnotic voice Akhlys had and glared at her. "I will end you, whether you are a God or not."

"But my dearest Sakura, no pathetic mortal can harm me." Akhlys smiled her bright white teeth, and Sakura cast a glance as Akhlys's breasts grew a little bigger and fuller as her figure grew even more beautiful. Sakura grinned though, as this meant that Akhlys was gathering more of her powers here, to face her. On the outside, she appeared confident, but she was worried about Sakura's power deep on the inside, wasn't she?

"Maybe this time will prove different," Sakura spoke as Akhlys narrowed her eyes. "I have been training hard for this day."

"Oh little young and naive girl, it does not matter how long you train, whether it be a day or until your precious people are dust in the wind and you are forever young. We have fought before; you know your weapons cannot kill me. I am a God."

"Yes, you are a God, but you don't belong here, in this realm of man."

"And you do?" Akhlys grinned widely, as Sakura stepped back, her own reflections of what she had done in her past hit her full force as her eyes stared into the reflective metal of her swords. "Sakura," Akhlys tutted and clicked her tongue as she patronize her very young enemy. A small grateful smile lifted her face as all around them, the black smoke billowed around the walls, and images of Sakura's past began to be shown, as if her worst nightmares were being placed on display.

"Look what you have done for me, my hidden child and most secretive of acolytes. Why, it was You who encouraged families to leave their very homes, cast aside their very lives, and to die in the snow as you played the role of a Queen of Nothing. You tore your own lover's heart into tiny Pieces, and while he may love you now, you know that it will always haunt him...for the rest of his life, in the knowing that you can ask him to stab himself, and he will do it, out of the fear of even losing you even one more time.

...No my dearest little Princess. You were as much a catalyst as Sasuke was for growing the power of my misery all around this world."

Akhlys smiled wider as Sakura's eyes shifted haphazardly as the images moved to show the dying creations of her recent life, followed by her people, the town she had always called home being encased in ice as the grass died and the waters dried up, while her people watched on in absolute horror, before she looked down at her hands, as they shook greatly, her hair grazing her dry skin, making her feel so old in her ever young frame.

You will watch these pathetic people die around you, and you will feel nothing for them, for you will live forever, in your perfectly preserved body. After all, they shunned you when you needed them most, and you Hated them for it, didn't you?

Sakura's hands stilled and tears formed into droplets and dipped into the air and down to the ground, as her voice grew horse with her whispers "….You're right, Akhlys. I have done terrible things to these people, whether I intended to or not."

"Yes, you have. Frostbitten children, old people sleeping forever in the snow, killed by the cold, all of them alone, forever to sleep in that perfect season of the snow."

Sakura's tears stopped flowing as Sakura brought her swords up to her eyes as they were chipped and broken, barely holding themselves together by Sakura's magic alone. "I have thought of nothing else for a year now, Goddess. I have dreams nightmares for days on end, and screamed to the heavens begging for mercy, but unlike you Akhlys," Sakura spoke as conviction formed back into her eyes. "I will dedicate the rest of my life, paying back for those atrocities that I have commited."

"Then you will die…" Akhlys muttered before she disappeared and Sakura rose her blades before her before Akhlys's smoke shot forward in a great push, and Sakura cried out as her swords completely shattered from the pressure and Sakura fell to the ground, bashing her head into a hidden rock. But Sakura was not to be done as immediately as she regained herself, she moved her hands along the snow, as wires formed and were pulled taut, just as Akhlys appeared behind her, and diamond patterns cut into her body, as each of Sakura's fingers pulled on the tied strings with all her might, as golden ichor, the blood of the Gods, seeped out of the many cuts that formed on Akhlys's diamond skin.

"You witch!" Akhlys cursed wildly, the wires seeping further inside her, before Akhlys swirled around to face her enemy. "You are nothing!" She shouted as the wires broke and whipped straight back into Sakura's face, and as Sakura felt the wires whip deep gashes of lines across her cheek, Akhlys sped forward, twisting her body through the air as her foot made contact with Sakura's ribcage and Sakura had only to wheeze before she was flying sideways, as she was kicked into the mountain, shattering the brittle cliff wall, as rocks slammed down all around her as the mountain shook from the force.

Sakura must have blacked out because as she opened her eyes and moved to her knees, her hands were already bloody from pulling jagged rocks out of her legs. Sakura's body glowed green and blue, as her clothes repaired themselves for her pride more than anything else, as Sakura limped from side to side as Akhlys changed direction time and time again as she circled her prey. Sakura's yellow magic seeped uselessly into the ground, too weak to melt the snow below their feet.

"Sakura, I offered you the same deal I had with Sasuke, but you deny me not once but twice. I don't suppose you'll give up and allow me to have those delicious little powers of yours willingly? I could give you so much...even a place wher you and your lover could stay for eternity..."

Sakura laughed quietly as she looked at the lines trickling down with golden blood.. "You said my powers were nothing against a God, but they seemed to hurt you just fine."

"A power by a God is much different than that of a mortal. Sakura, you are facing yourself here, facing an impossible task at hand. You cannot destroy all of the misery in this world. No matter what you do, I will always...be...eternal."

"You are right, but I recall how the old Gods fell to their children, and between that of Gods and men."

"You cannot compare a God's children among mere mortals. Gods come back over time, and it cannot be stopped."

"Ah, but who controls time but a single God? No, I can choose to be happy with the time that I have left with my loved ones. Don't think that you can try to persuade my mind like you have for centuries of others." Sakura spoke regally as she clutched at her heart, and glared at the enemy before her. "I feel you inside me, pulling me down to your low level, where you live in hell and weep over every single one of your great losses. You, a God, tried to kill me, but another God saved me, to give me another chance."

Akhlys bristled with anger. "Don't you get it girl?! I am your God! You are facing your diety!"

"No, you are not!" Sakura defied, her legs growing weak from her magic leaving her, but her plan had to work. "God or Gods created this world, but they gave us the choice of whether or not to follow in our own way of respecting your deeds for us. I choose to repay for the suffering that I have caused." Sakura glared as daggers formed slowly in her hands, as Akhlys saw how little her magic glowed in intensity. "You, Akhlys, do not belong in this realm."

"Well...since you wish to die with so little respect...let's do this." Akhlys smiled darkly as her hands extended and her smoke blew forward.

Yellow streaks flashed forward, as Naruto's hair stood up from the back of his neck, surging out as his magic peeled off of his skin, pushing him faster and faster as he felt Sakura's magic weakening as every second passed him by. Why he couldn't run so fast that time grew still had him angry, but it was only four miles to the mountain pass entrance and after a minute, he sped towards the small opening.

Naruto slowed briefly though, as he saw the icy spikes and floors of the ground, and not wanting to slip, he jumped to the side of the cliff, running along the wall like a ninja moving along the branches of trees. His eyes saw the numerous dead horses and enemy soldiers, their arms scattered among their bodies, all sliced to ribbons from jagged cuts so smooth that it seemed like someone had made their magic so cold, it felt hot to the touch.

Naruto's feet hit the packed in snow, and he looked around the corner to see a midsized slope of snow packed gently against the descent of the mountain pass, and at the bottom was a soldier in their cloth blue armor, their mask ripped away from the heavy fighting she had partaken in, and ten soldiers, their armor cut and broken in many places, surrounded her shivering body in a easy semicircle, as the woman tried to slide back with a spear through her leg.

Naruto looked at the scene for a single second, before he felt Sakura's magic peak again and his decision was made. Quickly, Naruto sped forward, his blade being pulled out as he zipped forward as men laughed, raising their weapons to cut Layla apart, before Naruto sped faster than he had before, and his blades sliced through the men quickly before he picked up Layla and sped ten feet away, shielding her with his body as the soldiers exploded in a moving explosion towards the pass, the wind picking up all around them, as Naruto's magic had caused it to sweep others off their feet.

Naruto pushed himself up as he looked down to see Layla smile gratefully at him. "Thank you, Naruto-Sama. I almost couldn't keep m-my p-promise." Layla stuttered as her wound bothered her. Naruto nodded as Layla leaned into him and cried out as she cut off the point of the spear from behind her thigh and cried again as she pulled the remaining piece of wood out, making Naruto look to her.

"Where is she, Layla?"

"Took the right pass…" Layla coughed a little blood up and wheezed but she calmed quickly and pointed the way. "Naruto-Sama, please. I felt Akhlys seep past me, injuring me as she did. She needs you now."

"Will you be-"

"GO! P-protect our Queen." Layla smiled as she laid back down and Naruto nodded as his disappeared, his yellow streak following him up and over the boulder as Layla brought her hand from just below her heart, where blood soaked quickly down the clothes, turning the snow pink around her. Layla's eyes flickered as she giggled breathlessly, and closed her eyes as she slumped into the snow from the blood loss leaving her body, a grave ready to be filled with bodies all around.

Akhlys's black smoke surged forward, and Sakura wished she had time to scoff as the black smoke twisted itself into the same flesh ripping wires that she had used previously. 'Why couldn't a thousand year old Goddess be more original?!' Sakura cursed as she began to tuck and roll underneath the ever moving wires, as walls forming right in front of her, forcing her to jump sideways to the right as the wires slipped between the others, forming into a thick blanket of death.

Sakura felt the smoke move just before her and slashed at the air, cutting the wires before it could form with her dagger before she jumped through the smoke, moving towards her goal of the center of the clearing, as Akhlys chased after her, her smoke surrounding her on two sides. Immediately, the two sides surged right to the center, merging in a wet soup of heavy fabric, as Sakura spun rapidly, her daggers cutting whatever wires she could.

Akhlys smiled though as she closed her hands and the wires merged together to the size of Sakura's arms, and as Sakura tried to move, she tripped as her ankles were grabbed from behind her with black smoke seeping demonically around her body, as Sakura was pulled back and away from her daggers as the pull was too much.

Sakura hissed out her pain as the smoke burn with sulfur seeping inside her body, and her legs were propped to either side of her, as Akhlys moved over to her right side, and made a motion with her hand as Sakura saw Sasuke being pushed forward by Akhlys's will alone. Akhlys smiled as she stroked his cheek, and a black dagger was placed in his hand. That's right, Akhlys couldn't kill her. She needed to be a sacrifice.

Sasuke breathed unevenly as he stepped to Sakura's left, and Sakura smiled at his uncertainty filled in his eyes and nodded to herself as Sasuke's feet touched the mushy snow underneath all of them in the small choke point of the pass. Sasuke heaved a sigh as he looked to Akhlys for guidance, and Sakura pounced.

While her arms were still free, Sakura moved her arms wildly, the last of her magic surged out of her body, as she slammed all of her magic into the very ground below. The earth shook with great force, as a circle of purple formed in the snow around them all, strange symbols appearing along the curve, before the snow shuddered and dropped an inch, forcing everyone to the ground, before Sakura smiled sadly just as they all screamed as the earth broke all around them, as their bodies sunk down into the sinkhole beneath them, as the snow and dirt filled the air in a heavy mist around them, covering everything from view.

AN: Duh Duh Duh!