Sakura panted. Her pink hair was all over her face, her heart was racing and her lungs were burning. In any other case she would've hated running like this. Sports were never her strong suit but now it was in a different setting - she was dashing around her school's corridors and hallways with her new friends, having fun and racing back to the gorgeous room that they shared. Sakura could catch a glimpse of her friend's blonde hair in the corner of her eye. Ino was running right beside her, Hinata had surprised her with her speed and was running in front of them, which had caught Sakura totally off guard at first.
The almost empty corridors of their school were filled with lighthearted screams and fits of laughter when the group of four girls sprinted past a bunch of students and even a few faeries. Faeries were the ones to keep the academy up and running. Hinata had explained to her that they were responsible for cleaning and maintenance, doing the laundry and even cooking, in exchange of magical power that the sorcerer's stone provided to the school.
Some students were looking at them weirdly, others in delight to see the pink haired girl run with her friends. There was no doubt that it seemed odd to see the headmistress' newly chosen mentee act this way, since it was obvious that nobody usually did. But honestly, Sakura didn't care. All she currently cared about was beating Tenten who wasn't that far ahead considering her unfair head start.
Suddenly their voices went down when they saw Tenten stop on her tracks. Blankness filled Sakura's mind. What was she doing? Even though Sakura, Ino and Hinata had been catching up to her, she still had a good head start so why would she stop? Tenten's muscles tensed, it was clearly visible for her friends who stopped behind her – now understanding what made Tenten stop.
"Karin."
The redhead was standing in the middle of the hallway blocking their way with an obnoxious smirk splattered all over her face, which made Sakura wince.
"Do you really have no other life apart from ruining ours?" Ino sighed tiredly. "You're not the number one anymore," she reminded Karin, whose smirk faded into a glare towards the blonde. Ino just rolled her eyes and shook her head in a disapproving way which seemed to piss the redhead even more. "So step aside and leave us alone."
"Ugh whatever, I don't care about any of you losers. I'm here to talk to the pink or whatever her name was," Karin said. Her voice just had something about it that irritated the crap out of Sakura, but the way she spoke was even worse. Nobody talked to her friends like that. Sakura quickly stepped in front of Tenten, now facing Karin.
"For the record my name is Sakura. What do you want?" Sakura demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah I don't really care about your name," Karin said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "And I want you to give up your spot as headmistress' mentee and give it to me, obviously," Karin said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, her content smile returning to her face.
Sakura just stared at the girl. "Excuse me?"
Karin looked at her incredulously. "What's there not to understand? This is my school and your little stunt back there is nothing. Just because you're new and whatever and everyone is talking about you and wondering what the fuck is up with you doesn't make you special. I'm special. You and your friends are nothing. So give me what's rightfully mine."
For a second Sakura had to think if the girl was serious or not. It seemed very unreal for her to be actually serious. Who the hell talks like that? Who the hell thinks like that?
'Wow,' Sakura thought. 'This bitch really is crazy.'
Her mouth spread into a grin and she let out a loud, genuine laugh which seemed to wipe the confident smirk off of Karin's face.
"Me? Give the spot to you? Hell no!" Sakura laughed and pointed her finger at Karin like she was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever seen. Well, she kind of was. Karin was no doubt wearing designer everything but the clothes she was wearing were way too small for her. She was probably trying to look hotter that way but Sakura thought it was just plain distasteful. Soon her friends joined in.
"Yeah right!" Ino said, seeing the redhead clenching her fists.
"Not so important anymore, are you?" Tenten added, placing her hands on her hips.
"This has to be a joke." Hinata also stepped up. "Who are you to demand anything from Sakura? She got her spot fair and square."
"You don't know what you're messing with!" Karin's voice was low but dangerous, her cheeks reddening with anger. Sakura just let out a dry laugh at Karin's empty threats, from what she had been told Karin was all talk no action. "You will regret this!"
"I got lucky, you didn't. It's that simple. You annoy me. Please leave," Sakura simply told her and lowered her hands to rest on her hips. She was done listening to Karin rage about not getting what she wanted, so she waved her hand in front of her, motioning her to go back where she came from. Inside Sakura was shocked at her newfound confidence. Karin didn't know what to say and just stuttered in front of her, trying to find an insult to throw her way. In a way Sakura felt sorry for Karin, but maybe not getting what she wanted for once would do some good for her.
"You're just a bunch of empty headed sluts, you took what was rightfully mine!" Karin finally screamed once she managed to form a complete sentence and pulled out her wand, pointing it at Sakura and her friends. This actually made Sakura take a step back.
'This bitch is insane. Like actually INSANE," Sakura thought, her eyes widening.
Karin was actually about to attack them. Really attack them. Not with words or fists but with magic, which was bad. There was no way for them to defend themselves. Well, actually, she didn't. Ino, Tenten and Hina could've pulled out their wands but by then Karin would've probably already done something.
"Miss Karin!"
Sakura and all her friends' eyes jumped from Karin to look at the tall woman that had suddenly appeared not too far away behind Karin. The redhead visibly gulped when turning around slowly, trying to hide her wand behind her back.
"Pr-professor Shizune, miss!" Karin stuttered, avoiding her sharp black eyes.
And this was the girl had just screamed at them and threatened to attack them. What. The. Fuck. Sakura suddenly believed everything that her friends had told her about this girl and would make sure to stay far away from her.
"Finally someone is about to put the bitch in her place.." Ino whispered victoriously.
"This is the third time, in the TWO days you've been here, I catch you running your foul mouth and threatening your fellow students, but this time using magic. This is unacceptable." Professor Shizune's voice was cold and her gaze stern, she looked like she was about to burn a hole through Karin. Sakura glanced at her friends who didn't even bother hiding their evident smirks of satisfaction.
"Serves her right," Hinata whispered, earning a small nod from Sakura before Shizune spoke out again.
"And now you can't use your words," Shizune loudly stated, almost mocking Karin who hadn't gotten a single word out of her mouth.
"But professor-" Karin tried to say but Shizune was already interrupting her by raising her hand in front of her face, shutting Karin up completely.
"I don't care what you have to say, you will help the faeries with the laundry for the next three weeks. Go to the headmistress' office NOW. And if I catch you causing any more trouble to Sakura and her friends, you will suffer even worse consequences."
Shizune shut Karin up completely. She walked over and snatched Karin's wand from her hand, which caused Karin to cry out in protest.
"The headmistress will decide what will happen to you, now go." Shizune motioned Karin to leave and with slight hesitation, she left without even glancing back at Sakura or her friends. A brief silence fell to the corridor. A couple of students had come out to see what the screaming was about and saw the whole thing. Sakura was standing up to Karin, defending herself – nobody ever stood up to Karin. It was like the new girl was breaking all of the rules.
"Okay what did just happen?" Tenten broke the silence by whispering to her friends.
"Are you all alright?" Shizune walked over to them, obviously concerned for them – Karin was a tough one to handle. Sakura almost didn't recognize her voice since now it was gentle and concerned, unlike a second ago when she'd been yelling at Karin.
"Oh, yes, thank you for interfering," Sakura politely answered, before even realizing that she'd reacted to Shizune's voice and turned to face the smiling professor.
"You're the student Tsunade has chosen to mentor, right?" The question caught Sakura a little off guard.
"Y-yes," she answered. Nobody had called the headmistress Tsunade as long as she'd been around, which admittedly hadn't been that long. Sakura knew that she'd been given permission to call her Tsunade instead of headmistress, but she hadn't heard anyone else calling her that.
"If you need any help, my classroom is in the eastern wing. I should probably leave, you and your friends have a welcoming ball to plan," Shizune told them and with a smile pulled out her wand, disappearing into a puff of smoke. This left the girls staring at the spot she'd been standing in and wondering what the hell had just happened.
"I like her," Tenten announced to her friends, earning a few laughs and smiles from them.
"Me too," Sakura agreed still staring at the spot Shizune had stood just a moment ago.
"Yeah, she totally shut that bitch up!" Ino exclaimed, hopping around and thrusting her hands up in the air.
"Guys, let's go! We have to come up with a plan for Sakura to present the headmistress during their meeting!" Hinata told them, resulting in all of them sprinting towards their room.
"Okay, so what do we need?" Sakura asked her friends and picked up a notebook and a pen. They'd sat down – well, in Tenten's case collapsed – on the three sofas they had in the living room they all shared. Tenten was lying on her back, waving her wand in the air, shrugging at Sakura's question.
"Focus!" Ino said and smacked Tenten with a pillow, which made the brunette mad.
"Pig!"
"Oh you'll regret that!" Ino shrieked and started to continuously hit Tenten with the pillow. Tenten grabbed a pillow of her own and they started a fight, running around and dodging each other's attacks. Hinata and Sakura let out a tired sigh in unison. Hinata sat down next to Sakura and stared at the empty page of her notebook, not caring about the cries for help and welps behind them.
"Well, we need to have music!" Hinata started and Sakura immediately wrote it down with her very neat handwriting. But how what kind of music? Was the ball formal or was it supposed to be something like a high school dance? Sakura frowned, she really didn't know what to do. Hinata saw her the look on her face change and let out a heartfelt laugh.
"You do realize it's not a big deal right?"
"But what kind of music? Where do we get a band on such a short notice?!" Sakura asked, clearly frustrated. This caused Hinata to smirk and once again, show Sakura her wand to help her realize that magic would help solve all of her problems.
"There's this thing called magic you know. It kind of solves most of your problems," Hinata told her matter-of-factly, pretending like Sakura didn't already know that, which got the pinkette's cheeks flush red with annoyance.
"I know that, you write everything down then!" Sakura exclaimed and threw the pen and notebook into Hinata's lap, crossing her arms over her chest, puffing her cheeks. Ino and Tenten and finally finished their fight and crawled back to them. Nobody won, they were both beat and panting. They had feathers all over them but at least now they could focus with all that extra energy gone.
"Okay so if it's formal, we'll cast a spell on some instruments so they'll play music but we'll see tomorrow how it looks," Hinata said and finished writing all the information down.
"You should ask the headmistress if we can play something other than classical music," Ino suggested, still out of breath from having a fight with Tenten. Her hair was messy and her clothes wrinkled. "Because if the people from the other school are super boring, we can at least have fun. Also, I wanna dance until the soles of my shoes are completely worn off!"
Sakura nodded to Ino and Hinata wrote a note for her about it in the notebook. Sakura amazed at how good Hinata was at this. She'd made a nice list with the main title being 'prep for ball' and underneath it 'music'. She'd written a nice list of all the things they'd discussed – including that Sakura should ask Tsunade about the music.
"Then decorations!" Ino exclaimed. She was clearly more than excited for being able to dress formal and beautiful for their welcoming party.
"That's actually already taken care of," Hinata told her, earning a confused look from Sakura. "The ballroom is already so magnificent that we don't have to decorate it."
"Well, I'll make sure everything is pristine and perfect!" Ino said and drew out her wand that was identical to Hinata and Tenten's. Everyone seemed to have the exact wand, even Karin. It had actually been bothering Sakura for a little while. She'd thought everyone would have their own kind of wand.
"Hey guys. This has nothing to do with the party, but why are everyone's wands so similar, like, identical?" Sakura spoke out, gaining her friends' attention
"All Luna Nova students and professors have one. They all work because of the sorcerer's stone, there aren't many kinds of wands that work without. I guess it's just easier to have the same kind of wand for everyone," Ino told her, looking at her weirdly, which made Sakura twitch a little.
"Hence why we all have similar wands. Shouldn't you already know that from having one of your own?" Tenten continued, sharing the same puzzled look Ino had.
"Didn't you get one with your acceptance letter?" Hinata asked her, joining the other two and stared at her. Suddenly Sakura regretted asking, she still didn't like having all the attention on her.
"No.." she sheepishly answered, not really knowing what to say.
Tenten waved her hand. "Meh, nothing to worry about. It was probably just a mistake."
"Hey, you should ask the headmistress when you see her. I bet she'll give you your wand," Ino said. Sakura looked up and smiled at her friends, they really were helping her adjusting to this world. And Ino was right, Tsunade would probably help her and give her a wand. She wouldn't be able to cast any spells before that though. Not that she could, not yet at least.
"Wait, do we have dinner tomorrow?" Tenten suddenly realized. That's right, they wouldn't be having dinner tomorrow since the ball was happening at the exact time they were supposed to eat.
"So we need to serve food," Sakura announced and Hinata again started to write things down. Ino's eyes twinkled as she raised her hand jokingly, earning an amused glance from Sakura.
"Ino," she gave Ino the permission to lower her hand and speak. It was like they were in a meeting and she was leading the discussion.
"We can take care of the food. While you visit the headmistress, we'll go talk to the faeries in the dining hall. They'll most likely help us," Ino brightly told them, taking responsibility of arranging food for their festivities.
"That's great Ino," Sakura praised her. "What else do we need?"
"That's about it really, since the whole thing is all about mingling and making a good impression," Hinata spoke out and handed the notebook back to Sakura with her pen neatly on top of it.
"Yeah we'll get to organizing everything, you go visit the headmistress!" Tenten said, jumping up to stand on top of the sofa. Sakura smiled and stood up, heading for the door but suddenly turned around with her face pale.
"Do you think I actually have to welcome the students?" Sakura asked. Her friends just looked at her, she'd done just fine standing up to Karin and having the headmistress present her as her mentee, they didn't think it was an issue.
"Well yea sure, that's what Tsunade said but that might be just greeting them when they arrive, maybe organizing a tour for the teachers or something," Hinata said and her two friends silently agreed. Sakura still wasn't sure about it and her friends saw that from her pale face.
"Just go and ask your best mentor in the world!" Tenten said jokingly and rushed over to push her towards the door. Sakura smiled at her friend and waved goodbyes before entering the corridor.
She'd only walked a few steps forward in the corridor before she rushed back and popped her head back into the room.
"Umm, does anyone know where her room is?"
After wandering around for a good while, Sakura had finally found the headmistress' office. She was standing in front of a pair of tall wooden doors with decorative door handles made out of brass. The doors had beautiful cravings on them and Sakura couldn't resist the urge to trace the figures with her fingers and slide her hand on the cold surface of the doors before taking a deep breath and knocking on the headmistress' door.
"Come in, Sakura!"
Sakura heard someone call her from the other side and hesitantly pulled one of the doors open to have a peek inside. How did Tsunade know it was her? Sakura didn't want to believe her mentor had abilities to see through objects like doors or walls. What if she did? Maybe she'd just been expecting her. Sakura shrugged it off and entered the headmistress' office. Her office was big and formal, just what you'd expect from the headmistress of Luna Nova. Sakura glanced around the room. It had a high decorative ceiling with yet another chandelier hanging from it, but what really lit up the room was all of the natural light coming in through the large windows.
'Why are there so many chandeliers?' Sakura thought to herself.
Tsunade was sitting behind a large mahogany desk that was filled up with all sorts of papers and folders formed into neat piles. The walls were covered almost from top to bottom with bookshelves, and just like in their suite, where the wall wasn't covered with books had paintings. Sakura admired the amount of books this school had. She started to think if she could read all of them before graduating.
"Ah. Sakura," Tsunade spoke to her which snapped her back to reality. "It's good that you came, we have a lot to discuss."
Sakura stepped forward and sat down on one of the two armchairs placed neatly in front of the large desk that Tsunade motioned her to. The back of the chair was just a bit taller than her. Tsunade smiled at her mentee, her first ever mentee as the headmistress of Luna Nova.
"So, how have you liked your time here at Luna Nova so far?"
A very basic question to start out a very basic conversation, or so Sakura thought at least. They were easing into the conversation slowly, which made Sakura a lot more comfortable.
"Oh, it's been great. I really like it here," Sakura answered, placing her notebook on her thighs. "I've gotten lots of friends and I'm slowly getting used to all of this."
"It's good that you've adapted so quickly." Tsunade smiled and placed her hand on top of a thin folder that was placed right in front of her. "I've actually looked at your file and I saw something interesting that you're probably already aware about." Sakura knew what she was talking about. There was only one thing that she would find interesting about the pink haired girl and that was Sakura in general being able to attend this school.
"Yeah.." Sakura fidgeted in her chair. "I don't come from a magical family and much less so from a noble family, but I'm still here."
Sakura avoided to look at her mentor in the eye. She had already been assured by her friends that there was more to it than that, but it still sounded strange to her. She had to take a look at things twice now just to remind herself that she wasn't dreaming and that this really was her life now. And how could she have a relative in her family that had hidden her or his real life from everyone? She knew it wasn't either of her parents and that she and her friends would be looking into it, but it still was weird. She felt like she didn't know who she truly was.
Tsunade looked at Sakura. "Yes, it is true that nobody in your immediate family is a witch, but that doesn't change the fact that you do have magical blood in you. That's why you're here. Not because of your family, but because of your potential and the blood that flows though your veins. You have great strength in you that no other witch has had in a long time, I can sense it from you," she said, her voice calm and almost comforting.
"My friends and I talked about it and we're going to to some research on which one of my relatives was a witch or a wizard," Sakura told Tsunade with determination, maybe more to convince herself than the headmistress. But Tsunade didn't look impressed, her expression didn't change at all.
"My dear, I predict it's going to be a lot harder than that to understand your heritage." Tsunade stood up and walked over to the large windows of her office that covered most of the wall, looking out.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked her mentor. She didn't turn around but Sakura didn't actually mind facing her back. Now that Tsunade's eyes were off of her, she felt more at ease. Had she been nervous before? Sakura quietly took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. This was Tsunade, not the headmistress but her mentor. She shouldn't be nervous.
"You have great magical powers hidden inside of you. There's a reason you were chosen as my mentee. We were destined to meet."
And that's when Sakura lost her. Sakura didn't understand what her mentor was talking about. She thought this meeting would be about something completely else, like talking about how she felt about the magic wold and about the ball that was tomorrow, but now she had no idea what the headmistress had in mind. All she was prepared to talk about were the plans she'd made with Ino, Hinata and Tenten.
Tsunade turned around and looked at her mentee's puzzled expression. Sakura had subconsciously brought her hand to her necklace and was now holding the blue crystal in her fingers. She stared at the crystal, her eyes lingering on it.
"Sakura," Tsunade suddenly spoke. "Have you always had that necklace?"
Sakura couldn't hold back her surprise from the quick change of subject and looked at the pendant she was holding in her fingers. The blue crystal felt normal against her touch, so familiar.
"Yes." Sakura wasn't that sure where Tsunade was going with this meeting. "It was given to me by my grandmother when I was baby. She said it was a family heirloom that belonged to me and that I would take good care of it," Sakura told Tsunade who was now studying the little crystal with her brown eyes. Tsunade took a few steps closer and clearly wanting to examine it even closer. Sakura decided it was best if she took it off and she pulled the necklace over her head, holding it by it's thin silver chain closer to Tsunade
Tsunade didn't say anything when she walked around her table to get a more closer look. After a while of quiet examining, Tsunade took a few steps back and brought her hand under her chin. After a few seconds, she smiled.
"Come with me. There's something I want to show you." Tsunade quickly covered the distance between the spot she'd been standing in and the other side of the room, motioning Sakura to follow her as she walked out of her office.
'What was that? What is happening?' was all Sakura could think.
Sakura quickly got up and placed her notebook on Tsunade's desk before rushing after her. As she fell into step beside her, she quickly slipped the necklace back on, comforted by it's familiar weight on her chest. Neither of them said anything as they walked. Sakura had a bunch of questions in mind that she wanted to ask, but it didn't seem like a good time.
Tsunade quietly led her into a part of the academy she'd never seen before. She and her friends had explored the castle a little bit the day before, but they hadn't been here. The hallways were different, even the view out of the windows they passed didn't seem familiar.
"This castle has always been a place of power for witches," Tsunade interrupted the silence. She was walking with her hands behind her back, but did not look at Sakura when speaking. "As you know, we get our magical powers from the sorcerer's stone."
Sakura nodded, not sure if she should've actually said something since she wasn't sure if Tsunade had even noticed her response. Hinata had explained the basics of how magic worked to her before, but she wouldn't have minded a recap.
"Well, the magic has faded from the world since the golden age of magic. Now we can't use magic outside places of power. At least not most of us." Tsunade and Sakura turned a corner, walking through corridors she didn't even know existed.
"I sense magic in you that the earth hasn't seen in a long time. Although I don't know who the relative you want to find is, I think I can steer you into the right direction." Sakura was intrigued but surprised at the same time. She didn't want to say anything and interrupt Tsunade, she wanted to know more about magic and her heritage.
"You told me your necklace is a family heirloom," Tsunade said, slowly drawing out the words. "But I've seen before."
Sakura needed a few seconds to make sense of things in her head. Her eyes widened and her hand went instinctively to the glowing crystal that was attached to her necklace. "You have?"
"Yes, I have," Tsunade said. "Do you know the legend of the sorcerer's stone?"
Sakura shook her head. She and Hinata had discussed the basics of magic, but Hinata hadn't said a word about a legend of any sort.
Tsunade took a deep breath in. "Well, before there were places of power here on earth, there was a shining star that shined blue. It made it possible for witches to practice magic as much as they wanted, anywhere they wanted. Thousands of years ago the star landed here, on earth. Everyone on earth - of course - started fighting over the magical star that gave specific people magical powers – those would be witches and wizards. That is actually what the greek mythology is really about. The're weren't gods but witches and wizards using magical powers and perceived by non-magical people as gods and goddesses."
Sakura was shocked at how little she really knew about their history. She was now a part of them and wanted to learn every single detail Tsunade was going to give her. Tsunade seemed different, she wasn't smiling, she had a whole new expression. She was focused and relaxed but she felt distant, she didn't seem like the woman that had told her to come into her office.
"It started wars and they didn't end until a great witch of the moon arrived and shattered the star into three pieces. She told three very powerful witches that she trusted to place them in different places on earth and ended the war. Witches built places of power around these pieces, one being our academy." Tsunade stopped and urged Sakura to take a look out of a window next to her.
Sakura looked outside and saw what Tsunade had been talking about. Not too far away from the castle there was a white tall tower, taller than the castle, which was already huge in Sakura's opinion. Right on the top of the tower Sakura could see a massive glowing piece of crystal, the same colour as her necklace. She felt herself being drawn to the crystal on top of the tower, it was like she wanted to be a part of it.
Tsunade continued to walk and Sakura rushed after. When Sakura reached her, Tsunade started to speak again.
"When the great witch of the moon shattered the star, a few pieces were left behind – three to be exact. These the witch kept to herself and placed them into magical items, giving them out to the the three noble magical families that had made sure to build places of power around the main three pieces of the star. Until now, we only knew the location of two of them but now you've brought the last one home, since this is where the great witch of the moon brought it. It is rumored that she was a part of the family who built this castle and the tower for the part of the star, which we call the sorcerer's stone."
Sakura was baffled to say the least. That would mean that her magic could've come from one of the three founding families, and if not, whoever she got it from must have been in close contact with them. She was too deep in her thoughts to notice that Tsunade had stopped and they were standing in a room filled with antiquities and other expensive looking objects.
"Of course the items have changed owners, been passed down for many generations, been lost and found in the thousands of years they've existed, so there is no way to know for sure who has passed on their magical powers to you, but you should look for specific traits. They would share the same kind of magic you possess, which is different from everybody else's." Tsunade walked over to a showcase that had only a few items in it and reached into it with her hand just like she'd done with the glass sphere where she'd drawn her name from.
Tsunade pulled out a metallic stick from the glass box and held it in her hands. Sakura took a few steps closer and realized that it wasn't just any stick. Tsunade was holding a magic wand in her hand.
Tsunade slid her fingertips over the it's uneven surface, before turning around and showing it to Sakura. Before her jade eyes had time to register what was happening, the crystal from her necklace shot up, drawing itself closer to the wand Tsunade was holding.
Before the pinkette could say anything, the crystal escaped it's place in her necklace she'd valued more than any of her other belongings with a quick snap, and flew through the air faster than light. Sakura registered that the silver chain slipped from around her neck and fell to the ground, but she couldn't take her eyes off of what was happening. Panicked thoughts rushed through her head as her most prized possession broke apart in a quarter of a second. Tsunade grabbed the wand in one hand and pointed it towards the crystal, which flew directly into the tip of the wand she'd been holding. Sakura watched in awe as the wand began to glow and wrap itself around the crystal, the one she'd been carrying around for as long as she could remember.
When the glow slowly faded, Tsunade examined the wand in her hands as if she was examining her own work. Then she slowly walked over to Sakura and handed her the wand, holding it in front of the pinkette. It looked like a work of art. The wand itself was made of something that looked like silver. It's surface wasn't smooth like her friends', though. This wand looked like drops of liquid silver had been swirled around up towards the wand's tip and frozen, making the wand's surface look uneven but still it seemed to have a graceful look to it. The crystal from her necklace was placed the tip of it, held in place by small lines of silver metal. It looked like the wand itself grew around it.
She was hesitant to touch it, even when Tsunade was offering it to her. She looked up into Tsunade's honey brown eyes, not really knowing what to say or do. Her face didn't have a distinct expression on it but Sakura could see the encouragement in her eyes.
Sakura hesitantly reached for the wand and took it into her right hand. The silver felt cool in her hand as she gripped it. She imagined that the uneven surface would make it difficult to hold the wand, but it seemed to fit into her hand like it was made for her.
Suddenly she felt like a jolt of electricity shot from the wand and filled her body, like a tingle that spread from her hand and shot through her body. She had never felt like this before. She suddenly felt a connection to the wand, different from the way she'd felt about the crystal from her necklace. This was something more, something deeper. It was like something was awakening that seemed to have been sleeping inside her. It was like her soul met something it had lost a long time ago, filling her up with happiness and pleasure. Her whole body shuddered and Sakura let out a cry mixed with surprise and pleasure, tightening her grip around the wand. Energy surrounded her body, it felt like a soft breeze moving her silky pink locks and traveling on her skin. Tsunade watched closely as Sakura seemed to get back to their world, opening her emerald green eyes.
"I've never seen anything like that," Tsunade spoke silently, her voice filled with awe. She placed her hands on her mentee's shoulders to support her. Sakura felt a little groggy. Her balance was a little off but with Tsunade supporting her, she was able to recover.
Sakura lifted the wand up so that she could look at it. It was truly beautiful, she felt the same familiar energy now pulse from the wand and not the necklace.
"Let's get back to my office, you've had enough for one day," Tsunade spoke softly and placed her hand on her mentee's lower back, gently gesturing her towards the doorway they'd entered from. Sakura's head was spinning from all of the thing's she'd learned and kept staring at the wand in her hand. Tsunade noticed Sakura's dazed expression quickly.
"You don't have a wand," Tsunade spoke to Sakura, which caught the pink haired girl's attention. Sakura's emerald eyes met Tsunade's.
"I wasn't given one."
"I know. This is your wand."
Back in Tsunade's office they quickly went through the plan that Sakura and her friends had put together. Sakura was in total awe of her wand, she didn't want to let go of it, because she felt like if she did, it would just disappear. Tsunade probably knew that this was a lot for her to take in, so she kept the rest of their meeting short. She approved of their plan and told Sakura that she should continue working on the ball with her friends.
Sakura stood up and thanked her mentor, but Tsunade just laughed at her.
"Don't thank me, this was all you." Sakura smiled at her mentor and turned to leave but she heard her call her name again.
"Yes?" She turned to face Tsunade.
"You can summon the wand by calling it by it's name: lunae lumen. When you don't need it anymore, it will vanish, but you can summon it wherever, whenever and only you can do it, since you've established a link with it." It took a while for Sakura to soak it all in, but slowly she nodded .
"Lunae lumen.." Sakura softly whispered before slowly letting go of the wand. As soon as she unwrapped her fingers the wand vanished from her hands.
"It's Latin. It means the light of the moon," Tsunade translated. "I think we should stop here for today. We will meet again soon but for now it would be best if you got some rest. You have a lot of work ahead of you."
"Thank you for trusting me. I won't fail you." Sakura was already past the door when she suddenly turned back.
"Tsunade?" Her mentor lifted her head up from the pile of paperwork she was about to attack.
"If the ball is a total bore, can we play something other than classical music?"
Her words caused the headmistress to suddenly burst out laughing, wiping the corner of her eye for the chance that a tear had escaped. She looked at her mentee and nodded. She clearly hadn't expecting to hear that. Honestly she'd never been a fan of formal evens. What a way to spice up Luna Nova's old traditions.
"Of course, Sakura."
And with that, the pinkette disappeared from the doorway, letting the door slowly close behind her. Even after she was gone, Tsunade sighed and stared the place where she'd been sitting.
"One day she will learn who she really is."
❧ Goddess of Glam