"Sakura?"
Hinata's soft voice brought the nearly sleepwalking pinkette back to earth. Sakura hadn't had much to sleep last night since her and her friends were asked – more like ordered – to clean up the ballroom after the ball was over.
'Stupid lazy faeries!' Sakura remembered thinking when the magical creatures were nowhere to be found when Tsunade announced that the ball was over.
Practically it had meant that the ones still at the ball would leave and go into their rooms and sleep so that the ballroom could be cleaned, but since the faeries had vanished, Sakura and her friends had been tasked with the cleanup.
The only problem was that when they were done, it was waay past 2am and the had to wake up at 8am for breakfast.
Sakura blinked her emerald eyes for a few times until she realized she'd been holding onto the large spoon that was used to scoop Greek yogurt for quite some time based on the curious and/or weird looks she was getting from her friends.
"Are you okay?" Hinata carefully asked Sakura, whose response was to laugh at her own actions nervously and scoop some into her empty bowl.
"Yeah, sorry. Just a bit drowsy."
She then proceeded to add raspberries and blueberries on top, also picking out a few yummy looking strawberries.
"Oh look, french toast!"
And as soon as Ino pointed out the delicious treats, Sakura had to have one. She stacked a few on top of each other, dripping chocolate sauce and whipped cream on top of them. When she was happy with the masterpiece she'd created, she then proceeded to the thing she craved more than anything else.
Caffeine.
She wasn't a caffeine addict nor did she need a cup of coffee every morning. It was more of a social drink or an afternoon snack type of a thing, but this was the rare occasion where she felt like she was going to fall asleep as soon as she sat down if she didn't a cup.
"Sakura, get me a cup as well!" Tenten called out from behind her. Sakura turned her head to confirm that she was about to do so when she saw the girl stack bacon and eggs onto her already heaping platter.
'Geez, that girl sure has an appetite,' Sakura chuckled to herself.
For a magical school it seemed weird to have a coffee machine preparing coffee. The faeries could just prepare some black and leave it on the breakfast table. Sakura rolled her eyes at the weirdness of her new school and reached out to pick a cup. There were lines of different kind of mugs stacked neatly on top of each other. There were large ones, medium sized ones and tiny ones which Sakura figured were for espressos. She went for the largest size and slid the black mug into the machine.
"Uhm, Ino?" Sakura called out to her friend. She was staring at the machine, which unlike she'd ever seen before. It looked like a normal coffee machine but instead of having buttons to press, it had a screen with the school logo spinning in a circle on it.
This caused the blonde to smirk and roll her blue eyes at the clearly clueless Sakura. She walked over proudly, getting to show her superiority and knowledge to the pinkette – even if it was as minor as showing her how the coffee machine worked.
"So the first thing is that you press the screen," Ino teased Sakura as she made the logo disappear with a swipe of her finger and a variety of options popped up onto the screen. But still it was no ordinary coffee machine.
"What are all of these options?" Sakura asked when staring at the different selections.
"First you choose your coffee base, like medium roast, dark roast, that sort of thing. Then you start to specify what kind of coffee you want , your toppings, addings – it's like a starbucks but in a faerie magic laced machine," Ino explained while pouring syrup onto her pancakes. Hinata and Tenten were nowhere to be seen so they most likely went ahead to find a table for them.
"What makes it magical?" Sakura asked, eyeing the machine with hesitation.
"You can order basically anything you want. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, ice tea – anything you can desire basically," Ino explained and picked up her tray of breakfast. "It also makes seasonal drinks like pumpkin spiced lattes and that kind of stuff."
Sakura felt a jolt go through her when Ino said her favorite fall time drink out loud, but settled with "ordering" a salted caramel mocha with whipped cream on top. The machine just worked it's magic – literally – and soon she had a steaming hot cup of coffee with a whipped cream heap and caramel sauce dripped on top. Sakura felt her jaw drop as she continued to be amazed by this world she was in. Ino reached a hand to close her mouth as she muttered something about being 'unladylike'.
But before Sakura could open her mouth again, Ino already knew what she was going to ask.
"Chai latte, get me one as well."
Sakura wasn't sure how Ino did it, but there was nothing to be questioned about Ino's confident yet oddly smug look on her face, so Sakura decided to just go with it. The pinkette got two more mugs and placed them in the machine and started choosing the specific type of beverage.
In the few moments Sakura had before the drinks were ready she had a look at the perfect being that was Ino Yamanaka. "How come you're not tired whatsoever and look like you got your full 10-hour beauty sleep?"
Sakura's question amused Ino and she noticed when a smirk rose to the blonde's pink lips. Ino sighed and pulled out her wand, brushing it against her lips as if kissing it and smirking at the still so clueless pinkette.
"Magic, my dear. Magic."
Sakura couldn't help but to roll her eyes. How had she not guessed that?
"You will show me how that works." Sakura wasn't asking and Ino expected no less from her.
"Ouioui, ma chérie."
And with a pleased smile she placed the two mugs next to her own and picked up her tray trying not to spill everything on the floor. When she was finally in balance with all she had to carry, she nodded to Ino, informing her that she was ready to go and the blonde lead the way.
Unexpectedly Ino didn't budge. She stood there, looking at Sakura that was currently struggling with the heavy weight of her tray. "Ino! Can we go?" Sakura whined.
"You know, this is the perfect time to practice levitation magic." Ino smiled as she put down her own tray and once more pulled out her wand. "You remember the spell right?"
Sakura struggled, exchanging a pleading look with Ino, who then decided to help her a little. After a sigh. And an eye roll. "Just think about when Tsunade came into the ballroom and-"
"And I used the spell on the book... volant!" The spell came maybe a little too loud from the pinkette's mouth as they seemed to have gathered some attention to themselves. Great.
"Yeah, now get your wand and focus on the tray. And since you're still practicing DO NOT let the tray out of your mind, because if you don't focus on keeping that tray up, it will fall down in front of everyone," Ino instructed and cast a spell on her tray, which started floating. As it moved, it left tiny green sparks floating in the air after it.
Ino smiled reassuringly as Sakura summoned her wand by calling out it's name and pointed it towards her tray.
"Volant," Sakura spoke out, remembering what Hinata told about breathing energy into the words, and with a flick of her wrist – and a flash of blue – her tray started to float just like Ino's. The feeling of accomplishment spread through her body and painted a joyful smile on her face, which caused Ino to smile too. Even if she didn't always act like it, she was empathetic that way.
"Ah, reminds me of the first times I tried casting spells," Ino chuckled. "You are far better than I was. Our cat levitated for three whole days before I got it down."
"Oh well, let's just wait your first flying class." Ino smirked and left Sakura mortified to the breakfast table, her tray obediently following her.
"We're having breakfast in the garden," Ino called out, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts of what could go horribly wrong if someone actually gave her a broom she was able to fly with.
Sakura then ran after and proceeded to follow her friend across the dining hall, out to the hallways, down a white marble staircase and out from an open door into a beautiful garden, her tray also following obediently behind her. She was careful not to let the flying object slip out of her mind.
While walking through the garden and seeing all it's plants, flowers and the labyrinth twice her height created by bushes shaped into walls Sakura had to restrain herself from stopping and admiring the beautiful garden. She promised herself she'd come back and explore the garden later, because if she did so now she'd either get lost or drop her tray when her mind would eventually wander off. Neither of which was a good choice.
Soon enough Sakura saw a white pergola with flowers and vines decorating it. Tenten and Hinata were already sitting there with two very familiar figures.
"Morning!" Ino chimed as she sat down onto the white couch. On the other side of the long, glass table were three chairs with matching white cushions. All four of the people already sitting around the table answered her in unison.
"Morning."
Sakura sat on the couch not too far from Ino, who scooted over so the two would have some more space to eat their breakfast. It wasn't really necessary, since the table was supposed to fit nearly 15 people, but Sakura didn't complain about all the space she had. It was far more enjoyable to have breakfast in the tranquil garden rather than in the crowded dining hall.
Sakura noticed Neji, who acknowledged her presence with a polite nod which she returned with a small smile. Naruto waved at the pinkette from across the table and then proceeded to stuff his mouth with everything he had on his plate. His mountain of food was even bigger than Tenten's, which was impressive.
Sakura then proceeded to pass Tenten her latte and handed Ino hers.
"Chai latte! How did you know?" Tenten's happily surprised tone made Sakura smirk.
"Oh, you know. Lucky guess," Sakura answered with a shrug and gave Ino a wink which she responded to with a smirk and had a sip of her own latte.
"So, how was hostessing your first ball?" Naruto asked with a mouth full of food from across the table.
"I'm not sure," Sakura confessed, taking a sip of her hot beverage that warmed her palms, which were protectively wrapped around the ceramic.
"Last night was fun but it was also so much work and attention on me, so I don't know how to feel about it. But now that it's over I can just retreat from being in the spotlight and go back to the boring and old not important me. I can go back to studying and learning. This is all still so new to me, you know?"
Sakura felt good about not having so much attention on herself since there was nothing to fuss over, but her words made Ino snicker. Sakura's brows rose up from curiosity, but surprisingly Tenten, Hinata, Naruto and even Neji were also staring at her in need of a further explanation.
Ino cleared her throat. "All I mean is that you entered this school, this world, as a normal girl and what you might've been before. But now you're the trainee of the headmistress herself who is one of the most powerful witches in the world. You have this mysterious relative that gives you a birthright to one of the most magical and powerful objects in the world, whose noble - magical - blood runs through your veins. You can't exactly just expect things to go back to how they were."
Her words left a silence among the group of friends. Nobody touched their food, not even Naruto who'd been stuffing his face a few seconds earlier. He proceeded to swallow what was left in his mouth, before speaking.
"Hold up," Naruto said, his brows furrowing in confusion. "Sakura has what?" Naruto asked, unconsciously waving his cutlery around in a dangerous manner. Hinata, who was sitting next to Naruto, calmly lowered the blond's hands. This caused Naruto to sheepishly smile at the now slightly blushing Hinata.
Sakura was horrified. None of the guys knew about her unusual powers or anything about what she'd found out about herself in the last, what, three days she'd spent at Luna Nova. Only the girls knew. And, well, Tsunade. And probably Shizune since she was not only a professor but also Tsunade's most trusted assistant.
But still. They didn't know, and while Sakura had wanted this to be a secret while she figured things out, Ino just blabbed her secret away to two more people.
"Uhm." Sakura fidgeted in her seat, not really knowing what she was about to explain. "This stays between us, I don't want the whole school to find out." Sakura stated, earning an affirmative nod from Neji and a million nods from the curious blond, which curved Sakura's lips into a small, hesitant smile.
Sakura swallowed and fixed her gaze on the garden than rather than on her friends since she wasn't really sure how to tell a story she didn't know if she believed herself.
"So," the pinkette started, sliding her fingers against the ripped material of her jeans.
"I have, or had i guess, no relatives that are of magical blood. I didn't grow up around magic," Sakura started to explain as she picked up her coffee mug, feeling the warmth against her hands. It felt comforting.
She took a deep breath, not really knowing how she was going to explain.
"But apparently I have a relative, who is of magical blood, of noble blood – as weird as that sounds. And that blood connection gave me the ability to kind of," Sakura couldn't exactly explain what had happened when she'd been with Tsunade, "I guess link with this wand."
Sakura took a sip of her drink, not really because she felt like drinking her coffee, but to avoid the curious eyes of the two boys now staring at her.
"Well, I mean I had this crystal, a family heirloom of sorts, that I've carried as a necklace since I was a little girl. Then I came here and it turned out to be a part of the sorcerer's stone and it joined with the wand Tsunade gave me and boom, here I am having no clue as to who I actually am or what I actually can do with my all so powerful wand and this woman keeps whispering spells to me and I just have no idea what's going on!"
Sakura was left breathing heavily. It wasn't because of what she said, but because she just spat out the longest sentence she's ever said in her life reeally quickly. And, well, a little bit because of what she said. Who wouldn't be?!
This time her words left the whole table speechless. Ino, Hinata and Tenten already knew about the crystal and the relative thing, but this 'hearing spells out of thin air' thing came as a shock to them too.
It meant that Sakura had a deeper connection with the wand than they'd realized.
"We did kind of already know you were special," Neji spoke, finally breaking the oppressive silence.
"Sakura. You do realize that this means that you are linked to someone – as in a person – who has either been an owner of that wand or that crystal?" Hinata finally spoke out, which caused Sakura's eyes to widen.
"So someone is actually talking to me? As in speaking to me through my connection with the wand?" the pinkette asked and Hinata answered with a simple, yet very informative nod. This caused Sakura to place her fingers on her forehead and massage her temples as if she was having a headache.
"Why does my life have to be sooo messed up?" Sakura groaned and shoved a spoonful of Greek yogurt into her mouth. But it also meant that she wasn't insane, so at least that was great news.
"But that's great Sakura! You have an adventure set out for you!" Naruto happily told the pinkette, but she hadn't exactly had an adventure in mind.
"Thanks Naruto, but I just need to figure this thing out. Right now I can't even use magic properly so let's not get carried away." Another spoonful found it's way to Sakura's mouth.
"Well, now I know who to ask for protection when I piss off little miss perfect over here." Naruto didn't even have to point out who he was talking about before Ino lashed out, slamming her hands on the table and shouting at the top of her lungs about how idiotic and immature Naruto was.
"Well that didn't exactly take long," Tenten tiredly pointed out and finished the rest of her chai latte.
"Where's Shikamaru?" Hinata asked Ino, which immediately calmed the blonde down – as Hinata knew it would.
"What did you say, dear?" Ino asked Hinata, her voice calm and oddly high in pitch.
"I asked if you knew where Shikamaru is. He's not here and I didn't see him having breakfast inside either," Hinata repeated, trying to distract Ino from screaming.
"Shikamaru? Oh, he's probably still asleep. I bet he'll just come and grab a coffee before heading out to classes." Ino sat back down and started taking apart her tower of pancakes.
"Classes?" Sakura asked from the guys. "You're going to classes?"
"Yup, the same classes as you since our teachers think we should widen our perspective of the world," Naruto explained in between taking bites of the sandwich he made for himself.
"Not to speak bad about the oh-so-appreciated Appleton academy, but your classes are boring and your professors even more boring, so maybe you'll actually learn something this time," Tenten pointed out with a condescending tone, earning a glare from Neji.
"You know I'm right." Tenten returned his glare with sticking her tongue out playfully. Sakura didn't know what the deal between those two were but she sure as hell wasn't going to intrude on it.
"Now that the cat is out of the bag, could we please talk about something else?" the pinkette asked with a mix of frustration and confusion. She was going to need a lot more caffeine, and maybe something even stronger than that, to have a conversation about things that basically wrecked everything she'd though of herself and her background.
Neji and Tenten continued their bickering, which seemed to be a normal thing for the two. Ino had somehow gotten a fashion magazine from somewhere, but considering the fact that Sakura was now among people who used magic in their everyday lives, it wasn't exactly that odd. Sakura reached for one of the strawberries she'd picked up earlier and took a bite out of it.
"Where's Uchiha anyways?"
"Here."
Sakura felt shivers going through her whole body when she heard the smooth voice of the guy standing not too far away from her. Of course when she brought him up, he just had to be there. But Sakura kept her cool and with a smug smile painted on her lips she turned to face the onyx eyed boy.
"Not that I care, of course," she said, trying to sound as impassive as she could.
Sasuke chuckled in response to her words and sat down on one of the three single chairs, next to Neji and opposite to Ino.
"Of course," Sasuke agreed, running his right hand through his messy ink black hair and shoving it back to the pocket of his pants.
"Looks like teme had some fun last night!" Naruto laughed, pointing at the now pissed off Uchiha. "Was it the girl who I saw in the hallway this mor-"
"Shut up Naruto," Sasuke interrupted his friend in the middle of his sentence, which of course pissed Naruto off. He just didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence or his comments about him having company over while the others were at the ball.
"Geez, always so touchy," Naruto sneered, continuing to eat the stack of waffles he had in front of him. "Anyways, Sakura was just telling us about her crazy powers and her f-"
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, her eyes widening in disbelief as Naruto, who had just promised not to tell anyone, proceeded to tell Sasuke all the things she'd just told them.
Naruto couldn't even finish his sentence before something was being thrown at him. Sakura had thrown a strawberry at him, which hit him right in between his eyebrows and bounced off onto his plate. Realization hit the poor blond too late, as he understood that Sakura had told them not to share the information of her confusing situation and what they'd talked about.
Sakura saw Naruto's apologetic face and realized that yelling at the loudmouth wouldn't help the situation at all. She brought her thumb and index finger to rub the sides of the bridge of her nose as if trying to avoid a headache and sighed.
"But can't we tell him, I mean, who can he tell? He barely talks!" Naruto tried to reason with Sakura, who understood the blond's point. She didn't know if Sasuke would even care about something happening in her life, but she saw why Naruto wanted to tell his best friend.
"Hm?" Sasuke turned to face Sakura, his face as ignorant as ever. Emerald clashed with onyx and Sakura didn't know if she was angered by his ignorance or happy that he didn't even seem to care.
"We were just talking about last night's ball," Sakura said, lifting her coffee mug to her lips to have a sip of coffee and eyeing her friends as to just go with her version of the story. She didn't feel like explaining the whole situation they'd been in that led into the conversation they'd had, so she plainly changed the subject.
"You should've seen her teme! The whole school is talking about her!" Naruto's words came as a surprise to Sakura. She knew she'd gotten attention because she was the hostess of the ball and because she was applauded during her descending and whatever, but she didn't know people were still talking about it.
"What?" Sakura asked, completely surprised. She hadn't heard anything of the sort. Or maybe she'd been too tired that she hadn't paid attention to her surroundings in the cafeteria.
"Oh yeah," Tenten said with a grin plastered on her face. "I saw Karin this morning. She seemed to be quite upset by all the attention you got."
Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the image of the redhead acting like the brat she was, screaming at her friends and complaining how everything was unfair.
"Yeah but that's just Karin." Ino waved her hand towards Tenten, as if she had something way more interesting to say. "I got like ten guys asking about you last night when you were talking to headmistress Tsunade. Seriously, you've climbed up the social hierarchy faster than anyone I've seen before."
Sakura didn't know how to respond to Ino, other than letting an awkward 'wow' slip out of her mouth.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed the amount of attention you got." Sakura's teasing words caused Ino to laugh and the magazine she'd been holding onto disappeared into thin air.
"Don't worry, I think I can handle a few stray lambs."
"Don't call us lambs!" Naruto protested, crossing his arms over his chest.
Ino rolled her eyes. "Well you're more of a fox than anything."
The surroundings of the table was filled with lighthearted laughter after Ino's comment, which resulted in Naruto sulking and everyone else laughing – even Sasuke.
"We should get going if we want to get to classes in time!" Hinata pointed out, showing the time on the screen of her phone. They had roughly ten minutes to get to their class, which seemed like a lot, but considering the size of Luna Nova, they could easily just wander around trying to find their classroom for more than that.
I'm sorry for not posting, apparently word and google docs both hate me so I had to write this chapter from the scratch three times! I had intended this chapter to be longer but I just don't have the patience right now to write more. Also you can clearly see I was suuuuper hungry when writing this. But I have an idea for the next chapters so be on the look out for them!
❧ Goddess of Glam