Breath was sparse and shallow where she could find it. Sakura remembered – and it didn't escape her that it was ridiculous to be remembering anything at the moment – when she hadn't yet spent many days in the village that was now her home. How desperately rebellious she was when their small family first arrived, and how once during that stage, she tried her hand at climbing a tree. Climbing trees, for any nobel young lady – especially the princess – was a forbidden pursuit in the castle, among a list of other fun activities. During her wayward adventure, she lost her footing on an unsturdy branch and fell into the Milky River that edged the west end of the village.

Because she was a child of royalty, she had not yet been exposed to the true joy of running amuck. So, she drowned. Repeatedly. The waters of the Milky River were well-renowned for their regenerative powers, and each time her lungs began to burn with exertion, the water would lend her it's strength, only for her to suffer through the unrelenting torture at a greater persistence. The struggle came to an end when Kakashi fished her from the river, her coughing up pearl colored water and him soothing her with nonsensical reassurances.

It was in his arms, Sakura found herself again for the first time in many years. Mouth round with nothing to retch but her own sorrows.

"Come now, Hanako, get yourself together. Everything's going to be fine," Kakashi murmured to her.

A whimper was her response.

"Well, Ino's doing just fine. Shizune's got her in your room doing wing exercises, poor thing is itching to come running to the rescue though," Tsunade announced, entering through the open door.

"And the villagers?"

Sakura's breath hitched. "Don't fret, Kakashi, I scrambled everyone's brains the moment she said your name. None of them will remember, and if they do feel that their memory has been tampered with, they'll assume it to have been a Time Troll. Thankfully we have such an auspicious event to cover our tracks."

"Would making them forget this be as difficult?"

The young woman's eyelids snapped open, her breath quickening alarmingly. Tsunade's expression softened when she took note of Sakura's pleading gaze upon her.

"You know better. It wouldn't be possible without several Threaders, and you know they require consent to perform such magic. What I did was the most basic of forgetting spells, and only on the minds of those Shizune picked up on as having recognized your name. That was only about a handful, but this? It's most assuredly spread across the village like wildfire by now."

Sakura wrenched her eyes shut. She couldn't face the world as this monstrous creature she'd become. Her life's misfortunes seemed to only swell with time. Just as the opportunity to wield the reins of her future with confidence presented itself, her ambitions were flurried away with a twitch of her own deformity. She would never escape this place where she hid her identity to survive. Failing all else, as a child she had leaned on the hope that her mother's people would take pity on her enough to accept her as one of their own. But the Ethereal Court accepted none save those with qualifications into their realm. No matter whose daughter or granddaughter she happened to be, none were exempt from the evaluation of the couriers.

One of her wings twitched in agitation and it only succeeded in increasing the swell of tears from stinging ducts. What dreadful crime had she committed to the moon goddess that she would be cursed with such grotesque appendages? Their suitability for flight was still in question.

"Yes, well, I must ask that you do calm her down. I would do it myself, but all my power would serve to do is force her to rest. I need her awake and coherent."

Tsunade's exhale added tension to the already stifling atmosphere as she strode closer to Sakura's curled figure. Already rigid wings strained ever nearer to her body, just as a mangled sob bubbled from her throat.

"Hush, girl." Her chief fingered through tangled locks. "Everything is fine. You are fine. Now, let's see if we can't relieve some of your pain, hm?"

A crescendo of chirps reverberated throughout her mind, the warmth of the blonde's green tinted hand eased Sakura's thoughts from a muddled catastrophe of self-pity to mellowed waves.

Sakura opened her eyes. "The Ethereal Court will never have me now. You have to know that," she croaked.

"I don't know that Sakura, and their royal high-asses had to have known that this was a possibility when they all but sold your mother to your father." Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Tsunade halted her progress with a scowl. "Yes, that is offensive, but it is reality. I'm not saying your parents didn't love each other, Sakura, that's not at all what I mean.

"Loving as your father might have been, he was a king first. It was your mother's duty to produce an heir, and so she did and here you are. It's not untoward that a mixing of the species would have led to a mutation at some point."

"This is something you've seen before then?" asked Sakura, unmoved.

Mouth agape, Tsunade floundered for a moment. "Uh, not exactly."

A scoff left Sakura's lips. Ino's embroidered pillow across from her suddenly proved much more interesting.

"That's not to say that it hasn't happened before Sakura, there's been plenty of texts that allude to the birth of hybrid children-"

"Yes, well, with the risk of sounding like a human," Sakura spat. "I'll not place hope for my future on romanticized faerie tales written by fae who didn't know the first thing about the implications of being an actual… hybrid."

Her throat constricted upon her utterance of the word. That's what she was, a mix of the two species. It was one thing to read mystical tales featuring such creatures in children's books and another to be called such a thing.

"Sakura, this is not a bad thing. We're not even sure there will be implications," Kakashi reasoned.

She rose to a seated position and pierced him with a glare. "Says you. This is unnatural! When a child is born to a couple of two species, it's supposed to be born one or the other. There is no in-between option, it is known."

The brow above his eyepatch shot up. "You would deny your parents then?"

"What?"

"Your parents. You spur their genes because they are unfavorable to whatever image it is you're trying to portray, because you believe you are not ideal. Perfect, in the way society prefers." Her guardian tilted his head, a condescending smile lifting his lips. "Your prejudice knows no bounds, Sakura. I'll give you that. It's a curious thing to see the effects of court, even after years of forced exile, and how it has influenced you for the worst."

"Kakashi," Tsunade warned.

"You're right, you should deny these gifts the king and queen passed along to you. They would be ashamed to see them wasted on such an ungrateful child, ashamed to know that they gave life to an intolerant wretch."

Sakura gaped at him as he ducked out her room, maintaining his smile.

"I- What? How could he say something like that to me? Tell me you don't agree with him Tsunade!"

Tsunade pursed her lips and looked away from Sakura's beckoning gaze.

It was unfair to be addressed so decidedly without even the opportunity to defend herself. It was easy for someone to be a judge when they were not the one afflicted. But, perhaps it wasn't right to think so of Kakashi. He had played the role of a defacto parental figure for herself and Ino, without so much as a complaint. No, she was right that he was being unfair, though. Kakashi was the master of lessons in vagueness, never providing an answer unless he was asked a direct question, and in some rare moments when he was in a mood, even that was reaching. If he found her intolerant, he should have said something to her sooner, rather than giving her the assessment in anger. To call her a disappointment to her parents when she had tried her hardest to achieve all kinds of success to honor their memories was dishonorable in itself.

The princess glanced down at the washed wooden floor and it registered that between her chief's soothing magic and her own disbelief at Kakashi's words, she had almost no room left to feel the devastation of her deformity.

The words he spat at her echoed pointedly in her mind then, and she knew he wasn't wrong when she grasped that simply acknowledging it as a deformity was dishonor to her parents' memory. The rate at which she was second-guessing herself was daunting.

"Well, to be completely honest with you, you are acting like a bit of a princess. Don't give me that look, I'm right and you're wrong – now, shut up," The blonde flicked a finger at her charge's brow to force away her glare.

"How could he say something like that to me about my parents? And you just sat there and let him, how is it fair that I should stand by and be spoken to like that with no one to come to my defense?"

"This is precisely your problem, Sakura, you think the world owes you something." A pale hand shot up to keep the young woman from interrupting. "I told you I was talking and you won't interrupt me. Maybe it's wrong of us, because we don't address your behavior the way we should. We've allowed your actions to go unchecked for years in Leaf because you were a princess and daughter to very dear friends of ours. Frankly, Kakashi and I have no idea what we're doing. Neither of us have children and really, we've been playing this whole thing by ear for years now. But, enough is enough. You are not as good as you think you are."

Sakura gaped. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"You're arrogant. In public, you pretend to be this savior of the people because you want some claim to fame among them, something tangible to remind you that they had all once looked to your family for guidance. You want that back and you'll do it at any cost, even at the safety of yourself and others. When Kakashi said that your arrogance knows no bounds, he hit the nail right on the think you're better than others because of your lineage, but now you have further proof of that, you reject it because of how these people you've been pretending to care for might think of you now.

"You're an extremely intelligent girl when it comes to everything but yourself, half of these things you probably never even realized until this very moment. Your invincibility complex is something to rival the ages, but there is something you need to realize."

Her hands slid across Sakura's cheeks and held them with firm hands.

"You are not a princess anymore! The world owes you nothing; not the throne, not safety, not even your parents. I know that is a harsh thing to say, but it is true. You have been passed down power, real power, and what you do with it will determine who you are to yourself, not the hero act you plaster on in the face of the villagers. Kakashi was right about one thing, your parents would be disappointed in the person you are today. They would never have tolerated the prejudice and contempt and absolute hubris you exude. But, I know that you are capable of change, because you are my student and though you are young, you are smart enough to see and grow from the error of your ways."

WIth her grip still forced on Sakura's cheeks, Tsunade's eyes searched hers.

The chief tilted Sakura's head down and pecked the crown of it. She had never seen the woman behave so tenderly to anyone before, even Shizune bore the brunt of harsh words from her aunt and they were real family.

Tsunade's words resonated and the truth held her by the neck, forcing her to relive her own past actions. Those words weren't just a critical assessment of Sakura's entirety, they were formed out of concern. She wasn't a princess anymore. All these years, she had been hiding behind that title because she wasn't ready to let it go, and she knew she still wasn't, so her task now was to make sense of this information. In her depths, she knew that renouncing her title was not an option and therein a juxtaposition was born. Because she hadn't been heir to the throne in many years, but somehow the thought of being anything else churned her core.

Tsunade poked her chin up and grimaced at her.

"That's enough of that." She made a move to stand, but Sakura placed a hand on the woman's arm to stop her.

"Thank you, you've given me a lot to think about."

Sakura removed her grip from Tsunade's wrist and leaned forward to do her own wing exercises, shooing the village leader away when she flicked her blonde braid behind her and bent down to help. Ideally, reflection would be at the forefront of her mind, but she desired any distraction to postpone that eventuality. Instead, her focus was solely on the appendages she'd grown that night and how they hurt so good, good enough to keep her from thinking altogether.

Later, there would be enough time to consider her own disingenuous conduct.

After the successful application of the wing retraction theory, she pulled herself away from the cottage. Well, climbed would be more accurate. It had taken more than a little stealth on her part, simply visualizing the mess of a situation it would have become, had she attempted her escape with her wings out made her headache. In the past, she'd seen countless fae complete actions that now seemed near impossible. If she couldn't even climb out of a window now, she shuddered to think of what other ineptitudes she would uncover in the future.

As far as miscalculations went, her decision to just walk through the village as though it were any normal night, was beyond the criteria of a terrible idea. The civil people of her dwelling made no attempts to conceal their disgust. Her own peers, who she had just shared her strength with hours before, fluttered above her with unsure expressions. Head tilted toward the sky, she prayed to the moon goddess for protection from anyone with a wicked agenda and a vegetable in their hand.

But, reality stroked her jokes away with it's malaise when she reached forward a hand to greet Maemi and the girl's father whisked her to his side in response. There was a sure contempt in his eyes, Sakura recognized it as certain as it had been her own. Tsunade was right, the people didn't feel they owed her any loyalty from the heroism she'd imposed on them for the past eight years, and she found that it didn't upset her as it might have previously, because she had merely done it in her own self-interest.

People were often of a herd mind, twisting away from the slightest change and she had been one of them too, unaccepting of anything that wasn't the same. Though, it's not as though that mentality had completely vanished in the span of only a few hours. The lesson she was about to endure would teach her the hard way that she had to better herself.

A cringe painted her features. It was hard to admit even to herself that she would have to begin this growth by owning up to the truth that she wasn't better than others, as much as she had formerly led herself to believe.

Children ran around her with paper wings strapped to their backs, their elation was familiar. The previous year, Ino purchased a matching set for them both as a joke and they swore they weren't actually going to wear them. They then proceeded to don the wings and spend the rest of the night sozzled on glitter wine. At the end of the night, Kakashi had to throw Ino over his shoulder and carry a very slumped Sakura under his arm to get back to the cottage. Her heart lifted at the memory, but she kept her smile off her face lest she provoke anyone's ire.

Bells chimed around her in song and people flew around the rooftops scattering flowers onto the celebration below them. A finger twirled around a loose hair on the side of her head. She was saddened that she couldn't enjoy it in the same way she had in the past. Something about the events of the night made her body feel afire with a sort of expectation, some not-so-distant memory tugged at her thoughts.

With each step, her slipper-clad feet removed her from the merriment and into a secluded area of the village. She struggled with underbrush and wayward branches on her little adventure. Her desire to take the path less traveled overpowered her common sense, it seemed, as spindly trees scraped her hands and pulled on the loose bun she'd redone before leaving home. Hidden from the comforting gleam of moonlight, goosebumps raised along her arm, only settling when she phased through the gel-like barrier. Lying in wait before her, was the thing of her earlier ruminations, the Milky River.

Strolling alongside its bank, she felt at ease for the first time that night. The moonbeams embraced her, the mark below her eye was enveloped by the sensation of brushing lips.

She knelt into dew coated grass and looked up at the moon.

"Please guide me, Kiyo, I feel as though I have a great many things to learn in a very short time. Is something coming?"

There was no answer from the celestial being, nor did she expect there to be one. Her goddess had breathed more just than the same beckoning whispers Sakura had grown accustomed to during ceremony practice. She pushed her mind to return to that moment and a shiver shook her spine. The reassurances that she was so sure she had heard earlier that night echoed in a whisper against her ear once more, but she was at a loss. Was the deity doing so to prepare her for the backlash she would receive, or was there something much more worrisome on the rise?

The glade and river were bathed in an enchanting blue, mirroring the night sky and she looked away from the moon to watch as fallen flowers flowed down the stream. It was quiet and dazzling. No one could see her now, bowed before powers stronger than she, and knowing that something was on its way. Something indeed, she thought when an ominous rustle in the leaves sounded behind her.

Throughout Itachi's lengthy life, he'd had many occasions to learn about both the living and the dead. One thing that he found simultaneously amusing and mundane, was that as much as all species enjoyed squawking about their differences and imposing their self-righteousness on others, they were all utterly indistinguishable. Having spent the majority of his life on the sideline, observing the habits of those much like the fae he was currently feigning guard for, spotting the outcast was a relatively easy task. Even when he wasn't looking for one.

So, when he spotted her wandering down the busy road he'd stationed himself on, he was intrigued to see how she handled it. A pariah lived in every village, the population of which typically consisted of those with physical deformities, or those born from an ignominious lineage. Even girls with gracefully pretty faces, such as the one his and so many other eyes currently followed, he'd witnessed scorned and rejected by villagers nationwide.

Though her features seemed young, Itachi supposed she could be an adulteress. Although, with fae it was indiscernible because of their unreserved manner toward sexuality.

Her crime could be anything, as far as the people of Leaf were concerned. Yet, her demeanor betrayed nothing. She strode forward seemingly without direction, swathed in a flowery powder blue gown and a dazed expression. The firelight danced along her body, it's attempts to rid her of all shadows did not escape his notice. With the flowers raining down around her, she looked almost as though she didn't belong there on that road. Her appearance was akin to someone who was merely passing through.

But then, she lifted a hand in greeting to a short, long-haired girl. Unfortunately, the attempt was promptly shot down by a man who seemed to be the girl's father. The young woman's crestfallen body language tilted her head toward him and Itachi saw it clear as day.

A crescent moon framed the corner of her left eye. It's iridescent shade and the side it faced was unmistakably the mark of the House of Spring.

It was even more remarkable that the villagers' scrutiny didn't appear to be connected to the mark, however, it was undeniable that they knew the young woman far better than he. Yet, he was amazed that not a single person focused on such a telling feature. A moon mark was exactly identical to the one the former king, Tatsuya, had carried on his brow and on his banner. Leaf was a village of refugees, even one person should recognize the sigil of a monarch who was not yet a decade fallen.

Awaiting the opportunity his watchful guard's attention was drawn away, he followed her like the whispers she was escaping. He made certain to remain in the shadows, ushering the happy light from the flames away from him. Not that she noticed, consumed by her thoughts as she was. He carefully wove around tree branches, making certain he didn't make half the noise she was, but then the most peculiar thing occurred. The moment she stepped through the threshold, she disappeared. He inspected the treeline before him, for any trace of her, then deduced that there was a glamour beyond him. He shut his eyes and reopened them with a new perspective.

There was a glamour, tall as the eye could see and made with magic that flowed confidently. Magic that spoke to him in long forgotten tongues. The glamour wall was ancient, he knew without having to understand what the voices whispered to him, and built by something he could never hope to rival.

He wondered if he could step through the barrier with the same ease, unlikely as it was, the experiment was worth an attempt. Surely, there would be a failsafe that denied outsiders passage. He stepped forward with a hand before him, only to be rejected and bounced back into the brush behind him. Lifting himself from the ground, he dusted off the leaves and dirt attracted by his impromptu flight.

Light emitted from the spot he made contact with. If the girl hadn't already been aware of his presence, she most certainly was now.

A dark head popped out of the barrier, with a body that gradually followed.

"Uncle, is that you?" she called out. Beneath the soft tilt of her voice was a hint of annoyance. Clearly, the girl desired solitude.

Immediately, he regretted allowing his curiosity to get the better of him. He hadn't had a plan to act on that would justify him following her, his attention had simply been drawn by the revelation of her mark. Just as he was about to vacate the area, her entire body returned to his side of the treeline. The girl was crouched low, a knife glinting near her hip.

Instantly, he noted that there was a lingering glamour around her head. Upon further inspection, he could see that it was its own entity, completely separate from the wall she'd just exited.

He tilted his head and her eyes found his in the darkness.

"You have about ten seconds to make yourself scarce, cretin."

He narrowed his eyes at her. There was so much daring in that one word. She was brave, of that he was sure. It wouldn't have mattered who had been outside the barrier, she would have dismissed them with the same vehemence.

Suddenly, he was positive that whatever quasi uprising had occured in the village had been at the hand of this girl, a daughter of the House of Spring. He respected her bravery all the more for it, foolhardy as it was.

"You are brave without caution," he rebuffed, blandly.

She squinted and adjusted her grip on the dagger. "What?"

"You knew I was not your uncle, yet you still opened yourself to attack," he observed. "It is a fool's errand to look for a fight, especially when you're blind to your opponent."

Her expression curled with distaste. "Yes, well, there's something to be said about creeps who skulk around the forest, waiting to give random and unsolicited advice to unsuspecting young women."

"You did not have to leave the safety of your barrier."

She snorted in a way that he thought was out of character for her appearance and rolled her eyes.

"How very like a man to blame his own suspicious behavior on a woman who was minding her business."

He bristled, then realized she was exactly right. He had been feeling ashamed because he let his inquisitiveness get the better of him, and the whole while he had been behaving like an undignified prowler.

He straightened his spine. "My apologies, it wasn't my intention to blame my behavior on you."

"And what is your behavior?" She frowned distrustfully.

"My behavior is not of one who skulks around the forest waiting to give random and unsolicited advice to unsuspecting young women."

His response could nearly be classified as sheepish. Perhaps a holiday from the castle was precisely what he should have avoided, clearly he did not know how to function beyond its walls. He could say with the utmost certainty, that this was the first time he'd felt embarrassed in his life.

The air was still for a moment and the girl squinted her eyes at him a once more, making certain of something he was unaware of. Unsure of whether the moonlight was to blame, or if it was natural, he was mindful of how green her eyes were. They were like forest gems, enhanced by a vibrant glow.

"Who are you anyway? You're different from the usual scum they send our way."

"Different in what way?"

She considered him for a moment. "You speak like you have some semblance of propriety and the way you carry yourself is more dignified. That's more of a palace guard trait, wouldn't you agree?"

The corner of his mouth twitched at her assessment.

"And you would know this how? I've yet to see you in the palace."

"I'm right then?" She smiled triumphantly.

"Your observation skills are sound, despite your lack of self-preservation." Another twitch.

The longer they spoke, the more at ease the young woman became. He should cease his encouragement of this conversation. His stay in the village would be short, but his guard would be sure to make note of him befriending anyone and he shuddered to think of the consequences. Midori's grim fate within Tsuki's walls danced at the forefront of his mind.

In recent months, there had been a desperation in him, after years of an ever present watchful eye. He was becoming less careful in his dealings, in him was a desire for a companion. To have someone near him, anyone, who did not have an ulterior motive or malicious agenda, to speak to. It was what he and Midori had been blessed with for the shortest time, although he had not cherished it well enough to protect her from his uncle's clutches.

Yet, here he was being rash once again.

"Coming from you, I'm not convinced," she laughed. "Since you don't seem to be well-acquainted with these parts, this area along the west end of the village is off limits to your kind. Along with the ten miles that follow."

"My kind?"

Her words were curious to him, he was amused by her separation of herself.

"Yes, your kind, dragon."

"Are you not of my kind as well?"

Her brow furrowed. "Why would you think that?"

"Your words and your moonmark tell conflicting stories." She stared at him as he spoke, evidently lost. A breeze brought a few strands close to her face and she brushed them away, eyes wide and waiting for him to continue.

"I'm sure you know that moonmarks are almost exclusively clan specific." She nodded for him to continue. "Although most dragon clans worship the sun god, there are exceptions. Your mark comes from one such exception."

He didn't want to say the name of the house, if only to keep her from being startled away. It wasn't unheard of these days for a dragon to live among fae, but to also be unaware of their own lineage was unusual. The scales that dotted her shoulders, she had to know were not a faerie trait. She brushed claw-tipped fingernails to her mark and flinched away from the contact.

Something nagged at him. She'd participated in an ascension with the fae in a faerie village, yet when she spoke to him she did not address herself as one of his kind, which meant she intended to be one of theirs. Stranger than that, he suddenly felt the desire to stop asking questions. Whatever secret this girl was harboring, he somehow knew he did not wish to become aware of.

The way she looked at him now, almost pleadingly, made him wary. She wanted him to know something that his mind did not. But, just as she opened her mouth to speak, a voice called out from the depth of trees behind him.

"Hanako!"

The shell of his ear twitched and he tilted his head to glance in the direction of the voice. Hanako. His eyes beheld her more clearly than before and his brows snapped together.

Impossible, he thought. I was only a boy, much younger than she. This cannot be the same woman.

Branches ruffled closer and she peered beyond him, startled. Swiftly, she moved forward and pushed at him. He didn't budge when she did, but took the hint when she released him and hid behind a tree.

"Hey, finally! You have to come back to the house, they wanted to speak to us about something urgent."

She nodded, a forced smile on her lips. "Okay."

Whoever had come to fetch her began their trek the opposite way and she grabbed his hand.

"Tomorrow," she whispered to him, then she was gone.

He freed his wings mechanically, mind racing all the while, and took to the skies.

Our leads have finally made each other's acquaintance! Was it everything you thought it would be? Excuse Itachi's demeanor, when I was writing him, it was in a Meet Joe Black vacation kind of way. What about that end, by the way? They're definitely not worried about the same thing. Leave a review telling me how you loved or didn't love this chapter, all are welcome.

Happy Holidays!