She stared up at the purple sky. Not a light rich hue of faded lavender of a sunset, but like phthalo blue and alizarin crimson had been mixed together. An off-shade of black with an undeniable purple hue. Sakura almost expected Bob Ross to take out a brush and start fanning in white feathery clouds into the sky with Xs. But there was no one but her, and the sky remained empty.
In stark contrast to the sky, she found herself on a hill of silver luminescent knee-high grass. She inspected a strand between her fingers and twirled it in her grasp as she compared it against the empty canvas of a sky. It shimmered back at her at each movement. Pretty. So very pretty.
She brushed the grass tops until she was laughing. So soft, silky, and ticklish, too.
With laughter still on her lips, she ran down the hill until she came to a sudden halt halfway down to watch the wind ripple the grass in a line, like a wall coming toward her.
On instinct, Sakura ducked down, hiding amongst the fronds. The wind blew through, bringing with it a shuddering chill. The chill sunk deep and deep into her bones, stealing the smile from her lips.
She attempted to rise, to stand once more, but instead rose upon her haunches. Just barely tall enough to peek a whiskered nose above the grass. A different view greeted her. No more hill, and before her a lack of grass. She snuffled the air, and her cheeks scrunched with displeasure. Sour. Bitter. Tangy.
She returned to her four paws and slowly approached the end of the grass. Her ears pricked forward, catching the sound of hissing and something slithering upon stone.
Cautiously, she popped her head out. She was at the edge of a ledge, with a four-foot drop down to the barren lavender ground.
A rock bled the night sky in the center of the clearing. The stone, blacker than any shadow or darkness she'd ever seen, blacker than the sky, glistened with stars and galaxies. Slowly, though, the pool around the rock became more significant. The rock seeped. Bled. And starting from the tip above the pool, began to turn gray.
At the edge of the growing pool, snakes shifted and moved their tongues above the black liquid.
The brown and green adders twisted and writhed, tangling with one another as they rotated clockwise around the lake, like some sort of dance around a fire. An albino snake appeared on the top of the rock. The creature was larger than the others, the head easily the size of her human hand, and from its mouth dripped the glistening galaxies.
But as its enormous body climbed, it grew and expanded. A tail to feet, snout to nose. But the slitted yellow eyes never changed. He smiled languidly, satisfied. His long dark hair fell loose and limp upon the rock as he tilted his head back to look up at the sky. He wiped the dripping black and glowing liquid from his lips with his index finger before licking it off with a long, split tongue.
Her heart hammered within her as a shiver crawled up her spine. And then she felt something upon her paws. When she looked down, her eyes stared in horror at a black snake staring up at her, tongue flicking the air.
Sakura tumbled out of bed, waking as she fell upon the wooden floor. She wiped her skin, half hoping to rid herself of the feeling of something scaly crawling upon it.
She shuddered. Ugh. She was not a fan of the legless creatures. Hard pass. She barely enjoyed touching their shed skin or their fangs as potion ingredients. She got to her feet and grabbed her wand from her nightstand to check the time.
Her eyes widened. Shit! She'd overslept!
Sakura scrambled out of the dorm room, running so fast it was like she was flying down the stairs and then out of the door. She was supposed to have met up with Kisame and Lee by now! The castle seemed to align with her will. At least, almost every staircase was ready to meet her bounding feet, and she barely had to wait.
At the last staircase, she spotted their scarves disappearing out of the great hall door. She charged down with a new burst of energy. Then she rushed out onto the cold grounds and into a warm chest.
"You made it!"
"Told you I heard her coming," Kisame said with a laugh, ruffling her hair as he pushed her away.
"Sorry, "Sakura said between breaths, "I slept in."
"Or didn't go to bed on time," Kisame said, leaning in with a wolfish grin. "Konan said you were up late with Itachi." He winked.
Regardless of the cold, a blush crept up her face. "Don't say it like that!" Her eyes darted to Lee, who burst into laughter. "It wasn't like that!"
They each went to their places to make their phone calls. Sakura couldn't stand still while chatting with her mom, but not because of the conversation. Today was the day Madara would be coming to Hogwarts! She could barely keep still or her mind on the words being said to her. How could she? The book's author was going to come in to answer her questions! She was practically twirling with glee. What was he like? She tried to imagine what a dark wizard might actually look like. But all that came to mind was Professor Hatake because he was the only Dark Wizard she actually knew. And he looked like an average dude... Well, he was a bit lazier than all her other professors. She didn't get the sense that Madara was lazy in the slightest.
She stopped twirling. What if Madara Uchiha was just like Professor Hatake with half-worded answers and 'reread the chapter?' Not that she didn't like Professor Hakake. He was her favorite professor, and his practical demonstrations were really cool. He was a good wizard… but… the book had been written with such passionate ferocity. The drawings, minus the stick figure spell-casting ones, were intricate. It should be a reflection of the author, wouldn't it? He cared enough to annotate a version for Itachi. He cared. He likely wasn't a hands-off teacher.
"Honey, are you still there?"
Sakura blinked, oops. "Yes. Sorry, Mom. I spaced for a moment. What was that?" She forced herself to be still and listen. It wasn't like she got to talk to her mom very often. The least she could do was pay attention. While the store was fine, more tests were being run on Auntie, but she wasn't getting worse, just staying tired. No sign of cancer and the blood work looked pretty standard. At least that was good. Not even magical medicine had a natural solution to cancer. They were a bit better about surgically removing it, and magicals typically didn't see the abnormality until they hit their hundreds.
She wished her mom well and then hung up. Her dad had told her in a text that he was training new employees. So she sent him lots of 'love you gifs' and said that she'd be out for a few more minutes if he sent a text, she'd call him. She turned and watched the others on their phone calls.
Lee was adamant in whatever he was saying, both fists pumping. It was a good thing he had Bluetooth in his ear. The kid would lose the phone without it.
Kisame had perched on a boulder before the forest, his back to her. She could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness, his robe blending in with the shadows.
Sakura shivered a bit at the sight. Staring right into the dark, dark woods. No. Thank. You. That's where murderers came from.
But maybe that was better than keeping the dark woods at her back. Now that she thought about it, the fact he always took the side with the woods to watch out for them was nice of him. She didn't like getting too close, even if there was a better cell signal.
She turned around towards the castle. She started swaying again, her excitement returning. Madara was going to be here soon!
"Good morning, Sakura."
Sakura practically fell over at the voice coming from her right. She scrambled to remain balanced, and her eyes sought the voice's owner. "Good morning, Shisui."
Shisui didn't move from his location as he gave a cheerful laugh. His eyes, nose, and teeth glinted in the moonlight. "How's your potions work going? Was Itachi able to help? Heard he opted to be your tutor. Is that what that whole thing in the hall had been about?"
Sakura dipped her head, face flushing. She shook her head, keeping to the same story as before. "One of Itachi's friends was looking for him. I was just helping them find him. They didn't want everyone else to know, though."
Shisui's lips twisted into a sly smile. "I see. But how goes the tutoring?"
"It's going well."
"Ah, enjoying quality time with Itachi?"
Sakura took a step away and shook her adamantly. "It's nothing like that." Why did people keep suggesting it was!
His grin only grew deeper.
"Good morning, sir!"
Sir? Sakura turned her head to see Lee grinning from ear to ear, and was he saluting?
Shisui cleared the space and gave Lee a half-hug. "How's it going, my man?"
Sakura blinked. Had she just witnessed a Uchiha be… well, physically friendly? Sasuke didn't touch. He stood awkwardly while Sakura hugged Naruto. But Shisui looked utterly comfortable at the action. He'd even initiated it.
Lee beamed back, and his hand rose in the air to fall in a thumbs up. "It's going to be an amazing day, sir." Back up into a salute.
Sir? Really?
Shisui's shit-eating grin only grew. He walked around Lee like a staff sergeant doing inspections before looping an arm over Lee's shoulder and pulling Lee's ear closer to his lips. "So what are you two doing out here?" he whispered loudly as if there was some sort of conspiracy. "You know there are warmer classrooms at Hogwarts to canoodle in."
Lee's face turned fiery red, and he began stuttering. "No, sir. I promise -"
"Oh, were you planning to go into the woods then, hnn?"
"No–"
Two of them? She turned her gaze back to look for Kisame. Wait, where was Kisame?
Wasn't he on the rock just a moment ago? Her heart gave a little jump. Had something snagged him? Dragged him into the woods to eat him? She took several steps towards the forest and past a flailing Lee in the grips of the viper known as Shisui.
"There's not just two of us," Sakura said, panic settling in her gut. "Kisame?" Sakura raised her voice and called out in concern.
"I'm pissing!" came the reply.
Sakura breathed a long sigh of relief. Gross, but relieved. She turned back around. She did not need to catch an eyeful of anything. He didn't sound that far away.
Shisui still had Lee's neck captured, but he at least stopped harassing the poor kid. "So, what are you all doing out here?"
Sakura pulled her phone from her pocket. "This is the only place we muggleborns can talk to our parents."
At the look of confusion, Sakura continued to explain, allowing Shisui to take her phone. "It's a lot like the floo system. We can talk to people at home by being at the right location. We can't travel through those devices, though. It's not a portkey."
Shisui carefully inspected her device. "And you need to do it out here because ?"
"Hogwarts wards pretty much render it useless. So we are kind of stuck at the edge."
"Hmm. The wards are defensive and up for a reason, though," Shisui said, moving the device away from his body as if it might grow fangs.
Sakura laughed. How paranoid. "The devices aren't going to harm anyone at Hogwarts, guaranteed. I'll show you how they work."
The phone buzzed in his hand, and he dropped it. Sakura lunged, grabbing it right before it hit the ground.
"Sorry," Shiusi said, scratching the back of his head.
Sakura laughed as she checked her messages. Her dad had the most excellent timing. "Here, I'll show you. My dad just said he can accept a call from me. That buzz was like knocking on the door before you enter someone's house."
"Actually, it's more like passing a note in class," Lee volunteered and explained further. "It's like a tiny letter; the buzz lets you know you got one."
Sakura dialed, putting the phone to her ear. "Honey Bunny!"
Sheesh, "Hey, Dad. I wanted to show a wizard how a phone works. Do you mind talking to him?"
"Ooo, a wizard friend, as in a male friend?" Oh boy. Not this.
"No, he's one of the upper years, actually head boy. He was curious about the whole muggleborns out by the forest in the dark."
"What do you mean out and about by a forest?"
Well, she never did get around to explaining exactly where she went to call them. Whoops. "Dad, I've basically the power of a gun at my disposal, nothing to worry about. And I go out with other students." At least now she did. No need to tell him about prior times. "Here, I'm passing you off." She extended the phone to Shisui.
"You take it and hold it to your ear like I was just doing. You'll hear a voice on the other end. Go ahead and say hello."
Shisui took the phone with more caution than he had initially. He raised it to his ear. "Hello?"
His eyes widened at the voice on the other end. "I'm not trying anything with your daughter, sir. Her honor is my highest priority, "and then Shisui started laughing. "Mr. Haruno — my apologies – Kizashahi, thank you, but —"
Even Sakura could hear her dad's muffled voice going a mile a minute with excitement. Maybe she should have introduced her dad to an actual wizarding friend before plopping him on the phone with Shisui. Poor Shisui.
"Yes, I agree. Your daughter is cute as a bunny, but I'm afraid — "
Sakura ripped the phone away from Shisui. Come on, Dad!
"Sorry about that," she apologized to Shisui, praying he didn't pay too much attention to the bunny part. "You know how parents are."
Oops. Her phone was still on, wasn't it? She put the phone to her ear just in time to hear her dad start whining. "No, I meant other parents, not you Dad. Never you. I love you so much. I've got to go."
Call end. End. End now!
Shisui bowled over in laughter. "I need to get my mom one of these. What are they?"
"Cell phones," Lee said and then proceeded to divulge too detailed information like best network plans. Where was his mother located? Did she have access to a place without magic?
"Ready to head in?"
Kisame's voice made them all bolt to the right.
"We were worried," Sakura said, then accused, "You ditched us!"
"I had to take a piss. Next time, I'll whip it right out for you if you want."
"Two points from Hufflepuff for crassness."
"Oh, the joy ."
"I'll take that as a good morning, Kisame. How are you on this fine day?"
"It goes. You?"
"Much the same."
Sakura sensed it more than felt it, but something seemed off in the way the two spoke. Even Kisame's typical frightening smile seemed a bit sharper and tight.
"Why are you up so early?" Lee asked, stepping in between Kisame and Shisui. "I don't normally see you up until after breakfast. Did you not sleep well?"
"My great uncle is coming to Hogwarts," Shisui's crisp voice cut the night. "He's a pain in the ass, and that is enough reason to be up early in case he arrives early. I was waiting for him at the Hospital Wing's floo, just in case he opted to surprise us all or come in through the main hall doors. That's when I saw pinky hear running through the hallway and waking the portraits up."
Sakura felt a chill creep into her spine. Was Madara really so scary?
"Madara's coming to Hogwarts?" Kisame shifted on his feet.
Shisui half-smiled at Kisame's fidgeting, "I forgot you spent a week at the main estate. How'd you like him?"
"He's a bit eccentric, but everybody has a crazy uncle in the family," Kisame said, straightening as he shrugged.
Shisui only snorted. "What I would give to be a guest instead of family."
"What's he doing here?"
"Dunno," Shisui said. "He said he was swinging by to talk to Itachi and wanted to talk to me too."
"What's he look like?" Sakura asked, hoping to gather more details about the man.
Shisui gave a choked laugh. "Trust me, you'll know him when he comes. He's hard to miss. Hair and all."
"Hair and all?" Sakura asked.
Kisame laughed then. A real laugh. "He's got some wicked-looking locks."
"What does that mean?"
"It means he could give David Bowie in the Labyrinth a run for his money."
Sakura and Lee let out a snort at the imagery. She had to close her lips tight to stop the rest of her questions from coming out. If she asked for more, she was sure that it would make Shisui curious, and she didn't need a spotlight on her. Not after her Dad's bunny comment!
Shisui looked between them. "Who's David Bowie, and why does he frequent Labrythins to run in?"
"A muggle pop culture reference," Lee said. "You see, there are these things called movies –"
"Tell me more about these devices instead," Shisui said, cutting off Lee before he could dive into explaining Hollywood. He looped an arm over Lee's shoulders. "I really want one of these for my mom."
Lee took little prompting. He immediately began discussing satellites and radio towers.
Sakura could only shake her head and see Kisame rolling his eyes. Shisui probably wasn't going to glean any information from this at all. But Shisui kept asking questions, especially concerning the fact the phone wouldn't work inside Hogwarts. At each question, he got closer and closer, the gap between arm and neck becoming tighter and tighter.
By the time they got to the main hall, Lee attempted to escape. "Sorry, sir, but I've got to drop off my phone in the Slytherin dorm before breakfast."
"I'd been meaning to take a stroll down in the dungeons. I wanted to check on some things," Shisui said, pulling back on Lee so that they were again walking together.
No way was Lee going to be able to tell Shisui to stop on his own. "Did you say something about waiting by a floo for a family member?" Sakura asked.
"If Madara thought I was shirking the duties of Head Boy, I'd be in a lot more trouble," Shisui said as he gave a farewell wave, cheek almost pressed against Lee's. "So tell me about these radio frequencies, are they like magical floo? Can anyone listen to anyone else's messages?"
"I've not studied magical frequencies, but -" the voices trailed off.
"I promised Hidan I'd run laps with him today, so I'll see you around," Kisame said, splitting away.
Well, the question now was how would she spend her morning? She yawned. As tempting as it would be to go back to sleep, she would probably miss Madara if she did. Breakfast? Sure, breakfast sounded good.
She got a hot mug of black tea and sipped at it as other castle members began to arise and go about their day.
"We missed you this morning," Chiharu said, sliding into the seat next to her.
Sakura gave a bleary-eyed yawn. "Sorry, I get up early on Saturdays."
She didn't participate much in the girls' conversation as they sat around Chiharu. Thankfully, Shikamaru slid into the seat across from her and yawned just like her. Thank goodness Shikamaru wasn't chatty.
Her eyes started drooping closed despite the several cups of caffeine. But then, in an instant, she was wide awake.
Every hair on her head and neck stood on end. Beside her, she watched Shikamaru experience something similar, his grip on his mug tightening. His eyes widened and then narrowed, on the alert.
The girls beside her didn't change at all.
Sakura looked around, eyes darting around the hall. Nothing out of the ordinary. She watched several other students shift restlessly, although most continued as if nothing was wrong. How could they not feel this? This? Sakura didn't have a word for it other than off.
It felt ominous. Like something terrible was coming. Her bones almost felt like they were rattling inside of her.
Sakura opened her mouth, ready to ask Shikamaru if he had the slightest idea what might be happening when the doors for the teacher's section opened.
Sakura felt as if she couldn't breathe quite right, as if the oxygen in the room was flowing away from her. Her skin itched. Her hair shifted, not as if by wind blowing but something sucking at it toward the door.
Headmaster Namakazi walked through, flanked by Professor Hatake and beside the professor, a man Sakura had never seen.
Her first observation was that his hair was magic. The thick, long, and spiky black locks flowed like devil's snare. It twirled with life and shimmered, too, specs of red light catching the dawn of morning and swallowing it into its depths. His dark eyes were penetrating like he could stare through her very soul. She was relieved when his gaze fell past her and continued to scan the room. His appearance resembled all the other Uchiha's at the school. And that meant one thing. This was Madara. Head of the Uchiha clan.
The greatest dark wizard of his time.