Chapter Text
In the height of summer, Konoha was melting. Literally.
Townhouses wobbled in the extreme heat, their roofs stooping comically low to meet horrified residents on the ground. The market square’s silhouette began changing in real time with pools of liquid dribbling into the cracks of the pathway.
Terror filled the streets at every turn as people erupted out of inns, burst through saloon doors or abandoned afternoon tea — dark liquid and spilled jam staining their frilled bodices.
A bit of paint slid down the walls in fiery blobs, and skidded dangerously past a pink haired girl who stopped in her tracks. She watched it land by her feet in a hiss, before burning a hole straight through the earth.
Having no time to pause, she twisted through the crowd of faces flushed from heat and terror, and turned a corner past the news shop and old tinkery workshop that was now oozing into the street in flames. Please let me make it in time. The one thought steeled her as she neared the site of the smoking heat.
Finally, she stopped to face the apothecary, half collapsing into itself, and rushed inside.
“Ms Haruno! You’re here I -” A young boy with ginger curls flopped erratically to her side, panicked and covered in soot.
“What are you doing here? I’ll take care of the vials we need. Get home. Now!” She barked at him unceremoniously, too desperate to grant any niceties.
He turned for the exit, nervously scratching at the scruff of his healer cloak that was now tattered and seared in holes. Before he could escape, an explosion nearby sent him on his knees for cover.
“Are you hurt?” Sakura yelled from inside.
“I-I'm fine. There’s been a few blasts like that one. They happened so fast - What could I do?...” He slurred the words out as his glossy eyes, fraught with confusion, scanned his surroundings. If Sakura wasn’t so pressed for time, she’d check him for signs of spell shock. Instead she steadied her voice for his sake, and called out to him once more.
“I’m almost done collecting what we need. Nothing reached the East Wing Denki, your family is safe. Get out of here and go to them.”
He nodded and turned to the street to take off once more, and paused, his gaze quickly falling over Sakura hunched between boxes and shelves of tiny multi coloured tubes. She glanced back.
“Wizards?” He asked.
“Who else? Now go!”
With that he bolted through the boiling streets. If Sakura were a meaner woman, she’d berate him to stay and help her.
But Denki was young and barely learning the ropes, he couldn’t possibly know which herbs and material were necessary to save. And Sakura wasn’t as heartless as that, even if the trend pointed that way these days.
With a sigh she grabbed the last of the vials – the most important one that made her come all this way. She brought the small flask filled with black liquid to her lips and kissed it triumphantly before stashing it in her satchel.
As she exited the store, she saw clouds of unnatural blue and gold brewing in the clouds, likely the aftermath of a magical fight.
They really were as maniacal and explosive as the egos they harboured. No rumour clawed for attention any more than the notorious lust and greed of their kind. Sakura heard them all, from kidnappings, to young women's hearts being devoured in the dead of night... Exaggerated or not, it did nothing to enfeeble the adoration of so many people in town. Sakura counted herslef happily out of that number.
She scoffed, hurrying to safety.
~ ~ • ~ ~
The alleyway was nestled deep in the under dwellings of the chippier, finer market square above. Here, brick houses jutted out in wonky curves, and small flats crowded dangerously over one another, threatening to spill over.
Sakura hunched through the small archways, lifting her skirt slightly from the murky puddles and flittery mice.
A round of knocks dispelled the silence as she waited by a small wooden door. It wheeled open, to the sight of a short old lady weathered in wrinkles.
“Sakura? Oh is that you? Gosh, come inside.” The lady smiled and showed Sakura in through the tiny landing.
“When I heard what happened, I prayed dearly for your safety, and for all the other folk too. I never imagined you would still show up for the appointment. Are you ok?” They walked up the stairs together as she spoke.
“I’m quite fine, don't worry. Is the young Inari asleep? I’d like to see him.” Sakura said, clutching the black vial in her hand tightly. The old lady entered the sickly boy’s room first, gently patting him awake.
“Remember the healer Sakura? She’s here to see you now.” He responded in a fit of raspy coughs.
Sakura wasted no time in kneeling by his bed. She opened the stopper and pushed it towards him gently.
“You know the rules. It needs to be four drops exactly.” She let him take it and watched carefully to make sure he forced the contents down. He groaned from the taste and she smiled, shaking his hair.
“You’re a trooper.”
Downstairs, she took out another vial and handed it to the lady.
“I gave him some of the essence of sea urchin, infused with my own antidote. Together it should work as a relaxant while staving off the infection. This is for if he struggles to sleep - it’s powerful, one drop for the night is enough.” The old lady nodded, accepting it graciously.
“Would you like tea? It must’ve been a long day for you.” Her eyes were soft and pleading, unsettingly so for Sakura’s liking. She didn’t do that kind of thing with clients, even if she were to have the time for it. A creeping sense of guilt tugged at her insides and she buried the thought away.
“No, that's alright. The sun’s setting and I really should get going.” She headed for the door and the lady reached for Sakura’s shoulder.
“I really don’t know how to thank you enough. When we didn’t have enough for a magician I imagined the worst… you’ve been more than helpful.” Sakura could hear the tremble in the old lady’s voice. In a town so reliant on magic, to live without it was a death sentence. Sakura felt for her, and a little anger too.
“That’s ok, just remember to recommend me when you're out” she replied jokingly, lightening the mood.
“Oh, I will dear. We need people like you.” The lady wrapped her shawl tight around herself and waved at a retreating Sakura.
~ ~ • ~ ~
“What a day.” Ino whistled out. She stood by the window, snipping carefully at the bow of a mannequin’s dress.
Sakura dragged her feet to the nearest chair in the little flower shop. She sighed heavily tying her tangle of locks, frizzy from heat and sweat, into a bun.
“Hello to you too, Ino.”
“Whaddya think Sakura? Isn’t it pretty?” She stretched out her hands in a ‘ta da’ motion, donning a proud smile. For years her best friend had wanted out from the flower business, professing her love of fashion and the dream to start her own name, as a seamstress and designer.
“Konoha will be more fashionable. It’s the best thing that can be done for this town and they’d have ME to thank.” She would boast often, sharing in her feverish dreams to pass the time with Sakura. It felt closer to reality now. Sakura couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s gorgeous, though I can’t imagine where I’d wear something like that. Where’s the rest of it?” Sakura jokingly asked.
“You can’t of course, but there are many ladies in Konoha who aren’t buried in their work or miserably uninterested in themselves you know.”
“Ouch.”
“You know I don’t hold back… by the way, I heard about the incident near your store. Is everything alright?” Ino asked. The earlier events of the day came flooding back to Sakura. She let out a heavy sigh.
“I managed to save what I could. The shop can be rebuilt but boy am I glad….what?”
“God, you went back there, into the fire? What were you thinking? I love you but sometimes you’re too… switched on. Breathe at least once in a while."
Only Ino could dish the truth out so bluntly, and though Sakura wanted to protest the ache in her muscles proved Ino’s point a little too much.
Just then, huge cheers erupted from outside. Both girls twisted their heads to look past the shop glass and at the streets. Bodies hung half out of windows, clamouring to cheer and whoop. Onlookers clapped and rushed to join the growing crowd across the street.
“What’s happening?” Sakura asked, craning her neck for a better angle. Ino was already by the door, gasping.
“It’s the wizard. The one who stopped the beast that reached town.”
So it was a beast, Sakura thought.
Ino’s eyes widened, “It’s not just any wizard. It’s the Red Wizard… y'know, Kyuubi!”
Sakura knew his many names, as most of the town who was enamoured with him did.
The Red Wizard, sometimes nicknamed Kyuubi after the demon fox’s heart he supposedly ate, was renowned the world over. There wasn’t a soul beyond the six seas who hadn’t heard of him. He was in a league of his own, with power explosive enough to, well, melt a town. His white and orange cape flourished as he acknowledged the adoring crowds.
He looked tiny swept away in a sea of bodies, his hand desperately waving above them for everyone to see. Sakura rolled her eyes. Had he not just destroyed half the city for one beast? And now waved and blew kisses, in all his villainy, to the same people whose homes he ruined? They did not seem at all bothered by it. It occurred to her he probably had some magic up his sleeve to fix up all the walls and streets. But what about the danger and fear? Or all her herbs he could never have the brains to conjure up exactly as she had mixed and crushed them?
“I can’t see him from here but, I can tell. He’s cute.” Ino said with a knowing smirk, aware of Sakura’s disdain for his ilk.
He was nearing the shop, flashing pearly whites at young girls who giggled, and looked up so his tanned face was more visible to Sakura. His eyes were a shock of blue and his hair, equally bright, hung over his eyes as gold wisps. Ino’s guess wasn’t so far off, she supposed.
“Ladies please calm down,” He boasted in a slightly raspy voice. To her dismay, Sakura could hear everything transpiring from right across the shop window. She turned away, keen to show her disinterest in all the gluttonous fanfare.
“Thanks everyone! And uh, sorry about the mess. I’ve cleaned most of it up though.” He chuckled through his words and scratched the back of his head, rather insufferably, Sakura thought.
“Take me with you!” A shrill female voice rang out amidst the piercing cheers.
“If I could I would, but my heart’s dead set on someone else.” The crowd quietened down in a singular gasp, waiting.
He smiled uneasily, “Well it’s not like I can just announce who it is. But she is beautiful - especially her pink hair!” More cheers rang out, and some whistled suggestively. Sakura froze in her chair, daring to not turn back. He couldn’t mean her?… No, surely not.
Then again there was no one else in the village who had pink hair like hers. She’d remember if there was too, having been the subject of ire and bullying for it in her younger years. Heaxhead or Bubble brain. Kids weren’t very imaginative. She turned around slowly, her heart pumping wildly in her ears, but the red wizard took his cape in his hand and with one swipe vanished to the sound of continuous applause.
Ino sat down, mouth agape at Sakura. She, too, caught wind of everything said.
“Did you hear that Sakura?! Pink hair, he- he doesn’t mean you right?”
Sakura only shrugged reflexively, slumping further into her chair.
“It can’t be.” She sounded surer than she felt.
“Do you know him or something? Is there something you’re not telling me, you’re best friend?!” Ino was in a mix of shock and excitement. Sakura moved quickly to deflate any bubbling delusion.
“Absolutely not. I don’t know him and never met him in my life. There’s no way. It’s a mistake.”
They both sat in silence.
~ ~ • ~ ~
Everywhere Sakura went, ghosts seemed to follow.
Strangers' eyes lingered a second too long as she walked through the main street, necks unashamedly twisting and craning at every corner. Some even stared from their windows. The weight of it threw her off balance, and suddenly she was aware of herself, the mechanical swing of her arms or the stumble in her step.
She drew her hood up without thinking and slipped inside a store at the end of the road, the bell above the door chiming with a small ding. A burst of warm air greeted her, sweet with the scent of cinnamon and rising yeast. The bakery was dimly lit. Thank God, Sakura thought, allowing the cosy space to settle into her nerves. She wasn’t sure she was in need of any bread.
“Can I help you Ma’am?” a high pitched voice called from behind the counter. She was large and round, with a friendly face dusted in flour.
“Uh, sourdough bread please and uh.. a blackbell muffin. Why not.”
The baker plucked the sweet flour from the counter and ground it into the dough until it blackened, then stood back and watched as the muffin rose and heat up on its own.
The blackbell plant was highly responsive to magic, and produced a sweet aroma when cooked with the right spell. She first learned how valuable the plant was for its calming properties, if grown in the right conditions. Effective for neurosis or stress. But who cared about all that? A magically infused one tasted sweet. Baked in under one second. Convenient. And far more profitable.
She steered clear of magically modified food as a rule. But her stomach twisted knots every time that stupid blonde wizard’s face floated into her mind. She went for the muffin on impulse. It was that kind of day.
She waited, coins ready in hand, only to face the baker frozen in a smile.
“That’s quite the sweetest shade of pink if I dare say so.” The baker chirped, winking suggestively. “Catch the eye of the Red Wizard, then? That must be a story worth telling. Have that on me, go on. No need to pay.”
Sakura was mortified. Of all the things she’d endured, a patient sprouting toadstool from their teeth, eyes weeping skunk puss from defunct Ghostglare Glasses – this was somehow the worst. She wanted to vanish the same way the stupid wizard did the day he ruined everything.
A few people stared as she spun out the shop without paying for anything.
She clasped her knees bending down and taking in deep breaths, counting down from five. It was silly really. Something she never dared to do in public. It was those moments when an antidote she had been mulling over for months combust into tiny sprinkles of rootdust, when she heard “perhaps this union isn’t fit for us” at her doorstep, or when a patient she defied sleep and rest for failed to make it all the same, that’s she’d drop everything and find a corner to count down slowly. Allow herself five seconds before putting a lid on it.
Ok Sakura. Calm down now. It’s not that big a deal. Newfound fame. Association with a wizard she’d never met—who maybe declared his love for her? (She still hadn’t ruled out the possibility that there was some other, unseen pink-haired girl in town.) It wasn’t the end of her world. People would eventually get bored, isn’t that how it went? They would move on to the next juicy gossip or scandalous tale. The Red Wizard would probably move on too, and target some other naive girl to play his sick joke on. She was just a passing amusement.
Satisfied and rising steadily to her feet, Sakura dragged her hood as low as it would allow, until half her face was obscured in shadow, and took a turn down the twisted alley on the corner of the street.
Multiple alleyways cut through the city like a wound, all leading to the centre of the town as a sort of pinwheel. They were tourist magnets and always busy. Festivals were sometimes held there – especially along the better kept pathways near the northern gardens, in the nicer side of town. A long banquet table would be squeezed into the narrow space, with floating spheres of light or sparklers raised overhead, until a corridor of flame stretched all the way to City Hall and the Hokage’s office.
This alley, however, was different, and remained tucked deep into the city’s outskirts, a lone road leading to the southernmost exit. The wounds of conflict still disfigured its walls. There was an odd comfort to the silence.
She recalled its ghosts before the war, the crude lampposts that once gave shoddy light, the snow laid on little weeds sprouting through all the cracks. In the days before sorcery pulsed as the bleeding heart of Konoha, when it lived banished to the splaying edges of the law and country.
The full moon hung like a pearl in the sky and began to dip beneath the smog of the city. Quickening her pace, soft heels echoed against the cobble path. Two men idly stood by the junction pass, and she attempted to slip past them as smoothly and casually as she could feign.
“You alright, darling?” One of the men spat out. She froze. The other figure, maybe making a career out of lackeying, accompanied his jest with snide laughter. In the glint of light she noticed a gash by his eye and a chin several inches too long that veered off to the left.
“Where are you headed, all alone?” He said in an almost singsong tone. He closed in on her and her pulse immediately shot up.
“To meet with my boyfriend.” Whose twice your size and can fix you a new jaw she almost added but stopped herself.
He cracked a smile, acknowledging her bluff. With every passing minute, the area, unlit by any streetlight, sank deeper into darkness. The moon was just a strip of silver above them. Heat crept up her spine and she mentally rummaged through her pockets, trying to recall what handy item she had on her. Rocktears. What was she gonna do, fling some seedy stalks at them and hope it pokes out their eyes? Siren’s song? That concoction could definitely knock someone out, but takes about ten minutes to kick in. Not enough time. Her forehead began to glisten with sweat.
“What, through here all on your own? Now why don’t I believe that? You ain’t lying to me are you?” He was inches away from her face and drew his hand towards her. Sakura felt a deadly chill creep through her skin and jerked her knee upwards as hard as she could between his legs until he lurched backwards.
“You little b-”
He lunged at her, and she stepped back instinctively, closing her eyes and raising her hands to shield her face from the shock. When she finally opened them, she saw his body flung halfway across the alleyway, and heard a loud moan as his back connected with a brick wall. The sidekick scanned frantically around for the invisible intruder. He then went flying several feet into the air, flailing his arms desperately as he hung suspended before crashing face-first onto the cobbled ground.
Sakura spun around in fear.
“Who’s there?”
The silhouette of a hooded figure stalked down the alley, his face faintly illuminated through wisps of crackling fire that hovered above his palm. His leather breeches creaked loudly as he stepped closer.
The men groaned, half conscious and one of them looked up at Sakura wide eyed.
“Shit! Pink hair. Hikaro, that’s the Red Wizard’s girl. You fucking idiot.”
She never realised her hood had fallen off. Still, she kept her eyes peeled on the mysterious man as he knelt, painstakingly slow.
“Look, we’re sorry. We didn’t know it was her – we weren’t doing anything ok?”
His voice was smooth and full of venom, “...You’re calling me the Red Wizard?” The fire in his palm pulsed a deeper red, undulating unnaturally with electrical sparks.
“P-please.”
The hot sparks engulfed the man’s body like molten rope, tightly wrapping around him. He let out a screeching yell and clumsily rolled on the ground, gasping in fear as he tried to put out the flames. They suddenly ceased leaving him whimpering in pain. Taking one look at the hooded figure he scrambled backwards, tripping over his feet in his haste to escape and dragging his partner with him.
Sakura was left alone with the strange man. He clenched his hand into a fist and snuffed out the fire leaving them in total darkness. He was clearly a formidable wizard, whoever he was. He turned towards her.
“Sakura.”
No. Not today.
She turned on her heel without a second thought, through the alleyway and to the closest exit, her skirt flailing wildly. She raced down the path, tracing the stone walls with her fingers and feeling her way through the dark. Home was too dangerous now, slipping back into the main square, where the crowds gave her cover was the safest option.
Everything fell silent and she skidded to a halt, not daring to make a sound. Maybe she wasn't worth the chase and he simply gave up? Taking a chance, she crept slowly forwards, her breath frantic. She took another step back into the shadows until her back collided with a solid form. She swivelled around and gasped loudly as there he stood, looming inches before her.
She made a second attempt to flee, but with one swift motion, he caught her wrist and spun her back around.
“You can’t outrun me. I only want to talk.” She pushed and squirmed against his hand and he only clutched it tighter, silent and focused.
A ring of fire soon erupted, burning intricate runic squares into the ground. Their patterns merged in a hiss as it encircled them slowly.
“For your own good, hold still.”
He whipped his hood off, and she saw his eyes for the first time, dark and intense, his skin pale as he gently whispered some foreign speech. The fire began to roar with intensity until it engulfed them completely and everything around them vanished.
The sensation was like being sucked into a void with no end, lurching through her stomach and rattling through her teeth, until reality reappeared in a snap, somewhere entirely different. The will to move had abandoned her, all she could manage was a shudder. He strode across the room, pulling his cloak off and leaning against the wall to face her. His intensity not lost.
“Like I said, let’s talk.”