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Steam from Sakura's breath blurred the chilly air ahead of her. She followed a leaf-strewn footpath between the tall, brown and barren stands of sycamore, oak and poplar, and trailed her teacher's heel. Her teacher wasn't far ahead, but it would be bad to get too far out of sight – Tsunade had a violent temper.
The plant they were searching for only flowered in the winter, and only for a few days each year – never in the same place. They would be lucky to find even a single specimen of wendwort, with its blood-red flowers bursting from white leaves. It was the rarest of the rare herbs, and integral to a number of spells that involved teleportation and other movement within space and time.
She saw no sign of it here, all was scaly gray or soft white trunks broken here and there by berry-tipped shrubs, fragrant sumac and hazelnut and dogwood; the occasional squirrel ventured out only to dart back to it's nest as soon as she passed near. The cloud-blanketed sky above only served to make the forest seem colder and darker.
Faded fall leaves were piled in the hollows and curves near the path and crumbled at her feet. This thick and dangerous forest surrounded the village and held many secrets; always it held a liveliness, even when nature spoke that it should be sleeping. Winter was Sakura's least favorite season here, bearable only because each day that passed would bring her closer to Spring. She moved on, seeing nothing resembling what she sought.
After she'd walked another half hour, Sakura started to wonder if Tsunade had the dates wrong and this year's search would prove as fruitless as the last. Then she saw a glint of red near the ground, deep in the underbrush from the edge of her vision. At first she thought it might be a berry or an half-faded leaf. As she looked again more carefully, she saw the glint again and realized whatever it might be was also well off of the path.
“Archmagus, I may have found something!” she called out to Tsunade.
“Stay where you are, Sakura!” her teacher yelled back, followed by the none too delicate sound of a woman in heavy boots and long robes running through tangles of leaves and branches. As the Archmagus' apprentice, Sakura's job was merely to assist in this search. Wendwort was not just rare, but dangerous to the inexperienced.
Still, she hadn't gotten a very good look and Tsunade might yell at her if it was nothing. Sakura stepped off the path, careful of the long, burr-dotted edge of her green velvet gown; it was warm enough with the short wool cloak on her shoulders and an extra petticoat, but impractical for this sort of work. If it were even a little bit warmer she'd have hitched her skirts up into her belt.
She could hear something rustling in the dead leaves beyond a thick stand of honeysuckle, and stepping around it, Sakura was startled so much she cried out.
At her feet was a bird, a goose with gray and white feathers, sprawled across the crackling leaves. Its wings were flailing weak and helpless, long neck stretched out on the ground, beak working though all it could manage was a thin hiss. She could see blood smearing the feathers on the left side of its soft, white head, the eye was slashed out; around its neck and breast was a chain heavy and black; dangling from that was a massive, round red gem which glittered and gleamed as if it had life.
Everything about this dying creature before her screamed magic, though she knew not what kind, nor whether she should examine it any more closely. Sakura could hear Tsunade behind her, and in moments her mentor was upon her. Her pale, ageless face was ruddy from the cold, though she showed no other signs of exertion. With her big amber eyes, Tsunade fixed her with a harsh glare, then she looked down.
“Archmagus, I don't know what to make of it.”
Tsunade raised her hand in warning. “Back up, apprentice,” she said, and worked the chant of divining over the goose. She did it so quickly Sakura only saw the tendrils of worked chakra slide over the bird, never hearing the words. The goose lifted its neck weakly, looking at its finders with a single beady eye, but did not struggle.
After what seemed like an hour, watching her twist her spell around the bird, Tsunade finally knelt down and touched its back. She then tried to probe the dark chain only to get a nasty shock. Sakura bit her lip, starting to wonder what would have happened if she'd never noticed this anomaly. There was such a feeling of wrongness around it, perhaps the goose was cursed or would soon shift into a monster.
“Enchantment – a strong one at that, a full, advanced transfiguration. This goose should not have the soul of a man, just as a goose should not be here in this season, nor have a cabochon about his neck with a rather wicked curse of its own. I must wonder who you offended so gravely, sir,” she said to the goose.
“The soul of a man? Do you really think so?” Sakura said in alarm. She'd heard stories of curses like this but never thought to be confronted by the real thing.
“I know so, though I had to break through four levels of shields to find it. This had to have been done by someone with skills on par with my own. The gem looks familiar, too. But it couldn't be...”
“Be what?” Sakura asked. She had her own suspicions too, but those things were supposed to have all been destroyed.
“I don't want to jump to conclusions. We'll take a closer look back at my tower. To even try to change him back I'll need your skills along with Shizune's. Perhaps I'll have to call for Inoichi and his useful daughter.”
“What?” Sakura had never done a single transfiguration spell, though she'd studied the basic theory. It would be years before she gained mastery of her preferred course of study, which was healing; Tsunade seemed fond of taking her on detours into completely different disciplines, however.
The Archmagus shook her head. “We can't leave him like this – sooner or later the curse will warp his form and soon we'll have an abomination raging through the forest. We don't want another demon-fox on our hands.”
“No, of course not.” The demon-fox had attacked the same year she was born – almost twenty years ago - and the monster had taken at least a hundred of the village's mages down with it before it was subdued.
Tsunade stood up and folded her hands into her sleeves. “But since you found him, you get to carry him back to the village.”
Him? Sakura's mouth worked for a moment but she bit back her complaint, knowing better than to argue. “Of course, Archmagus.” She supposed she should be glad he wasn't in human form, as her teacher would likely make her carry him anyway.
“Be careful of the chain, don't let it touch your skin,” she warned, as she started looking around for signs of the sick individual who could have done this.
“I will, Archmagus,” she replied, and approached the enchanted creature still wary, worried that there might be something that Tsunade missed.
Nothing happened when she scooped the bird up, he quivered a little, but held his wings close to his sides and pulled his neck in. He was a little bigger than the black, red-beaked geese Sakura was used to seeing at the lake near the eastern edge of the forest, but not terribly heavy; he was an almost comfortable warmth against her hands and chest.
“Oh! Well that's just my luck, is it not?” Tsunade said as Sakura stepped away to make her way back to the path. She turned and looked to what her teacher was staring down at.
A broad-petaled red flower with long, thin, corpse-white leaves lay crushed on the ground where the goose had rested. It was true, Tsunade's bad luck was a thing of legend.
The older woman nodded to herself. “Interesting. I believe I know how he got here, though I suppose that would make him a mage, too. Damn it. This does not bode well.” They watched as the increasingly more desiccated flower shriveled and turned black, wasting into ashes within moments, its useful properties expended.
“I suppose your calculations were correct though, Archmage,” Sakura said, her tone a little smart, which her teacher glared at her for.
“Now we will have to wait another year. I might have a new apprentice by then - perhaps one without an attitude,” Tsunade snapped back at her in irritation.
“I-” Sakura stammered but no words would form. She was too close to her final tests, she couldn't afford to be cast out out now.
“Come, we have much to do,” Tsunade said, shaking her head. She lifted the edges of her robes as she scurried back up to the path; Sakura followed obedient and silent, cradling the injured, cursed goose to her chest.
Three days later, Tsunade had collected all that she required. Thus began the process of breaking the enchantment on the poor sod who'd managed to get himself turned into a goose.
Sakura was not allowed to participate in the working other than as an assistant, which irked her to no end. Especially once she discovered her sometime friend and frequent rival, Ino, of the Yamanaka Tower had been put forth in her stead. The shapely blonde in purple damask was now standing in the north quarter of the four-pointed star within a circle; Sakura had drawn the circle earlier with chalk on the smooth stone floor of the main hall of the Archmagus' tower at Tsunade's direction.
The quiet goose lay on a low, round, stone table in the center of the circle. Candlelight glowed upon his gray feathers from the huge chandelier above and from the sconces set at even intervals in the octagonal room. He was alert, but sat with his wings and neck still tucked in close, nervous perhaps.
Sakura had been his caretaker; once she started healing him, he'd eaten a little of the tea-soaked bread and chopped vegetables she'd laced with medicinal herbs and left for him over the past few days. Evidently not enough to really recover his energy though she thought his remaining eye looked brighter.
She'd spoken to him as if he were human, calling him “Mr. Goose” and asking him to be patient until they could help him. If he understood, he gave little indication, keeping to the basket she'd made up for him in the corner of one of the supply rooms. He seemed to be able to find a way to relieve himself outside, thankfully. She'd been expecting to have to clean up goose droppings from the floor all week.
Their working had a small audience, mages of the various disciplines that were practiced within their village. Some were curious, others felt threatened by whoever had done such forbidden magic, transforming both the body and soul of another mage. Whoever this man was, once he had been changed back there would be many questions.
Tsunade took the south point; her close friend and former apprentice Shizune - a plain, dark-haired woman with delicate hands - took the west. At the east was the previous Archmagus' son, Naruto. He would serve as the power source for the working, as he had the most chakra of anyone in the village, and was often called upon for support when the elders needed to do any kind of big spell.
“Sorry I was late, Grandmother Tsunade,” Naruto said with his usual careless grin. Sakura was too worried about how this would turn out to spend any energy on being annoyed with him. He was here, they could progress.
“I hope you realize you are going to be on third-shift sentry duty for being late again, boy!" the Archmagus replied.
“Aw, but I-” he started to say.
“Shut up and stand directly on the east point, we've waited long enough,” Tsunade ordered and Naruto hunched his orange-garbed shoulders and tiptoed carefully over the correct spot on the remaining quarter.
Sakura had seen the notes on Tsunade's desk and read the grimoire which held the reversal spell that her teacher intended to use. The process was simple enough, but manipulating that much power was not – for this to be successful, the caster had to have more chakra at hand than the mage who originally cursed the victim – and they did not know how strong the first caster was, only that the person was strong enough to do it in the first place. It would be a quick but intense procedure.
Naruto would power the spell, Ino would draw out the man's original form from his own memories, Shizune would create a shield that would protect the circle from outside influences – demons or otherworldly creatures who were drawn to magic, and Tsunade would orchestrate the three, keeping the chakra levels stable and speaking the words of power that would allow them to manipulate body and soul.
Truly whoever Mr. Goose was, he was fortunate to have stumbled upon their village. If he'd ended up in the hands of mages elsewhere, likely they'd have just broken his neck and eaten him for dinner just to steal his amulet.
Sakura stood back and watched, holding over one arm a thick, brown wool blanket which she was to offer to their visitor once his change was complete. She stared in awe at the blue and gold chakra swirling within the dome that Shizune effortlessly created. For a long moment the golden glow around the gray goose became too intense for Sakura to look at; then his form seemed to shift into something more like mist, coalescing slowly. The strange gem he carried started to pulse in response to all the chakra being pushed upon and around its bearer, washing everything in the room bright red.
Soon enough, Sakura could discern a man's form. Crouching on his hands and knees he was tall and slender and pale, with a shock of disheveled silver hair; his left eye remained slashed out and bruises and abrasions covered his torso and limbs - which she hadn't noticed before because of his previous layer of feathers. The red gem dangled from his neck, swaying on its dark chain like a wicked glinting eye.
The radiant glow of chakra slowly dissipated around him, and Sakura grew impatient for the working to end. Seeing him kneeling there helpless, naked and trembling, breathing heavily his head bowed made her want to run over and cover him up.
Tsunade's face when she looked back to her carried an expression that Sakura could only describe as mixed – passing quickly between shock and anger and elation. Most notably recognition – this man was someone her teacher knew. Sakura had never seen him before, and she had been in Tsunade's service for almost eight years.
The Archmagus wound the working down, returning the remaining chakra to its owners and severing their spiritual bonds with care. All that remained was a soft residual crackling of power in the room and one very cold naked man on a pedestal.
“Kakashi!” Tsunade said, running over to the man. “Get over here with that blanket, apprentice! Shizune, go find Shikaku and tell him to gather the council. Naruto, clear everyone else out.”
Sakura hurried to obey, swooping down on him with arms outstretched and wrapping him up. He was looking up at Tsunade, who was already firing questions off at him in a semi-panic. “God of the Six Paths, what the hell happened? We searched for you for so long, where have you been?”
He weakly held up his amulet. “The Order of the Dawning caught me sneaking around one of their necromancer's towers. They beat the shit out of me, slashed one of my eyes out and then, then one of their mages changed me. It was pretty hard sneaking into the tower and stealing this thing in the form of a goose, by the way, but it got me home.”
Deep uneasiness passed over Tsunade's face. “It took you ten years?”
“Ten years? It's only been a week,” Kakashi said, his fist tightening at the base of his throat where he held his blanket in place.
“No, Kakashi, you've been gone much, much longer than that,” Tsunade said, her face solemn and sad as she began to understand what had transpired.
“I see,” he said, remaining calm to a degree that Sakura found almost disturbing as he looked over to her. She hadn't yet taken her eyes from his handsome if bruised face, and she could tell he didn't recognize her. “Who is this?” he asked.
“My apprentice, Sakura.”
“Your apprentice is Shizune – I saw her, she was helping you,” he said gasping and in denial.
“She took her Mastery tests eight years ago. Now I have Sakura to teach – and it won't be long before she takes hers, too. Much has changed, Kakashi,” Tsunade said, glancing at her sharply as if to warn her not to take her words as a compliment.
Sakura dismissed her teacher's antagonism, seeing that her recent charge was shivering, his face bloodless with shock. “Archmagus, perhaps it would be wise to let him rest for a while before you question him further.”
Tsunade frowned at her then nodded. “Take him to the guest bedroom on the third floor. Can you walk Kakashi?”
“Probably,” he said, shifting under the blanket, then sliding off the edge of the smooth table on to his unsteady bare feet.
“Help him upstairs. You can tend to him for now, I suppose. Get him settled in, I'll send someone to relieve you later,” Tsunade said, and started the cleansing ritual for the hall by breaking one of the lines of the circle they'd used, grinding it out with her heel.
“Of course, Archmagus,” Sakura said, glancing at Kakashi who was staring forlorn at the ground with his remaining eye. She'd have to find something for him to cover the slashed one with, and clothes of course. But first, he needed rest and something to eat more appropriate to a man than a waterfowl.
When they were a little more than halfway up the stairs, Kakashi stopped walking, and leaned heavily on the wooden railing.
“Are you all right?” she said, resting a concerned hand on his bowed shoulder.
“Where's Archmagus Hiruzen?” he asked, though his weary face told her he didn't really want to know.
“I'm sorry, he was killed a long time ago. When I was thirteen, the village was attacked,” she said softly. She remembered the old man too, he was so sweet compared to her temperamental teacher.
“How long ago was that?”
“Eight years, now ah-”
“Kakashi, call me Kakashi. You're close enough to becoming a Master, too. I should have known something was wrong when everyone kept referring to Tsunade as the Archmagus.”
“Come. You should rest. Tsunade's election to Archmagus only a small part of what has happened while you were gone,” she said, and tugged at his elbow. “I'm sure you're hungry, too, and you'll want some clothes in case you have visitors. Think of all the people who have been missing you.”
He shook his head. “There aren't any people like that. At least there weren't when I left,” he said, and started climbing the stairs again.
As a young student Sakura had learned that there were things that magic could do and things that it could not.
The petal fragment of wendwort Kakashi had used ten years ago was meant to move its user within time and space, but it should have been impossible for him to travel so far forward in time. It was equally a fascinating anomaly and the tragic consequence of trying to overcome an impossible situation - moving something the size of a goose didn't require as much wendwort as it took to move a man. The Archmagus suspected that this was the miscalculation he had made when he tried to transport himself home while in the form of a goose. It was irreversible and the scholar mages would be studying it for years to come.
Tsunade told her all this before she went to visit her charge the next morning. It was one thing to tend someone who was ill; it was quite another thing to try to keep a Master mage from leaving his room because he was convinced that he could go back and finish whatever it was he'd been doing ten years ago. The only thing Sakura could think to do was to tell him what had transpired while he was missing.
“What do you mean the entire Order of the Dawning has been wiped out?” Kakashi said. He adjusted the short sleeves of his plain green tunic which he now wore over a white shirt and dark trousers. A band of soft cloth and leather she'd sewn together for him now covered his ruined left eye, the wound almost completely healed to a narrow red scar. He cleaned up rather well, she had to admit.
“Just that. You have the only remaining Sharingan ruby right there around your neck.” He was also the only one who could touch it, and she wondered if he could even take it off. The rubies were cursed, but if the user was careful they could be utilized for powerful workings and spells.
“The last one? Even the Uchiha brothers rubies were destroyed then,” he said as if amazed. “Even Itachi was killed. I'd always hoped they'd come around, but I suppose they really were too far down the dark path.”
She nodded, and tried not to display what sadness she felt. Sakura had been close to Sasuke Uchiha, before he lost his mind. “You managed to miss the entire war, what's so bad about that?”
He shook his head. “I would have at least liked to have helped out. And now I can't even go after that guy who...” he trailed off, flustered.
“Changed you.”
“Yes.”
“It's futile. The Archmagus isn't going to even investigate what it would take to put you back where you were. You're going to have to get used to the shift,” Sakura said, hoping her firm tone didn't come off as overbearing or pushy.
“What about my home? I don't suppose I really want to clean up ten years of rot, but I had a rather impressive collection of books. Some of those editions were incredibly rare,” he lamented.
“I don't know. You were presumed dead, Kakashi. You're a servant to the tower, so the books were probably given to the tower library or whoever wanted them. I'm sure if you can make a list you can get some of them back,” she said, trying to be helpful. Books were easier to replace than people were.
“Great, just great.” He had his arms crossed and was pacing the length of the small room like a caged animal. She knew he still had injuries but he seemed to be shrugging them off.
“I'm sorry.” Sakura bit her lower lip and watched him stop and stare out the window. It seemed like every time he started to warm up to her, some voice inside of him called out and she was back to square one.
“So am I,” he said, then seemed to notice he'd been unnecessarily harsh. “Sorry, I shouldn't take this out on you.”
“No, I understand that you're going through something difficult. Imagine if you'd had a wife and children though? They'd all be grown up, your wife might have remarried thinking you dead. It could a be worse, Kakashi,” she said, hoping that contrasting the situations might make him feel a little better about where he was.
He nodded, sighing like the air was too heavy to keep inside. “Any way I look at it all there is, is to start over. My work, I suppose it bore fruit but I wasn't here to see it.”
“Your work? What are your specializations?” she asked, wondering what sort of magery he was best at.
He shrugged almost imperceptibly. “I'm not a specialist. Except perhaps in information gathering and using it to get on with the killing of necromancers and corrupt mages,” he said putting no gloss on the fact that he had a lot of blood on his hands. He hadn't been out in the wilderness picking flowers like Sakura had been earlier this week. When he said his work, he'd meant the greater cause of destroying the Order of the Dawning. Which was now defunt.
Sakura laughed a little at his light tone of voice. “I understand you were highly-esteemed amongst the other warrior mages.”
“I am not dead,” he complained at her use of past tense.
“I know, but like you said you're starting from nothing. You'll have to rebuild your reputation as much as anything else. It just depends on the sort of life you want to lead now,” she said absently, tapping her chin with one finger.
He seemed a little taken aback at her words, but was considering them seriously. Or at least that was why she thought he was staring at her for so long. “I suppose I could start with you,” he said finally, with an unexpected grin.
“Yes I suppose you cou- Wait, what?” Sakura wasn't entirely certain, but she suspected that she had just been flirted with.
“Well, we've already come a long way from you calling me Mr. Goose,” he said.
“I didn't know your name!” she said, embarrassed she hadn't thought of something a little more creative.
“Don't worry about it. Just don't tell anyone else,” he laughed.
“Oh, I see. I promise, you will only ever hear me call you Mr. Goose,” she said, and realized she had just flirted back.
Kakashi stared her like she had surprised him again. “I don't suppose you have any plans for today, Sakura?” he asked.
“No, no I am merely to keep you from escaping before the council can question you and decide whether to reinstate you in the Order of the Leaf,” she said, matter-of-fact, and stood up.
“I see. Would my warden object overmuch at taking me to procure some breakfast, then? Or perhaps showing me how the village and the towers have changed in the time I have been gone?” Kakashi asked her, with a flourish of his hand towards the door.
Sakura smiled. “She does not object.”