Our guest is always welcomed with open arms

Green flames licked at the air and water alike as the crashing waves poured over creaking wooden beams. Lightning lit the blazing waters, thunder rolling through the skies almost loud enough to muffle the screams of burning flesh.

Despite the open wounds littering his body, the heat seeping through and boiling his blood, the fumes drowning his lungs, he burst through debris as it scorched his skin, and dived into the freezing sea.

Churning waves threw his aching body around as he gasped helplessly for air, pushed against despite the loud protests of his arms and legs as they dragged, despite the sea purging his cuts and his choked breathes.

The last thing Kakashi saw before his vision blackened was bubbles, glinting green by the illuminated surface high above—jagged and unmerciful.

A group of young women stroll around the shore, baskets slowly filling with seaweed and shells. They are collecting to stock missing ingredients of their Lady's shelves. The shells will be grinded into fine powder and stored in vials, and the seaweed would be juiced and their remains dried out.

As they reach the middle of the beach, one of them spots the figure strewn across the sand, waves lapping at the remains of cloth on his body, and gestures wildly. Heads turn and a round of gasps and shrieks follow suit.

One woman immediately rushes forward and leans over him to check for a pulse. At the discovery, she gently picks him up into her arms, urges the others to make way, and runs.

The taste of grilled eggplant, warm and meaty and flecked with overtones of a fishy sauce, filled his tongue. A chewy yet fluid chunk pressed further against his lips and he eagerly opened his mouth. After slowly swirling the heavenly paste and savoring it best as he could, Kakashi opened his eye to be greeted by a curious pair, glinting green. Above is the surface, jagged and unmerciful… With a sharp intake of air he sat up, knocking foreheads in his frantic jump.

"Ow ow ow. Your head is as hard as a boulder!"

He blinked at her, dazed.

"And your's is as large as one…"

Her eyes went wide with a sound of angry protest. He noted the color of her hair: an exotic, pretty pink.

"Um, I didn't mean to offend. I'm…confused. And feeling strangely invigorated," he frowned.

"Well you should be. After all, you just had ambrosia."

"...ambrosia? The food of the gods? What do you mean, that's not possible."

"For a demigod, it is." Kakashi blinked at her.

She stared at him in response.

Eye narrowed, he plied, "again, what do you mean?"

Green eyes widened in understanding. "Do you not know of your divine heritage? The moment I touched you I sensed the ichor running strong in your veins." His eye traced her finger as it ran across the inside of his wrist, following blue veins under pale skin.

"My blood is not gold, but red like a mortal's. I have seen it enough times to assure you this is true," he protested.

"Only pure ichor runs gold. Demigods may seem to have mortal blood, but that is because we look on with the naked eye, which is a weak tool to rely on."

At the mention of looking around, Kakashi finally took in his surroundings. He had sensed the high ceiling and smelled the salty breeze from the large open archway, had felt the rays of golden light streaming through the patterned slits high above, carved at an angle to direct the natural light into the relatively gloomy room—but the actual sight was breathtaking. He had never seen walls so tall and looming nor patterns so intricately designed. He was in a palace.

"-senses cannot be trusted. You should know best, with the wisdom you inherited from your mother, that not all seeing is believing, and the eye can be quite deceiving—especially on the tiny levels of blood and tissue." Kakashi covered his scarred eye. He would know about the eye's deceit; when you lose one as he did, depth perception was no longer possible.

She smiled with pride. "I'm a medic, see. So I know things—maybe enough things to rival a child of Athena!" she jabbed at his chest with palpable disgust.

Kakashi's mind whirled. His mother...was Lady Athena?

That was too hard to believe, so he focused on the other worrying discovery: the only person who could possibly give him immediate answers on his whereabouts did not like the goddess—and she seemed firm in her belief that he was her offspring.

He laughed dismissively. "I'm sure you know more in the field of medicine than I do—I'm clueless. But, I really doubt I am, as you claim, a child of Lady Athena. On what basis did you infer my parentage?" cautiously, he gave her a confused, honestly curious look. He didn't mean to offend, and she understood, answering calmly.

"I would say the way you just spoke is enough a justification. But in truth, it was your eye that first struck me."

His brows furrowed and he touched his scarred lid, her eyes following the movement.

"My eye?"

"The color of your good eye. When I was nursing you back to health, you would wake and mutter nothings while staring at me, too tired to make sense of anything. I noticed the color; albeit a dark shade, they are the characteristic grey of Athena."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, "That's all?"

"Of course not. My father had grey eyes and I'm as far as is possible from a descendant of Athena."

"Ah."

She sighed. "I was with the group who found you on the shore. I immediately picked you up and ran to the palace's healing room," she gestured to the walls, "and began the process." She took his hand and placed her other, palm up, in his grasp. A tingling sensation spread from the center of his palm. He raised an eyebrow.

"Look," she explained, and then her hand glowed blue-green. His eyes widened and he made to pull away but she kept a firm hold. "It's my healing magic. It comes from my connection to the purifying waters of springs molded into running rivers, clearing all that is stagnant and turning life fertile. I can heal your wounds and soothe fatigued organs. That's how I restored your dehydrated body to full capacity—at least, it's partially how I did so." She pressed the back of her hand further against his palm.

"I also gave you tiny sips of nectar and bites of ambrosia—with extreme caution." She flipped her hand so that her palm pressed against his.

"When I first took to using my magic, you were startled awake before falling back into unconsciousness. It was then that I realized your eye color." A sharp sting interjected the steady tingling and he hissed. A few seconds later the smooth, soothing sensation returned.

"That, however, is what really told me of your heritage. It was slighter than it should be, but you rejected the magic because it is water-based, and children of Athena tend to stay away from Lord Poseidon's domain. However, your body was quick to accept the healing again, albeit at a lower intensity. And that's why I dealt with you carefully." Kakashi watched as the blue-green light steadily brightened.

"For a week now I've been tending to you, slowly stabilising your organs and replenishing your body. Afterall, you were at sea for so long; I could tell exactly how long from a thorough check…" She stared at him with wide eyes.

"It's a wonder you're alive! I mean, demigods are more resilient than mortals, but it's still a stretch to survive the open sea unconscious for three months!"

Kakashi's mouth dropped open. His throat went dry.

"Three months?...that's impossible."

"You're right. You might have been protected by an immortal who luckily favors your survival...but that would be difficult as the vast waters are not their domain. Or, you might have been protected, your body preserved and nourished, by Lord Poseidon himself—who reigns over these seas. Improbable, but possible; you were also strangely receptive to water healing magic."

Kakashi remembered his childhood home, the large statue of Lord Poseidon at the altar by the entrance, always kept in pristine shape and given frivolous offerings. It had been a routine since birth, to care for and offer the god food in the fire every meal, a routine he carried on even after his father's death. He always thought it was a weird necessity—they were not fishermen; farmers should devote themselves more to Lady Demeter, no?—but as the years went by, he continued with his prayers, and they had become a necessity with his new life at sea...Kakashi was a pirate, of sorts. The entirety of his crew would regularly provide offerings to Lord Poseidon, praying for their ship's safe passage as they ventured through the darkest waters.

He told her such, and her eyes lit up. A bright smile turned into hearty laughter.

"A son of Athena praying to Lord Poseidon all his life?! Your father was very clever! Of course, that's no surprise—he attracted the wisdom goddess's attention."

Her lips pressed into a line and she turned her gaze to him sheepishly. "I was too harsh towards you. Even a man like you deserves reasonable judgement before you're given your inevitable sentence. But that's not my choice, unfortunately." She gave him a sad smile, and his stomach churned.

"What is your name, oh weary one?" she implored sweetly. Her voice was enchanting when it took on such a soft tone. He found himself answering just as softly.

"Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi."

"Hatake? From a farming family!" giggles sounded from behind him, and he turned to see a group of girls peering from curtains at the far end of the room. A now familiar hand caressed his cheek and gently turned his head towards her. He sank into her gaze, watery green eyes bright yet filled with soft sorrow.

"I'm Sakura. Haruno Sakura, born on the cusp of spring." He focused on her hair, falling in a soft wave across her shoulders and down to her hips, a pretty, blossoming pink like flowers budding with the arrival of the fertile season.

Noticing his gaze, she leaned forward until her long locks brushed against his arms, and pooled into his lap, pressing warm lips to his forehead.

"Welcome to Lady Circe's palace...of Paradise Island," she announced against his skin.

The intoxicating scent of fresh green, of blooming fields and trickling creeks overwhelmed his senses, and Kakashi's eye fluttered closed. Sakura slowly pulled away and he sighed, only for his brows to ever slightly furrow at the melancholy deep in her features. Behind him, polite claps trinkled across bubbling giggles, and in a daze, Kakashi smiled.