Chapter 1: Ayumi
Sakura shoved her books into her bag, pushing back her glasses then swinging the bag onto her shoulder. Sakura grabbed a hair tie and quickly knotted her hair into a bun, letting two streaks loose, to cover her face.
She snuck to the front door, going outside, silencing the door with the best of her ability, and set off in the risen sun.
When she was three, Sakura's mother passed away from illness, and four years later, her father followed suite. Her brother Touya was studying in England on a scholarship, two years before it happened. Sakura's father hadn't planned what would happen to Sakura if this should happen, so she was automatically sent to her father's cousin-in-law. Of course, her uncle wasn't very pleased at having a child to raise, for he had none and had wanted none, and he treated her with great contempt. His wife – who married him for exactly the same reason – took pleasure in spending his money.
Sakura didn't have the best time at what she had to call 'home', and spent as much time away from there as she could, without them getting suspicious. That meant leaving a bit earlier for school, and coming home after studying in the library until it closed (at 6.30pm).
When Sakura finally reached the school gates – she was walking quite slowly – she hesitated before entering, heading quickly to her locker with her head down. She unlocked her locker, opening it just to have it slammed closed again.
'My my, what do we have here?' asked a snooty, (fake) blonde popular-looking girl. 'Why it's the little greasy geek, Sake-chan!' (AN: The nickname coming from sake, rice wine, making fun of her name, 'Sakura' or, 'Sakura-chan'. Also refers to uncle's drinking habits.)
Sakura was standing there, looking straight down, not wanting to get into more trouble by looking up. This girl, "Kanagawa Ayumi", wasn't by herself very strong or menacing, but her gang of duplicates, as a group, were. (AN: The kanji for Kanagawa mean 'gold' and 'river'. Guess why I chose the name )
'Well, I came prepared today,' Ayumi giggled evilly, taking out a pair of scissors. As she approached Sakura, she said, 'well, we'll let you keep those dreadful locks, so's to hide your face. Oh here, let me help you, you seem to have your hair caught,' she grabbed Sakura's bun, pulling on the hair tie and snipping it, letting Sakura's lank hair loose.
Sneering, she continued, 'Well, you won't be needing this,' she said coolly, flicking the remains of her hair tie into a nearby bin. 'C'mon, girls,' she ordered as she and her clones strutted off down the hallway.
Sakura held back the tears, opening her locker again, retrieving the books she'd need and putting her bag away. It was against the school rules to have her hair out, and she knew she'd get in trouble for having her hair out, but she was out of hair ties since the last time Ayumi did that. She sighed sadly, preparing for a big shouting as she slid open the door, but the teacher wasn't there, so she went to the back corner and took a seat. The bell rang for the second time. She must have been too preoccupied to hear the first one.
She sighed, pulling her legs up, arms in her lap, shins resting on the table. Sakura looked like the average loser: she had grubby, messy hair; big, thick glasses; cheap, falling apart clothes and shoes that slightly resembled a pile of shredded paper.
She flinched as the bell signalling lunch went off. She hurriedly left the room to seek refuge in the tree she spent recess in – which was located behind the water sports shed – only to see it surrounded by Ayumi and her gang.
'It seems the lady of the hour has arrived,' she said snidely, 'we were so worried at recess, we couldn't find you anywhere!' She said in a baby-like voice.
Sakura slowly backed away, but hit a brick wall and had a jolt of nerves flow through her. Ayumi snapped her fingers and the clones spread out, slowly stepping in until they were in a tight semi-circle around Sakura.
Ayumi walked in, leaning towards Sakura with a sneer, 'Those eyes of yours aren't like you at all,' she pulled her fist up, 'let me fix them for you.'
Sakura closed her eyes as Ayumi's fist closed in...
