Whilst The Sakura Blossom Blooms

Chapter One

The Sumizome household was like any other in the city of Tokyo. A medium sized house with a small backyard for playing and relaxing by the small pond overlooked by a Sakura tree. The house was wood, painted over with white. There were four steps that lead up to the front porch and door. Above there was a small balcony outside one of the rooms. Inside, there was a hallway that lead to the stairs and several other hallways that attached to the main one, leading to rooms downstairs. Upstairs, there were not many different rooms. Just three bedrooms and a bathroom.

There were three girls that lived in this house. They had no parents, but they used to. Unfortunately, the parents died in a tragic car accident. The girls were in the car at the time, but they made it out with wounds that, luckily, weren't fatal. All they had were each other. The eldest, Kurusude Sumizome, was twenty-six years old and already had a small job as a painter. It wasn't much, but it brought food to the table. She had waist length chocolate hair that she always kept in a tight bun, as to not get paint on it. Her eyes were large and dark brown and her skin was peach colored. Today she wears an old pink t-shirt and faded jeans with a white smock as she starts her new master-piece. She locks herself in the painting room downstairs as not to be disturbed. The second eldest, Monkeyruu Sumizome, was twenty-one and still in college. She had calf-length dark red hair with tips that were dyed black and she always let her hair fly allover the place. Her eyes were golden and her skin was tanned from staying out in the sun all day every day. Her strange hair color came from their mother, who came from America to start a new job here in Japan. Right now, she was at school, but she would be home soon. The youngest at the tender age of seventeen, and the main character of our story, sits in her room all alone, staring out at the Sakura tree from her balcony. Her name was Kayla Sumizome, but preferred to just be Kayl. She had earlobe length black hair, with the exception of two strands that reached her waist. The black of her hair was that of a night without stars or the light of the moon to see. Her eyes were a deep, profound dark blue, the same as that of the deepest parts of the ocean. Her skin was a milky white from lack of sunlight. She wore a black kimono that she had inherited from her father. She had to tie it very tightly as to fit around her tiny waist, but it still sagged around her chest, drooping down around her shoulders.

Kayl wasn't sick, nor was she hideously deformed, she was actually a very pretty young girl. She just preferred to be alone ever since the accident. She blames herself for what happened. She doesn't wish to hurt anyone else with her powers. She had the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. It was a wonderful gift, but she treated it as though it were a curse. She was very soft-spoken, mostly she never spoke at all. She sighed softly as she watched the petals of the tree blew down in the light breeze and floated on the surface of the pond.

The downstairs door burst open as Monkeyruu rushed in from college. She was wearing a light blue midriff t-shirt with a monkey head on the chest and low hip hugger jeans.

"I'm home!" She cheerfully shouted. "Kuru-chan! Kay-chan! Where is everybody!" She cried in her fake hyper frenzy.

Kurusude popped her head out of the painting room and smiled widely. "Monkey-chan!" She ran out covered in paint to greet her sibling. "We missed you!" She went to hug Monkeyruu, but she was pushed back slightly.

"Now Kuru-chan, you don't want to get my clothes full of paint do you?" Monkeyruu teased.

"Gasp! You're right! Let me go change!" She ran upstairs. Before entering her room, she knocked on Kayl's door, breaking her from her peaceful trance. "Kay-chan? You alive in there? Go say hi to Monkey-chan!"

Kayl sighed in annoyance. Great, the idiot's home. She thought bitterly. "Yes sister." She said bored. She slowly stood up and left the darkness of her room.

Her eyes winced as she was met with the brightness of the hallway. She slowly made her way to the stairs and made her way down. As soon as she stepped off the bottom step, she was met with a bone crushing hug.

"Kay-chan!" Squealed Monkeyruu. "I missed you little one!"

Kayl gagged from the emotion and the lack of air. Monkeyruu finally released her and smiled.

"So, how was your day?" She inquired.

"Same as always...dismal." Kayl replied. Monkeyruu just laughed.

"You're so funny, Kay-chan!" She smiled at the girl and walked off. "I must prepare dinner! We're having pot-stickers!" She cried in a sing-song voice as she rushed for the kitchen.

Kayl shuddered with disgust. Monkeyruu, as persistent as she was, was a terrible cook. She once gave everyone at a party food poisoning for two weeks. Kurusude came down the stairs in a pink v-neck shirt with the sleeves flaring out and a shin-length black skirt. She looked at Kayl with confusion.

"What's wrong Kayl?" She blinked. Kayl turned to look at her slowly.

"Monkeyruu's cooking..." Kurusude stood there for a few seconds. Then rushed off.

"Monkey-chan! Maybe I should cook tonight!" Kayl chuckled softly to herself. She never smiled around people.

Later that night, everyone was sitting around the table eating pot-stickers that were, thankfully, cooked by Kurusude. Kayl watched Monkeyruu and Kurusude whisper to each other. It annoyed her when people kept stuff from her, and it was most likely about herself since they kept looking at her every few minutes of whispering. She finally spoke.

"You know how much it hurts me when you keep secrets...what stupidity could you two be possibly sharing amongst yourselves now?" She asked impatiently. The two stared at her for a moment. The first to speak was Monkeyruu.

"Kayla...we know you may have some problems with your 'gift'" Kayl raised an eyebrow in intrest. Only when it was extremely important would Monkeyruu use Kayl's full name.

"Go on..." she replied. Next Kurusude spoke.

"Well, Monkeyruu and I have been talking about it. We've found a place that could help you. It's in America and you'd be away from us but-"

"NO!" Kayl shouted, slamming her fists on the table. "I won't go!"

"Kayla..." sighed Monkeyruu, but Kayl wouldn't listen.

"I don't need any help! I'm just fine!" Kayl growled, then a thought struck her. "...You think it's my fault as well. Both of you. That's what this is all about isn't it!"

"Kayla!" shouted Kurusude. "We've told you a million times, we don't blame you for-"

"Shut up! You're lying! You hate me for what happened to mom and dad! That's why you say I need help! I don't need it! I don't, I don't, I don't!" Kayl was now gripping her ears and shaking her head back and forth, as if to block them out. Several pot-stickers rose from the plate and flew across the room, smacking Monkeyruu right in the face. Kurusude pulled Kayl's hands down from her ears and gripped her wrists tightly. Kayl winced from the force.

"Stop it Kayla! Stop this nonsense right now!" Kurusude shouted. She looked Kayl right in the eyes, which was difficult for her to do. Kayl's eyes seemed to pierce right into one's very soul. She sighed. "Look. This isn't easy for us either, but we feel that if you did think that you were responsible for mom and dad's death, you would want to make sure that it never happened again right?"

Kayl just glared at her, which made Kurusude grip her wrists tighter.

"Answer me Kayla." She glared right back at her, but her gaze was wavering.

"...Yes." Kayl stated in an angry tone.

"Then the decision is final. You're going and that's that. I don't want any angry fits of food or anything flying across the room. Do I make myself clear Kayla?" She waited for a response.

Kayl shot a death glare at both of them. With a newfound force, she shoved Kurusude away from her and rushed up into her room. Kurusude stood up to follow her, but Monkeyruu grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"Let her go. She needs time to think." Said Monkeyruu. Kurusude nodded and sat down and struck up a conversation with her sibling.

Meanwhile, Kayl was strewn out upon her bed, her chin buried in her arms as she stared out at the rain. Lightning crashed and thunder boomed, but Kayl didn't flinch. Nothing seemed to bother her ever since that day.

Flashback

Kayl and her sibling sat out in the lobby, waiting for a response about their parents. They all had bandages, but Kayl had them mostly around her mid back. It had been snowing pretty badly out. Kayl was only five at this time. Kurusude was twelve and Monkeyruu was eight. Kayl kept herself wrapped in the comforting arms of her siblings. They said they had hit a patch of black ice, but Kayl knew what really happened. She had gotten angry at Monkeyruu and her power grabbed the steering wheel and swerved them into oncoming traffic. They were hit by a truck, but miraculously the children had gotten out with non fatal wounds. They had no idea what had happened to their parents, but they were about to find out. The doctor walked out of the emergency room and called Kurusude over, since she was the eldest, into a different hall. After they reached the opposite hall, Kayl wriggled out of Monkeyruu's grasp and spied on her sister and the doctor. She had gotten there right in the middle of the conversation.

"How will your sisters take it?" asked the doctor.

"Monkeyruu's old enough to understand, and Kayl's a smart kid, she'll get it." Said Kurusude. Her voice was wavering and cracking. Kayl could tell she was trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry...do you have somewhere to stay for now?" The doctor placed a hand on Kurusude's shoulder.

"...Yes" Kurusude lied. "We'll stay with our grandparents." Kayl blinked. Their grandparents had been dead for a few years now.

The doctor nodded and walked towards Kayl with Kurusude. She quickly ran for Monkeyruu and sat down as if she hadn't moved. Kurusude stood in front of them, her face was sad and streaked with tears now.

"...Kuru-chan? What's wrong? Is mom and dad gonna be ok?" Monkeyruu asked, walking towards her sibling.

"...They're dead, Monkeyruu. Mom and dad. They're gone." At that, their older sister broke down and started sobbing uncontrollably. Monkeyruu wrapped her arms around Kurusude and tried her best to comfort her, even though she was crying as well.

"It's my fault." Was what they heard come from Kayl's mouth, in that small voice of hers.

"W-what are you talking about Kayl?" Asked Monkeyruu, her voice wavering.

"Mom and dad are dead...and it's all my fault." Kayl took a step back. "I'm cursed...I can't go anywhere without hurting the people around me. It's my fault! I should be dead!" She ran out the door. Out of the hospital and into the snow.

"Kayla!" Was all she heard from Kurusude as she ran. As fast as she her stubby child's legs could take her in the snow. She ran past a grocery store, her school and many other buildings. She ran into a cemetery, hauntingly beautiful covered in snow. She finally tripped on a root under the snow and fell before one of the tombstones. She cried out in pain. She had scraped her knee on one of the rocks underneath the snow. She held her knee and bit back her tears. She looked up at the tombstone. It was tall with an angel atop it. She was beautiful, her wings stretched out to their fullest as she reached for the sky. Kayl quickly averted her eyes to the ground. She wrapped her arms around herself and clenched her eyes shut.

'It's my fault. Mom and dad are gone. It's because of me. If I hadn't gone with them today, they would probably still be alive...I'm horrible. I'm a burden. A curse to my family. I don't deserve to live.' She thought bitterly. She hated herself for what she had done. She shook violently as cold tears fell down her face. She knelt there, crying underneath the tombstone. Pain, anger, sadness, all those emotion mixed into one. She just cried. Cried for her family. Cried for herself.

End Flashback.

Kayl sat up and glared out the window. Well, if they find me such a burden, I'll go. She thought angrily. She stood up and quickly changed into a baggy black turtle neck and a long black skirt. She packed necessities. Clothes, money, anything that she would need to live out on her own. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out onto her balcony, out in the rain. She looked down, since she was two stories up, this would be very difficult. She threw her bag off the balcony and it hit the ground with a sickening squish. She swung one leg over the top of the fence surrounding the balcony, then the other. She slowly climbed to the bottom edge of the balcony and hung there for a minute. She looked around frantically for something to grab onto and climb down, but there was nothing. She was slipping, the balcony was already wet from the rain, and Kayl's arms were too weak to hang there for so long. Soon, she slipped and fell down quickly. She shrieked loudly, but it was muffled by the crackling thunder. She landed hard on her feet. A shot of pain flew up Kayl's left leg and she fell over. She held her left ankle as she winced and bit back tears of pain. She slowly got herself up and, grabbing her bag, limped off quickly into the night.

She wandered far away from her house. It was raining hard now, and she was soaked through to the bone. Her ankle was throbbing painfully, but Kayl kept going. She finally stopped in front of the cemetery. She looked at the entrance for a moment. She couldn't really make out the words of the sign, since her hair was wet and hung in front of her face, but she could tell where she was. She limped inside. She kept walking into the cemetery until she reached two tombstones. They both said Sumizome, It was her parent's tombstones. Kayl knelt in front of the tombs and lay down between them. She lay there for a while and, after almost twelve years, started crying softly to herself. She finally cried herself to sleep, ignoring the pain in her left ankle and the cold rain hitting her face and soaking her even more. She slept.