*Disclaimer: Ogawa Sakura, Yamamoto Kazuhiko (in his brief appearance!), Souma Mitsuko (in her decidedly more brief appearance!), and Battle Royale do not belong to me. Sick and twisted idea that it is, I still wish I'd thought of it first ^^
Sakura
Ogawa Sakura, Female Student #4 of Class 3-B and one-half of the #1 couple, dreamed. She dreamed of sunny days, pale saffron roses, bright buttercups, and golden chains. She dreamed of being bathed in sunlight, sitting on a yellowing hill and eating golden-brown cookies. Someone beside her gazed out into the endlessly honey-tinged scenery of her dream, reaching out to grasp her hand and share a reassuring squeeze. Who…?
Kazuhiko's familiar eyes greeted her when she turned her head, and she felt herself relax. Kazuhiko, it seemed, had always been there, belonged there, with her. She'd known him an eternity, had dreamt about him when she was still tucked away safe in her mother's womb. Kazuhiko, she had finally concluded, was made for her the way she was made for him.
Her dream warped and crimson crowded her vision, blocking out the warmth of the previous scene. She was suddenly alone and very aware of being smaller, perhaps younger as well. She was sitting in front of a table, just a regular old dinner table, unremarkable in every way. Shifting her gaze from the rim of the table to the seat across from her, Sakura realized she wasn't alone. Her father sat there (was it really him? She could hardly remember his face…), his expression serious. He brought his fist down on the table, a loud SMACK that rattled the old piece of furniture, and Sakura jumped nervously at the sound, quickly looking down at her hands. How tiny they seemed, like a child's. But wait, she was a child, wasn't she? Remembering her father, she quickly looked up only to see her mother's long, pale face. Her expression was blank, her mouth slack, her eyes seemed clouded, though not with tears. On the spot where Sakura's father had struck the table was a flyer with "Battle Royale Act!" scrawled across the front. Vermillion flecks decorated the flyer, as if someone had dipped a paintbrush in paint and had flung it around to create artistic strokes of spatters and streaks.
"That's blood," a hollow voice attracted Sakura's attention, and she was suddenly staring into the dark eyes of her cousin. Yukiko… hadn't she been in this "Battle Royale"? She had come home distraught, staring at her hands and trembling, mumbling a name under her breath. "Aoki, I didn't want to, I didn't mean to…" she had murmured in her sleep.
Two weeks later, Yukiko had disappeared.
Her cousin smiled at her now, a feral smile of sorts, a smile that spoke of sleepless nights, restless dreams, and a pain that should never, could never, be revealed. "I killed him you know," her hooded eyes bore through Sakura's very being, "I liked him, but I had to do it. It was either him or me." The smile grew wider and Souma Mitsuko, Girl # 11, eyed Sakura. "There's nothing wrong with killing," the purposeful drawl of Mitsuko's voice reverberated in her ears, "Everyone has their reasons,"
"You'll do it too," the face that Sakura had etched in her memory, the face that she loved so much and would do anything to ensure that an expression of happiness would forever inhabit it, the face that belonged to her own Kazuhiko was looking solemnly at her now. He smiled sadly, a smile of bitter chocolates and desperate embraces, "You'll do it too…"
A gentle hand on her shoulder, an urgent whisper of "Ogawa-san? Ogawa-san!"
Sakura opened her eyes to the dark room, the confused faces of her classmates, the short, muscular man at the front of the room. Something was choking her, restraining her, and she gingerly lifted her fingertips to touch the metal collar around her neck.
Ogawa Sakura, Female Student #4 and one-half of the #1 couple, had awaken from her dream only to find a nightmare.
*Author's Note: This was a piece written on an unbidden whim after watching the Battle Royale movie and then reading the first few chapters of Battle Royale the book. Kazuhiko got his say in the book before their Romeo-Juliet-esque end, but Ogawa Sakura never did. She intrigued me all the same despite her miniscule role in the book and equally miniscule role in the movie. Take this one-shot as you will, it wasn't meant to have any purpose besides the enjoyment I got from writing it.