Never Again

After cruel separation from her family in her early youth, Sakura has dedicated her life to finding the ones responsible and delivering the justice never dealt. So a fate like hers occurs never again.

Chapter 1: Falling

Young Sakura smiled with bubbling laughter as she and her second cousin Tomoyo chattered on about reflections of the day's excursion to the amusement park. Tomoyo's mother, Sakura's first cousin once removed, Daidouji Sonomi looked back in the rearview mirror and smiled. The two were like sisters, and much like her and Nadeshiko were when they were younger.

Due to Sonomi's connections with her toy company that was doing an exhibition there, she had taken the two children with her without charge, though it wasn't a worry. The rest of Sakura's family had opted out in order to do other things about the house.

It wasn't unusual in the least, though it was typically difficult to restrain Nadeshiko from entertaining her wild side with her youngest, but she was stubbornly healthy like that. Sonomi was a bit disappointed, but perhaps she could drag her first cousin out next weekend, and leave the kids with Sakura's father for once. She giggled at the thought as she pulled up to the curb in front of the house. Sakura bursting out in a hurry to go announce the intrepid group's arrival, while she had Tomoyo help her pull a few free trial toys from the trunk, as well as other miscellaneous items.

Meanwhile, car completely behind her, Sakura raced to the door, reaching to put the key in the lock to push it open when she found herself sprawled across the entrance carpet, the door pushed wide.

Momentarily paused by the suddenness of it all, she was too surprised to cry at the fall at all, pushing the thoughts aside as her brother had told her to do when she wasn't really in need of assistance, to continue her mission to alert the family of her presence. Not even bothering to question things beyond her level of understanding or to notice the broken lock and splintered doorframe as she rushed into the house. Her house key left abandoned at the front entrance along with her outdoor shoes.

"Sakura!" Sonomi called gently after the small child as she and Tomoyo dutifully approached the house with the day's rewards. Though she saw the fall from the corner of her eye, she just shook her head. In all honesty... that child was just like her mother... waaaay too full of energy for her own good. Surely... given the mix between the energy of her mother and the curiosity and persistence of her father... she was certain to have quite the future ahead of her. It was kind of—

A sudden gut-wrenching scream broke through the air and caused whatever happy thoughts Sonomi carried to shatter in an instant. The various items in her hands fell to the sidewalk with a clatter as she quickly stayed Tomoyo by the house and rushed in to where the scream originated, briefly seeing the broken lock in passing. Although the scream itself served as warning to what may come, she didn't want to expect the worst, not on a day like today... not when everything was so innocent!

And as she rounded the corner to the kitchen, the worst imagined scenario paled in comparison to the reality of what lay before her. A very sight that lay before the open terror-filled eyes of a girl who hadn't been learned of the world enough to know the level of evil that spilled into her impressionable mind... or given the ability to handle it. Even Sonomi wasn't sure if she could handle it.

"M-mother..." Sakura uttered as she stepped hesitantly forward into the darkening world before her. "F-father... brother..." she stopped short and fell forward onto her knees, her hands landing on the floor before her to stop her descent, the impact of which sent ripples across the crimson pool that she had collapsed onto... a faded wet warmth seeping into the fabric of her soft pants and over the back of her small hands.

"Nadeshiko... no..." Sonomi whispered in horror from a semi-collapsed position by the doorway as she stared over the bodies of the three before her. Her legs didn't want to respond to the urgency of the moment.

"T-to... Tomoyo!" she called out in a pained voice as she crawled over to the unmoving Sakura, who was still upon all fours and staring at the pool beneath her. "Tomoyo! S-stay there!" She put her hand over Sakura's eyes and her arm around her waist, pulling her back and shielding her from the sight.

"Don't come!" Sonomi's cries of desperation to her daughter raised in decibels as her eyes fell over the cracked skull of young Touya, his small, lifeless eyes staring out at nothingness. "Don't you ever come!" She choked through her tears as her eyes washed over Fujitaka's slashed chest and bloodied appendages. "I—I'll... never..." her own eyes became blurred by tears as she hand over Sakura's eyes shook uncontrollably. "I'll never forgive you if you come!"

Her hand fell away as she lost the strength to hold it there, favoring instead the act of cradling the shock-still child in her arms, the one whose eyes had settled on the still unmoving body of her mother, who looked as though she had merely fallen from her seat at the table, the extended cord of the phone clenched in her pale hand pulled taunt and the objecting tone long silent.

This sight, coupled with the sobbing sounds of her older cousin were the last things she could remember, before her world slipped into the darkness.