Sakura opens her eyes. In the dark empty space within Subaru's mind, her feet feel like it was touching cold glass that reflects the darkness of her surroundings.

After Subaru has fainted at the location of his last job, Sakura got a distress call from the client. The reason they called her was because Hokuto didn't pick up and she was second on his speed dial. After managing to bring Subaru home, Sakura couldn't find anything physically wrong with him. The client said he collapsed all of a sudden so Sakura wasn't sure what was wrong. She can't seem to feel his consciousness, or at least, it was very far away so she decided to enter his mind to see if she can find what's wrong.

"Subaru." She called out as she starts walking. "Subaru." After a few minutes of walking and calling out his name, something came into sight. At first it was like a mirage but then it became clearer. Realizing what it was, Sakura ran towards it. "Subaru!"

He was wrapped in branches of a cherry blossom tree with his arms above his head. As she approaches, Sakura feels an eerie feeling from the fully bloomed tree. Beautiful but ominous.

"Subaru." Sakura climbed on some of the branches to reach Subaru. He didn't seem injure or anything. "Subaru. Wake up. Subaru." When she reaches out to touch him, the branches suddenly recoil from her, taking Subaru with them.

"He went down quite easily. It wasn't much of a fight." A familiar voice said behind Sakura.

Sakura turned around and she couldn't believe her eyes. Another Subaru stood just a few feet from her. She looks back to see if the one chained by the branches is still there and he is. Turning back to the one standing, she was surprised by his speed as he is already within arm's reach of her.

"Subaru?" Sakura looks at him questionably.

He smiles. "Hello Sakura." He touches her soft cheeks.

He looks like Subaru and he sounds like Subaru but something is not right. He feels different. A darker feeling. An ominous one like the tree. She withdrew from him and right then, the different between the Subaru Sakura knew and the one standing in front of her was clear. A cold smile. It sent chill through Sakura.

"I knew it was impossible to trick you." He took a step back and brought up his hand. "Shall we play Sakura?"

At his command, cherry blossom petals strike at Sakura. They come from her right at a downward angle so Sakura jumps up to avoid them. She did a three flips to avoid three more attacks.

He's been observing her since the first day they met; he knows she isn't someone that can easily be taken down. But as good as she is, Sakura still has a weakness. Subaru directed his petals at the other Subaru.

Seeing her opponent's change in attack, Sakura has no choice but to adapt. She quickly intercepted the line of attack to put up a shield. Once the petals were split by Sakura's shield, Subaru took the chance attack. He made swift strikes with his hands, forcing Sakura backward but keeping her in a straight path. Once Sakura figures out what he was doing, it was already too late. Subaru did a side kick, if she moves, he would hit Subaru, so Sakura had no choice but to take the attack.

The side kick made contact and threw Sakura to the side. She crashed onto the floor and was barely able to recover herself before the next attack came. The petals came from behind and cut at her legs which slow her drastically.

"You're not fighting back." Subaru taunted as he appears in front of Sakura. "You should fight back dear Sakura. Otherwise things won't turn out well for you."

Another cold and shivering smile flashed in front of Sakura before her vision was blinded by cherry blossom petals.

~N~N~

Someone is screaming. Someone is hurt. The voice. It sounds familiar. Subaru slowly regain consciousness. His vision blurry and everything around him disoriented. What happened? Why does his body feel so restricted? As his vision cleared, Subaru's eyes widen at the scene in front of him.

"Ahhh!" Sakura screamed as she crash backward onto a hard slanted surface. However, there seems to be nothing but air behind her. Before Sakura could get up, Subaru was already on her. "Ahhh!" He slammed her hands above her head and the force shattered her wrists. "Ah….ah…" Sakura moans under the pain.

"Sakura!" Subaru struggles to get free of the tree branches. Using all his strength, he tears the branches and freed one of his arms but as he gets to work on freeing other parts of himself, more branches quickly wrap themselves around Subaru, holding and restricting him even tighter. "Stop. Please stop." He called out to his image. "Please don't hurt her."

Subaru see his image took his eyes off Sakura to look at him. Without having to say anything, the two knew they were thinking the same thing.

He took his eyes off his captured image and return to Sakura. She laid beneath him. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes clouded. The loss of blood and injuries are taking their toll on her. The sight of blood trickled down from various cuts on her body, the sight of her in pain and so helpless is very delightful. Subaru leaned in and pressed his lips to a cut on her neck. As expected, Sakura reacted quite cutely.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked in a pained whisper.

"Why didn't you fight back?"

Sakura considered and says, "Because… I don't want to hurt you Subaru." Even though his personality is drastically different from the Subaru she knows, Sakura can feel that the person in front of her is somehow still Subaru.

"Don't…" He implicit another scream from Sakura as he put more pressure on her wrist. "… say that name in front of me."

Even through her pain, she still managed to show him a confuse face.

"Don't call me by a name that is not mine. I was chained away while he got control of the body, a weakling like him. Always crying at everything. Such a weak personality. I'm tired of watching the world through his eyes. Now, it's my turn to gain control. "

"No." Her voice could barely be heard. The loss of blood was making her go unconscious. "He's not weak." Sakura could feel herself slipping away. "And…" Sakura used her last once of strength to pull herself up to his ear and into it, she whispers.

Just as she finished, darkness overtook her. Sakura's body fell to the floor as both Subaru watch, one with helplessness and the other with surprise at the words he had just heard.

Time seems still for a while until the silence was broken by the sound of chanting. Both Subaru recognized the voice as it gets louder. Before both of them have a chance to react, a flash of light blinds overtook both of them.