This is a collaboration between the lovely PsychotiCaptain and I. Neither of us own anything, and we both hope you'll enjoy!
That tranquil spring morning, Alfred had decided that there was absolutely nothing to do, and had acted accordingly.
He'd climbed to the branches of the tall oak tree in his backyard, and into the treehouse that his father had built years ago for him. The day was cool and breezy, and the sky was full of lazily drifting clouds, just the kind he liked to look at and try to find shapes in. There's always a dragon, he thought absently as he sat on the sanded wood floor of the treehouse.
His hyperactive mind spun in circles thinking of ways to entertain himself, and quickly eliminated most of his usual interests. I finished Wind Waker again yesterday, and I don't feel like playing video games anyway...I don't know any animes that I really want to watch...and there's nothing good on TV. He stared at the sky for a few more moments before settling on something.
I could call Sakura over, I guess. Alfred thought, deciding to climb down and go to her house. Maybe so we can cloud-watch together, like when we were little, he hoped. Sakura Honda had been Alfred's mild-mannered, polite best friend since they were four, when they had discovered a mutual interest in Pokemon and video games. She'd been new to the neighborhood, and he'd shown her the treehouse that had later become their official hideout ("secret hero lair", Alfred insisted). Their friendship had grown with the oak and garden of chrysanthemums around it - and(though Alfred would never admit it), it had come to include an embarrassingly large crush as well.
Once his sneaker-clad feet touched the grass, he took off at a sprint to his friend's door, calling out her name in case she was outside. "Hey SAKURA!"
Sakura, who had been lying down in the grass of the backyard, sat up and turned in the direction of the voice that had called her name, surprised and slightly pleased to see Alfred approaching her. "Ohayo, Alfred-kun. How are you?" she asked.
"Hey, pretty good. Kinda bored, but pretty good." Alfred shrugged. "How 'bout you? Cloud watching? See any dragons?" With the same blunt familiarity he always felt around her, he plopped right down next to her and tilted his head up at the sky. Sakura sighed (a tad melodramatically) and shook her head in response to the question. "I'm bored to the point of insanity. Like Lelouch at the very beginning. Like Haruhi. But they had ways of resolution. Do you know what I mean? I can't even see anything in the clouds anymore."
Alfred was slightly alarmed - could Sakura really not see the shapes that were so obvious to him anymore? "Weird," he said, frown deepening. "You seriously saw blobs?" Maybe it's kiddish, but if she can't see the shapes, who's gonna cloud-watch with me? Sakura fidgeted on the grass uncomfortably, bothered by Alfred's tone. "H-hai...I saw it, sort of. But I couldn't make out the dragon exactly... I mean, it's probably just because I'm a little tired, ne?" She gave a nervous chuckle and looked away.
Alfred scooted closer, a hand on her shoulder in an instant. "Hey, it's okay. Maybe you're tired, you're right." he said, trying to sound light. "It's okay." Sakura nodded shakily. They both knew that wasn't the reason. For his sake, though, she smiled. "Maybe I just need a little boost of creativity. Something to jumpstart my imagination?"
Alfred sighed and laid back in the grass, hands laced behind his head. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to send brainwaves to Sakura. Be creative, he thought, rather intensely, over and over.
In the back of his mind, something whispered, Be okay.
Sakura glanced up at the clouds again, trying to find a Pokémon or an animal of some sort, but they were just big, white puffs of condensation to her. And to make matters worse, she actually was beginning to feel very, very tired. One glance at Alfred, however, had her stifling giggles. "Alfred-kun, what are you doing?"
Alfred cracked one eye open, furrowed brows relaxing. "Sending you creativity through our brain-wavelength." he said, as though it was obvious. He opened both eyes, blinking to adjust to the light. "Is it working?"
No, Sakura wanted to say. It was true, she didn't feel anything. But their brain-wavelength was special, something that was theirs and theirs alone, and one look at Alfred made her rethink her response. "Hai, I think it is. I see a Bulbasaur there now." Alfred immediately sat up, wide smile on his face. "Really? Awesome." he said, looking dreamily up into the clouds. "Told ya, we've got something special up here." he tapped his temple and glanced back at Sakura, who giggled behind her hand. "We do, it's true. But you know, Alfred-kun..." She yawned and blinked a few times. "I still feel very tired." She stretched out a bit before shrinking back into a sort of half-fetal position. "Very, very tired..."
"You do?" Alfred asked concernedly. "Here, I can carry you, or get one of your siblings..." he offered. She can't be tired, it's just after noon.
Sakura blinked rapidly to keep herself from going...wherever she was going, perhaps into the realm of dreams, perhaps elsewhere. She wasn't sleepy, she just felt worn out, which was strange, considering she hadn't done anything strenuous in the past few days. "You can...carry me..." she yawned again, drawing her knees closer to her.
Alfred nodded quickly, gently sliding his arms under Sakura and lifting her as he stood. Oh God, please let her be okay. He prayed fervently. He rushed to the door and burst in, not bothering to knock.
And then, everything was a blur. The blur that was Yao's voice yelling at Alfred, demanding to know what was happening. The blur of walls and floors and furniture as Alfred rushed upstairs to Sakura's room, laying her down in her bed. "A-Alfred?" He hated how she sounded. That wasn't her voice, that sounded like she hadn't had anything to drink in a week.
Oh my God, she sounds so... Alfred didn't want to finish the thought, afraid that it might come true. "Yeah, Sakura?" he asked, kneeling at her bedside. "I'm here." he reassured her, gently taking her hand and holding it in both of his. "You're gonna be okay, okay? I promise, I'm sending you good brainwaves. It's gonna work, I promise. I promise, you'll be okay." he was nearly to the point of rambling, lip bitten nearly to the point of bleeding.
Sakura smiled, and neither of them knew why. Maybe she was happy, maybe she was delusional. Either way, she spoke. "Alfred, can you get Nii-sama? And tell him to bring a thermometer." Shivers were passing through her body nonstop, and it felt like someone was driving a knife into her temple, and pulling it out again before repeating the process. "Please."
Alfred nodded, reluctant to leave her side but eager to carry out her wishes. He went out of the room as quickly as he could, rushing off to find Yao, Sakura's eldest brother. "Yao!" he said frantically when he'd located the man. "Sakura needs you. And a thermometer." his tone was urgent, hands clenching and unclenching, blue eyes dark and wild with fear. His pupils were small, swimming in an ocean of iris. "Hurry." was the last word he uttered before he ran back to Sakura.
Yao was visibly shaken as he ran into the kitchen to find what he was looking for, despite his usual cool and calm demeanor. As soon as he did, he raced upstairs to Sakura's room. "Sakura?" he called, opening the door wider. "Here, open up." She obeyed, and he gently placed the thermometer in her mouth, waiting for it to beep. When he read the results, he looked as though he was about to be ill. His eyes met Alfred's, and he barely managed to choke out his words. "A fever of over one hundred and six degrees. Meaning she should, technically, be dead."
Alfred's mind had to process the information a few times before his eyes filled with tears, barely choking back a sob. "What?" he whispered disbelievingly, staring blankly at Sakura's face. Oh God. Oh God oh god oh god, wherever you are, whoever the hell you are, save her. Save her, please, save her. He prayed with all the fervor of a sinner on death row, bringing Sakura's hand to his lips and whispering desperate words to her skin. "Please be okay, Sakura." he pleaded. She can't...no, I won't even think that. That won't happen. "Look, Sakura, you're gonna be okay. You're gonna grow up and go to a great college, maybe marry a great guy, have beautiful kids, and do everything you ever wanted to. You're gonna look outside every day and see the most amazing dragons ever, and Bulbasaurs and Rayquazas and everything in between."
Yao shook his head in disbelief, his own mind racing. "How could this happen so suddenly? I don't...she must have been hiding it until now..." He placed his hand on his sister's forehead, withdrawing it because of how painful it was to touch her skin, how impossibly hot it was. Her eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head to look at Alfred. Yao grasped her hand and said a prayer as she spoke, almost too quiet to hear. "Alfred...I can see the clouds...I see the shapes now..." Yao choked back a sob, feeling the hand in his grow limp and lifeless. A tear fell down his cheek, followed by another, and then more. "Zàijiàn, Sakura," he whispered, planting a kiss on her forehead before leaving Alfred alone in the room.
Alfred let the tears fall, his shoulders rising and falling with his graceless sobs. "God, Sakura, you can't do this to me." he whispered, shaking his head. "There's so much we still have to do. Go to a great college. Get married. Have beautiful kids. Do everything we want to do." His lips pressed together, he gave Sakura's hand a shaky kiss and held it close. "See every dragon there is to see. Find a shape in every cloud. Every last one."
It had been a year.
One solitary year, of hollowness and not-breathing, of ink black and cloud white. That was all it was, really, black and white, without Sakura to be the splash of color between. Every memory was hell and heaven, tangible and intangible, right before his eyes and behind his eyelids.
"Happy anniversary," Alfred said softly as he laid the bouquet on the grave, sitting in front of it and giving a small smile. "I've missed you." Bursts of white chrysanthemums, the color of Sakura's skin, the color of the cloud-dragons, bundled into a mosaic of petals. He came to visit Sakura every day, if he could manage it, and brought flowers when he could find them. "Look," he said, pointing skyward at a cloud. "A dragon, see? Beautiful." he traced the outline with one finger, letting out a shaky sigh. He often liked to think that the dragons were Sakura's doing, or that the dragons were Sakura's spirit itself. Sakura, if that's you up there sending me the dragons, I've never stopped looking. I've never stopped seeing them, and the day I do is the day I'll see you again.