It's been 5 years since Chii came into Sakura's life. She would spend her day in school, and then spend the rest with Sakura at home. One day, while Sakura was making dinner, Chii found an old photo. It had a pretty woman smiling at the camera. She was in a hospital bed. Chii took it to Sakura.
"Okaa-san? Who is this pwetty woman?" Sakura stopped what she as doing to look at the picture.
"Where did you find this, Chii?" Sakura asked.
"In one of the books." Sakura smiled sadly, and handed the picture back to Chii.
"She was a friend of mine." Chii looked down at the picture.
"Can we visit hew?"
"Sweetie, she isn't here anymore." Chii looked up at Sakura.
"Like gwandma?" Sakura had had to explain to Chii when she was younger that her grandma was no longer "there." Sakura just nodded.
"Can we still visit hew?" Sakura sighed.
"We'll see, sweetie. Now, go work on your letters, and I'll finish making dinner." Chii smiled, nodded, and ran back to her room. She managed to trip over her feet on her ay there, but she just got up, and ran again. Sakura smiled, and continued to make dinner. She was so caught up in her own thoughts, that she didn't even realize that she had sliced her thumb.
"Okaa-san? Can you AHHHHH!" Chii's scream brought Sakura back to reality.
"Chii, what's wrong?" Chii could only point to Sakura's hand. That was when she realized that there was something warm trickling down her hand. She looked down, and gapped at her thumb.
"Okaa-san! You has to go to the hospital!' Sakura grabbed Chii's jacket, and made her put it on, while she wrapped a scarf around her still bleeding thumb. Luckily, they didn't live very far from the hospital.
Sakura walked into the hospital, feeling really dizzy from the loss of blood. She made it into a chair of the ER, before she passed out. Chii got into the chair next to Sakura, and looked worriedly at her pale mom. She shook her mom's shoulder.
"Okaa-san? Please wake up!" Chii felt tears coming to her eyes. She looked up when someone walked over to her. It was a woman with short, red hair and bright blue eyes.
"What's wrong, dear?" Tears came to her eyes.
"It's my okaa-san. She huwt hewself." The nurse suddenly noticed Sakura's hand, which was still wrapped in a bloody scarf. It was starting to drip. She called over a male nurse, and he carried her to a secluded room. Chii wanted to follow, but the femle nurse stopped her.
"I don't think that it's a good idea for you to follow. I'm Sato Midori. What's your name?" Chii sniffed, and wiped away her tears.
"I'm Kinomoto Chii." Miduri smiled.
"That's a pretty name. How old are you?"
"I'm five." Midori smiled.
"I have a daughter who's your age. Her name is Jasmine."
"That's a pwetty name." Just then, a little girl walked over to Midori and Chii. She had long, curly red hair, and bright green eyes. She had on a long, black skirt, with a red sweater.
"Mommy, you said you would help me wif my school wowk."
"I'm sorry, Jazzy. I have to stay with Chii right now. Her mom is in the OR, and she needs someone to watch her." Jasmine's eyes lit up.
"I'll play wif hew!" She grabbed Chii's hand, and pulled her out of the ER. They played together, even though part of Chii's mind was stuck on her mom. Finally, Midori went looking for Chii. They were drawing pictures.
"Hey, Chii, your mother is up. You can see her now." Chii hopped up, and grabbed Jasmine's hand.
"Come on! I want you to meet my okaa-san!" Midori led Chii and Jasmine to Sakura's room. Sakura was sitting up in her hospital bed, looking totally exhausted. Her left hand had been wrapped in bandages.
"Okaa-san!" Chii ran over to her bed, letting go of Jasmine's hand. Jasmine walked over with Midori.
"Are you okay, Okaa-san?" Sakura patted Chii's head, and smiled.
"I'm fine, sweetie. Who're your new friends?" Midori smiled.
"I'm Sato Midori, and this is my daughter, Jasmine. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Kinomoto." Sakura laughed.
"It's just Miss, and please, call me Sakura. Miss makes me sound old."
"Come on, Chii. Let's go play!" Chii looked at Sakura, but she just smiled and nodded. Both girls ran out of the room.
"I hope that you don't mind me asking, but…"
"How old am I? I'm only 20, Sato-san." Midori looked surprised.
"Please, call me Midori. You're only 20? But Chii said that she was 5." Sakura sighed, and nodded.
"She is. I was there when her mom gave birth to her. Serena was so happy when she had Chii. Yet, so sad that she wouldn't be there for her." Sakura blinked several times, willing herself not to cry.
"Paik Serena?" Sakura was surprised, and just nodded. "Chii's Serena's daughter?"
"How do you know Serena?" Sakura asked.
"She was my little cousin. I hardly ever saw her, since her parents never let her leave the house. I was the one who helped her leave Hong Kong. I never knew she came here to Tomoeda. I also never knew that she was pregnant."
"Yeah. She knew that her parents would flip out if they found out that she was with child, and she also wanted to be sure that Chii was going to be healthy when she was born." Midori frowned.
"Why wouldn't she have been?" Sakura gasped.
"Didn't you know? Serena had cancer, but her parents wouldn't let her go to the hospital." Midori's face darkened.
"I didn't know that they were that cruel. Why wouldn't they let Serena go to the hospital if she had cancer?" Sakura just shook her head.
"I have no idea." She laughed ruefully, and held up her hand. "I guess this is what I guess for thinking too much about Serena and her past." Midori frowned.
"I'm confused."
"Chii found a picture of Serena taken before she died. I guess that it just brought up a bunch of unanswered questions and thoughts. I probably shouldn't get caught up in my thoughts while I'm making dinner." Chii knocked on the door.
"Okaa-san, I'm hungwy." Sakura's eyes widened.
"OH NO!"
"What?"
"I left the stove on, and the food is probably burned by now." The sound of fire engines reached them. They pushed it from their mind, as Midori took Jasmine and Chii to get something to eat.
