Reading guide for this chapter:
"Talk."
"Japanese."
"Emphasis."
Dinner that night was a tense and quiet affair. Sakura had explained a very edited version of the events, saying that Helsa had accidentally dropped her lamp and that had consequently set the whole house on fire in a matter of seconds. Sakura got there just in time to retrieve her from the building, but she had sustained a heavy injury from a fallen piece of wood that had impaled her abdomen, killing her a few minutes later from blood loss.
She had gone through great lengths to hide the bodies of the bandits, looking for any missing appendages and then burying all of their remains very deep in the earth. She knew no one was going to miss them, considering they were relatively unknown and the only one that knew about their crime had assassinated them not even an hour later, but she still had to make sure nobody would accidentally come across their corpses, especially the decapitated ones. That would just raise unnecessary questions.
It had been a good thing that the Ackermans trusted Sakura's word. It's not that she feared their retribution, because she was sure they would say the thugs deserved what they got in a twisted way. No, she feared their fear. She didn't want visit their house and have them be on the edge, wandering if she was going to snap at them if they so much as playfully insulted her. She didn't want them to think of her as a cold-blooded murderer no better than the ones she had killed. She had snapped, yes, but that was because of grief and rage, not because she was a psychopath who relished in going on killing sprees.
Or had she been like that? Is that why she had found it so easy to end someone else's life, because she had done it before and felt no remorse?
The Ackermans were the only people capable of accepting her in her current state, so if she had to hide a part of her to be accepted then so be it.
Mikasa had been understandably quiet throughout the whole dinner. Though the kunoichi felt numb inside, she was still perceptive enough to notice Mikasa's determined gaze whenever they locked stares.
"Mom, can Sakura stay here, with us?"
Sakura was about to swallow her stew when she choked, coughing harshly from the surprise. Mikoto patted her on the back gently, and after a couple of gulps of water she regained her composure, much to her embarrassment.
"Now, Mikasa––" Mikoto started off gently.
However, the seven-year-old was not easily dissuaded. "She can stay in my room. She can have my bed and I can sleep in the floor, too."
"Mikasa," Sakura murmured gently, "you don't have to do that. It's okay. I can––"
"It's a big responsibility to have a roomate," Erick interrupted with an amused smile. He patted his daughter on the head. "Think you can handle it?"
Mikasa nodded eagerly, puffing out her cheeks. "I'll do it for Sakura!"
Sakura put her spoon down next to her bowl and stared helplessly at each of them, feeling her dread grow at their looks of compassion. "I... I don't know how to say––"
"Then don't." Mikoto's eyes hardened a bit and she placed her hand on top of Sakura's squeezing gently. "I don't know what image you have of yourself, but you have been a wonderful addition to our family. It would be our greatest honor if you accepted a place in the Ackerman household. Will you, Sakura?"
She grit her teeth and closed her eyes tightly, hoping to keep the tears at bay. Here she was, a monster, and the Ackermans were inviting her to live like one of them. She should have refused, she should have been selfless and thought about their well-being above her own, but she was selfish and, although the guilt was eating her alive, she felt elated that the Ackermans thought of her as family.
"I humbly accept."
Dinner that night became a relaxed and somber affair.
"Oh, Mikasa, don't worry: we'll get you a new bed."
December 25, 842
"Um, Mikasa, do you need any help with that?"
The dark-haired girl stared at her surrogate sister, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"
Sakura pointed at the logs she was carrying with a tip of her head. True, Sakura was carrying five times the amount, but she had the strength of ten men. She couldn't hide her freakish strength from the Ackermans, anyway. Mikasa, however, was a seven-year-old who was carrying fifteen pounds worth of wood in her arms and she didn't even bat an eyelash.
"They're not heavy?"
"No." She lifted the logs a bit higher, as if to prove a point. "Mom says I have to be strong so I am."
"How strong do you want to be?"
"Is that Japanese I'm hearing from you, Sakura? And why aren't you practicing your Japanese, Mikasa?"
Sakura cringed and hesitated to look ahead, knowing that Mikoto would be glaring quite openly at her. The pair of adopted sisters had an unspoken agreement to speak in the language they felt most comfortable in whenever Mikoto was out of an earshot. She had stressed to Sakura the importance of continuously practicing the language, but she had grown complacent with speaking Japanese to the younger girl, especially because Mikasa understood everything she said with ease. And Mikasa felt no interest in keeping her ancestor's tongue alive, seeing as it would be useless in a few years.
"Um... Sorry?"
Mikoto wasn't placated, though. She whacked both of them in the back of the head, making Mikasa yelp in pain and Sakura whimper in surprise.
"I expected a better excuse from you, Sakura Ackerman. Now, hurry along; those logs need to last us a couple of days and tonight."
Both girls shifted the logs slightly in their hands, the gloves protecting them from the splinters of the wood.
It had been awkward the first time the Ackermans had acknowledged her as part of the family by attaching their last name to hers. Erick had done it first, and the room had become so quiet and uncomfortable that none of them had brought it up for two weeks. The underlying tension of acceptance had immediately vanished once she introduced herself as Sakura Ackerman to one of Erick's potential costumers, unknowingly causing him to grin in happiness.
Ever since then the name had just... fit.
"I don't want to be strong," she whispered in response to her last question. "I don't want to fight. I... don't want to hurt anyone."
Sakura smiled sadly and opened the door for both of them, balancing the majority of the logs with one arm. Once inside they put the wood next to the fireplace, though Sakura stayed behind to make a new fire.
"You don't hurt people with your strength. You protect them."
"Protect?"
The fire flickered to life after a few attempts to make sparks. The room immediately felt ten degrees warmer, which was still not enough to make her feel comfortable with the weather. Apparently this winter was better than the last two years', but she still couldn't stop shivering for more than three minutes.
"Mhm," she hummed in agreement. "But you don't have to worry right now. It's something that you'll, uh... You'll figure it out when you're older." She pivoted on her heels and hit the firewood, causing their little stack to fall down. "Ugh, why do we even have so many?"
"Today is Christmas, so Mom and Dad want a big fire to last through the night."
"Ah, yeah, Christmas." She repeated the name, trying to sound it out so that her accent would eventually fade. "What is this Christmas anyway? Everyone talks about it but I don't really know what's going on."
"You don't know what Christmas is?" Mikasa asked, both dismayed and fascinated at the piece of information.
Sakura frowned at her tone but shook her head. It wasn't like she was missing something big, right? "I don't remember anything, remember?"
"Oh, sorry... I forgot. Anyway, Christmas is when you give presents to the people you love because it makes them happy. Oh, and you eat a big dinner too!"
"Why?"
Mikasa's excited face disappeared, replaced by a thoughtful frown. "Huh... I don't know. Maybe Mom knows?"
Erick opened the door, letting the chilly winter air in for a second too long. He seemed extremely proud and content, if his grin and sparkling eyes were anything to go by. He placed a package on the tabletop and unwrapped it for the girls to see.
"Mikasa, go get your mother and tell her we have a goose."
The girl bolted out in a second, yelling at the top of her lungs that they were going to have meat for Christmas. If Sakura hadn't been so astonished to begin with, she would've laughed at her antics.
"Do you know how to cook goose?"
She smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "Not too late, right?"
Erick chuckled, and Sakura had to admit his happiness was incredibly contagious. "No, it's never too late to learn how to cook goose."
Mikasa dragged Mikoto back home, only for her to wrap her arms around her husband's neck and kiss him soundly on the lips. Both girls scrunched their noses at the same time, looked at each other in disgust, and then giggled when they saw they had the exact same expression on their faces.
The rest of the evening was spent preparing dinner. They were going to have the best potatoes Erick had harvested along with some lettuce Mikoto received earlier from a friend of hers. To top it off, they were going to have their own piece of goose, no need to share or save it to make it last.
What Sakura figured about Christmas was that it was a day to be happy because her tummy was going to be full.
Once the table had been set, they each said something they were grateful for this year. All of the Ackermans' responses had something to do with being introduced to Sakura, which made her feel warmth on her cheeks and in her heart, and she made everyone blush in retaliation as she expressed just how grateful she was with them for taking her in as their own.
"For a wonderful year!" Mikasa cheered, and the rest of the family echoed her.
Sakura thought that they would be too occupied in eating to have an ongoing conversation, but to her pleasant surprise they couldn't stop talking or laughing about the silliest of things, and the fact that they could be so entertained about something so simple made her heart clench even tighter in what she suspected was joy. It almost felt as if she was regaining that relationship she lost with Helsa.
Helsa... The name still made her unbearably sad, but having the Ackermans around made her much stronger than before.
"Presents!" Mikasa exclaimed when Erick returned from their room. In one hand he had a doll, which he gave to an unstoppable Mikasa, and in the other hand he had a piece of rolled paper, which he gave to Mikoto. Sakura had to admit that the moment she didn't receive a present, a brief flash of hurt passed through her mind, but she quickly squashed it; they had accepted her into their family and she was feeling petty that they didn't give her a Christmas present?
What a wimp.
"Sakura."
She blinked in surprise and turned towards Mikoto, who was now standing next to her.
"I never saw them... But my grandmother always described them in her stories so I tried remembering every single detail and made this for you. Merry Christmas."
She took the paper and gently unrolled it, feeling her chest become heavy and her eyes water when she saw the most beautiful cherry blossom drawing she had ever seen. She didn't ––couldn't–– remember ever seeing one, but a deep part of her mind recognized it and she knew it was beautiful. Even though the drawing was done completely in black ink, she couldn't help but appreciate the art style that reminded her so much of a home she didn't have memories of.
"This is the most beautiful thing I have seen in my life," Sakura murmured appreciatively, running her fingers down the kanji lines. She looked up to survey the family, unsurprised to see the tenderness in their faces. "Thank you so much."
Whatever Mikoto was about to say was interrupted by an unrelenting Mikasa, who begged Sakura to play with her dolls, to which she had to excuse herself from the dinner, much to Erick and Mikoto's amusement. Sakura thought that the younger girl had a burst of energy, but ten minutes later she was peacefully asleep in her arms, clutching the doll that suspiciously looked like Sakura, sans pink hair, close to her chest.
Any other day Sakura would have placed Mikasa in her own bed, but today the night was cold, and maybe she wanted to share the warmth Christmas brought her.
February 10, 843
Beinn was bustling with a bit more liveliness than usual. They were safe within the walls, the safe people spent more money, merchants earned more money and spent it on other things... Overall, the economy was good, and it was particularly good for Erick's produce stall, which had earned quite the reputation that extended almost thirty kilometers, well over two towns.
Sometimes people even sought them at their home, hoping to buy any leftover vegetables, even if it meant paying more for it.
Erick had quickly noticed that Sakura had a knack for selling. To begin with, she was very pretty and had exotic looks, which always attracted the attention of the crowd, especially travelers. After that she baited the prey ––ahem, customer–– her gentle voice and bright green eyes forced them to look for something to buy, whether it was to linger in the stall or to appease the girl. It certainly helped that her accent was endearing, which made people want to talk to her even more, which in turn built a strong loyalty. To top it off, whenever she encountered cunning customers, Sakura would put them in place with a no-nonsense face and snappy voice which even scared Erick himself.
He had once sheepishly admitted to her that he brought her as often as he did to Beinn because he always seemed to make more money whenever she was present. He had feared she would be hurt about his confession, but she only laughed, saying that she was more than happy to do anything that would make the stall more successful and even asking in a sly voice what they could do to earn more money.
To say he was proud was an understatement.
"Thank you for your purchase!" She handed over the paper bag containing around two pounds of barley, her biggest sale of the day for now.
The woman took the bag gently and grinned widely at her. "It's so nice having you around, Sakura. It was about time that father of yours admitted that you're better than him and let you come every day."
Erick wanted to glare at the woman, but he knew that she had just paid them handsomely so he only chuckled and patted Sakura on the head. "Oh, please, Mrs Berdine, she learned it from me."
Sakura playfully shooed his hand from her head and shot him a mock glare. "Yeah, right. Thank you for seeing the truth!"
Berdine chuckled and left with a wave, leaving the duo standing there in the chilly cold under the warmth of the sun. Sakura took a seat behind the stall and next to their cart, and noted with satisfaction that there was a big dent there. Maybe they would finish earlier than usual, even.
"So, what are we getting Mikasa?"
"You mean, what are you getting for Mikasa?"
"What?"
"That means where, right?"
Sakura blushed. "Ah, no, it means what. But why me?"
"Well, Mikoto and I always take turns getting Mikasa's present, but I think she would appreciate it if you gave it to her."
The kunoichi bit the inside of her cheek, deep in thought. It made sense to give her the task of choosing Mikasa's present. She hadn't seen her the whole day, since Erick always woke her up before sunrise to get to Beinn early, but she knew she would be expecting her present.
"Okay, I think I can do it."
Erick chuckled and patted her twice on the back. "Good! Now, leave the stall to me and go find a present for her. Here's the money."
He gave her a small bag which weighed little, but she knew that the amount of gold inside was more than what they usually spent on a single thing. Sakura stood up from her seat, removing the imaginary dust from her long yellow skirt, and left Erick to his own devices.
Even though there was a wealth of options, the street felt empty. Finding Mikasa a present should've been easy ––the girl was a doll maniac after all–– but for some reason she couldn't come up with a suitable idea. She wasn't going to give her another doll because she already had five. A book would be a boring present, and she was sure she wouldn't appreciate clothes because Mikasa wouldn't be able to play with them.
Her mind was quickly coming up with different birthday present ideas and almost discarding them immediately, but she still was aware enough to turn her attention to something that caught her eye. It was a beautiful wooden doll house, with three rows and three columns of rooms, and the roof was a sight to behold, with expertly painted lines and colors. The house was devoid of furniture, but Sakura could make her something as time went by.
She entered the store and immediately went to the person behind the counter. He was an older man with kind blue eyes and a thick mustache. Perhaps Sakura would be able to manipulate him into giving her a discount? She wasn't sure the ten gold coins she had with her would suffice to buy that beautiful house.
"Excuse me, sir, how much for the house?" Her voice was polite and warm, the one she had perfected with months of experience, and she pointed with a graceful finger at the house displayed in the window.
"Ah, for you, my dear Sakura, I am willing to sell it for twenty!"
Sakura internally cringed. There was no way she was going to be able to lower the price by ten coins. She looked around the store, trying to find any other woodwork that was pretty enough but much cheaper. "Um, is there something in the ten range?"
The man gave a thoughtful frown and eyed his store.
She almost smacked her head when she remembered she had fifteen gold coins she had saved up because she wanted to buy a new blouse. Well, she could always buy clothes another day, but Mikasa's birthday was today until the next year. "Oh, sorry, I do have the money. Here."
"Eighteen would be fine," the man said in a kindly voice.
Sakura beamed in pleasure and handed over the rest of the money, feeling proud with her purchase. She promised him the best potatoes from the next harvest, to which he only laughed and said he was looking forward to them. The store owner offered to help her carry the house, but Sakura denied his offer with a secretive smile.
She decided to take a shortcut, since the sun would soon start to set and Erick hated pulling their cart at night, saying that rocks were much harder to spot without light. Besides, even though the house weighed virtually nothing compared to what she could carry, it still felt a bit awkward carrying it around the streets.
The kunoichi skidded to a stop when she passed by the blacksmith. Even though people preferred shotguns and gunpowder to kill each other, those were weapons only the military and rich could afford. The rest of the populace relied on steel and arrows to protect themselves. Erick had a shotgun, but he seldom used it, claiming that he couldn't load it quickly enough.
She still remembered the conversation they had on Christmas, where she asked Mikasa why she was strong. If she gave her a means to protect herself and others, would she agree in training herself?
"What are you doing here?"
Sakura blinked, surprised to find herself inside the forge, because was this place loud. She had to admit she wouldn't mind working there in the cold months of winter, but it must be a bitch to be there hammering steel in the middle of summer. "I'm looking for a dagger."
The bald man grunted and pointed at the rows of daggers with a disinterested wave. Sakura held back a huff of annoyance and made her way to the daggers. She gingerly placed the house down, careful to not get any scratches or dirt on it, and eyed the weapons. Most of them were beautiful and well-made, but she only had seven gold coins to spend, which meant she had to go for the cheaper looking ones. Not that it really mattered, since this was Mikasa's first weapon and people usually received shitty first things.
She picked a simple dagger from a cluttered mess and unsheathed it. The steel was dull, but the edges were sharp enough to make her bleed slightly when she ran a fingertip along the edge.
"How much for this one?"
The blacksmith stopped hammering, and Sakura sighed softly in relief; that noise was making her head throb. "Five," he answered quickly and turned to go back to work.
Sakura frowned. That was a bit overpriced considering this was probably a failed dagger he hadn't even considered to sell. "The steel is not very pure, the edges are not that smooth, and the hilt could have been better. I'll give you three."
He grunted in annoyance but nodded slightly, accepting her terms. She smirked to herself in satisfaction, handed him the money, gathered her purchases, and left the small, loud forge without a parting glance.
Now the sun had really began to set, so she shouldn't have been surprised to meet an agitated Erick.
"Where were you all this time?"
"Buying Mikasa's present."
"It's late."
"I bought her a doll house and a dagger."
Erick stopped walking immediately, and the cart he carried on his back came to a full stop.
"Hm, maybe we should buy a horse to carry this one day," she thought out loud.
"You bought her a what?"
Sakura squirmed, a bit uncomfortable to hear such an edgy voice from Erick. "She's eight now, and the world is... is cruel. She should learn how to fight early to protect herself."
"And you know how to fight?" he asked, a suspicious and unbelieving but at least he didn't seem to oppose the idea so much.
"Of course."
"When did you learn?"
She frowned. "I don't know. I just woke up that day and knew how to fight, knew how to move."
"Oh," Erick exhaled softly. It was no secret that Sakura was a bit sensitive about her amnesia. It was something that frustrated endlessly, knowing things but not knowing how she knew them, and the Ackermans knew that they should leave the topic be lest they add unnecessary grief to the girl.
The topic of her hair was open, though. It wasn't a normal week unless someone made a joke at the expense of her pink hair, much to her annoyance. Still, she must like her hair, because she had not cut it once and it now reached her mid-back.
"Do I have your permission?"
"Only if Mikasa agrees."
The rest of their walk home was silent except when Erick whispered a curse after bumping into a small rock. Sakura was just anxious to give her gifts to Mikasa, knowing she would appreciate them immensely.
Their small house came into view and both of them unconsciously sped up, eager to get back home. They must've been loud, because the door opened and Mikasa bolted right at them, laughing and asking about their day and telling them how great hers was in one big sentence.
"Whoa, Mikasa, slow down," Sakura said with a chuckle. She crouched –– she was not so small anymore and her head towered over her–– and handed the doll house to her, inwardly relieved that she had enough sense to hide the dagger in her right hip. "Happy Birthday, Mikasa."
The girl stared at the wooden house with such reverence that it almost made Sakura laugh, almost. She took her gift somberly and clutched it to her chest. "This is amazing. Thank you, Sakura! Thank you, Papa!" She whirled around, running inside the house and yelling her thanks to her mother.
"By the way, how much did that house cost?"
"Ten," she replied without missing a beat.
June 20, 843
Mikasa aimed a punch at her right shoulder, but Sakura quickly side-stepped to the left to avoid being hit. She then made a low kick, and Sakura was about to simply jump, but she noticed the muscles in her left arm preparing to throw a punch, so she did a backflip and regained her balance almost immediately, putting herself out of harm's way without breaking a sweat.
Her pupil, on the other hand, was huffing and greedily gulping any air she could take. With a groan, she dropped down to the grass floor, exhausted.
"Why won't you... let me hit you?" she asked in between pants.
Sakura took a seat besides her, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. She really needed to make better ponytails. "Because I don't want to get hurt. Besides, the day you hit me is the day this is over, remember?"
"You made it sound so easy when you first offered this."
She grinned, recalling the look of smugness in Mikasa's face the first day of their lesson. Sakura had declared that the only thing Mikasa needed to do was land one hit, one, and the training would be over. She dodged her punches with ease and pointed out problems in her stance, counting the number of times she would be dead if this were a real fight.
The count had never come below thirty.
"I know, but you'll get it, eventually. Maybe in a couple of years seeing how good you are."
"Years? I'll be like, ten or twelve or thirteen! I don't––" Her rant came to a stop, and her frustrated face was replaced by a thoughtful frown. "When's your birthday?"
Sakura smiled sadly. "I don't remember."
Mikasa stood up and crossed her arms. "That's no good. If you don't have a birthday, you can't receive presents, right?"
"No," she replied slowly, unsure as to where her train of thought was going.
"Then today is your birthday, and you are... Hm, you're old, so you're seventeen starting today."
"Why today? And why seventeen?"
"Why not today? And what's wrong with being seventeen?"
Sakura puffed her cheeks out. "There's nothing wrong with them," she eventually said. "It's just a bit sudden... I never really cared about those things."
"Well, I do. So today, June 20, is your birthday. Happy Birthday, Sakura!"
She had half a mind to protest, but looking down at her excited gray orbs she couldn't help but give in to this little girl who, though sometimes bossy, was only looking out for her, even if she was about a decade older than her.
"Thank you, Mikasa. This will be the best––"
"Mikasa! Sakura! Come back! Doctor Jaeger is here to check on you two!"
The black-haired girl groaned and sat up, a lethargic look on her face. Sakura chuckled and stood up, offering her a helping hand, which she gladly took.
She thought Mikasa was going to challenge her to a race back home, but she did no such thing. She must be in no hurry to go back, considering the doctor was here for their yearly check up. She said that Doctor Jaeger did weird things, like putting a thing above her heart and listening in, checking her ears and mouth, asking if she felt something funny in her stomach, and she never liked it.
Sakura knew that he was just following a strict diagnosis protocol, something that she felt she had done countless of times, even though she didn't quite remember what. Maybe this Doctor Jaeger would serve to clear up a bit of her memory?
They entered their home with opposite expressions, but Mikasa's look of irritation quickly downspiraled into a grimace once she spotted the tools the doctor brought with him.
"Doctor Jaeger said the checkup will be short, okay? Now be a good girl and let him make sure you're healthy."
Her younger sister followed almost immediately, completing all of the doctor's requests without a single complaint. The doctor seemed to pick up on this, because he hurried through the tests, much to Sakura's amusement. In less than five minutes Mikasa was up and going, leaving the doctor without a parting glance.
"And is this the new addition to your family, Miss Mikoto?"
"Ah, yes, Doctor Jaeger, this is Sakura."
He beckoned her to sit on the chair next to his and started doing his routine checkup. "Now, I don't know if you're aware, but we've met before. Well, I met you."
"Huh?"
"Did Helsa not tell you?"
Sakura felt a lump on her throat, which she roughly swallowed. "She died," she said quietly.
The doctor's green eyes widened and then grew sad. "Ah, I'm sorry, dear, I didn't know that. I was friends with Helsa's husband... They were good people." Neither Mikoto nor Sakura said anything, opting to focus on the doctor's procedure. He cleared his throat, aware that he had brought forth a tense silence. "Anyway, I was the one that tended your wounds around a year ago. Which begs the question, just what did you do?"
"I have amnesia. I don't really remember anything before the day Helsa found me."
"No memories? That is a bit strange. I've had a few cases concerning amnesia. Most of them are from the military, and most of them dealt with a hard hit on the head, but all of them regained their memories in around a year or two."
Sakura shifted in her seat. What if she didn't remember, ever? What if she didn't find who she was or returned to her homeland? Yes, she was more than happy with the Ackermans, but she still felt as if she didn't truly belong, whether it was because they spoke different native tongues or the fact that she was a med-nin, trained to both kill and save lives, and most of the people here weren't even aware they possessed chakra.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember. It's just a matter of patience and not forcing things. Besides, I am quite curious to meet your parents, because I must ask just how did pink hair come to your family?"
Both Mikoto and Doctor Jaeger laughed, and Sakura only chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment.
"Oh, yes, I forgot to ask you a favor."
"What can I do for you?"
"Could you please register Sakura? I'm afraid the nearest center is a few hours away and I was under the impression that––"
The doctor raised a hand, stopping the rambling woman on her tracks. "There is no need to explain yourself, Miss Mikoto. It would be my pleasure." He got out a sheet of paper, quill, and bottled ink from his briefcase and placed it on the table. "So, Miss Sakura, what will be your full name?"
"Sakura Ackerman."
He scribbled her name on the paper with the land's alphabet. "Hm... Since we don't know your birth parents I'll put down the Ackermans' names. Is that okay?"
"Yes," Mikoto and Sakura replied in unison.
Doctor Jaeger nodded absentmindedly and jotted down more notes. "And date of birth?"
"June 20, 826."
Sakura noticed Mikoto's shocked face out of the corner of her eye, but she feigned attention on the doctor, who had an eyebrow raised but continued writing. "Oh, happy birthday then, Sakura."
"Thank you."
April 4, 844
"Ah, you brought potatoes today. That's good."
Sakura nodded and smiled widely. "We had a bit extra from yesterday. I'm still a bit new at inventory."
Berdine gave her a reproachful look. "You just started this, my dear. It takes a while to get used to doing this alone. I think you're doing a spectacular work."
Before she would blush at the compliment, but she was so used to being treated nicely by the townspeople that she only widened her smile a bit more until she was showing a bit of her pearly teeth. "I think it's a good think, though. Erick gets to tend the crops and make sure they're higher quality and I sell them."
"And how long have you been doing this?"
"Around a month or two?"
The woman laughed, the sound high and piercing. "Oh, dear, if you only saw the first months of Erick's arrival you would've died of laughter."
"That bad?"
"He was a young husband and his wife was expecting. That made him a bit clumsier than usual, for sure. But you received prior training, so maybe I'm being a bit unfair to poor Erick."
The day, which had been bright until now, darkened almost immediately. Both Berdine and Sakura looked up to see a huge gray cloud covering the sun. By the direction of the wind, it seemed to be heading in the direction of her home, something which made Sakura sigh in annoyance.
"Oh, my, it's going to rain a lot today, won't it?"
"It will... Too bad I can't leave just yet."
"Why is that?"
Sakura beckoned the cart full of food with a disinterested wave. "It's too full. Erick won't be happy with that."
"I'm sure he'll understand it if he saw how awful the weather is going to be. Nobody will be out in the streets anyway."
"You're right, maybe––"
"Excuse me!" a haggard woman interrupted. Sakura would have shot her a withering glare had her eyes not looked so crazed and desperate. "Has anyone seen my son, Anton? He is this tall, has dark brown hair, has a scar on his cheek? Have you seen him? He was playing in the woods. Please."
Berdine looked at the woman sadly and only shook her head. She excused herself from the conversation, leaving Sakura by her lonesome with the worried mother. "I'm sorry, Miss, but no, I haven't seen him." The woman became even more despondent, and the sight only tugged at her heartstrings. Who knew how worried she would be if Mikasa got lost? She wanted to help... And perhaps she was the only able to help at this moment. But could she afford it?
Well, she was leaving early anyway, might as well do a good deed while she was at it.
"But I can help you find him."
The woman's eyes lit with hope. "You can?"
Sakura nodded resolutely.
She reached out and grabbed both of her hands, moving them up in down in unrestrained gratitude. "Thank you so much, Miss! Is there something you want me to do to help?"
"Yes. Please stay here and look after my stall? I don't know how long I'll be gone, but just in case."
"Oh, of course, my dear. Anything you say."
"What part exactly do you think he is in?"
"He likes to play in the east side, but he usually comes back before noon. Maybe he got lost?"
That was a possibility, but it sounded too good to be true. "Okay, I'll start there. Please wait here."
Sakura ran down the mostly empty streets at the speed of a normal human, but once she was a long ways inside the woods with no one around, she sped up to inhuman speeds with her chakra and jumped up to the tree tops, scanning the area for any signs of chakra.
She was about ready to give up in her pursuits after half an hour when she sensed a very small chakra signature, possibly a child's. She grinned in triumph and headed that way, mindful to get out of the treetops and lower her speed once she was close by.
The pink-haired girl reached a small clearing and stood very still. At such close distances, it was impossible to exactly pinpoint the source of the chakra because every living thing had chakra in them. Usually humans had chakra spikes to them, but the signature had stopped being dynamic almost ten minutes ago, meaning the person was asleep or, worse, dead.
Her sensitive hearing caught soft breaths and she tiptoed towards the sound, which came from behind a big tree. She wanted to be annoyed, she really did, but she couldn't help but gush over the sleeping boy who clutched a black cat that appeared completely unamused about the scenario.
"Aw, this is so cute," she whispered in her native tongue and gathered the sleeping boy in her arms. The cat scrambled away once it was freed, but it stayed close to the pair, hinting that it was attached to the boy, regardless of its annoyance. "If you want to stay with us you better keep up."
She shot up and started leaping from tree to tree, though much slower and gentler than before so as to not wake her sleeping companion. When she was close to the forest's entrance she dove down and landed lightly on her feet, unsurprised to see the black cat next to her, licking its paws.
"Hn, show off."
Getting back to her stall only took ten more minutes, and the boy was still fast asleep. Anton only woke up once he heard the relieved cries of her mother, which soon became a yelling session as she demanded why he had run off and promising a world of pain once they came back home. Sakura awkwardly stood by, waiting for them to leave the stall, and only smiled slightly when the mother turned to her.
"Oh, thank you so much, Miss! We're new here, but I know where I'll be buying my vegetables for the rest of my life!" Well, at least she got a new, lifetime customer out of the deal. "Now come on, Anton, and you two, Blacky. Both of you are in a world of trouble."
The cat meowed, as if it understood what was going on, and followed after the pair, moving its tail left and right lethargically. The boy sneaked a look backwards and waved at her, offering her a mischievous grin, before his mother grabbed him by his ear and dragged him away.
Blacky? With a name like that, Sakura didn't blame it for trying to run away with Anton.
Sakura sighed and emptied the stall, storing the small amount of leftovers in the cart. She heard a strike of thunder in the west, in the vicinity of her home, and sighed when she realized it was probably raining already.
So much for not getting wet.
After an hour of dragging the cart in the mud and rain, Sakura saw her home in the distance. Sakura frowned when she felt no chakra signatures inside, but maybe they had gone to town to meet up with Doctor Jaeger without her knowledge. Still, the idea behind a warm bath and hot soup was so tantalizing that she sped her pace to a jog. She dropped the cart off under the small, extended roof where they stored all their farm tools and rushed to the front door.
She opened the door and looked down.
Sakura choked back a scream and fell down, landing on her bottom. She desperately slid away from Mikoto's unseeing corpse and the pool of her blood and tried to look anywhere but there but only felt something inside of her break once her back hit something soft.
She didn't want to turn, she didn't want to see, but the blood pooling coating her fingers was enough evidence for what she would see. Still, she jerked her head back and almost vomited when she saw Erick staring back at her, a bleeding hole in his chest.
Sakura messily got up, only for her knees to buckle and give away beneath her. She stretched out her arms to break her fall, but she scraped her palms, yet she didn't feel any pain at all. She was numb. So cold.
"Mikasa," she whispered in growing horror.
With new determination she got up and frantically searched every corner of the house only to find nobody. She didn't know whether to be relieved or anguished to not find her, because that meant she was alive, but that also meant she could be wishing to be dead instead.
She let out a shrill scream and started thrashing the Mikoto and Erick's. Her control on her strength snapped and she was soon smashing walls and breaking furniture. "Why is it that when I find happiness, someone takes it away!" she yelled in between punches and kicks. "Why is it that after I do something good for others, something horrible happens to me!"
The raging girl stopped after she ripped the skin from her knuckles, the pain acting as her anchor to the real world for now. She eyed the room with a wary eye, or at least what was left of the room, and only shook her head in dismay, knowing that whatever she did would change nothing.
Sakura left the room and headed back to the dining table that doubled as kitchen as well. She stared at the unmoving bodies of her foster parents and teared up again, though she did not sob or shake or grimace. "I will find Mikasa and kill whoever did this to us. I promise there will be blood and pain for this."
She went back to her room and ripped out her dirty skirt and shirt and changed into the old pants and long-sleeved shirt she had woken up in this world with.
Sakura went back to the woods and immediately took off, uncaring if someone saw her. She needed to find Mikasa as quickly as possible, and that meant she would have to give no shits about the status of her secret.
The rain made it impossible to track by scent, so that meant she would have to track Mikasa by her chakra signature. Luckily for her, she could detect her around a kilometer away, so she only had to close enough and she should be as clear as day.
She felt herself grow weak once she recognized Mikasa's chakra close to her, however it was surrounded by two others. She steeled herself to fight, coating her fists with enough chakra to rip a person apart, and sped up until she reached a small cabin with a lake in the background.
Sakura spotted her almost immediately but had to hold back her speed when she saw she was surrounded by Doctor Jaeger and an unknown boy. They were talking to her, but they immediately cleared the way when they heard her coming.
She dropped to her knees in front of Mikasa and hugged her tightly meanwhile she checked for injuries. She let her go slightly and unwrapped that red scarf from her head and surveyed her face, her anger churning deeply when she saw the blotches of blood in her pretty features. "Are you alright?"
Mikasa's eyes were empty, and that sight alone was enough to break her heart all over again. "Yes, Eren saved me."
The kunoichi let her foster sister go completely and she stood up, almost immediately noticing the young boy. He was around Mikasa's age, but those eyes of his burned with the determination and hate of an older man. "How did you save my sister?"
"I killed them. I killed the ones who did this to you."
Sakura wanted to feel grateful towards the boy, she really did, and in hindsight maybe there was some affection towards buried deep, but at the moment she was resentful that this nine-year-old boy had taken away revenge from her forever.
Perhaps it was for the best. That monster she had become around a year ago wasn't one she wanted to be again.
"I killed one too."
Her body froze, and she pivoted her torso slowly towards Mikasa, though she didn't look at her in the eye. "Did you do it to protect?"
She nodded absentmindedly.
"She protected me," Eren offered as an explanation.
Sakura managed a small smile and patted both children on the head. "It's good to protect each other."
Doctor Jaeger cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to him. "Ah, Sakura, I am deeply sorry about what happened. I was... talking to Mikasa about her future, and I offered both of you a place in my home. Would you like that?"
There was no way she would be able to return to that home again, not after what had happened, so she had absolutely no qualms in accepting. However, she felt a sense of nostalgia with this offer, because she was back at where she started not even two years ago.
She only hoped the ending wouldn't be the same.
Okay, to clear something that may or may not have been explained fully. Sakura's real birthday is March 28, and as of the last entry she is really nineteen, but in the SnK world she is legally seventeen, few months short of being eighteen. Considering how short she is, it wouldn't be that big of a stretch to say she is a year younger.
Good news is the story has become such a plot bunny mine that I have decided to focus my attention with it. Plot planning is almost over, and that brings me to my next news, though I don't know if it is good or bad: pacing. Maybe you already noticed, but I reaaally love to develop characters, even those that didn't get much screen time. Thus the romance, which will happen with an unknown character eventually, will be slow building. Sloowww. So I wouldn't expect Sakura to fall in love with anyone anytime soon, especially after the traumatic experiences she has been, and will be, through. Yay for trauma.
Also, my most sincerest thanks to asredwer, Bum reviews, Latin Gardenia, foraslanthelion, pepergirl001, Atsirk Enoh, brokenmaelstrom, Guest, Ace Clover, deedee2034, and JellyBean for being super awesome and leaving reviews that made me think long enough on where I want to take this story. Also, thank you to everyone who favorited and added this story to their alerts!
Reviews are motivation!
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