Eight years ago…
Sakura did not ask questions. Her questions would not be answered, they would be mocked, so no questions were asked. As such, Sakura asked no questions when she had not been thrown into the worm pit for a week. She had asked no questions when her grandfather claimed he had a new project, and would stay up well into the night laughing to himself at whatever scheme he had concocted.
She asked no questions when, after what felt like only a moment of peace, she was once more thrown into the worm pit, only to find another boy already there.
She asked no questions for hours. She did not scream as the worms crawled over her body, climbing into her through every orifice available to them. She kept her mouth shut, breathing in through her nose to avoid suffocating. The worms could not fit in those holes, and so her nose went ignored.
After a time, the boy sat up, apparently having decided that he had given Zouken enough time to leave the room. He sat partway submerged in the pool of worms, his teeth gritting as he felt them penetrate into him and crawl deeper. Sakura had never thought of trying to move from her position flat on her back before, and so she too sat up.
She promptly felt herself begin to sway. Her muscles tensed as she tried to remain upright. The worms became agitated, moving around her and inside of her frantically. Sakura felt her face turn green as a feeling of nausea settled in the pit of her stomach.
The boy rested a hand on her shoulder. Sakura turned to the boy and tried to convey her confusion, both at how the worms had not become agitated like this at his movement and at the small bit of affection he was showing. Why would he care for her, touch her? She was dirty, and his own state should've been of greater concern.
"Relax." The boy spoke quickly, quietly, and in heavily accented Japanese.
Used to following orders by now, Sakura allowed herself to settle into the pit of worms, letting her arms hang loose and her muscles relax. The worms calmed near instantly. There was still discomfort, but it was no different than when she had laid in the pit. One could argue it was better, as the worms now had access to less of the body.
They still had access to certain uncomfortable areas, but it was better than nothing.
"...thank you…"
Sakura shut her mouth quickly. There was something that just made her mouth in particular one place where she did not want the worms to go. The taste, or perhaps how many would squeeze into the larger orifice, or perhaps it was how hard it would be to breath, but something just made her afraid to open her mouth down here.
Harry gave her a nod before let his hand fall from the plum haired girl's shoulder. He turned, looking off at a wall with his eyes focused on the air in front of him.
"I was only trying to be friendly."
…
"I'm sorry. But it is rather lonely down here, you know?"
…
"No, no, of course you are good company. That isn't what I meant at all."
Sakura tilted her head curiously at the boy as he continued to argue with himself. Sakura knew that her time in the pit had changed her. She was broken now. Was the boy broken as well? Had he been driven mad?
Well, yes, but the voice was real. Not that Sakura knew that.
"I'm not just talking to her because she is cute! I'm not even old enough to notice girls like that yet, even if she is really pretty."
Sakura felt her face heat up in embarrassment. She may have become rather emotionless due to her time in the pit, but this was due to the lack of human contact she had and the general abuse and neglect she suffered. The compliment, even if unintentional and not spoken directly to her, made her heart flutter. And like a starving animal given a taste of divine ambrosia, she'd come to want more of the boy's affections.
Later…
"...and it is for these reasons that your grandfather has decided to give this poor boy shelter and educate him in the ways of a magus. Any question, granddaughter?"
Sakura asked no questions. Her grandfather grinned, his formal introduction of the small boy, Hari, complete. The boy stood beside Sakura with his head bowed submissively, his hands held together in front of him and his body slouched to take up as little room as possible. This would be the image that Sakura would see for years when Hari was spoken to by Zouken. He would become a bit more lively around others, but not by much.
Though, in moments where Hari thought he was alone, Sakura would find him talking to the empty air around him again. His voice would become teasing and coy, a vast contrast to the shy submissive boy Sakura normally saw. Sakura wished he was as comfortable around her as he was when he spoke to his "Friend-chan". She never quite got there, but she would make progress. He would tease Sakura lightly, throwing in comments that made her blush and stammer, or performing little actions that left her with steam coming out of her ears.
And though Sakura was quite shy herself, she would become something of a protector for the boy. She would learn that she could in fact be rather assertive and vindictive when she wanted to be on that day she first took up the mantle of Hari's guardian.
Two years later (six years ago)...
Sakura was thinking about her adoptive brother with a small blush on her face. As had quickly become the norm, Hari had once again shown his ability to leave her flustered and embarrassed with a few seemingly innocent words.
"Umm…I'm going to the park…if you want to come…", here he paused, then a bright red blush appeared on his face that Sakura was convinced was fake but she couldn't for the life of her find out how he could fake such things, and then he continued quickly, as though dumping the words out of his mouth rather than speaking them. "Uh...never mind! We can't do that yet! My heart won't be able to take it!" He then ran out of the house while yelling "Kyaaa!"
"Baka Hari-san. Making me so embarrassed, acting like he was asking me on a date...I can't stop thinking about that now!"
Sakura held her face in her hands as she let out a long suffering breath. Still, she understood Hari, to a certain degree at least. She understood that he wanted her to follow him to the park, preferably running after him also shouting in embarrassment. Though she wasn't quite animated enough to do that sort of thing. He was probably waiting for her on the swings so that he could continue to act embarrassed just to make her more embarrassed. Hari was kind of a jerk like that.
"Come on kid, don't be scared, we just want to play with ya."
"Yeah! Just wanna play! Come on!"
"Don't be scared…this will only hurt in the beginning, hehehe…"
Sakura lifted her head at the sound of the three voices. There, in front of her was Hari with his back up against the playground jungle gym as three dirty looking men surrounded him. They dressed in large coats and were covered in grease. They were fat and pimply, with crooked teeth and blood shot eyes.
"Come on kid…just let us take care of you…", the man in the center, he had on these big round glasses and his thinning hair was combed over to hide his bald spot, said as he began to fiddle with his belt.
Sakura didn't really understand what was going on, but she understood that these men were going to do something bad to him and that Hari was scared.
Hari kept his frightened mask up as he summoned a black ball of energy behind his back. The ball held the concept of [castration], and he felt it would be the perfect thing to use on these pedophiles. Friend-chan stood in front of him, arms held out as though to shield the boy, but there was nothing that the imaginary friend could actually do.
"Stay away from my otōto you creeps!"
Hari, along with said creeps, turned suddenly towards Sakura in response to her rather uncharacteristic outburst. The dark ball dissipated as Hari lost focus, too shocked both by Sakura's arrival and how she looked.
Sakura was leaning forward, her legs wide and her hands balled into fists. Her eyes seemed to glow in her anger and her hair seemed to be defying gravity with the way it was whipping around her head. It was a side of Sakura that Hari had never seen before.
He had to admit, the heat he felt rising to his cheeks was definitely real at that moment.
The pig with a comb over blinked in surprise before a smile that was probably supposed to be calming appeared on his face. "I'm sorry, but I think there has been a bit of a misunderstanding. You see, we were just-"
Sakura punched him in the groin.
The man collapsed onto the ground with tears in his eyes as his hands held his wounded pride. He tried to squeak something out, but he was once more interrupted, this time by Sakura's foot breaking his nose. Now laying on the ground with blood flowing down his face, the pig felt his eyesight begin to fade. It would've been a slow descent into Morpheus' arms had Sakura not then proceeded to stomp on what was left of his pride until there was nothing left but pain.
"YOU'RE NEXT!" Sakura glared at the other two men with a demonic look on her face. The other two pigs, utterly terrified by the show of brutality, promptly turned around and ran away screaming and crying.
Sakura was about to give chase before she remembered exactly why she had just given the man beneath her an involuntary sex change. Rushing to his side, Sakura embraced Hari in a near bone crushing hug as her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Sakura then held him away at arm's length and began to fuss over him as she checked him for hidden injuries. "Are you okay, Hari-san? Did they hurt you?"
Hari didn't answer, instead he simply stared gobsmacked at his adopted sister, his eyes holding shock and…hope?
"...you called me otōto…"
Sakura shot her brother a concerned look, confused by the odd statement.
"Well, yeah, that's what you are, my otōto." Sakura answered the boy honestly.
"...you've never called me that before…I've never had a family…"
Sakura felt her heart constrict in a way that was both painful and while still being the most wonderful feeling she had ever felt. "You have a family now. You have me. You are my otōto, and you always will be."
Hari looked up at Sakura with a genuine blush adorning his cheeks and non-counterfeit tears pooling behind his eyelids. He smiled a wide happy smile as tears began to roll down his cheeks. Sakura felt her heart break a little at the sight of those tears, unfamiliar as she was with the concept of tears of joy.
"Thank you, thank you so much, Sakura-san. I'm so glad to have a big sis like you!" Harry practically shouted as he threw himself back into his sister's embrace, knocking the two of them to the ground in the process, saying the words "big sis" in his first language, English.
And just like that Sakura's heart mended and was sent aflutter.
They stayed like that, laying in each other's arms in the grass, for near an hour in a comfortable silence before Hari finally spoke again.
"I love you, big sis…"
Sakura looked at her brother in surprise, unsure how to respond. But as she looked at her brother, her otōto, and saw the expectant, hopeful, and truly desperate look on his face, she knew that there was only one answer.
"I love you too, otōto."
The moment was ruined by the glasses wearing pedophile groaning as he began to wake. Hari shot a ball of pure black energy at the man in his annoyance without getting up. The man let out a girlish scream before he was once more rendered unconscious.
AN: Put your pitchforks and torches away. I know, I know, it is a flashback chapter, which means that the plot wasn't advanced, which I'm sure has upset some of you. But guess what, I don't care! Seriously! What could you wee mortals possible do to me!? Mwuahahahaha!
Also, I really needed to flesh out Hari's relationship to Sakura. This was the easiest way.
Oh, and you also got a brief glimpse at Hari's magic! Note, no one knows the full extent of what Hari can do with his little brand of magic. As far as Zouken is concerned, Hari is just making use of his natural advantages with how much od he produces and how much prana he can channel due to the broken fragments of the grail embedding themselves in him by throwing around balls of pure prana with destructive effects. Expect me to have fun with this. Kukuku...
There was originally a typo that made a line read "Hari shit a ball of pure black energy" rather than "shot". It is fixed now, but I felt like noting that that was a thing at one point as it is hilarious. I literally broke into a fit of giggles after AnimeA55Kicker pointed this out in a review. That honestly made my day. Hahahaha