Dear the Stars above...
This world is so different and new. Humans are new. Humans are strange. Humans are...fantastic...
Sakura keeps repeating this to herself everyday. All knowledge she possesses can not be applied on this organism. Useless. But it is not bad, really. New things come every single moments, and she is desired to know all of that.
Humans bleed red, the hot liquid flowing nonstop in the veins leaking out when the skin is broke.
They need air to live, need food to eat, qater to drink, clothes to wear...
When they are hurt, no, when she is hurt, she doesn't go back to her gem and wait for the regeneration. She has to wait for her body to heal itself. The red liquid soon will stop bleeding and freeze into something dark and hard. Under that thing, the skin will grow back, closes the open wound and hides away pink, soft flesh from the outside world.
These...are... Sakura doesn't know what to feel about these facts. Happy? Annoying? Frustating? Or...else?
(A servant shouldn't feel. You are human now. You have to be human now.)
She has to study about gems in this world, and other things, too. There are so much things to search for.
But do you know what is the most interesting and breath-taking fact she has ever known?
When you are a gem, you know your mission, your destiny since the first time you open your eyes. And gems stay like that, forever. Changing is unallowed. Defective. Wrong. Need to be shattered and fix.
(She knows it very well.)
But.. But...Humans grow, change. Not just shapeshift of change color. Their duty, their purpose, their mind... It all changes, daily and nightly. Know what, that's normal to them all. Nothing special. All humans are like that, so it's not a sin, a crime that ask for penalizing. No. It's ok to change.
(She wants to change.)
It takes Sakura long to deal with this complicated, yet so simple fact with a calm and happy heart, not fear, hatred, anxious nor terror.
It has only been a few months, such a short time, a blink of eyes to centuries years old gem, but this...flesh-and-bone body has changed impressively. Now, Sakura has begun to get control of her limbs and mental, to move her body in some limited way or sit up, actively, without commands, terms, just her free will.
...But she can't dance yet... She misses dancing so much... Dancing and singing for her Masters...
Well, it's already ...a big improvement.
(Don't be so greedy. You deserve nothing at all.)
Just imagine all the posibilities you have when you...you grow up, when she grows up.
Can she be different? Can she be something new, extraordinary?
The baby girl takes in a deep breath, looks at her hands, slightly wiggle her fingers before raising it in the same praising pose White Pearl has always done.
(Always praising White Diamond. Be the perfect Pearl for her.)
A young human body can't manage to keep that pose for long, Sakura tries and fails thousands times. So she puts it down, stilly, while gravely waiting for pain the whole process.
("My Pearl, don't insult me with your imperfection. Hold your head high and your hands up for me now, will you?")
Hauting voice comes from habits. Sakura shudders, a leaf in the wind, ready to answer and back to be a servant like she is made for.
But it doesn't come. Never come.
She opens her eyes, looks down.
Still pink. Still tiny.
No strings pull on her body. No light erasing her color.
Is she...finally free now?
(No. She isn't. No one can escape from White Diamond, even the dead gems.)
For now...for now, she will enjoy her freedom to do anything that she wants, if it's not out of her body limit, then she will do.
Oh, she is fascinated with everything she can do now. How long has it been since Sakura (Pearl) is able to move her body without worry? Without the wires strangle her neck and keeps she in her place, echoing cold voice control her mind, forcing her to behave...
Maybe...she can smile now.
Happy, genuine smile blooms on the baby's face, one tear dropping down her cheek as she falls into the world of sweet, beautiful unconsciousness.
Warm memories hugs her gently, and for once, Sakura doesn't feel the signature echo of power running along her mind, the desperation or the suffering, bottled emotion and rage that a Pearl should not possess.
She meets with soft pink diamond-shaped pupil, silver laughing and dreamy voice.
"My Pearl... You are wonderful..."
(I...Do...Everything...For You...
My Diamond...My Diamond...)
She dreams of old days, when she had everything and she was everything.
(Now she is just nothing.)
"Kizashi, what's wrong? Why do you look so tired?" Mebuki washed her hands, looks at her lovely husband with worried eyes.
"There is some problems with the company, sweetheart. Everything is ok now." He smiles and hugs her gently, puts his head on the crook of her neck. "Everything is ok now. Our family will be safe..."
( "If you don't pay it when the due date comes, I will take something as a pledge." The croaky, thick voice warns with in a disgusting way.
"Wait...that's to-"
"Do you want to borrow the money? We aren't having an argument here, understand?"
"O...Of course...sir..." )
He turns to look at the baby lying down in the wooden cradle. Sakura is sleeping soundlessly now, her lips curled in a soft smile, flushing cheeks with button nose wrinkles slightly.
His angle. His baby. Their baby. Their joy, their sunshine, their source of happiness in the cruel, cruel world.
Kizashi lets out a teary laugh, picks the baby up roughly and holds her in his arms, making sure that his daughter is alive and breathing. She is here. She won't go anywhere.
No. No. He will protect his baby, his wife. Everything he is doing, is for their safety.
(Is it?)
Mebuki flinches at the darkness swirling in the man's eyes, but she doesn't say anything. She only sits there and watches him holding their daughter like a drowning man clutches at the last straw.
For the first time, Mebuki is afraid of her husband.
For the first time, she doesn't know what to do. Doesn't understand Kizashi.
She knows nothing.
Without their awareness, on the round table in the living room, the cherry blossom branches Mebuki has arranged just a few days ago begin to wilt. Pink petals fade back to dark brown, the flowers fall down, a tragedy to withness, losing their life and energy.
An omen for the future. A warning from the world.
Far , far away, in the world that forest grows strong and animals talk in human tongue, a breeze shakes the tree. The tree that's old as the layment of rock, standing straight from the begining of nothing and the end of everything.
Great branches rustle, whispering in an ancient language that most have forgotten, a language created by sound, for there is no word that's able to express it all.
The hidden creatures, one of the strongest in this world, stop their normal activities, and listen.
The voice of trees carried out in the dark silence. All the Giant Protectors of Old Forest wait for the old voice, both carefully and patiently, inhale the odor of dirt and rocks, exhale the taste of blood and tears.
Dirt of the body, blood of the life.
Rock, the gravestones of the dead.
Tears, the prayers for the one left behind.
'Beware...child of petals...
Beware...child of gem...
Beware the hands of fate and chains of love
Beware the path covered in silky rose and iron thorns.
Beware, for this world shows mercy to no one...
Beware...'