Power Struggles:

The Meaning of a Name

Sakura's name isn't really anything special.

She is the favored of the gods because of who she is; not because of her name.

But still, her name means something, something more than just pretty pink flowers decorating a tree that blooms in the spring.

Because what people are really celebrating when they go to watch the sakura, is the dying phases of the flowers. People might talk of how beautiful it is, the way the sakura petals drift to the ground in a pink snowfall, but Sakura herself knows differently.

Her mother died when she was young; Sakura loves her namesake, but she never forgets that her name will always be tied to death.

This isn't something that depresses her, though. Because her mother didn't regret giving her life, and her father loves her (she could never, never doubt that), and even Touya, who should hate her for taking away his most important person, fights even harder than Yukito and Tomoyo combined to keep her alive.

And when those others are brought to her attention as her magic grows, she knows she will have to teach them too, the ones touched by death at their naming; she must teach them that carrying death around isn't always so terrible a thing.

There are people who love them as well, people who need them to keep on existing, who will fight everyone and everything to see them come through all right.

But that love doesn't come from a name, but because of who they are: the beautiful, innocent, strong hearts that pull others to them. They are the ones who open their hearts for those who long for a home, and a place to belong.

That is why the gods look with favor at sakura.