December 24, 2002

3 years, 10 months, 30 days prior to Incident

"Take that!"

"Ha, you missed." Splat. "Ah! Cold, cold, cold!"

Sakura blew on the surface of her hot chocolate, shifted her woolen blanket around her shoulders, and pouted. "This sucks. I want to play too."

"Maybe next year," Light consoled, sipping at his own drink.

She groaned. "That's too long. Stupid Watanabe-senpai. Stupid concussion. Stupid bruise. Stupid ankle. Pff."

Sakura stopped complaining when Miku began to stumble over to them. "Onee-sama, onii-sama."

Light could never get used to the way Sakura's little sister called him 'sama'.

"Yes, Miku-chan?"

"Look." The little girl pointed at the two snowmen she'd made. One had a pink scarf around its head and the other wore a black knitted scarf, similar to the one he was wearing right now. Their twig hands were intertwined.

"Ara, Miku-chan, that's so cute!"

Light could see Sakura startling at the sudden appearance of his mother, her hot chocolate splashing over the side of the mug. He sighed and reached over with a napkin to wipe up the beads of liquid before they could drip off.

Sakura smiled at him in thanks before patting Miku's head. "Good job, Miku."

The young girl gave a rare grin.

"Oh, right. Kids! Dinner's ready!"

Sayu and Kaito perked up and raced to the veranda, eager to stuff themselves with food. Light got up more leisurely and helped Sakura wobble back into his house.

With the younger children having gone off to watch TV, Light, his parents, and Sakura were the last to get up from the dinner table.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"No, no, no." His mom waggled her finger. "Sakura-chan, you're injured, you have to rest. My husband and I will clear up the table, don't you worry."

"If you're sure..."

"Come on, Sakura." Light helped Sakura slowly make her way up the stairs, being mindful of her sprained ankle as they made their way to his room.

When they finally reached it, Sakura plopped herself on his bed. She rolled around on it a bit before turning to rest on her side, facing the far wall.

"You... You have the Japanese version of A Tale of Two Cities," she told him after a few moments, sounding a little dumbfounded.

"Yes?"

"I have been looking for one of those everywhere, and you had it. Just hiding away in your room. Right there."

"You should have asked me, I would have let you borrow it."

"I want to borrow it."

"Not now. You aren't allowed to do any extensive reading, remember?"

"Just this once?"

"No."

"But I've been looking for months and months!"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"No." Seeing Sakura's shoulders slump and the corners of her lips unhappily tilt downwards, he continued, "But I can read it aloud to you, if you like."

She immediately brightened. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Of course."

The grin she gave him made his own mouth tug into a smile in response.

"He called himself for the plaintiff, there was no getting over his evidence, the counsel for the defendant threw up his brief, and the jury did not even turn to consider. After trying it, Stryver, C. J., was satisfied that no plainer case could be."

Out of the corner of his eye, Light could see pink bobbing up and down.

He smiled and used his free hand to tilt her head towards his shoulder.

After pulling his blanket up over her shoulders and tucking the edges around her sleeping form, he continued, "... Accordingly, Mr. Stryver decided to begin his long vacation with a formal offer to take Miss Manette to Vauxhall Gardens. If that didn't work, he would take her to Ranelagh. If that failed too, he would go to her house in Soho and tell her how he felt about her there..."

Yagami Sachiko smiled softly at the sweet vision that met her eyes.

A fast asleep Light was leaning against the headboard with Sakura-chan cuddled into his right side, her pink hair spilling over his shoulder. Her son's head leaned lightly against the pinkette's, and his hand covered hers where it lay on the bed. There was an open book limply grasped in his other hand.

Sachiko quietly made her way downstairs, intent on grabbing another blanket for Light and a camera to capture the moment.

Fuyuno Sakura - age 12, 2nd year junior high

Yagami Light - age 13, 2nd year junior high

Yagami Sayu - age 10, 4th year elementary

Fuyuno Kaito - age 9, 3rd year elementary

Fuyuno Miku - age 6, kindergarten

AN

Actually, Sayu and Kaito should be in the same grade, but, you know, Kaito missed a grade and all that.

I forgot to mention - last chapter, the reason why Sakura was helping Mrs. Yagami with the cooking is because she needs to be observed for any complications until she's healed, but the Yagamis know that there's no one home to watch Sakura. While Light is at school, Sakura has to stay in the Yagami house so Sachiko can watch over her. Being utterly bored and not allowed to do anything mentally or sensationally taxing (reading, studying, watching TV, playing video games, etc.), Sakura decided to help Sachiko by measuring out all the necessary ingredients for her while she cooks. I imagine that Sachiko gets lonely at home by herself, so she's probably glad to have Sakura there.