A red fox stood alone on a white, featureless plain. A mess of bushy brown tails swayed behind her inquisitively as she looked from left to right. She smiled wistfully.

"Looks like… I couldn't make it, huh."

"Was it worth it?"

The fox's ear perked up at the sound. "What was?"

"...all of it."

The fox seemed to be lost in thought, her tails swishing gracefully from side to side.

"...yes."

"Why?"

This question caused the fox's brow to furrow, seemingly lost in thought. Slowly, pink petals began falling from the endless sky, first sparsely and then in greater numbers, blanketing the floor in a sweet blush.

Like a blossom life conceives-

"I-"

"When I was born, I was told my only purpose was war. I thought that the only thing in life worth doing was taking it from others."

"And so I did that. I took from those I stood against, all that I held dear myself."

Too short to invoke any meaning

"But-but-"

"But I realised I wanted to leave something else behind. I wanted someone to remember me when all the death caught up to me."

Save the fleeting descent of cherry blossoms.

"I saw the falling sakura, and I thought how amazing it would be if everyone could watch it together."

"I heard the laughter of children, and I wondered how many children I caused never to laugh again."

"I looked upon this world, and I thought how beautiful it would have been without me."

The fox swallowed, and continued.

"I realised that there was more to life than war. But I knew I was too far gone-I was nothing without war."

"There is no place in a peaceful world for me."

I bid this world goodbye, in the height of my beauty

"But for those that came after me, those that were not born into battle, those that had gazed upon peace and learned to love it-they were the ones who would laugh and play and love for me, and do all those things that I never could. And I wanted to protect them because I couldn't leave anything behind-their happiness will be the only proof that I existed. Their joyful lives, lived apart from battle, will tell me that it was worth it to be born."

"And so-yes-it was worth it. My body, my life, my soul-all of it-it was worth giving up, if it meant protecting something. Because, even if it sounded like a child's dream, even if it was impossible-I wished for everyone to be happy together. I wished to see everyone laugh and smile together, in a world without war."

"Why you? Why not someone else?"

"Because… I won't let those that came after me die before I do. Because it's my job to protect them. Because that was the duty vested in me when they gave me my name."

"Because I'm Akagi."

Like a falling sakura flower

The fox paused. "Pardon me… but may I… know who you are?"

The floor was now carpeted with sakura petals, swirling in an ephemeral wind that the fox did not feel. The amount of surging blossoms grew so large it became impossible to see past a few feet. But the fox was not alarmed. She stood benignly in the middle of the peaceful storm and waited. For what, she did not know.

And then the cloud cleared, revealing a thin woman clutching a red Eastern umbrella. Twin brown ears that matched those of the fox twitched amusedly on her chestnut-coloured hair as she smiled through gentle purple eyes. When she spoke, her meek yet strong voice carried no trace of the wracking cough that plagued it the last time the two saw each other.

The fox's eyes widened.

"Welcome back, my beloved, my sweet little sister."

The fox ran like a child to meet her.

I will return to the earth from which I was born-

Where I shall one day bloom again.