Mother and Child
The young mother clutched the red lock of hair the doctor had given her as a last memento of her daughter. She sobbed as she remembered her child's last words.
"I want the hospital to get my body so that maybe they can find a cure and when somebody else gets sick they won't have to die."
The woman chuckled wryly. Her daughter always had a big heart. A mischievous but definitely a caring heart. Despite the disease that slowly ate her body, her daughter had always maintained a strong and happy face.
"Akane, we have to go," her husband murmured.
Putting the lock into her bag, the young woman let herself be guided back to their car. The ride home was pure anguish. Memories of her daughter assaulted her mind. She absently noted the cherry blossoms littering the sidewalk. The irony that her beautiful child had died on such a lovely day was like a knife to her heart. However, nothing came close to the grief that struck her when she stepped inside their house and the absolute certainty that her child was dead came crashing into her mind.
"Akane…?"
She pushed her husband aside as she slowly made her way to her daughter's room. Once inside, she settled down on the bed hugging the stuff toys her child had slept with. Her eyes were shut tight as tears soaked the blue covers. Her throat constricted as she tried not to howl. Her arms crushed the toys to her body.
She wept and wept and wept until the tears stopped coming. Even then she gasped raggedly with the desire to cry some more. Her eyes fluttered open. It took her several minutes to notice the white paper beside her. Her eyes widened when she glimpsed the first lines on the page. She immediately snatched the letter.
Dear mom,
I got God's permission to write this letter to you cause he knows you're lonely because I died. He even let me use his own pen. It's magic so only you can read this.
He said to tell you that it's okay. Everything's going to be okay.
I'm happy now mom. The pain's gone and I can play and run and do all those things I couldn't do when I was sick. I've seen grandpa and grandma too. They welcomed me to heaven when I got here. There are also lots of angels here and they all say they're happy to meet me.
Oh, God says I have to keep this short so I'll just say please don't be too sad mom. If you want, you can adopt a baby so that you'll have someone to play with. I know you and dad can't have any more but God says family is more than just blood. If you get a girl she can have all of my toys and stuff. But I guess you have to buys new ones if you get a boy.
Eneweis, always remember that I love you mom, you and dad. I'll always be your little angel, only now I'm a real angel!
Love you always.
Angel Michiru
The woman sobbed and closed her eyes—
and opened them to find herself lying in the now dark room. She must have fallen asleep. She sat up and looked around the small room. A sense of contentment swept her whole being. Her dream was slowly receding from memory but the blissful feeling never left her. For the first time in a long while, she smiled.
She got up and went out of the room. In the dining room she found her husband cooking dinner. Impulsively she hugged him.
"Eh?" he squeaked.
"She's fine now," she whispered as her husband returned her hug. "Our angel is fine now."
The following days were rough, she had plenty of miserable moments, but the knowledge that her daughter was happy kept her going.
One year later as she walked home, a cherry blossom caught her attention as it drifted in front of her. She followed it until it settled down on the steps of an old building. Looking up she was surprised to see that the structure was an orphanage she noticed. She stared at it for a moment before impulsively going in.
"Welcome," a nun called out to her as soon as she entered. "My name is Sister Maria. Are you here to adopt one of our charges ma'am?"
The mother suddenly blushed. She hadn't really thought about doing anything.
"Uhm…actually I just…wanted to see the children…"
Sister Maria nodded and smiled, understanding the woman's desire. She gestured towards a closed door.
"The children usually play at this time of the day. Some of them are in here," she explained as she pushed open the door. "Most of them are outside, playing in the garden."
The young woman looked around, murmuring some indistinct words until a flash of red caught her eyes. She gasped as she focused on a toddler crawling towards a set of bricks. The little tyke had a cute determined scowl on his pink face as he neared his goal. The young woman almost wanted to coo at the adorable face. However, what really caught her eye was the child's bright red hair. The red mop glistened even more from the sunlight coming from the open window in the room.
"He's new here," the novice said. "He was left on out doorstep just last night."
The young woman moved towards the now giggling child. She realized that the bricks were not his target but several pink petals that were among the toys. She knelt beside him and her heart melted when brown eyes looked up at her.
"What's his name?" she whispered stroking the child's face. The kid immediately crawled onto her lap and played with her own dark red hair. She, in turn, smoothed away the locks falling on the child's face, a face that reminded her of a small pink flower.
"We don't know," Sister Maria answered. "There was no note in his belongings."
The young woman smiled as several cherry blossoms drifted inside the room.
"Michi…Hana…michi…his name will be—no is," she looked up at the nun as she cradled the child, "His name is Hanamichi Sakuragi."
-The Beginning-
A/N: This is something that just hit me one day and wouldn't leave me alone until I had written it. Dedicated to the strongest people in the world—our mothers.