Please excuse any inconsistencies between this story and the series. This story begins soon after the first book of Tokyo Babylon. (Unfortunately, all I've read is the first book of TB, the first book of X, the movie X, and the first DVD of the TV series. I've read tons of fanfics, though, and I am working of getting the rest of the series.)
One day, I woke up. It really doesn't sound important, but I woke up for the first time in my remembered life. It was in a plain room, a traditional Japanese bedroom. There were voices outside the door. When they heard me shuffling around the room, they came in. A man and a woman, to be exact.
"Who am I?" I asked with childish innocence, too young to feel fear at not knowing who I was.
"Your name is Sakurazuka K. You are four years old, and an orphan." The man said, his simple answer spoken in monotone.
"K? You mean like Kay, or Kei, right?" I felt suddenly happy. Knowing your own name is such a wonderful thing, and even if you really don't know who you are, it gives you such a great sense of security to know you have a name. To know you are somebody, not just another faceless person.
"No. Your name is K. That's what your birth certificate says."
"Where am I? Who are you?"
"You are at the main house of the Sakurazuka family, to begin your training. We are your cousins." The woman said, her voice devoid of expression.
From that day on, I was known simply as Sakura. No one ever called me K becauseno one ever cared enough to learn my first name. I never bothered to correct them. It saved me the shame of telling them my first name consisted of a single letter. Then, two years later, the woman came back.
When I was in my martial arts sparring session with the other Sakurazuka children of the same age, she came in and pulled me out. She told me I would be going to Tokyo to live with another relation of mine, a young man named Seishirou. She said he had inquired about me, had been interested in my training and how I was doing over the past two years. So off I went, sent to live with some unknown man.
The first time I saw Seishirou-niichan was when I got off the train. He was a kind-looking man in his middle twenties.
"So, you must be Sakura-chan?" He said as he took my luggage.
"Mmmm Hmmm." I said shyly, nodding my head.
"Well, we'd better get going. I have some friends I'm meeting in a little while, and we shouldn't be late, should we?" he smiled. I found myself beginning to like this previously-unknown cousin of mine.
We got into his car at the parking lot, a black mustang. He opened the door to the back set for me. I got in, and he closed the door. He opened his door and got in the driver's seat, then started the car. For a while we sat in silence, me just enjoying the scenery of a place other than the Main House, him concentrating on driving.
"What does your house look like, Seishirou-san?" I asked quietly, still somewhat nervous around this man.
"Oh, it's a big white house with lots of trees and a large backyard. Most of the trees are cherry trees. Do you like cherry trees, Sakura-chan?"
(A/N: Japanese speakers, did you get the pun? Sakura means cherry, cherry blossom,or cherry tree, to those of you who don't speak Japanese I just made up the part about Sei-chan's house. Gomen!)
"Mmmmm Hmmm. They're pretty."
"Well, we're here." Seishirou pulled the car into the driveway of a pretty white house, just like he had described. "Shall we go in, then?" He asked as he walked around to the trunk and got my luggage. I nodded, getting out of the car. My white sundress blew in the wind. It was so beautiful, all the cherry trees were in bloom. I ran to the gate that closed off the front yard from the back, I saw that one of the trees in the back had been fitted out with a swing at the perfect height for me.
"Are you ready to go in, Sakura-chan?" Seishirou asked from behind me. I jumped, my reflexes taking over. Before I realized it, I had sent a roundhouse kick right towards Seishirou. I closed my eyes, afraid to see myself hurting this person who had taken me in. When I realized that my foot hadn't connected with his body and opened my eyes, I saw him laughing.
"That hasn't happened to me in a while. They must have put you through some pretty intense training." He smiled. "Well, are you ready to go in?" I blushed, then nodded, embarrassed.
He opened the gate, and went down a small stone path to the back door. We went inside, and took our shoes off. There was another surprise awaiting me there. He had bought a brand-new pair of pale pink slippers, just for me! It was too hard to put my graditude into words, so I just turned around and hugged him. Then, when I realized what I was doing, I shied away, releasing him from my embrace. I felt ashamed, since the teachers at the main house had discouraged physical contact, unless, of course, it was for combat purposes.
He laughed again. "Sakura-chan, we are no longer at the Main House. It IS okay to hug people here." For the umpteenth time that day, I nodded, blushing. He gave me a tour of the house, from the top floor attic to the basement kennels. I learned he was a veterinarian who owned his own animal clinic. This was another joy for a six-year-old girl, because I loved animals. At the main house, we weren't allowed to have pets.
Then he showed me my room. To any normal little girl, the room would have seemed plain, even boring, but, then again, I wasn't a normal girl. The walls were a plain white, but the bed was covered with a beautiful quilt of different shades of blue. There was a white dresser and desk, and a tall mirror with blue trim. On one shelf, there were about five brand-new stuffed animals. The window, situated just above the head of the bed, looked out onto the backyard. I turned around and hugged Seishirou again, this time not pulling away for a couple of minutes.
"Sakura-chan, we have to leave now. My friends are waiting for us." We went back to the car and drove for a little while. Seishirou told me that he and his friends were going to get some Ice Cream at a store with a peculiar sounding name. When we arrived and got out of the car, I heard footsteps coming towards us.
"Sei-chan! You're late! What took you so long?" A female voice called. A teenaged girl with short black hair came running up to us. She was dressed somewhat strangely, in a unique dress. It seemed to have butterfly wings coming out of the back. (A/N: See TB book one, the part about Tokyo Tower )
"Who's this?" She asked. "Sei-chan, you haven't been cheating on Subaru, have you?"
"Huh?" A boy who looked almost exactly like her came running up, following. " Hokuto-chan! Don't go running off like that!"
"Hello, Subaru-kun." Seishirou said.
"H-hello, Seishirou-san." For some reason, he seemed a bit flustered.
"Hokuto-chan, I was not cheating on Subaru-kun. I love him with all of my heart." Subaru had a large coughing fit at this rematk. I looked quizzically at Seishirou. "This is Sakura-chan. She's a cousin of mine who will be living with me for a while."
"Hiya, Sakura-chan." Hokuto said. "My name is Sumeragi Hokuto. You can call me Hokuto, though. And this-" she pointed at the boy "-is my twin brother Sumeragi Subaru. You can call him Subaru." Sumeragi, I thought. I had heard that name before. Oh, well.
"Alright," I said softly. "Seishirou-san, your friends are very nice." I said, looking up at him.
"You call him Seishirou-san, even though you two are related?" Hokuto exclaimed, clearly shocked. I nodded. "That won't do! You have to call him Sei-chan like we do!"
"Like you do, Hokuto-chan." Subaru muttered.
"You can call me that too, if you want, Subaru-kun." Seishirou said, having caught the remark. "And you, Sakura-chan, may call me whatever you want. We're family now." He smiled.
"Yeah! We're all family!" Hokuto said, cheerful as ever. "So that means you have to call me neechan, and Subaru niichan, and Seishirou whatever you want!"
"Altight, Hokuto-neechan." I said, uncertain. "Seishirou-niichan, can we go inside?"
All three of them laughed at that. "You're quite right, Sakura-chan. We HAVE been standing out here for quite a while. What do you say we all go and get some ice cream?"
"YES!" Hokuto yelled, and we all went into the store.
Please review and tell me what you think! Ja ne!