Sakura: The Last Flower

Chapter Two

Sakura's Decision : Is It For the Best?

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS. Some lucky person from another continent does.

Hi every one I'm sorry for the delays please don't hate me.

To make it up to you all, I have produced the next chapter. Longer, of course, than the first chapter.

So here we go.

Sakura's POV

Since my father left Touya and I have been helping mother with the bills. Touya and I are very good artists.

We made small paintings or did portraits of people to bring in extra money.

About every thing drawn or painted that we sold, brought in about 3 acka. Not very much but still it was something.

In addition to the artwork we sold we also worked with mother to sell things from our garden.

The family garden was our pride and joy. It was the largest garden in the area. We grew all kinds of fruit and vegetables. But if you walked towards the very back of it that sloped down towards the pond you would see what in my opinion was the best part.

The flowers.

Mother and I grew some of the most beautiful flowers in Caucasus. Perhaps even in the whole empire.

Lilies, tulips, forget-me-nots, as well as other beautiful blossoms, but my favorites were the ones for which I was named. The cherry blossoms better known as Sakura blossoms.

Normal POV

Sakura devoted most of her free time experimenting with the blossoms and producing colors other than the natural pink. This was currently a popular practice in the empire.

Just recently in the empire they had begun holding flower hybrid festivals. Offering prizes for the rarest breeds produced.

So far with Touya's help she had been able to produce dark pink petal cherry blossoms with bluish purple tips.

Still with all the money they brought in from the garden and their meager artwork, in comparison to their father's, it was still hard to provide for the five-member family.

Sometimes people would come to Sakura and buy potted cherry trees from her but that was hardly a big help seeing as Caucasus wasn't the richest of cities.

Sakura's POV.

A normal day for me would be walking down to the market place and trying to sell that days load of goods. Most of the times I would sell out, on not so good days I would barely sell a thing.

Touya would come later in the day because he spent his mornings doing odd jobs around the city. Then he came later in the evening wit larger portions of goods seeing as he could carry larger loads. After we sold what we could for the day we would head back home.

One particular day as I walked toward madam Oshka the herb mixers hut I saw some of the men my father used to play mahjong with.

"Hello Sakura." Said the largest of them, Remahadon

Hello sir, how have you been?"

Well things have been better but I really can't complain. Where are you headed? To see Oshka perhaps?" he inquired of me.

"Yes I was going to see if she had any pest repellent for our gardens as mother asked."

"Okay then see ya around."

"Goodbye sir it was pleasant seeing you." I said as I walked past him.

As I walked away I overheard him and the others speak saying, " Little Sakura is a real gem. She has a real green finger when it comes to growing stuff I'll tell ya."

Yeah she's like a little miracle worker, mixing them plants together and what not."

"Yeah, too bad about her father. Fujitaka was a good man. It's a shame his family have to struggle like this." I heard another say.

I quickly hurried on my way. I didn't need or want anyone's pity. I was strong enough to survive with out my father and so was the rest of my family. We were a team. And we were going to make it just fine.

A couple of months ago a storm hit and ruined a lot of our garden. We were very pressed for money and mother was very stressed out. Our garden was our main source of income.

I was upset about the garden as well but pleased that most of my cherry trees stood firm. The unfortunate ones that had been destroyed, I uprooted keeping their bulbs in my room. These would be used in my future experiments. I had succeeded in producing yellow, purple and blue blossom. Touya' and my future conquest would be to grow a pink blossom with black tips. No one had been able to produce such a hybrid as of yet.

Today I had to go to the market place to buy momma some chicken eggs. Ass usual I was gonna bargain for the best price possible. Part of going o the market meant learning to haggle.

As I walked home with my two-dozen eggs I saw 6 men wearing the uniform of the Li Empire, they were wearing green kaftans over black salvars. On the back of their kaftans was a golden dragon wrapped around a silver wolf.

One of them spotted me and then whispered something to the others. They all glanced at me before turning away and walking away nodding their heads in agreement.

What they were agreeing about was a mystery to me.

Later that evening after our early meal there was a knock upon our door. As mother called out that she would answer I walked towards my small window and chanced a peek outside.

I gasped in surprise. It was three of the men from earlier along with our mayor.

Curious as to know why they were here, I walked quickly to the hall pantry and closed myself in. this way I could hear all that was going on. I heard mother greet them and invite them in.

I pressed myself against the door in an attempt to hear the conversation. My mother being a true hostess offered them a snack or refreshments. They declined.

What shocked me though was the conversation that followed.

Mayor "Please Nadeshko be reasonable. You barely have enough to feed yourself let alone your four children."

Nadeshko "I refuse to part with her. I will not let you have her."

Mayor "They will take her to a fine household in the heart of the empire. She will be well cared for and will marry to a good husband who will care to her every need. And before you protest think about this. They are offering enough to feed your family for a very long time. Mayhap two or three years if you continue to spend wisely. I am well aware of the hardships you have endured since your husband had to leave. I also know that you may be afraid to part with your child but it is better to part ways sending her to have a better life then to part in death. And that is most likely what is to happen if you don't let her go and take the money to provide for the rest of your family."

The men remained silent. Maybe they didn't speak our tongue well.

But my mother stood firm. " I absolutely refuse to part with anyone else I love. She is my child. I will provide for her. I will not let any of them die. Do you understand me?"

Mayor " Listen she is not a child but what you are doing is very much the behavior of a child. You are denying your daughter a better life. This is a very generous offer that not many would ever receive though they may wish to. Think of Sakura and what she could become if you were to let her leave. Also think of your other children. Don't they all deserve better. Think it over very carefully."

Nadeshko "I have thought it over and my answer is still no. It will remain the same regarding her and it would be the same regarding the rest of my children. I need them they are my children, just as they need me because I am their mother. Now please leave. You have upset me very much."

She began to usher them towards the door.

The mayor's voice became very irritated, " Very well if you wish to hold to your foolish refusal go right ahead, but I warn you that this offer will not come again and nor will these men. After tomorrow they return to the empire. If you change your mind you know where to find me."

As they left I heard the door close with ominous control.

I then heard my mother release a strangled and frustrated cry before marching off.

As I heard the door to her sleeping quarters close I carefully exited the closet and fled to my room.

As I lay in my sleep pad I felt tears come to my eyes. I was in a very difficult situation. Now more then ever I wished my father home. I wished he were hear and began to rock my self back and forth. My mother needed money to care for us or we would starve this coming winter.

These mysterious men were offering just that all in exchange for me. Why they would want me was beyond my comprehension.

What I could understand was that if my father were here we wouldn't be in this predicament.

I also wished there was something I could do. If I left with those men I would be taken far away deep into the Li Empire most likely never to return to my family or at least not any time soon.

I heard Alena and Kazuya begin to cry and got up to go check on them.

When I got to they were standing outside of the house with tears on their faces.

"Is it twue dat we gonna not have anymore food to eat and stuff." Kazu said trying his best to form legible words with his hiccupping sob voice.

"Yeah and why momma cry and be mad." Alena asked.

"No, that is not going to happen. We are going to be just fine I promise e you that so don't even think about worrying about it. And don't worry about mom either because she is going to be fine too. She just got upset like all mom 's do. Some people said some things that she didn't like and instead of saying stupid things back she decided to let her anger out by crying okay." I said trying my best to explain to their three year old minds as best as I could.

"Yeah listen to the kaiju." Touya said in a comforting voice. Still that didn't stop me from realizing what he'd said.

"Baka! Sakura no Kaiju!" I said stomping on his foot.

The twins giggled at our normal bickering.

"That sure felt like something a monster would do, Kaiju.' He said rubbing his now sore foot.

I grabbed the nearest blunt object and yelled, "My name is Sakura, Sa-Ku-Ra!" I sounded out as I began to chase him around the garden much to the delight of the twins.

Later that night I lay awake four hours wondering over the earlier proposition from those empire men.

I forced my self into a fitful sleep knowing I had a difficult decision to make come the morning. Sleep would only make it a bit easier and I welcomed all the help and comfort I could get. I had a strange feeling that whatever I decided would be painful but also for the best. I knew I had to look out for my family's best interest. Just as father had taught me.

No matter what I chose to do, I decided I would try my hardest to be strong. I would try even harder not to cry. Well at least not much.

But who knew what the future held. And who knew it would be so hard to live with your decision or even carry it out. Certainly not me.

As I awoke the next morning I carried on my daily routine as best as possible trying not to weep over every little thing that I did.

As I went to carry out my daily market routine I asked around, trying to find out where the men were staying.

At last someone told me and I made a small detour away from my normal morning route.

Just as I'd been told the six men sat underneath the canvas roof eating a meal and discussing something in their tongue.

Now I was in a weird position because I realized I needed to speak with them in order to carry out my plan. In order to speak with them I needed to speak the same. Oh man what am I supposed to do.

As I wondered about my situation I failed to notice that one of the men had walked right up to me. In fact it was the same man who had first spotted me. He had not been one of the men to show up at the house yesterday.

Him looming over me brought me out of my trance and back to life.

"Umm" I said

"Do you need something?" he asked

This shocked me so much I was speechless. But only a moment.

Meanwhile the man leaned in closer giving me a questioning look when I suddenly was able to form words.

"Hoeeee," I said startling the man back a bout a foot but I took no notice. I was to busy trying to figure things out in my own world this is unbelievable. This whole time I was trying to find a way to talk to these guys and here he is able to talk to me. So what was the mayor dictating yesterday for? Hoeee I'm so confused." Suddenly I realized what I was doing or more importantly where I was doing it. I blushed and turned to the man.

"Sorry." I apologized

"Now I assume that you came here for a reason, correct?" He asked.

Now was the moment of truth. For a moment I really wanted to run back home. I wanted so badly to be in father's arms. I wanted someone to hold me and tell me that this didn't need to be done. A million things went through my mind. Why I shouldn't do this. How I really didn't need to do this.

I pushed all those thoughts away telling myself that I did have to do this. That I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let this opportunity slip away. How would I be able to live knowing that one of my little siblings died knowing that I could have prevented it. No I couldn't, I would not let that happen.

So in a voice filled with more confidence, courage and strength then I felt or had in my body I held up my head and said, "I'll do it. I'll sell myself and go with you… I'll go into the Li Empire with you………..

Well there you have it. Chapter two. Next chapter has Tomoyo's appearance in it. Don't miss it.

I hope you liked this chapter. I do, a lot.

And thank you to all my reviewers. This story is now dedicated to you.

I Lub you all.

Goldenskyblue