Chapter Six: Hers

"Mother, mother, look!"

Little Sakura raised her hand to her mother's smiling face. "I gots a pink flower!"

Nadeshiko patted her daughter's head and gingerly took the flower from her small hand, placing it on her open palm. Bringing her daughter closer to her as she knelt down to her level, she kissed Sakura's cheek and spoke gently.

"This is a cherry-blossom dear. It's called 'Sakura'."

Sakura's green eyes rounded with surprise. "A flower steals my name?"

Nadeshiko chuckled and shook her head. Such innocence. "No, my darling daughter, the flower did not steal your name."

"Then why this flower gots my name?"

"It's because I love cherry-blossoms and I wanted to name my beautiful, cute daughter—" she lightly pinched Sakura's flushed cheeks and grinned. "—Sakura, for its beauty, elegance and for the joy it brings me."

Sakura hadn't had the slightest clue what her mother just said but she knew in her heart that it sounded like an angel speaking to her face and she hugged her mother for showing such love. But before her mother could speak again, a loud crash was heard from inside the house and Nadeshiko looked up with shock.

"What's that?"

Nadeshiko stood up and held Sakura's little hand as she cautiously walked towards the back door. Through the gauzy material in the middle of the door, she could see her husband throwing several of her favourite vases to the floor and having a terrible fit about something. She searched frantically for her son.

"Mother, what's hap-en?"

Nadeshiko looked down to her daughter and smiled into her face. "Sakura, I want you to find your brother and stay wherever he is. OK? I want to talk to your father."

Sakura blinked, nodded and ran along the gravel pathway around the house to the front door where she pulled it open, poked her little head in and climbed up the stairs calling out her brother's name. But when she reached her brother's room, he was nowhere in sight.

"Touya?" She blinked, shrugged, and ran down the stairs again, her little feet muted by the carpeting. She was about to run towards the kitchen when a hand flew to her mouth and pulled her back. "Mmm!"

"Shh!"

She turned her head over. "Mmmm…?"

Touya lowered his gaze to her, "Don't scream, OK?"

She nodded.

As he pulled his hand away, "Mother and Father are at it again," he sighed heavily and shook his head.

Sakura tilted her head at him and looked towards the kitchen. They were hiding by the doorframe to the kitchen so all Sakura could see were shadows coming towards each other. Touya seemed to be the only one who could understand what was going on.

"Ne, Touya, what's hap-en?"

"Shh…" he hushed her and leaned closer. "Listen."

Sakura leaned closer.

"… I can't believe they fired me again, Nadeshiko! They fired me! Those bastards—"

"Fujitaka!" Nadeshiko stopped him before he could swear again. She never liked the way Fujitaka gets when he's angry, and when he does get angry he'd swear like an oblivious sailor. "Our children are here…"

He stared at her through his frosted glasses. "I can't take it anymore, Nadeshiko! I can't take these people anymore! What do I have that offends them so much? What kind of bad luck do I have that they can't keep me for years?" He shook his head and grabbed onto his pounding head. "I can't do this anymore…"

"Fujitaka, please, calm down. I know it's been hard ever since that day but you can't give up now, right?" She came up to him, held his face and smiled. "You're not a quitter."

He looked into her pale sophistication and crumbled. He hadn't realised how broken apart he was until he saw his wife's face and it ached him like never before. "Nadeshiko, I…"

As if she knew what he was talking about, she pulled her husband for an assuring hug. "I know," she whispered into his ear and sighed. "I know."

Sakura blinked at her parents and looked over to Touya. "What's hap-en?"

Touya just stared at them, pulled his gaze away and glumly walked away. Sakura called out to him but a shadow engulfed her body and she froze. She timidly looked over her shoulder.

"Sakura?"

It was only her dearest mother.

"Mother!" She smiled up at her and hugged her mother's leg. She glanced up and smiled again. "Father!" She bounded up to him for a hug, but Fujitaka stopped her with a gentle push to her forehead.

"Fujitaka!"

Sakura furrowed her brows. "Father?"

Fujitaka looked down at her, frowned and looked away. "I'm going to bed." He spoke, brushed past his girls and climbed up the stairs to the bedroom.

Sakura, only being three-years-old, still couldn't comprehend the pure confusion in her head. But when she looked back to her mother, all confusing thoughts melted away and she hugged her mother again.

That night, after cooking for her whole family but only ate with her daughter, she pulled Sakura close to her and turned the TV on. She placed the remote control down to the table, lay on the long couch and ruffled Sakura's auburn hair.

"Ne, mother," Sakura called out, her green eyes fixated on the grey rabbit and a black duck fighting over territory. "Can we have a rabbit and a duck?"

Nadeshiko laughed and pulled her daughter closer. "No, darling, we can't."

"Then can we gets a kitty?" She climbed onto her mother's stomach and grinned into her pale face. "The girl next door gots a cat named Poop!"

Nadeshiko laughed again, this time a little harder as she looked into her daughter's eyes all bright and pure. "Only if you behave,"

"I will behave!" Sakura pouted and crossed her arms. "I always behave!"

Her mother smiled and nodded. "Yes, you always do." She took a deep breath, coughed for a moment, and sighed shakily. "Goodness me,"

"Mother, what's hap-en?" Sakura lowered her face to stare at her mother. "You gots cold?"

Nadeshiko shook her head and wrapped an arm around her daughter's little body propped on her stomach. She smiled again. "I'm fine."

Sakura blinked for a few moments, grinned and lowered her face so she could listen to her mother's calm heartbeat. "Good night, mother."

Nadeshiko's eyes softened upon her daughter's head and sighed heavily, this time avoiding the ache in her heart and the knot to her stomach as she closed her eyes and…

"Good night… Sakura."

Hoped for the best.

Sakura was having the dream of her life, bouncing on purple marshmallows and singing to a tune stuck in her head. There were yellow rabbits hopping around with red carrots in their paws, blue ducks quacking in the distance and pink birds with white stripes chirping as they flew in the sky.

But as she was about to drink something from the rainbow-coloured water, a dark cloud hovered above her and she looked up, suddenly frightened. She called out for her mother's name but her voice wasn't heard from anywhere. Sakura panicked, but she called out again this time with eagerness and hope.

Mother!

"Mother, mother, wake up, please!"

There was a furious shake to her body and a pair of big hands suddenly carried her and dropped her to something hard. Sakura yelped in pain and flipped her eyes open. She stared at her surroundings, realised she was only dreaming and smiled. She looked over to her right and—

"Mother!!!!"

"Quiet, Touya!" It was her father, bent over her sleeping mother. "Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko, please, wake up!"

Sakura blinked, came to her feet and walked up to them. "What's hap-en?"

Touya threw his head over to look at her with furious eyes and Sakura was taken aback. Her brother would never look at her like that unless it was something she had done wrong. But what had she done wrong this time? Did she forget to clear up her toys again? Did she forget to brush her teeth? Did she—

"Touya," her father spoke.

Her brother looked back to her father knelt on the floor. "Yes, father?"

"Call an ambulance, please,"

Touya's eyes widened. For a moment there all Sakura could do was stare and stand still in the midst of her confusion. What's going on? Why are they yelling at her mother like that? Isn't she sleeping? Doesn't her father know her mother's only sleeping and she will wake up in the morning?

Her father tossed his head to her and he rose to his feet, making a point to his little daughter that he's huge and intimidating. Sakura shivered in fright. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of her own father.

"What did you do? Are you stupid or something?! Did you realise what you've done to her?!" He yelled down to her. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TRYING TO DO?!"

"B-B-But… I don't know! Father, I don't know—"

"You don't know?! How can you not know when you're the one who killed her?" He towered his daughter for a moment, then grabbed her shoulders and raised her so he could stare into her frightened watery eyes. "Because of you she died!"

Sakura shook her head, all but confused. "I did nots kill mother!"

Touya came into the living room, glared at her and shook his head. Sakura stared at him, hoping he'd save her from their father, but all he ignored them and he came up to her mother with a sad expression to his face. What did she do?

She looked back to her father who had long shed tears. "Father—"

"You are not fit to be my daughter any more than you are fit to call me father!" He yelled again, but this time he threw his daughter across the floor.

"Ahh!" Sakura screeched in pain and held her arm, tears welled up in her eyes. "F-Father…!"

"Shut up!" He yelled back. "You stay there and don't move! Don't do anything else!"

She wanted to scream, to run up to him and hug him until he's alright but what he'd done, what he'd said to her… she couldn't help but cry and cry.

"M-Mother…"

Three years on and there hadn't been any change to the broken family; pots and pans stayed scattered on the floor every time her father returns from wherever he went to, empty bottles of beer constantly filled the trash bin to its brim, and dirty plates and bowls lay stinking up the sink. Sakura was only six but her mind was keen on cleaning everything up, hoping it'd bring her family back together again. But every time she tried, her brother would yell at her at the top of his lungs and call her dumb for misplacing several things when they should be placed somewhere else. And through those yells, Sakura could only hold back her tears and pain and retreated further into solitude. She prayed for an angel to come to her rescue and save her from the nightmare she's in, but every single day that had passed by her no one had saved her from anything… not even the consistent beatings by both her father and her brother.

They blamed her for everything, for ruining their lives, for killing her mother, for breaking their hearts and making them put up with her every stinking year. She never meant to hurt them, she never meant to make them suffer, but despite all they've done to her, she loved them dearly for being who they are, how they meant so much to her.

Then one night, as she lay on her back in between her blanket and her bed sheets, her eyes locked onto her plain grey canopy above her, she brought her hands together and prayed her hardest. She prayed her mother would forgive her, her father, her brother, and all the years her mother spent crying over her family from the heavens. And before she slumbered, she whispered one final wish…

"Take me away so they could be happy again…"

The next morning, besides the quiet calm aura that suddenly engulfed the home, a female voice came to her ears and she peeked out from her bedroom. She could see two shadows, one tall and slim while the other short and petite. She furrowed her brows, crept on the floor towards the top of the stairs. Grabbing onto the wooden frame of the stairs, she lowered her head and caught a glimpse of long flowing raven hair and pale skin. Who are they?

"… I cannot understand why you'd do this to her! For three years, Fujitaka. Three years! Why can't you just surrender her to Nadeshiko's grandfather? Why?!" The tall woman spoke to her father. "I live just across the street and I can hear her painful screams telling you to stop and how sorry she was. How could you keep hurting her like this?"

"What I've done to my family has nothing to do with you, Sonomi, so I suggest you leave now."

Sakura crept closer, dropped her head lower and peeked. Now she can see who the visitors are: a tall, slim lady with short hair and a fringe that stops after her right eye. It looked weird but the woman's strong stature appealed to Sakura and she was drawn to her beauty. Then there was the little girl standing beside her, with her wavy raven hair let down past her shoulders but just above her waist. She had such pale skin Sakura almost thought she was a ghost – which she never liked seeing at all. But what drew Sakura closer with curiosity was how bright and beautiful her lavender eyes looked. At once, she knew who they really were.

"Ah! Mother!" The little girl chirped and tugged on her mother's coat, her finger pointed to Sakura. "It's her! It's her!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she stumbled back, but unfortunately she had lost her footing and had tumbled down the stairs. She ached and winced in pain, rubbing her sore bottom and her arms and legs. The girl giggled, ran up to her and helped her up.

"Are you alright, Sakura?"

Sakura looked up to stare into those lavender eyes again. This time a warm feeling had filled her up and Sakura timidly smiled. "Y-Yes,"

The girl smiled brightly. "My name is—"

"What the hell do you think you're doing up so early?!" Her father's voice boomed and she dropped her hands to her sides, her head lowered. "I told you never to come down until I call you. Are you deaf or some—"

"Fujitaka!" Sonomi gasped in utter shock. "How could you say that to your own daughter?" She frowned at him, "That is it, this is the last straw. I am not letting you abuse this child any further!"

Fujitaka glared back at her. "And how do you propose on achieving that, Sonomi?"

"By calling Social Services and charge you for child abuse."

He just shrugged. "If that means you're legally taking her out of my sight then by all means, please," he bowed impolitely. "Take her as far away as possible, Sonomi. She's no longer a daughter of mine but an abomination—"

Sonomi immediately threw her hand across his cheek and panted with anger. She had had enough with his foul mouth, foul attitude, and foul soul and heart towards his only daughter. She'd never known Fujitaka to be so violent and pushed way overboard, and made it seemed like he was on the brink of insanity. She never thought he'd respond to her threat unbothered and oblivious, but to abuse his daughter's presence even when she's still in the room… it was way over her principals and she just reacted.

"Mother!"

Fujitaka looked back to her, his hand on his red cheek. "Sonomi—"

"I pity Nadeshiko and her daughter, and I pray hard she'd forgive the sins you've committed, Fujitaka," she held out a hand to her daughter. "Yet I do not blame her if she wouldn't," she looked over to Sakura, formed a warm smile and held out her other hand. "Come here, Sakura."

Sakura was hesitant but when she turned her head to look at her father, all she saw was impatience and clearly, he wasn't affected by the fact that a total stranger was taking her away and that there'd be no chance she would come back to him. How have he turned this way?

With a bite to her trembling lower lip, she grasped onto the girl's pale hand, shut her eyes and felt her body step out of the house and onto the gravel pathway leading further from the front door. She wanted to look back, to see her father cry for her for once. But when she suddenly heard the door slammed shut behind her, she immediately fell to her knees and cried out her pain.

Sonomi swung herself around and quickly grabbed hold of the weeping child. "Oh no, please don't cry, Sakura," she whispered gently into Sakura's ear, as she rubbed her back and held her head. "I know, I know. You're hurt, I know…" She spoke even softer. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of you now, OK? Aunt Sonomi will take care of you. I promise I won't let anybody hurt you ever again."

Sakura raised her head to look into the woman's warm eyes, and for a moment there she thought she saw her mother. She glanced over her shoulder to the other girl; she had a worried look on her face, too, and it took Sakura by surprise. They're worried about her. She never had anybody worried about her before, not even after her mother had passed on, and it warmed her from head to toe.

Sonomi pulled Sakura's face back in. "Will you accept us, Sakura?"

Sakura eyed the beautiful woman in front of her, then to the girl who had joined them. For a moment, her father's image, her brother's scowl, and her mother's warm smile flashed in front of her, and a horrible knot squeezed her insides. But now, as she was being embraced by her two angels, she felt nothing else but warmth, love, and hope, and she returned their embraces with a tight embrace of her own. With tears welled up in her eyes, she buried her face into Sonomi's shoulder and cried.

"Arigatou…" She mumbled.


Sakura rolled on her side and stared at the picture sitting on her side table. It was a picture of her beloved mother, smiling at her with her curly locks of raven hair all over her face and cherry-blossom petals floating all around her.

She hadn't meant to remember the painful past but she couldn't care less. She'd been feeling raw pain ever since the school dance yesterday. Although, remembering her past wasn't anywhere related to the pain she felt for Syaoran and that… that…

She shut her eyes and squeezed her pillow, feeling tears form and fall from her eyes. She couldn't understand why she'd been crying so much just for an insolent womaniser like Syaoran. And yet, she couldn't help but cry. Tomoyo had noticed the sudden change and had offered to go shopping with her and Eriol. But Sakura declined and told her to enjoy her happy life while she still has it. Tomoyo, being in love with Eriol, had obliged with a grin. Sakura couldn't blame the bouncy girl – the man's a good catch for a bespectacled man like him. And she was happy for her, actually, and hoped for the best that she and Eriol worked out just fine.

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself, Sakura?"

Sakura watched her from the door and nodded. "Enjoy yourself, OK? Don't worry about me."

Tomoyo's shoulders dropped and she came back up to her friend. She wrapped her arms around Sakura and kissed her cheek. "I'll come back with something nice for you, OK? I promise."

Sakura just smiled and waved goodbye to her retreating form. She left happy, she'll definitely come back happier.

She tossed over again and looked at the reflection on her full-length mirror. Her face was blotchy and had dark circles under her eyes. Her lips were pale against her terribly paler skin and her green eyes had lost its unique emerald shine. She was a wreck but she didn't care. She was glad today was a Sunday and she wasn't in any pressure of handing up projects or the upcoming final year exams due next month.

And all this pain she's going through was over a man who'd manipulated her from the very beginning, treated her like she was special to him only to throw her off the cliff and roar with laughter as she fell. He was a jerk for being who he was and a bastard for what he'd done. It was like her soul had been torn apart and she had let him.

This has got to stop, all this nonsense with the crying and aching in pain. It has got to stop. If this keeps going on, there'd be no end. She chose to be strong ever since she left her home and had buried her past beneath her feet. She wanted to be strong for her mother and prove to everyone she wasn't a ditzy girl leeching on people's money, food and roofs. She wasn't dumb or stupid like her father and her brother would always say. And what Syaoran did to her was no exception. She'll just get over it like the other pains she got over. She'd be sure she'll turn out better than before, stronger, smarter, and most definitely colder.

She didn't care if people will loathe the new Sakura she'll be because it's up to them to decide whether she turned out for the better or for the worst. She knows Tomoyo will accept whoever she'll become and would support her all the way. And if Syaoran dares to even take a brief look at her way, she'll come to him with an Axe and bludgeon him to death for the pain he caused – well, of course that'd only be in her imagination…

She cracked an amused smile, sobbed and wiped her tears. Tomoyo would understand. She always does. If Tomoyo disagrees with the new Sakura and tells her to patch things up with Syaoran, she might get another imagination where Tomoyo gets hurt with a pipe to her head – which will always be, she stressed, an imagination on her part.

She sighed, sat up on her bed and walked out of her bedroom towards the kitchen. She pulled open the refrigerator door, grabbed a juice box and poked the silver circle with her straw. She slammed the door closed, slurped her juice, and was about to plonk down to the couch when the doorbell rang.

All of a sudden, her world stopped and she stared wide-eyed at the closed beige door. She couldn't understand why she was reacting like this but she knew one thing: that the person behind that door was someone she prayed would never come, would never interfere, and would never break her heart ever again.

The doorbell rang again and there was a furious hard knock to her door. Her heart leapt out of her chest, came back, and leapt out again. She drained her juice box, tossed it into the bin and cautiously walked up to the door, this time, with her insides squeezed and lopsided in anxiety. Why in heaven's name am I nervous?!

She reached for the doorknob, turned and pulled it open—

"Touya…?"

End of Chapter Six

Author's Note: OK, so you're wondering why i would make our beloved Fujitaka become the devil he wasn't known to be. Well, for starter's, Sakura was abused, wasn't she? So i had to make him the abusive parent if not the plot wouldn't fit together properly and it'd be all the more confusing. So i'm sorry, my reviewers, if i did this to Fujitaka. I had a hard time choosing who i wanna make the evil person here. But still, i hoped you could relate to how abusive parents actually are and that i've portrayed a somewhat similar attitude in our dear Fujitaka. LOL. Sorry, OK? Anyways, yes, i meant to split memories with Sakura and Syaoran and give them a chapter of their own. It's to solely explain their backgrounds and why they've become who they've become. And if you're wondering what actually killed our sweet Nadeshiko, hehehehe... you havta review this chapter and the next chapter, to find out. Thanks for reviewing! And those who added me for Author/Story Alert, do review as well, alright? Please? It ain't hard... LOL.

Love,

Yoshimi-chan