Chapter 10: Sakura's memories

Angela looked at her best friend. After seeing Angela nearly collapse on coming back from her memories, Sakura had been scared. What if her memories were nearly as bad or worse? Sakura had all these questions in her head that she froze.

'Sakura? C'mon.' Sakura looked at Jack, who spoke, and smiled. She took in a deep breath and tentatively touched the cover of the case and was brought back to Kyoto, Japan.

The year was 1711. There was a Japanese princess, roaming around her neat garden. Her almond shaped eyes looking at a single cherry blossom flower. It was nearing spring and this was the first bud to bloom. She smiled.

'Hana! Anata no Otō-san wa anata o yonde iru!' (Which translates into: 'Flower! Your father is calling for you!') The girl turned around and you could clearly see her face. She had a slender face that was easy on the eyes. She had dark brown eyes with a small dot on the end of her right eye. Just below her bottom eyelid. Her long, black hair was tied up in a bun. Her face was powdered white with red lips. She had a single flower in her hair. She wore a traditional kimono that was pink and green. Her eyes widened as she ran as fast as she could. Up the stairs, round the pillar, and into the Emperor's throne room. She saw a handsome young man, kneeling before the Emperor with a general.

'Hana wa, koreha Hokkaidō no purinsudesu.' (Which translates into: 'Flower, this is the prince of Hokkaido.) The emperor said, raising a knowing eyebrow to his daughter. She looked at the man and was stunned. Her mouth was open. She could tell what her father was implying.

'Iie! Iie! Otō-san! Watashi wa anata ni itta!' (Which translates into: 'No! No! Father! I have told you!') The princess yelled and ran out of the throne room. She ran into her room and slid the shōji open. Her feet treading lightly on the tatami floors. She fell into her futon and cried. Her father would never let her do her own decisions. This princess was one of the fairest girls in the land and what with her 16th birthday coming, she had to get married. But she wanted to see the world. Her little sister knocked on the Shoji and came in.

'Onee-chan? Anata wa daijōbudesuka?' (Which translates into: 'Sister? Are you ok?') The fourteen year old asked. Her sister patted her head.

'Akiko. Watashi ga anata o mamorimasu! Tatoe nani ga arou to!' Which translates into: 'Akiko. I will protect you! No matter what!') Her sister said fiercely.

-One year later, 1712-

The girl was holding her fourteen year old sister and was running. A war had broken up during the year. The Hikiro clan had put up a good fight for the last couple of months but the enemy had infiltrated the castle with ninja. The princess ran as fast as they could. They reached the gate that led them into the back garden when an unexpected ninja popped out from nowhere.

Akiko screamed. Hana, Akiko's sister, had a kunai knife hidden in her kimono sleeve and pierced the ninja. The ninja dropped down good and dead. Akiko looked at her sister in awe. Hana grinned and held the blade.

'Watashi wa kunainaifu o dokusatsu!' (Which translates into: 'I poisoned the kunai knife!') Hana pushed the dead ninja away and opened the gate. But what was shown before was even more horrific. There were ninja and samurai everywhere. Fighting or laying still on the ground. The girls tried to turn back but were frozen. A samurai noticed them and faced towards them. Big mistake. A ninja grabbed a katana and stabbed the samurai right through him. The samurai choked out blood and fell to the ground. Hana covered her sister's eyes, covering her from the awful sight. The young one whimpered.

Hana looked around for a way out, but met eyes with a ninja. His eyes glowing green. She stood fiercely in front of her sister. She grabbed the handle of the kunai in her sleeve and waited for her chance. The ninja disappeared. She looked around behind her and felt a pain in her abdomen. She looked down and saw that a katana was piercing her. Even though she couldn't see the face of her assassin, she could tell he was grinning. She took out her kunai and in a flash, stabbed the enemy in the heart. The ninja flopped lifelessly onto her figure. She pushed him off and, painfully, pulled out the katana from her belly. She turned to her sister. Akiko took action. She put an arm over her sister and brought back into the garden. She looked at the gaping hole in her sister that was streaming out blood. She sat there helplessly, not knowing what to do.

Hana was hanging on to life by a thread. She looked up at the sakura tree and smiled, the newly opened flower still upon the tree. Behind Akiko, a ninja crept slowly and quietly, getting a katana out. Hana noticed this and in a flash, got up and threw her body in front of her sister just as the ninja thrusted his sword. The ninja looked surprised that the princess could still move. Hana choked out blood and smiled. She looked at the ninja and thought how much it looked like the devil.

'Jikkō... Tōku e nigero! Akiko o isoge!' (Which translates into: 'Run... run far away! Hurry Akiko!') Hana shouted, coughing up more blood. Akiko looked horrified at her sister. Hana kept her gaze at the ninja and held on to him with a death grip. She wasn't going to allow this murderer to kill her sister when they already killed her.

'Shikashi... Onee-chan? Anata wa dōdesu ka?' Which translates into: 'But... sister? What about you?') Akiko asked, eyes full of fear. Hana coughed out more blood and waved her sister away.

'Jikkō!' yelled Hana. Akiko took a final look at her sister and bowed in respect before running away from the scene. Hana looked at the shadow of her sister disappear before she collapsed on the ground. She shuffled toward the tree and gently lay down.

Sakura opened her eyes and sank to the ground, her breath uneven.

'Sakura?' Angela asked, clearly worried. Sakura looked shakily to Angela and nodded slowly. Angela crouched down and placed a gentle hand on her friend. The spring spirit was clearly scared. Her eyes dilated.

Jack stood there, not knowing what to say to his new friend. He sat on his staff. Tooth buzzed over to them, absolutely ecstatic to be near teeth after a day. She calmed down a bit when she saw the two girls huddled.

'I know seeing your pasts can't be hard... the bright side is that you are now a spirit.' Tooth said with a smile. 'And the past is the past.'

Sakura looked at Tooth with saddened eyes.

'I-I had a sister. I got stabbed twice to protect her. And the thing is, I'm not even sure if she is even died during that battle!' shouted Sakura, her voice breaking slightly at the end. Angela rubbed her back soothingly. Usually it was Angela who was soothed but now the tables were turned.

Angela looked back at her own memory and thought 'If I thought my death was bad, Sakura's is definatly worse...'

Tooth wondered what to do. She wasn't used to people freaking out about their past. She got an idea and flew away, only to return with another case.

'This... This is your sister's teeth case. I want you to keep it.' Tooth smiled. Sakura looked up and took the case. She bowed to the hummingbird.

'Let's go back to North's.'