October 24, 2000

6 years, 0 months, 30 days prior to Incident

A little girl, around 3 or 4 years old in appearance, sat idly in an abandoned garbage dump. Her dark hair was matted and tangled, the original colour indiscernible under layers of dirt and grime. Rags adorned her malnourished frame, doing nothing against the harsh weather that was beginning to set in. Her lips - tinged the faintest of blues - curled around a dirty thumb.

When Sakura landed in front of her, clothes splattered with blood, the little girl gave no indication of acknowledgment.

"Hello," Sakura said, bending down to the child's eye level. Big blue eyes, framed with thick lashes, flickered up and then looked away. "Are you alone?"

There was a long pause, during which the little girl tried to ignore her. When she realised Sakura was not going away, the girl finally gave a slow, almost lazy nod.

"Where are your parents?"

Bony shoulders gave a clumsy, half-hearted shrug.

"What's your name?"

A head tilted to the side in question.

"Do you have a name?"

Another clumsy shrug.

Sakura sighed and stood up. She held a hand out to the girl.

There was another long pause. The girl stared at the hand in confusion as Sakura, undeterred, continued to hold it out.

Eventually, the little girl stood up and hesitantly extended a thin, trembling arm, her tiny hand reaching up to hold Sakura's.

Click.

"Nee-chan!" Kaito barreled his way down the short hallway and launched himself at his 'onee-chan's torso. Sakura easily lifted the little girl in one arm as she hugged Kaito with the other.

"Kaito-kun," she greeted, patting his head. He finally separated from her and peered up at the expressionless little girl in Sakura's arm.

"Who's that?"

"Your new sister," the pinkette told him, wondering if maybe she should have asked his opinion first.

"Cool!" Or maybe not. "What's her name?"

"She doesn't have one. Maybe you can help us think one up later."

Kaito trailed after her as she made her way to the bathroom, muttering various syllables to himself.

"Kaito-kun." The boy glanced up at her. "Imouto and I are going to take a bath. Can you please make porridge so we can eat afterwards?"

"No problem, nee-chan!" Kaito grinned, happy to be useful to his surrogate sister.

As the girl sat on the sink top drinking a cup of warm water, Sakura quickly sliced her rags off with a sharp knife, taking the chance to trim the kid's hair so that it ended somewhere around her shoulders. She took glowing green hands and held them to the girl's torso, slowly raising her internal temperature as she healed bruises and checked for bugs and diseases. Sakura killed off and liquified a tapeworm - the kid could poop that out later - and ran her hands up to the neck.

Ah, torn vocal cords. That's why she wouldn't speak.

She took a moment to heal them before bringing her hands up to the girl's head. Headlice and a variety of mites - as to be expected. She killed those off as well and swiftly brought her hands up and down the other extremities, knowing she had to warm the girl properly before having her take a hot shower.

Sakura trashed the pile of hair and rags and carried the kid into the bath. No little sister of hers would be left covered in filth.

When both Sakura and the girl padded into the kitchen half an hour later, Kaito sat behind with two steaming bowls of porridge wearing a huge grin.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, amused.

"I got it!"

"Got what?"

"Her name is gonna be Mikuro! 'Cause she's so tiny!"

Sakura cocked her head to the side. That… wasn't so bad, actually.

"What do you think, imouto-chan?"

The girl seemed to contemplate it for a moment before giving a shy nod.

"Alright!" Kaito whooped. Sakura laughed and lifted Mikuro onto a chair.

"Come on Miku-chan, eat up."

Fuyuno Sakura - age 10, 6th year elementary

Fuyuno Kaito - age 7, 1st year elementary

Fuyuno Miku - age 4, no formal education

AN

Mikuro means 'micro' in Japanese, if you were wondering. I found the name by looking through all fem!japanese girl names starting with Miku. That's why the chapter title is like that. Kaito and Miku (yes, I did steal them from Vocaloid) aren't going to be very important… except when they are.

Young Sakura meets young Light next chapter, so yay for that.