July 16, 2003
3 years, 4 months, 7 days prior to Incident
Yesterday Evening.
"Chibi-chan! I missed you sooo much!" Beatus grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around. He then crushed her to his chest in a suffocating embrace.
Sakura gingerly patted his back. "Umm... Me too?"
He squeezed her tighter.
Matt spoke up. "Hey, she's gonna asphyxiate to death if you keep doing that."
Beatus made a happy noise and refused to let her go until she kicked his knee. He gasped dramatically.
"Chibi-chan, how could you kick me?"
"Easily."
"You have to make it up to me."
"No I don't."
"If we get to go to a festival, I'll forgive you."
"I don't need to be forgiven, though."
"I hear there's one in Kyoto around this time. The Gyhun Festival, or something."
"Gion. It's too far."
"You have to wear a yukata, okay?"
"I don't even own a yukata."
"We can rent one."
"Too expensive."
"I'll pay."
"Still not going."
A pause.
"Chibi-otouto!"
There was a brief moment of silence before Sakura heard the pattering of rushing feet in the hallway. An excited Kaito burst into the living room.
"Beetas-niisan!"
"Chibi-otouto, do you want to go to a festival? There'll yummy foods and lots of fun games."
"Yeah! I want! I want! Let's go!"
"But your sister doesn't want to, so we can't. Too bad."
Kaito turned to her, his eyes wide and pleading.
"'Nee-chan, can't we go? Pleeease?"
"No, we can't."
"But why?"
"It's a waste of time, and it's too far."
"But I've never been to a festival before!"
"You can go some other time, when there's one in Tokyo."
"But I want to go now!"
"Don't be bratty, Kaito."
Sakura watched in horror as tears gathered in a crestfallen Kaito's eyes. "'Nee-chan is the worst!"
Her mouth moved without permission.
"Fine," she heard herself say. "Let's go."
Her little brother sniffled. "Hunh?"
"We'll go to the festival tomorrow."
"R-really?"
"Yes."
"Yay!" He hugged her and eagerly ran off to his room.
Sakura glared Mello, who was sniggering on the couch, and kicked Beatus in the shin. Hard.
"You should wear that one." Mello pointed at a yukata on display. It was black and patterned with tiny silver and white crosses all throughout.
"Rejected."
"What! Why?"
"Too hot."
"Then, what about this one, Sakura-chan?"
Matt held up a bright pink yukata decorated with paler pink rabbits.
"Rejected."
"Aww, why?"
"Too pink."
"But your hair is pink!"
"Which is why I'll be too pink if I wear that."
Sakura fingered the red fabric of a yukata hanging on a rack. It looked eerily similar to the kimono she had used to wear back then, from the large white cherry blossoms to the orange obi. Maybe she should just -
"Chibi-chan."
Beatus had disappeared at the onset of this little excursion, and was now making his way back to the group with a shop attendant in tow. There was a large box of something being carefully held in the woman's arms.
"Oh, Beatus. Where did you go?"
He ignored her and motioned the shop attendant forward. "This is her. Help her get changed."
The woman bowed and Sakura found herself being firmly lead to the changing rooms.
"Eh?"
Sakura stared at herself in the mirror. The yukata Beatus had brought over was a pale jade, the colour of her eyes, that darkened to a deeper green towards the ends of her sleeves and near her obi. Spiraling white vines tipped with little leaves of the same colour swirled down the length of the kimono. The tendrils that twined down her arms were decorated with tiny black butterflies that looked almost like four petaled flowers. Large, blushing butterflies visited the vines throughout her torso and legs, only interrupted by an pink obi a shade darker than their fragile wings.
"Beatus."
"Yes?"
"This is all silk."
"So?"
"It's too expensive. I can't afford to rent it for an hour, let alone a day. What if I get a stain on it? Then I'd have to buy the whole thing, and I don't have enough money for that."
"That won't be a problem. You can stain it as much as you want, since it's already paid for."
Sakura charged out of the small room. "It's what?"
"I bought it already," Beatus said. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he drank in the sight of her.
"What would you have done if it didn't fit me?"
"Of course it would fit you. I know all of your body's measurements, after all."
"What?!"
"Your height is 154.5 centimeters and you weigh 35.6 kilograms. Your bust, waist, and hips are 65/53/66 respectively. Your bra size is AA - " Sakura slapped her hand over his mouth. "Mfhm."
"How do you know all that?" she hissed.
Beatus licked her palm and she immediately lifted it and motioned to wipe it on her clothes, and then floundered when she realised what she was wearing. She wiped it on a still gaping Matt's sleeve instead.
"From last night."
"I didn't tell you - you didn't measure - no. Wait. You can't possibly have gotten that from hugging me, right?"
He shrugged. "It wasn't exactly hard. You should eat more."
Sakura threw up her hands and retreated into the dressing room, yelling, "Go get Mello and Kaito-kun, we're leaving."
Damned geniuses.
When Sakura finally exited the store, hair done up and obi neatly in place, all four of the boys were lounging on a nearby bench.
"Took you long enough," Mello grouched. "What were you... even... doing. Oh."
He blinked at her for a moment and she grinned cheekily. "I know I'm gorgeous, but no need to stare."
Mello turned red. "That's not it, you idiot," he grumbled, tossing an object at her. Sakura easily snatched it out of midair. When she opened her hand, there was a delicate black butterfly seemingly perched on her palm. "I was just thinking that the thing matched your clothes."
It was true. The clip harmonized with the little black insects on her sleeves and her right shoulder rather well, almost to the point where she wondered if he'd seen her yukata beforehand.
"Thank you," Sakura told him, a sincere smile blooming on her face.
Matt and Kaito had gone off to play various games together, Mello was who-knew-where, and Beatus would not stop touching her.
She swatted his hand away from her heko obi for what seemed like the twentieth time this evening. "Stop it."
"But I bought it for you."
"And I'm wearing it. So stop tugging on the bow or it'll undo."
"I'm just holding onto you so you won't get lost."
"I wouldn't get lost," Sakura scoffed.
Thirteen minutes later.
She was lost.
How could she be lost?
This is stupid, she thought, finishing off her stick of dango. She sighed and started making her way to the tantalizing smell of chicken.
"... Ryoga, don't be such a miser! We're classmates aren't we? Another few lost sticks wouldn't hurt you."
"No, I can't. My dad got really mad last time!"
"Take one for the team!"
"No, but I really can't, I - "
A guy with bleached hair grabbed 'Ryuga's collar and pulled the teen towards him, forcing Ryuga to lean over the bubbling pot of sauce.
"Give me a fucking yakitori."
Sakura calmly reached up and separated the bully's hand from Ryoga's collar. "Two sticks of negima yakitori, please."
"Eh? A-ah, salt or sauce?"
"Sauce."
The nervous looking Ryuga bustled off to make her order.
"You shouldn't have butted in, kid," bleached-hair said, looking slightly irritated.
"It's an ittle bittle middle schooler!"
"Kato wouldn't hit a little girl, right?" one of the boys whispered.
"Of course I won't," 'Kato' snapped.
A guy wearing a headband spoke up. "Hey, I have a little brother your age who's looking for a girlfriend. You should come and meet him!"
"No thanks."
"Don't be shy!" He grabbed her arm. "He's not that far from here!"
The other boys shook their heads in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
"Daichi and his little bro complex," Kato snorted.
Sakura pulled at her arm. "Let go of me."
"You'll like him, I swear!"
Sakura wondered if she should just knock him out. It would be the work of a second to just make him stumble back and hit his head on that wooden beam behind him. A spike of chakra would take care of the rest.
Mikami Teru watched the boys harassing the worker at the yakitori stall, recognizing them as second years from a nearby high school. If they got violent, he would have to intervene.
A pink haired girl wearing a green yukata entered the edge of his vision. When she approached the group, Teru cursed and started towards them as well. Trying to stop the incident was good and all, but she was just a little girl, and those guys weren't exactly paradigms of moral virtue.
"No thanks," he heard the pink haired girl say.
Teru froze in shock.
That voice!
He'd known that his tenshi-sama was in the form of a young girl, but it was quite another thing to actually be able to see her uncovered face. Teru gave the girl a second appraisal. He could tell that in just a few years, she would be drawing a great amount of impure attention to herself.
"Let go!"
Such as right now.
Teru quickly cut through the remaining distance and grabbed the heathen's wrist. "She said to let go."
"Who're you?!" Seeing that the infidel refused to move, Teru crushed the limb held in his hand. "ARGH -"
"I'm her guardian." He only slackened his grip after tenshi-sama's arm was released. "If you don't want me to call the authorities, you should leave. Now."
The entire group scuttled off, but Teru paid them no mind. His tenshi-sama was staring up at him with wide eyes.
"Tenshi-sama." He would take this chance to ask her questions that had been laying heavily on his mind for the last couple months.
Her eyes frantically avoided his. "Sorry, I think you have the wrong person."
"I recognized your voice."
"No," she stressed. "You didn't. We've never met before. Ever."
Teru blinked in realization. Of course, he must be compromising her disguise. How very careless of him.
"No, we haven't," he agreed. She sagged in relief. "I must have been mistaken. I just wanted to ask… do you have any relation to the shadows?"
She clearly understood what he was hinting at, because she tensed up again. "Depends on why you're asking."
Teru took that as a cautious 'yes'.
"I see. I have to say, I'm very… surprised."
With an uneasy expression, tenshi-sama turned to leave, but he caught her wrist before she could.
"Wait, I still have more questions."
Another hand landed on his tenshi-sama's head. "Chibi-chan. Why is that filth touching you?"
"I'm filth?" Teru spat, glaring down at the younger boy. How dare he touch his tenshi-sama so familiarly?
The heretic glared back. "Yes. You. Chibi-chan, do you know this trash?"
"Don't be rude, Beatus."
"So you do know him."
"No, actually, I just met him. But you're still being rude."
"Indeed. I'm surprised you associate with someone so ill-mannered."
The two males kept glaring at each other, their gazes burning with animosity.
Another boy, brown haired and perhaps thirteen years old, blithely blundered between himself and the heretic, oblivious of the tense air.
"Ah, Sakura-chan, there you are. You'll miss the fireworks, you know? Mello and Kaito found a good spot, come on."
Or perhaps not so oblivious, Teru amended, seeing the boy's eyes flitting cautiously between himself and the heathen.
"Um, miss, your negima yakitori."
Tenshi-sama barely managed to reach up and grab the two sticks before she was whisked away.
"But you still... haven't... paid..." The worker sighed despondently.
"I'll pay," Teru told him, still staring after her departing back.
Sakura stared up at the bursts of colour unfurling in the blackness of the night sky. Beatus's gaze rested heavily upon her shoulders.
"Chibi-chan."
"What?"
"We have to get married."
Three "What?!"s echoed through the little hill. Kaito perked up eagerly.
"I hate it when other guys touch you."
Seeing Mello open his mouth, Sakura clamped her hands over Kaito's ears.
"What the fuck, you psycho?!"
"Uh, Beatus," Matt added. "They're probably going to touch her even if you... marry her."
"They won't. I'll make sure of it."
"You must be more insane than I thought, you - "
"We aren't getting married."
"..."
Beatus stared at her for a moment, the veins in his neck suddenly prominent against his pale skin.
He then took a deep breath and relaxed.
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"Yes. Fine."
"What, really?"
"Yes."
To Sakura's confusion, Beatus just leaned back and continued to watch the rest of the fireworks in silence.
Fuyuno Sakura - age 13, 3rd year junior high
BB - age 16, education unknown
Mello - age 13, education unknown
Matt - age 13, education unknown
Mikami Teru - age 18, 3rd year high school
Fuyuno Kaito - age 10, 4th grade elementary
AN
A heko obi is a soft cloth obi.
Mikami wasn't supposed to be in this chapter, but then I saw that the only plausible festival for Sakura to go to was in Kyoto. In my mind, Kyoto = Mikami Teru. So he ended up weaseling his way in.
Sorry for the wait! I know some of you are chomping at the bit for the action to start (so am I), so after Mikami's chapter, it'll be junior high graduation, the DRRR cameo, and then L.
Candy Dream: He picked the lock. 5000% true.
Sasu-cakes: ASDFHKKS ME TOO DUDE. Sakura should just hurry up and age already. Urg. Stupid author and her perfectionistic tendencies. *hits self*
2lazy2login: Thank you!
Choco-lily: Yes, chocolate is awesome, haha. Thanks for the review!
schoolgirl: Nope, no double personality. I think the Shi no Kage already does have a website, Sakura just never bothered to check. And, uh... I forgot the rest of your questions. Sorry...