July 19, 2004

2 years, 4 months, 4 days prior to Incident

"Pomegranates?"

"Yeah. Beatus just bought a bag of them. Told us to give the most delicious one to you, or he'd kill us."

"Che. As if he could - "

"Is what Mello says, but I'm personally quite fond of living." Matt tossed her a pomegranate from the top of the pile; apparently this was 'the most delicious' one. It certainly looked the part, plump and round and a glossy red.

"Are you sure neither of you guys want it?"

"It's fine," Matt told her, grinning as he fiddled with his handheld.

Mello sprawled across the couch. "Whatever."

He'd gotten taller, she realised. In fact, both of them had, standing at least half a head over her when they'd previously been nearly the same height. Beatus had always been rather tall, so his growth wasn't of much note to her, but seeing these two overtake her was a strange feeling.

Strange, but good. It made her feel a bit proud, if that made sense.

"You guys should eat healthier. And sleep more."

"What?"

"So you can grow taller," she elaborated. "Girls like taller guys, you know?"

Mello's eyes shot to hers. "And you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you like tall guys?"

Sakura thought back to all of the men she'd ever considered attractive, from Hyuuga Neji and the Uchiha brothers to Nara Shikamaru and Shiranui Genma and, embarrassingly, Kakashi-sensei.

Kakashi had always been tall, as had Itachi-san and Genma-san. The aforementioned boys of her generation had all hit major growth spurts, and were easily over 170 centimeters by the end of the war.

So, if it really came down to it, the answer was...

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Huh. I see." Mello gave her one last look as he settled back into his seat.

Sakura stared at the blond discreetly. For a genius, that question was incredibly unsubtle. She didn't want to be conceited, but she couldn't help wondering...

Sakura quickly peeled the pomegranate in her hands, taking a juicy seed and crunching it between her teeth to distract herself. Beatus was one thing, but allowing her thoughts to go along that lane with Mello made her feel gross, like a cradle robber.

(A voice in her subconscious defiantly cried that she was only 14, and dammit, hormones would prevail whether she wanted them to or not!

Sakura shoved that part of her mind back into its cage and kicked it back to the far recesses of her brain.

Hormones?

Ha!

Natural biological growth could wait until she was good and ready.)

"This is really good. Where did Beatus buy it?" she asked, crunching away at several more seeds.

"Dunno."

"No idea."

Sakura stopped chewing and looked at the nearly finished pomegranate in her hands.

The beginnings of dread stirred in her gut.

Fuyuno Sakura - age 14, 1st year high school

Matt - age 14, education unknown

Mello - age 14, education unknown

B - age 17, education unknown

AN

It's short 'cos there was really only one important thing happening that day. Also because I'm rushing to finish the pre-DN stage already. It's been a while... Sorry. I'll probably end up taking much longer breaks in the future, though, so...

Yes, Sakura eats the seeds too. Gross, I know, but necessary.