Sakura Trees
Two children were sitting outside underneath a Weeping Willow tree in Kyoto, Japan. One of the children was a young boy of the age 4. He had short brown hair, and brown eyes. His name was Kitami Shouta. The other was an elder sister of the age 15. She had hair that was so blonde; it was very close to white. Her eyes were violet. Her name was Kitami Ushio. The two children were talking when the boy suddenly asked, “Nee-chan, why do the sakura trees have pink blossoms? And why do they only bloom during the spring?”
The elder sister replied with excitement in her voice, “Let’s take a look, Shouta.”
Ushio picked up a book with the title “Legends of Japan” written on the front. She opened the book, and started reading.
“A long, long time ago, there was a young prince in Kyoto. He was a shy, short- tempered boy. He had short black hair, with brown eyes. One day, in the spring, he decided to take a walk around his father’s kingdom to look at the kingdom he would one day rule. He walked for hours and hours until he finally decided he would give up, and started going home.
On his way, a girl ran into him. With anger, he yelled to her, ‘what is with you?!’
The girl looked up at the young prince with tears in her eyes. The prince was stunned; he had no idea what to do. He looked at her again, and realized how cute she was. She was a young girl, about his age, which was 15. She had magenta eyes, and long, blonde hair that came down to her ankles. She wore torn rags, and she had no shoes. Clearly she is not from around here. He thought. The young prince asked her, ‘Umm… hey, what’s wrong?’
The girl reached toward him, and started crying on him. ‘Uh…’ he murmured, still wondering what to do. Out of nowhere, he thought of his deceased mom hugging him and rubbing his head gently whispering, ‘It’s okay. Everything is alright.’ He felt like this was the right thing to do, so he embraced the girl, rubbed her head and repeated ‘It’s okay. Everything is all right,’ to her.
Eventually, the girl stopped crying. She looked up, and realized that she was crying on the prince. She bowed down, ‘Ah, I am sorry, Aoi-sama!’
He felt a warm feeling inside him… something he had never felt before.”
Ushio closed the book.
“What?! Why did you stop nee-chan? Keep reading!” Little Shouta yelled.
“You like it that much?”
“Hai! Finish it!” Shouta yelled.
“Okay, okay. Please go get me some water.”
“Hai!” Shouta left running, and then quickly returned.
“Arigatou gozaimasu.” She said gratefully.
“Dō itashimashite.” He replied with a big smile on his face. “Finish the book now!”
“Okay.” She opened the book up again. “Now, where were we?” She flipped through the pages. “Oh! Here we are. Now then…
The young prince asked the girl’s name.
‘Oh, I’m sorry! My name is Akira Sakura.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘I am from Tokyo. Oh, but my mother is from England, and my father is from Japan.’
‘Why are you wearing such rags, and why were you crying?’
She looked sad, she continued to talk, but she hesitated, ‘My parents needed help to survive. The people they went to needed compensation because nothing is free, everything comes with a cost. The compensation they were required to pay put them in dept. Eventually, the people got tired of waiting, and so they robbed us, killing both my parents in the process.’ She started tearing up again.
The young prince looked at her and gently asked, ‘Akira-san, are these people still after you?’
She nodded.
‘Come with me.’ Aoi lead her back to his castle and called servants over to get her new clothes, and to feed and bathe her. As he watched them take her away, he realized what the warm, yet soft feeling in his heart was. He was in love with her.
Later that evening, he sat down at the dinner table with Sakura. ‘You know,’ Aoi started saying, ‘My father found a new species of trees that are absolutely beautiful at this time of year. They have beautiful white blossoms. Would you like me to show them to you, Sakura-chan?’
Sakura looked at him and said, ‘But it’s raining outside…’
Aoi blushed a little, ‘I have an umbrella we can share…’
Sakura blushed. ‘Okay.’
The two went to the trees Aoi spoke of. When they got there, Sakura smiled and said, ‘It’s beautiful!’
‘Yeah. My dad said I could name them.’ Aoi said.
‘Really? What are you going to name it?’
‘I don’t know yet.’
Sakura smiled, ‘Well, I know you will pick the perfect name for them!’
Aoi blushed. When should he tell her how he felt? Now is better than any other time, he thought. ‘Hey, uh…’
Sakura looked at him, ‘Hmm?’
‘Uh…’ Just then, a group of gangs burst out from a side street.
‘There she is!’ they shouted, and ran toward Sakura. Aoi jumped in front of her, and, because he knew the art of kendo, defended her. Though he was a brilliant fighter, he was not able to defend her. One man snuck up from behind, and got Sakura by the neck. Aoi turned around, and saw that the man had a knife up to her throat. In a quick motion, the man slit her throat. Her body went limp as the warm liquid poured out of her body and onto the ground. Aoi heard a sound; it was his father’s warriors. They came and took away the other thugs. Aoi felt like his stomach was boiling in anger. He took the murderer, and used the shinai to stab him in the stomach, and then let the warriors take him away. He then bent down, and embraced Sakura’s limp, cold body. He looked down on the ground, and saw her blood streaming towards the trees. He then traced the tree up to its blossoms that were turning light pink, because of Sakura’s blood, with his eyes. Aoi started crying, because the one person, who became his friend, and lover, died. He looked up, and the blossoms bloomed into full, pink flowers. A huge gust of wind blew, and the flower pedals flew in the wind, and then landed swiftly on the ground, and on top of Sakura.
‘Sakura.’ Aoi whispered, ‘I am going to name these trees after you because they are as beautiful, comforting, and sweet as you…’
As the years went by, Aoi never found a girl like Sakura. Every spring, the sakura blossoms would bloom, as if it was his one true love, reminding him of her.”
“Wow…” Shouta said gloomily, “that was really sad…”
“Yes it is a sad story.” His Nee-chan replied. “You know, people say that Sakura, once she went to heaven, made the sakura trees blossom in order to remind Aoi not only to remind him of her, but to thank him for the time he gave her, and to let him know she would always take care of him because she loved him too.”
“Ushio! Shouta! Time to come inside! It’s getting late.” Their mother yelled.
“Okay, mom!” Ushio and Shouta yelled back at in sync.
“Nee-chan, do you think we could go see the sakura trees tomorrow?”
Ushio replied, “Of course! I have wanted to see them lately.”
The two went up to the house, and went inside.
well done
