Sakura Solitude Chapter 2

  “I can’t take this anymore!”

“What? You don’t accept her?”

“No! I don’t accept the fact that you’ve kept this from me for four years!”

“Stop yelling, you’re going to wake her up.”

“Right now, that’s not important, Ami! What’s important is why you would keep a mutant child! And why would you keep it a secret from me?!”

“It wasn’t a secret! You know about Mina, you should’ve thought something like this would happen. And why won’t you talk to her and-”

“And what? Be destroyed?!”

“Now, Shuichi, you know that won’t happen unless-”

“M-Mommy? D-Daddy? W-What’s going on?”

The two feuding parents looked over the source of the voice. Their daughter stood there, rubbing her eyes sleepily with one hand, with a small bear in the other. Her hair was sticking up in odd angles from sleeping. Ami waved her daughter off to bed.

“Nothing’s wrong, sweetie. Go back to sleep, now.”

But Hikari was persistent. She came back.

“B-But, I heard A-Aunt Mina’s name. I-Is she in trouble?” she asked. Ami picked her daughter up and put her in her lap.

“No, no, your Aunt’s not in trouble. Your father and I were arguing a bit, that’s all,” the woman said. Hikari nodded although she didn’t fully understand why her mother and father were yelling. Ami took her daughter to bed and closed the door.

“Heh, she’s still so young. It’s hard to believe she has such a power inside of her, isn’t it?” Ami asked. Her reply was nothing but silence. She looked behind her and saw that her husband wasn’t even there.

“Shuichi?”

She heard rustling noises from their room and started walking in that direction.

Suitcases were strewn over their bed, each with assorted clothes, accessories, and other things that served different purposes. Shuichi came out from the closet, a jacket around his body. Gloves were pulled on his hands. He picked up the two suitcases that were on the bed.

“Shuichi? What are you doing?” Ami questioned, her voice becoming soft. Shuichi didn’t answer; he merely headed out their room door. Ami followed, still curious. Her husband began to pull on his shoes, rain boots to protect his feet from the torrential storm outside. Ami finally caught on. Her eyes widened in shock and realization.

“No!” she cried, “You can’t do this to me, or Hikari. Not while she’s so young, so little. She needs both of us here. She needs both of us, Shuichi.”

Shuichi turned to his wife, his green eyes meeting her brown ones. He held his head down.

“I’m sorry, Ami. But, I don’t know if I can trust you anymore,” he muttered darkly. Ami’s eyes filled with tears, but they didn’t fall down her face.

“And why not? What about Hikari, your child? What about her?!” Ami’s voice started to rise in volume.

“Do you not care what happens to your child, Shuichi?!”
Shuichi ignored the woman, opening the oak brown door. The wind blew hard and rain was coming down in sheets. He took out a miniature umbrella and opened it, holding above his head so he would not get wet. He turned to face his wife one last time. Ami clasped her hands in front of her, her eyes full of grief.

“You really don’t care, do you?” she asked. Shuichi lowered his head.

“You don’t accept her do you? Just because she’s different?”

Shuichi’s dark eyes glowered at the woman icily.

“It’s because of your daughter’s difference that I no longer care for her,” he said softly, but loud enough for Ami to hear the venom in his voice. The way he said “your daughter”…not even mentioning that Hikari was his child as well, it broke Ami’s heart, shattered it.

“Y-You really don’t care,” she finalized, her voice breaking, just to make sure that she had heard him right. She suddenly found herself standing outside in the storm, the rain settling on her cheeks, making it impossible to tell whether or not she was crying.





Thunder growled outside her window, and rain danced on the glass. She gripped the sheets tightly as she watched his car drive away. She was trying to erase the conversation from her mind, but she couldn’t and it just made her cry more. Hikari buried her face into the soft fur of her teddy bear. It was a gift to her from her father.

And it was the only thing she had to remember him by.

She wondered what happened to her mother, her father, their love. She wondered what happened to her family, her family that had always seemed so happy. Why had her father left? Why…why didn’t he love her mother anymore? Why didn’t he love her anymore? What had they done wrong? What had they done?


Hikari’s head began to spin as more tears began to spill from her eyes. A pain radiated from her back. It was small, but it soon escalated into something larger, making its way down her legs and then coming back up, filling her whole body. It felt as if her whole body was burning! She closed her eyes to keep herself from crying anymore, bit her lip to keep herself from screaming. But then pain was too much. She opened her eyes and let herself cry, threw her head back and allowed herself to scream in agony.

A soft, blue light filled the room, radiating from her body. It flashed and got brighter with each new surge of pain. As soon as Hikari got used to the pain, it would start anew again, more painful each time.

Wind started to blow inside the room. It started out as a slow, soft breeze, lifting her hair and whipping it around her face. Then it began to pick up, lifting the girl herself into the air. The wind became a whirlwind, twisting and turning around Hikari. Her eyes widened and she started to scream, terrified.

Articles of her room were picked up into the whirlwind: her dresser, her fan, her room door, her lamp and her bookshelf. Her stuffed animals and various dolls from when she was a baby fluttered in the wind as well. Hikari covered her ears and closed her eyes in a futile attempt to wish all of this pain away.

Ami came rushing into her daughter’s room after having been awakened by her frightened screams. She looked up to see that blue light surrounding the room. That thing had claimed her daughter again. She saw small, withered sakura petals floating at her daughter’s feet. It seemed that she had tried to escape subconsciously and hadn’t been aware of it.

“Hikari!” she called. Hikari’s eyes opened, frightened and teary. She looked over to se her mother, standing a safe distance away from the funneling wind.

“M-Mommy?”
“Hikari, you’re going to be okay!”

“I-I’m…I-I’m scared,” the girl cried.
“It’ll be alright! Don’t cry, Hikari,” Ami comforted. Suddenly, Hikari began to feel dizzy. Her eyelids drooped and her body went limp. The wind disappeared and she began to fall, slowly but dangerously. Ami ran and caught her daughter in her arms.

Hikari, Ami thought, do you understand now? How dangerous this is? Don’t tell anyone about it. Absolutely no one.





Hikari’s brown eyes fluttered open. She jerked up, realizing that she wasn’t in her room. The painted walls, giant room, and fluffy bed definitely caught her attention. She calmed down and realized that she was just in her parents’ room. But…she had no idea how she’d gotten there, or why for that matter. Her head pounded and the room started to spin. She put her head back on the large pillow and let the pounding subside. She smelled the pleasant aroma of pancakes in the kitchen; her mother was awake. But, Hikari noticed that her father was nowhere to be seen.


“Mommy?” Hikari asked as soon as she was in the kitchen, “Where’s Daddy? I don’t know where he is.”

Ami stiffened. Hikari didn’t remember? Surely she heard the fight last night, their argument and what happened after. She watched him leave didn’t she?

“Your father left, dear. He’s gone…on a little trip,” she lied, flashing the most convincing smile she could muster.

“Oh. When will he come back?” Hikari questioned, stabbing at her plate of pancakes on the table. Once again, Ami’s body became rigid and the dish she was holding in her hand began to crack under her strengthened grip. She couldn’t tell her daughter, her only daughter, that her father had left. For good. Returning would not be something he would think about. Ever again.

“I…I don’t know, sweetie. I really don’t know.” Hikari noticed the sadness of her mother’s voice. She got out of her chair and gave her mother a hug. Ami wrapped her arms around her daughter. She smiled and picked her up.

“Hikari, promise me something, ok?” Ami started.

“Yes, Mommy?”
“Never leave me, unless you think you have a good reason, ok?”
“…Ok, Mommy,” the little girl answered, unsure why her mother was asking her to promise something like that. Her mother set her down and grabbed a large, manila envelope.

“Take this to the post office for me please, Hikari,” Ami requested, giving her daughter the large envelope. Hikari grinned, taking it in both hands.

“Ok!” she grabbed a jacket and ran out the door.


The cold air whipped Hikari’s hair around her face as she ran, clutching the envelope to her chest. She didn’t want to lose it on a windy day like this. If she did, there was a very slim chance that she would ever get it back. She felt her foot catch something and she fell, dropping the envelope as she did so.

“Oh, no! Wait, come back!” she squeaked, running after it. A foot stepped on the envelope, prohibiting it from going any farther.

“Is this yours?” a male voice asked, picking the object up from the ground and handing it to Hikari. Hikari nodded and took it.

“T-Thank you, I-” she stopped short. She looked up at the man.  He had dark, green eyes and brown hair. He was tall, his long legs making him tower above the many people who passed him while they were walking by. He smiled at Hikari, flashing white teeth.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, noting Hikari had stopped talking and was currently staring at him. Hikari swallowed hard. She frowned before speaking, her voice barely a whisper.

“D-Daddy?”

The man frowned as well, his eyes flashing darkly.

“I’m not your father. Get going, kid.”

A woman came up behind him.

“Something wrong, dear?” she asked. She slipped her small hand into his larger one. She looked down at Hikari.

“Are you lost?” she questioned, although her tone was harsh. Hikari shook her head, tears starting to gather in her eyes. The couple turned away from the girl, continuing their walk down the street. Hikari began to run after them.

“Daddy! Daddy, wait!”

The man stopped and turned around. He glared at the girl and spoke harshly to her.
“I’m not your father,” he said. He bent down to whisper into her ear.

“…Not anymore.”

Hikari’s eyes widened and soon, memories began to flood back to her. Memories of what happened last night. He’d left them, her mother and her. He’d left them for good. Hikari let the tears fall down her face.

She ran after them one last time.

“Wait!” she called. Aggravated, the woman turned to Hikari this time.

“Get the hell out of here, you sniveling brat!” she shouted and slapped Hikari, causing many people to stop and stare. Hikari sunk down to her knees and watched as they walked away. She sat there and cried, still holding the envelope tightly so she wouldn’t lose it again. The spot on her cheek where she was hit still stung.


Ami turned around as the door opened. Hikari entered looking a little sad. Ami walked over to her daughter.

“Hikari, what’s the matter?”
“Daddy’s not coming back, is he?” she asked, sniffling. Ami wrapped her arms around her. Hikari did the same, returning the hug.

“No, Hikari. I’m afraid he’s not.”