Japanese Glossary

Onee - Sister

Okasan - Mother

Otosan - Father

Prologue

My sister and I jumped up and down underneath a Sakura tree wishing to grab it's delicate, pink petals. The blooming cherry blossom trees were a pretty sight to behold; elegant and blissful; they were the perfect example of beauty. Everyone loved these graceful trees, but in our eyes no one loved them more than us. Finally, with our hands full of the pink flowers, we sat laughing with pure joy.

"Onee, onee! Look how many flowers I have!" I exclaimed showing her my collection.

"You have a lot... But not more than I do!" She said, tossing her handfuls airborne.

Seeing the flowers drift in the air, I threw mine as well. We both watched in amazement as they floated in the air, causing us to giggle all over again.

"Oh onee, you're so lucky! I wish I were named after the Sakura trees!" I said gleefully.

"Maybe, but don't forget you're named after the pretty snow!" Sakura answered.

"Yes, but flowers are much, much prettier!"

Sakura just laughed, "What's so funny?" I asked, grinning. Whenever my sister was happy, so was I.

"You are, you silly girl!" Sakura replied, getting up, but not before picking up a whole bunch of Sakura petals "I'm going back inside, okay?"

"No onee, please don't go! Stay," I pleaded gripping her arm.

"Yuki, I want to decorate our room with these," she said. I was not convinced.

"It'll be pretty!" She said in a singsong voice.

"Fine," I moped, pouting.

When Sakura was out of sight, I stood up and hugged the trunk of the cherry blossom tree. I started trying to shimmy up the tree, inch by inch. The rough bark irritated my skin yet I ignored it, determined to reach the top. At times, I would slide down, but I kept on going. It was every seven year old's dream to conquer a tree.

As I went higher and higher up the tall tree, the more I could see the tops of trees surrounding my house. The sweet smell of the blossoms became more and more apparent. The perfume was so sweet, that I became enchanted, and stopped trying to get higher, branch by branch. Resting on a branch, I inhaled the sweet aroma. Near my home I then heard the unmistakable scream of my sister.

Alarmed, I lowered myself, branch by branch, as fast as I could without falling until I was just left with the trunk to deal with. I slid down the trunk, finding it hurt my skin more going down than up. Finally down, I ran as fast as my short legs could take me, my heart beating hard. I tripped once, hitting the ground face first, my mouth filled with dirt. But that didn't stop me, I was determined to find out what was wrong with Sakura.

Finally reaching my home, I found no one was outside, yet I found the brownish-orange door wide open, the lock busted as if done intentionally. I stood outside, listening for any sounds. Hearing none, I stepped inside, immediately smelling the stench of blood and cherry blossoms mixed together.

I continued on, calling out nervously, "Okasan?Are you there? Otosan?

For I was now in the living room, I stepped slowly towards the door leading to the kitchen, knowing that's were they usually were.

As soon as I opened the door, the smell of blood became more apparent, the cherry blossoms less. The first thing I saw, was my Otosan sprawled on the floor, his throat slit. I rushed over, saying over and over, "Otosan? Otosan!"

I held his head up from the floor, a large puddle of blood where he lay. His face was deadly pale, I knew immediately that he was dead. Tears began to fall from my eyes, Otosan... was gone. I wished to just lie down with him, to die with him, yet I was determined to find what was of Okasan, Sakura-chan.

Seeing Okasan and Sakura were not in the kitchen, I had hope that maybe they were alive; hiding. I went across the kitchen, blood all over my hands towards the closet. I turned the knob with a shaky hand, finding rice sprawled on the floor stained with blood, Okasan in the middle of the mess. She had died the same way, her throat was slit. I collapsed from the sorrow, both my parents were dead. Dead.

Gone... Forever.

But Sakura! Maybe she would be alive, maybe whoever did this spared her. Yes, yes they would spare an eleven year old girl, right? They wouldn't be that cruel. That little hope supplied me with the power to go on. I stood up, my whole body shaking and walked out of the room. I wasn't being quiet anymore. I didn't care, if I died I would go to heaven and meet Okasan and Otosan once more.

In the kitchen I spotted a blood smear leading into the hallway, the door opened. I followed the smear, hoping it wasn't Sakura's blood. My hope vanished when I saw it led to our bedroom. I wished not to enter, yet the door was wide open, and maybe, just maybe, Sakura had a flicker of life left, and I could help her.

The way Sakura died horrified me the most. A little inside our bedroom I found her head lying there in a pool of blood. Sakura had been decapitated. The people who had done this gave her the most horrible fate yet. Disbelieving, I picked up her head. I saw her nose, her cheeks, her forehead. Everything was the same, it was Sakura. My favorite person was dead.

My whole family was dead. I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to get out of this house of death. I dropped her head, and ran out screaming, not bothering to look for her body, which was covered with cherry blossoms.