SOUL SAKURA: SPRINGTIME GODS
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In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read
-Antony and Cleopatra:: William ShakespeareChapter One: Where the Sakura are Always in Bloom
I
I hiked up the temple steps, sweating with each heavy footfall on the concrete as I carefully held Sakura Kurosawa in my arms. A crow settled on one of the torii gates that led up to the temple, which seemed to spiral further and further away in my ailing vision. I must be quick. Sakura, mortally wounded, breathed in shallow gasps, her face contorted in pain as I carefully made my way up the steps, one step at a time, to make my way to the Shinigami. Each step felt as though I were headed to the gallows, though my God, if I were to save Sakura, then I was going to do it. It didn't matter what sacrifice I would have to make—it was all for her sake. If Sakura didn't survive...If Sakura didn't survive, then...maybe the Shinigami could save her.
I gritted my teeth and strained to carry Sakura all the way up to the temple. She was light, weighing a lithe 90 pounds, though even 90 pounds can be a burden when you're heading uphill in a steep incline and you've been walking for miles. Though my anguish would soon be relieved, or so I hoped, as I gently set Sakura down on the ground next to a wall so I could open the temple doors.
"Sakura," I said. "You're safe now. I will save you."
Sakura took another few shallow breaths, her long dark brunette hair falling over her shaded violet eyes. They started to glimmer with a dull shine, as though no hope for her survival were there. When I knelt down next to her, she clutched at my sleeve, before saying, "The old gods are not to be trifled with, Kaoru-kun."
"What choice do I have?" I asked.
Tears started to glisten in Sakura's eyes, trembling with each teardrop.
"Just let me die."
My heart stopped in my throat, choking back words of anger at the injustice of it all. I would sworn to the gods, whether old or new or nonexistent, but I was at my last desperate straw. I would claw my way out of hell and save Sakura. Rain started to patter on the pagoda style roof with bullet shot pangs, and silvery skeins glittered and rippled on the temple grounds as the wind rustled the leaves and treas in octaves of funereal mourning. Despite this, despite everything, I would not let Sakura die. For her sake.
"I won't let you."
Tears mingled with rainwater as the staccato rain pulsed and pounded on the pagoda style rooftop and temple grounds. Blinded by the rain and my sorrow, I knelt down by Sakura's side, checking the gash against her side. She looked so pale, almost doll-like and motionless as her breathing became steadily shallower. I tore off a piece of my shirt, wrapping it around the angry slash that bled red. The tourniquet blossomed red into a flower of pain, a savagery of a sin committed against an innocent who shouldn't have suffered as such. While the tears ran, the rain fell, and the world paused, I asked: "Why?"
I put both my hands on her shoulders, to reassure her. Then, I took one hand and cradled her cheek with the other, cupping it. It felt cold and clammy, without the normal rose peach paleness of a healthy flesh tone—she was getting weaker, and I knew it in the fading sparkle of her violet eyes, the shallow heaves of her breathing, the dismal cast of the atmosphere.
"I would die for you."
Sakura let out a weak laugh, still crying, before her head slumped and lolled like a broken marionette.
Alarmed, I said, "Don't move! Please! Save your strength!"
Sakura shuddered, taking a deep breath, her eyes focusing just enough so they locked onto me as though she awakened from a fever dream.
YOU ARE READING
Soul Sakura: Springtime Gods
FantasyKaoru was a wanderer who settled upon a village that is in perpetual springtime. The mysteries behind the village and the girl that has enraptured his heart, Sakura, are all tied together. The Shinigami gives Kaoru has an ability to return by death...