Cherry Blossoms - Her Story [Editing - On Hold]

✿ Promises ✿

In Japan, the cherry blossom is more than just a beautiful flowering tree. There are thousands upon thousands of cherry blossom trees in Japan, and each year the Japanese people closely anticipate and follow the blossoming of the trees. When the trees are in bloom, people come in large groups with their families and friends to view the flowers and to enjoy festivals with food, drinks, and music.

The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life. It's a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful, but that it is also tragically short. When the cherry blossom trees bloom for a short time each year in brilliant force, they serve as a visual reminder of how precious and how precarious life is. So, when Japanese people come together to view the cherry blossom trees and marvel at their beauty, they aren't just thinking about the flowers themselves, but also about the larger meaning and deep cultural tradition of the cherry blossom tree.

- The Significance of the Cherry Blossom: From Beloved Tree to Cultural Icon

By: Homaro Cantu

• • • • •

We made a lot of promises over the years. Can you remember them all, Sakura?

I remember our first one, that very first day we met. It was stupid, but you made me do it anyway. Do you remember it?

~

The sun was beginning to set, replacing clear blue skies with beautiful shades of orange and yellow and pink. She needed to get home, her mother would be waiting for her.

Picking up the small branches she had broken off a few cherry blossom trees, she stood and dusted herself off.

"Mama likes these," she thought, regarding the flowers she held with immense glee.

Although her mother was a busy woman, having to provide for the two of them all by herself, she often let Sakura come and watch the cherry trees. Even after all the petals had fallen, and the flowers no longer bloomed, the little pinkette would still come to sit among the trees, sometimes drawing whatever colourful object caught her fancy.

She walked along the edge of a small hill that ran across the length of the park. At the bottom of the hill was a path, sandwiched between it and a large river that stretched out across the town.

As the dock came into view, she noticed a figure sat right at the end of it - male, probably about her age, dark hair, head down and shoulders slumped. Sakura considered him for a few moments.

"He looks pretty sad..."

She jogged down the hill, trying not to slip on the relatively steep slope. Crossing the path, her feet met the wood of the dock and she called out to him.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

The boy turned his head slightly in her direction, before facing forward again.

Undeterred, she pressed forward until she was standing right beside where he sat.

"Hi," she tried again, a bright smile on her face.

When he gave no reply, she sighed and sat down beside him.

"You seem sad," she said.

"What does it matter."

She felt a small swell of victory at finally getting a reply out of him, and the smile returned to her face.

"No one should be sad. Being sad isn't fun."