Red Herring

Parkside Blossoms

A/N: This chapter took a while to make. It is the first full original chapter in this series, and I wanted to make sure that it was really good. Hope this is good!

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HINATA SAKURA WAS ALWAYS PLASTERED TO THE side of her twin brother. No matter where her ten-year-old brother was, you would no doubt find Sakura right by his side joining in on whatever he was doing. They never strayed far from each other which most people found to be quite endearing. A pair of adorable looking twins who loved each other to not want to be a part was quite cute. The only time that they were seen apart was during classes since Sakura was in a more advanced class than her brother.

People viewed Sakura as the more responsible Hinata sibling when compared to each other. Shōyō, despite being the older of the two, was by far the far more childish and extremely troublesome. He got into trouble a bit, not intentionally, of course, he wasn't a delinquent after all. Even if they are only junior high students, Sakura was quite mature for her age. She was there to try and keep her brother out of trouble, though it never usually worked. The younger twin liked to blame his moronic nature for his knack to cause trouble. She jokes that she got all the academic genes while Shōyō got the athletic genes. Which is why the twins weren't that alike.

Despite the fact that she tended to hide some of her emotions from time to time she's still... well, a child. At times she can't help her childish naivety or curiosity no matter what she might feel. That included her childish stubbornness to not want to go outside. Shōyō loves going outside to play with friends, no matter what it was. He has an insane amount of energy all the time, which he liked to express through running around playing whatever he felt like. Sakura didn't want to be outside, she'd rather be indoors doing something she liked. Maybe studying, or reading, just something that didn't involve physical exercise.

That was why she was dragging her feet while she followed after her twin and his friends while heading to the park. She had been forced, once again, to spend time with a few other children who had wanted to play soccer at their local park. Of course, she couldn't really argue all that much, since she wanted to be right besides Shōyō and all. She had no choice but to go.

So here she was, sitting on the grass as her brother and his friends ran around laughing and playing with each other. Sakura didn't mind watching them, she didn't mind being included. She's not that athletic or anything, so it's not like she'd be any help in a game or that she would enjoy it. Shōyō has talked her into racing a few times since both of them are pretty fast, but that was the extent of what she would do. She would much rather not play any sort of sport, unless Shōyō asked her to, then she'd have no choice.

She idly picked at the blades of grass in boredom. The slightly warm wind brushed over her like a soft blanket as she watched her brother run around laughing. It brought a smile to herself to see her brother having fun. Even at this young age, Sakura knew all she wants is for her brother to be happy no matter what.

Just as she was thinking of her brother's happiness, a pink cherry blossom floated right into Sakura's face and placed itself on her button-like nose. Her brown eyes crossed as she stared at the sudden flower on her face. The snap of a camera drew her attention away from the petal on her nose.

The young girl looked up to find a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She was of average height, with nice tan skin and dainty hands that held a camera. The woman smiled sheepishly with her pearly white teeth, "Sorry, it just landed so perfectly, I had to take a picture."

Sakura tilted her head and glanced down at the camera that was in the black-haired woman's hands. Apparently, while a blossom had landed on her nose, the woman had taken a picture of her. Sakura shrugged her small shoulders, "that's fine I guess," she eyed the woman with squinted eyes, "a bit creepy though."