It was dark, too dark. Sakura tried to move out off the fetal position she was in but found it hard to breathe. She was wrapped in something soft but black haze was seeping into her space. With all the strength she could muster she tried to straighten her body out but it was no use. She felt her breathing was becoming more shallow as time went on, her eyes started to lose light as they became empty and she was ready to surrender herself to the darkness.
"You can say what you want, think what you want and feel what you want but it will not stop me from coming to see you!"
The voice was faint but every word struck a chord in her heart, she felt a rush of fresh air fill her lungs and found the energy and strength to keep going. She felt around the cloth with her hands before she gave up and started scratching around until she made a hole. She stuck her finger in and started to pull on the material, making it wider with each attempt until finally she was able to fit both hands in.
She used everything she had and ripped the fabric apart. The black haze was thicker outside of the fabric cocoon, she coughed as she tried to pushed herself out. When she was able to finally set herself free the fabric cocoon started to spin, faster and faster. Creating a vortex, pulling in all the black haze. Sakura did her best to stand her ground, worried what would happen if she got sucked in.
The cocoon was growing bigger, it started to become unstable as it tried it's best to clean the air but it was too much and exploded. Air rushed past Sakura as tiny pieces of lilac and silver confetti started attaching itself to her bare skin. When the air stopped blowing and confetti rained down, Sakura realized that she was wearing a new outfit. She looked down and in awe, she admired it.
The material felt like it was made of softest satin in the world as it rested over her skin. While layers of satin ripples cascaded from her shoulders and flared out around her wrists. Her chest and torso had a fitted bodice while the bottom half flared out into more waved layers that reaches to her knees.
A cute, thin, white sash was tied around her waist and the bow sat in front with two bells attached at the end of the ribbon. She looked down at her feet and pearl white flats covered them. She tapped her flats against the surface and saw that each tap created a wave of ripples throughout the floor. She laughed as she jumped in place and watched as ripples collided with one another, creating small geysers of white light.
She brought her hands up to her hair and felt that it had been tied up into a ponytail. A rather large pin was inserted into her ponytail and she carefully pulled it out to examine. It was a bouquet of lilacs with 3 strings of silver hanging down from the piece. Each string hand a tiny silver bell with even tinier gem stones set in them. The fist was a pink crescent moon, the second was yellow four pointed star and the last was a red heart. She carefully placed the pin back into its original place and gave a small twirl.
The black haze quickly pushed back from her, as if it was afraid of making contact with her. She giggled to herself and started to walk forward. Each step, each tiny jingle of the bells made her feel like a rippling stream under a twilight moon surrounded by lilac trees and a soft lullaby. She pushed forward and watched as the haze moved back further and further away.
Sakura walked aimlessly for what seemed like forever. She wasn't exactly sure how time moved in this new place or what the laws were but she thought back to her own realm and shuddered remembering time stood still there unless she willed it to change from night to day.
She stopped, looked around and extended her right arm out. She tried her hardest to call forth her biwa but nothing materialized. She tossed her head back and groaned. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know where she was, her only enjoyment was taken away and she was ridiculously bored.
"Can you not see I want things to change! I want to be a pillar of support for you, I want you to know that I will not leave you behind!"
'There! There it is! That voice it sounded a little clearer.' She thought as she looked around. She decided on the direction of the voice and walked. She didn't know if she would find anything or hear the voice again so there was no point in running.
The area started to get a little clearer, she supposed that maybe walking was not such a bad idea. If the black haze had no where to go, it would be all collected into a corner and maybe, just maybe she could purify it.
"Say it! Say what you want to me! Don't hold back! Tell me what you locked up inside, try your best to hurt me with your words and see if I will go away. I dare you!"
Sakura's eyes started to sparkle. 'It's her!' She thought and was ready to head off into the new direction when she suddenly heard two voices speaking.
"Go ahead. Now's your chance. Tell her you hate her, wish for her death, curse her... I can make it happen. I have been helping you for so long, how can you doubt me?" A silky voice said.
"I'm so... tired.... no... more." A small, child like voice pleaded.
"If your tired, let me take over again. Let me finish the job. You crave blood, you demand her death, so let me do it with your hands."
"But... every time you... take over... I... get smaller."
"It's the price to pay for victory my child. You want to win don't you?"
"I... don't know... anymore."
Sakura raced towards the two voices. She hoped she found who she was looking for and needed to reach them before she was too late. "Ahhh!" The silky voice screamed but Sakura picked up her pace.
"Child... let me take over one... one more time you will not regret it." Hissed the voice as she heavily panted. "No! Do not listen to her! She will devour your soul!" Sakura yelled. A small, faint light appeared before her eyes, Sakura grinned as she took one more step forward.
Her grin quickly turned into shock when she collided into a wall. She bounced backwards and landed on her rump. She moaned with pain as she rubbed her side. She slowly got up and looked for the faint light again. "Who..." The child like voice said but the rest was drowned out. Sakura started to sweat, she stretched out her arms and felt the barrier. He hands glided over the smooth surface, she turned one hand into a fist and started pounding the clear wall.
"Don't listen to her! I'm here to save you! Please stay strong!" She yelled. "Why... would..." The child started to say but the silky voice interupted. "Don't listen! She's trying to stop you from doing what's right. You know I have always had your best interests at heart, I have always helped you when you were in need, I have always been there for you."
"No! Don't give into temptation! If you let me in I promise to make her go away, I won't let her hurt you anymore and I will always be here for you, even if you hate me I will never leave you!" Sakura shouted. She hit the wall one more time and felt it bend around her fist. She pulled back and looked at the spot she hit. Stretched out her hand and with her index finger poked the wall. It started to form around her finger as it dipped inwards. Her eyes became hopeful, she kept pushing as she continued to shout.
"My name is Sakura, I am the cause of all this. I was stupid and made a bad choice in life. I'm trying to fix it now and part of fixing my mistake is saving you. Falicia, you may not know this but your life is not over. You have time to try and turn things around, start relationships over again and become a better you, a happier you! All you have to do is let me help." Suddenly her finger poked through the wall and created a small hole.
"No! If you let her in she will kill you! She wants to destroy you, destroy me and save that sl*t's offspring." The voice hissed with a high pitch cracking sound. The hole started to get wider and soon Sakura could fit her arm through. "Do you promise to stay with me?" The child like voice asked as Sakura pushed with more strength. "With every fiber of my soul, I promise to stay with you until you are ready to move on to your next life!"
A huge crashing sound echoed throughout the entire space. The black haze started to get pulled into a tight ball formation. The wind it created was so strong that itnstarted to pull Sakura in. She brought up her arms to protect her face as she searched around. She spotted a small child with golden waves of hair chained down to her spot.
Sakura tried her best to walk towards her but lost her footing the closer she moves towards the young girl. "Falicia, honey. I need to get rid of all this black stuff so you can start to get better. I will be right back." She shouted but hesitated when she saw her horrified face. "No! Please don't leave me! You promised you wouldn't leave!"
Sakura gave a gentle smile. "I'm not leaving you, I'm going to fight that thing and win. So be ready!" She shouted and jumped up. The suction immediately caught her and pulled her in. The wind stopped and the black haze turned into a small, solid ball that reflected the child's face.
"You think you're so clever..." The silky voice whispered but Sakura stood her ground. She looked around and saw nothing. A face suddenly formed an inch in front of hers. It was reflecting bits of blue and purple but overall it was just black and emotionless. "Do you think you won? Do you think you are brave? You're nothing more then a coward!" It shouted before it released a high pitched scream. Sakura kept her gaze locked on the face.
"I am a coward." The face stopped screaming and looked at Sakura with her void eyes. "I was too much of a coward to stand by my husband's side, too cowardly to let go of my pride, to cowardly to fully opening myself up and let the people I love see me for who I was!" Sakura shouted causing the face to tremble. "I will no longer be a coward! I found who I want to protect, I found my own child to take care off and I will take you back in me and face my demons!"
The chains holding Falicia down started to give off a bright light and suddenly exploded into butterflies, freeing her from her imprisonment. The shining, white butterflies rushed towards the ball and transformed it into more butterflies. Soon a swarm started to swirl around and in the center stood Sakura, smiling with her arms wide open. "Come, take your first step into the light."
Falicia, like a new fawn, stood up and took her first uneven steps forward. She was determined to get the hang of walking but found herself running with much more ease. With a giant smile on her face she rushed into the small tornado of butterflies and jumped into Sakura's arms. The moment they made contact the butterflies scattered in every direction of the dark room and dissolved into the space. Bring out the true form of the world.
Sakura looked around and saw the sun shining, blue skies, felt a gentle breeze, and saw what looked like a wonderful amusement park in the distance. "Falicia, I think I will like living with you." Falicia rubbed her face into Sakura's abdomen and muttered something inaudible. Sakura laughed as she tightened her embrace.
"I will be here for you... it took a long time to get to you... but it was worth it."
....
"Leilani, sweety it's time to go.... Leilani? Leilani?! Oh Leilani! What are you doing it's time to go see Mama Livy, I thought you were excited to go see her today?" A fair skinned woman said as she opened the bathroom door.
A small girl no older then 6, peaked up from under her long, dark eyelashes. Her eyes were dark but sparkled with a billion stars. She smiled brightly as she held up a brush and cherry blossom pin. "I want to look pretty when I go see she grandma!" She said. Her mother sighed as she sat down on the toilet seat, tucked back her golden brown hair behind her ear as she pulled up a small foot stool. She patted the stool with her hand, signalling her daughter to sit. "Silly, Mama Livy loves you no matter what." She said as she started to brushed back her straight, ebony hair as she hummed a small tune.
"I know but today is special... I want to ask her about a dream I had and tell her how thankful I am to have her."