When she opened her eyes she found herself in a dark, empty place.
"What is this?"
She wondered as she felt, under her feet, a huge red puddle spread across the floor. It took her a few seconds to realize that what she was stepping in wasn't a puddle, though. She frowned as she saw that, amidst all the strange darkness, an immense crimson ocean stretched towards the horizon.
In this place that seemed to be empty, many voices could be heard whispering and asking who is the violet-haired girl who managed to get in here.
She, to find out what was going on, advanced silently walking on the blood at the same time as the hundreds of billions of whispering voices asked.
"..."
She only advanced a few meters, but she could finally see something different in this place.
There was a boy there.
In the middle of the ocean, bound at the arms and legs with shackles and thorny black chains, with brown hair and rectangular glasses, he was there on his knees looking at the blood without even moving a muscle.
The boy looked to be between twelve and fourteen years old. His clothes were, to tell the truth, quite clean and elegant, however, when she got close enough to him to ask him, she noticed that, through one of the openings of the boy's shirt sleeves there were horrible scars and bruises.
She immediately, in her eagerness to help those in need, bent down to the boy and took him by the hand.
"Are you okay, do you need help?"
Drip... a tear of blood crumbled down the boy's cheek. He then looked up and Sakura was struck dumb as she met the boy's eyes.
"Silver..."
Exactly the same eyes Toru has.
Seeing this... Sakura woke up....
***
She woke up with a jolt sitting up in bed. Cold sweat was running down her forehead and her breathing was too agitated. She tried to calm down for a few seconds, took slow breaths and closed her eyes to reduce her stress. When she opened her eyes again, she finally calmed down even though her heart rate was slightly higher than normal.
"What was that...?"
She wondered. The boy standing in that spot somehow looked familiar. Those eyes at the end...
She looked at the surroundings. She felt that Toru was still there.
"Onii-... Toru..."
There was no answer...
"If you're there I just want to say... good morning..."
Despite that strange dream, Sakura decided not to take too much notice of it.
Her father used to say that while dreams are a representation of people's subconscious, they are also the gateway to multiple realities created by the imagination of the human brain. Although they are still dreams in the end, that's not going to change.
So she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
On his side, Toru just continued to stand with his arms crossed in a corner with his back leaning against the wall.
His mind, as always, was in a constant mess, but he was able to control all that and be calm in this corner of the room.
"..."
Suddenly, a thump was heard in the bathroom followed by a groan of pain. Not caring if it was his Master who had emitted that sound of pain, he approached the bathroom and walked through the door. It was there that he saw something very strange.
Sakura was on the floor, hugging herself tightly, as if she was enduring a deep physical pain.
Out of pure curiosity, Toru activated his Shigan and frowned at the sight of his Master's body.
This was, above all else, horrible and bizarre.
Toru could see how, between Sakura's lines of death, other lines of death belonging to multiple life forms were moving. It didn't take him long to realize that those creatures were eating this girl from the inside.
It seemed that those little beasts were stimulated by something to act that way, but he really didn't know what that was.
There on the ground, Sakura closed her eyes tightly, the pain was unbearable, so much so that she couldn't stand upright as she felt as if something was biting the inside of her stomach.
"Father... help me..."
A few tears streamed down her face.
Despite this girl's suffering, Toru just watched this with a terrifying coldness, as if he really didn't care about anything his eyes saw at this moment.
It was like that for a few seconds. Somehow the monsters inside her calmed down and that managed to appease the throbbing pain.
She then sat on the floor breathing heavily. Even though she knew, she really didn't want to tell anyone. This was pain exactly like the pain she felt ten years ago when she was locked up in the Matō family's house.
"It can't be..."
Her hands trembled as a small amount of blood flowed from her crotch.
And all of this was observed by Toru, who really had no reaction to it.
A bit frightened and desperate, Sakura turned on the bathtub faucet and prepared to take a bath. She undressed right there, even if she knew that Toru was watching her.
Her skin was white and without any impurities. The curves on her body were unbecoming on a girl of her age and the large breasts hanging from her chest were even more so. The only thing that made this scene that would drive any teenage boy crazy was the blood dripping down this girl's legs.
It's been a few hours since Toru was summoned and already he had to see this girl's misfortune.
'Why now? I'm not in Fuyuki anymore... I'm not around those people... why?'
She wondered, but there was no answer for her questions. Instead, as she wiped off her blood with the shower water on the side of the bathtub, she got a depressing silence.
"If you want to say something, say it...please..."
Listening to the silence was something that terrified her, it was as if everyone had walked away, leaving her alone in a depressing void.
And even if she asked Toru for a favor, he said nothing. Again he folded his arms and waited with his eyes closed for his Master to finish cleaning himself.
Sakura then stepped into the bathtub, causing the water that quickly filled the tub to overflow. The sound of the flowing water echoed in the place at the same time as this girl looked into the void.
Sakura stood like that for a few seconds. Silently, staring at the water in the bathtub with lost eyes and a somber, thoughtful expression.
...
"I really feel like calling you onii-san again..."
She said suddenly. A certain wistfulness and sadness could be noted in her tone of voice.
After a short pause, she said:
"But I'm not a child anymore to have to call you that..."
Trying to make Toru erase from his mind what happened a few seconds ago. It was embarrassing... it was sad... She didn't want to be looked at that way by the boy she loves even if he doesn't remember her anymore.
The expression on Toru's face may not be the same anymore, but she wanted to believe that this boy was the same one she met ten years ago.
He is still Toru...
He is still the Heroic Spirit of an empty legend. He's still Toru...
"Do you remember when we were in that building...?"
No, he doesn't remember...
"Do you remember the gift you gave me?"
No... he doesn't remember...
"Do you remember... when... we went to the park to play...?"
No...
"You... won't you leave me alone?"
Anyone would inevitably think that the girl who now lies crying in the bathtub is mentally unwell. Yes, that's right. Anyone who has lived through what this girl lived through would be left with permanent sequelae, but that wasn't all.
As the girl cried, Toru simply chose not to pay attention. Still, he couldn't help but listen to what the girl was saying between sobs.
"Even though I managed to get you back... in all this time... in all these years... why?"
The only person who could get her out of this emotional hell.
"Why doesn't Rin come looking for me...?"
She couldn't go back to Fuyuki to look for Rin because of the Matō family being there too. Waver had already mentioned it to her in the past. If they return to Fuyuki he wouldn't be able to protect her from whatever that family is going to do to her. The only option left to her was to wait for her older sister to come looking for her. And Rin could travel to London very easily, so why?
Toru this time sighed wearily. For him there was nothing to say. He doesn't know his Master and so he can't understand the situation. Still, he knows that this girl is not well and he had to say something so that she won't become a nuisance later.
"I don't know."
He whispered. And Sakura just looked at the place where Toru's faint voice was heard.
"Finally you say something..."
She looked at him with a soft smile. Hearing Toru's voice calmed her down a bit from everything that's going on. The more time passes, the harder it becomes to control all those emotions pretending to want to come out.
At the end of it all, she washed her face with the bath water and prepared to get out. She took the towel that was hanging near the shower and wrapped it around her body.
Her wet hair fell over her shoulders and chest, stopping near the door. There she looked at the doorknob before saying something to that boy.
"You could talk a little more once in a while."
She liked to listen to Toru's voice. If she could do it by saying a few words, for her it was more than enough. So, with that thought, she left the bathroom closing the door.
At those last words from Sakura, Toru just shook his head as he followed her. For him, there was no need to talk at this point. Besides, he was fine this way. While Sakura is afraid of silence, Toru got so used to the silence of that white void that even hearing his own voice felt strange to him.
In the end, his conclusion was:
'It's not worth it.'
Because he got used to not speaking.
***
A couple of minutes passed and now Sakura found herself preparing breakfast. Toru was also there, only this one was next to Sakura with his arms crossed and his back leaning against the wall.
While this Servant was in charge of acting like a stone, Sakura began to hum while cooking with a soft smile. Though she suddenly stopped humming as she remembered what day it was today.
She frowned nervously at the mere thought that at any moment her father would show up.
"My father arrives today..."
And with that, the explanation she wanted so badly to find last night vanished from her mind. Inwardly she panicked, but after thinking about it as the sound of an egg frying in the pan echoes, she decided to take the hardest path she could have come up with.
'I won't tell him anything...'
Simple as that. No need to tell her anything and problems wouldn't arise if the secret was kept, so she continued to prepare breakfast trying not to think too much about what might happen.
...
So another few more brief minutes passed and suddenly three soft knocks on the door alerted Sakura and Toru.
She immediately went to see who it was.
When she opened the door curiously, her father quickly entered her field of vision.
"Father... good morning."
It was difficult for her to hide things from her father, but this time she was going to try to hide Toru no matter what. Besides that, so that the mark on her hand wouldn't show, she wore thin gloves for the cold weather. She also made sure to wear clothes that were a bit heavier than normal, but casual enough that he wouldn't notice.
Waver nodded as he made way for someone else behind him.
"Good morning, Sakura. I brought you a present."
Gray appeared behind Waver holding a small stuffed animal in the shape of a white wolf. Add seemed to mumble a few things, but Sakura didn't really hear him because she was focused on her performance.
"Uh... hi, Gray..."
And without making them wait, she stepped aside so they could enter.
"Have you guys had breakfast yet?"
"Not yet."
Waver replied. Sakura excitedly hurried to the kitchen to serve them some of what she prepared earlier.
Thus Waver passed through the door and walked calmly around the place, however....
'Hm...'
He sighed closing his eyes.
Even if his daughter's performance was good, the Bounded Field he just spread throughout the living room detected something beside Sakura. A disembodied entity that moved slowly and relaxed. A ghost.
No, that was more than just a ghost.
'Servant...'
Waver looked at Sakura placing the dishes on the table and narrowed his eyes. This girl who had been safe in this country until now, who smiles kindly as she chats together with Gray... Seeing that he felt as if a great weight was holding him back from advancing to his daughter.
In the end this whole charade was all too obvious to him. Not for nothing was he a good detective for the Clock Tower. And he figured it all out by two simple details.
'Those gloves...'
And the ghost currently moving inside this house....
'I knew it...'
It's been seven years since he guessed this would happen. So he looked at Sakura's side, where the presence of the mysterious ghost came from and frowned.
In turn, Toru narrowed his eyes and whispered inside his mind.
'He is dangerous..'
Because even though he used his ability to conceal his presence, this man spread a Bounded Field on the scene to detect abnormalities. He was cunning, but that mattered little to Toru....
Both of them, who looked at each other in silence, like an ironic reunion, did not know each other's identity.
To be continued...