The Beginning of the End
The Land of Fire:
Ironically, the best day of Sakura’s life was the same as her worst.
A rather unusual set of circumstances had shaped her life so drastically that as she laid, she couldn’t help but think about the start of her journey, her early years before her rebirth in Konoha. In the heart of the Uchiha compound surrounded by hues of rich navy and red, ornate decorations lined the walls and fresh tatami mats on the floor, she watched the rain fall outside in the courtyard, dark clouds covered the once clear sky added to the darkness inside the grand bedroom. Sakura allowed her eyes to close as she fell into a restless slumber, her mind going back all those years to before she was Sakura Senju of the Konoha District, the Blossom of the Land of Fire.
Back when she was nothing more than an impoverished child in the Land of Waves and still had her birth name- Sen Haruno.
The Land of Waves-
The Land of Waves was a small and impoverished country, not known for anything spectacular, most of its revenue came from its assortment of coastal fishing villages. One such village, Nishimoya, was Sen’s birthplace and early home. Though now the village wasn’t nothing more than a foggy memory for her, it was a grey and drab village, full of weathered old fisherman and dejected youth who had no other prospects other than the Tazuna Seafood Company.
The coast of The Land of Waves was littered with such villages all the same as Nishimoya, dark and damp, battered by the fierce weather year round and filled with wrinkled and hardened faces that all seemed to blur into one collective mass. Her father was one of these fisherman, an older man with a face worn by time and eyes filled with a hardness only those at the bottom of the barrel seemed to possess. The older man was a full of wood, dedicated to working and cold and when not working was always sat hunched over fishing nets repairing holes for the next day. Day in, day out all the people knew was work and sleep, the cycle was endless, it hardened the hearts of the villagers.
Unlike her father, full of wood and earth, Sen was blessed-or maybe cursed- with the eyes of pure green water, her being was full of water and spring just as her mother was. In another world her mother may have been considered a beautiful woman but sickness had been cruel and where a healthy woman once stood, a skeletal woman with murky green eyes laid. Sen’s mother had never not been sick, for as long as she could remember the cloud of illness had hung over her mother. Setsu, Sen’s older sister, a pudgy older girl with simple features and naive eyes had some recollection of their mother before the sickness took her. But Setsu had a peculiar way about her, she couldn’t escape the clumsiness that followed her and her mind seemed stuck in thick honey, there was a slowness about her. Setsu would potter about the family kitchen making soup and pour it into bowls in such a way it seemed she spilled the cooking pot and happened to catch the food in the dishes.
Their family home was a small, humble set of four walls. Sen called it their ‘Squished House’ referencing where the ceiling had started to dip in parts of the building. The Squished House was no different to the others surrounded it from the outside. Inside was a different story, her mother’s illness filled their four walls with the taste of impending death, though her mother made no more than a groan every so often the Squished House felt full of the sounds of ill health.
‘Now Haruno-san, you really must go into the village soon and have the women make her black robes, you can’t let her die in these rags.’ The village doctor Mr. Okajima said while wiping his glasses on his sleeve, he would visit their village on a weekly basis, he made an appearance in the neighbouring villages too, in Sen’s mind Mr. Okajima was a powerful and important man.
‘We haven’t the money doctor, a new robe. We’ve all grown poorer.’
She hid behind the wall, Setsu next to her with a cloudiness in her eyes. The men were discussing the girls mother. As the girls listened into their conversation Sen couldn’t help but think of her mother, the woman all but slept these days with no strength to do much else, the illness had ravaged her body and she grew thin like a child. Sometimes Sen would open the curtain covering the window of her mother’s room but the sunlight falling over her mother’s weak form had frightened her so much she couldn’t bare to do it regularly.
’The illness has run its course Haruno-san, even though you’re an older man her body has grown too weak. Perhaps she will have a month more if she is lucky but the end is nearing, preparations are to be made.’ Mr. Okajima said with finality, Sen’s father sat there, his face devoid of emotion but a heaviness lingered over his shoulders. Her father stood up and walked to the front door where Mr. Okajima stood waiting, the two nodded to one another before the doctor left. The weary fisherman slumped down on the seat in the room, silent. What Sen and Setsu couldn’t see were the small tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
’Sen-chan!’ Her father called from his seat, for it would be a great many years before the pink-haired girl would be known as Sakura, she stumbled out from behind the wall.
’Yes father,’ she whispered.
’You must do something very important for me Sen-chan, fetch more incense sticks for the alter.’ His shoulder still looked tense, Sen peeked at her father and began to notice the trace of tears. Her own heart was pounding with fear, what was Mr. Okajima saying he had to be mistaken. Death is a concept difficult for adults to grasp but for two girls only 9 and 13 years old the idea was too painful.
To get from the Squished House to the village you would have to follow the coastal paths near the cliffs edge, sharp rain and icy winds battered the coastal walls with no mercy, the ground was slick with water and as Sen in her haste to reach the heart of Nishimoya, placed her weight on a loose piece of earth and fell with such force that her head hit the ground with a sickening crunch, the world went dark. The first thing Sen noticed was the stench of rotting fish and the sharp smell of salt, she was being carried by a pair of fisherman who had come across the unconscious child. Judging by the smell they had taken her to the Tazuna Seafood Company, she could hear the bustle of working men hauling their days catch into the building and the sound of footsteps surrounding her. While in her daze Sen was unaware of the fact this would be the moment to change the course of her entire life. When she awoke she was face to face with Mr. Tazuna himself.
Sen, like most of the village, had seen Mr. Tazuna in passing, the wealthy man was the head of the Tazuna Seafood Company and his family lived in a more prosperous village nearby. Unlike Sen’s own father and the villagers Mr. Tazuna didn’t wear their cheap and dirty clothes, he wore a clean and presentable men’s kimono and to the young 9 year old he was as grand as the emperor himself. Sen stared at him as he began to wipe off some the dirt from her face and attempted to help straighten out her vibrant pink hair that was dulled with grime when all of a sudden the man froze and saw Sen’s beautiful emerald eyes. No other person in the village, not even her own parents, had such peculiar looking eyes. As he peered at the child she became self-conscious and could feel her cheeks begin to heat up.
’Now child you’re Haruno’s youngest aren’t you?’ Mr. Tazuna said though he already knew the answer, he made a gesture to one of his assistants to go find Mr. Okajima and bring him to check on Sen.
’But sir none of us know where he could be, he might not even be in the village ?’ The assistant said.
Sen rather gingerly tugged at the sleeve of Mr. Tazuna’ a kimono to get his attention.
’Mr. Okajima was at the Squished House just a while ago sir,’ Sen said with a youthful innocence.
’The Squished House. . . What?’ Said Mr. Tazuna with an almost intrigued look on his face, Sen basked in it.
’The house with the collapsing ceiling sir, it looks all squished.’ Mr. Tazuna looked very amused by her explanation and signalled to his assistant to be on his way in search of the doctor.
’What I really am interested in knowing young one is why you’re eyes are so extraordinary, you look nothing like your father do you,’ he said as he bent down to stare at Sen’s eyes with closer detail. Sen had no difficulty explaining how she looked more like her mother and didn’t bear much resemblance to her wrinkled and aged father when Mr. Okajima walked in quite quietly to tend to her head. After doing all he could for the little girl Sen made her way out of the building to finally go get the incense she had originally set off for. On her walk back up to the Squished House she couldn’t help but play over images of Mr. Tazuna in her mind, his kind manner and his beautiful clothing. As she trekked up the path to the house she wondered if she would ever get to wear something as beautiful as the clothes he wore. Even as she went about her chores at home she couldn’t help but let her mind wander, drifting into thoughts of a new life.