Series: His Sakura (Chapter 2)

Mar 16, 2015 22:52

Title: His Sakura
Pairing: Please refer A/N in the 1st chapter
Setting: Early Edo period. Historically incorrect and purely fiction.
Summary: When Jun ended up in a castle
WARNING: violation of character, angst, drama, fluff (probably). Please, if you’re uncomfortable with any of these I advise you not to read this one (but these warnings didn't apply in this first chapter or even the second one).

Chapter 1 >> Chapter 2 >> Chapter 3


Ever since that day, and especially when the other servants found out that he was a slave, he was treated like a garbage. He was ordered to do many things at once, the things his small, scrawny body couldn’t cope, so he was punished a lot, even by the servants around him. He received slapping, beating, and once, being left out in the scorching sun for the whole day without any water to drink.

He found out later that he was the only slave in the entire castle, and the servants took liberty of his existence to force more works than he should take. Jun ended up being sick a lot of time and it was truly a miracle that he survived from each bout of illnesses he encountered.

Until then, the only Sakurai member he had ever saw was the daimyo himself. By listening to the servant’s conversation when they thought nobody was looking, Jun learnt that the daimyo’s family, mainly his wife, his daughter and son were left in Edo capital.  He found out that the son wasn’t from his wife but from his concubine instead and he would be living in the Sakura castle in a few months for training as his father’s future replacement and he was given special consent by the Shogun to return temporarily to the castle.

There was a fuss when the son had finally arrived. He had been living in Edo since he was still a baby. Jun heard that it was unusual for a son from an unofficial wife to be chosen as heir to the current daimyo, but since the daimyo’s wife couldn’t provide the family with a son, as soon as his concubine gave birth to a baby boy, later was named Sakurai Sho, the mother and him was immediately transferred to Edo capital to live together with the daimyo’s wife as per instruction of the bakufu.

Jun had met the daimyo’s son by accident one day when the teenage son was around the staff complex which the young master had no business being there at all but he was taking his walk he said, and through that unexpected meeting, Jun was sure the young master wasn’t very fond of him especially when Jun had accidentally dirtied the young master’s feet, albeit not too much, when the young master walked passed him at the same time he was trying hard to remove the stubborn dirt on the walkway with his broom, but Jun wasn’t perturbed by it, the whole family could hate him for all he care.

Jun didn’t exactly care about the family, he had more pressing issues to care about such as finishing his works and trying his best to survive. The rest of the family didn’t really know his existence anyway and he wanted to keep it that way. It was enough that he only knew who the head of the family that he was forced to serve was, and some of his right-handed men and some of the retainers that were protecting the family.

It was a one particular gruelling day that he somehow unknowingly ended up among the big Sakura trees that were blooming with flowers, standing proudly under the watchtower, just beside the high wall, metres away from the gate, a place where he was actually forbidden to step. Jun didn’t even notice that it was already spring, so rundown he was by the burden of his work. He suddenly felt his eyes watering, watching the flowers falling down around him, he was truly reminded of his home where he had a few big Sakura trees near his house, a place where he always played with his friends.

He sobbed hard, picking the flowers on the ground and smelled them. The light cherry fragrance calmed him little by little as he closed his eyes and drowned himself in the memories. He wondered whether his friends back at home still remembered him and did they wonder where he went? Jun didn’t know, but he still remembered some of his friends back at the village, of course, it was just a few months since he left them after all.

A rough bark from someone pulled him out of his reverie. Jun saw someone came to him like a storm, shouting crudely at him, chasing him away from littering the garden with his dirty body. With a last look at the Sakura trees he walked away, returning back to his sleeping place at the hidden corner of the staff complex.

He did come to see the Sakura trees stealthily a few times, even during the middle of the night until all the flowers died away, flown away by the wind, leaving only the branches that started to sprouting with leaves. Still, Jun came to see the view and at the same time finding a few seeds so that he could plant his own Sakura tree.

At last he managed to find a secluded place to plant the seeds, it was at the back of one of the empty guest house at the eastern part on the castle ground. With clumsy hands he buried the seeds inside the soil and watered it. Every day he went there, no matter what the time, even during midnight where the only source of light was from the shy moon, up on the night sky. He saw how the young bud peeking out shyly from the ground, young leave started to bloom little by little every day.

The sight made Jun really happy, he nearly forgotten his miserable life every time he saw leaves forming one by one in every visit.

He would make sure that there was no moss surrounding it so that his Sakura could grow healthy. He even begged the gardener to not destroy his baby tree when the gardener was doing his job cleaning around the castle’s ground, even offering himself to do some of the gardener’s work in exchange of the favour he requested, and since the gardener seemed like a kind man, which was so rare to find someone nice there, he did the thing that really touched Jun’s heart, he offered to give some fertiliser reserved for the castle’s garden to him for his small tree.

Thus, Jun found something he was looking forward to every day, the place he could find solace, the place for him to believe that at least there was something beautiful waiting for him even though his life was not pretty to get through.

*

It was a sad day for him that afternoon. On top of being toppled over by the young son of the daimyo when he was doing his job, who apparently was running away from his sensei after pranking him, he was being scolded and hit on his arm for carelessly knocking down his bucket, full with the dirty water onto the floor, where it was the main walkway for the daimyo and his trusted retainers.

Jun tried to tell that it wasn’t his fault, it was the young master’s fault for running on him and made the bucket tumbled over, but of course who was him to put the blame on the daimyo’s son, and when the young master gave him such a harsh stare, Jun felt how the need to run to his small tree was gripping at him at that moment.

So the first thing he did after he was punished was kneeling in front of the small Sakura tree, clutching his heart, in anger and sadness. A few deep breaths later he calmed down. As usual, his hands automatically working on the soil. The small area was already cleaned due to his non-wavering attention every single day, but still, he wanted to make sure to give the best condition for his tree. It was his baby thus it was his responsibility to take care of it.

The next day, Jun felt uneasy, like something pulling him to see his baby tree but his work occupied him until late in the evening. He run to his sacred place as soon as he was free and the sight in front of him nearly made him fainted.

A/N: Finally I'm able to post a chapter (albeirt short) Still so many thing to write though (Haha I wonder if anyone even bother to read this) I still don't want to post this in arashirabu yet since if I do, I will feel the obligation to post a chapter every week and I'm not ready yet... I still don't finish my genie fic yet and it's the priority right now

his sakura, sakumoto

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