-Cherry Blossom Drops-

Cherry Blossom Drops.

"There's a legend that's been around for a while: the flowers/petals of a cherry blossom tree were once white. The emperor hated the color, calling them bland and ugly. So, he ordered for dead soldiers to be buried under each tree." With that said, she caught a petal in between her fingers and squeezed slightly, her eyes following the small trail of red that dripped down her fingers.
"See? The blood from the dead soldiers turns the petals pink."

WARNINGS:
THIS IS NOT A HAPPY STORY.
Yes, It'll have it's happy-ness moments time-to time (example: chapter one), but mostly this story is about war, hate, gore, betrayal, and other angsty stuff... But it'll be PG-13.

prologue.

"The lamps now glitter down the street;
Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.

Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.

Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.

Then once again the glow returns;
Again the phantom city burns;
And down the red-hot valley, lo!
The phantom armies marching go!

Blinking embers, tell me true
Where are those armies marching to,
And what the burning city is
That crumbles in your furnaces!"

- 'Armies in the Fire' by Robert Louis Stevenson

chapter one.
Years Earlier... around 1930

It was a normal night in the island country of Ruo. Most of all, it was silent, calm and dark.
So, of course, it was the most perfect time to go for a midnight stroll.

Kyoko hummed quietly as she walked through the lush forest, occasionally swatting away the bugs that threatened to land on her. For once- since Ruo had become a free country in 1802 --she felt, relaxed. Since then, Ruo had been thriving as a country.
Kyoko could never be so happy.

"WAH!! SOMEONE HELP ME!! ANYONE!!"

...the heck? She thought, walking the direction of the sound... which lead her to a nearby cliff. She peered over the edge, seeing a few figures hovering over a wailing one.

"PLEASE!! I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING! ANYTHING!! JUST DON'T HURT ME!!"

She blinked, and leaned further over the edge, trying to see what was going on.

Well, bad idea on her part.

"WAH. OW! OOF!"

Each noise escaped her as she fell off the cliff, landing on random formations before landing in a bunch of bushes.

"Ow..." She muttered, rubbing her head from impact.

"Eeeeeeh?!" Someone almost yelled from the group crowding over the wailing person. "...What was that noise?!" The voice stopped for a moment. "As the hero... I pick... China to go investigate while we continue to interrogate Italy!"

Hero? Italy? China? WAIT. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She pulled a full face mask out from a pouch near her black shorts. As she slipped it on her charcoal covered face, a thought struck her: Well, now they won't know who I am. One strap from her forest green spaghetti strap shirt slipped as she shifted, her back facing toward the person walking over to her. Finally, she pulled a cylinder object out of her belt from around her waist and she sucked in a breath, a finger resting on a button.

"I don't see anything, aru."

With a shrill 'aiyee!!!' type war cry and a push of a button, noise, Kyoko leaped out of the bushes, now wielding a spear, and hit her 'attacker' hard enough to send him back a few meters. She then faced the group, which had added by two.

She quickly snapped at them her native tongue, taking a step forward.

One with bushy eyebrows stared at her and raised an eyebrow. "Anyone know what she's saying?"
"...No."
"Not me, da."
“Pas moi.”
A groan. "Me neither, aru."

After a long pause, she repeated, but in another tongue that they all knew.

"What are you doing here?"

They all stared.

She growled lightly. "Answer before I call for back-up!!"

All of a sudden, she felt something attach to her waist.

"WAHH! PLEASE HELP ME MISS-SCARY-NATIVE-WOMAN!!"

She stared at him for a moment, before sighing lightly and ruffling his hair.

"Alright."

"WHOA. I AM the HERO."
"Pardon?"
"I KNOW WHO THIS WOMAN IS!"

A finger was pointed at her. “Excuse--”

"This woman is no other than... Kayako Saeki!! AKA, THE GRUDGE." [1]
“...What?”
“U-uhm, America-Kun, s-she's not really--”
“It makes sense! She's got the unruly black hair, the creepy Japanese style mask--”
“-Saeki-San never wore a mask-” [2]
“-and she's probably a ghost after that fall, and she probably died in the 'grip of powerful rage' and since we've encountered her, we'll all probably be consumed by her fury. It all just makes SENSE.”
“...You really are an idiot monsieur.”
“AM NOT!”
“I agree with America, aru!”
“WAAAAAAAH!!! THIS IS SO SCARY!!!”
“Not really, da.”
“America you baka! Stop trying to scare us!” [3]

And finally... something in Kyoko snapped. Her blood began to boil in her fury...

She took a few steps forward, one hand resting on her mask.
“Hey,”
They continued with their shouting and arguing.
“HEY!”
Silence. They all stared.
“Now America,” With every step forward and started pulling off her mask. “do you really think I'm a horror movie character?”
As soon as her mask was gone, America's eyes when wide.
“but, I am alittle bit like Kayako, because right now, I'm consumed by fury.”
She saw him gulp.
“Oh-ho-ho~” Now her fury reached it's peak at the comment made by the french man.
“How many times do I have to tell you,” She hissed. “that I hate unexpected VISITORS?!”

There was a long pause of silence.

“AHAHAHAHA!” America laughed, putting his hands on his hips before another long pause of silence.
“RETREAT!”
His friends didn't waste a second to follow him.
Kyoko sighed loudly, rubbing one of her shoulders and clicking the button on her spear- returning it to it's normal state before slipping it back on her belt.

“Thank you, miss-scary-native lady!”
Her head turned and she looked over at the remaining three.
“Yes, thank you.”
“You are in our gratitude.” -This one bowed his head slightly.
"Anytime, anytime."
She smiled lightly, walking over to them and sat down, joining them.
"So, you are all...?"
"Germany."
"Italy~!"
"Japan."
"Pleasure to meet you all." She smiled again.
"Oh yeah, I should tell you my name. I'm Kyoko -- aka, Ruo!"

Kyoko had finally figured the most annoying sound ever-- her alarm clock blaring in her ears.

"Ughnfth." She muttered, opening her sleepy eyes with a yawn.

She slammed her hand against the blasted alarm-clock, momentarily shutting it up. With a large swing of her legs, she was out of bed and wobbling toward the bathroom. Once inside, she set the water in the sink on hot, throwing a wash cloth in after.
Kyoko leaned on the counter top, staring at herself in the mirror. Same old, same old.
Once steam was rising off the sink, she ran the washcloth under the water a few times, before just lying it on her face.

"Ahhh...." She muttered, leaning back against the wall.

The movement caused the washcloth to fall, letting the small Ruoian to -again- look at herself in the mirror.
Staring right back at her, was not herself. True-- it (kinda) looked like her, but it wasn't. This... thing has black hair like hers, but more messy, tangled, and longer. She had no pupil, no iris-- all that was there was the whites of her eyes. A surgical mask was over the girls' mouth, and it looked like she was wearing a bloody hospital gown. One hand -the other was in a sling- raised and pointed at her.
Kyoko's eyes widened at the words that came out.

"Mu...r...Murd...er...Murderer..."

And then she disappeared. Just like that.
Silence once again filled the bathroom as Kyoko stared at the mirror. So many thoughts buzzed through her head, making her feel dizzy.

"What... the heck was that?" She asked herself breathlessly.

More silence and staring, that is, until Kyoko took a small step forward, leaning on the counter and raising a hand, setting it on the mirror.

"What was--"

Then the mirror actually changed. It became steamy-- like how it looks like when you take a hot shower --and... shadows started appearing.
Then buildings...
Then ash and rubble...
Then fires all around...
Then the glass started getting hot. Definally too hot to touch.
She hissed, pulling her hand back and waving it around, trying to cool it off.
The last thing appeared in the mirror-- the girl from before. She stood among the fires, ash and rubble, still pointing like before.

"Mur...der...er... murderer."
She gulped and spoke softly, clutching her slightly burned hand. "I-I'm not...!"

Suddenly, the girl was close... really close. With her slinged hand out of the sling, it was placed where her hand once was on the mirror.

"Murderer... Murderer..." She kept saying.

Then the glass melted and the girl was climbing out of the remains. [1] She leaned over the sink, grabbing Kyoko's throat and squeezing harshly.
Kyoko made a few choking noises, clawing at the girls' hands.

"Murderer! MURDERER!"
"N-No!"

Somehow, she was able to release from the girls' grip, which resulted in her slamming into the back wall and crumpling to the ground. The girl stared down at her, before a round black object appeared in her hand.

"Murderer.”

Then she dropped it, making Kyoko scream and try and protect herself.