To My Dearest...

Broken Enough

The boys were all discussing the next auction and Sakura was patiently listening. After the meeting, they all separated to do their own thing and Baba and Ota were left alone in the lounge yet again.

"Let's go to the casino, Baba! I want to go play somethin'." her grins, tugging the thief along, who was about to comply when...

"Whoa... It's the letter Sakura threw at Soryu the other day! Look!" he cheers, tugigng the artist in the opposite direction. "Want to read it?"

They open the letter carefully, tugging out a piece of paper, a bit yellowed from age.

"Hey Sakura,

Listen, since the beginning of the year, it's always been fun being with you. I'm not good with my words. And I'm sorry, but I just need to say-"

The letter was quick and almost coming to an end when the door suddenly opened to Sakura, and the two scrambled to put it away, Baba shoving it into his jacket pocket. "Hey guys, what'cha up to?"

"Nothing much. We were just thinking about grabbing lunch. It's almost time. Want to come?"

"Sure. I mean, I'm not eating anything but... yeah." "Still sticking to that, huh?"

~*****~

"What do you want, Saku?" Along the way, they had managed to somehow get her permission to call her 'Saku'. 

"I'll just get an iced coffee." "You mean a normal one? It's winter!" "Yeah, an iced coffee. And put some Oreo bits into it, too."

"What about your meal, ma'am?" "I'll be fine."

She waves the waiter away and produces a small bottle from her jacket pocket. "Here we are." 

"You were not joking about that." Baba mutters as she pulls out a few capsules and tablets. One was red, one blue even a green and brown one. 5 in total with the final as white.

With a water bottle she had, she swallows all in one and closes her eyes for a moment. She sways a bit before regaining composure. "Well, I'm done."

Before the two could say anything more, the waiter comes back with their orders. "Here you all are. I apologize for the delay."

It was an almost normal lunch if it weren't for the looks and fans coming up to them all the time. Mostly up to Ota and Baba.

There were also men there for Sakura, who shook them off with a dis or an insult, which would get chided by her friends. Women, of course, gave her envying looks.

"Alright, this is getting ridiculous. That was the 57th woman, and counting. I'm going, you guys comin' or what?"

~*****~

That night was another auction and the bidders were all seated in the gallery viewing booth. Everything was running smoothly and item by item, it was crossed off the list.

The final item up was a ring named the 'Swan's Eye', it's original value costing over 2 million. They started the bid at exactly just that. The numbers endlessly jumped up and higher and just as the 'Mad Hatter' was about to bring the gavel down for victory of 10 million, the doors to the hall bursts open.

"Get the ring!" Sakura's sharp ears caught that loud order and her eyes widen underneath her mask. "Alright, that's the mafia right there." she flashes a smile that was scarily almost the same to Ota's. "Let's go, Oh. We're taking them down. Judging by this, I'm guessing they're underlings."

Without waiting for an answer, she quickly grabs the man by his wrist and drags him out the balcony down to the seats. "Where's Inui?" she asks as they run down the aisles, trying to dodge hits from teh mafia and from guests.

"By the entrance." at his words, Sakura disappears from his side, to the entrance and he follows after the girl, who found Inui trying to stop as much people as possible from coming in.

"Inui." her voice makes the boy turn around. "Huh? Who are you? Are you with them?!" he demands, raising a gun to her chest. She raises her hands with a small smirk.

"Pleased to meet you Inui. I'm Mr. Oh's acquaintance, and I need you to do something."

"Oh really?! What?!" the boy grins, waiting for his orders like a faithful pup.

"I need you and two other Ice Dragons to evacuate and calm the guests. Tell them that everything was safe and the bidder for the ring'll get her prize." she orders, looking around as she pulls out her gun.

"Yes, ma'am." the boy runs off after calling two team members and soon, groups of the guests come running out, being calmed by the three.

"God, this is pathetic. I'm talking to Eisuke later." she clicks her tongue and runs off, into the crowd of frenzied mafia members.

The fight was ending quickly with a few Dragons helping and Soryu and Sakura into the mix as well. And just when they thought everything was over, a man, probably the leader pops up behind Soryu, gun in hand.

"Oh! Watch it!" she calls him and the mobster turns to her just in time to see her jumping in front of him, taking the bullet meant for him, hitting her right in the stomach. "Shit...!" the man curses and Soryu notices a gun in her hand, fired, hitting the man through the skull.

"Sick bastard..." she wheezes, clutching her stomach tightly as the blood began showing on her black attire, shading it darker than ever. "Shit... This hurts like hell."

She pushes herself up but she suddenly collapses and Soryu snaps forward to catch her. "Dammit..." and the bidders came running up to them.

"Sakura...! Get an ambulance here, now!"

~*****~

"Guh, what the hell...?" she mutters. Her head was throbbing incredibly and everything was a blur for a moment until the door opens.

"Sakura! You're awake!" Baba's familiar voice flows into her ears and she smiles slightly. "What happened?"

"You took the bullet for Soryu at the hotel earlier and got shot in the stomach area. They said you'll be fine but you need to eat." "Alright..." "They meant full meals."

"Seriously? At that rate, I might as well have already lost my stomach."

He shakes his head and chuckles. "Anything you need from the hotel?" "Think you can grab some books and come back?"

"You got it."

~*****~

Baba soon returns to the hospital with a few books from her room. He didn't know what to pick so he went with 5 books, a detective novel, a murder and horror one, a romance, adventure and history.

He was about to enter when he felt something poking him through his jacket and he opens his breast pocket to find the letter Sakura had thrown at Soryu the day before. He enters with the books and letter in hand.

"Sakura. I need to talk to you."

"What did you-" she stops at the sight of the letter. "About this. Soryu wrote this to you, didn't he?"

"You read it?"

"Just part of it but I notice the handwriting is similar to Sor's. Didn't he write you this?"

"Yes. He left it in my locker on graduation day but I never bothered opening it." "Why not?" "Why are you being so nosy?"

...

"Yeah, thought so. Listen, it's none of your business, okay? I appreciate your concern or whatever but I'll handle it myself. I'm good. You can go back now."

The thief reluctantly leaves and when he does, time seemed to pass by quickly as Sakura ignored the books, staring out the window of the hospital where the sun was setting.

And soon, the moon replaced the sun and it shone through her bedroom window. As she fell into slumber, she remembered her words:

"He had someone else, I don't need a letter from him to mock me."

"I'm broken enough."