Chapter 1


With my arms crossed behind my head, I lay on my bed and stared lost in thought at the white ceiling of my room.
For a few minutes I was lying there just thinking about it and ignoring my little sister, who was screaming all over the apartment that breakfast was ready. Neither did my mother, who, wrapped in a green dressing gown and with a sleepy face and disheveled hair, burst into my room and asked me to finally get up.
Annoyed, I closed my eyes and sighed in frustration.
Why did you have a sign saying "Please knock!" On the door if no one was sticking to it?
Only sometimes my family was so considerate and knocked, but they didn't even wait to be invited in, they just rushed into the room and littered me with their unimportant stuff.
So what did I have this damn sign for ?!After my mother came into the room for the third time and my sister had probably already yelled at the neighbors, I complied with their requests and sat up in my bed.

After about 20 minutes, which I needed to shower, get dressed and get dressed, I went to our little kitchen, still completely sleepy despite the refreshing shower, and sat across from my sister, who seemed to be lost in one of her pony farm books.
,,Tomorrow! "I yawned at her behind my hand.
,,Good Morning! Did you sleep well? Are you already excited? I could barely do an eye! I'm so excited! Hopefully I will enjoy the school. And hopefully Gaara, Yori-chan and I will get into one class! My God, I'm so excited! How do you- "
“Shut up, Yuki! You annoy! ", I interrupted the chatter of my little sister in annoyance and tied my long, pink hair in a braid.
Yuki just stared at me with a withering look and slammed her book shut in an exaggeratedly loud voice, slid off her chair and strutted out of the kitchen.My mother, who was just making coffee, looked at me reproachfully.
,, Sakura! What kind of louse got down your liver? Even if you are in a bad mood, don't take it out on Yuki! She's excited, but it wasn't any different with you when you got into middle school. "
I just rolled my eyes slightly and sipped my glass of milk.
I was in a really bad mood, didn't even know why.
And it was mean that my little sister had to stand up for it.
I loved Yuki very much and otherwise treated her like the greatest treasure there was.
But when she talks to someone like that, when you've only just got out of bed with difficulty, she should complain!
I put my glass down and glanced over at my mother, who gave me a look that said, apologize to her!
I sighed resignedly and pushed the chair back.
"Okay .." I mumbled, slightly annoyed.

I knocked on Yuki's door and, unlike her, I waited until she tore the door open and said brusquely, "What ?!"I sighed inwardly.
,, Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. "I mumbled and leaned against the door frame.
She grimaced slightly and made no effort to say anything.
If she was expecting a big apology from me now, begging her to forgive me, she'd cut herself tremendously.
I squeezed past her and dropped onto her bed.
,, Hey! I just did it properly! she exclaimed indignantly.
I just waved it off and let my gaze wander around the room.
Opposite her bed was her closet, on the door of which hung a large mirror.
To the left of it stood her wooden desk and a small chest of drawers at right angles.
In one corner of the room she had put a mattress on which there were many brightly colored pillows, in another was her overcrowded bookshelf. She was just as addicted a bookworm as I was.
On the yellow wallpaper, which went well with the orange curtains, there were many posters of horses in a meadow.I frowned slightly at the sight. At 12, I hadn't been a horse fanatic for a long time.
I looked back at my little sister, who was still looking slightly sour. She probably still resented me for snapping at her like that and was expecting an explanation for my behavior that I would probably not get around if I wanted her to be my sweet, cute sister again and not only after one a few days, if the memory of it had already passed.
Man, she could get snapped so quickly!
"Don't be mad at me, okay ?! "I looked at her innocently. She was still staring as offended as before.
"I have no idea why I'm in such a bad mood ..." I finally mumbled. But it was true. I was always in a good mood. But does that mean that I can't be in a bad mood? there really was no reason for it ...
At that moment I heard the front door slam shut.Okay ... there was a reason!
Yuki had rushed out of the room, screeching happily, and ran towards a man in a black coat, whom she said out loud with the words, Daddy! You're back! ", greeted.
I just screwed up my face slightly and got up from the bed and leaned against the door frame again while I watched him take Yuki in his arms and give him a squeeze.
My mother came scurrying straight out of the kitchen into the hallway and, after he had set Yuki down on the floor, fell into his arms and kissed him tenderly.
I made a choking sound.
Both ignored it and looked at each other in love and longing, as if they had not seen each other for months. I felt sick again.
It had only been a week!
"I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow, Aoi!"
He grinned slightly and stroked Yuki's hair, which was as pink as my mother's and mine.
"I won't miss my little one's first day of school in middle school."Clear!Yourlittle one. And what was the bloody good thing about getting into that stupid middle school ?!
The blonde looked at me with his arm around my mother's waist and smiled broadly.
,, Sakura! Nice to see you again. How are you? "he greeted me warmly.
"Hn." I just mumbled and looked away from the three of them and went into the bathroom.
That was the reason for my bad mood.

The faint rush of water coming from the sink faucet filled the small bathroom. I let the cold water flow into my hands and threw it on my face.
That was good.
I grabbed a towel and dried my face with it. My reflection looked at me. My hair was tied in a pigtail and a few strands fell over my face and covered my large forehead, my emerald green eyes looked at me reproachfully. My pale skin seemed whiter in the bathroom light. I pressed my lips together - to make them redder and feel guilty - and my fine eyebrows were pulled together slightly.Feelings of guilt ... Certainly not because of him! If to my mother, whom I hurt when I behaved so coldly ... But I couldn't help it.
To Aoi, I really behaved like the last one. He seldom noticed anything of my otherwise cheerful manner, which was probably not even expressed today. I just didn't like him.
My mother had been with him for 6 years, after my father had left his daughter and his wife 7 years earlier, the second child on the way.
Yuki had long since accepted him as a father and was overjoyed when he moved in with us 3 years ago.
Yumi, my mother, loved him dearly and it made me happy to see her happy too.
Still, I didn't like Aoi. I never accepted him as a father, as Yuki did and he must have come to terms with that long ago. Instead, he has been trying to build a friendly relationship with me for a long time. Without success.Don't ask me why I turned him down like that, I have no idea myself.
I just didn't accept him. Only saw him as a friend of my mother, which hopefully would soon pass and she would be happy even without a husband. She had us!
A soft knock tore me from my thoughts.
"It's free ..", I mumbled towards the door and pushed myself with my hands from the sink, on which I had previously protected myself.
Yuki came into the bathroom and stood next to me in front of the mirror. She looked just like me at her age, with the only difference that she had exactly the same eyes as my father. Sometimes I wondered if it hurt my mother to look into her eyes and see our father in them.
I looked down at her and smiled.
“You look cute in the uniform. Really grown up. ", I said gently and stroked her hair. The blue of the sailor's uniform made her eyes really shine.
She grinned up at me proudly.
,,Do you find?I am really happy. We never had uniforms in elementary school. "
I smiled slightly. In a week, at the latest, she would be fed up with wearing the same thing every day.
While I was brushing my teeth, Yuki tried to plait French braids and kept cursing softly when it didn't work out.
“Let me go. "I mumbled through the toothpaste foam and rinsed my mouth out.
My fingers ran gently and nimbly through her soft hair and after a few minutes I had 2 braids.
She looked at herself enthusiastically in the mirror and felt her braids.
,,Wow! How can you do that so well ?! "
“Ino taught me that. "I said, grinning slightly.
The thought of my best friend, whom I hadn't seen in 2 weeks, seemed to make this terrible day better.
After one last critical look in the mirror, I left the bathroom with Yuki, gave my mother a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye and shouldered my bag, which was packed in the hallway."Sakura, I'm taking Yuki to school, should I take you with me?"
I turned to Aoi who was standing behind me in the hallway, Yuki, with his cheeks flushed with excitement and the school bag firmly in his hands, was standing next to him.
“No, I'm going to school with Temari. Besides, that's the total detour. "
“I don't mind! And of course I can take them with me. "
"Let me ..." I called to him as I entered the stairwell and without another word slammed the door behind me and left him standing in the hallway.
I went down the many stairs, opened the front door and entered the streets of Tokyo.
Great...
In my hasty flight from his care, I had forgotten my jacket. It was spring, but so early in the morning it was still totally cold just walking around outside in school uniform.
But I'd rather go on a date with our perverted bio teacher Jiraiya than turn around now. I just