Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all starts at the usual captain meeting. Sakura zones out. He is sure that if he misses something, he will always be able to ask Nirei or Suo. He looks at Umemiya who is talking. Actually, what makes him so special? Why do people want to follow him and listen to him? He doesn't even really look that strong, and people are generally not afraid of him, so that’s not it. So what does Umemiya do that others don’t? Sakura's gaze stops at lush tomatoes. No. That can’t be it. No, really, it can’t be just the gardening part or eating with your friends, right? It was ridiculous, but the seed of doubt was already there.

On the way back home, Sakura buys a package of tomato seeds, a small package of soil, and a single pot.

***

Sakura was currently at Shishitoren turf. Actually, most of the gang was here. Something about strengthening friendship between towns. Everybody was enjoying the snacks and some sweet drinks. Sakura was sitting near Togame. They were something like friends? Kinda. Sakura liked Togame (deep down) but talking to him still felt a bit awkward. Even if by the looks of it, Togame himself was totally relaxed and enjoyed himself. So it was a good time to ask his question.

"So… what makes Tomiyama special?"

"Hm? Choji? What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do you follow him? Why have others also chosen him to be your leader?"

"What? Want to join?"

"The hell!? No, of course not!"

Togame just laughed a little. It was funny to tease Sakura. He was so earnest and easily got flustered. Even now he looked like a disheveled Pomeranian.

"But just for the record, we are always happy to have you in our gang."

"I don’t need it. But thanks, I guess…"

"And about your question. Choji is my friend."
He cast a gaze at the laughing Choji not too far away.

"And when he is happy, I feel happy too. I think his sunny energy is contagious. He was always like that."

"So it's his personality, huh…."

"Yeah, something like that."

Sakura also was looking at Choji. He was smiling widely and actively gesticulating, telling something to Umemiya. People around him also had smiles on their faces. He… can’t do that. No, it’s… for him… It’s… Yeah, he can’t be like that.

They sat in comfortable silence after that.

"Let’s spar next time?" Togame looked at Sakura with a small smile.

"Let’s. I bet I can win this time too."

"You wish."

***

Shuhei was another good example of being a leader. He and Tsubaki were checking on their friends at Show Pub Ougi on Keisei street. Sakura watched Shuhei from afar. He was just ending his shift at the kitchen. He was honestly just a hardworking guy. If Sakura really tried, maybe he could spot other members of "Gravel" working hard just like their leader. Shuhei waved at him and Sakura answered with another wave of his own.

"Can I help you with something?" Shuhei's voice was very calm, and he also sounded tired.

"To hell with awkwardness," thought Sakura.

"If you don't mind... I wanted to ask how you are such a good leader?"

Sakura was red in the face while asking this question, but he was determined to get his answers, and he would fight the awkwardness any day. Shuhei looked surprised but still answered.

"I just wanted us to survive. We needed each other, and in the end, it was the people who decided that I am worth something."

"Have you ever starved, Sakura? I mean, have you ever not eaten almost anything for two days in a row or more?"

Sakura just silently shook his head.

"No, not really."

"I did. And others too. We were doomed to die or live poorly all our lives. So I decided that I would fight for myself and for others. Life is unfair, and I hated it. Everybody deserved better..."

"So... that’s a very short version of how 'Gravel' was founded." Shuhei smiled at Sakura, looking a bit melancholic.

They walked slowly while looking at the bustling street.

"I think... I understand, Shuhei-san. Also... I brought some bread from the bakery... they had 50% off because of the late hour. Please, share it with others."

Sakura simply thrust the packet that he pulled out of his backpack into Shuhei's hands and quickly said his goodbyes, like he couldn't tolerate the awkwardness any more than that. Shuhei stood there holding the crinkling paper bag full of small buns and watched Sakura's retreating figure. He looked at the bread in his hand and quietly laughed. "These people... is this what it feels like to be blessed or something?" He rubbed his dry eyes as if there were some tears and went slowly back home.

Chapter Text

It was time. The time to plant tomatoes. Sakura didn't know almost anything about growing plants. They need soil, water, and the sun, that was it. He opened the soil package in the middle of his living room and tried to carefully pour some soil into the pot. Suddenly, a big clump of soil fell out.
"Shit!"

...and now he technically could plant something just on the floor. The soil was already there.

OK. Ok. Sakura will just breathe in and out and continue.
He opened the package with seeds and put one seed on top of the soil. He looked at it. Evaluated. And then proceeded to sprinkle more seeds in his medium-sized pot. Success! He sprinkled a bit of the soil from the floor on top of the seeds and drowned them with tap water. Some seeds, like the true champions they are, emerged from the soil on top and stayed there. Sakura was satisfied with his work. He situated the pot on his windowsill, which rarely saw the sun itself, and stood proudly before it. Sakura stared at the pot as if he would see the seeds sprouting right at that moment. But to no avail. Well, that meant that it was time to clean his floors from the dirt. Joy.

***

To be honest, after one week Sakura kinda forgot about his pot. Nothing really happened there. He once again drowned everything in water and just went with his days as always. But, after two whole weeks it happened. He was just casting an empty gaze on his window when he saw it. The first small stalks of green appeared. Sakura forgot how to breathe for a second. It was alive. Sakura was internally screaming. It was a miracle.

After that, Sakura would pass his next days just staring at his plants. Now he was a bit more careful when watering them. But they still would be on the edge of going full on sailing every time. Sakura had a thought that gained more and more importance with every day: if he wants to keep his plants alive, he needs to learn more. And as soon as possible.

***

Sakura was acting strange, thought Suo to himself. He had noticed Sakura going to the library and taking some books.

"Nirei."

"Hm? What is it, Suo-san?"

"Have you noticed anything strange about our captain in the last couple of days?"

"Apart from his sudden interest in gardening and botany? No, nothing."

"Well..." Now Suo was lost. And he was rarely lost. "Can you please expand more on Sakura taking interest in gardening?" For some reason, Suo whispered it.

"Oh. I mean," Nirei also started whispering, "I saw him trying to hide the cover of the book, but I was curious and found a similar one in the library later myself."

"How did you find it?"

"You know. It was green. I guessed that it had something to do with biology or something."

Suo just smiled and said out loud, "Great work, Nirei!" But internally, he was reevaluating a lot of things. With a team like that? Privacy was an illusion. But maybe he would visit Sakura and gift him a small gardening fork or something. Sakura could then threaten his enemies with it. Also, to make sure that nobody aside from him and Nirei would know about their captain's newfound hobby. But if others still found out? Well, he enjoyed some chaos in his life.

***

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

Suo was just sitting comfortably in the middle of Sakura's living room.

"Drinking tea. Do you want a cup? It's Oolong."

"Well, yeah." Suo's tea is nice. But that's not important here. What's important is—

"How did you get in?"

"Oh. The window was open."

"How did you—" "OK, nevermind, I don't want to know."

Suo was just calmly steeping tea for him. What's his life? Sakura didn't even know anymore.

Sakura took a sip of his tea. He begrudgingly admitted that it was tasty and made him feel a bit more relaxed.

"So… why are you here?"

"Just checking on you."

Sakura didn’t say it, but they saw each other just yesterday. Maybe something happened?

"Oh, Sakura, I brought you a little present." Suo handed him a little bag and Sakura immediately took the item out of it. It was… a lgardening fork? But for what?

The realization dawned on him and he immediately turned red.

"How did you know?" his voice sounded a bit strangled.

"Nirei."

"And how did Nirei... Nevermind, I don’t want to know."

"Yes, you don’t. So, if you don’t mind me asking, where did this sudden interest in gardening come from?"

Sakura could brush him off and tell him that it wasn’t his business, but Suo was his friend and he could at least try. Trying to be more caring, more open. He would try.

"You know how Umemiya-san grows plants and everything? I just thought that I could try to do that too? Just to understand what’s so special about it, why he likes it."

Sakura felt very uncomfortable and vulnerable saying it.

"That’s nice."

"What?"

"That you try to understand people."

Well, for that Sakura didn’t have any response. That was true, at least partially.

"Also, you know that if people find out that you also started your own little garden, they’ll think it’s some kind of new initiation ceremony in Bofurin."

"Huh!? What the hell, Suo, I just tried to grow some tomatoes and they’re already dying."

"If you need any help, I’m always ready to help."

"Well, thanks, I guess."

"You’re always welcome." Suo just gave him his usual pleased smile.

***

On Monday, Nirei approached him, being all mysterious, and secretively whispered in his ear:

"I know what fertilizer Umemiya-san uses. If you need more, I’ll find out."

Well, these people were definitely bad for Sakura’s heart. Nirei just smiled bashfully at him. His eyes were sparkling.

What’s his life become again? He didn’t know.

Chapter Text

Sakura was worried. Of all things, about tomatoes. The little stalks were growing up steadily but for a couple of days, they started to look wilted. And Sakura really, REALLY didn’t want his first plants to die. So he started researching. He took books from the school library about plants and gardening and started to read. He flipped through the pages that had a lot of photos and illustrations of different plants. There was too much information. Or to be exact, it was too theoretical. Yes, he knew now that tomatoes needed a sunny spot (he put them outside), or that they needed to be planted in a precise period of the year. Or that you need to have enough space between plants. But nothing really talked about what to do if you already messed up.

Because books clearly didn’t help him (only gave him a headache), that left him to his last option. Yep, ask for help. Usually, if it was about him, he would try to do everything alone. But people, animals, and as of now plants were somehow more important than his pride or his fears.

So, the next day, Sakura gently packed his pot and made his way to school and then went straight to the roof.

As he predicted, Umemiya-san was there. He was checking his plants while humming some tune.

Sakura came closer and Umemiya finally saw him.

"Well, if it isn’t Sakura! How are you? Is everything alright?

"Hi. Everything’s okay, I just wanted to ask you… for some advice."

While saying it, Sakura got the pot out of the bag and showed it to Umemiya.

Umemiya gasped and took a closer look.

"What is it? What did you plant?"

"Tomatoes…"

Umemiya’s eyes sparkled as he looked back and forth between the pot and the red-faced, embarrassed Sakura.

"And as you can see, they are not doing well."

"Yeah, they are too leggy."

"Can you help me with them?"

Umemiya slowly raised his face from the plants to Sakura’s face.

"Of course, I will help you! I’m not sure that this will work, but we will try, okay?"

Sakura nodded.

"So, first of all, it’s very likely that these little ones didn’t get enough sunlight, which is why they grew so tall. They need a good sunny place. Do you have something like that at home?"

"No, not really. I put the pot outside, but I don’t think it’s enough for them."

"Alright. What do you think, maybe you will leave them here? The roof is the best here, I tell you."

After getting approval from Sakura, Umemiya got busy. He snipped out some really poorly looking shoots. Even if Sakura already knew that he made a mistake overcrowding the pot, he was still sad. He was too careless with it at the start.

"Don’t worry, Sakura, plants are very tough. They can survive even in the most unfavorable conditions and then flourish as soon as the situation gets better. Just a bit of care: soil, water, sun, and sometimes fertilizer. Sometimes they can grow even without some of these things, but that doesn’t mean that they are okay…"

Sakura was just sitting near Umemiya and listening to him.

"So, you can come tomorrow earlier to school. Usually, I water them when the sun is not too high in the sky. Six or seven in the morning. But of course, you can always check on your little ones."

Umemiya tried to pat Sakura’s shoulder.

Sakura dodged his hand.

So Umemiya ruffled his hair.

Sakura begrudgingly accepted it.

"Who knew that you would also take interest in gardening, Sakura!"

"Yeah. Who knew."

Sakura looked at the same lush tomatoes that made him think about planting something himself.

It really was all the fault of the tomatoes. But now Sakura could see that Umemiya really cared, even about plants. And also, after talking with him, he kind of started seeing that plants were a lot more than he thought originally.

Yeah… maybe he would come tomorrow morning too.

***

The next morning, Sakura was met with an overactive-for-6-in-the-morning Umemiya and a sleepy-looking Sugishita. Sakura himself was yawning the whole way to school, wondering if it was really worth it to wake up so early. Sugishita looked displeased by his arrival but clearly didn’t have enough energy to talk this early in the morning. He was just helping Umemiya with watering plants, doing it almost automatically like he had been doing it for a long time.

Sakura greeted them both and asked Umemiya what he could do, so he received a watering can and got to work. It was almost peaceful. Just Umemiya humming some melody while watering plants and silent Sugishita throwing occasional looks at Sakura like he couldn’t figure out why he was here and why he was overwatering Umemiya’s plants.

The whole process was quick. Sakura looked at his own seedlings and they seemingly perked up a little. That was a relief. Then unexpectedly, Umemiya decided to plant some basil.

So now they had an impromptu lesson on planting. They each received a seedling tray, some soil, and seeds.

"So, actually, this is my first year growing plants directly from seeds. It’s fun but a bit more complicated than growing from seedlings. See, they are small and cute and need all of your care and protection for them to grow big and healthy…"

Umemiya could talk a lot about his plants—about what he planted last year or what he wanted to plant in the future. About what vegetable varieties exist and which suits more for Bofurin's roof and so on and so forth.

Umemiya put a bit of soil in each separate container, then watered them all well. He and Sugishita followed suit. At some point, they started competing with each other on who would do everything faster or better, and Umemiya would just laugh and chide them lightly.

He took each seed and put them in the soil, all separately in their own tray squares. He was very careful and precise while doing it. Sakura repeated everything after him, and in the end, his tray was not much different from Umemiya’s.

"…and now we will need to keep the soil moist. You can come here when you have some free time and spray them with water."

He put his hand on their heads and, while looking at their faces, said, "I am very happy that you both came today, you know? Thank you!" He looked them directly in their eyes and was very earnest and sincere while saying it.

Sakura just looked away, feeling the tips of his ears getting hot. Why is Umemiya like that—

Why is he like that—

Why—

His brain was just about to explode. Thankfully, Umemiya saw his distress and, with a final hair ruffle, turned away and waved his hand.

Sakura still couldn’t get used to the influx of emotions that he would get from all these people. Being happy, embarrassed, and angry all at once was just overwhelming.

But it was kinda good. He could admit that.

He and Sugishita shared a glance at the same time as if they both thought something along the same lines. And they immediately turned their heads away from each other and then proceeded to stomp in the direction of the door at the same time. No, no mixed feelings about Sugishita. He just irritates him. Always. And the feeling is mutual.

Chapter Text

Some time had passed. It was the night before the start of the battle against Noroshi.

Sakura wasn’t sleeping, not just yet. His windowsill was illuminated by the dim moonlight. He had placed a pot with a small aloe plant there, a gift from the ladies at the plant shop. The plant was tough and never gave him trouble, even when he forgot to water it for a month. He also had some plants outside now; he was experimenting with growing tomatoes and cucumbers. At least the tomatoes on Bofurin's roof were safe. Umemiya always checked on them, so Sakura wasn’t worried.

Sakura had trained hard. 

He did everything he could. In the quiet of the night, he just thought that he wasn’t alone now. Not anymore. He could still achieve something on his own, but strangely, he no longer wanted to. This peaceful place and all these kind people... he felt their warmth and support, which made him so much happier than before. This place let him grow, and he never wanted to give it up.

Sakura would fall asleep thinking about all the people he cared about and how he would protect them with all his strength.

***

It was time. Soon enough, the battle would begin. Suo just smiled at him, but he looked prepared. Nirei's hands were trembling, but Sakura knew that his spirit was strong, stronger than his fear.
All his squad relied on him. Sakura slowly breathed in and out. He was their captain.

What had he learned? To be expressive and to make others smile.

So, he started talking loudly so everyone could hear him and tried to look at everyone's faces. He made a joke, “Want me to go alone again?” 

No one laughed. Of course, the situation was dire; there was going to be no backup until later. He knew he couldn’t be like Tomiyama, but that was okay. The atmosphere still eased up a little.
They would survive, and they would persist against all odds so they could eat together and banter about all kinds of miscellaneous things like before. And he, Sakura, wanted to keep this warm place existing for as long as possible.

Later, when all this is over, he will sit in Café Potos with everyone, eat his favorite omelette rice, and tell his team that they all did well. There would be relaxed smiles again, jokes and laughter all around. Maybe Kotoha will say that he is stupid and doesn’t understand a lot of things, and Umemiya will tease him and talk to him with his usual smile and unwavering gaze. But for now…

“Those… who cause pain… those who bring destruction,” he heard his voice loud and clear in the quiet of the night.

“…those who hold evil in their heart…”

“…will be purged by Bofurin…

“…without exception!!!”

And just like that, the battle begins. And who knows? Maybe everything will be alright soon. He will make sure of it.