Chapter Text
The hum of the air conditioning filled the room, gentle twirling of the fan above his head as Sakura sat on the uncomfortable chair, hood up, closed in on himself. Those mismatched eyes glared at the adults in the room.
They were talking to him, he knew what was going to happen, all too familiar with it.
“Furin is a nice home, there's lots of kids your age there, all from different backgrounds, they’ll love to have you, Sakura.”
That's what they always told him.
What happened to the last home being like that? It's always ‘They'll love and accept you no matter what’ until the caretakers see firsthand how the other kids pulled at his hair and kicked him to the ground.
Sakura didn't bother with a reply, he focused his glare between the man at the chair across from him. He had white hair, tall, and looked physically strong.
Strong, large, hands. Big enough to wrap around his throat and choke him for doing the wrong thing.
Tall enough to tower over him, make him feel smaller than he already was.
That kind face was a facade he knew all too well. Look nice for the authorities, they don't need to know what those hands do behind closed doors. How they can be spattered with blood, how they can cause pain.
He had no interest in figuring out this new caretaker's ticks. What would set him off, how much he would allow Sakura to screw up before anger boiled over and he abused him again.
He had no interest in this group home, either. He knew the other kids would take one look at his odd features and he would get the pleasure of witnessing firsthand how their expressions can morph from one of joy and excitement, to disgust and hatred.
The adults continued talking once it was clear Sakura wasn't going to entertain this song and dance any longer. Before long, the white haired man stood up, tall so very tall, and beckoned Sakura to follow him. The case worker lady followed along, saying her goodbyes as Sakura was put into the man's car.
At least it doesn't reek of cigarettes or weed.
Sakura obediently sat in the car, taking this opportunity to see the condition it was in.
No beer bottles or cans.
Well, that didn't mean the man didn't drink, he could have just cleaned up before he got there, plenty of other people did that.
Although the difference to this was the fact the car had no smell to it, that would be harder to get out.
Click
“Are you comfortable? Need anything before we go?” The man asked.
Sakura noticed he did his seatbelt for him.
“M' fine.” He mumbled.
The man's face lit up instantly, grinning wide at Sakura. His face was so captivating he couldn't look away, taken aback by the suddenness of it all.
Now that he was paying attention, he had sky blue eyes and a scar above his left eyebrow.
“I'm so glad to hear that! We’re going to Furin now then! Is there any kind of music you want to listen to on the way? I’ll drive super carefully I promise!”
Huh? Why did he care about what music he wanted to listen to? And why should Sakura care for how he drove?
The man waited a few seconds before nodding and closing the door, going to the drivers side and getting in.
“Well, if there's any songs you don't like just let me know and I'll change it for ya!” He said with a grin. Starting the car.
Sakura stayed silent the entire car ride, the man didn't force him to talk, but he didn't have any issues with talking to himself, it didn't matter if Sakura was listening or not.
All he talked about was plants and his sister, how the plants were growing vegetables and how excited he was to throw a welcoming party for Sakura, when he was ready of course. Sakura didn't pay much attention to the one sided conversation, his gaze focused on the window as trees whooshed past.
It didn't take long for them to stop at a building, car slowing to a park as the man got out and helped undo Sakura's seatbelt (seriously, he's 10 not 5!) and walk him to the front door.
The place looked massive, a two story tall building with lots of windows and even more plants surrounding the area. Different breeds of flowers mingled with one another accompanied by bushes with green and reddish leaves. Hanging from the porch were three windchimes, making light jingling noises in the air as wind gently breezed against them.
The man tried to hold Sakura's hand, but Sakura pulled closer to himself and backed away.
“This is Furin, it'll be your new home, Sakura! It can be overwhelming at first, but I promise you, we’ll make your stay here enjoyable, I hope you come to be a part of our family one day.” He says with a smile.
Sakura doesn't reply, too busy eying the door as the man opens it.
He doesn't know what he was expecting, perhaps kids running around tackling one another, or screaming and crying and laughter.
It was relatively quiet.
The white haired man allowed Sakura inside first. The hardwood floors felt firm under his steps as he wandered inside, preparing for something to happen.
“Oh Kotoha! Hiiragi! We’re back!” He called out.
Sakura watched as two adults appeared out from one of the doors, a woman with long brown hair and a man with spiky bleach blonde hair. The woman looked friendly enough, but one glance at the man had Sakura on edge.
“That's good to hear, how did it go?” The man asked, looking down at Sakura.
Sakura tensed, he had sharp teeth, sharp eyes, actually all his features were quite sharp now that he looked at it. He would be easy to anger no doubt.
“It went really well! Sakura's a little shy though, but that's ok! I remember Nirei was like that when he first arrived.” The white haired man said.
“That's understandable.” The woman replied, nodding her head. “Sakura, want to sit down and settle for a bit? If you need anything just ask! Like water, juice, milk, or are you hungry? I could make you something to eat.”
Sakura stared at her, at the table, back to her.
It's probably best to answer her, adults don't take kindly to being ignored.
“I'm fine.”
He made his way to the table, sitting on one of the wooden chairs and eyed his surroundings.
If this was an orphanage, it wasn't anything like what he's experienced. There was no one here!
The adults sat at the opposite end of the table.
“Hi, Sakura. My name is Kotoha!” The brown haired woman said.
“Mines Hiiragi.” The sharp man said.
“You already know me, but my name’s Umemiya!” The white haired man said with all too much enthusiasm.
“Where is everyone?” Sakura asked.
“They're outside playing with Mizuki and Momose, you'll meet them soon, don't worry! I just didn't want you to be overwhelmed when you arrived!” Umemiya explained.
That was odd. No one ever cared to worry about him like that before.
Maybe they were expecting a normal child, but got me instead. The kindness won't last forever.
“Aren't you hot in that hoodie? We’re indoors, you can take down the hood.” Hiiragi said.
Sakura froze, eyes staring into Hiiragis.
“I want it on.”
His fists clenched the fabric, staring at Hiiragi in challenge. If he wanted him to remove his hoodie he would have to do it by force, and Sakura was all too ready to fight back if needed.
Hiiragi nodded, leaning back in his chair.
“If you get too hot, you can remove it, alright?”
Sakura waited, tense as he stared at the adults, watching their movements.
Yet not a single one of them made so much as a step towards him to remove the sweater.
Strange . Adults always did whatever they wanted to do, regardless of if it was right or wrong. Sakura would have to watch over them to see what ticked them off so he could avoid upsetting them.
Sakura realized they were waiting on an answer from him, he blushed lightly as he nodded, making Umemiya smile.
“Great! Do you want to see around the place?”
Another thing that was strange, choices , adults never gave him a choice on whether he wanted to do something or not, it was always demands. They didn't care what he wanted, they just wanted to drag him along and force him to do whatever they said to do.
Not asked , because adults never asked him to do things, they told him what to do.
“Sure.” Sakura mumbled.
He wasn't nervous.
Umemiya clapped his hands, the sudden noise made Sakura jump in his seat.
He might be a little nervous.
“Come with me then!” Umemiya got up and started walking around.
“This is the dining area! We usually all eat together at the table, but if you prefer to eat alone I won't stop you! Once you're done with your food, put it in the sink, we all do chores around here so you may have to help out once in a while but no need to worry about that right now!” Umemiya led Sakura around the place, showing him where the bathrooms were, towels, cups, utensils, everything he would need for daily life essentially.
“This is Kiryu and Tsugeuras room, they both love playing games, Kiryu can be quite competitive though!”
Sakura looked into the room to see a makeshift basketball hoop, blue walls, posters for different video games on the wall.
It looked like an actual room that catered to their interests.
Odd…
“This is Anzai, Kurita, and Kakiuchi’s room! They can be rowdy at times.”
The room sported one bunk bed and one regular bed. There was a desk with books spread out around with pencils on the floor.
“This room is Sugishita and Takanishi’s room, they're quite quiet, Sugishita shouldn't bother you much if you don't bother him but don't worry! He's a big softie at heart!”
The room looked simple, green painted walls with plants lining the window sill. And a few paintings hung on the wall, they looked hand made.
“And lastly, this is where you’ll be staying! You'll be rooming with Suo and Nirei.”
Sakura tensed up, this is where he would be in the whole day, what would the room look like? He gripped his hoodie strings tightly, tightening the hood around his head more, weary eyes followed Umemiya’s hand as he opened the door.
He didn't know what he was expecting…
The walls were painted a light orange color, the curtains were purple with stars scribbled on them. To the side was a bookshelf lined neatly with books and the other side had a desk with notebooks and pencils and pens in a cup.
The whole room looked neat and tidy, even the beds were tucked in and properly made.
It's all about appearances, just because it looks nice now doesn't mean it'll stay that way.
“But of course, I know this is all overwhelming to you, Sakura. If you prefer to spend a few nights by yourself you can always do that too, please don't feel pressured to meet everyone at once!”
There's that weird thing again: choices .
The option of sleeping in this room with people he doesn't know, or sleep by himself.
Sakura almost wanted to laugh and tell Umemiya to stop messing with him, but one look told Sakura he was serious about this.
Oh he was waiting for an answer.
“I'm fine with this.” He spoke plainly.
Sure, he hated people. He'd love nothing more than to hole up in a dark corner somewhere and pretend he doesn't exist. But he also knew that wouldn't last forever, he would be taking away a room they desperately needed and everyone else had roommates, if he got special treatment that would only make him more of an outcast. He would learn to get over it and deal with whatever shit these two had in store for him.
“Alright! Well, Sakura, feel free to explore around, you'll be meeting the other kids soon I'm sure, I don't want to overwhelm you but it's kind of inevitable if I'm being honest!” Umemiya scratched the back of his neck with a smile. “But don't worry! Me, Tsubaki, Hiiragi, and Momose are here for you if you need anything!”
Sakura stared at him, this guy really didn't expect Sakura to just trust him like that, did he ?
“Okay…” Sakura nods.
Umemiya nods in turn before leaving. “I'm going to help Kotoha prepare dinner now! Don't forget what I said!”
With the white haired man gone, Sakura went to explore the room. He opened drawers to find nothing but papers, rulers, scissors, tape, erasers, and more stationary than he can count. He opened one of the notebooks.
2/12/X
I joined the orphanage today, everyone seems really nice but I'm still kind of scared. I hope everyone is nice. My roommate is Suo, he says he's been here since the beginning. I wonder why he hasn't been adopted yet, but that's rude to ask isn't it? I'm feeling scared, like I can throw up just from anxiety alone.
Sakura closed the notebook, he didn't need to read anymore of some stranger's thoughts, let alone feelings on the whole matter.
He looked at the beds, there were three. All simple in style, one bed had a stuffed rabbit on it, so he assumes that one's taken. The other bed had simple purple blankets on it, the third bed had a green blanket with a pillow that had flower-like patterning on it.
They all looked lived in, but Sakura took a guess and sat in the bed with the purple blanket.
Comfy.
The material was fleece but thicker than he was used to.
The room progressively darker as the sun began to set. Sakura crawled under the blankets and eyed the room, mapping everything out.
If anything happened and the door was blocked, he was sure he could jump out the window. The beds looked easy to crawl under too, maybe he can hide blankets and pillows under there so he can sleep there instead, it's easier to fall asleep when no one can find you.
He listened to the people running around the place, the kids must have come back from wherever that Momose guy took them. He was intently listening in on the footsteps everywhere, trying to locate where everyone could be at the moment when suddenly the door swung open as someone burst into the room, sending Sakura jumping in surprise.
“Eep!” Sakura embarrassingly let out, eyes wide as his heart lurches in his throat, all attention instantly on the intruder as he grips the blanket tighter.
“Oh! I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you!” A brunette said, walking closer to Sakura.
“I wasn't scared!” Sakura shouted back defensively, staring down at the kid with brown eyes.
“Sounded scared to me!” Another kid said, walking into the room. He had auburn hair
“I was not scared!” Sakura bit back, eyes burning into the second intruder.
“Are you our new roommate?” The brown haired kid asked, coming close enough to the bed to grab hold of the edge.
Sakura shrank away from the distance this kid was closing in on, growling back a response. “So what if I am?”
His defenses were stark high, iron clad walls around his heart, his hands ached to form into fists and punch this kid away from him.
Too close. He's too close.
The auburn haired kid must have noticed this as he came up to gently grab the kid by his shoulders and guide him away from the bed.
“Apologies, my friend is really eager to meet new people.” He says with a smile.
Sakura unwillingly lets go of his attention on the brunette in favor of the auburn kid and that's when he notices it.
He's wearing a white medical patch over his right eye!
Who did that to him? Was it one of the kids? Did Umemiya really let this boy get hurt and do nothing about it? Or did he do something but it was too little too late?
One things for sure: It's not safe here.
“Hi, my name is Suo Hayato, what's yours?” The eyepatch kid asks, holding out a hand.
Sakura glares at him, like hell he's going to willingly give up one of his defenses in favor of mock friendliness.
“Why do you care?” He asks instead.
“It's polite to know your roommate's name, don't you think?”
Sakura glances at the boy with brown hair, noting the spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose as his eyes come into realization that Sakura is staring at him.
“Oh! My name’s Nirei Akihiko!” He says too cheerily for Sakura's taste.
Sakura stares at Suo's hand before smacking it away.
“Sakura Haruka.” He says nonchalantly, looking away from both of them.
“Sakura… Wow that's…” The freckled kid begins.
Sakura bristles, gritting his teeth, hands clenched into fists.
Disgusting, stupid, awful good for nothing-
“An amazing name!” He jumps up, hands on the edge of the bed again, catching Sakura off guard as he stumbles to get away further from Nirei, the blankets tangling with his legs as he struggles to get away from the sudden closeness Nirei was at.
“It has such a nice ring to it! Are you named after the flowers? Is your favorite season spring then? I really love the color sakura pink, do you like it? That's such a unique name!” Nirei is on the bed, slowly crawling over to Sakura.
Sakura has all of three seconds to think on how to get out of this mess, in his haste to get away from the brunette, he puts all his weight on to his right hand, successfully grabbing the nothing behind him as he falls off the bed with a loud thud.
“AH! Sakura, are you okay!?” Nirei crawls up to the edge of the bed to see Sakura. Suo was busy giggling from where he stood.
The fall made his hood come down as he rubbed the back of his head. He glared at Nirei before giving Suo the same look.
“Woah! Your hair!” Nirei points out, eyes wide. Suo stops his giggling to peer over the side of the bed to look at Sakura.
His heart rate spikes up, they saw they saw they saw.
Sakura scrambles to stand up on his feet before yanking the hood of his hoodie over his head, growling as he stares at the two kids.
“Just what about my hair?!” He demands.
Everything's spinning, his heart is beating miles a minute, his hands tremble slightly.
“It's just…” Nirei stays where he's put thankfully, seemingly catching on that Sakura doesn't like the closeness. “It's really unique, that's all!”
Unique. Hah, that's just a nice way of saying it's different and different is wrong and being wrong is bad and you're bad you get hurt.
“I think it looks nice, were you cursed like I was, Sakura?” Suo asks, thankfully staying where he stood.
“Huh? No, I was born with it.”
“Hmm perhaps in a past life you were cursed by a Chinese spirit, don't worry, I too have a Chinese spirit sealed away in my right eye.” He smiles, pointing to his eye patch. “We’re all a little unique here in Bofurin, but that's what makes this place special.”
What was he on about?
The confusion Sakura felt made him lower his fists slightly, eyes darting between the two of them.
“Are you stressed out? If you're really stressed at this age, enough to get white hair, I'm worried you'll get white hair before you're 20!” Nirei says, the worst part? He looks genuinely concerned.
“I told you, I was born with it.”
Suo tilts his head before smiling, walking closer to Sakura, but stopping at the edge of the bed next to Nirei.
“Your eyes, they're two different colors?”
“What of it? You don't look like you're in any position to be talking about eyes.” Sakura glares at Suo.
Suo laughs. “It's not a bad thing, Sakura, just an observation.”
“HETEROCHROMIA!” Nirei shouts, making Sakura jump in place again. “WOW! You're even more unique than I thought! That's so amazing, I wonder how that happened! You're so amazing, Sakura! Please be my friend!”
“Huh?” Sakura blushes.
Friend?
“I would like to be friends too, if we’re going to be living with each other I'd prefer if we all got along.” Suo smiles with a tilt of his head.
Sakura looks away, eyes darting to anywhere else in the room.
“I don't make friends. Just ignore me and I’ll ignore you, got it? There's no need to pretend to be nice to me, okay?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Nirei asks.
“I know how this works, we be friends, you start taking from me in the name of ‘sharing is caring’ or some bull, and then in the end I get hurt. If you want to do that then fine, just don't pretend like you care.”
“Sakura, we would never…”
“Come, Nirei, I think Sakura needs some time alone for a bit, we wouldn't want to overwhelm our friend now, would we?”
Suo takes hold of Nirei's arm, gently guiding him to the door.
“H-HEY! WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!” Sakura shouts at them.
“Oh, Sakura, by the way,” Suo ignores his outburst. “That was my bed you were in, yours is by the window.”
Sakura blushes deeper, looking at the messed up bed he had thrown covers around in.
The duo left the room before closing the door, leaving Sakura alone to process all the information he was forced upon.
“Tch. Whatever.”
He starts putting the blankets back on the bed the way he had found it before going to his own bed and settling in, eyes piercing the door in wait of someone else barging in.
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“Sakura?” A voice came knocking on the door before gently coming inside the room.
Umemiya looked at the dark room, spying Sakura instantly in his bed, pushed up against the wall but asleep.
He must have been really tired.
Umemiya goes to close the blinds, he was grateful for Suo and Nirei to know not to overwhelm their new guest. Sakura had been on high defenses the entire day, not like he could blame him.
Umemiya puts the plate on the night stand along with some water, since Sakura didn't show up for dinner he decided he would make him a simple sandwich and let the boy eat it when he was ready. Sakura was still wearing his hoodie, Umemiya didn't miss how he slept curled into a ball, knees up to his chest and facing the wall.
He sighs, hoping that Sakura will learn it's safe here, but until then, they would just have to work on opening his heart to them day by day.
“You're okay now.” Umemiya promises before leaving the room.
He explains to Suo and Nirei to be quiet when they go in for the night, how their new roommate was really tired. The other kids are still eager to meet the new kid, but understanding that he needs time to adjust all the same.
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Sakura wakes up at 4AM, quietly sitting upright.
His stomach hurts, but that's not a new feeling either.
He looks around the room to see Nirei cuddling with the stuffed bunny, and Suo peacefully sleeping on his back. Had they let him fall asleep? Sakura was used to other kids being loud and rowdy, maybe he slept through it?
He looks around at his surroundings to see a plastic wrapped sandwich on a plate next to him, reaching over to read the note attached.
Sakura, because you missed dinner, I brought you something to eat whenever you get the chance. I hope you like it! -Umemiya
He was confused.
His caretakers never cared about him so much to feed him, actually they typically chased him away from the kitchen and dining areas so they wouldn't have to feed a screw up like him.
So why?
It's not so much Umemiya giving him the sandwich, as Sakura stares at Suo and Nirei.
Why didn't they take it?
Did they not know about it?
He was asleep for so long though, there's no way they didn't see the sandwich. Was it tampered with?
Feeling his stomach protesting at the lack of food, he decides to take the risk.
If it was tampered with then jokes on him, but he can't find any logical reasoning to tamper with food when there was also risk that the other kids would eat it too. He takes it out of the wrapping as gently as he could before eating it.
It tasted salty and sweet at the same time. The peanut butter made him thirsty, but he notices a bottle of water next to the plate and uncaps it, drinking it all in one go.
He feels hot, he really should take off his hoodie.
But… He didn't want to be made fun of again for his hair so he decides to keep it on, even if it's uncomfortable.
He crawls back into bed after he's done with his food. Typically he wakes up this early so he can sneak into the fridge and eat leftovers while no one's awake to stop him, but if he had food at the ready then he didn't have to go out to grab something.
This place was strange.