Sakura
In Winter
Chapter 1 – The Failed Mission
By: Jen-Chan
Silent was the night that cloaked my every move. I could see my breath forming in front of my face. My head hurt because I was breathing so hard and fast. Calm down, I told myself, This won’t do you any good. I sighed and let the cool autumn air run through my body. I ran up to the fence, leaped up as high as I could, grasped onto the cold, silver metal that made up the fence, placed my feet into the holes, and began to climb. All the while I just told myself, This is it, this is the last. That was all I had to say to get me motivated. Just this last time. This last, one time. But, who am I trying to kid? I am the perfect soldier. War is my life, my destiny, my fate. I was created for war, to start a war, to be a soldier in a war, and to walk around feeling empty after a war is done with, to wait patiently for the next to begin. I will accept and keep on accepting each assignment with that phrase, “Just one more time.” But I can’t give it up. It’s like a drug addiction. It runs through your veins, your being, down to your very core. It is your essence. And once you taste it, you can’t get enough of it.
I
land solid on the grass below me. I
brush the bangs out of my eyes, staring at the tall building in front of me.
What were the mission parameters? Kidnap the President’s daughter, do
not get caught, else I fail? Easy
as pie. I run up to the reinforced
steel door that blocks me from entrance. As
I pull out the card that gives me access to the building, I look around, making
sure that no one watches me as I enter the building.
Little did I know that the second I closed the door; it would change my
life forever.
I
ran as fast as I could down the dark hallways.
I memorized the maps, knowing full well each and every turn, elevator,
every step I had to take. Two down, one right, up the stair case five flights, out,
three down left, 2 down right, up the elevator to ten, go straight for five,
turn left… the way was easy to find in the dark.
I ran into the final elevator, pressing the proper button, holding my
breath as the doors closed. I
should’ve faced some opposition by now. This
was too easy. The bell rings as the
elevator stops. The doors open and
I run out. Suddenly, I’m tackled
from the side. My left arm is
slammed into the wall on my left. I
feel the pain as it is dislocated. Unusable.
Shit. I reach for my gun, my
arm throbbing heavily and my head getting light, feeling dizzy.
I cock the gun, firing to my right at the person that tackled me.
A scream is emitted from the shadowy form as it’s hit.
Sure, just wake up everybody from her to Beijing, I tell myself.
I just keep on running; I’ll worry about my arm and the other person
later. Right now, I have a mission
to accomplish. The more I ran, the
more my head became dizzy and my arm throbbed less.
I knew I was going to pass out. I
kept saying to myself, my own personal mantra, keep going. You will live.
You will survive. You will make it back in time to see the Sakura trees bloom
in spring with Duo. That was all I
had to say to myself.
A
sharp pain struck at my leg. I came
crashing to the ground on my dislocated arm, the pain shooting through my entire
body. Make it.
See Duo. See Sakura trees.
See home. But right then and
there, the mantra wasn’t working. I
grasped my injured arm and I felt the blood trickle down my unusable leg.
“FUCK!”
I shouted out. I looked up to see whom it was that had shot me.
I gasped in surprise, not knowing that she would be here.
The
gold rimmed glasses that framed a beautiful face with blue eyes that were as
blue as the night sky. But the one thing I remembered was the smile.
The smile that she had finally achieved something that she never thought
would happen. Lady Une had the
Gundam Pilot Heero Yuy at her mercy. I
wanted to cry.
“Well,
Heero, what have we here? A dislocated arm.
A shot up leg?” she fired the gun again. I bit back the pain as the
bullet entered into my calf. “Opps! Those
guns and those damned safety’s you know.
Oh well, I guess now you have two shot up legs. Guards!”
Those
damned lackeys. Always wanting to become number one. Lackey number 1 saluted
and asked what they could for her. Suddenly
I noticed the throbbing of pain in my ears and just how sorry I looked.
Hardly any defenses and it was Lady Une that got me.
I should die. I shouldn’t
be able to see home again. No.
Never again will I see home.
The
lackeys with no bedside manner hoisted me up and dragged me to a room.
The pain was unbearable. The
throbbing in y ears deafened everything. I
couldn’t even hear the sound of my own screaming.
They threw me into the dark room, purposely making me land on one of my
three injuries.
“SHIT!”
I yelled as I regain some of my voice. My
throat was dry from the screaming and my eyes stung with unflowing tears.
I sat up as best as I could, reaching for the switch. I turned on the light and shielded my eyes from its
brightness.
