It was late evening and Eri was beginning to think it was a bad idea to come here so late she held the flashlight close to her as she began to walk towards  the small path to the mysterious tree. As she Came to it a cool breeze hit, though summer it was a surprising and gave her a chill.  She finally found it noticing how cared for it was she felt more comfortable. She noticed how many names they really were. At this rate shed never find their names.

Carefully tracing a finger over a few of the names she sighed what she wouldnt give to have someone to be with. Kneeling her knees felt the soft spiked feeling of grass she looked all over the  bottom of the tree, she was about to give up for the evening it would soon be curfew. Standing she couldn't help but look a little more. Letting another cool breeze pull the hair away from her shoulders she was happy her uniform covered them but her legs were a different story. She thought that summer would have been warmer here but maybe it is just a tad early for warm nights. Finding a yawn leave her pink rosie lips she sat down again she'd head back in just a - yawn- moment. Her eyes started to feel heavy. Even her muscles were betraying her. kuma her pet rabbit will worry but  though she knew she had to leave she couldn't help letting the flashlight roll from her hands .

It was late one evening and all was quiet as a young girl made her way through St Miator's school grounds. Sakura had decided to take a walk that evening, with no particular destination in mind. Sakura just wandered along, just enjoying the coolness and quietness of the evening and her surroundings. Before long the shy girl looked around and realised that she had wandered into St Miator's school grounds. As she looked around, vaguely recalled her mother telling her about a legendary tree on the school grounds and decided to head off and have a look at it.

When she finally found the tree, Sakura could just make out through the gathering darkness, a figure of a girl, a bit older than she was, fast asleep. The shy first year made her way over to the older girl and when she reached her, Sakura knelt at the girl's side. She reached out and shook the girl's shoulder, not hard enough to hurt her, but enough to wake her. "Hey wake up, you are going to catch a cold if you sleep here." Sakura said, just loudly enough for the girl to wake up, her tone of voice, slightly worried.

    Hearing a light voice her dreaming mind started to rise awake. She then felt a slight nudge on her shoulder , she opened her eyes she looked around finding a lovely young girls face in front of her. She than realized she must have fallen asleep she couldn't help but give a slight stretch and a yawned "thank you" 

    She stood up fixing her black short's and long sweat shirt she checked making sure the small lucky cat and bunny charms where still connected to the sleeve smiling as they glittered by the moo's light. She looked down at the young girl it was hard to see her very well but she could see she had lovely long brown hair . " you really saved me i would have been in big trouble if it was morning and a nun was standing in front of me."

    Blushing at her own carelessness she looked around for her flashlight finding it she brushed the dirt off of it and tried to turn it back on with no luck she tapped it against her hip trying to get any light to show itself but still nothing. A sigh left her lips as she was slightly worried on how shed make it back to her dorms seeing that it was getting darker and she was still finding her way around. Shaking the worry away she held out a hand for the younger girl and gave her a bright smile " My name is Eri  Tenshi it is lovely to meet you." 

Sakura smiled when the girl woke and thanked her. " No worries, I just didn't want you to catch a cold or get in trouble. Nice t-to meet you senpai. I'm Sakura Hayashi." Sakaura said, giving the older girl a shy and gentle smile. The younger girl was relieved that the older one had woken and replied to her, seemingly okay. The older girl seemed nice and as she looked at her for a moment, Sakura found herself thinking that it would be nice if they could be friends.


She was also wondering what on earth, the older girl had been doing this late in the day. "Forgive me senpai for asking, but what were you doing asleep, all the way out here? Unless you were out here for the same reason as me, taking a walk." Sakura asked Eri, glancing up at the tree. As she glanced at the tree, a memory of her mother came to mind, causing the young girl to smile and murmer "so this is it."

    Peering at the tree once again she managed to hear the faint words from the other girl. “Seems to me you have the same reason as I do, this tree and the mystery of the tree school’s romantic history has me quite interested. I found that I couldn't help but check it out though maybe it would have been better to come earlier…”


    Looking around she started to feel a little more concerned about how late it really was. “Besides finding me what do you see in this tree?”


    Finding the tree again she let her hand go across it “So many names I wonder if on day mine will be here as well, my grandmother when to this school and she believed if you tell someone you love them here it is sure to be true. Although I am so shy I couldn't ever see my name here… if I can barely talk at times when to shy how is a romance to begin”


    Realizing her words and thoughts where blending and entering the wind “I’m sorry that may have been a bit depressing huh? I really am a happy person I just also happen to be a hopeless romantic happens to be my weakness” Finding a giggle leave her she began to smile. “What school are you from?”

Realizing that she maybe over questioning the girl she slowed herself and waited for a response. Letting her head look up to the glittering star that began to fill the sky she noticed how they shimmered and lit up the sky like the moon did as if working together to brighten these schools up never letting darkness shadow the spirit of the three sisters.

Sakura gave a shy smile at the other girl when she heard the other girl speak. "Well I heard about the legend of this tree from my mother and I wanted to see it for myself. I am 12 and go to St Lulim, but I have strong family ties with all three schools. I currently have a older sister who is 14 in Miator, which my mother and my eldest sister attended and another older sister who is 16 in Spica which one of my aunts and my second eldest sister attended. My other aunt and my third eldest sister went to St Lulim like me."



The younger girl hesitated for a moment, fully aware she was giving a basic life story to the older girl, before she spoke again. "I errr also have a twin sister who would have been attending Spica, b-but she errr died last year." she said quietly as her eyes briefly clouded over. Sakura missed her sister so much and it was really painful to talk about her but she knew that Aya would have wanted her to be happy and enjoy life, so she was doing her best but it was far from easy. Her journey to recovery had only just begun. Shaking her head to try and get rid of the thoughts, she spoke softly "Who knows? Maybe your name will be up there one day. They do say life is full of surprises."

The feel of pain hit her , she new how these waves often came over her but to see the pain of loss from another it was an odd thing, it is sometimes hard to remember that your not the only one who has felt a ocean of pain throughout life. " I am so sorry to hear that Sakura, I too lost love ones, so if you ever need to talk to someone ... "

Hesitant to say herself she paused, it wasn't that she didn't care but how could someone who knows so little to deal with loss help someone else. Yet it no longer mattered she knew she needed to at least try. " You may always come to me.... t-that is if you wish..."

She thought a tad more this girl had a long list of family that went here wonder if any of them knew her grandmother, or even her mother ! " M-my um grandmother and mother both went here, I wonder if our families knew one another?"

Sakura listened as Eri spoke. So she too had lost family members hmmmm? Looking at Eri-Senpai, the young girl was torn about whether or not to unburden herself to the older girl. Lord knows she needed to talk about it with someone and soon otherwise the burden would crush her. She sighed softly and decided to answer the other girl's question first. "Well my grandmother's name is Ayumi and my mother's name is Akemi. I do recall hearing the surname Tenshi come up in conversation about times past sometimes but what were their first names. If you can tell me Eri-senpai, then I will be able to tell you, if they knew each other or not." Sakura replied slowly.





After a while, a soft breeze blew, causing the leaves to rustle and the young girl to give a sudden shiver. Glancing at Eri again, Sakura decided to bite the bullet and open up to the older girl. "Thank you for saying that I can come to you if I want to. You don't know how much that means to me." the shy young girl said, her voice breaking with emotion. "To be honest, it is killing me, not having my sister around. I miss her so much, and the worst thing is that I was unable to help her when she died. You see, last year Aya drowned whilst we were on holiday with some family friends in Hawaii, due to a sudden rip current taking her out to sea. I saw this and was left traumatized because I was unable to help her and nearly drowned myself, trying to reach her before she was swept away. As a result I suffer from nightmares and flashbacks all the time. I don't know what to do anymore." Sakura said, trying to fight back tears, before it all got too much and she began crying softly.

“My mother’s name was Annabelle, My grandmother name was Elisabeth.”


She spoke softly as Sakura started to speak about her loss, hearing how she lost her sister was hard, her eyes watered with tears as she took in each word. She took a step forward and lifted off her sweatshirt now showing her long sleeve cotton shirt she wore beneath she offered it to the shivering girl, As her story ended. “I am sorry it comes back as a nightmare, you shouldn't have to go through something like that over again.”


Taking a breath she found that whenever sad the cold seemed worse than usual. “I lost my mother and father when I was very young I can’t remember how they passed away and I thought that was awful, but now… I see it is a gift. I have an idea, if you wish to do it, we could write her name here, so everyone will know the great girl you knew. “


She waited for the girl understanding it may take a moment to be alright. She took her sleeve and touched Sakura’s now damp cheeks making sure to be gentle as she whipped them away. “Let’s get you in this sweatshirt I would want you to catch cold on top of everything else.”

"Arigato but won't you get cold Eri - Senpai?" Sakura murmured softly as she took the sweatshirt and allowed the older girl to wipe away her tears. Once she had calmed down a bit, she listened intently as the older girl spoke about losing her family too and proposing the idea that they etch Aya's name on to the tree. When Sakura heard the the names of Eri's mother and grandmother, she let out a small gasp of surprise. "No way" she said softly.

Looking up at the older girl, Sakura managed to give a watery grin and said "It looks like our mothers were best friends and our grandmothers were best friends when they were at school. Both my mother and grandmother, have frequently mentioned an Annabelle and an Elizabeth." She then glanced up at the tree and gently rested a hand on the trunk. "I wonder if Kaori, who's spirit is said to watch over the tree, would allow me to carve Aya's name here." she murmured. Turning her gaze back to the older girl, Sakura said "Hey hadn't we better go back? We don't want to get in trouble."

“I won't be cold, I besides, I wouldn't want to be the reason you get sick after all I am the reason why we are out so late.”


Hearing of how their mothers were friends as where there Grandmothers it was almost unbelievable. Eri had been weakened in the belief of fate since the loss of her mother and father. Yet this restored some of her trust with in fate. After all Sakura was a lovely girl and she was happy to have met her.


“If we speak of spirits I am sure our families are all here looking down at use helping us grow. I am sure you're right that Kaori is watching over us; after all I hear she was a caring girl. As for caving names in this tree I believe we should both do it to honor our lost one’s but it does seem to be quite dark and seeing as my flashlight is dead why don't we meet somewhere tomorrow and find our way back here ? In the daylight that is.”


Helping Sakura back to the path she found they weren't as far from the dorms as she had thought. “Oh good were on the main path. Shall we head to the dorm rooms? Oh um about meeting tomorrow do you have any suggestions, I mean if you want to meet up that is?”


Having her shyness return a bit after remember she hadn't even bothered to ask if that would be alright with the other girl until now.