Rough Sakura

Chapter one

A heated argument broke out in the house of Snow; it was the first time ever that Aoi had ever spoken to her father with little respect.

‘I can’t believe this!’ she shouted. ‘You don’t even talk to me about it!’

‘I know what is best for you’ Sojiro said with a resigned tone.

A few minutes ago, the young lady of the house of Snow stormed into Sojiro’s study clad in white kimono. She was just getting ready for bed when her maid, also her best friend, Aya told her of the discussion between her father and Mr. Tanaka, one of the wealthiest men in Cherry Blossom town. Aya had been spending her week listening to her master’s conversation with his friend, pretending she was cleaning the floor outside the room while sticking her ear to the wall. Being highly loyal to Aoi, Aya wasted no time of telling the agreement made by the two older men.

‘Marrying me off to Tanaka Kichi is not best! It’s a nightmare! Worst than nightmare!’ Aoi continued to shout furiously.

‘Aoi, they are good people. The Tanakas, all of them are respected figures in the town. You can have a good life being a Tanaka-’

‘BEING A TANAKA?’ Aoi repeated the words with great shock and disbelief. She could not imagine herself walking on the street one day with people greeting her as Mrs Tanaka.

The Tanaka family might look superior, benevolent, and charity-all-through-the-year saints, but she did not want to be one with them. Nobody knew what she knew. Nobody knew the real Tanaka family.

‘Father, you must reconsider,’ Aoi spoke a lot softer when she noticed Sojiro’s reddening face, ‘about this marriage. I am not ready for any of this. Besides, I don’t even like Kichi. How can I marry someone I don’t like let alone love?’

Sojiro stared at her, and a twinge of sadness came into his heart.

Here stood his one and only child; a fifteen years old girl, the prettiest-people said-in the town. He had heard of people praising the beauty his daughter had inherited from his late wife. Aoi had an oval face safe from any form of blemishes, with small nose and full red lips, and bright hazel eyes that reminded him terribly of Ayame, his beloved wife. It was no wonder parents after parents visited him for their sons wanted to take Aoi as their wife. Sojiro knew Aoi would disagree to all of them, so he had politely turned them all down. He had made a different decision this time though with Mr. Tanaka. He was not entirely happy with it though. In fact, he was feeling very heavy and wrong.

‘Father?’ Aoi broke his thought. Sojiro gave her another long stare, and sighed.

‘Aoi,’ he said wearily, ‘I have made my decision. You are to marry Tanaka Kichi whether you like it or not. He will give you happiness and will take care of you. Now please, it is late. All of us should be gone to beds’.

With that said, Sojiro slowly stood and began to make his way to the door, hoping Aoi would not bring the matter further that night. Aoi bit her lower lip. She spun around and held her tears.

‘You just don’t want me to be with Aki, is that it?’

Sojiro stopped by the door. He didn’t turn to her, for fear he would see that betrayed look on her face. Instead, he stepped out and disappeared into his room. That night, he tried very hard not to think of Aoi crying in her room, calling out her for her mother.