Chapter Eight: Parkside Blossoms

HINATA SAKURA WAS ALWAYS PLASTERED TO THE side of her twin brother. No matter where her ten-year-old brother was, you would no doubt find Sakura right by his side joining in on whatever he was doing. They never strayed far from each other which most people found to be quite endearing. A pair of adorable looking twins who loved each other to not want to be a part was quite cute. The only time that they were seen apart was during classes since Sakura was in a more advanced class than her brother.

People viewed Sakura as the more responsible Hinata sibling when compared to each other. Shōyō, despite being the older of the two, was by far the far more childish and extremely troublesome. He got into trouble a bit, not intentionally, of course, he wasn't a delinquent after all. Even if they are only junior high students, Sakura was quite mature for her age. She was there to try and keep her brother out of trouble, though it never usually worked. The younger twin liked to blame his moronic nature for his knack to cause trouble. She jokes that she got all the academic genes while Shōyō got the athletic genes. Which is why the twins weren't that alike.

Despite the fact that she tended to hide some of her emotions from time to time she's still... well, a child. At times she can't help her childish naivety or curiosity no matter what she might feel. That included her childish stubbornness to not want to go outside. Shōyō loves going outside to play with friends, no matter what it was. He has an insane amount of energy all the time, which he liked to express through running around playing whatever he felt like. Sakura didn't want to be outside, she'd rather be indoors doing something she liked. Maybe studying, or reading, just something that didn't involve physical exercise.

That was why she was dragging her feet while she followed after her twin and his friends while heading to the park. She had been forced, once again, to spend time with a few other children who had wanted to play soccer at their local park. Of course, she couldn't really argue all that much, since she wanted to be right besides Shōyō and all. She had no choice but to go.

So here she was, sitting on the grass as her brother and his friends ran around laughing and playing with each other. Sakura didn't mind watching them, she didn't mind being included. She's not that athletic or anything, so it's not like she'd be any help in a game or that she would enjoy it. Shōyō has talked her into racing a few times since both of them are pretty fast, but that was the extent of what she would do. She would much rather not play any sort of sport, unless Shōyō asked her to, then she'd have no choice.

She idly picked at the blades of grass in boredom. The slightly warm wind brushed over her like a soft blanket as she watched her brother run around laughing. It brought a smile to herself to see her brother having fun. Even at this young age, Sakura knew all she wants is for her brother to be happy no matter what. 

Just as she was thinking of her brother's happiness, a pink cherry blossom floated right into Sakura's face and placed itself on her button-like nose. Her brown eyes crossed as she stared at the sudden flower on her face. The snap of a camera drew her attention away from the petal on her nose.

The young girl looked up to find a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She was of average height, with nice tan skin and dainty hands that held a camera. The woman smiled sheepishly with her pearly white teeth, "Sorry, it just landed so perfectly, I had to take a picture."

Sakura tilted her head and glanced down at the camera that was in the black-haired woman's hands. Apparently, while a blossom had landed on her nose, the woman had taken a picture of her. Sakura shrugged her small shoulders, "that's fine I guess," she eyed the woman with squinted eyes, "a bit creepy though."

"Ah, I didn't mean to be creepy!" The woman insisted as she knelt down to the young girl's height. Sakura was drawn into her gaze as her shiny blue eyes reflected in the afternoon sun. They looked like crystal pools of water, and Sakura thought that they were very pretty. The stranger smiled, "Though it is a really good picture, do you want to see?"

"Hm," Sakura pursed her lips, "since it's of me... I guess."

The woman chuckled and pulled off her camera from around her neck. Sakura leaned over curiously to take a look at the woman's camera and found that it displayed an image of herself. She didn't like it all that much. The woman obviously knew how to take a good photo, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Sakura didn't like how stupid she looked in the photo. Her crossed eyes just looked far too silly and her appearance just wasn't something that she liked overall. Sakura's long orange hair looked like a mess and her cheeks were far too pale for her liking. While the woman may have had good photography skills, the subject of the photo was subpar.

"You look quite cute," the woman giggled while showing Sakura the photo. 

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "if you say so."

The woman eyed Sakura for a moment. It seemed like she was easily able to pick up on how Sakura didn't like her appearance in the photo. She thought that perhaps Sakura just wasn't used to being photographed or that she didn't enjoy being photographed. The woman smiled gently, "have you used a camera like this before?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed at the question, "no... why?"

"Why not give it a try!" The woman brightened and took the camera from around her neck, "Here." She plopped the camera into Sakura's hands and stood up straight to push the girl forward, "Come take some pictures of these flowers!" Sakura eyed the strange woman uneasily for a moment. She knew not to talk to strangers, especially one who was as bubbly and inclusive as this woman was. Though she had been talking to her all this time... and nothing bad had come from it. So maybe it was all right. Sakura shrugged her shoulders as she looked over the digital camera in her hands. Why the woman had just handed over this very expensive looking camera to a child who could easily break it was unknown to Sakura. It was quite obvious that this woman was not the smartest person around. Though Sakura did as the woman suggested and lifted the camera and pointed it at a tree. She took a photo of it which caused its lens to shutter. For some reason, Sakura really liked the sound of it. She stared down at the photo for a moment, as she seemed to be amazed at what she had been able to do. The woman even seemed surprised, "Wow! You're a natural!"

This continued for a while longer. Sakura took plenty of photos with the woman's camera and was given a few tips on how to do certain things. The woman even convinced Sakura to let her take a few photos of Sakura by the cherry blossom trees. Sakura eyed the camera for a moment before turning up to the woman. Her large brown eyes, now wide in wonder and brimming with curiosity. Sure, Sakura has seen photographers before and cameras and such, however, seeing this woman, the photos that she was able to take just interested Sakura so much. "Miss?" Sakura stared at her with quite an important question burning on her mind. "Why do you like this so much?" She wanted so badly to why this woman liked being a photographer. The woman just seemed to like doing this a lot, and this is what Sakura had wanted. She wanted to have a skill that she could call her own, and if this woman said that she was good at photography then maybe she could make this a new hobby of hers.

"What? Taking photos?" Sakura nodded, the woman pursed her lips and thought for a moment, "Hm, well, I guess I like it because I get to capture a moment in time. A small moment that could be extremely meaningful to me or someone else. It doesn't have to be meaningful to everyone, but as long as I believe that it has significant value to myself, then I want to be able to have that snapshot of life forever."

Sakura considered the idea for a moment. It was an interesting way to look at it. She never really thought about it necessarily like that, since she just thought photos would just be memories and such. Though she never would have put so much thought into who would find a photo meaningful. Photos of families do hold meaning, but what about the ones of just scenery or an inanimate object? Who would find those meaningful? Why would they be meaningful? Though the idea of capturing a moment in time, not just of people, but of things around them and holding them in a still moment of time seemed so intriguing to Sakura. Such an interesting idea, that she was starting to like the idea of photography more and more. 

"Imouto!!" The two turned to find that Shōyō had shouted out towards his slightly younger sister. It seemed like he had finished playing with his friends as he came running over to her.

Seeing as Shōyō would most likely want to leave after this, Sakura returned the camera to the woman's hands. Though once she let go of the camera, her hands felt a bit fidgety without it in her grasp. It seemed like she had gotten used to the feeling of the camera in her hands, and now that it was gone she just felt strange without it. Sakura pursed her lips, "Thanks, I guess."

"No worries," The woman smiled and began to bounce off to continue taking photos of whatever she liked. "Bye!" 

Shōyō zoomed up to Sakura and tilted his head after the person who his sister had been talking to. "Who was that?"

Her eyes widened as she looked after the woman, though she was only able to catch a fleeting flicker of her black-hair before she was completely gone. "Ah, I didn't get her name..." Sakura's eyes then brightened as she jumped on the balls of her feet, "Though she had a camera and she let me take pictures with it!"

"Really?" His enthusiasm started to grow at the sight of Sakura becoming giddy. This usually happened. When Sakura becomes excited or happy, which happens only about once a day, Shōyō feeds off of it. It was kind of like powering up a battery, there was no doubt that they weren't going to run out of energy for a while.

Sakura nodded her head rapidly with her large smile, "Yeah! The photos she took were so much better than mine, but I think I did a good job."

"That's so cool!" His eyes sparkled at Sakura, "Do you think we can convince Okaasan to get you a camera?!"

"We can try!" The two orange-haired twins then bounded off together to head back home. No doubt they would instantly start pestering their poor mother about what Sakura had found out. Also the fact that she would like a camera now for her new found interest. Though there was no doubt that their mother would be happy that Sakura has found something to be interested in that didn't just involve her brother.

---

From that moment forward, Sakura became obsessed with photography. She asked her mother for a camera which she eventually got as a birthday present. Once she had a camera of her own, she brought it with her everywhere. She took photos of buildings, plants, people, or anything she found interesting. 

Sakura started to become more invested in her new hobby. Every day she took as many photos as she could. Then she would happily show them to her family, who praised her for her good work. It felt so nice to her. To have this one thing, something that she could do that didn't always have to involve Shōyō at every moment. Sure, she still didn't stray far from his side, like usual, but she could still do this without having to look out for him at every moment. 

Eventually, by the time Shōyō had gained his own obsession with volleyball, Sakura was well into her photography hobby. She became quite skilled with her camera and her mother made her the designated photographer for things like holidays and birthdays, which she thoroughly enjoyed. This is also where she grew to become a tad bit sadistic. Most of the photos that she ended up taking were of Shōyō getting hurt some way or another while trying to practice volleyball.

Up until this point, Sakura had never really thought of showing anyone else her photos. She may enjoy photography, but she was still insecure about what other people would think of what she could do. After all, she was just Shōyō's twin who did everything with him. Sakura wasn't anything else except his shadow, so who would care if she decided to do something that didn't involve her brother.

It would have been a good idea, considering it would have been a chance to possibly make friends. Though Sakura decided not to. She was in no way able to make friends on her own, so she didn't think that she would be able to share her hobby with others. Despite all that, here she was, standing in front of a door in her junior high as she anxiously fiddled with her fingers for a moment. 

Just beyond that door was the yearbook club. Since their school didn't have a photography club, this was the closest that she could get to having an outlet for her hobby. Considering it was her third-year in junior high, she didn't have that long before heading off to high school. So, wanting to venture out of her comfort zone for the first time ever, Sakura had thought about actually joining a club. Her chest was tight while she bounced on the balls of her feet slightly. She didn't know how people would react to her wanting to join the club, however, they would be nice, right? Gaining a new club member must be a good thing, so they couldn't just dismiss her or anything. 

"They're awesome, imouto!" She recalled her twin's words earlier that day when she expressed her worry to him. "They'll really like them!"

She took a deep breath at the reminder of her brother's reassuring words. Ever since she had thought about joining the club and told Shōyō about it, he had been extremely supportive of the idea. And he was right, her photos were decent, and people would surely like them. Besides, even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter, right? It would be fine if they didn't like them. Maybe they truly weren't good and Sakura could use this as an opportunity to improve whatever photography skills she had. So everything would be fine, she tried to calm herself down, talking to others about her hobby would be a good thing for her! Maybe she'll even make a few new friends through this.

With that thought in mind, Sakura raised a shaky fist to knock on the door. Her nerves were sky-high at the moment, though she pushed through any apprehension that she had and swallowed hard. She had done this for a reason, and she wasn't going to back out now! ...Even if she was becoming extremely anxious at the moment.

There was a short moment where all Sakura could hear was her beating heart in her ears before the door opened up. A boy with large, round glasses opened up the door and peered down at Sakura questioningly. She knew this boy, Sato Hitoshi, who was in her class and considered to be one of the smartest boys in their grade. Though there was no way that he could truly be the best, considering Sakura was his competition for the spot, and she had been on top for the past three years. This was probably why the boy was staring down at her with narrowed eyes. It was blatantly obvious that he disliked her solely on the fact that she was smarter than him. 

He was, by far, much taller than Sakura, as he was on the taller end of the students with a head of black hair and dull blue eyes. Sato pin-pointed her in her spot, and for a short moment, Sakura was scared at his judgemental stare, "Hinata."

"Sato," Sakura nodded her head at him and peeked around him to see into the club room, "this is the yearbook club, right?"

The boy clicked his tongue, "yes, and what do you want?"

From the slight bite in his tone, Sakura could already tell that this wasn't going to be as easy as she had thought. She fiddled with her camera and glanced off to the side, "I uh... I was wondering if I could join."

"Join?" The boy scoffed and pushed his glasses up his nose, "You want to join the club?"

Sakura swallowed slightly, "Yes... I-"

He cut her off, "Do you even know how to use a camera?"

"Well, yes." Sakura dully said as she motioned to the camera around her neck. "I have my own camera and I've been taking photos for a while now-"

Once again she was cut off by the snarky boy, "Then why haven't you joined the club yet?"

Slowly but surely, Sakura was starting to become quite frustrated with Sato. Though that's nothing new. She was used to having his jealousy clouding around her like a fog, it was almost always unavoidable. The only time that she could get away from Sato and his stupidly petty jealousy was breaktime when she'd go off to find her brother to eat with. Sakura knew how frustrated Sato was with her, as he's made it clear plenty of times. He hated how Sakura could easily get good grades while seemingly having no motivation. He was jealous of how Sakura seemed to do nothing, and yet get the top spot in their class as the smartest student. 

Of course, this wasn't true, as Sakura studied at any chance she could. Did she retain information easier than some people? Yes. Does that mean she didn't have the motivation for her academic career? No, of course not. She just thought that it was all so stupid.

"I never thought to," Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "Though I decided to try this year."

Sato glowered down at her though there was a smug smile on his face. "Hm, and let's see what the great Hinata clone is capable of with a camera." He then grabbed Sakura's camera from around her neck abruptly and began flipping through the photos on them.

Sakura tried to grab the camera back, but the boy just used his height to his advantage. "Hey-!" She jumped and tried to take it back only to be pushed back by Sato who continued to look through the photos.

His eyebrows twitched as he looked through the photos. They ranged from photos of scenery or her family, and they were all so… good. Even if they were taken by a junior high schooler, they looked quite professional. Once again, that envy was building up in his gut. Not only was this short orange-haired girl smarter than him, but she was also a better photographer! He laughed bitterly, "These? Do you call these good?"

Sakura bristled, "Yes-"

"Ah," Sato smirked and leered down at Sakura with narrowed eyes. "It seems like we've finally found something that Hinata Sakura sucks at! I mean, these are terrible!"

Even if she didn't necessarily like Sato, Sakura still respected some things that he did. He is the second smartest person in their grade, and he had some good opinions that Sakura could agree with while in class. So for a moment, she was doubting her skills. If he was saying that they were terrible… were they really that bad? "They are…?"

Sato snickered snarkily, already seeing how he was slowly breaking down Sakura's self esteem. "I feel kind of bad for you," he shoved the camera back into Sakura's hands. "You can't even see how these photos are so mediocre. Well, I don't think we need someone so horrible at photography in the club." He sneered and walked Sakura out of the doorway, "We need people who actually have skill." Sakura clenched her jaw in doubt while staring down at the camera in her hands. Was she really that bad at photography to not even be allowed in the photography club? Had her family been lying about her photos? Just saying they were good in order to not hurt her feelings? No… Maybe. Her family were just too nice sometimes, so maybe this was one of these times. "Stick to what you're good at, being you twins stupid shadow."

It was quiet for a while before she swallowed hard, "Right." 

Should she have taken what he said to heart? Probably not. He was easily using this situation to exploit the one thing that Sakura couldn't really help; self-doubt. She was already self conscious about her newest hobby because she wasn't used to having something that was her own. So she doubted whether or not she was actually good at it. To hear someone she had just a small amount of respect for say that she was doing terrible certainly had shook her.

Without saying anything else, Sakura shuffled away from a far too smug Sato, who was more than happy that he had put Sakura down, even just a bit. So he just waltzed back into the club room, satisfied to have undermined Hinata Sakura in something. 

A heavy heart rested in Sakura's chest as she lumbered down the hall. She felt like hiding, at least for a little bit. It was only the opinion of one person, but it still hurt her. Technically, he is the first person to see her pictures outside of her family. So for him to act like that and say that about her photography skills, she started to question herself. What if other people say the same? She could understand having criticism given about her photos, but what if someone else just said the same thing about them? Could she handle that? Sakura likes to think that she's strong, mentally and physically(though she actually isn't physically strong). Though there are moments of vulnerability from time to time. Being away from Shōyō does that to her, she couldn't help it.

Though was it a surprise when her eyes started to become blurry and her nose started to run? Maybe. Sakura isn't an emotional person, so for her to start crying over this meant that it affected her far more than she originally thought. The first time that she tried to be her own person and she's belittled for it. She couldn't get away from it, the reputation that she had. She's just Shōyō's shadow. Nothing else.

Eventually, Sakura finally came to a stop with her wandering. She settled down on a bench just outside her school and wallowed in her own pity. Her mind was racing with so many doubts and she felt like she was drowning. She's never felt like this before. The weight in her stomach was just so… she couldn't even describe it. Long story short, she felt heartbroken to think that people wouldn't think that what she thought was good.

Though in the middle of her darkness, there was a shining light. "Imouto?" The sun was rising and lighting up the decrepit space that she had been dragged into. She looked up to find a matching pair of large brown eyes looking down to her. "Imouto, what are you doing out here?" Shōyō asked as he looked down at his twin. He had just been heading to the gym for his own practice and found Sakura sitting outside staring off into space. Since he didn't know what had happened, the smile that he had on his face felt a bit mocking to his sister. "Did you go to the yearbook club? Did they like your photos?! I bet they did!"

Sakura quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of her tears. The last thing she needed was for Shōyō to see that she had been crying, he certainly would cause a fuss if he saw that. She swallowed and plastered on a faux smile, "I couldn't find them. I guess they ended the club early today."

Shōyō fell for her facade quite easily, he was idiotic enough to do so. He sat next to her with a questioning expression. "Are you still going to join the club?"

"No, I don't think I'll join." Sakura instantly answered. She was in no way going to get in that club, or that she even wants to be in it. Her one time to leave her comfort zone was not a good experience. She just smirked slightly, "I'd rather be around you to take pictures of you getting hurt trying to play volleyball."

Shōyō bristled, "I don't always get hurt!"

"Most of the time you do," Sakura chuckled while standing up from her spot and started to walk off. Shōyō quickly followed after, trying to dispute what Sakura had said about him getting hurt. Though it was true, Shōyō gets hurt quite easily while playing volleyball.

They then ventured off to the gym, where Shōyō would work on practicing with the girl's team like he always does. Sakura didn't want to burden her brother with the fact that she had been turned away and made fun of for her photographs. She would much rather keep it to herself than have Shōyō upset because of something as silly as her bruised feelings. Besides, it was her job to look out for him, not the other way around. Besides, why would she want to admit that she was pathetic enough to be so hurt by one simple encounter? She's not the emotional twin, she's the mature and responsible twin. Sakura couldn't let herself get upset so easily after just one person's opinion. She isn't that fragile, or at least she won't let people think that.