Steel Sakura

Alone, Yolei stood by the chain-link fence and watched as the sun went down, revelling in the red beauty of the event. And so, she was the only one who saw the strange young man stumbling down the road. She stared in surprise at the boy as he walked aimlessly towards her, his eyes shut tightly and his mouth slightly open. Unsure of what to make of him, she stood and watched only. She didn’t quite dare approach him - after all, for all she knew he might be some kind of lunatic from an asylum. Stepping back a little, moving behind the fence, she held the wires with one hand, all the time keeping her eyes locked on his slim form. He appeared to be about her age, slightly taller than her, lightly built and brown haired. As he approached her hiding place, she saw that his mouth was not pointlessly open; rather, he seemed to be mouthing the words to something, some unknown chant or song that only he could hear. She stared at him, slightly scared but equally curious, as he passed by. As he walked, however, she glanced to his hand, then did a double take and gasped audibly. His palm was facing forwards, both were, but in his right palm - or perhaps part of it - was a strange flower. To Yolei, it looked to be a cherry blossom, but not one she had ever seen before. It was odd: instead of pink or red or white, it was a dull silver, shining a little in the failing light, and looking suspiciously like metal. Maybe steel, she thought as she stared, entranced, at the abnormality. She sighed a little, looking at his hand still, and then gasped again as he froze at the sound. Tensing every muscle, she watched as his head swing round, first to the left, making her wonder if he was blind, or something worse, if there could be anything so. Then he turned again and faced her. The moment she saw his face directly, he paused. Yolei started to tremble all over as the young man stared at her without opening his eyes, and a strange feeling crept over her. He wasn’t alone. The realisation scared her more than he did - she could feel the energy around him, like many people pressing up against him, looking round as he did. Unable to help herself, she whimpered, almost inaudibly. Then she almost cried out again as his eyes opened, and she found herself staring at a pair of impossibly red eyes. They were as red or redder than the setting sun, redder than fresh blood, and as fiery as the all-consuming flames that had destroyed her home when she was smaller. She found herself mesmerised by him - although she was no longer enraptured by his strange and vulnerable beauty, she could have no more looked away from him as she could have taken her eyes away from her favourite part of her favourite film. He stared at her, seemingly as surprised as she, and opened his mouth to speak. She braced herself for the voice of this terrible phenomenon, but none came. He was looking perhaps almost as scared as her, his mouth moving yet no sound coming forth. He clenched his fist over the blossom set into his palm and looked at her with an expression she found to be helpless and peculiarly compelling. She unhooked her now clenched grip on the fence, and moved to the side: still with enough space to turn and run if she needed it, but enough to show him that she was no threat. Then, in a gentle voice, Yolei whispered to him. "Do you have a name?"