Cherry Blossom Requiem

The tea house was quiet at this hour, its paper walls glowing with soft lantern light. Sakura knelt on the tatami mat, her hands wrapped around a cup of green tea that had long gone cold.

Three years. Three years since she'd left the Shadow Guild. Three years of looking over her shoulder.

"You were always the best of us," a voice said from the darkness.

Sakura didn't reach for the blade hidden in her sleeve. She'd known this moment would come.

"I'm not coming back, Ryu."

Her former handler stepped into the light. He looked older, tired. "I'm not here to recruit you. I'm here to warn you."

"The Council wants me dead. That's not news."

"It's not the Council you should worry about." Ryu placed a photograph on the table. A young woman with Sakura's eyes. "They found your sister."

The cup shattered in Sakura's grip. "I don't have a sister."

"Not anymore," Ryu said grimly. "But you did. And the person who took her wants you to come find them."