Not to be a downer, but can we briefly plumb the depths of how tragic Sakura Matou is? As fictional characters go, she's been given a really hard time. Not just because she's been, you know, the victim of sexual abuse from her adopted older brother and also many, many, holy shit so many of those disgusting worm things. I mean, that's a part of it. It's a very big part of it. However, her tragedy goes so, so much deeper than that.
Oh, uh, spoilers for the Heaven's Feel route of Fate Stay Night. Probably a little too late for that, but whatever.
Because she was the youngest, she was sent to live with the Matou family. No longer a Tohsaka. No longer able to stay with her smart and brilliant older sister. Rin would inherit the Tohsaka family crest. Sakura would, in theory, inherit that of the Makiri. Seemed like a good deal all around. One family would have both their daughters become potent Magi in their own right, the other would be able to claw back some of the power they had lost over the recent generations. A win-win all around, and that's how Tokiomi Tohsaka viewed it.
Zouken, being a wormfaced arshole with the warmth and humanity of any random rock you might find on, say, Pluto viewed it as a means by which to accelerate his plans via his favourite methodology. Systematic human suffering turned to the maximum. I know this is a porn, site, but going into exacting detail of the things done to Sakura, and from what age they were done to her might get this site in trouble. Or not. Hard to tell these days. The overall point was that Zouken didn't train her in shit about magic beyond the most basic fundamentals so she could become what he needed. A suitable breeding partner, a husk of a human being, one who would provide offspring for him to possess so that he could keep his miserable, already too long existence going a little bit longer.
She'd been broken pretty quickly. Left like that for years. And years. And years. Until one day she met a boy named Shirou. Saw him jumping over a high bar over and over again. Amidst the wrecks and ruins of her soul, embers of hope sparked up - and yet, as anyone who has played Danganronpa will tell you, where hope exists, despair often follows. Shirou was... a sort of fantasy for her. A means of escaping the hell that was her life. And yet, he only saw her as the little sister of his friend Shinji. Even though she visited him fairly often, even though he'd taught her how to cook, even though he was right there and not a dream, it was something she never felt worthy of having and so, she never reached for it.
And then, if Zouken ever found out about those feelings, he would use them to turn her into a monster.
That's the Watsonian version of her tragedy. Here's the Doylist.
Ready? It's going to probably annoy some of you reading this.
Sakura... in Fate Stay Night... is kind of not that interesting a character.
Hold on, don't close the tab! Listen, hear me out. I like Sakura! I feel tremendous sympathy for her! The role she has in the story is compelling and far better than anything I could ever write. I'm just saying, put her next to Saber or Rin or almost anyone else in the cast. Strip away the stuff that happens <i>to</i> her and what do you have left?
A character who, by design, fades into the background. Oh, sure. She's a pretty little waifu. Big boobed, little sister type, cute as a button. But without the stuff that happened to her, she's... not that interesting. She gets way, way more interesting in Hollow Ataraxia, make no mistake about that - but in the original Fate Stay night? Not so much! That's the tragedy of her on a meta-narrative level. Take her out of the tragedy that defines her character in universe and... there's nothing really there below the surface. For Saber or Rin, they're interesting enough that you could just plop them into a situation and watch them, intrigued by what they might do. Sakura... Unless she's going Dark Sakura, kind of isn't like that at all.
All of that is a lot of baggage to dump on a character, to be sure. But it is important context to understand what follows. In particular, if you keep in mind what's been happening to her at home, and think about the facts of what's about to happen to her when she's hit by a bimbo plague.
To start with, Sakur was obviously concerned about Maki. That conversation had been quite strange. That girl was a little odd anyway, very energetic and could get carried away very easily. Why did she want to talk to senpai so eagerly? Normally, the girls at school tended to ignore him. He was 'Mister Janitor' to those that didn't know better. Didn;t know how wonderful he was.
For a moment Sakura went into her happy place. Imagining herself free of that family. Free of Shinji, free of Grandfather, free of those things wriggling around inside her. It was a fleeting hope, one she was unworthy of... Ah, but she could hardly help herself! Idle fantasies like this were truly toxic for her, and she pushed it back down.
Only for the initial effects of the bimbo curse to hit her.
Now, what's the very first thing that a bimbo transformation causes? Arousal. Not the hair change, nor the big boobs or whatever physical change you're thinking of, not even the reduction in intelligence. Arousal. A constant rising arousal that grows until it swallows up all rational thought leaving naught behind but... well, you know the end result.
The trouble in Sakura's case are the crest worms inside her. As they fed upon Sakura’s mana, they would instill a powerful sense of arousal. Without an outside source of odd to calm her body, she was stuck growing more and more aroused without pause. It was frustrating, but the worst part was that the only way to get some odd easily was through… sex. Quite nasty, yes? She was not sure if it was a natural part of the worms, or if this had been added as a control mechanism for her. But she tried to not think about it. At least until the lust got too much, when she had to find something or more realistically someone to satisfy her. It was disturbing, but necessary if she wanted to avoid randomly attacking people every so often.
So you can understand why she would panic when she realised how turned on she was getting.
The worms were stirring, heat rising in her body. This wasn't fair! She'd - She'd only thought about it for a few seconds! Remembered him standing there in the kitchen, wearing an apron, smiling warmly at her. Was she truly this sinful? Truly this dirty?! Ooh, but it felt different this time. It felt... very different.
That's because something of an odd reaction was happening here. The bimbofication effect was encountering something it hadn't seen before. The same could be said of the crest worms. Rather than nourishing themselves upon Sakura's life force or body, they had found something else to feast upon. A seemingly infinite, self replenishing power source was being infinitely consumed within Sakura.
What might that be? Why, it's the manifestation of the final stage of the bimbofication process. The physical changes mentioned earlier. The worms were eating those up, the energy intended to inflate Sakura's breasts, transform the colour of her hair, draw her hips wider, her lips larger and her butt more shapely. Not that she especially needed such alterations, of course. Sakura already had quite the appealing figure to her.
"Oooh, oh, what's going on?" Sakura fanned herself down, feeling strange. It was getting hard to focus. They'd never reacted like this before. Normally she had more than enough forewarning to… prepare for the situation. She stepped forward, feeling sluggish. Something strange was happening. Something very, very s̵̫͇͈̼̰̅̿͐̐̾̋̚͝͝͝ṭ̵̨̺̞͉̼͛̉r̷̜̱̟̣̮͚̄́͗͌̓̀ā̵̳̌̚n̴͇͈̳̟͇͔̣̦̓͒͜g̴̛̪͉̓̓̄̍͌̉̈́̄̕̚é̵̜̲̩̻͈͓̩̻̒̐͜.
Yet further exposition is required, alas. You see, Zouken had the wonderful idea to make use of the Holy Grail summoned in the 4th Grail War to create crest worms that he implanted within Sakura. By now, a decade later, they had spread themselves throughout her s̸̢̨̡̞̘̱͖̖̗̖̟̙͓͖͇̔i̶͚͍͇͎͎͇̯̘̲̗̿̈́̍̂̍̓̄̍̕n̴̡̻͙̟̰̬͙͕̟̯̻̭̣̅͐̾̈́͊̅͒̊̚͠͠f̵̙̺̺͍̱̳͖̗̜̖̽̍́̉͛̏͊͆͐̕͘͜͝ư̷̡̛͎͉̘̺̖͕̘͓̦͈̲̠̜̂̄̓́͒̃̄̇͗̄̂̒l̴̛̙̝̈͊̒̋͋̋͑̀͠ ̷̧̱̮͓̳͈̖͕̥̠̯͕̩̱̰̽̊̓͑̍̊b̴̛̊̉̍̅͛͜ǒ̵̡̪̻͎̠͙̖̻̤̰̭͉̥͇̜͗̋̈́̿̈͑̆̔̂̂͘d̷̡̡̡͙͖̼̖̫̣̰̼͍̔̈́͋̓̈́̍̏̑͝y̸̧̧͓̠̭̳̺̜͙͙̒̈́̂̀ͅ. Normally, this would result in either nothing at all happening - or if Zouken became aware of Sakura's feelings towards Shirou, he might have taken steps to push her into a truly ḋ̵̛̩̋̏̿̋̔̉͊̈́̏͘ā̷͍͕̘̾̋̐r̶̢̜̖̥͓̳̪̳͇͒͑̐̒͂́̒̒̉̓̀͑̚̚k̴̢̧͈̝̲͒́̎͝ ̵̬̆̓͊̀̌̐͝à̷̧̠̱̘͈͎͉̔̎͂̄͘n̶̡̧̧̜͎̗͖͈̭̼͊̈̃͑̈́̑̄̀͌d̶̤̮̄͝ ̶̳̿̎͑t̴̨̮̜̮͐̎̀̎͜ͅe̶̬̘̙͋͋̀̇̏̅̀͜r̷̢̛͙͖̟̝̝̺̲̆̔̒͆̉̈́͆͌͘͜͠r̵̨̛̠̲̟͓͙̬͚̯̀̈́̈̈́̎̀̔̀̚į̷̼̯̭͈͊͂̽̐̈̉̐͒͆͌̽̒̌̓̕b̶̻̺̬̓̒̄̈͘͠ͅl̴̛̞̯͙̬̰̤̰̥̪̭̓̔̏͂́̓́̚͜͝ͅȩ̴̮̘̼͎͕͉̬̭͎̥̭͗̈́͐ ̴̨͎̩̗͎̘̬͖̣̖̥̞̫͗f̶͇͕͇̤͈̦̼̪͊͐̅̉̕͝â̵̝̳͚̮̰͛̒̊́̂̔̕̕͘t̵̡͖͇̖̬̾͑̓̎̋̍͆̎͘̕͜ͅe̸̩̯̱̭̬̯̼̺͉̰̱͎̰̲̐͑̊̚ͅ.̴̡̨̧̧̰͎̹̙̗̗͓̱̥͓̻͒̇̈́̉̈́̉̒̋͂͘.
Her inner contempt for those around her would bubble to the surface. The adopted brother who abused her. The sick, twisted grandfather who orchestrated it all. The big sister who left her there to face the worms for oh, so many years while continuing to live her happy, happy life. The boy who was unaware of her feelings, oblivious to all of this while making such obvious, stupid mistakes in his clumsy replication of one of the weakest, least useful forms of magecraft.
"Hrm, what's this? You're having this kind of reaction this early in the morning?"
Oh. speak of her adopted brother. There was Shinji now. Alone, for once. None of those ş̵̨̞̦̬̰̺͔̖̹̫̘͊̋̋͑l̵̢̛̩̩͓̻͎̫̬̼ū̶͙͎̺̻̥̜͖̜̘̔̇̆̀̇̿̋͂͘t̸̡̧̻̹̝̜̣̜̠͉̻̀͂̇͐̈́̐̅s̴̡̛̠͖͖̣̹̥͚͖͋̀̍̏̾́́̌͆̈́͛̆͝ͅ hanging off him. He was looking at Sakura appraisingly. As if trying to decide on something.
"Very well then, I shall be magnanimous," Shinji said. Yes, Shinji Matou. An arrogant, condescending bully, who happened to be talented in several areas. Except 'being a decent human being' or magecraft. Or, for that matter, s̴͔̃̆́̇͗͆͛̎͑̍̾͘ȩ̶̢̦͔͖͎͍͍̘̀̂͌̄͌̎̀͐̀͜x̵̢̱̘̺̖̫̟̰̺̦͚͕͔̑͆͒̂̉̈̒͛̈́͋̕ͅ. You can trust Sakura on this, ș̷̨͍̈h̵̻̣͌͑̚e̶̳̮̎̊̽͜ ̷̦͙̖̈́͛̽k̵̛̳̗͗̉ṉ̵̈͗̕ơ̸͔͕̘͆w̵̪̘͛s̶̥̞̜̈́͠ ̷̳̜̉͗f̵͍͇̃̅͘u̷̝̳̽l̴̼̾̂l̶̰̅͝ ̷͖̿w̶̻̯̏ȇ̶̩̀̎ļ̸͚̽ļ̸̲̝̑̈́̀ ̶̞̞̳̑͂̌w̶̩̝͈̎͋̄h̷̯̿́á̵̢̤͈͋t̷̲͍̏̉ ̸͙̈̌h̵̟̐e̷̳̠͔̔'̷̡́s̶̡̭͖̑ ̶̥͗̾̊c̷̢̓́̇a̶̘͍̞̔͋p̸̭͕̦͑͋a̴͕͚̿̔b̵̬̮̐͝l̵͕̋e̸̠̱͠ ̴̨̩̯̏͗ó̶͎̀f̵͖̹͍̎ ̴͎̗̼̄͗i̵̦̼̱̎͌͝n̵̩̉ ̵̖͐̅b̶̠̝͑͐e̴͔͙̿̎͜d̴̟́̈̍.̵̳̻̑ "This is what you get, you know. Don't think I haven't seen you staring after Emiya with those forlorn, pathetic eyes of yours. Don't think I haven't noticed you spending more time with him lately! You clearly need reminding of who you belong -"
Without warning, Sakrua's shadow whipped off the ground and sucker punched Shinji right under the jaw. He flew back, his head cracking against a wall, and he slumped down to the ground. Unconscious. Alive. Unfortunately.
"Naughty, naughty, big brother," Sakura said to herself, eyes oddly vacant."haaa.... Haaa.... This power, what is this? It feels like something is awakening far faster than it should. Teehee! I- I like this feeling. Maybe now senpai will look at me...?"
Sakura took several wobbly steps forward, licking her lips in anticipation of the treat that was up ahead. All the while, the bimbo curse railed furiously, trying to change her body, only to be eaten up by the crest worms - which were, obviously enough, also now being affected by this magic on a fundamental level. Normally this should have taken several days, and the consumption of several human beings - but don't underestimate what happens when two systems not designed to interact with each other spontaneously and explosively... have exactly that interaction.
All in all, today was looking pretty great for Sakura as things currently stood. She'd knocked Shinji the fuck out. She could feel her own power growing and growing. Hell, with her intelligence being chipped away by the bimbo curse her own self confidence issues were also fading away. She was, in essence, becoming Dark Sakura - without the lingering yet intense misanthropy that underpinned her every action. This was a version of Sakura who was becoming something <i>like</i> a monster - but was unable to focus on being monstrous. Before long, Dark Bimbo Sakura was going to want just one thing and one thing alone.
She was going to want to jump the high bar. Teach Shirou what Reinforcement magic is supposed to look like. By casting it on his penis. Except, she wasn't planning on actually casting any magic the~ere. Teehee! She was so much happier already!
Hrm? Oh, you thought something like 'it's going to make her situation worse?' Have you not been paying attention? Her situation is already as bad as it can get. Normally when a woman is hit by a bimbo curse, it robs her of power. In Sakura's case - paradoxically - it was going to <i>make her stronger than she could possibly imagine</i>. Her situation was so utterly fucked that becoming a ditzy horny airhead would prove to be empowering for her - largely because she could have sex when she wanted to, with who she wanted to. As for the Crest Worms - well, let's think about the other implications of those when the time comes, shall we?
Instead, let's concern ourselves with a strange woman who appeared next to Shinji's unconscious body. A woman wearing a bizarre visor over her eyes, and a rather snug slinky black dress. A woman who stared after Sakura in a mixture of confusion and recognition that something was Very Wrong here... without any real idea of what exactly she should do about it.
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