A Man for Flowers
by Cyberchao X

CCX: …Yes, I took the name of Inigo's recruitment paralogue from Awakening, because I really have no good titles for this fic. I needed it to be something about flowers. Anyway, we're going to start with a slightly modified version of the C Support and go from there.

"Sakura? Lady Sakura?" Hana called out.

"Hana, are you looking for Sakura?" Corrin asked, then internally cringed. "Of course she is, why else would she be calling her name over and over?"

Hana jumped. "Eek! Oh, it's you. Do you need me for something?"

"Wait, did you say 'eek' when you saw me? That's not the reaction I get very often…never mind. Sakura isn't over here." Hana thanked him and took her leave, or started to, at any rate. Corrin called after her.

"What is it?" she asked. "I really need to find Lady Sakura."

"I feel like there's some intense animosity coming from you. Did I do something to slight you somehow, or did you simply not show your true feelings at Fort Jinya for Sakura's sake?"

"…'True feelings'?"

"I'm well aware that most Hoshidans view me with considerable distrust, my younger brother among them. I don't even necessarily blame them."

"I trust Sakura. She believes in you, so I believe in you. Besides, you didn't even hesitate to call Takumi your brother, even knowing that he doesn't feel the same way about you. …Lady Sakura has spent years being sad over your kidnapping. I've watched her try to hide the tears countless times. And I don't like someone who makes my best friend cry!"

Much to Hana's surprise, Corrin smiled slightly. "Well, I apologize for the distress I've caused…but if that is the case, then we have a mutual enemy. Garon is the one you should hate, not me; he is responsible for my disappearance."

"I…" "He's right." "I'm sorry. You're just a convenient target because you're here. I beg your leave, Lord Corrin." And then she resumed searching for her liege.

"That was…interesting. I'd better talk to Sakura later."


CCX: …Well, crap. It seems that Sakura's A-ranked conversation covers similar material, but since this is only the C, I'm setting it fairly early in the campaign—way too early to have an A-rank without seriously grinding DLC. …Oh, well.


"Sakura? Can we talk?"

"O-okay… What do you want to talk about?" Much to Sakura's surprise, her older brother just hugged her, without saying a word. "Uh…"

"Hana told me that you used to cry over my kidnapping. I had no idea… I just wanted to reassure you that I'm not leaving again."

"Hana said that?"

"Yeah…I felt like she was being hostile towards me, and she told me that she didn't like me because I made you cry."

"B-but it wasn't your fault! I never blamed you! …Actually, I blamed myself."

"Yourself? You were so little…you couldn't have changed anything."

Sakura shook her head. "I heard a rumor…that Nohr originally planned to kidnap me instead. That it should've been me. I doubt it was even true, but…"

"Well, I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere." Sakura tearfully nodded.


The events of the day continued to race through Corrin's mind during his training, no matter how much energy he expended. After a long time alone with his thoughts, a voice interrupted. "…Lord Corrin? What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"I could ask you the same question, Hana. It must be incredibly late."

"Must be…wait, you haven't slept yet?!"

"Our conversation earlier…I talked to Sakura afterwards. I didn't realize how hard it was on her…I feel like I have to become stronger, to make sure that Garon will never rip another family apart like he did ours."

"Well, it won't be long until the sun rises. I always wake up early to train. I…might be a little earlier than normal, but not much."

"I admire your dedication, Hana. Sakura is lucky to have a retainer like you."

"Thank you, Lord Corrin. It's nice to be recognized by someone other than Lady Sakura for a change."

Corrin stared, dumbfounded, to the point that Hana wondered if he'd fallen asleep on his feet. "Oh, right. I suppose Subaki casts a pretty big shadow, being 'perfect' and all."

Hana giggled. "He makes a point of letting everyone know how perfect he is. He makes mistakes just like everyone else, trust me."

"Oh, I'm sure." Corrin sighed. "I know all about growing up in the shadow of perfection."

Hana was curious, but now wasn't the time. "Maybe you'll have to tell me some time. For now, though, get some rest."


The next day, the "army", if you could really call it that, marched into Izumo. There, the Nohrian mage Zola set a trap for them, and a hard-fought battle ensued, during which Takumi's retainers joined them. Hinata seemed laid-back enough, but Oboro's hatred for Nohrians was downright venomous, and Corrin worried that she'd be every bit as tough to win over as her liege and Saizo. Upon meeting the real Izana, he found that Zola's impersonation was actually rather good—the real Izana was a buffoon. "Who wants to join me in the sauna? Oh, right. You probably want to hurry off and find your friends. Well, there's no rush. I peeked into their fortunes a little bit just now. And I can tell you that they're both doing okay at the moment."

"Are you s-sure?" Sakura asked. "I'd really like to believe that."

"I swear it on my gold-plated statue of myself. They're fine."

"Well, thank you, Archduke Izana. If you're certain…I suppose a little bit of rest could do us good." Neither Saizo nor Takumi's retainers were terribly happy with this decision. "This was a hard-fought battle. We wouldn't be very effective if we got into another battle so soon after it. We'll leave tomorrow."

Saizo started to object, but Hinoka cut in, "You heard my brother. We rest now and continue in the morning."

That evening, Hana approached Corrin. "Lord Corrin?"

"Oh, Hana. Is something on your mind?"

"Would we still be here if you hadn't been up all night training?" Hana asked with a grin. "…My apologies. That was impertinent. You and I are not equals, after all."

"You're not wrong. Please, feel free to speak your mind, within reason."

"Then in that case…I do feel that you were too soft, allowing Zola to live, but at the same time…I feel like I can trust you in my own right, rather than just as someone that Lady Sakura trusts. It's obvious, seeing you offering mercy to your enemies like that, that you and she are very similar. …Izumo doesn't approve of weaponry, so I think that we'll have no choice but to skip training—especially you, since your typical training time is at night rather than in the morning."

"…When I was younger, my bro—Prince Xander would stay with me when he came to visit until I started to grow tired, and then he would start training. I never went to sleep, though; I stayed up, watching him train, mimicking his movements in an attempt to be more like him. Even now, the tendency to view nighttime as a time to train stays with me."

"When you said you grew up in the shadow of perfection, you were referring to him, weren't you?"

Corrin nodded. "He was the one I looked up to the most. All of us did. Naming Xander as his heir is probably one of the few acts that King Garon has done that I can approve of. He is stern, but fair; I believe he would make a great king, and I dread meeting him on the battlefield, not only because of his prowess as a knight, but also because it would benefit both kingdoms for Prince Xander to survive his father and ascend to the throne."

"You sound like you regret leaving Nohr."

"Not at all. King Garon is in the wrong, and to return to Nohr would be to try to take down the current regime from within. Far too difficult, and too dangerous. I want to win this war for Hoshido and then…I suppose I would become an ambassador to Nohr, working to foster a more peaceful relationship between the country in which I was born and the one in which I was raised. …I was somewhat secluded throughout my childhood, so I can't say for sure, but I believe that at heart, most Nohrians would probably prefer Prince Xander to King Garon as well. That's why I want to minimize casualties. We'd be killing good people forced to follow the orders of an evil king. …Now that sounds black and white. That's the exact opposite of how I see things, which is why I was so conflicted."

"Seems clear enough to me. You think King Garon needs to be stopped and that Prince Xander will make Nohr a better place. Optimistic, to be sure, but…when you talk about him, it almost sounds as though you could be talking about Lord Ryoma. Am I wrong?"

"…No, you aren't. There are certain similarities between them—between all of my respective family members. Well, maybe not Leo and Takumi; they seem pretty different aside from being really, really blunt. But Ryoma and Xander both have the same calm demeanor and air of natural leadership…Hinoka and Camilla are both highly protective of their younger siblings and…perhaps a bit quick-tempered…" Corrin trailed off, knowing whose retainer he was speaking to.

Hana sat down on Corrin's bed, or the one he was using tonight at any rate. "And Lady Sakura? Does she have an opposite number among your former family in Nohr?"

Corrin couldn't help but smile, thinking about Elise. "Does she ever. More than anything else, the toughest part of my decision was knowing that either way I chose, I'd be letting down a sweet, gentle little girl who just wants everyone to be happy, who doesn't want to fight and would even heal enemy soldiers if she stumbled upon them wounded…and who looked up to me with adoring eyes and called me 'big brother'. …But Elise isn't shy like Sakura is, so hopefully my other former siblings will hesitate to kill me for fear of making Elise cry."

"…She sounds sweet. And you said she's a noncombatant?" Corrin nodded. "That's good; I'm sure that once this war is over, she and Lady Sakura will be good friends." Hana laid back on the bed. "I don't know why I asked so much about the Nohrian royals, though. It's so much easier to fight if I don't know my enemy, and we'll probably still have to fight them. Now that you've told me that Prince Xander is a lot like Lord Ryoma, I don't know if I could fight him. I kind of idolize Lord Ryoma; he's a swordsman on a whole other level, and the way Lady Sakura talks about him makes me wish I had an older brother like that."

Corrin was still standing, and he nodded, before realizing that there was a slight problem. "Uh, Hana? You do realize that you're sprawled out on my bed, right?"

Hana bolted upright, blushing. "You better not have peeked!"

"I promise, I was a perfect gentleman."

Hana decided that it wasn't an issue worth pressing. "Get some rest, Lord Corrin. We need to be fresh for tomorrow."