The carriage slowly bumped to a stop, waking up the young girl riding in it. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced out the window, shielding herself from the afternoon sun's glare.
All around her, she could see the pale pink of cherry blossoms in full bloom, bathed in the sun's yellow glow. They covered every inch of her vision, drowning her in a soothing sea of beauty. A light breeze ran through them, making the blossoms seem as if they were swaying and dancing in rhythm with each other. The girl felt as if she was in a trance watching the movements of the flowers.
"Ah, Hana, you're awake. Amazing, is it not? This was your mother's favorite place to visit." An arm gently wrapped itself around her and interrupted her from her reverie. Hana turned to meet his gaze and tore her attention away from the flowers to bury her face in his chest. The man chuckled to himself, pulling her in and kissing her hair lightly. After a brief moment, she freed herself from him and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her.
"Daddy, it's so beautiful! Can we go pick some to bring home?"
"Of course, dear."
The two scampered and frolicked through the pink forest, enjoying one of their few opportunities to be with each other. Eventually, Hana's father took a seat to just watch Hana play. He watched as she bounced, rolled, jumped, and ran, a boundless ball of energy, and sighed inwardly. Hana's mother had passed from illness when Hana had been just a baby; he could not bring himself to remarry, and as such took it upon himself to properly raise the little girl. But he could not help feeling some guilt from not always being able to be at his little girl's side. As personal bodyguard of the king, not only was there inherent risk in his job, but he also rarely had time to spend with his daughter. Sure, she was well looked after in the royal castle, but still. He'd even briefly considered quitting in order to spend time with her, but the samurai code would never let him do so, and the benefits from working within the castle were fantastic. And so he learned to treasure these moments, moments when he could be a doting father and nothing more, for he never knew when, or even if, the next moment would come.
He smiled as Hana ran back on top of a small, grassy knoll and prepared to roll down it for the umpteenth time. Halfway up, though, the girl tripped and crashed down the hill, hitting a tree on the way down.
"Hana!" The samurai leapt to his feet and sprinted to her side. "Are you alright?" The girl shook her head and pointed to her knee, which was scraped open and bleeding. As the shock wore off and the pain settled in, she started crying, and her father wrapped her in his arms, gently rocking her.
"Shh, dear, you're going to be alright." He washed the wound with the water from his canteen, and cut off a sleeve of his shirt with his sword to wrap her knee with. "See? All better."
"Thanks, Daddy. It doesn't hurt as much anymore." The girl, still in his arms, relaxed and snuggled against his body and closed her eyes, and was soon fast asleep.
The scene shifted, and they were back in Hoshido.
"Do you have to go?" The girl, now a couple years older, clung to his foot, not willing to let go.
"It's just a peace conference, my child. I'm simply accompanying King Sumeragi as a precaution."
"So nothing will happen?"
"Nothing. I promise, I'll be back before you know it."
"Promise that you'll be okay, too?"
"I promise. I love you, Hana."
"I love you too, Daddy."
He turned to leave, but was stopped.
"Wait! I have something for you." Hana pulled a small pin she'd made resembling the cherry blossoms in the forest they visited. With a wide smile, her father pinned it onto his katana's scabbard and kissed Hana on the forehead before turning and disappearing into the horizon.
Hana's eyes flitted open, forced wide by the first cracks of sunlight. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes sat up in her bed, drawing the covers tightly around her and snuggling into them. Her covers were a pale pink, with cherry blossoms sewn into the design. The walls and colors of the room matched the pale pink of her covers, and Hana smiled to herself as she scanned the room.
Others might describe her room as girly and unbefitting of a samurai employed as a royal retainer, but then, others didn't know about those special afternoons she'd spent with her father. Seeing the pink, the colors, made her feel as if she was back in that forest, alone with her father again, a world where she could just be Daddy's little girl.
She sighed and lay back into her pillow, closing her eyes again.
Her father had not been able to keep his promise; a week later, news came from Cheve: King Sumeragi and an undisclosed samurai had been ambushed and slain in an alley, apparently by King Garon. Their bodies were returned to Hoshido, stuck full of arrows and each with a gigantic slash across their chest that seemed to have been made by a giant axe.
She knew who the "undisclosed samurai" was, of course. Her father always kept his identity hidden from the public, he said, to protect her; of course, now that he was dead, there was no more reason to do so. When she saw his body, laid out on a cold stone block, she could only scream at the unfairness of it all, leaning her head gently against his armored chest in one of the few spaces not pierced by arrows. How long she remained sobbing, she never knew, but she was eventually ushered away from the body, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
The next few weeks were a blur; there was the funeral, a grand affair for the King and his personal bodyguard, but Hana could not remember any of it. After the funeral, she stayed in the orphanage for a week, until her father's will came out leaving everything to her. It was a substantial amount, for her father had given his life in the service of his king, but she could not use it until she came of age. Even if she could, she wanted to leave it alone. In a way, it was all she had left of her father, and she wanted to hold onto everything she could.
The will also directed her to an address on the outskirts of town.
The address turned out to be where samurai were trained, and there, Hana seemed to be thrown out of her trance. Her father wished for her to be trained as a samurai, and the dojo took her in as a favor to him. She learned the samurai code, how to wield and use a katana, and she trained vigorously, every day. She wanted to become a samurai her father would be proud of, and every morning, she was the first one awake, smacking away at the dummies or maneuvering through obstacle courses. Her skills were soon on par, or perhaps even better than, the very best samurai, according to her master, a wizened old man who had also trained her father.
Eventually, she was promoted to serve in the royal castle. On the day of her promotion, she packed her meager belongings from her samurai home and set out to leave. Before she did, she stopped to thank the samurai master, who had a going-away gift for her.
It was a katana with a cherry blossom pin attached to its scabbard. She knew that the old man had kept it there so she would know the importance of this particular katana.
A bird cawed at her window, interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh, shut up." She slowly swung her legs off the bed and tossed off the covers. Making her way to her wardrobe, she removed her nightclothes and changed into her training outfit, a simple pink tunic and shorts.
Exiting the room, she meandered to the rear of the Hoshido fortress, where her training dummies were set up.
Slash. Stab. Parry. Dodge. Slash again.
She ran through her daily exercises, and the dawn had bled into morning well before she was done. Wiping the sweat off her brow, she made her way back to her room and into the washroom. She turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm, splashing her face from the sink and then disrobing. She glanced at the mirror above the sink for a second, staring into her own eyes.
Father...would you be proud of me?
She stepped into the shower, where the water washed away the sweat and grime, but not her thoughts.
Every day, she strove to protect Sakura the way that her father had protected King Sumeragi. Sakura was about the same age as her, perhaps a year or two younger, yet she was the opposite of Hana. Where Hana was headstrong and confident (sometimes overly so) in her abilities, Sakura was timid and unsure of herself, despite her renowned skills in healing. After being promoted to serve in the royal castle, Hana found herself training more vigorously than any of the other soldiers; she took the training so seriously that she often snuck out for extra training. One of the royals found her out late many times, and took to healing the overworked girl. The two found they enjoyed each other's presence immensely, and soon began going out on small exploration trips to the surrounding areas of Hoshido together, Hana protecting her and the girl healing Hana if she was hurt. Through these trips, they forged a strong friendship. Hana did not know until being selected as a retainer that the girl was a member of the royal family. When Sakura chose Hana to be one of her retainers, she took it upon herself to never give her reason to doubt her fealty and dedication to service.
She was motivated by her love for her master, of course, but also by her desire to live up to her father's standard.
She knew her father would be proud of her; he loved her too much to not be proud of her accomplishments. Not only that, but she was following in his footsteps, serving as a retainer to a member of the royal family. But she remembered Hinata the other day, of how he discounted her just because she was a girl.
"Oh, it must not be a common problem for guys," she mimicked rudely out loud. "Hmph. Just as well, I kicked his butt when we sparred after. Practicality over appearance. Just because he doesn't have to worry about hair getting in his face? I beat him even with the hair in my face. She grimaced, and what Sakura told her at the time of her appointment as retainer popped into her mind.
They doubted my selection of you, Hana, when I told them I was sure I wanted you as my retainer. They said that you wouldn't be as effective, because you were too young and a girl, but I was so dead set on having you that they eventually relented.
Hana sighed and decided to train extra that day. She'd resolved to dedicate herself to training, to becoming the samurai that her father was, and she wasn't going to let other people's doubts in her abilities stop her. Pulling on her pink uniform and purple sash and firmly tucking her katana into her belt, she set out to meet up with Sakura to begin her daily duties.
I'm back! After playing through FE Fates, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to write fanfic for it, as I felt the characters were massively underdeveloped and there were too many introduced too quickly, so only the royals got proper character development.
ANYWAYS, this is pretty much a prologue to the story to come, which, hopefully, you guys will stay for as it progresses. This is to establish Hana's background as it pertains to my story; I wanted to paint a more vivid picture and a more interseting backstory for her, and as a result, there may be quite a few instances where she is OOC, and that is my intention. After all, what's the point of writing this if I can't make her into my own character? As Hana is a Hoshido character, I'll be pursuing the Birthright path of the story, perhaps ending with some of the Revelations path. The character deaths in Birthright and Conquest made the storylines seem much more realistic, in that when the Avatar makes such a huge decision, it doesn't make sense that there are no consequences. However, I do think that I'll have them learning the actual truth (won't spoil it here just in case) and pursuing that as well.
So, obviously, this story's also about Hana and the Avatar. So why Hana? Why would I pick a tomboy who's crazy about training? First of all, I thought she was really cute (sue me). The first time I played with the male avatar I matched them up, and to say I was disappointed by their support dialogue is a MASSIVE understatement. It was, put kindly, crap. I thought there was so much potential, but I won't say how because it might spoil how I work them together :) And so that's why her character may be slightly OOC, so I hope I'm not offending anyone by doing that.
As always, enjoy, and please R&R!