Synopsis:

When he wakes up, he's injured, and he has no memories. But at least she's always there to keep him company. (Leo x Sakura)

—

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was her.

She was immersed in a thick book not much bigger than the size of her hand. Her eyebrows were cringed in focus and she was dressed in mostly white.

She was pretty; with a petite body and hair the color of hibiscus.

He could do nothing but stare, his head whirling in thoughts as he blinked repeatedly. Did he know this person?

His body felt heavy. So heavy that he didn't even bother trying to get up. The bed he lied on was inclined so he was somewhat sitting up, and a large pillow behind him supported his back.

The girl in front of him was engulfed in her book, and he didn't want to disturb her. But he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

"Um.." he hesitated. She bounced up in surprise, her miniature book suddenly slipping from her hands and hitting the floor with a low thud. "Er.. Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Her eyes were wide and lips slightly parted. "W-W-W-What! P-Prince Leo?! Y-You're awake!"

"Leo.." he repeated, almost in a whisper. "Is that my name?"

She felt herself shrinking at his intense gaze, and she looked down at the floor. "Y-You don't… remember?"

Leo sighed, lifting one hand to rest on the top of his head. "My head's killing me. I can't seem to remember anything except darkness. One minute all is black, and the next I'm suddenly here."

He looked around the small room, noticing the plain white walls surrounding one, tiny window where sunlight seeped through. The girl leaned down and picked up the small book she had dropped earlier.

"We suspected as much.." she murmured to herself, but much to her dismay, Leo had heard her loud and clear.

"Huh?" he hummed, watching as the hibiscus-haired girl blushed.

"N-Nothing!" she added quickly. "Just that.. A lot has happened. Y-You should probably get some rest."

"Somehow I'm not so tired," he sighed, pulling the sheets that covered him back just enough to see he was in a lavender gown. "How long have I been asleep?"

The girl timidly opened her book back to the page she had been reading from, struggling to hold her gaze with the prince.

"S-Six days."

He jolted forward. "Six days!?—OW!" He carefully leaned back against the pillow, throwing his head back and letting out a grunt.

"Y-You should really take it easy for a while. Don't m-move around too much," the girl scolded him shyly.

"Wait—wait—I've got so many questions," Leo tried to ignore the pain rushing throughout his body. "You… You called me a prince earlier. Prince Leo, you said. Am I.. Am I really royalty?"

She nodded slowly. "You are Leo.. The second Prince of Nohr."

"Second…? Do I have an older brother?"

"Yes. Two." She dipped one hand on the page as if bookmarking it and closed the book. "And two sisters."

Leo blinked repeatedly, trying to wrap his head around the news. "T-Then.. What happened to me? Where are they? Where are we?"

"T-That's.. A long story.." she mumbled. "But you are currently in a fort on the Hoshidan shore, getting treated by some of our best healers."

"Huh..? Ho-shee-dens?"

"It's a n-neighboring kingdom from the one you're from."

"Oh.."

He was still confused, but Leo's head hurt way too much to try to question her any longer.

The girl suddenly rose from the chair positioned in front of his bed. "At any rate, I have to g-go make sure the others know you've awoken. P-Pardon me." She bows quickly and picks up a small bag that rested near her chair. After sliding the strap over her shoulder, she bows again and rushes out the door.

Leo squinted at her departing figure before yawning.

"I wonder who that was.." he mumbled with eyes half closed. And it was at that moment that he realized he never asked her for her name.

—

The next morning, when he woke from his deep slumber, he saw a glimpse of a light hibiscus color. His eyes shot open and he found himself looking at her again, her focus dedicated entirely to that same miniature book she was reading the day before.

"Ah-!…" he gasped in realization, once again startling the poor girl. The book slipped from her hand and made contact cover-first with the floor.

"P-Prince Leo!" she screeched in shock, her face flushing red. "You're a-awake!"

He could feel his lips curving into a smile. "Morning."

"D-Did you rest well?" she stuttered, though he was already used to her cute, jittery way of speech.

He nodded in silence before staring straight into her chestnut-colored eyes. His scrutiny made her slightly uneasy, but she forced herself to wait for him to speak before tearing her gaze.

"Say," he began, "If I may ask… What is your name?"

"M-My name?"

He nods again.

"S-Sakura."

He looked up at the ceiling. "Sakura.." he whispered. "Sakura.. Sakura.." He paused for a moment before looking at her again. "That's a lovely name."

He's never seen her blush the deep shade of red that appeared on her cheeks after he had said that.

"Th-Thank you," she uttered before forcing herself to look back down at her book. The air was still, and neither of them said a word. After a long pause, Leo spoke up.

"What are you reading?"

Sakura slowly looked up, unable to meet his gaze. She severely hoped that her blush had died down.

"I-It's called, Under The Moonlight by an old, Hoshidan w-writer," she chokes out the words, praying he wouldn't notice how intimidating he was to her. Not because he was scary, or a Nohrian prince, or any of the reasons most people usually stayed away from him. But because she wasn't used to having casual conversations with others—especially not with a boy foreign to Hoshido.

"I see.." he said, showing immense interest to what she had to say. Sakura didn't know much about the prince laying on the medical bed in front of her, but what she did know was that he was a hopeless bookworm, unable to resist classic works of literature despite the places whence they came from.

"I-It's a collection of short stories and p-poems," she continued. "The writer was especially fond of fantasy settings and folklore."

"Huh.. Interesting.." Leo said softly, before Sakura closed the book and stood.

"Right.. W-Well, I guess since you've woken up, I ought to go call the healers."

"O-Okay.."

He wanted to ask her more questions, but decided to restrain himself, and instead watched as she left once again.

And he sat there, wondering if he'd see her again.

—

It didn't surprise him much when he opened his eyes the next day and she was in the same spot, in the same chair, reading the same book. Except this time, he felt relief. No matter how much he wanted to understand, or remember, or for things to be explained to him; seeing her every morning gave him a sense of reassurance. Each time she left, different healers showed up at different times of the day to treat him. So it was nice to see a reoccurring, familiar face to keep him company.

He didn't want to keep startling her each time he woke up, so this time, he spoke in a softer voice.

"Sakura.." he whispered. She suddenly looked up. She seemed significantly less startled than the last two days, and he was happy to see she didn't drop her book this time. "Reading Under the Moonlight again?"

She slowly nodded. "It's a g-great book. It alternates between the stories a-and the poems."

He smiles at her. "Would it be wrong of me to ask you to read me a snippet?"

Sakura managed to control her emotions this time, but she was shaking internally. "M-Me? Read out loud?"

"Yes." Leo shifted on the bed. "I'm told not to leave from this spot, much less from this room, so it'd be a great entertainment."

Sakura swallowed nervously. "A-Alright. Um.. I just finished reading a poem.. Um.. I'll read it back to you."

She cleared her throat and read from the page, pausing slightly at every line break.

An oni came to

my village

the other day. He stole

the bread that

I was going to give to

my

hungry sister.

When Sakura looked at him, she found that his face was contorted in a look of confusion, and he was silent, as if trying to decipher what she had just read to him. After seconds of being lost in his thoughts, Leo sighed and shook his head.

"I don't get it.." he said. "What is an oni?"

"They're mythical creatures from Hoshido. I guess you could say they're basically demons," she answers. When she saw that he was still puzzled, she explained further. "A lot of these are random and probably don't make sense when you first read them. But that's the whole point. You might read it differently than I do, and that's okay."

Not quite getting it yet, Leo nods in agreement and leans his head against the headboard. The lack of words between them engulf them in a comfortable tranquility, and Sakura then closes the book, rising from the chair slowly.

"While you let that sink in, I'll g-go get the healers again," she notified him, and he instantly looks up.

"W-Wait!" She stopped in her tracks. "Will you… be back tomorrow?"

Sakura blinked, wondering if she was just imagining the slight blush that appeared on Leo's face.

"O-Of course.." she smiled warmly, looking at the golden haired prince for a second before an idea popped into her head. "In fact.. Would you like to borrow Under the Moonlight until then?"

Leo's eyes sparkled in interest. "Could I..?"

"Yes," she bit her lip to hide her smile, and she handed the book, which appeared even smaller compared to his larger hands, over to him. She bowed and headed toward the door. "See you t-tomorrow then, Prince Leo."

He chuckled. "See you then."

—

Leo was pleased to find that Sakura kept her promises. After he was done with his treatment the day before, he spent the rest of his time reading through the miniature book, until he passed out from sleepiness late at night. When he woke up the next day, he found Sakura at her usual place, this time reading a much thinner, but bigger book about herbs.

"Good morning," she greeted him.

"Morning." He tried not to sound as happy as he was feeling. He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to spending time with the hibiscus-haired girl, whom he couldn't remember if he knew before or not, before his memories failed him. "I found out what gave the book its name," he tells her in excitement.

"I-Is that so?" she smiled.

"Yes. There's a poem somewhere in the middle called Under the Moonlight."

"Indeed there is. It's the one poem most Hoshidans know, and what gave this book its fame. Did you get a chance to r-read it?"

"Of course I did," he laughed. "Mind if I read it to you?"

Sakura's eyes widen, feeling her heart strings being pulled at the kind way he had said that. "N-No.. Go a-ahead."

He flipped through the book and stopped at a certain page before reading out the words from the page.

It's only

under the moonlight when

I feel safest. If only

you were here

to keep me from breaking,

when the moonlight

is gone at night.

"Lovely.." Sakura whispered. "No matter how m-many times I hear it, I never get tired of this poem."

"I, too, fell in love with it," Leo admitted, not looking up from the page. Sakura leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbow on the arm chair.

"Do you.. have any idea what it means?" she asked, a sudden thrill rushing throughout her. Her brother Takumi was the only one she could go to when she wanted to discuss literature. But she hasn't seen him in a long time, and she couldn't explain how happy she felt to share something she loved with someone else. Especially with Prince Leo.

"Well, I understand why it'd be confusing in the end. I mean, it does mention that the moonlight is gone at night, which doesn't quite make sense," he ponders out loud.

Sakura lets out a small giggle under her breath before telling him her thoughts on the poem in detail. They went on for hours just talking about those two poems. Sakura thought the poem with the oni symbolized how unfair life can be to village people in poverty, while Leo had a theory that the oni were supposed to be evil people—like bandits, or thieves.

And while Sakura said themoonlight symbolized hope, Leo said it meant consciousness and sanity. However, they both came to a conclusion that the poem was about loss.

When night settled in, Sakura told the prince it was getting late, and that she should head back. He asked if he could keep borrowing Under the Moonlight, and she said he could have it for as long as he wanted. That's when Leo remembered a question he's been meaning to ask her since that morning.

"Sakura," he called out, while she was picking her pouch up from the floor.

"Y-Yes, Prince Leo?"

"Are you also a healer?" he fingered the spine of the miniature book.

"Y-Yeah.." she breathed. "How did you know?"

"You were studying herbs this morning, weren't you?" he makes a gesture towards the bag that hung from her shoulder, referring to the book she had put back just a few minutes ago.

"Th-That's right."

"Then.. If you're a healer.. Why are you going out and calling others to look after me? Can't you just take over my treatment?"

Sakura hesitated, calculating different ways she could answer his question. Her body tensed up and she stood from her chair. "I cannot."

He frowned. "Why not?"

Sakura sighed and tightened her grip on the strap, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry," her hands shook as she walked toward the door.

"H-Hey—!"

"See you tomorrow, Prince Leo."

She gave him a smile and shut the door.

—

Update (A/N):

There was only going to be 2 chapters for this short fic, but I changed it to maybe 3. It'll explain more of why Leo needs medical treatment and what happened to his memories and all that jazz (and the significance of the poems).

Hope you guys are enjoying it so far, 'cause I sure love me some (underrated) Leo x Sakura!