This was inspired by Tear of Light's, Of Assassins, Samurai, and Magic as well as A Samurai's Pledge.

I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Nanoha.

The Spring Sakura

Chapter 1

Spring in Japan was probably the most beautiful sights anyone could ever see, from the colorful flowers, to the rice fields being mended and growing tall within days, it was one of the best things to experience in one's life.

But Signum couldn't see the beauty of anything in spring. Sure, it was easier to go out now that the snow had melted away, and the bone chilling air was replaced by a fresh breeze, but other than that, it was the same scenery over and over again; shrines, old people, kids running around with no sense and shops advertising themselves in very annoying ways. There was nothing special about spring at all. It was easier in winter, when nobody was out and she could enjoy days of peace when it snowed.

Now the sun shone in her face every morning, blinding her when she woke up and blinding her until she went to bed. Her days working in her little herb shack were now mandatory, never allowing her to go anywhere, but even when she was allowed a day to leave, everything she saw was everything she was able to see. So it never mattered to her, and now that it was spring she was determined to never go out.

"Good morning, Signum-san," a preppy voice said, the open door and breeze letting in a very flowery scent. A scent Signum was allergic to. The pink-haired woman was always stuck inside the little shack of an herbal store, and despite it being quite popular, it was empty; a rare sight, especially in the morning. The only person who would come in on an almost daily basis, and at the exact same time in the morning was this woman, whose green kimono and light, fluffy blonde hair made Signum's eyebrows raise each time she walked in.

Gulping at the sight of her, Signum nodded, "Good morning, Shamal-san. The usual order?" She turned to see the stacks of bags and wrapped goods behind her, trying to figure out where she placed her order. Shamal was the local doctor, trusted by everyone and a very known name by everyone; most of the time she spent her days in the center of the city, visiting her more wealthy friends. The palace where their emperor, Scrya Yuuno, lived was also in the center, although Shamal was still working on getting a job to work for him, having no luck for nearly a year.

Despite being supportive of her dream, Signum didn't understand why the palace was so sought after. As if any sweeping job was better done for their emperor than in a small shop. But she wasn't about to wreck Shamal's dream; every time she spoke of it, her amethyst eyes would shine and open up so much more, revealing how intent she was on getting that job. Signum would be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to her, but at the same time, it was obvious the blonde woman had eyes for Zafira, a tall and muscular man who taught karate to children in a dojo. Shamal would always gush at how sweet and kind he was, to spend most of his time devoted to the kids of the village.

"Ah," she lazily drawled, finding the horribly scribbled name on the brown paper package, carefully sliding it out from the bottom and standing, setting it down gently on the counter top. Shamal looked overjoyed at the sight of it, opening it to make sure everything was inside before handing Signum the coins to pay for it. "Will that be all?" Signum asked, placing the coins into the little jar next to her.

Shamal hummed and suddenly lit up, placing her right hand over her cheek in a dreamlike state with a small blush on her face. Never had such a sight frozen Signum, even when the men and women tried. "Zafira-san is visiting tonight... so I was wondering if you had any special tea leaves for... these occasions...?" she asked shyly, averting her eyes. Signum knew what she was talking about, so she simply bowed to head into the back, going into the many wooden and cracked drawers that held the old herbs.

She packed a fairly large amount without a care into the paper bundle and twisted the top tight enough to avoid spilling the contents, handing it to Shamal the moment she came out. "On the house," she said, earning a gasp; it wasn't a light amount, and for free, she knew it was outrageous. "Good luck tonight."

"A-ah... yes, thank you," Shamal stuttered, losing her balance a little before leaving, her face a deep shade of pink. Signum looked around, feeling a little uneasy for no reason, and headed across the store where to wooden doors were tightly shut. She placed her hand on one of them and slammed it open, revealing an old woman sitting cross legged on the floor, her futon thrown across the room in a very sloppy manner.

"Good morning, grandmother," Signum said with a bow, entering the small room. The woman nodded at her, not moving the long pipe from her mouth. The smoke never made the room smell bad, instead making it smell nearly as nice as Shamal's somehow natural floral scent. "Shamal-san visited again." While saying this, she rolled up the futon and set it against the wall, looking at her unmoving grandma.

The old woman nodded again, blowing out a thin stream of smoke into the air, the little open window letting it escape into the air. Her white hair descended down her back, and the blue and purple headband kept it in place. Her clothes were more like a Native American style, with her moccasins and necklaces everywhere. She was also one with nature, making it easy to run the shop whenever she noticed their herbs were wearing out. "I heard she is Zafira's woman now," she said, her voice strong and wise.

Signum crossed her legs, nodding, "I suppose. She took the tea leaves for lovers."

"Did she?" her grandmother asked, taking a large intake of smoke into her lungs, pouring it out with a slow vigor. "Or did you give them to her assuming that is what she wanted?" It was always like this when Shamal was brought up, ever since Signum mentioned she was attracted to another woman: her grandma would nitpick everything she did around Shamal and assume she did what she did because of her feelings.

The question didn't bother her, and Signum shrugged, laying on her back, "After everything she says about him, I guess I just thought she wanted them..." she sighed and sat back up, standing. "I'm sorry, I might have put them to waste..."

Her grandma placed her hand on her knee, forcing her to sit once again, a small smile on her face, enhancing the wrinkles but it just meant she was genuine about it. "Child, she is the only reason we bought those tea leaves. I am happy they were finally put to use," she said, patting Signum's leg with another inhale of smoke. "Now go on, we might have had customers."

"Yes, grandmother. Thank you," Signum replied with a curt bow, closing the door to get back to work. No matter how many times her grandma tried to make her, she just could never be happy with knowing she felt for someone this way. Especially an already taken woman. Shamal was beautiful, so it didn't surprise her when a man every woman tried pining for was able to make her his.

Spring was the season for lovers, after all.

Evening was when they closed, which allowed Signum to leave for a walk, to be with friends or sleep if she so wished, but because she wanted nothing and knew it was too early for sleeping, she simply strolled the streets, arms crossed and feeling very tight. In her shop she was given clothing to get dirty in, since they grew herbs and had to handle a lot of dirt, but stepping outside, she wore an outfit for men, the sleeves short with a skin tight shirt underneath that reached her wrists, the bottoms mimicking a ninja's. She wondered if any of them watching her would mistaken her for a bandit, but shook off the thought, not wanting to ponder stupid things.

"Good evening, Signum-san," a teal-haired woman called, bowing at her with her head. Lindy Harlaown was another doctor in the village who helped train Shamal, and everyone, including Signum had great respect for her, so the moment she heard her voice, she stopped and deeply bowed. Lindy simply laughed, "Oh please, none of that. Raise your head, Signum-san."

Doing exactly what she was told, Signum flushed at the sight of another blonde smiling at her from behind Lindy, "Good evening, Fate-san."

Fate was Lindy's daughter... or adopted daughter, she quickly remembered. They met in a rather funny way: after gathering a few herbs and carrying the basket back to the shop, Signum's vision was blocked for just a split second, and during that time Fate had come running out with a basket of sweets made for her grandmother, only to crash into Signum the moment she ran out, sending everything to the ground, including Signum.

Being the intimidating shopkeeper she was, and seeing her items all over the floor, Signum was ready to snap, only to stop when she saw Fate hurriedly trying to get everything in order. Everyone around them stared at Signum as if she had forced Fate to the ground, silently frightened of her. After feeling as if she was performing seppuku, Signum grabbed Fate's hands and forced her to her feet.

"Evening!" Fate happily replied, mumbling something to Lindy before bowing to Signum and running off, her hands holding a small bag. Lindy shook her head and smiled apologetically at Signum.

"I'm sorry about her... her friend from the palace is meeting her today so she's been running around in a happy mood," she explained, getting a small smile out of the pinkette. "Anyway, I'll leave you to your own now, have a good night, Signum-san."

Bowing deeply again, Signum nodded, "Thank you, good night." She really would have preferred speaking to Lindy all night, instead of walking around aimlessly, but knew she had better things to do than spend it talking with her. Their village was small, but dense and populated with a lot of things she could've gone in and had a great time if she wanted to. But she didn't want to, so they were all deemed useless.

There were few people who actually liked being around Signum, whereas everyone else looked at her like she was some sort of monster who ate children, avoiding her at all costs; it was why she could see everyone hesitating to come out of their tiny houses, watching her like hawks. She did look intimidating, but that didn't mean she did anything to show it.

Her steps were slow enough to waste time but large and fast enough to avoid looking suspicious; even in their little village, she knew there were guard ninjas around, watching every little thing going on, especially at night. People were walking around, either heading home or trying to find some entertainment, all ignoring the tall pink-haired woman wearing very masculine clothes. She was often accused of trying to be a man, but Signum would only ignore them, feeling comfortable with herself and seeing no reason to change. The only time she worried was when Shamal pointed it out, although she brushed it off with a laugh and said it suited her, making her worries completely disappear.

There was a long, roaring river that came down from the mountains ahead of them, but that was definitely populated by fishermen during the spring, since all the fish were starting to come down for warmer water, making the river packed full of them. Signum tried going there to relax before but was soon forced to leave once everyone there, once happy and cheerful, went silent at her arrival.

"Signum-san...!" a familiar voice yelled, before someone's hand came up to grab her chest, squeezing with every bit of her strength she had. Everyone knew Yagami Hayate was a perverted leech at heart despite her cute looks, and she often molested her victims out in the open, especially Signum. Hayate was a special person who made Signum feel welcome no matter where they went, as if all the negativity pointed at her was automatically deflected by Hayate's presence. "Where have you been?" the brunette demanded, satisfied with her groping.

Signum took a breath of relief and looked down a little to meet bright brown eyes, "I've been working. As you should be." Hayate worked along with a few other teenage girls to make various outfits, many of them revealing and revolting to the older women, but the younger women and other girls always had to buy their clothing, often making special requests. However, unlike Signum, Hayate enjoyed everything about the spring and made it her duty to make as many "spring fitting" outfits she could... which often meant she wanted to make clothing that'd make people like Signum walk around in virtually nothing.

"Yeah, yeah," Hayate waved off her comment and smirked, latching onto her side with a cackle, "How about you be our model today?" She whined a little when she felt Signum plant herself in place, not moving an inch despite Hayate's attempts to push and pull her. "Oh come on!"

"I'm..." Signum looked around for an excuse, but the only one she could come up with was not wanting to, so she sighed, looking ahead with a blank expression, "I don't think I'm up to it tonight."

Hayate froze in surprise, but shook her head with a smile, letting go of her arm, "That's all right!" Her genuine smile was replaced by a smirk, half of her face shielded by her shadow, "I'll get you one of these days though, and you'll have no choice but to obey!"

Laughing, Signum nodded and patted her head, "Of course, anything you say."

The more she walked, the more silent it got, and she stopped at the very edge of the village, where a single house was dark, the ever abandoned house nobody went into due to its apparent scary stories, where ghosts lived in there and still went about their day inside as if they were alive. Signum stared at the door and placed her hand on it, sighing.

A foot bumped into her ankle, forcing her to turn around and glare into equally angry eyes. "You tried to trip me!" he yelled, raising a hand with his booming voice. As if on cue, a few more angry men came from behind, one of them holding a bokken. They all stared at her as if she was some puppy in front of three elephants, but when she didn't falter in her position, the bokken was pressed into her cheek.

"You gonna stand there or get on your knees and apologize to him like a woman should?" he asked, forcing the wooden weapon into her skin even more, twisting it until it started hitting her jaw even harder. Signum simply glared at man in the middle, ignoring everything going on around her. "Hey!"

Her hand caught the sword and snapped it in half, using the one in her hand to target one of his eyes, forcing him to let go of the other half. The other two, angry their friend was just hurt, grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her against the wooden door of the abandoned house, taking the broken wood from her hands. "You should know better than to attack a man," the first one spat, his hands crushing her shoulders. Signum tried not to wince, and used his hands as a way to lift her legs, using her heel to kick underneath his chin, sending him flying backwards.

The third one, looking lost, walked closer with unease, and toppled over when her fist slammed deep into his gut. Signum rolled her shoulders, about to walk away when the guy she stabbed in the eye punched her in the same area she hurt him in, his left hand pressing against his face. "You bitch!" he yelled, ripping his sleeve to wrap around his eye, hoping it'd hide the wound.

All she could do was dodge until he left an opening, and pressing herself against the house again, Signum jumped off of it, punching him in the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

The other two somehow were able to get up and both grabbed her arms, but Signum twisted her left one and jumped a little, slamming the taller and nervous one to the ground, using him as a boost to twist her body in the air and strike the remaining one in the throat with her heel, hearing a very satisfying crack.

"Excuse me," a very calm and bemused voice called out, sapphire eyes locked onto the panting pinkette. There were people watching from afar, a crowd having gathered at the sound of fighting, all of them making Signum look like some vigilante. Her focus was on the woman in fancy, silky robes, the colors shining and making all of their outfits look like trash. Her auburn hair was shining, most likely from an exquisite bath, and tied into a side ponytail. However, even with her wealthy clothes, she had a very innocent and large smile on her face, "Are you Signum-san?"

Behind her were the black shadows of the ninjas, their stances showing they were ready to attack her, probably only stopping because of the woman standing in the middle of them.

From the corner of this woman's shoulder, a red eye popped out, and eventually Fate stood straight, her eyes holding all the apologies in the world. "Sorry, I just heard the commotion and had to come running back... I hope you don't mind, Signum-san..." she said, laughing nervously. Signum dropped her head, looking at the three unconscious men on the floor. Fate ran over to her and patted her shoulder, "You're not in trouble. Nanoha just wants to ask you a question."

"Question..." Signum muttered, her eyes sharpening a lot and nearly slicing the air when she moved her gaze to the brunette.

Nanoha laughed, "Nyaha... sorry if I made you nervous! It's just..." she took a look at Fate who nodded in confidence before grabbing both of Signum's hands, sapphire eyes glowing from the moonlight. "Will you consider working for Yuuno-kun as a guard?"

Everyone gasped, and Fate stuttered when trying to get them to go away, leaving the three alone save for the three men literally under their feet. "Guard, you say," Signum scoffed, turning her head away. Fate nodded, but didn't say anything, not wanting to pressure her into anything; after seeing that fight, there was no doubt Signum would be an excellent choice for Yuuno. However, Signum frowned and looked at them both, her cerulean eyes boring nothing but sadness. "I'm sorry," she said, bowing to Nanoha, "But my answer is no."

She didn't spare them a glance before turning and walking away, not stopping or missing a beat in her step when she felt all the villagers' eyes on her, stabbing at her back in envy or disgust. A small, nearly miniscule sakura petal brushed her nose when she opened the door to her home, the smell of herbs and spices overpowering. She never realized just how much it smelled, but she didn't mind it, dropping herself into her futon to sleep.

Tomorrow would just be another boring spring day.

AN

I know it makes little sense and feels rushed and eerily familiar to Tear of Light's story because of the Emperor/Empress thing and working in a palace and stuff. I wanted to just delete it and not post it, and I might in the future if I still don't like it.