Title: White in the Dark
Prompt: Distance
Word Count: 978
Notes: Revelation route.

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Leo was neither oblivious nor stupid. He saw how sometimes Sakura would gaze out the windows and lose herself to her surroundings. It didn't happen often, but often enough that he would notice. She would always smile and say "nothing" when he asked, but Leo doubted that it really was nothing.

Probably because she doesn't want to look like she's complaining…

She was in one of those moods again when he entered their solar. A book lay open on her lap, her elbow on the window ledge, her chin propped up against her curled fist. Eastward. She was always staring eastward.

Sakura missed Hoshido. It was so obvious to him, but he wasn't sure how to address a problem she didn't want to trouble him with. It wasn't as though she would never see Hoshido again, as she had told him when he first asked her to marry him, but it didn't make the months in between easier.

"Hey," he said softly, encircling her in his arms from behind. She was sitting, so he had to lean down a little to kiss the side her her head. That spark briefly reappeared in her eyes when she turned around to kiss him, but it wasn't enough. There was many things Leo prided himself on, one of which was being able to solve any problem, but he was honestly at a loss with this one. He promised to protect that heart of her's when he confessed his feelings for her didn't he? And right now she was clearly hurting right in front of him and he had no idea what could make it right.

Not that it stopped him from trying.

The idea he had was a bit of a stretch, and he wasn't entirely sure if it would even work, but it was about time he did something about it.

"Hey," she repeated, closing her book. A brief glance at the cover told him it was a novel he had read before that wasn't to his tastes, but thought might be to her's - not that it served as an effective distraction from her homesickness, it seemed. "How was your day?"

"Not bad," he replied, "But that's not important. I have a present for you."

She quirked a delicate brow. "A present?" she echoed, confused, "For what occasion?"

"There is no occasion. Can't I give my wife a present for no reason other than I love her?"

Sakura blushed and giggled a little behind her hand. "Well, okay then." She peered around, "Where is it?"

I'm glad you asked. Leo covered her eyes with his hands and raised his voice to give Hana leave to enter. The samurai looked about as giddy as he was feeling. The bundle of fur in her arms whined, the sound making Sakura gasp. Leo gave the retainer a nod and she deposited the creature onto her mistress's lap.

"Oh…" Even before Leo removed his hands, the puppy had began to push her nose into Sakura's palm, licking it and familiarizing herself with her scent. Book tumbling to the ground, Sakura moved to hold the pup more security as she propped herself onto her hind legs, resting her paws onto the princess's chest. "She's an… she's an…"

"An ainu-ken," Leo confirmed though he looked to Hana for reassurance he didn't bungle the pronunciation. The samurai smirked. Not a very helpful response, but Leo wasn't going to push it in front of Sakura. "She would still have to be trained, of course. Our kennel masters can help with that, but we - that is your brother, your retainers and myself - were hoping she could be a comfort when you find yourself yearning for Hoshido."

"I…" Sakura cuddled the puppy to her chest. She was crying now. Leo and Hana exchanged a panicked look. "Oh, thank you... Leo, Hana. Thank you."

"So… I assume you're happy with her then, Sakura?"

"Of course!" Sakura sniffed, fingering the red silk ribbon wrapped around the puppy's neck. "Does she have a name yet?"

"If she did it would kind of defeat the purpose of giving her to you wouldn't it?"

"I-I guess so." The puppy barked and wagged her tail, eyes large and imploring. Sakura scratched her behind one pointed ear and asked, "What should I call you?"

"Whatever you want," Leo said, pleased to see that his idea seemed to work after all. Even if he had the sinking suspicion that he would have to compete with the thing for her affections in the days to come. "She's your's now, after all."

Seeing Sakura smile like that made everything worth it. "She's white," Sakura said out loud as she thought. Hoshido's color, something everyone involved seemed to agree on unanimously. "White… white…"

"Plenty of white flowers for you to choose from," Hana suggested, only half-joking.

She laughed softly at that, but said to her friend, "Actually… I was thinking of snow. It was snowing on the day you were born weren't you, Hana?"

"It was."

"It was snowing when I got to meet Corrin for the first time too." This, she said to Leo. "If he never came back, I wouldn't have been able to meet you."

He tried to smirk at that, but Dusk Dragon, he couldn't. She was right after all. Had Corrin not been kidnapped by Kaze and Rinkah when he did, Leo never would have had the chance to meet Sakura off the battlefield. "Something tells me you have a name in mind."

"I do…" Sakura turned back to the puppy on her lap. She barked again and started panting, tongue sticking out of her mouth, sounding as excited to hear her new name as Leo and Hana were. "I do… Isn't that right, my little Snowbell?"

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AN: Japanese snowbell (Styrax japonicus) is a tree that produces a fragrant flowers when it blooms in May-June. Styrax in general have been used to make medicine and perfumes/incense in antiquity.