She knew that they talked about her. Despite Camilla's protective sisterly instincts ("If anyone says something mean to you, just tell your older sister, and I'll have a conversation with them."), and Elise's optimistic outlook ("You're so amazing and pretty, they'll just have to like you!"), Sakura couldn't ignore the murmurings about her that flew around the Nohrian court.

During the early days of their engagement, Leo had reluctantly introduced her to a congregation of Nohrian nobility at Castle Krakenberg. To their faces, the aristocrats were all sickeningly sweet smiles and overly enthusiastic congratulations, but it didn't take long for the torrential river of rumours to begin flowing. Sakura wasn't a stranger to court gossip, but at least in Hoshido the daimyos treated the royal family with a minimal level of deference. However, as a timid princess from a former enemy country marrying into the Nohrian royal family because of love, she was considered a prime target.

Whispers about her lack of certain feminine characteristics and speculation on "how long it will take before Prince Leo grows bored of her," did not go unnoticed by anyone, least of all the couple themselves, but no amount of reprimands and tongue lashings from Xander and Camilla could stomp out the gossiping completely.

Unknowing to them, the Nohrian elite had seized on one of Sakura's fears: Losing the faithfulness of her husband. She knew about the story of Leo's half-siblings, both the dead ones and the alive ones. She knew about the practices that were considered the norm for Nohrian lords. She knew about mistresses, and concubines, and harems. While Leo wasn't considered the biggest prize compared to his older siblings, there were still many hoping to flirt their way into his favour for the sake of an improved political standing.

They were not subtle, either. Those who managed to slip past the couple's retainers were unrelenting in their advances, usually brushing up or putting their arms around Sakura's husband. If they weren't hauled away immediately, Leo would shake them off himself, tightening his hold on his wife's hand and dragging her off in another direction without missing a beat in their conversation.

But no matter how much the people around her tried to shield her from it, Sakura help but feel pressure. An incessant and irrational fear stuck to her: If she didn't act, would some opportunistic woman be able to take her Leo away from her?


The prince of Nohr hastily shed the majority of his own clothing; Ornate pieces of black and gold armour, his doublet, gloves, boots and socks were all thrown carelessly into the far corner of the bedroom. Then, with only a tiny pause, Leo tugged his tunic over his head, and pulled off his pants, leaving him only in his smallclothes.

Sakura reached for her husband's hands, shyly drawing them towards her chest bindings. It was an unspoken request for his help in removing them. He obliged, delicately unwinding the strips of cloth which restrained her breasts. Instinctively, the Hoshidan princess made to cross her arms over her bare torso in embarrassment, but Leo gently took hold of her wrists and laid them at her side.

"There's no need to be so self-conscious, Sakura," he said.

Her cheeks flushed red. It had been her that initiated this tryst, and yet it was also her that was acting so awkwardly. "I kn-know that they're n-not—"

Leo's face took on an exasperated look. "I've told you this so many times, but I guess it's still not enough. I love you, the kind, sweet, and beautiful princess, for who you are, not because I want you to be a different person," he scolded lightly. Any and all protests from the princess in question were silenced by her prince leaning forward to press his lips against hers.

After the couple breathlessly broke their kiss, Sakura let her husband ease her back against the bed and tenderly run his fingers across her mounds.

"Besides," Leo said as he began to apply a slight amount of pressure, "in my humble opinion, your chest is more than adequate."

With that, he sunk his digits into the soft and supple breasts before him, pushing and kneading the smooth skin. His actions elicited small sounds of enjoyment from the pink-haired woman who lay at his mercy.

"Mmph... That's really g-g-good, L-Leo..."

The goal with his pleasurable torment was to relax his wife enough as to not hurt her unnecessarily later on, but, unknowingly to him, it had the added effect of fostering the growth of a pool of moisture in her lower regions.

Once the final remnants of stress had left her body, Leo ceased his teasing in favour of sliding his hands down her flat stomach, and slipping his fingers under the hem of her only remaining undergarment. Sakura, recognizing his intention, shifted around to allow him to tug her white panties down her legs, and off.

There she was, truly and completely naked. Leo was captivated by the sight. His eyes shamelessly soaked in the sight of the Hoshidan princess, his princess, lying exposed on their bed, arms at her side and legs apart. A slight glisten across her lower regions drew his attention, and, impulsively, he bent low to crush his lips against the damp skin. His fingers rushed in next to press up against the rest of her defenseless nethers.

In normal circumstances, Leo was calm and calculated, never allowing his emotions to get ahead of his brain. But in the heat of passion, he was nowhere near as composed.

"Ah-hah, L-Leo—"

"I—" The prince jerked back as though burned. "Sakura. I'm so sorry. Am I hurting you?"

"No!" she replied quickly, her breathing slightly heavy. "No... I'm fine. P-please, keep g-going..."

Leo hesitated, and then resumed his previous actions. "Your wish is my command, milady."

For Sakura, every touch against her hypersensitive centre had the intensity of a fiery brand. Time oozed to a standstill. Her arousal grew to heady heights, and the heat was becoming borderline unbearable. She was on the edge, ready to explode...

Without warning, the dazed Hoshidan princess felt slow, rolling pulses of wet warmth leave her body. Moisture slid lazily down her bare thighs, creating dark patches on the bedsheets and floor.

"Hah... Ah... Ah..." With glazed over eyes, Sakura managed to lift her head off the sheets for just a second, before letting it drop in exhaustion. "Th-thank y-you, L-Leo," she stuttered.

The prince of Nohr was now standing over her, a faint sheen on his lips. Without saying a word, he reached down to tenderly brush aside his wife's bangs, which had shifted around during her haze.

"Th-that can't be all... y-you're going to do, r-right?" Sakura murmured. Her voice had a soft, pleading edge to it.

His hand continued to move, now to gently stroke her cheek. "No, it isn't."

With a tiny smile, she spread her arms out, and whispered, "Take me, Leo."

"Of course, Sakura."


The air was already thick with the scent of the couple's lovemaking. It hung in the room like a dense fog before sunrise, ready to be burned away and signal the start of a new day.

In reality, however, it was not even moonhigh as Sakura felt Leo slowly push himself inside of her for the first time in well over two weeks. It was the warm sensation of being anchored, the intoxicating feeling of being connected to her lover that she enjoyed so much.

Still, as the Nohrian prince began to move, she felt a small twinge of annoyance that she couldn't determine the reason for. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? Her and Leo, making love by the light of the moon? And yet a tiny bit of dissatisfaction remained.

It hit her with the force of a summer rainstorm. The whole time, all she wanted was for her husband to not treat her like a fragile flower, and although he was now willingly copulating with her, and presumably enjoying himself, his treatment of her was the same. He was being too gentle. Too cautious. Too careful.

"Leo..." she whispered. "I want... I—" Her voice cracked. "I want you to be more callous. R-rougher. I want you to gouge m-me, to r-ravage me, tr-tr-treat me like I'm just yours to use."

His astonished expression reflected Sakura's own internal thoughts. Had she really just said all of that? It wasn't as though she was lying, but it was so out of character for her to say something that... lewd. Not to mention submissive, or even kinky. Still, no matter what she said, Leo was sure to—

"Agh!" she yelped suddenly. Just moments ago, her husband was slowly thrusting into her wet centre with an aura of tenderness. Now his movements seemed to be the opposite: quick, deep, violent stabs producing exhilarating amounts of delicious friction inside of her. Sakura could barely keep her eyes open as pleasure and sexual satisfaction flooded her mind.

"I-if you ask, then y-you shall receive, my sw-sweet Sakura..." At another time, she probably would have found it amusing that Leo was now the one stuttering.

Still, her capacity to think had dampened drastically. She could only perceive the world as black and white, and cold and hot, depending on she how sensed each feeling in relation to every other.

Once more, she approached the verge of release, and judging by the way Leo's breath hitched and his eyes closed, he was in a similar situation.

"Sa-sa-Sakura..." was all that the prince managed to groan out. Then he put his hands down on either side of the woman and slumped over. The pink-haired princess felt just two rushes of heat run through her before her own ending turned her attention elsewhere. The gratifying, euphoric sensation of letting go triggered moans of her own, mostly comprised of "Leo," and some unintelligible sounds. She could faintly feel tiny droplets of moisture squeeze out from between the cracks of their connection.

The couple stayed there, dazed and linked, for a blurry period of time. One was standing, leaned over, and the other was lying back against the bed. Eventually, Leo mustered up the strength to pull away, lift his wife's naked body completely onto their four-poster, and slip under the covers with her.

"Leo?" came a sleepy sounding murmur as he went about his labours. "Thank you... for indulging me tonight."


Sakura awoke the next day in the comfortable (and unclothed) embrace of her husband, and with the sun in her eyes. The morning sun in Nohr was not nearly as bright as in Hoshido, but she had acclimatized to the difference in only a few weeks. Leo was facing away from the windows, nuzzling her shoulder, and as a result went unbothered by the light.

The Hoshidan princess (though she would never tell him this) found her husband to be the most adorable as he slept. The way that his stress all but disappeared while he slumbered made him look so different compared to while he was awake. When conscious, Leo was classy and charming; when not, he was cute and childlike.

Her arms were pinned underneath his, but she managed to maneuver them enough to reach around his back. Carefully, she began to rub his back with her hands, and whispered quietly into his ear.

"Leo... Hey Leo... Don't you have a meeting this morning?"

The prince stirred in response to her actions, before loosening his hold on her and slowly opening his eyes. "Ah. Good morning, my sweet. Did you enjoy last night?"

The healer willed her face not to turn red. "Mhm... It would be n-nice, um, if we did that m-more often, don't you think?"

To her surprise and delight, her husband agreed almost immediately. "Yes, it would..." He was quiet for a second. "I'm sorry, by the way. For ignoring you like that. It was wrong of me to make decisions about the two of us without consulting you."

Sakura gave him a small smile. "I'm not upset. I just want you to l-love me, Leo."

"I do love you, very much." He tilted his head towards her, and kissed her flush on the lips. "Stay with me for a little longer?"

"I thought that you had all sorts of meetings this morning?"

"Oh, they can wait. I'm sure that they'll understand me wanting to spend more time with my beautiful wife."

Ideas flew through Sakura's mind. She was on a roll with trying bold new ways of connecting with her husband, so one more wouldn't hurt, right? The princess daringly reached down Leo's body with a free hand, and gently took hold of something. This time, however, she couldn't keep her face from reddening.

"W-well, what do y-you propose we do with this newfound t-time, then?"


Are you saying that you expected poorly written, non-source material (as opposed to poorly written, source material) to accurately portray source material characters?