Sakura Blooms (Yamato x Male Reader)

Chapter 0.1 - Introductions

Yamato's age: 12

Y/N's age: 14

"And who the hell might you be??" Y/N looked down at the young boy, who was wearing an absurd mask. He was just going about his usual business when he'd bumped into the rioting kid.

"I'm Kozuki Oden!!" he declared.

"Like hell you are! Oden died four years ago. Tell the truth, you little pipsqueak." Y/N glared down at the boy.

Grumbling, the boy tore off his mask and Y/N saw.. He wasn't really a boy at all. A small gasp escaped his mouth as he noticed two small horns jutting out from the sides of her head.

"Oh, you must be Yamato."

"That's what everyone else calls me, but deep down, I AM KOZUKI ODEN!!" Yamato said indignantly.

Y/N shook his head, sighing. "You know Kozuki Oden was an amazing and honourable samurai right? And that his fighting skills might even surpass those of Lord Kaido?"

-

Yamato stared up at Y/N in awe. No one really dared to compliment Kozuki Oden anymore here in Wano unless they wanted a wallopping.

Yamato guessed Y/N realised his mistake too, and he blushed.

"Shit, I mean, I'm just saying you could never really be Kozuki Oden, kid. He was... something else."

Yamato thought she'd finally found someone who also admired Oden. She sniggered secretly, but all she said was: "Shit is a bad word."

-

Pissed, Y/N grinded his teeth and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait. Can you... can you tell me how to be more like Kozuki Oden?" Y/N looked at Yamato, standing forlornly with a hand outstretched.

Y/N raised an eyebrow. "Seriously kid, if anyone heard you talking like that they'd really beat you up. We should go somewhere else and talk about this."

He paused. "Not that I really want to." he added quickly.

Yamato's face broke into a grin. "I know the best spot! Let's go!"

Y/N shook his head. Damn this idiotic kid, he had stuff to do. But he didn't stop himself from following Yamato as she led the way through the castle. They reached an alcove and Yamato walked in. She took a few turns, and they emerged into a courtyard.

"Woah." Y/N looked around. The courtyard was... beautiful. There wasn't any other word for it. Beautiful, and covered in sakura trees.

Yamato smiled widely at him. "Apparently my mother had it made. No one knows about this place but me and Kaido.. and you. But Kaido doesn't come here, he hates it here. Apparently he hates cherries."

Y/N was silent for a while. Then he turned to Yamato, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"You know... that's some really confidential information, Yamato.. besides the cherry part."

Yamato looked at Y/N, unblinking. "I trust you though. You said all those good things about Oden. And you meant them. I haven't met a single person in Onigashima who would talk about him like that. Apart from the prisoners."

Y/N suddenly wondered why the hell he was here in a garden that no one knew about with Kaido's son. Why had he even said that shit about Oden in the first place?

"Listen." he suddenly growled at Yamato. "What I said back there was an accident. I shouldn't have said that. If you keep going around telling people you're Kozuki Oden, you've got a death wish, Oni Princess." His last two words were said with scorn.

-

Unwavering, Yamato kept staring at Y/N. "You know.." she began, her voice at a whisper.

"When Oden died, it felt like something within me awakened. The way he refused to let a single one of his disciples touch the oil. I admired him for that. And when I told my father– no, Kaido that, he threw me in a cave. I only got out because of a few Samurai.. Those who were under Kozuki's rule before."

Yamato kept staring at Y/N, wondering what he would make of that information. It seemed that Y/N knew more about Oden than he let on, sparking Yamato's curiosity. She hoped maybe Y/N would deem her worthy of that knowledge. Just maybe.

Yamato watched as he slowly shut his eyes and sighed. Finally he said, "Yamato, how good at fighting are you?"

Y/N hid his smile as Yamato's eyes gleamed. "I've trained a lot! I can beat a buncha guys older than me."

Y/N grinned. "Let's see if you can beat me. Based on your performance, I'll see whether I want to teach you or not."

-

Yamato watched in awe as Y/N coated his fist in what he called Armament Haki.

"You're gonna teach me how to do that?" Yamato gasped.

"Based on the information you've given me about your trainers, yes, I will. I personally think they're seriously underestimating your skill."

Yamato believed Y/N when he said he was a very skilled fighter. But she still wondered how he could be so strong at 14 years old. Literally only two years older than her, yet he'd had her pinned beneath him in about 10 seconds. Apparently he'd even gone easy on her.

"How do you know so much? Who taught you all this?" Yamato asked.

Y/N grimaced. "I'm sure you have your own secrets, Yamato... and I have mine."

Yamato didn't push it. But she hated to admit.. she didn't have her own secrets. She'd told him everything.