Hanabira || a leosagi love story

Diamond-like Sakuras

_

Shouts and cheers rang across the stadium, glints of light reflecting off of bracelets and beads strung in women's hair. Leo walked in slowly, smiling. His heart swelled with pride, the asphalt under his feet sinking slightly.

Usagi's mouth was agape, his ears perked up high. Half the crowd was chanting his name- and if felt good. 

The drums began, the two boys getting into their stances with their swords slowly drawn. It was in a matter of seconds that steel clanged upon steel. Leo stepped into the blow, his arms held against his body. The stadium erupted with applause and stomping, as if their hooping and hollering would press the children to fight harder. Then...a glint of red. The rabbit made a mistake- studying to turtle's markings around his eyes. Remarkable, like the burning sun itself. Their eyes met for no longer than a second before Usagi felt a sharp pain in his side. His face pinched, eyes wide as he realized he'd let his arms up.

On the agonizing ride here, the two didn't speak once. Yuichi assumed it was for lack of language barrier. One thing he understood was how the turtle had reached out the carriage window, catching cherry blossom petals in his hands. 

The crowd hushed, and Usagi stumbled back a few steps from the heavy burning in his stomach. 
The silence was broken in two by the few villagers calling out to them: "Finish him off! Kill him, Leonardo!"

Leo watched in horror his handiwork left a crimson trail down the rabbit's white fur. He scolded himself, his eyes never leaving Yuichi as he fell to his knees. The crowd wondered why the fighting had stopped. 

"Kill me." He begged, squeezing his eyes shut. Death was better than shame any day.

Leonardo's face creased into confusion. He kneeled down and reached out a hand.

"I couldn't kill you." 

_

The Great Divide was the year everything went south for the world. Families were seperated, wars broke out and petty crimes turned into 1st degree. The roads were smoother now than they used to be, and churning wheels of carriages didn't sound so strangled anymore, though distant from the hill the Hamato family lived on.

Leo laid under the cherry blossom tree, his eyes closed. Now 16 years old, contemplating what to do with his life was not quite number one on his list, but definitely required of his father.
If this is what studies would be like every day, he'd ace every class. 

"Alright. Step one...wake up." Leo opened one eye and looked down at himself in the grass. "Yeah. Did that." 

"Step two: eat breakfast." He turned to his side and eyed the empty picnic basket he'd brought with him. He burped, excusing himself before laying back down with a lazy sigh. "Pretty much done for the day."

He smiled proudly to himself until he felt a shadow standing over him. "Yeah, no. you forgot one thing."

"Oh well, who could that be?" Leo asked sarcastically, smiling and sitting up. "Did Raph come to interrupt my sleep?"

The big turtle smirked and shook his head. "Last I heard, step one was to wake up."
"Just let me rest easy this time." He groaned, reaching up and pulling his brother next to him. "Come on, lighten." 

Raph chuckled and laid back slowly, crossing his arms. The big blue sky above them was bright and beautiful. "The festival is coming up, Leo. Tanabata." He started to explain, his forehead creasing in a bit of worry. His voice was husky with patience. "And...your wish last year..."

"I know." Leo sighed and lifted his arm to point, a petal landing near his eye. "That one looks like a dog."

"I just worry for you, y'know-? Ooh. I see a slide." Raph said with a chuckle. "I mean, your tanzaku blowing away and stuff, c'mon...you don't still believe you're not supposed to make wishes, right?"

Leo laughed nervously, turning his head sideways. "Psh. Of course...not. There's a.." For a moment he thought he saw the shape of a rabbit in the clouds. He shook his head, frowning. "I see a tree right there."

"Leooo." Raph said through gritted teeth, sitting up. "I'm serious."

"And so am I!"

Leonardo snickered and rolled over, falling backwards into Raph's lap. "If I was joking, could I do this?" He started to make a pretentious scowl. Very serious.

His older brother just laughed, shaking his head at his brother's antics.  "Keep that attitude up on the way back home. You have chores."