Miraculous Ladybug: SENBONZAKURA [AU]

A Thousand Cherry Trees

The sweltering heat from the summer afternoon made Admiral Ladybug sweat a bit under her red, linen uniform. With a gloved hand, she wiped away some drops of sweat from her forehead, then subtly smiled to herself as a group of children laughed joyfully while running past her.

The children wore brightly coloured clothes she would've cringed at, had she seen them years ago, but these days she found herself adoring the garish garbs they wore. It brought some colour into these new days where happiness was getting harder and harder to come by.

"Ladybug, Miss Ladybug!" a child shrieked as he bumped into her. She noticed that in one hand he held a crimson red pinwheel and in the other, a small, rolled up, piece of paper. "That boy from the rich people district told me he'd give me a gold coin if I gave this to you."

"The boy from the rich people district...?" puzzled, the admiral mumbled to herself as she took into her hands the piece of paper the child handed out to her. She then bent down to meet the child's gaze and pat him on the head, "Thank you."

Face flushed red, the little boy nodded and dashed away, to where Admiral Ladybug presumed to be the aforementioned "rich people district". She looked at the paper she held, and tried to draw a connection. Unrolling it, she read its contents.

'Milady, for too long my father has kept me from seeing any of my friends, for too long, has he kept me from seeing you. Please, if you do read this, see me tonight by the milk cafe. Sincerely, A. A."

As her eyes landed on the initials the note ended with, the admiral drew in a sharp breath. What was he thinking, sending me a note like this? What if by some stroke of misfortune, his father had found this note? She neatly folded the note and briefly pressed it against her chest while closing her eyes. She did not want to risk the both of them being caught together; yet she longed to see the blond boy, the boy she called her young master.

They were meant to have a professional relationship, or at least, his father had warned Ladybug to not get too close with his son. She was meant to be a powerful admiral, who only reserved her words for the more important occasions, and the young master, Adrien Agreste, was meant to be the son of the well respected, wealthy politician: Gabriel Agreste.

Through her obligatory attendance to all the events held in honour of Gabriel, she saw his son, though, not for the first time. She remembered the time before she had joined the navy and rose up the ranks, the time before she had abandoned her identity as "Marinette". She could still remember seeing Adrien's face on the newspaper, his awkward smile as he stood next to his father for the black and white photo. She fell in love with him almost instantly, but she always had thought that her love would bear no fruit. After all, she was the daughter of a pauper, and Adrien, the son of a man who could most certainly give him a more than promising future.

Once, she did speak to him, not as Admiral Ladybug, but as Marinette. She thinks it was about then she truly fell in love with him. He smiled so sweetly at her, as if she weren't a mere lower class civilian. In her mind, this memory was so important, but she assumed that Adrien had probably forgotten about it a long time ago.

When she did meet him again, it was when she had already become an admiral. He had approached her during the recess of another event his father had been hosting, and Ladybug had been surprised to see him, for she had been searching for him the whole event prior to recess.

"Enjoying the party?" he had asked, while giving a small smile.

Ladybug paused and tried to regain her composure as she assessed the situation. A boy she had loved for so long was at last standing in front of her, speaking to her. Clearing her throat and glancing away, she said, "Young Master.. It is good to see you, but I'd hardly call this a party."