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scalpelandrose · 2 years

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A/N: For a long time I’ve wanted to flesh out the childhood meeting for the Sengoku Jidai AU, as it is one of the pure-hearted stories among the plethora I have, involving 2 kids who want to be kids for a moment apart from expectations. The names could be substituted with the real figures for immersion, such as Law as Masamune, Michelle as Megohime, and Rosinante as Kojuuro, but I kept the names for clarity’s sake of who’s who. This banner was my 1st full-background piece in digital art, because when conceiving this story, I wanted something that represented the key elements in my imagination and went forward to illustrate it as such from scratch. It warmed my heart writing this, so I hope the few of you who decide to read it can feel that warmth too. Original Moodboard Concept here (I did some tweaking with this story though). Law is 10 & Michelle is 8 at the beginning.

Vocab to know/refer to:

_____-jo: a castle, i.e. “Yonezawa-jo” for Yonezawa

momiji: maple trees that change color

kozuyu soup: A Fukushima prefecture (in the Tohoku region) soup made with various fungii, gingko nuts, dashi, etc. sometimes scallops are added

chichi: ‘father,’ when one is talking about one’s own father to someone else (otou-san is used when directly addressing one’s own father or talking about someone else’s father)

bokken: wooden training sword typically in the shape of a katana

shin-yakatasama: respectfully, ‘young lord,’ who is the legitimate son of a daimyo in Yakata-go title addresses. Retainers may call a lord ‘o-yakatasama’ (like in many Japanese historicals) & since ‘shin’ loosely means ‘new,’ it refers to the future lord. Read More

Dokuganryu: “One-Eyed Dragon”—the actual historical epithet for Date Masamune

tsuba: the round guard at the end of the hilt (tsuka) of bladed Japanese weapons. They sometimes are embellished with motifs that speak to the wielder or the swordsmith.

kiseru: smoking pipe

WC: 3.4K

🍁Story Below🍁

“How can a half-blind runt like him even see the future of our clan, if he can’t even watch his right side during practice?”

“Even though he is the eldest, the other son is more suited to succeed.”

“I couldn’t agree more. To think a sickly one-eyed brat would be such an eyesore—and he only has one eye!”

A loud slam silenced all the courtiers and officers in the room from gripes about Law being announced next-in-line to take the helm as the head Date daimyo.

“Listen to all of you berating a child like a pack of apes with nothing else to nitpick at! He can’t control the fact that he contracted smallpox and lost his eye, but it seems the lot of you haven’t grown out of your childhood habits of playing the blame game. Once he becomes head of Date, I guarantee you wouldn’t be running your tongues like this,” Rosinante gritted, losing taste for the chestnut rice and kozuyu soup set in front of him. No matter how well food is prepared, bad company will always leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. He’s taken care of Law since the boy lost his eye at 5, and he knew better than anyone that under the child’s distrust and gruffness that underneath was a boy with the ambition and intellect to become an important figure in this country, beyond Oushu…and that the same boy was someone who wanted to be loved.

“That’s if he becomes the head daimyo,” Law’s aunt, interjected, “No one else in Yonezawa-jō supports him, aside from you, his wetnurse, and apparently his father. Without backing, he’s doomed to fail, even if he succeeds the position. A reckless one-eyed runt can’t possibly hope to make a strong foundation for our clan. It’s more embarrassing that the vassal clans have to ride all this way from Fukushima and Aizu to hear about this edict of succession.”

Law couldn’t eavesdrop behind the washi any longer. No matter how hard he tried to please anyone, they only leered at him and became upset regardless if he did something right or wrong. Outside of Cora-san and a handful of people, the best he received was indifference. A thousand thoughts ran through his head and it was like he was only half-conscious, briskly navigating the dimly lit corridors to his room for his bokken and towards the kitchen to grab a couple of onigiri for the entire day. Cora-san’s support provided a small comfort, but Law could not stay in the suffocating castle for longer, when there were sharks all around him waiting to drag him down at any opportunity.

Knowing that the guards at the eastern gates should be changing posts, the young lord sneaked out during the transition period and made a run for his special secret place that he hadn’t visited in 2 years, since his successor preparations and training began. Even though he was a serious kid, he was only ten years old, and still wanted to experience some freedoms that other kids had, although he had no friends to share his interests or play with.

Catching a faint scent of maple leaves carried by the cool autumn breeze, Law knew he was close to his destination and after another minute of trekking, he found it: The alcove of momiji, with their leaves swaying by the wind’s conduction in a rage of color. The ebony branches acted like a guide deeper into the trees and into his reflections; a reminder that despite the expectations that come with being the next liege-lord, it is still he who held the inkbrush to write the record of his life. As a complement, the overhanging scarlet canopy spoke of prosperity and serenity that comes with taking on the strength to fight away both internal and external demons that impede the path to fulfillment. In a way, the space spoke of the multifacetedness of life—the unexplainable cruelties interlaced with moments of compassion—along with the human spirit’s vitality to overcome all adversaries, if the individual so chooses to face them.

“But how do I face all of it—all of them? I don’t have anything to prove to them, because it wouldn’t be acknowledged anyway…so what is it that I have to face, so I can at least breathe?” the young lord thought to himself with an exasperated sigh. It would be easy if someone or something could provide him a solid answer, but he wasn’t here to think himself into a headache. He was here to blow off some steam and be a kid for a moment.

Breathing in the crisp of autumn to warm his senses, he positioned himself in the middle of the clearing with his bokken, focusing on the trickling of the nearby stream and how it mimicked the flow of the blood in his veins. Following that, Law flowed his offensive strikes in seamless fluidity with the base downward strike transitioning to an upward swoop, before doing a brief slash down into a horizontal-blade defensive stance, which flowed into a frontal slash and thrust. After warming up, he began to experiment with his swordsmanship style, using things that deviated from techniques he was taught and conjured up avant-garde ways for precise single or double strikes, involving non-traditional gliding and side-stepping. Being able to test out moves and hypotheses that he could not put into practice during his formal training, filled Law with an unmatched adrenaline and the freedom was intoxicating. He was poised to test out another chain of flow attacks, until he saw a figure emerging from an alcove. By instinct, he immediately went on the firm defensive waiting for it to come closer, but it only stopped in place and slightly reeled. Now curious, he stepped a few paces closer, until he realized it was a little girl holding an armful of red leaves. She looked as if she just finished crying.

“Hey, are you ok?” Law asked approaching her, but she only retreated further into the crevice inside the maple tree, that he was unfortunately too big to fit in, “Tsk, I can’t help you if you hide, especially if you’re lost.”

She shook her head, clutching her haori closer to her. Understanding that she was extremely cautious, Law set his bokken on the ground and took a different approach, sitting at a distance where she could see from his body language that he meant no harm.

“Can you speak?” he asked, after entertaining himself with everything to see from where he was sitting.

She nodded.

“Then…why don’t you?”

“Because it’s bothersome and I don’t want to be yelled at again. No one listens to me anyways, so…” she trailed off, barely above a whisper, with tears glassing over her eyes.

“Who told you that? You have the right to speak just as much as the people who told you those things,” he continued coaxing her to talk, hoping to get her to trust him enough, so he can figure out where she came from.

Silence.

Law sighed, “Look, it’s only me here and there’s no one around to get you into trouble. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but if you have something to say, I’ll listen.”

He was ready to be met with more stubborn silence, but to his surprise, the girl crawled out of her hiding place, with a tentative expression. However, this time, instead of fear, hopefulness was reflected in her round chocolate eyes. The young lord chuckled to himself, finding it a little cute how the girl wasn’t afraid to get herself a little dusty, observing that the fabric of her haori and kimono were made of expensive material, yet she acted shyly around him.

“D-do you mean that?” she asked, sitting in front of him, setting her bundle of leaves aside to dust her lap off.

He nodded, with his one eye patiently regarding her.

“Th-the elders told me those things a lot, since chichi is away,” she slowly explained, “I didn’t mean to talk back or say something ‘insolent,’ but it was my cousin who knocked over the horse’s feed when we were looking around for fun. They didn’t say anything when I was blamed, so I was given a big lecture.”

“Ah…she’s in the same boat too,” Law sympathized, offering her a hand to help her up, “From what she told me, could she be from one of the visiting vassal clans?”

“So you ran away just like me to get away from all the misplaced criticism, right?” he told her, walking her to the nearby stream to help wash some dust off her face.

A hint of surprise crossed her round face, “Just like you…?”

“Mmhm, I get yelled at too, believe it or not,” Law internally laughed to himself, seeing how her perplexed expression morphed into an incensed pout, “Why do you look so upset?”

“Because that means you were hurting a lot too!” she answered at full volume, which caught Law off-guard. The ironic thought that a girl he barely met would be more concerned about him than some people he knew his whole life stirred some intrigue in him, and she intrigued him even more when she immediately covered her mouth with her small hands following her response, “Oh, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be. Like I said, you have the right to speak just like anyone else, so just say what’s on your mind when you’re with me,” he assured her with a stiff pat to her head. Comforting was not in his expertise, but doing that felt right. To his relief, she seemed unused to it as well, so she didn’t laugh nor say that his pats were akin to a scarecrow moving in the wind. Maybe if they continued meeting like this, he’ll eventually get the hang of it. “There are more colorful trees across the stream near an old temple, if you want to collect more leaves. I could take you there if you want,” he offered, and the way she immediately lifted her head to look at him with her big brown eyes was answer enough.

He led the way, hopping over stones that composed a makeshift path through the stream. The little girl seemed adept with it too, as if she had done this many times before, but a certain splash of water made the last stone slipperier than usual, and Michelle would have lost her footing, if Law did not catch her in time.

“Thank you uhh…” she paused, realizing she did not know his name.

“Law,” he answered, pulling her against him.

“I’m Michelle,” she softly returned, accepting his hand to help her to the opposite bank, “So you’re the next in line of Oushu, shin-yakatasama.”

“So she is from a vassal clan…I heard the Tamura, who are visiting, had a daughter with that name,” Law concluded, finding a foreign feeling of contentment wash over him, knowing they might be seeing each other around Yonezawa-jō for the next few months.

“Just call me Law instead of any titles, since there’s no one here, and I guess you could say that,” he sighed, leading her down a vibrant canopy of gold, emerald, and crimson trees, “though a lot of people don’t want me to be.”

“Well those people are dumb!” she huffed, surprising Law with this new passionate side in contrast from her timidity earlier, “You’re so smart, strong, and nice, so I’m sure you’ll be like Xiahou Dun from my history lectures! He was cool.” The way she puffed up her cheeks matter-of-factly tempted Law to poke her cheek, but he managed to resist, seeing that they were right next to a prayer stone in front of the old temple.

“Is he someone from the mainland?” he inquired.

“Yes! He had one eye like you too, but he was a great general of North China back in the day! I think you are like him or could even be greater, Law—like a Dokuganryu!” she declared.

“Dokuganryu…” he mused, bringing a hand to his eye. Michelle regarded him for a minute to observe if he was interested in hearing more about the ancient general and to her delight, he pressed forward about the subject. Before they knew it, they began chattering about what they learned from their tutoring and there was no topic left unexhausted from ancient heroes, the Kamakura period that led to the dawn of samurais, herbal medicine from the mainland and Japan, snow monkeys and ferrets, sumi-e painting from their studies, and more. In the midst of their conversation, they shared some food they stole away with them when they came to the private enclave of maple, with Law giving her one of his onigiris and Michelle exchanging some zunda mochi in return.

“Can I watch you practice?” she softly asked him, when he stood up with his bokken.

“Do as you’d like. I won’t stop you,” Law answered with a grin, though his tone held a good-natured assurance.

Michelle nodded with a small smile and proceeded to collect some leaves to arrange in an array of abstract patterns and images that only a child’s mind could illustrate, while watching her friend demonstrate his ever-evolving swordsmanship as he experimented with movesets and flow. Eventually, she began making pathways of color-coded leaves, so he could improve his footwork, even grabbing a stick at his instruction to attempt to strike him from his right blindspot, so he could improve his parries from there. Soon, the sun began to set with streaks of crimson decorating the skies, as if throwing out threads of unbreakable promises from all ends of the earth. But to Law and Michelle, they only thought of the fun time they spent together that day, without knowing that their lives would be deeply intertwined from that day forward.

The young lord winded down his practice, ready to return to the castle to avoid a full-fledged search party when the sun fully set, when Michelle gently pulled on his sleeve, offering a brilliant red maple leaf to him, as if it was carved of garnet.

Law tilted his head to the side, not knowing what to make of the gesture, until her small voice, just a hair above a whisper pipped, “I-it’s for you.”

Despite not fully understanding the meaning behind her peculiar gift, he accepted it nevertheless.

“Momiji means peace and constancy, from what I learned. This is the prettiest one I found today and I want you to have it, so you will have that when you succeed the head of your clan,” she explained with innocent conviction.

“Thank you, but you have me at a loss, since I don’t have anything to give you in return,” Law pointed out, knowing the gift-giving customs of their nation.

“That’s ok, I just want to spend everyday like this with you,” she beamed, with the first sincere smile she gave that day. Law could not help but blush at her earnestness.

“…You don’t think I’m a freak or boring like the other kids, Michelle-ya?” he asked, a little dumbfounded at the warmth in her tone. Michelle shook her head.

“Not if you don’t think that about me. It’s cool that your eyepatch is a tsuba,” she smiled wholeheartedly, her status as a general and daimyo’s daughter showing through and through, “I know by that, that you’ll be a great swordsman! But I think you already are from watching you.”

“You—” he had to turn away to hide his half-proud, half-flushed expression from her, as the weight of her admiration filled him with an indescribable giddiness since it was rare he ever received a compliment like that, “You give me too much credit. But I’ll be sure not to disappoint you.”

Side by side, the two made their way across the stream again, supporting the other to make sure no one slipped on a wet stone. The path back to the main castle seemed much less arduous from when they first took it that day, adopting an almost amiable nature with the red sky warmly illuminating everything in sight. Perhaps it was the rush of making a new friend or that Cora-san met them on horseback midway with his shoulder on fire, whether from being worried sick or smoking his kiseru, they did not know, but something made them laugh with mirth that evening.

But to Law, the most important thing he understood, looking back on the red leaves in the distance and back at the one Michelle gave him that day, was perhaps what he had to face was not the world, that did not currently give him a chance or a second glance, but to face his own self and obstacles within in own power to overcome, so he could grow into someone capable of protecting those who trusted in him and to whom the world could not help but turn its head to.

2 Years Later: Autumn Again

“This for you shin-yakatasama. When you become Oushu’s Dokuganryu, you can return it to me and show me the view from the top,” the little girl grinned, pulling out her favorite kerchief with an azure dragon stitched onto it.

“I thought I told you that you can just call me Law, Michelle-ya,” the young lord coughed, covering the rosiness dusting his cheeks with his sleeve, “Are you sure you want to give something so important to me? You worked so hard on it…”

When she asked him to steal away for a ‘secret picnic’ in their special, secret place, he didn’t expect this. She had been practicing her embroidery for some time and finally managed to stitch her zodiac animal on her personal kerchief, but when it was declared that Law was to go on his first military campaign at 14, she resolved to give one of her favorite items to him, so a part of her strength that she could give would be with him.

“But this is an important offering ceremony I am doing, so I have to be proper and call you shin-yakatasama, like how you oddly attach -ya as a suffix for people’s names,” she giggled, “And take it as good luck. When you go to your first battle 2 years later, you can wipe your blade with it, so it won’t rust and so the blood of your opponents doesn’t corrode the blade’s spirit!”

Her purehearted passion and bright-eyed philosophy about swords was too adorable for Law to the point it made him laugh. “Then when we grow up, I hope you’ll lead an army with me, instead of against me, so we can make sure no more blood is spilled. That way, I can return your kerchief to you.”

“It’s a promise,” Michelle nodded, extending her hand, “I’ll become the smartest woman in the Sengoku, so you won’t have to worry about me or Miharu-jō being compromised.”

Law initially did not know what to make of her gesture, never having shaken anyone’s hand before even in the past two years they’ve known each other, but seeing her expression lose its enthusiasm with his long pause, he instinctively grasped her small hand in his and brought it to his chest with a reassuring grin.

“Heh, I wouldn’t doubt it. In that case, I’ll become a fearsome and capable samurai, so you won’t need to worry about border invasions or if you’ll ever see me again when I go on campaign.”

Michelle smiled at her friend’s oath, humming when the wind rose to rouse red leaves to fly freely in the air, “I can’t wait to see the day you finally soar, Law.”

“And you’ll be there at the top with me. The North will become a better place once I am daimyo with thinkers like you by my side.”

She bashfully giggled, yet even at the end of the exchange, Law still kept her hand in his, as he led her to the stream, reminiscent of their first meeting. It was autumn again, with the landscape around them dyed in a vibrant rage of color and the powdered sky seamlessly making it appear as if the shades of scarlet went on forever. A few seasons had passed, some retainers came and went, and more responsibilities taken on, but at least for the two friends, they knew they could count on the other to be a constant in their life, and Rosinante perceived that too and along with something more to their bond, as he watched them from a distance allowing them to have their cherished private time for themselves.

Tagging: @jazminetoad, @undercoverweeeb, @the-phoenix-and-the-witch, @conchasweetheart, @friendly-kaiju, @lariflames

#one piece au #sengoku jidai au #self ship #self shipping #scalpelandrose #michellaw #law x michelle #self ship community #f/o x s/i #one piece self insert #trafalgar law x s/i #childhood friends

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