author's note below; i don't own Hakuouki but the plot tweaks and Kawa's character do belong to me. enjoy!

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Just a Dream (prologue)

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Bastard child. Honorless brat. Fatherless. Pitiful. Stray dog… Those were some of the names she grew up hearing.

Life in Edo was anything but pleasant as far as she was concerned; the kids were always mean, something she doubted would ever change, and the adults were no better. This was the lot she had been dealt in life.

"So you want to become a samurai?" Her small fingers rose up to the afternoon sky colored a golden orange with pink clouds she tried to reach.

He watched the clouds pass overhead in their sluggish rotation, replying with an almost-doubtful scoff, "Yeah; sounds kind of stupid, I know. But it's something I've dreamed about for a long time now…" He trailed off only to watch her lift her arm.

"Well that settles it," She closed her hand into a fist as if she caught the clouds, and she finished without lowering her hand from its victorious feat, "I'm gonna help you."

The teenager scoffed at that one, looking at her from the side. "How's that gonna work; you're a girl, you know." Of course that hadn't stopped her yet.

"Girls can fight just like boys, you know!" The twelve-year old stated as she looked at him, and there was a determined fire in her grey eyes. "And it doesn't matter how; I just know that I will. I swear that."

Recognizing her tenacity the more their stares held, his violet eyes sobered in acknowledgement of her declaration; he looked up at the sky again and exhaled shortly. "I don't know if you know this, but you're pretty weird for a girl." He mused.

And while he was surprised she offered her help so easily, perhaps together, his dream could come true after all.

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an: this is just the prologue as the title says, but i hope yall love it? idk i haven't written for this anime in at least five hundred yrs lkdfjdf but bear with me, it's gonna be fun.