Prompt: "Cute! As for serious Sasha prompt, how about one where Mikasa goes to the grave of her parents only to find Sasha there vowing to protect and make Mikasa happy and smile more. No food, no stammering or acting odd, just a deadly serious tone that shows Mikasa a side of her lover she'd never seen before."

i should really stop writing when i'm half asleep

Sasha would have liked to meet Mikasa's parents. All of them, both the Ackermans and Mrs. Jaeger too. Mikasa doesn't talk about them much, and all Sasha knows is that she was adopted by Mrs. Jaeger, who died when Mikasa was 12 or so, after her biological parents were killed by human traffickers. She wants to know more, but she knows more than to reopen old wounds.

She figures the least she can do is to visit their graves, so she goes to Armin to ask for the name of the graveyard where they're buried. She doesn't expect Armin's answer: "I'm sorry, but Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman's graves are in titan territory."

"Oh," Sasha hangs her head in disappointment. "What about Mrs.

Jaeger's?"

"She..." Armin looks away for a moment, the discomfort apparent in the slight frown on his face. "She doesn't have a grave."

"...Oh." Sasha says, facepalming when she remembers that Mrs. Jaeger was eaten by a titan. Of course she doesn't have a grave.

Armin shifts his feet awkwardly for a few seconds. "Well, if you want to pay your respects, you can go to the Wall Maria memorial in Town Square."

"There's a memorial?"

"Yeah, they just finished building it a month ago. It's right in the middle of town square. You can't miss it."

"Alright, then." Sasha nods. "Thanks, Armin."

"Anytime."

Sasha has to wait four days before her next leisure day, and when the night before that comes, she leaves to Town Square without telling anyone. A fifteen minute walk with her horse is all it takes to reach her destination, and Sasha is thankful that just about everyone's already asleep at this hour- she's free to be alone.

The memorial is a tall, obelisk-like structure made of stone. A bronze plaque on it's center reads "In memory to those who perished in the breach of Wall Maria.", and on it's base lay snuffed out candles and both new and wilting flowers of little variety.

After Sasha dismounts her horse, she walks up to the very front of the memorial holding a bouquet of white lilies that she picked up that afternoon. She stands there awkwardly for a few seconds, wonder what she's supposed to say.

She looks around to make sure she's alone, and when she confirms that she is, she takes a deep breath. "Mrs. Jaeger, I have no idea why I'm saying this out loud, but I would have really liked to meet you. Mikasa doesn't talk about you much, but I wish she did, because I want to know what kind of person you were like. I bet you were a great parent, though; Mikasa and Eren are both great, although they have their faults.

I guess it's time for me to introduce myself. My name's Sasha and I'm Mikasa's girlfriend. We met when we enlisted in the military. She ranked first in class, and the soldiers say they've never seen a prodigy like her ever before. I hope you're proud of her, because you really should be. She's a really strong person and she even saved my life once, when we were trainees."

Sasha blushes in embarrassment even though she knows she's talking to a big hunk of stone and definitely not Mrs. Jaeger. "I just want to say that I'll definitely protect her. I know the life expectancy for Recon Corps is really low, but we'll keep living, I promise. Mikasa won't let anything happen to me, and I won't let anything happen to her. I know she's a lot stronger than me, but I've been practicing. A lot. I'm not there yet, but I've been getting a lot better. Mikasa saved my life, and I'm not going to let that go to waste. Maybe when I'm strong enough, I'll be the one saving her next time? People laugh at me when I say I'm going to protect her. I don't care, though, because I know Mikasa. She's strong, but even the strong need someone to be strong for them too."

Sasha leaves the bouquet by the base of the memorial, dusting her hands afterwards. "Well, I've got to go now. It's way past midnight and I have a date with Mikasa tomorrow." With that, she turns around only to come face to face to the girl she's been talking about for the past twenty minutes. In fact, their faces are so close Sasha can smell the cheese Mikasa had for dinner. "Well," Sasha grins. "I was wondering when you're going to stop watching me from the shadows."

"I stopped doing that when I realized it made me look like a stalker."

"I think stalking is what you're doing, silently following me and all, thinking you're so sneaky." Sasha giggles, before proudly puffing out her chest. "I'm a hunter, you know, you can't sneak up on me."

"I know." Mikasa shrugs. "I was just curious about where you were going at this kind of hour."

"I went to see your mom."

"I know that now." Mikasa says, pulling up her scarf to hide her blush. "I didn't expect you to say... All that."

Sasha takes Mikasa's hand and leads her to her horse, the heat of her hand comforting in the cold night. "Hey, it's not like I'm all about food and jokes all the time."

Mikasa only replies with a smile that seemed almost too shy for her as she gets herself saddled on Sasha's horse.

"I wanted to see your parents too."

"Hm?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman."

"That's very nice of you." Mikasa lightly chuckles, before wrapping her arms around the shorter girl's waist when the horse begins to carry the two of them back.

"One day, I'll do it for sure." Sasha grins, turning around and planting a kiss on Mikasa's cheek. "We're going to reclaim the land from the titans, then I'm finally going to see them."

Mikasa pulls the girl closer to her chest. "That would be nice."

"It would."

"You know, if you want to 'protect' me, I can teach you a couple of tricks on the maneuver gear."

"Are you asking me out on a study date?"

"Yes."