AKARI

While wandering around the castle grounds, I happen to find myself in the kitchen late at night, surprised to see a tall woman in a long white t-shirt and ripped teal jean shorts with a thin brown belt leaning down to peek into one of the stainless steel fridges. My eyebrows raise whenever the woman turns around upon hearing me enter and I realize that it's Princess Valerie, her hazel eyes blinking upon spotting me.

"You're Akari Hana!" Valerie squeals and points, making me blink in surprise.

Valerie lets the fridge door close as she runs up to me and I stare up at her height of probably almost six feet that towers over mine of 5'4".

"It's wonderful to meet you," Valerie beams and pulls me into a bone crushing hug.

"Nice to meet you too," I wheeze, Valerie smiling sheepishly when she lets me go. "How exactly do you know me?"

"A girl has her ways," Valerie winks. "In any case, what are you doing up this late? Shouldn't you be resting for tomorrow?"

"Probably, yeah," I rub the back of my neck and sigh. "I'm more of a night owl, I guess."

"I see..." Valerie hums. "Me too. It's the only time I really get to be myself behind all the glamour. Would you mind taking a walk with me?"

"Sure thing, Your Highness," I nod.

"Oh, please," Valerie rolls her eyes. "Call me Valerie. Now, let's go."

Valerie and I begin to roam the castle grounds, her telling me how she wished to be a part of her kingdom's army but her family told her it was too much of a risk.

"What's the point in being a leader if you can't treat your people as you treat yourself?" Valerie frowns as we walk. "I understand that I'm influential and that I have to stay safe to keep being influential, but I want to be out there on the battlefield with my citizens. I don't want special treatment. If I make them fight, why shouldn't I have to fight too? I ask them to make sacrifices but yet don't make the same ones myself? That hardly seems fair to me. I guess, that's why I tried to help make Aurora as equal as possible by redistributing the wealth. I don't want our people to suffer."

"You seem very wise and kindhearted, Valerie," I smile softly. "The people of Aurora are lucky to have you. Cordelia is lucky to have you."

"I suppose," Valerie hums, blushing lightly. "Sorry, is this weird? Dragging you around the castle beyond midnight when we barely know each other, I mean. It's just that, I've heard of your accomplishments at Aria and I've always looked up to you. The girl who has no powers yet managed to keep up with the Virtues and the Sins themselves. It's truly remarkable. Well, at least, you didn't use the powers that you didn't know you had."

"Thanks," I laugh sheepishly. "I actually...still don't know how to use those."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Valerie hums. "Time is all we need, after all. Isn't it?"

"Yeah..." I breathe out, thinking just how right she is. "It is."

"Valerie!" Cordelia calls out and Valerie grins sheepishly, turning around to see Cordelia walking towards us. "Again?"

"Sorry," Valerie sighs. "You know how boring I find my studies sometimes."

"I know, but you have to keep working on them," Cordelia sighs in return, her eyes holding sympathy. "Come on, I'll let you take tomorrow off while I'm gone if you finish tonight."

"But what's the point in that if you're not here?" Valerie mumbles as Cordelia lightly grabs her wrist and begins to drag her off.

"Valerie," Cordelia sighs. "Come on, please?"

"Can't I study something else instead?" Valerie wiggles her eyebrows as she gets dragged off and I shake my head with a smile.

"...later," I hear part of Cordelia's reply from a distance as they get further down the hallway.

I sigh as I decide to head back to my room, only to find the door cracked open, to my surprise. I gently push the door open to find Isabella sitting on my bed, twiddling her fingers together. She looks up upon hearing the door creak as it opens, and she smiles sheepishly.

"Hey," Isabella says softly. "Could I talk to you? I wasn't really...sure who to ask."

"Sure," I nod, closing the door behind me and moving to sit beside her. "What's up?"

"It's about Shae," Isabella clears her throat and moves her gaze to look at the floor.

"Go on..." I nod.

"See, the thing is," Isabella starts. "I had acknowledged that I could potentially see Shae as more than a friend, but then a lot happened and I was dealing with my mother's death. I didn't want to think about a relationship at the time because the only person I really had enough time to focus on was me and my healing. I hadn't really thought about it again until earlier whenever..."

"Whenever Carmin tricked you," I finish, frowning, and Isabella nods.

"It made me think that, maybe I would be ready, you know? Maybe I would be willing soon to take that chance and see where it goes," Isabella says. "But...it wasn't Shae. It was Carmin. And now, I'm left wondering if it could be a thing, if he could actually feel that way, or if Carmin's words when he was pretending to be Shae are just false hope."

"I'm sorry," I frown. "That can't be easy."

"It's not," Isabella sighs. "And I don't know what to do. If I talk to him about it, it could make everything awkward. But if I don't talk to him about it, then I could be missing a potential relationship, and I don't want to miss that."

"Then why don't you just tell him?" I ask. "The worst he can do is say he doesn't like you back. I'm sure he wouldn't be a jerk about it. Shae is literally Kindness, after all. Besides, it's not in his personality to be that way. And even if he doesn't like you back, he shouldn't treat you any differently if he's truly your friend. Best case scenario, he ends up being your boyfriend. And if not, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be, you know? Everything happens for a reason, even if it doesn't always make sense at the time or ever seem fair. And if you don't try it, then you won't ever know what could've happened."

"You're right," Isabella sighs before she smiles and looks over at me. "Thanks, Akari. You're a good friend, you know that?"

"The best," I joke and Isabella lightly nudges my shoulder.

"So, what about you?" Isabella asks.

"What about me?" I raise a brow.

"Kaito clearly wants you," Isabella rolls her eyes. "And what's the deal with Valentine?"

"I remind him of his long lost love," I say and Isabella's eyes widen before she grows quiet, "and I feel sympathy for him, but...I don't know."

"Well..." Isabella starts. "Would you be interested?"

"In Valentine? I don't know him very well, or at all, really. Not yet, anyway," I sigh.

"And Kaito?" Isabella raises a brow.

"That's...hard," I manage to say.

"Well, what's so hard about it?" Isabella inquires.

"He's brazen, reckless, stubborn, confrontational, easily jealous..." I trail off. "But he's honest. He doesn't pretend to be something he's not and he lets all of his flaws out in the open. He owns who he is. He tried to change for the better, and I can see that in him. He's been jaded, but he's trying to look beyond that by not letting his past define his beliefs about all of humanity. He's protective, passionate, and obnoxiously loud. And..."

"And?" Isabella raises a brow.

"And..." My breath hitches.

"Something about you just..." Kaito glanced over at me, his red eyes meeting my blue ones, "god, you just radiate home."

"Not you," Kaito breathed out, his red eyes seemingly more red than ever and brazenly honest, "anyone but you. I don't know what the hell's happening, but I can't— I can't lose you."

"I—" I purse my lips and stand up, "I have something I need to do. Thank you, Isabella."

"Anytime," Isabella smiles softly. "Go get him, Akari."

I storm down the hall until I reach Kaito's room and I knock on his door until he answers, the door opening to reveal an irritated Kaito in a black muscle shirt and light grey joggers, his brown hair tousled.

"Akari?" His eyes widen upon seeing me. "Is everything okay?"

I pull him down by the front of his shirt forcefully, making our lips collide, and he lets out a muffled gasp of surprise. He stays frozen for a few seconds before he kisses me back and he hesitantly moves his hands to my waist.

I pull back to meet his gaze and notice his red eyes are darker than usual, his eyes flickering between mine and my lips.

"Akari?" He questions breathlessly. "Is this...are you sure you want this?"

"Shut up," I murmur before I pull him back into another fierce kiss and he groans against my lips, pulling me inside before slamming the door shut by pressing me against it, his one hand coming up to rest by my jawbone.

As he hoists me up, I wrap my legs around his waist and pull off his shirt, throwing it across the room and running one of my hands along his abs before I throw my arms around his neck and he goes back to kissing me passionately, moving to carry me over to his bed.

"Love you," Kaito murmurs and repeats as he presses feather light kisses against my neck, making me blush. "God, Akari. Love you so much."

"I love you too," I breathe out as he pulls back and meets my gaze, a soft smile forming on my face before he leans down and kisses me sweetly, my arms winding around his neck and my one hand carding through his hair.

And now, I think I know what it means to radiate home.