Tatsumi spun around as the last phrase Sheele had said sunk into his head.

Did Akame...actually like him?

Then his incredibly slow brain started putting together the pieces from what Leone had said in her short and cold letter, and Akame's actions and...and...

And he was an idiot and just saw something go past the window. He scrambled over to the window, but didn't see anything. It must have been a bird. He backed away from the window, but not before catching sight of Akame training outside. He couldn't help but gawk for a moment and think about how lucky he was to have found such a loving family within the corrupted Empire, even if they did kill people for a living.

He looked down the hall and saw Nasuada walking towards him with her usual stoic expression. He leaned up against the windowsill and waited patiently for her to reach him. When she finally reached him, he saw that she had more of a solemn expression on her face.

"Leone is looking for you. Something about a letter...she's in the kitchen."

Tatsumi nodded and started walking towards the kitchen but at the end of the hallway before turning the corner, looked behind him and spoke softly.

"Thank you, and if I don't come out of that kitchen in about an hour, tell Akame...I...I cared."

Nasuada opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but closed it like she decided against it.

And so Tatsumi walked off into what he though would be his last time walking these halls he had gone from fearing and seeing as a prison, into the home he now loved. He walked into the kitchen, the letter and picture feeling like fire searing against his leg in his pocket, and quickly found Leone near the sink, washing vegetables for dinner.

He cleared his throat softly to alert her to his presence out of habit, even though he knew that she had detected him. She turned around and leaned on the sink and pointed to the counter in front of her. He immediately understood and walked over to the counter and leaned on it, facing Leone. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off before she could say anything.

"How long and why?"

She looked ait taken aback from the question, but answered nevertheless.

"A few months. A couple days - maybe a week after you got here."

"Why, Leone."

"I don't know that. I don't understand that, but then again, it doesn't help that I think of you as a little brother...while she thinks of you in a different aspect."

Tatsumi nodded slowly, his brain slowly trying to cook up a plan to ask Akame out without her misinterpreting it and him ending up with Murasame in his chest.

Leone pulled him into a hug and whispered in his ear, "Pretend to cry, she's right behind you."

Tatsumi tried, but the tears wouldn't come, and then he remembered a conversation he'd had with Sayo and Iyeasu about him ever falling for a girl, and if she would ever love him back. The thought of Sayo and Iyeasu did the trick, and tears started pouring down his face as he remembered how his friends had been murdered for fun.

He heard a soft, sharp inhale of breath and then he felt a small tap on his left shoulder. He grudgingly let go of Leone, and turned, the tears no longer contained, any hope of stopping them long gone.

Akame looked at him with her usual stoic expression, before Tatsumi opened his arms, asking without words for a hug. Akame's eyes flashed and then she dove forward as if she was the one needing the hug, the desperate reassurance as if he was going to disappear.

He pulled out of the hug, his tears dry, but his face streaked. Akame looked kind of hurt, but then Tatsumi pulled her a bit closer. He cupped her cheeks and leaned in, then pressed his lips lightly against hers. Akame' they eyes grew, but then they fluttered shut. She slowly sank into the kiss as Tatsumi pulled her flush against him.

Of to the side, Leone couldn't help but smile as the two finally embraced and showed the feelings they each had for the other. She turned and quietly exited the room and went to tell the rest of the group the events that had transpired and make sure they gave them lovebirds some space. She didn't think they'd get very far, but one could never know...

In Remnant

Ruby, Wiess, Blake and Yang had just gotten back from another mission Headmaster Ozpin had sent them to do, but now Ruby and Wiess were carefully observing an object that had gotten stuck in Yang's hair on the journey back and had required the use of scissors of which Blake was now desperately (even though she didn't show it) trying to keep the blonde from leveling the building in which they currently resided.

"Ruby, please put that down. You're not sure what that thing could do!"

"Wiess, we'll be fine. It's just an odd artifact."

Yang turned and snarkily replied, "Yeah, and it RUINED MY HAIR!"

Blake sighed, took off her overcoat, grabbed her scroll, and walked out.

Ruby, Wiess, and Yang watched her leave before Ruby reacted yelling for her to come back.

And after a few seconds, she did.

"What. Do. You. Want."

Even Yang flinched at her sudden drop in tone. They may be some of the toughest trainees on campus, but everyone, even Cardin, knew not to bother with the cat faunus when irritated. Hell, even Glynda had flinched whe; she saw how she destroyed team CRDL after one of them had taken it way to far with the racist jokes.

Yang quickly recovered, "It's okay, you can go..."

Blake rolled her eyes and turned, but Wiess hadn't had a turn to speak, so she grabbed the disc they had found from Ruby's hands and threw it at Blake. It bounced off of her and smashed against the floor. It cracked, and a blueish water with a slight glow seemed to leak out of it. Blake instinctively jumped back, but Yang reached out and grabbed her wrist. Ruby felt a strange attraction to it and stepped on it.

She promptly disappeared.

The three remaining girls lunged forward, all of them touching the unknown substance.

Then they disappeared to.