Inko sighed softly as she wandered around. It was a little chilly outside, though that was to make sense. The cold season was coming around, so she knew that she would have to get herself some winter clothes should she ever want to go outside. Though, for now she knew that she would have to still be careful. There was no way of knowing how cold it would get here, the young woman just hoped that she could handle the cold season when it arrived.

"Inko!" shouted Mitsuki, causing the green haired woman to turn around and blink in confusion. Only to smile at her friend. It had been a while since they had seen each other. Both, having been busy with one thing or another.

"Mitsuki, what have you been up too?" asked Inko with a smile on her face.

"Oh, same old, same old. I won't lie, I'm rather happy to be here. King Toshinori hasn't tried anything with me or anyone since he bought us all." Mitsuki said with a smile, though let out a soft sigh. Looking over at her friend, Mitsuki tilted her head a little as she asked "Where did you get this?" Mitsuki frowned as she pulled at the necklace, not enough to tug that it would hurt her friend, but enough to gain Inko's attention on the item in question.

Carefully, Inko took the blossom gem back from her friend before tucking it back under her dress. "The king gave it to me. Said he wanted to thank me for going so far out of my way to help him." Looking at her friend, Inko added "I told him that he should give it to his future bride but he said because of how he is, there is no bride to give it too."

"Really?" Mitsuki said with a frown on her face.

Nodding her head, the young woman sighed softly before a soft smile graced her lips. "I honestly don't know why he thinks such a thing about himself, but I know that any woman would be lucky to marry him."

"You sound like a woman in love." Mitsuki said with a grin on her face.

Inko blinked a little at the woman. "Love? How can I love a man when I don't even know what love even really is?" Inko said before turning away from her friend as she sighed softly. "Love is something that we never had Mitsuki."

"My parents did…"

"That's your parents, not the rest of us. You know what love is Mitsuki, I never did. No one did. The only love we had was love of siblings, sisters, and friends. Not the kind of love that your parents had before they had you which only grew." Inko said with a frown on her face. Tears building up in her eyes before she wiped at them quickly. "Love is something that I don't think is something that I could ever feel or comprehend. I wouldn't even know the first sign of me being in love with someone."

Mitsuki just frowned at her friend. Inko felt her own sadness growing at the thought of never knowing if she loved anyone. Of never knowing what it felt like to be loved by another who wasn't a good friend, or someone she thought of as family. It was a feeling that she rather envied others for. Why couldn't she feel or even know what it was like to be in love of all things?

"Inko." Mitsuki said in a soft whisper, causing the green haired woman to look up with a sniffle. "Love is something that you just know. It hits you in your heart. You feel a connection to someone, a connection that you feel can make you stronger or could even destroy you if you are that much in love with someone. They can make you happy without even trying, and you do the same for them. They know when you are happy, when you are sad…" Mitsuki said with a frown, reaching out as she pulled her friend into a soft hug and rubbed her back. Hoping to bring comfort to her friend. "If you are in love, you just know if you are."

"But how can you be sure of that?" asked Inko.

"Because I've felt love once myself Inko. Though it wasn't meant to be, but it didn't destroy me. I know that there is someone out there for me. Just like there is someone out there for you, you just have to have a little faith." Mitsuki pulled back and wiped at her friend's tears and grinned at her. "I still think the king likes you though. Come on, look at that necklace? He must like you at least a little bit more than a friend." Mitsuki said with a small smile before patting Inko on the head. "Don't allow yourself not to feel love and be in love Inko. It's a wonderful thing for anyone to feel and if anyone deserves it, it's you."

Inko blinked as she stared at her friend for a moment. Tears still at the corners of her own eyes before she blinked them back. She wasn't sure what it was that she felt for the king, but knew that she did indeed feel something for the man but couldn't really understand it herself. She just knew that it was there that was for sure.

Closing her eyes, the young woman took a deep breath before allowing herself to open her green pools and looked at her friend. Mitsuki had a big smile on her face as she said "There's the Inko I know. Now, I have to go, I have some dishes I have to clean from lunch. I'll see you later okay?"

"Yeah." Inko said with a smile before making her way outside, she would need some fresh air. Plus, she wanted to do that little sketch that she had wanted to do since she saw the king's smile. It was still engraved in her mind, and she wanted to have it on paper.

Looking around, she found a nice tree to sit under. Smiling to herself, the young woman made her way over to the tree and sat down. Making herself comfortable before pulling out some paper and the ink and quill before she started to draw Toshinori with a smile and a crown of sunflowers. Just like how she saw it in her mind.

It was nice, that she finally got a chance to see the man smile. No matter how small it had been, it was still a smile either way. Drawing the jawline, it was a little difficult for her to draw but she got it right. Smiling at the sight, she squinted her eyes and stuck out her tongue at the corner of her lips as she worked on drawing his hair and the crown of flowers. If only she could colour this in.

Tilting her head, she went to working on the smile itself, how it would reach his eyes as well as his lips. Inko didn't think that she would ever see the day really. That she would see the king smile, no matter how small the smile was, it was there. It was still something that no one had ever seen from the man and it made her heart soar at the sight of it. To be the one person, to see him smile, it made her happy.

Though, at the same time she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him to have him lock away his emotions like that. To make him… scared to show his emotions to others. Was he doing it to protect himself or was it something more than that? She couldn't really be sure, but knew that she had to do something to help him. To show him that it isn't wrong to show his emotions, but knew that something had to be done.

Sighing softly, the young woman looked down at her drawing and smiled a little at the art. It was something that she didn't think that she could see any time she wanted now, but she would have the king's smile in her mind forever yes, but it would be nice to be able to see it all the time from the king himself, but knew that would be easier said than done.

Closing her eyes, the young woman let out a soft sigh. It just seemed like a dream that would never come true for her. Just wanting to see the man smile more, a smile like that was a crime to waste.

Reaching up, the young woman placed a hand on her chest, right over her heart as she tried to think on the feeling that was swimming around her heart. What was it that she felt for the king? It was a similar feeling to what she felt for the captain but the king was stronger for sure. Sighing softly, the young woman lowered her hand as she leaned against the tree, just wanting to clear her thoughts. Or at the very least, sort them out.

"Meow."

Inko looked up and blinked a little as she saw the little black kitten in the tree above her. Frowning a little, the young woman pushed herself up after tucking the drawing into her dress and stared up at the black kitten. From what she could make out about the poor thing, it was pure black with white paws and the tip of his tail was also white.

Poor thing, it was stuck in the tree. Looking around, Inko didn't see many people around and shrugged her shoulders. Reaching down, she pulled up her dress and tied a knot in the fabric to her hip to give herself free movement so she could climb without any kind of restriction.

Nodding to herself, the young woman started to climb the tree, being careful not to slip or fall or worse, frighten the poor kitten. The kitten let out little meows as if pleading for help as it looked down at the ground. Its tail swaying from side to side as it looked over and soon its gaze was on Inko. "It's okay sweetie, don't worry I'll help you." Inko said softly, hoping that the kitten wouldn't hurt her when she reached it.

The kitten just meowed at her in that cute little voice causing Inko to strengthen her resolve to help the poor thing. Carefully, she pulled herself higher in the tree, it was rather high off of the ground and for once she was happy that she had no issues with heights. But she had a feeling that today she would start to fear being so high up.

Shaking her head, the young woman kept pulling herself up higher and higher in the tree and grinned as she made it to the thick branch and giggled a little before sitting on the branch. "It's okay, come on." Inko said as she reached a hand out, rubbing her thumb against her index and middle finger trying to call the poor thing over to her. The climb down would be rather difficult for her, though she knew that it still had the kitten being out of this tree.

The kitten meowed and still seemed scared. Nervous even and Inko couldn't blame the poor thing for that. They were still rather high up in the tree. "It's okay, I'm here. Come on little one." Inko said softly, hoping that the cat would at least respond to her voice. The cat seemed to have responded to her, as it slowly turned around and slowly started to make its way toward her.

Inko couldn't help but smile as the kitten slowly crept its way toward her. It seemed to trust her, though most animals normally didn't trust anyone for that matter. Though, they weren't stupid either, they knew who they could, and couldn't trust. That much she knew for a fact, as she remembered a dog one of her past masters had and the poor dog only seemed to like her out of everyone in the manor.

"There we go." Inko said as she carefully lifted the kitten into her arms. The kitten purred in her arms as it nuzzled against her. She'll have to check if it's a girl or a boy later. Right now, she had to find a way down from the tree.

"Inko?" called a voice, causing her to look down and blinked as she saw Captain All Might looking up at her with a tilt of his head. "What are you doing up there?"

"This kitten was stuck in the tree, I tried to get the poor thing down." Inko said with a frown on her face.

All Might frowned a little as he scratched the back of his head. As if trying to think on something himself, it made Inko wonder what could be going on in his head right then. Inko looked down at the kitten as she saw the little animal still purring away. Curled up in her arms as if just enjoying the idea of being held. Inko couldn't help but smile at the little creature as she carefully ran her fingers through the long black fur.

"Um, Inko may I ask something?" asked All Might.

"Yeah?"

"How do you plan to get down from there?" asked the blonde captain.

Inko just blinked a little in confusion. It seemed that it never hit her on how to really climb down. Climbing up was easy as she could use both hands. But now that she was carrying a kitten, it would make her journey down all that much harder for her. Oh boy, she didn't know how to get down at all. "I don't really know." Inko said with a frown.

"Hold on, I'll go get Shouta, he should be able to lift you with his capture weapon." All Might said.

Inko could agree with that, his capture gear was rather strong when it came to lifting people. After all, she already had such an experience from when All Might had asked her to join them on their training as a means of motivation for the men. She hadn't expected that she was to be used in such a way even though he felt bad about her almost getting killed.

Crack

"What was that?" Inko said, looking around only to feel the branch lowering a little. Her eyes widened when she figured out what it was that was going to happen. The branch was breaking, it couldn't support her weight at all! "All Might!" Inko shouted out, the man hadn't gotten far from when he had decided to go and get Shouta, yet when he looked back his eyes widened in shock. "Help me!" Inko said as the branch finally snapped and she started to fall forward.

A scream ripped its way out of her throat as she tightened her arms around the kitten, though knew if she landed on her front, the poor kitten would squished from her weight. Looking around, she quickly released her hold on the kitten, but managed to throw the poor thing a little distance away since she saw that the height that they were at now, wouldn't hurt the poor thing.

"Inko!" shouted All Might as he rushed toward the falling green haired woman.

The green haired woman looked down and stared in wide eyes as All Might rushed toward her, skidding to a top as he held his arms open as he got himself ready to catch her. Though, what neither had expected was the moment Inko slammed into the huge blonde man, he was knocked off of his feet and rolled with her in his arms a few times until he rested atop of her. It wasn't just that that the woman noticed though, far from that.

It was a warmth on her lips.

Opening her green eyes, she looked up and saw that All Might still had his eyes closed, not seeming to be registering what it was that she was feeling right now. "Ow." He said, his lips moving with her own. Inko didn't know why but this felt right. It was a feeling that she had never known that she wanted to have, though she found it odd that she had wanted this from All Might, when before she had wanted it from the king and… she still does. What was wrong with her?

All Might soon opened his eyes and blinked his blue pools as he stared at her in shock. It seemed that he had finally registered what it was that had happened.

He was kissing her, and she was kissing him!?

He quickly pulled himself back, his face a deep crimson as he stared at her in shock. Inko couldn't help but sit up and cover her mouth in shock. The man in front of her, his eyes, wide, filled with shock but at the same time his eyes told her something else. It was an emotion that she herself couldn't describe again, it wasn't desire, but it was something more.

Inko just felt her eyes pool with tears before she pushed herself up.

"Inko." All Might said, lowering his hand from his lips as he reached out to her. Wanting to grab onto her it seemed to make her stop in her tracks. Yet, Inko just backed away. The kitten meowed up at her, causing Inko to look down for a moment before quickly scooping the kitten up in her arms and made a mad dash into the castle. All Might yelling out to her to wait but she wouldn't. She just kept running, and running and running until she made it back to her room. She wanted to hide, wanted to escape the fact that she had, indeed, lost her first kiss to the captain of the guard.

It wasn't his fault, she knew that better than anyone. But it didn't mean that it didn't hurt less as it was neither one of her choices but… at the same time, kissing him had felt so right, when at the same time it had felt so wrong to her. But why that was, she had no idea.

Maybe she would never know the reason for it.