Hello again!~ Unbelievable but yes, I'm updating this and making it into a multi-shots after a fruitful conversation with the dear AAHB!~ So here! Hope you'll enjoy it!

Under the Shade of a Tree

Chapter 1:"The letter".

"Stop walking back and forth horn head. You are making me sick"

Apollo stopped his anxious walk at the sound of the scornful voice of the young princess, Rayfa.

It has been one year, now, that he left the Wright Anything Agency to inherit the legacy of Durke, the never yielding dragon attorney. The reason behind the red lawyer's fidgeting was actually one of Rayfa's pranks on him.

A week ago, Rayfa stepped upon the attorney's letters to his friends overseas. Not just any letters actually. Those were deliberately unsent and kept by Apollo. Surprisingly enough, most of them were letters to a certain Juniper Woods. Rayfa wondered about the name and against all code of politeness and out of hungry curiosity, she read them all. The content of those letters was absolutely cheesy and stupid. That's what she first thought but deeply she couldn't shake the fact that she felt they were cute. Through all these unsent letters, Apollo was trying to confess his love for this Juniper Woods. Feeling like he would be thankful to her, Rayfa sent the best one to its destined receiver and was looking forward to the lawyer's gratitude.

"Your benevolence, you just sent a letter to Junie. And NOT any letter. One where I freaking confess! How could I not be this damn anxious." desperately cried out Apollo.

"Language Apollo." butted in a lavender-eyed man

"Nahyuta shut up"

Apollo knew he should have been more cautious with his things due to her highness's curious nature but this office was still his dammit.

Nahyuta internally found his foster brother's anxious state hilarious but choose not to show it. The prosecutor was already aware of Apollo's feelings toward Miss Woods.

Apollo was very talkative when he was dead tired and absolutely worn out. Nahyuta always found it enjoyable to extract information and secrets out of him while Apollo lacked any sense of filtering what he thought during these moments. He learned about the existence of Juniper Woods when Apollo was venting about some of his saddest and toughest cases. The lawyer was rambling about how she looked cute, was sincere, kind, sweet, adorable and strong. This endless waterfall of praises was said with the gentlest voice and Nahyuta couldn't help but pick out that Apollo was in love with this woman.

Apollo's heart skipped at least three beats when the bell rang. He knew it was the mailman. He was going mad but there is no turning back anyway. Thanks to Rayfa, he will either get rejected or confessed in return. Either way, his anxiousness would at least be reduced to its usual level.

Rayfa, excited as well, waited impatiently next to her brother who was either meditating or sleeping.

Thinking of the mailman, Nahyuta remembered a conversation he had with Ema when she was still working alongside him. The forensic scientist was fed up with some of Khura'in's obselet habits.

"Ugh. Annoying how sometimes even Mr. Wright uses letters to communicate with people overseas. You all do the same here. You obviously have the Internet. Just use freaking emails."

Ema has always been an interesting person and chatting with her was a real pleasure. Nahyuta would never admit it but at first, he had a slight crush on her. However, things morphed into a solid friendship bond and he started to think of her as some kind of older sister. At first, Ema was a little reserved around him but as time passed she opened up. Sometimes she would rant a lot when something went bad. At others, she would pout and get angry at him. Ema was also a source of endless new knowledge and Nahyuta was glad he could ask her about many things. At least, he was happy to share this "curiosity" trait of character with his sister though in different missed Ema, yes, but one day he would surely visit and meet the famous prosecutor she was complaining about but at the same time gently praised.

"What should I do now?"

Nahyuta's train of thoughts was slashed by Apollo's pitiful question. The lawyer was standing, back to the closed entrance door like an idiot, sweating buckets.

"Go read it. Is there anything else you can do with it besides burning it or using it as toilet paper? It's a letter floor forehead." teased Nahyuta

"Fine," responded Apollo with unneeded determination.

Rayfa followed Apollo with her eyes as he made his way to another room to first read the letter for himself.

She was annoyed to have to wait for another set of minutes for the horn head to read but Nahyuta reminded her that first of all her curiosity was a little out of place and that if she had waited a week, she could wait some minutes more.

The minutes slowly turned into an hour and a half. Rayfa was growing insanely impatient. She was fidgeting a lot, kicking the sofa, sighing incredibly loud and it was affecting Nahyuta's natural calmness. The prosecutor was now unable to meditate and unconsciously tapping his knee with his fingers. Two minutes passed again and the door of Apollo's room slowly opened as if the suspense wasn't already enough.

Apollo walked out of the room holding the letter tightly.

At first, Nahyuta couldn't recognize what came out of the room as he confused Apollo for some kind of insanely red skinned and red clothed monster with horns made of hair. He swore that if they could turn red, they would.

Apollo was blushing so hard it looked like he got a nasty sunburn in the middle of the Sahara.

Rayfa couldn't help but burst out laughing at Apollo's face and fell flat on her back from the sofa.

Nahyuta finally broke the silence by calling out the lawyer's name.

Apollo, still bearing that "omgomgomgomgomg"-look topped with the furious blushing, whispered in a tone of total disbelief "She...She likes me too."

"I guess she does." flatly stated Nahyuta since Apollo made it so obvious.

"You have to thank me for that!" proudly declared Rayfa as she pulled herself up.

Apollo stared into nothingness for a while before hugging up the short princess tightly in the air.

"Oh my God! Thank you so much! It's all thanks to you! Juniper actually likes me back! It's the best day of my life! Thank you Rayfa!" sing-song the lawyer while twirling the girl around in the air as best as he could.

"W-w-w-wha-put me down horn head! How dare you touch me and call me by my name! Show some respect! Put me down this instant! Now!" cried out Rayfa blushing embarrassingly.

With an enormous smile plastered on his face, Apollo put down Rayfa and grinned even wider in the realm of possibility. "Thank you! I'm so glad you did that now!"

Then, Apollo coughed up, positioned himself and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I'm Apollo Justice and I'm absolutely, positively fine!"

Nahyuta instinctively covered his ears and so did Rayfa. They loved Apollo but their ears were probably of equal preciousness. In a hurry, Apollo clumsily rushed to his computer. It was the perfect opportunity for him to go to the US for a visit. He had to book himself a plane ticket, now.

Thanks to Apollo's clumsiness and current state of "out of world experience", the letter he held tightly until seconds ago fell to Nahyuta's feet. The young prosecutor picked it up and started reading, Rayfa doing the same over his shoulder.

The content of the letter was written with such pure sincerity and yet so shyly with a very small, cute, round handwriting. The writing paper was by itself chosen wisely with very simple lovely looking flowers, probably claimed from a set of the same papers. Juniper Woods probably loved writing letters.

At first, the young woman wrote about the usual, responding to the previous letter's content like letters should. Halfway through the letter she finally brought up Apollo's confession from his previous letter. She timidly expressed how she was happy he told her so, how she loved his honesty and sincerity and quickly went on rambling mode about what she thought of him. Eventually, the girl shyly confessed that she loved him too, even admitting that has been going on for a very long time now. She thanked him for his letter and wished for him to be healthy and happy, expressing how she wished she could see him soon.

The letter was embarrassing to read and yet very heartwarming. Nahyuta felt a twinge of jealousy toward his best friend. He wished for something like this. For someone too. He started to wish for someone he could call his and only his for some time now. Now that he had the right to. Now that he was free to.

Nahyuta surprised himself. When did he start to wish so hard for something like that? Nahyuta surprised himself, even more, when the memory of the lunch he had, one year ago, with the famous spirit medium, suddenly popped in his mind. Nahyuta closed his eyes for an instant to brush off the thought. Rayfa was now sitting next to him again with an unusual dreamy look on her face.

"What are you thinking of Your Benevo-Rayfa." asked Nahyuta to distract himself.

"Ah?! W-w-what would I be thinking of braid head? Uhm...I mean...I want to live something like this too. Wait. No. Something better. With someone who is not stupid like horn head" blurted out Rayfa as an answer

"Hey. I'm not stupid" defended Apollo from his position.

"Shut up horn head" quickly shot back the princess

Nahyuta smiled at his little sister's confession and kindly patted her head.

"In time you will, I guess."

Suddenly, Apollo swiftly stood up declaring "Aaand booked." The young lawyer got back to his room again to pack. His flight was due tomorrow at noon. He had to prepare.

Nahyuta gazed at Apollo as he made his way to his room, anxious and hesitant.

The night fell on the city. It was still early and the capital was still roaming with activity. The scent of dinner freely floated around the streets, escaping from the houses and inns, tempting. A light wind gently shook things around, caressing the cheeks and hair of whoever was out.

Nahyuta leaned back on his bed, lights out. He wasn't meditating but appeared calm. Indeed, he appeared calm. Truthfully, the young man was having an internal dilemma. Well, it wasn't much of a dilemma actually, but to him, it was. Every time he closed his eyes, ever since he came back from Apollo's office earlier, he would remember that fateful lunch under the tree with the young guide Ahlbi and the beautiful spirit medium Maya Fey. What he felt back then was weird but warm. He was still deeply curious about that woman. He wanted to know more and yet he didn't try to.

Yes, what happened after their unexpected meeting was nothing more than unraveling mysteries and a total turnabout of his kingdom's history. Things were busy and hectic. Yet, he didn't forget that woman and the important role she held in his kingdom's revolution but also the feeling of her gaze on him. And yet again. He didn't try to learn more. Nahyuta scolded himself and felt ashamed. Back then, he swore he wouldn't let go and try to get to know her but the cowardice he thought he defeated seemed to have grown deeper that he thought it was. Apollo freed him, yes. Phoenix saved him, yes. But it looked like a little of this cowardice of his, implanted by Ga'ran, remained in his heart. He felt doubtful. He thought and thought again but by the time the sun rose, Nahyuta quickly grabbed his own computer and frantically tapped on the keyboard.

Apollo woke up early to finalize his preparation and to take care of whatever was left to be taken care of. He excitedly ate his breakfast. After taking a quick shower and dressing up, Apollo took care of telling his former boss about his arrival through a phone call. Afterward, the lawyer grabbed his keys and some snacks and headed for the airport.

Around 10 am, Apollo was at destination. He chooses to register and patiently wait for his flight. To pass time, the red lawyer brought a book with him. He flatly took the book out of his bag and started reading it.

Minutes passed and suddenly, Apollo felt that another traveler soon sat down next to him. Out of politeness, Apollo lifted up his head to greet him but as he did so, his eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Nahyuta? What are you doing here?" asked the lawyer in total disbelief.

The prosecutor didn't he only gave him a small smile.

Done!~ I hope you liked this chapter guys! Review and fav'! We can always chat about headcanons!~