Stelle wondered when exactly it was that she noticed the difference in treatment between her and the others. Kafka was a hunter, a Stellaron Hunter to be exact. She was cold, aloof, played with people and caught them in her web. She used tricks and deceit, making people think they had the upper hand before she pulled the rug out beneath them without an ounce of remorse.

Some of the crew had said that was just in her nature. That just because she and the other hunters started an alliance with the express didn't mean she would suddenly change to be more like them. Stelle wasn't slow, she knew that expecting someone to change suddenly was naive. But she couldn't help but feel that everyone's initial judgment of Kafka was wrong.

Or, perhaps. Not wrong. Merely it was exactly what she wanted them to think.

It was different with her. With Stelle. Different when it was just the two of them on the mission, or the two of them alone. Even when they weren't alone there were subtle differences in how she was treated versus how the rest of the crew was treated.

Kafka didn't glance over at the others after a particularly difficult battle, or when they took even a marginal blow, to make sure they were alright. Stelle had checked, kept her eyes trained on the woman. Her maroon eyes went straight to Stelle, like clockwork. Gaze dancing across her body to make sure she wasn't hurt.

Kafka didn't make small talk with others, checking in on them after particularly rough or annoying expeditions. Didn't make tiny remarks that could only be a joke, yet left Stelle wondering if she was misreading the hunter.

Kafka didn't smile at others. Smirk, undoubtedly. But smile, no. Oftentimes with others they would get a grin, but it never truly extended up to her eyes. It was as if she always knew something they didn't, a joke that no one but her was in on. But with Stelle it was just a smile. It was much smaller than her smirks but it lifted the corners of her eyes just a dash.

Stelle had never admitted it to anyone, but those rare smiles of hers were… pretty. Beautiful. Enchanting.

"A credit for your thoughts?" The woman of her thoughts asked her.

The Hunter with wine colored hair leaned in close next to Stelle. Her posture too, Stelle noted, was different. With others she usually kept her hands crossed, or simply by her sides. But with her, she often leaned forward, arm resting against whatever surface was available at waist height and the hand coming up to allow her face to rest on it. She matched Stelle's own relaxed posture.

Stelle studied the woman a bit more, noting the gentle curves of the woman's hair and how her gaze was focused on Stelle's own golden eyes.

She pondered what she should say, before deciding to just be honest.

"I'm thinking about you." Stelle answered.

"Oh?" Kafka said. She blinked once and Stelle noted that her face didn't betray an ounce of surprise.

If Stelle hadn't spent so much time watching the woman over the course of their time together on the Express, she might have been fooled into thinking that the woman had some sort of foresight. That she had known this entire time exactly what Stelle was thinking of.

But she knew better. That singular blink gave away her surprise.

"Yeah."

"Only good things I hope?" She prodded.

Truly, how long had Stelle spent thinking about such a woman? Hours? Certainly more than that. Days? That seemed to be correct but even then… Weeks? Months? It was difficult to judge, difficult to place down an exact number of times the woman had strayed into her thoughts. From her very first memory, and even before that. Kafka had been a thought that was lingering in the back of her mind. An echo of something that refused to be forgotten.

And despite how often Stelle thought about her, how many times did she have something truly negative to say about her?

Why didn't you tell me more.

Why didn't you speak to me on the train.

Why didn't you spare some time for us to talk alone.

Could the Hunter really be blamed for those selfish wishes? Were they a slight against her character or her actions? To some, perhaps. But not to her.

"Always." Stelle responded.

Kafka hummed. It was low pitched yet clear as the morning sun. The note seemed to reverberate through Stelle and send a shiver of excitement down her back. It was times like these that might have been so utterly normal between any other person, yet with Kafka they seemed like precious moments that she refused to let slip away.

"How was your mission?" Stelle asked, not willing to let the conversation die.

It was an odd worry for her to have. She knew, logically, that just because there was silence between them didn't necessarily mean it was awkward. They had been together alone enough times to just be able enjoy the other's presence without any words between them.

But the woman's voice was calming in a way. Soothing. Stelle could listen to it forever.

Not that she would ever admit that.

Kafka smiled at her, the same tiny smile that was reserved only for her. It sent a flutter into Stelle's chest that blossomed into the faintest rosy blush.

"The same as always." Kafka gloated, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

Stelle chuckled. "No trouble then?"

"They didn't even realize what hit them."

The choice of words caused Stelle to frown. The host to the Stellaron wasn't exactly against violence to sort things out, especially with how often things resorted to fights, but killing was something else. "Kafka…" She warned.

The hunter grabbed one of her cheeks and squeezed it in jest. "Relax your pretty little face. They'll wake up with just a few bruises in the morning."

That was another thing that the Stellaron Hunter didn't do with others.

Kafka didn't flirt with others.

Only her.

The violet woman didn't remove her gloved hand from Stelle's cheek. The leather was soft and despite the layer that separated their skin, Stelle was able to feel just how gentle the hunter was being with her. The sensation caused her heart to speed up and for warmth to blossom on her face.

She couldn't help but lean into the woman's touch. The gloved hands doing a good job on cooling her currently hot cheeks. It was something precious between the two of them. Just the close skinship of two women.

"How's yours going?" Kafka asked.

It was difficult to think coherent sentences in a position like she was in. She was in a paradoxical situation of simultaneously being too comfortable and also incredibly flustered.

Stelle blinked rapidly in an attempt to force her mind into working. It was difficult, but she managed. "Ah." She swallowed. "It's… going well. March is going to meet up with me soon."

There was the tiniest narrowing of maroon eyes at her statement. "Just for the mission?"

Stelle couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "Yes. Just for the mission."

The hunter's posture relaxed a miniscule amount at her words. It was interesting to see the normally assured woman seem… jealous of all things. Of the fact that she was on a mission with March. Stelle would even venture and bravely declare that such a thing was cute.

She couldn't imagine what would happen if anyone were to hear her describe the aloof Stellaron Hunter Kafka as cute. Much less the woman herself. But it was a prospect that she enjoyed toying with. Would the woman be flustered? Angry? Would she insist upon being called something else? Perhaps she would even retaliate, pinning her to the wall and showing her just how cute she really was.

The last thought caused her blush to darken. Her thoughts had taken a dangerous turn and she could feel a tell tale heat start to pool in her stomach at the idea.

She shook her head out of her thoughts and removed herself from the hunter's gloved touch. It caused a tiny frown to appear on Kafka's perfect lips but the woman didn't protest the change in position.

Stelle always got nervous when her thoughts turned down that route. It was like a line she couldn't yet cross. Not necessarily because of some sort of misplaced innocence or naivety, but because she refused to let herself fall into the hopefulness that she would get from the fantasies.

The golden eyed woman knew on a rational level that people didn't just act like the two of them did if there wasn't something between them. She wasn't oblivious. But it was difficult to take the next step and commit. Self-doubt plagued her. Because the woman was Kafka, Stellaron Hunter extraordinaire. Skilled in so many different things that Stelle lost count. And she… was Stelle. Host of a Stellaron. It wasn't as if she was unaware of her own accomplishments. But it was the much more personal side that caused anxiety to gnaw away at her.

What hobbies did Stelle have? Reading once in a blue moon? Going around solving people's problems? Passing time on her phone?

How could they fit together? A woman so confident and skilled like her, with someone who had no memories past a certain point. Who was still trying and failing to figure herself out. She wasn't like March, who despite sharing similar backgrounds and anxieties over, managed to find things that she truly enjoyed and liked spending time on.

"What's wrong?" Kafka murmured to her. Her voice was barely past a whisper.

Stelle hesitated before shaking her head once more. "Nothing." She denied.

Those maroon eyes looked over her, searching for something that escaped Stelle. The hand by her waist twitched for a bit, as if she wanted to reach out for the silver haired woman but pushed that urge down.

"This is just between us…" Kafka started slowly, as if she were testing the words she were saying before she spoke out loud. "But I think March might like you."

Stelle blinked as she registered the words. Was this what they called… girl talk? But it felt different, foreign. As if it was more of a test rather than anything gossip related. What could Kafka possibly want from starting such a conversation?

"I see… " Stelle started, thinking about her next words. If what Kafka was saying was true, then…what? It didn't really change anything. She liked March, the iridescent girl was a great friend. But like that?

That was reserved for only one person.

"...March is a great friend but I don't really like her like that." Stelle finished.

Kafka hummed, a faint twitch of her lips as she did so. Somehow, the mood felt a bit lighter than it was just moments before. As if some sort of invisible fog had been blown away for an unknown reason.

The two women fell into a comfortable silence, just basking in the effect of being near each other. They stayed like that until Dan Heng, not March, came to pick her up for the mission. Apparently Dan Heng would substitute for March this time, something having come up that got in the way of the peppy girl's schedule.

Their mission was one that was more diplomatic in nature. Simply put, they were back in Xianzhou to request an alliance between the crew of the Astral Express and the people of the ship.

Stelle and Dan Heng were more of a formality than anything, the majority of the actual legwork having been taken care of by Himeko and Welt. Kafka surmised the duo's involvement as 'showing up and looking pretty'. To which Stelle frowned at. She wanted to help out if she could, but such a way left her feeling wanting, even if she knew realistically she couldn't do much more.

At the very least, it allowed them to finish up early and allowed both Dan Heng and Stelle to get lunch at the Central Starskiff Haven.

Stelle wouldn't say she was exactly talkative but she wouldn't consider herself untalkative either. She usually bounced well to whatever her conversation partner at the time was. Dan Heng was someone who enjoyed his silence so their lunch was primarily eaten in silence.

At least, until Dan Heng was the one who spoke up.

"Is that Tingyun with Kafka?" He pointed out.

Stelle nearly got whiplash from how hard her head shot towards where he was pointing. It was true, however, as across the plaza the unexpected pair were walking together. Kafka looked to be her aloof self, but Tingyun was much closer than she needed to be to the hunter.

An ugly twisting began to stir in Stelle's gut. It was as if there was a hook that grabbed onto her body, compelling her to jump up from her seat and confront the two women, demanding to know what they were doing.

"Yes." She forced out. It came out much more stilted than she wanted it to.

Stelle didn't know what kind of expression Dan Heng made, only that he grunted and shifted in his seat. The noise of the chair giving it away. The silver haired woman couldn't take her eyes off the unlikely duo as they strolled across the plaza, all the way up until they disappeared around a corner.

For some reason (she wasn't stupid she knew the reason) it was harder to breathe. Each inhale rattled tensely inside her chest and there was a simmering of negative emotions beneath her exterior. She wasn't mad at either of the women, nor could she find any sort of rational logical reason that they shouldn't be allowed near each other. Who they were allowed to spend their time with was their own choice.

But knowing such a thing didn't make her stormy emotions abate.

"Huh." Dan Heng muttered, loud enough for her to hear. "Maybe March was right."

The comment was enough for Stelle to turn her eyes away from the corner the duo rounded off at and instead back to her friend. He had a raised eyebrow and the uplifting at the corner of his lips was the only visible reaction that belied his entertainment.

"What?" What's so funny?" Stelle said. Her voice was snappy and clipped and she instantly felt bad at the tone she used against her friend. "Sorry." She apologized.

Dan Heng just shook his head. "I don't normally care about this kind of stuff. And I still don't. But I'm pretty sure you should just tell her how you feel."

Stelle's mouth suddenly felt dry. "I-I'm not sure what you're talking about." She denied lamely.

"Stelle. Everyone knows."

The golden eyed woman opened her mouth once, twice before closing it. Words were failing her. "Everyone?" Was the only thing she could get out.

Dan Heng nodded. "To be honest. I thought you two were already a thing. But March was being March and was talking without asking if I was interested in hearing what she had to say. Again."

The slightly comical explanation aside. Stelle felt rather mortified that apparently everyone knew about the… unique relationship the two women shared.

"Ah."

"Yes."

Stelle took some time to gather her thoughts, she licked her lips to wet them as she regained her composure. "I… can't."

Dan Heng made a look that he often did when he was dealing with others. A look that said he knew he was going to regret opening his mouth but had resolved his fate to opening it regardless.

He sighed. "And… why is that?"

Stelle pursed her lips. How could she simply tell him all the anxieties she faced regarding herself? It wasn't even something she fully understood, so how could she explain anything to someone else?

But… He was at least offering to hear her out. Dan Heng was a good friend of hers and despite his usual aloof nature it was clear that he cared in his own way.

"I… have no idea what I'm doing with my life." She stated.

The lancer raised an eyebrow, as if prompting her to continue.

Stelle hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain her confused thoughts. "I don't even know who I used to be. I still don't know what things I'm passionate about, or what sort of things I like to do. Or… anything really. Everything I know revolves around other people, not myself."

Dan Heng waited a few moments to see if she continued before he spoke. "Is that it?"

The anxious woman nodded.

"This is just between us, but the truth of the matter is that no one really knows what they're doing with their life." Dan Heng spoke.

That… was not what Stelle expected him to respond with. "Really?"

"Yes." He said, completely serious. "People might seem like they're well put together and have everything figured out. But that is, unfortunately, not true."

"...Really?" Stelle repeated, a bit hesitant to accept his words at face value.

Her serious friend sighed. "Yes. March can hardly decide on what she wants for breakfast. Himeko can't think until she's had at least three cups of coffee. Welt is moderately put together but it's obvious that he's mostly going with the flow. Even I don't know what I'm going to be doing in the future."

"Oh."

It was, in a way, grounding to hear that nearly everyone else seemed to be just as unsure of things as she was. Maybe not to the same degree, but it was a feeling that they could all share. Except, she didn't know if such a thing applied to Kafka. She always felt like the hunter was in total control of everything. Always two steps ahead without anyone knowing.

"...Even Kafka?" Stelle questioned.

Dan Heng shrugged. "You know her better than me. You can answer that."

Well. If that was the case. Then Stelle had her answer.

"...Thanks."

"Don't bother updating me with how it goes."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Resolve was something easy to muster when not directly faced with adversity. Nothing was more daunting than facing a challenge head on. Stelle had faced countless seemingly insurmountable odds. From taking down the Doomsday Beast without any previous memories, to striking down a woman who sacrificed her humanity.

She had met them eye to eye and hadn't been found wanting. This was, of course, with her friends by her side.

But this wasn't some planet threatening disaster. This was a simple talk with a woman whom she may or may not have troubling feelings with and who may or may not have troubling feelings for her back.

So why was she so nervous that she felt like she was going to be sick?

Stelle paced the hallway outside of her own room at the Express. She alternated between chewing on the nail from her thumb and running a hand through the roots of her hair in fits of anxiety. The day was nearly over, and the majority of the crew had already turned in for the night. Kafka, along with the other hunters that they were in a tentative alliance with, had rooms on the express as well. However Blade and Silver Wolf were off on another planet doing hunter related things.

But Kafka was here, on the express. And that was all that Stelle cared about.

The nervous woman inhaled deeply, holding her breath for a dozen seconds before exhaling. She could do this. Stelle turned towards the southern end of the hallway, where Kafka's temporary room lay.

"Well now. If it isn't my cute puppy." Said a sultry voice in her ear, directly behind her.

Stelle stiffened, swiveling around to face the new arrival. She knew, from the moment she heard the familiar tell-tale voice ringing out like a rich velvet silk who she would be talking to, but that didn't help the inevitable breathlessness upon setting sights on the slightly shorter maroon woman.

Her face burned and her heart thundered in her chest. All previous resolve, however quickly it may have been solidified, seemed to fly out the windows and up into the vast emptiness of space.

Thoughts welled up and fluttered in her chest, both good and bad. The way that she felt when Kafka gave her those subtle and exclusive touches of affection. How warmth seemed to blossom throughout her body left her feeling like she was floating during those times. The ugly jealous twisting of seeing her with someone as beautiful and free-spirited as Tingyun. How she wanted nothing more than to just snatch her away and keep the hunter to herself.

"What's wrong?" Kafka asked her, in a whisper so low that only she could hear.

There wasn't any way that Stelle could possibly put all her confusing and maze-like emotions into comprehensible words. So she didn't.

Instead she stepped closer to the woman. One step, then two. Until they were nearly face to face and close enough that she could feel the tiniest hint of warmth emanating from the hunter's body.

Kafka didn't step away at all, a small but undeniable fact that made Stelle happy.

Stelle leaned in close to the woman's face, only needing to bend over the tiniest bit until their gazes were level. Maroon eyes traced her every move.

"Kafka." Stelle said simply, her voice matching the whisper the other woman had given her. She didn't miss the microscopic shiver that ran down the hunter's back.

She didn't know exactly what topic she wanted to start off with first. All she knew was that the words came out before she had time to think about them.

"I saw you with Tingyun." The golden eyed woman stated.

"Oh?" Kafka responded.

It was odd, how one simple word could throw someone off their entire game. Not that Stelle had a game she was playing in the first place. Words came forth without filter or thought.

"I didn't like it."

The woman with wine-red hair gave her a smirk. It was the same kind of smirk that she gave others, not her. The one as if she knew things others didn't. Stelle loved that smirk when it was directed at others, because of the woman it was attached to. But hated it when it was directed at her.

"Was my little puppy jealous?" The woman teased.

"Yes. I was." Stelle answered honestly.

It gave Stelle a sort of unique satisfaction seeing the knowing smirk wiped off the hunter's face so quickly, a surefire sign of her surprise. She likely wasn't expecting the brute honesty.

A gloved hand reached up and caressed the side of Stelle's face. "You don't have to be." She murmured lightly.

Stelle reached one of her own hands up and embraced the hand holding her. She placed a soft kiss on the palm of the leather.

"I know."

Because she did know. The moment she saw the two that there was nothing going on between them. Logically, rationally, she knew. But couldn't help her emotions from becoming stormy.

The two stayed like that for a few moments. They were silent, motionless, just being next to each other was enough. Stelle was the one who broke the silence.

"It's different with you." She said softly.

Kafka's gaze was sharp, piercing. Yet somehow unimaginably soft and understanding. There was some sort of silent command in those maroon eyes of hers that urged her to continue speaking.

"Everything is so confusing sometimes. Who I am, Who I'm supposed to be." Stelle whispered. "But with you it's… different."

She struggled a bit, to convey her feelings. The words seemed to snag in her throat and streamlining the myriad of emotions into a single conscious comprehensible sentence seemed to be failing.

"But not always." Kafka pointed out.

"...No." Stelle agreed. "Sometimes we're together and I wonder how someone as confused as me could be by the side of someone as wonderful as you."

"You don't need to wonder. You're already here aren't you?"

Stelle chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Maybe. Sometimes I can't help but want to do things that I know I shouldn't with you."

There was a flare of something new in the hunter's eyes. "Why don't you then?"

Stelle's gaze flickered down to the woman's lips. They were inviting, a lovely shade of red from the hunter's lipstick. There were times when the host of the Stellaron's thoughts had taken dives toward more untoward thoughts, thinking about how those lips would feel pressed upon her own. Upon other parts of her body.

Yet, it was always in this situation that she hesitated.

What if. Her mind whispered evilly. What if all this was just one sided? What if she was rejected and everything changed? What if she could no longer stay by her side because of her insecurities?

They always, always reared their ugly head.

But she had faced worse odds. From worse foes. From worse demons and nightmares.

Just this once, she would push through.

Stelle closed the gap slowly, giving the hunter time to back away at any moment, yet such a thing never happened.

She had read novels, of romance and other genres, about how first kisses went. How there would be an electrifying feeling between the two that would permeate someone's entire being. How the world would seem to fall away until it was nothing but the two occupants. How there would be a tingling feeling that was addictive and leave her short of breath.

Stelle found that they were wrong.

Her first kiss with the woman who she was so close to could only be described as being right. Like every single piece of anxiety and fear that she had before had melted away until nothing but a feeling of lightness was left. As if the entire universe tilted just a few degrees to its side and suddenly everything made sense. That things just clicked.

It was only a few seconds until they parted.

She wasn't sure who started the second kiss.

The second kiss, she found, was much more akin to those novels. Electrifying and addictive.

"Ah-" One of them moaned.

Stelle's hands wander, trailing down to the hips of the hunter and softly grabbing them. She could feel through the leather of the hunter's shorts how such a touch upon her affected the woman. Movements and shifting in her hand as their mouths danced together.

Something compelled her to close the distance even more between them. Her tongue prodded the mouth of the woman and she complied without hesitance. Allowing access and the lovely feeling of her tongue exploring the sensitive and intimate place.

There's a soft gasp from the wine-red haired woman when Stelle bites down gently upon her lower lip. She suckles on it lightly, drawing it into her mouth and tasting her skin in a way that leaves nothing but tingles and pleasure to both the women.

The silver haired woman squeezed down with her fingers, testing the leather that hugged the woman's hips before they trickled downwards onto the thin purple stockings that separated her fingers from the bare skin of the hunter's thighs. She squeezes down once more, feeling the soft pliability from her body yet testing the unmistakable toned muscle.

Stelle used the new positioning of her hands to pull the woman closer to her, close enough that they were flush upon each other, the only thing separating the two being the clothes on their body. She could feel the heat of the slightly shorter woman, how her chest, firm and soft, was pressed against her own.

The need for air forces them to part, and they do, gasping for breath with foggy minds and hazy eyes. Stelle's heart was beating thunderously, face flushed warmly and her entire body felt like it was on fire.

The silver haired woman leaned down to kiss her again, before breaking it off nearly as quickly as it began. There's a soft noise of question from the shorter woman and Stelle can only respond by slowly dragging the two towards her room. The last bastion of lucidity in her mind telling her to not continue out in the hallway of the Express despite the knowledge that people were most likely already asleep.

They stumble together between kisses. Stelle fumbling and eventually hitting the button to open the door to her room, and somehow managing to also turn on the lights as well. Kafka didn't seem to have the same patience, as the woman tugged on Stelle's shirt without hesitance.

It took Stelle a few fumbling tries to get the clothes of the woman off, her outfit being much more intricate than Stelle's own. But eventually Stelle is able to see the beauty of the woman in her entirety.

Stelle was left breathless at the sight. Her body moved before her mind could fully catch up, embracing the woman and feeling her hands upon her naked skin. She trails the gentle yet intense curves of the woman, from the suppleness of her breast down to the incline of her waist. The maroon woman shivers at her touch and Stelle can't help but plant soft kisses down her body, starting from her lips and down to her navel.

"Just between us." Stelle spoke to the woman, the first words between the two in a while. "It could have only ever been you."

She didn't give the woman a chance to respond, for she stole her lips with her own once more.

Start: May 19th 2023.

End: May 20th. 2023.

Words: 4950

Me: Blinks once.

My computer: suddenly has this written.

Did you know Stelle is taller than Kafka? No? Yes? I'm feral.

I don't even KNOW what I want to tag this one with or how to classify it, it just happened and I hefbhjfhjabsdffa