Fae POV

I sat in the corner of the bedroom burying my face in my knees. Stupid orange clover guy. I'm not tiny and I'm not a monster either. I looked down at my toes when I felt Azure slithering across them. He was even smaller. Small enough to fit in the palm of my hands. I picked him up gently as he curled up in my palms.

"Your finally awake, Azure. How do you feel?" I asked smiling softly down at him.

~Sleep good. . why sad. . why sad. .~

I laughed lightly when I heard his high pitch child like voice again, "don't worry, I'm fine. I'm just happy to see that your okay, by the way thank you for saving me from drowning. Katakuri told me what you did for me, thank you." I said sincerely.

~. . like you. . stay with you. . keep you safe. .~ He whispered to me. I couldn't help but giggle again as my anger began to fade away.

"I like you too and I'll do my best to keep you safe as well." I said sweetly placing him on top of my head.

"I know what will make us both feel better and fill our tummy's at the same time! Let's go to the kitchen and make a super ultra mega triple chocolate deluxe!" I squealed with excitement running out of the bedroom to the kitchen.

Katakuri POV

"Fae, may I come in?" I asked knocking on the door. . . no response. Is she ignoring me? I knocked again but still got no answer. I sighed lightly, opening the door slowly and peeked my head in but she was no where in site.

If she's not in the room, then where is she?. . The kitchen. I worked my way down the hall to the kitchen where my chef's were standing outside the kitchen door peeking into the small circle window of the door.

"What are you doing?" I scowled down at them. They all gasped jumping away from the door when they realized it was me. "We're sorry Captain Katakuri but, uh, Fae-sama kicked us out of the kitchen." My head chef anxiously said bowing apologetically.

"It's fine, we will reach Totto Land within the next few hours, so take the rest of the day off. Thank you all for your hard work but your service is not required any longer." I said sternly shooing them away. They all bowed at the same time, "thank you, Captain Katakuri!" And they left.

I pushed opened the door and my nose was hit with the smell of heaven but the kitchen looked like it came straight out of hell. There was so much flour in the kitchen that it literally looked as if someone opened the ceiling and dropped a tone of snow every where's. Egg shells, milk, butter, and bowls cover the counters and Fae. My god, she was stunning, her smile reached her eyes and flour clung to her skin and hair. I never seen her more happy then I do now.

The snake she calls Azure was happily resting in the corner watching her but he noticed me right away. I know snakes are not suppose to glare but this one does. Fae glanced over at him almost as if he was communicating with her and sure enough, her eyes roamed until they landed on me.

Her bright smile vanished and her face slowly became red as she turned her back on me. At first I thought she was mad until she squirmed in a panic trying to clean the flour off her face.

I chuckled to myself, she can be quite adorable, even when she doesn't want to see me. I found myself behind her embracing her from behind and I couldn't resist nuzzling my face into her neck.

"K-katakuri." She mumbled my name lightly. I pulled my scarf down and spun her around. Her beautiful eyes grew wide when she noticed I was only inches away from her face. She looked down at her feet avoiding my eyes as she poked her pointer fingers together.

"I-I'm sorry f-for the way I acted earlier. I need to apologize to your brother, even though he kinda deserved it." She whispered the last few words to herself.

"He's fine. You just bruised his ego a tad bit, but he'll get over it."

I still couldn't believe she manage to get a hit on Oven so easily. I may despise, Leon but I am impressed with what he taught her.

She put her fingers to her lips trying to mask her giggling but I noticed she missed some flour spots on her face.

"You have a little flour right there." I teased pointing to her face.

"What?! Where?!" She rubbed at her face frantically. "D-did I get it?" She asked me shyly.

"No, it's right here." I brushed my fingers down her jawline. "And you have some right here." The way she looked up at me so innocently, I couldn't resist kissing her softly on her cheek and she gasped lightly while her beautiful cheeks flushed. "And here." I ran my thumb across her lips and I caught her lips with mine. She tasted so sweet and when she didn't pull away I put my large hands on the sides of her small face deepening the kiss.

A few moments later, it was as if realization hit her because she pushed her tiny hands against my chest. I broke the kiss stepping away from her and the look of frustration and pain was written on her face as tears spewed from her eyes.

"I will not have you take my first kiss as a joke! Don't you dare kiss me if there's no feelings behind it! I will not have you mock me!"

If I have no feelings? "You think I'm toying with you?" I whispered, growling. I couldn't help but fume with rage as I glared down at her. I picked her up knocking everything off the counter and placed her on top of it. "I'll show you that I mean it." I kissed her hard, and rough, and the small moans that came from her lips told me she liked it.

After a few moments, she finally pulled away gasping for air and the look of shock was written all over her face. "Tell me again that I don't have any feelings towards you." I whispered against her lips.

She shudder as she touched her mouth with her fingers. "Did you not like it?" I asked a little worried that I was to forceful. She shook her head frantically, "n-no, I-I did! I-I-" I cut her off and kissed her more gently this time.

I lightly kissed up her jawline savoring every second as I guided my lips up slowly to her earlobe nibbling lightly and making sure not to break her skin with my teeth. She let out a loud pleasurable moan that made my whole body sing but she honestly took me off guard. I had to grip the counter tight to control myself from pouncing on her.

Her beautiful eyes widen when she looked into my eyes as she scooted away from me in a hurry. She only manage to get a few inches away as her back pressed against the wall. Her heels touched her rear and she covered her ears with her hands to prevent me from touching them again.

Her flushed hot skin, confusion, and panting told me she never felt the sensation of pleasure before and just when I didn't think she could drive me any crazier, she does.

I was excited and I wanted to do so much more after finding such a valuable spot but, I knew I had to take baby steps with her or I would scare her away.

I grabbed her ankles pulling her back towards me, kissing her temple, "Fae, I know I have said this before but maybe you'll understand me better this time. I really like you and I want you to be mine and mine alone." I whispered against her skin and I could feel her trembling against me.

"When I first laid eyes on you, my body forgot how to function and when I seen you smile." I brushed my finger tips across her lips, "I knew I had to have you and all I could literally think about at that moment, was how I only wanted you to smile at me like that." I scoffed at myself, "selfish, right?"

She hesitated shaking her head, "n-no." My smile grew, "your caring, affectionate, considerate, lovely, warm, and obviously beautiful, but a liar, you are not." Her eyes sparkled brightly with every word I said.

I brushed my thumb across her cheek wanting to kiss her again, "I love that your not scared to be yourself, and I love that I can be myself around you as well but, I do have flaws and dark secrets. Secrets I need to share with you but. . I can't. At least not right at this moment, I can't. Can you expect that if your with me?. . If you'll have me?"

I must have said something that struck a nerve because the sparkles vanished from her eyes as she narrowed them dangerously at me. "Your asking me to be in a relationship with you, built on secrecy?" She asked me seriously. Her body stopped trembling and her whole demeanor change as if she built a cold invisible barrier between us.

I nodded my head feeling my heart pounding 100 miles per hour in my chest. "Yes, I am."

"Do you have any idea what your asking of me?" She asked staring at me coldly. "No, I guess you wouldn't because you didn't grow up with a man who was literally the master at keeping secrets from me. I hate secrecy, I really do but. . I really, really care about you, Katakuri." Her eyes became soft again as her reach up to touch my face but she stop inches away, slowly putting her hand back down.

"Probably, more then I should but Katakuri, your asking me to take a leap of faith in the unknown and that scares me. I don't want to fall in your arms blindly, Katakuri. Tell me I can trust you with all of me because I won't hesitate to nip this in the bud. . so be honest with me. Are your secrets really worth hiding from me?" Her bright blazing eyes stared into mine unwavering.

She is serious. She's telling me she will shut down whatever we have if I give her the wrong answer but I know it's because she doesn't want her trust to be treated so poorly and I can respect that.

I nodded my head, "If I have to hide secrets to protect the people I care about, then yes, they are worth hiding." I said truthfully.

She studied me hard before she finally sighed, "fine, I'll let it go. . for now but Katakuri. . You have to promise your secrets won't harm my brother." I could feel my eyes widen. She knows. She rested her tiny hands on my stomach as she gazed up at me with those puppy dog eyes.

"Leon keeps many secrets from me and he does go through great lengths to keep it that way. I don't know exactly what he's hiding but I know enough to know that you showed up not long after my brother came home."

She is a lot sharper and cunning then I gave her credit for.

"I'm sorry Katakuri, but I have to ask. Do you want me or do you want my brother? Because if you have some kind of vendetta against my brother-"

"No! No! No!" I put my hands on the side of her face forcing her to look at me. "I. . want. . you. Not your brother. You."

"Okay, then promise me. It's me you want, not him because I will never forgive you if you deceive me. I tried so hard to push these dark thoughts away but I can't help but think you maybe using me to get to him. I don't want to believe any of that because your so kind, and you have been so good to me but I'm not a fool." She took a couple of deep breaths as if she was trying to conceal her emotions.

"So promise me and I'll take your word for it because I do trust you and I can see it in your eyes that you genuinely care for me. If you can promise me this one request, then I'll give you everything I have. My heart, my thoughts, my trust, my time, my soul. . my body." She whispered the last two words against my skin causing me to shiver all over.

One of the things I've learned about Fae, is she's a lot smarter then she let's on. She knows what strings to pull to get a reaction out of me but one of her greatest flaws is she is to trusting. It's one of the many reasons why I fell in love with her but she's not making this easy for me if she believes I keep such a promise.

I plan to come clean with her about everything once it's all over and Leon is out of the picture and I know it's going to shatter her heart. Even if Leon was a pirate who killed thousands, he is still her brother. She won't forgive me but she will be safe from him. I won't leave her side even if she hates me and never wants to see me again. I'll figure out how to make amends between us when we hit that bump in the railroad.

I took a deep breath and nodded my head without hesitation. "I promise," agreeing to a promise I knew that I couldn't keep.

Tears of relief filled the corner of her eyes as she rubbed them away with the bottom of her palms. The barrier she built to keep her composer broke and she was revealing herself to me once again but honestly, I held my breath for what felt like forever before she finally nodded her head, "yes, I'll have you." My heart flutter with excitement when she accepted.

I kissed her again and again with each kiss getting hungrier then the last. Her beautiful face turned crimson red as her body trembled against mine. I slowed down taking a step back when I realized I was over whelming her with my eagerness to have her.

I took a couple of deep breaths before lifting her chin up pecking her soft lips with mine. "I'll take care of you and I promise to take things slow with you. I wont do anything you wouldn't want me to do and if I'm moving to fast, tell me and I will slow down. All I want to do is cherish and savor every moment and every second with you." I kissed her forehead and she relaxed melting against me.

"I tried so hard to push the feelings I have towards you away because I honestly didn't think you felt the same way towards me but now. ." She wiped away her fresh tears. "I'm so glad." She whispered smiling up at me with her eyes closed and her beautiful face glowed with happiness. After a few moments of blissfulness I smelt smoke.

"Something smells like it's burning." I whispered sniffing the air. She gasped and her face dropped, "Oh, no! My dessert!!!" She scrambled around in a panic, trying to save her food and I couldn't help but smile and chuckle. She was so adorable and finally mine but it didn't take long for realization to hit me.

Leon, isn't stupid. He knows how to collect information and he will find her and that's exactly what Big Mama is expecting but that isn't what worries me. Fae, she loves him. She will go to him blindly without hesitation and I need, no, I have to keep Fae away from him.

Mama wants power and Fae could easily satisfy Mama's hunger for it. I know I can convince Mama that Fae is a good asset for the family but Mama wants Leon more then just for power. She want's to humiliate and break him for humiliating and rejecting her, time and time again.

I know my mother well enough to know she will want to use Fae to harm Leon but I refuse to allow that to happen. I don't want her around when any of this goes down and as much as Mama wants Leon to work for her. I know, she knows, everyone knows, Leon will go down fighting before he works under the Big Mama pirates. I want Fae to be safe and to do that I must keep her in the dark. I just hope I'm making the right decision or I might lose Fae all together.