She Taught Me How to Smile

King- Kukai Souma (green)

Queen- Akemi Berlitz (purple)

Princess- (pink)

Prince- Anthony Orleans (blue)

Jack- Luis Morel (red)

Ace- Arthur Windsor (orange)

Joker- Hinata Tachibana (yellow)

Knight- Kane Yamda (silver)

Lady Knight- Madison Hinamori (maroon)

Prime Minister- (gold)

Vassal- Yui Rion (sapphire)

Duke- Colin Fitz (white)

-...-

"Home, sweet, home!" Anthony smiled happily at the royal palace.

All but Arthur and Akemi marveled at the amazingly large building.

"This place is like, mega-spectacularly-ultra big!" Hinata suddenly yelled, breaking the silence.

Anthony looked moderately surprised at their reactions. "Well, what do you expect?" he said, putting his hands on his hips. "This is le chateau after all!"

"Y-Your highness!"

Anthony suddenly got an uneasy look on his face. He turned slightly towards the gate of the castle, and jumped when he saw a platinum haired boy with hazel eyes, staring hopefully at him. He laughed nervously. "Um... h-hello Francis..."

"You're in major trouble, your highness!" Francis shoved the gates open, and began punching Anthony in the head, tough it didn't seem to have much of an affect. "The country went into a panic after you went missing, you know you can't just leave without permission!"

Anthony covered his ears in dismay. "Uh, I'm sorry okay..." he muttered. "I'll never do it again."

"That's the eighth time you've said that!"

"What the heck is going on?" Kukai yelled what everyone else had been thinking.

For the first time, Francis noticed that there was a large group of children with Anthony. "Um... well, his highness has a habit of running away when he feels like doing so." he narrowed his eyes at him.

Anthony patted Francis on the back. "Come on, you're 12 Francis, act like a kid more." he chimed.

Francis glared at his prince. "Do you expect me to not be worried? I'm your man servant, if anything happens to you, I'll be the one who gets into trouble!"

Everyone sweat dropped at Anthony, who gave a sheepish grin.

-...-

"So you ran away from home... for the eighth time." Colin sighed at Anthony as the group of friends and their chara walked through one of the long hallways in the castle.

Anthony shrugged. "You have no idea how boring life got after Akemi-chan left!" he said grabbing Akemi's hand. "She's my girl." he embraced her in a hug.

Hinata giggled when she saw Kukai and Arthur glaring at Anthony.

Luis sweat dropped. "Does this guy have a death wish?" he whispered, which Hinata caught wind of.

A beautiful woman with curly blonde hair, and green eyes then walked by the group. She was in an elegant pink dress, and was wearing ridiculously gorgeous jewels. As she walked by, Francis, Anthony, Akemi, Luis, and Arthur bowed, signaling for everyone to do the same.

"Wow," Madison said softly. "Utsukushii."

"That's the queen." Arthur said.

Kane looked slightly surprised. "That's Anthony's mother? But she doesn't look anything like him."

Anthony widened his eyes, memories filling his mind, but he covered it up with a smile. "Come on, let's go see the king!" He said, grabbing Hinata's hand (for some reason, leaving everyone else).

Kukai sweat dropped. "He left us."

"I know!" Francis said excitedly, obviously trying to cover something up. "Let's explore the castle!"

-...-

"Papa!" Anthony practically dragged Hinata into the document office. They came face to face with a man who had short blonde hair and brown eyes.

The man looked up, and had a look of shock on his face. "Y-You're not dead!" the man said, running to Anthony and engulfing him in a hug. Hinata widened her eyes at how carefree the man was.

"You expected me to be dead, papa!" Anthony said, also widening his eyes at his father.

The king scratched the back of his head. "Well, you know..." he mumbled, just before looking at Hinata.

"And who may this be?" Anthony's dad asked, going into serious mode.

Anthony gave him a wide grin. "This is one of the friends I made in Japan, papa." he said, putting his shoulder around Hinata in a buddy way.

The king laughed. "Ooh, a girlfriend I see." he said elbowing Anthony playfully.

Anthony flushed, as Hinata looked shocked. "P-Papa, what are you saying?" he stuttered.

"I-I'm no princess!" Hinata yelled, flailing her arms.

"Anthony."

The three looked back, to see the queen, crossing her arms, not looking very happy. "I need to talk to your father, so you and your friend need to leave."

Anthony's expression suddenly turned serious. He bowed, grabbed Hinata's hand, and left the room with her.

As he closed the door, the blue eyed boy sighed deeply. "I apologize for her highness, she's kind of a buzz kill, isn't she?" he said nonchalantly.

Hinata didn't respond. "Neither of them look like you." she said, making Anthony jump. "I thought maybe your dad would look like you, but he doesn't either..."

Anthony put on a fake smile. "Oh yeah! Papa says I look like my mom all the time!" he chimed.

"But you don't."

Anthony bit his lip. "The queen isn't my mother, Hinata-chan..." he mumbled. "My mother is dead... she was murdered."

Hinata widened her eyes. "I-I'm sorry..." she mumbled.

Anthony grinned at her. "It's okay, I'm okay now, it's been ten years after all."

"But," Hinata began. "What was your mother like?"

Anthony's face soon filled with nostalgia. "My mother... originally my mom wasn't the queen." he frowned.

"Let me tell you a fairy tale!" he held Hinata's hand, and began running in a random direction.

"There once was a princess," he began. "Who married a king, she soon became a queen. But that queen had a best friend, she was a man servant who fell in love with the king. They had an affair behind the queens back, and unfortunately, the servant found out she would have a baby soon. When the queen found out, she was angry, and forced the servant to give up her baby, knowing who the father was. But the servant didn't want to give up her baby, and soon the child was born, the next heir to the country's throne. The queen knew this and vowed to have a child of her own, but one day the queen found that she couldn't have any children of her own."

Anthony paused, taking a deep breath before beginning again. "In all her rage, the queen killed the servant, and tried to kill the child too. But somehow the child got away, the child never told anyone about the queens doings though.

Once Anthony and Hinata reached a bridge, Anthony stopped, and leaned on the wooden railing, looking down at the small river.

"You know the servant and her child," he said, not looking up. "We used to come here all the time."

When Anthony finally looked up, it was apparent that he had tears running down his face, he still managed a smile though. "Well..." he muttered. "That's just something I used to put myself to sleep."

"Anthony," Hinata whispered. "Why do you act so happy all the time?" she suddenly found herself yelling.

Anthony was taken back by Hinata's sudden change of character. "Akemi..." he whispered. "She taught me what it was like to be happy again." he grinned. "That's why... that's why I love her."

-...-

"And where have you two been?" Luis raised an eyebrow when Hinata and Anthony came back.

Anthony gave everyone a huge smile. "I was making myself a new girlfriend." he said, hugging Akemi and Hinata together. "Now I have two, and you have none!" He looked at Madison (who flinched) before engulfing her in a group hug as well.

Anthony looked back at the boys and gave them a sleazy grin.

"I'm beginning to understand, just what that boy is like." Luis had on a mad mark, along with all the other males.

"Who the heck do you think you are?" Arthur grabbed Anthony's ear, and began pulling him away from the girls.

"Ow! Ow! You're such a meanie!"

Kane sweat dropped. "What the heck is wrong with him?" he mumbled.

"There are some odd people here, aren't there?" Kane turned to see that it was Kukai that was talking to him.

The boy simply huffed, at left him.

"Wonder what's wrong with him." Colin crossed his arms, sighing at the raven haired boy.

Kukai narrowed his eyes at Colin. "I ask myself that question everyday." he said, though Colin didn't catch the insult.

-...-

"S-Souma-kun, where are you taking me?" Akemi struggled to keep up with Kukai, as he dragged her to who knows where.

They simply wandered the streets of Paris, Kukai only, knowing their destination.

"Souma-kun!"

Kukai suddenly came to a halt when he reached a small soccer field. He looked down at Akemi, and grinned at her. "Play soccer with me."

Akemi looked down at the field, then back at Kukai. "...S-Sure..." she said with a little doubt in her voice.

Kukai seemed to be surprised by what she said. "Are you serious?"

Akemi nodded.

Kukai shoved a ball in Akemi's hands and ran down to the field. It wasn't a regular soccer ball, it had spirals on it instead of regular pentagons. For some reason to her though, it seemed familiar.

"Akemi! You coming?" Kukai woke Akemi up from her daze as she carefully walked unto the middle of the field.

Kukai smirked at the girl in front of him. "I'm not going to go easy on you, just because you're a girl." he said confidently.

Akemi didn't respond. She swept past Kukai with the ball between her feet, and shot it into the goal.

Akemi then smirked at the auburn haired boy. "You gotta be more alert Kukai!"

Kukai, Daichi, and Odaijini all widened there eyes. "D-Did you see that Kukai!" Daichi stuttered.

"Ake-chan smiled!" Odaijini flailed her arms in amazement.

Upon realizing what she did, Akemi flushed and covered her mouth. "U-Um... Souma-kun, I-"

"Akemi has finally loosened up I see!" Kukai said happily, wrapping his arm around the girl's shoulder.

"Kukai?"

Kukai paused and simply widened his eyes at the person he saw. "Utau?"

-...-

"So what are you doing in Paris, Utau?"

Akemi continued to gently nibble on her Crepes Suzette only half listening to Kukai and Utau's conversation.

"I'm debuting here soon." Utau said, in her usual stoic voice. "But why are you here?"

Kukai looked back at Akemi and Odaijini (who was having trouble holding a cut banana piece until Daichi helped her), then back at Utau. "It's a long story."

Odaijini accidentally bumped into Akemi making her drop her crepe on the floor. Akemi sighed deeply, and nearly glared at her red headed chara, but got a napkin and proceeded to throw her lost dessert away.

As she dropped it in the nearby trash can, she almost fell back at what Utau said (when she thought Akemi couldn't hear).

"I like you."

Akemi hid behind a tree, hoping to hear more of their conversation. Kukai seemed just as surprised (if not more) as Akemi was.

He sat there for a while not saying anything, he finally spoke. "Utau..." he mumbled. "I-"

"Akemi, what are you doing?" Akemi jumped, and slowly turned to the direction the voice came from.

There Colin stood, looking very disappointed at the girl next to him.

Akemi looked around nervously, and gave Colin an innocent look, he flinched.

"Well..." the girl started off.

Colin started walking away to avoid her, though she followed him.

"Do you know someone named Utau?"

At those words, Colin hauled. "Where did you hear her name?" he turned around and held Akemi by her shoulders, a desperate look on his face.

Akemi looked down. "She debuting in Paris..." she mumbled.

Colin furrowed his eyebrows, continuing to walk again. "Utau is Kukai's ex girlfriend."

Akemi was taken back by what she heard, but remained silent.

"But she broke up with him about 5 months before you came. I think Kukai still has feelings for her, but honestly, what are the chances of them meeting again."

Akemi crossed her arms. "Yeah..."

-...-

Yeah, what are the chances? Alright, so I've decided that France isn't enough. Next time (actually it'll be a while) we'll be taking a trip around the world! Oh yeah, sekai adventure! Next time will be the culture festival to tell the truth :)