off limits | petalz

15

Kazuha yawned, stumbling downstairs, feeling around blindly for the banister of the staircase. She closed her eyes and then felt around for the next step, putting her body weight into the next footfall.

A mistake. She missed the step and would've crashed into the floor if Sakura hadn't lunged forward to catch her.

As the younger girl opened her eyes, Sakura smiled to herself. Kazuha looked so cute when she was just waking up, her eyes blinking and her hair gently mussed. There was a red crease just under her right eye and Sakura wondered, did she sleep on her right side? Did she sleep with her mouth open too, so that the pillow would make the crease under her eye like that? When she slept, what did she dream of? Did she-

Get a hold of yourself, Sakura.

"Sorry, Kkura-chan," Kazuha mumbled, but Sakura only laughed, straightening out Kazuha's sleep shirt that had become rumpled from her near-fall. The touch made Kazuha blush, and she made her way down the rest of the stairs, Sakura watching, amused, from by the post. Once Kazuha reached the bottom.

"How'd you sleep?" Sakura asked, placing a gentle hand on Kazuha's hand to steady her.

"Okay, I guess. As you can probably see from how tired I was," Kazuha answered as the duo made their way towards the kitchen, Sakura nodding along with Kazuha's response and giving into a soft chuckle at the end.

"I can definitely see that, Zuzu. You're very cute when you're barely awake," Sakura mentioned, poking Kazuha's arm jokingly.

Kazuha froze, her eyes darting around, a feeling emerging in her eyes which Sakura could not pinpoint. Sakura watched her, waiting for a reply as Kazuha seemingly grasped at mental straws that led to dead ends.

"Uh, um, thanks," Kazuha stammered in reply when she realized that Sakura was watching her expectantly. "Thank you. That's- that's sweet of you."

"Of course," Sakura answered almost instantly, her eyes folding into that gentle smile she always wore around Kazuha and nobody else. They paused there in the hallway, looking at each other, Sakura's head slightly tilted up because of Kazuha's height and how Kazuha's nature was: above, beyond, something that Sakura felt she had to catch up to. Kazuha smiled gently, a sleepy grin full of something so uniquely Kazuha but also something tinged with indecision, choicelessness, a lethargy which she did not want to address.

Sakura didn't push, but instead grasped Kazuha's wrist and tugged her into the kitchen. "Alright, you deadweight sleeper. C'mon, let's go make breakfast."

Sakura's jaw dropped in abject shock. "There's no way."

"Yup," Kazuha admitted, swirling her chopsticks in her hands, laughing. "I've never seen it."

Sakura sat back in her chair, mouth still open, astounded. She crossed her arms over her chest and let out a puff of shock, something that could only be uttered by the most scandalized of guessers. "There's- I- wow. As a Japanese, that is a core movie, Zuha-chan. I am ashamed."

Kazuha burst into laughter, which did nothing to ease the butterflies Sakura found swirling in her stomach. "Sorry, Kkura-chan. I don't know what to say."

"I mean... me neither," Sakura admitted. "What do you say to an ethnically Japanese, fluent Japanese speaker who has a friend group of primarily Japanese speakers, under middle-aged, perfectly in-shape fresh-out-of-teenhood girl who's never seen Spirited Away?"

"Okay, when you put it like that, I guess it's bad," Kazuha acknowledged, propping her chin on her palms. "Well, what do you want to do about it?"

There was something on her lips, something teasing, but also something unsure. Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but Kazuha interjected, interrupting herself. "You think that I'm in shape?"