Journey Of Fate ~ mayakuro

•Slumber•

Normally, climbing a flight of stairs would be no problem for Claudine, but with someone, who was roughly her same body weight and barely conscious enough to move, clinging to her arm plus carrying two suitcases, it became quite the challenge. She had tried multiple times to wake Maya, but she wouldn't respond. The driving earlier had done more to tire her out than any of their rigorous training sessions at Seisho ever had. Eventually, the duo made it to the top of the stairwell and found their room for the night. Just as climbing the stairs with one arm immobilized was a challenge, so was opening the door, especially considering it was the blonde's dominant arm that was currently stuck in a vice grip.

After a few moments of fiddling with the key, Claudine was finally able to open the door and let them into their room. The room was even smaller than her hotel room in New York City, and it was barely decorated. While the wallpaper wasn't peeling, it was an unattractive shade of olive, and there was nothing on the walls except for an old cord phone. There was a single desk in the room that was roughly the size of a common school desk and an armchair that had dubious stains littering it. She definitely wasn't sitting on that. There was a tiny bathroom crammed in the corner, which looked fairly clean, thank god. She didn't want to pick up dysentery from her one-night stay in a motel room. And as the clerk had said, there was a single bed: one twin sized bed. Claudine knew she should be counting her blessings. The room had been $50, so it could've been a lot worse, but the thought of sharing that bed with Maya was a tad daunting. Why couldn't it have been a king or even a queen? They would almost certainly be touching now, and Claudine could barely handle Maya hanging onto her arm. Despite her desire to not go near the bed, Claudine decided that she should at least attempt to sleep. Maybe there would be enough room, or maybe she would get used to Maya being so close to her that it wouldn't be a problem. Steeling herself, the blonde gently shook Maya again. A few attempts later, tired violet eyes opened and met hers.

"Maya, we've got a room now," Claudine started, waiting for Maya to extract herself. The brunette just stayed where she was, clearly not entirely conscious of what was going on even though her eyes were open.

"So, could you, um, let go of me so we can go to sleep?" That caught Maya's attention and she quickly removed herself, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Sorry Saijou-san, I hadn't realized that I was so tired," Maya murmured, looking away. Claudine frowned. How was it that Maya could be so suave in some moments, yet so bashful in others? She was really bizarre.

"It's no problem. Look, I'm not sure if you were awake when I was getting the room, but unfortunately the only room they had left only has one bed, so we're going to have to share."

"No, it's alright," Maya rushed out. "I'll take... Um... That chair over there!" The brunette pointed to the armchair and then winced, clearly noticing the stains after the fact.

"No, no one here is using that chair," Claudine replied, scrunching up her nose. Who knew what kind of new life was forming on that thing?

"Alright... then I'll take the floor. I wouldn't want to intrude your personal space. I know how much you love your beauty sleep," Maya remarked, trying to joke at the end. Claudine wasn't having any of it. She wasn't sure why Maya was so apprehensive about sharing the bed. She knew why she was, but Maya? What reason would Maya have to not want to share a bed? Maybe she was embarrassed about clinging to her arm earlier. That must've been it. Regardless, there was no way that Claudine was going to let Maya sleep on the floor. Not ever.

"Maya, come on, let's just share the bed. Both of us are tired, and I'm not having you sleep on the floor after you drove all of today," Claudine said. Maya glanced at her with an unreadable expression. It wasn't the same gaze that had been bothering her earlier, although there were hints of that in her current one. This one was more nervous, but Claudine still couldn't figure out why.

"Alright," Maya relented. After having reached a decision, the two split off to change into their pajamas, with Claudine taking the bathroom and Maya changing in the room. Once she had shut the door, the blonde leaned against it, sighing. She could've avoided the nightmare of sharing the bed if she had wanted to, but she couldn't just let Maya sleep on the floor. That wouldn't have been fair. Still, the thought of sharing a bed made her nervous. She rummaged through her suitcase and found one of her nightgowns. It was one that she had worn during her time at Seisho, and it still fit her comfortably, so she had decided to bring it with her to America. While normally she'd go through her nightly beauty routine, tonight she was too tired to care and simply brushed her teeth. She could bother with it in the morning. She was tempted to shower, but after wheeling back the curtain and noticing the smatterings of mold she decided against it. One thing was for certain. They were not staying at any more shady motels.

After Claudine had finished, she allowed Maya her turn in the bathroom to get ready for bed. Maya still seemed nervous and Claudine still had no idea why, but she wasn't going to ask. It wasn't like Maya would give her a straight answer anyway. While Maya was brushing her teeth, Claudine took the time to inspect the bed. Unlike almost everything else in the room, the bed seemed rather harmless at the least. There were no weird stains and she didn't see any signs of bedbugs. Relaxing, the blonde climbed into the bed and slid under the covers, getting comfortable. The mattress was too stiff for her liking, but it wasn't horrible. In fact, the bed felt better than her hotel bed, but Claudine guessed that was because she was dead tired right now. She was about to drift off to sleep, despite the lights still being on, but then there was a dip in the bed and the springs creaked. The lights flicked off. Maya had returned and was now joining her in bed. Claudine felt her heart leap and she waited with bated breath, wondering if she could handle their close proximity, but it never came. Maya was in bed with her, but she wasn't near her at all. She wasn't touching her, and she wasn't even close enough that Claudine could feel her body heat. How was that possible? The bed was a twin. There was no way the two of them could fit without being close enough to at least feel some kind of heat. Curious, Claudine craned her neck to the side. The answer became apparent. Instead of sleeping in the bed like a normal person, Maya had decided, for some unknown reason, to sleep half on the bed, half hanging off the bed. Claudine squinted at her. Why even-

"Maya," the blonde started.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you get in the bed?"

"I am in the bed."

"No, you're half off the bed," Claudine groaned. She could not put up with Maya's semantics at whatever hour this was. "Just, get into the bed properly. I don't know why you're being so weird about this."

"I'm not... I'm not being weird. I just don't want to intrude on your space," Maya defended.

"I don't care about that, just get into the bed or I'll drag you here myself!" Claudine snapped back. What was going on with this woman? First, she showed up at her hotel at the morning honking a car she'd bought of Craigslist like that was totally normal, but then she couldn't even handle sharing a bed. Tendou Maya was truly the most remarkably annoying person she had ever met. Maya stayed still for a few moments. Claudine was about to reach over to grab her and pull her onto the bed so she was at least mostly on it, but Maya then shifted backwards slightly so she was fully on the bed. She looked stiff as a board, but at least she was finally on the bed.

"Good. See, isn't that a little better? You definitely would've fallen off if you had slept like that."

"I suppose... It is more comfortable," was Maya's reply.

"Obviously, I wouldn't have made you do it if I hadn't known that'd be the case," Claudine teased. Maya hummed in response. After shifting around, Claudine was back on her side facing away from the brunette. This time, she could feel the slightest bit of heat on her back, meaning that Maya hadn't moved back to being half off the bed while she was facing away.

"Bonne nuit, Maya," Claudine muttered, her voice trailing off at the end. She had thought it'd be a lot more difficult to share a bed, but the trials of the day had effectively drained all her energy. She barely heard Maya's soft reply.

"Bonne nuit, ma Claudine."