a/n: from ch 6, this kinda vibe? prolly the last time im gonna post a drawing lmao i dont have time anymore 😭 the style is diff cuz i used a diff brush its mid ik,, hope u enjoy the chapter ahead! thank u for ur support always ^^

all she did was hold up a bottle of ketchup.

in a supermarket.

with a straight face.

nobody told her about being posted on tiktok.

i'm going to smack yunjin upside down...

the corners of her lips are twitching in annoyance, sakura's eyes remain glued to their video playing on some girl's phone.

it's after school hours, everyone's dashing out at the speed of light because it's friday. and truthfully, sakura would have been doing the same — skipping her merry way home, occasionally (most of the time) with kazuha as they would rave about yet another weekend.

instead, she's stuck outside the school with the rest of the girls, swarmed with a group of teens she has never seen in her entire life.

one thing to note, this bunch definitely didn't go to their school, considering the stark difference in uniforms. so sakura thought, they might have been from the neighbouring school located not far from theirs. as for the reason they're here, well... like she mentioned, she was going to smack yunjin to the moon and back later on.

"see! you're the girl with the ponytail!" one of the girls who's shoved her phone in her face, high-spirited with a toothy grin plastered on her face, exclaims.

sakura laughs dryly, she thinks her ears are going to fall off.

the tiktok is paused on her picture holding a bottle of ketchup, looking absolutely confused with those big eyes of hers. she remembered yunjin suddenly shoving the ketchup within her hands with the quirkiest smile on her face before telling her to look at the camera, not having the slightest clue what it was all for even as she watched yunjin rushing to chaewon next to take a picture of her holding... bread.

that was a couple of days ago when they were out shopping for their sleepover at kazuha's house this friday night.

apparently, sakura was busy being excited over their get-together tonight that she had zero clue she was going to debut on tiktok.

she internally winces when she sees the tens of thousands of likes, shares and...

why the heck did hundreds of people bookmark this video?!

sakura wants to curl into a ball and hide in a burrow.

"oh! and you're dua lipa with her baby!"

the rest of the girls weren't spared of the commotion either, though they looked like they were enjoying this shortlived fame that resulted from their viral 'levitating' tiktok video more than her.

sakura narrowed her eyes at eunchae and chaewon who were taking pictures with a bunch of other students without a care in the world, their fanservice through the roof.

yunjin's happily displaying her golden retriever vibes and possibly making more friends (gosh, this girl has the power to befriend anyone really), being particularly proud that she was the one who came up with the idea and edited the video and posted it on tiktok.

what genuinely shocked sakura was the determination of these people who bothered enough to come to their school just to meet them merely because of one video that caught the eyes of many.

aside from the fact that chaewon's seeing a girl from another school, sakura thinks it's pretty rare to see students mingle with others from another school (maybe she stays at home too much...) so she wonders what the other students who passed by them would think of this.

sakura feels like a caged animal, clutching onto the straps of her bag as she feels herself shrinking surrounded by these starstruck teens who's probably never seen a single celebrity in real life and now that they're able to meet strangers who merely went viral on the internet, they're behaving like fanatics.

she looks around and finds kazuha within a smaller crowd. she's smiling but it's strained, hands gently dismissing whatever praises their 'fans' were spouting. honestly, sakura expected her to enjoy all the attention too because she remembered how enthusiastic kazuha was when she had a questionable photoshoot session with yunjin doing... embarrassing stuff.

come to think of it, how did sakura not figure it out it was all for a tiktok?

at this moment though, kazuha looked like she wanted to run home too.

sakura meets her eyes after a second, she's sure her own were asking for help.

"oh my gosh, aren't you that girl on tiktok?!" sakura squeaks when some boy rushes to her already suffocating crowd and starts jumping up and down.

"um... no?" sakura gives him a tight-lipped smile, she just wants to go home.

"look! it's really you! you're really so pretty!" once again, the video gets shoved right into her face.

"i thought it was just the filter but your eyes are actually really big!"

"uh-"

"do you have a boyfriend?"

"no but i have a-"

"hey, can i get your number?"

"ah, me too! let's be friends!"

on the other hand, kazuha's eyebrows are furrowed seeing her girlfriend being swallowed by the hyperactive crowd of teens she doesn't even know the names of. she badly wants to drag sakura out of there but she didn't want to come off mean, and it's hard work trying to handle her own crowd.

"okay everyone, give my girl some space! it's really nice meeting all of you but it's friday and i'm sure we all have somewhere to be!"

yunjin comes in to save the day, fortunately, she probably saw the discomfort in kazuha's face and the way she kept throwing worried glances over at sakura. the taller girl makes her way towards the mob and with her long limbs, she firmly yet gently pushes the mass of bodies away from sakura and pulls her out, gently propelling her towards kazuha who immediately checks up on her.

while yunjin worked on dispersing the crowd with her benign smile, chaewon and eunchae return with broad grins on their faces.

"felt like i got a main character moment back there." eunchae sighs dreamily, eyes twinkling at the notifications flooding her lockscreen.

"damn, that's a lot of friend requests." chaewon giggles to herself, scrolling through the myriad of notifications on her own tiktok.

meanwhile, sakura's clutching her head trying to erase the lingering voices that had overwhelmed her, with kazuha placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"you guys better watch your backs tonight. i can't believe i had to find out i debuted on tiktok through a freaking horde! i'm not claustrophobic before but i think i am now..." sakura groans, throwing a piercing stare at the two who simply laughed in unison.

"what's unbelievable was that even though you appeared in only one picture, half the comments were asking about you. you're famous!" yunjin chips, ambling towards the girls and sakura heaves a sigh of relief seeing the absence of the crowd behind her.

finally.

"i do not wanna be famous."

"and weren't you the one excited to post on tiktok? why do you look like someone crashed your party?" yunjin turns to kazuha with a raised brow, and it's when sakura realises that the girl's been unusually silent.

sakura's eyes traced across her features — unreadable expression, not as much as a smile on her face but she notices kazuha's slightly pinched eyebrows. the hand on her shoulder slides down wordlessly, and sakura feels something twisting in her stomach uncomfortably.

"kkura unnie, why do you have so much trash in your backpack? didn't know you were that kind of person." eunchae points out.

"trash? i don't put trash- what the?"

sakura swings her bag to her front, something in the side pockets catching her eye. crumpled papers were piled up in it, when she cautiously takes one out, there's only digits written on it. her eyes widened, realisation hitting her like a truck as she took more of the papers out, the other girls' reactions mirroring hers when they realise it's a bunch of different numbers.

phone numbers.

no way they shoved all this crap in my bag when i was being mobbed?!

"that's... a lot of numbers..." chaewon trails off, grimacing at the mountain of crumpled sheets in sakura's hands. she discreetly threw glances at kazuha, swallowing nervously (not for herself but for sakura) when she notices the corners of her lips becoming upturned.

out of the blue, kazuha turns on her heels with her bike in tow, walking away from the group without a single response.

"kazuha? hey, where are you go-"

"shut up, read the room!"

chaewon grumbles through gritted teeth and elbows yunjin in the stomach, the latter immediately folding while clutching her poor tummy. eunchae shakes her head at the two, while sakura's eyes darted back and forth between the girls and her girlfriend in panic.

"um, we'll go home first. catch you guys later tonight!" sakura gave the girls a reassuring smile, she starts backtracking while waving goodbye to them.

sakura spots the nearest trashcan and hastily scoops out the rest of the papers in her backpack pocket before shoving them in the trash.

"kazuha! wait!" she calls out in desperation in the midst of clearing her bag, constantly switching gazes between kazuha and the ridiculous amount of numbers.

when she finally throws out the last paper, she slings her bag on one shoulder clumsily and begins jogging to catch up to her girlfriend. and it's probably the fastest she ran because she reaches kazuha in no time.

"kazuha, tell me what's going on?" sakura urges with furrowed brows, grabbing kazuha's shoulder but she doesn't stop walking, only looking ahead with a troubled look on her face.

"nothing," kazuha tells her curtly.

"zuha..." sakura tries again, feeling her heart growing heavy the more kazuha refused to acknowledge her.

"it's really nothing."

as stubborn as kazuha was, sakura could be just the same. persistent — because she didn't want them to part ways with a rift in their relationship, especially when they were all gathering tonight for a sleepover.

and sakura did not want it canceled because of something trivial.

so she grabs onto the hem of kazuha's shirt as they walked, the tug successfully slowing down kazuha's pace. it earns her a questioning look from the taller girl.

"i'm not letting you go until i get answers." sakura firmly states, eyebrows knitted.

her girlfriend remains silent, lips tightly pressed together in a thin line as she shifts her gaze towards the ground.

"kazuha, please." sakura purses her lips, tugging once, then again when kazuha gave her a look of uncertainty.

kazuha's cheeks turn a light shade of red as she bit her lower lip,"i don't want to say... it's stupid."

"is this about earlier?" sakura asks, leaning forward to take a peek at kazuha's lowered gaze.

"i told you, it's stupid-"

"it's not, i want to know what you're feeling. and that whatever it is, it's valid." sakura gently nudges her, wrapping her hand around kazuha's arm and turns her slowly.

sakura's lips curl up slightly when kazuha tentatively meets her eyes, her girlfriend's furrowed brows tugging at her heartstrings. no matter how cute she looks right now when upset (like a samoyed down in the dumps), sakura wants to rid that look of worry on kazuha's face.

kazuha sighs in defeat, guides her to the gazebo nearby which was situated in the park. sakura follows her wordlessly, patiently watching as kazuha props her bike up before settling on the wooden benches.

"i guess... i just don't like the thought of anyone else looking at you the way i do." kazuha hesitates at first, with every word spoken her voice seems to diminish.

kazuha fixates her eyes on her feet, shoulders hunched up as she feels her neck burn with embarrassment. she doesn't like the turmoil whirring in the pit of her stomach, it's a feeling she knew was inevitable in relationships. though that didn't mean she quite knew how to deal with it.

right now, she feels selfish. and she isn't sure she likes it.

seeing how sakura slowly went down on her knees to level their eyes, kazuha raises her head. the dainty hands that make themselves at home on top of her knees fill her chest with a fluttering warmth, and the words that came next warms her even more.

"you know they don't matter, because at the end of the day, i only look at you." with a tilted head and a crooked, heartening smile, sakura reassures her.

those brilliant, big eyes that gaze upon hers with a particular tenderness reserved only for her, they were so telling. every twinkle found in sakura's eyes resembled the stars, placed upon dark, mesmerising orbs that encapsulate their brilliance like a beautiful night sky — and kazuha feels like her sun, the only one who could bestow them such pretty glow.

she feels silly.

"well, yeah but still..." kazuha juts out her lower lip, looking up through her lashes,"i'm gonna start putting a paperbag over your head."

"eh... should i be concerned?" sakura gasps, when kazuha breaks into a cheeky smile, she chuckles, lightly pinching kazuha's knees.

"i'm sorry i just left without a word." kazuha apologises, feels ashamed and guilty for her behaviour she displayed earlier.

but knowing sakura, she would tell her that it's okay, that they were still young and naive so it was perfectly fine to act the way they act now, to be embarrassed at their tender age now because when they're older, things like love wouldn't be as easy anymore.

and that walking away would mean so much more different in the future.

but for now, they're learning. and that's okay.

when sakura smiles at her timid apology, it's soft and sweet — it holds no annoyance, no grudge, nothing of the sort despite being turned away by kazuha for a fleeting moment for a fault that was never hers.

instead, there's relief — because it's kazuha's gentle features that she's gazing at now, and not the girl's back when she felt her world turn cold for a moment.

and she never wants to feel the cold pricking the tips of her fingers again, wants to cling onto the warmth for as long as kazuha allows her.

"you scared me, you know? watching you walk away from me, your back me, it felt like a nightmare," kazuha sees the way sakura's throat bobs as she spoke in a lower tone, the way her small hands squeezed hers desperately for a brief moment — kazuha feels terrible.

"because you're always walking towards me, i've never realised how i was so used to it that i never want to take it for granted." sakura chuckles wryly, tilting her head up and kazuha feels tighten at the crestfallen look troubling her girlfriend's face.

she instantly reels sakura in for a tight hug, startling the older girl but kazuha only holds her close, burying her face in the crevice of sakura's neck.

"i was a prick, i won't do it again." she mumbles.

sakura remains wide-eyed for a moment, caught off-guard by kazuha's sudden gesture. eventually, she sinks into the embrace, smiling widely with warm cheeks as she returns the hug by wrapping her arms around kazuha's waist, giving her light pats every now and then.

"wanna go back now?" sakura suggests, suddenly feeling embarrassed of their public display of affection when her eyes caught someone walking past the gazebo.

luckily, they weren't curious, nose buried in their phone.

she pulls away from the healing hug, feels a quick surge of vigor the moment she sees kazuha smiling again.

sakura stands up and grunts, forgets how long she had been kneeling because when she looks down, kazuha is hastily dusting off the dirt from her reddened knees with a frown on her face. it was fortunate she didn't scrape them, and to erase the frown off kazuha's face, she swiftly sits down beside her girlfriend, leaving a small space between them for their glued hands.

"can we stay a little longer? we still have hours to go before the sleepover." kazuha asks, eyes trailing after sakura's slender fingers weaving themselves within her own.

"sure, whatever you want."

the butterflies swarm her stomach instantly.

"just out of curiosity, how do you feel about being known as the 'girl with the ponytail' on yunjin's tiktok? should you let your hair down? do you think it'll work like those cartoon disguise and people won't recognise you?"

kazuha makes a contemplative face, trying to come up with a solution to prevent their neighbouring school's fanatic students from recognising her girlfriend now that she's gaining quite the rave online.

"your mind, zuha. you're so interesting." sakura giggles into her palm, the sweet sound making kazuha's lips curve up immediately.

"i think you're the only one who's seen me with my hair down often,"

sakura points out, kazuha merely watching as her girlfriend reaches a hand up to curl a finger within her hairtie before smoothly taking it off.

slow motion, whatever happened next feels like slow motion in kazuha's eyes. it's dramatic, it's clichè but when you're face to face with possibly god's favourite creation looking ever so mesmerising, it pulls you into a state of reverie.

the way sakura shakes her head briefly after pulling out her hairtie, the way her raven tresses cascade over her lithe shoulders has kazuha openly staring with a gaping mouth.

her heart is stuck in when she thinks about others seeing sakura like this, in her wolfcut glory. if it was enough to make kazuha shake in her shoes, she's certain sakura could cause tectonic plates to shift if more eyes fall upon her at this moment.

"no, nope, this won't do either- nope."

so with reddened cheeks and furrowed brows, kazuha rushes to hold up sakura's hair back up into its usual ponytail, her gesture confusing her girlfriend who's just staring at her face which was inches away.

"so no ponytail, no letting my hair down... do you want me going bald or what?" sakura tilts her head slightly, an amused smirk on her face.

kazuha pouts, putting her hands down in defeat and sakura's hair flows down freely once again.

sakura chuckles, her eyes dart around their surroundings and when she decides it's clear, she leans in to plant a quick kiss at the corner of kazuha's lips.

with a lovely smile and giving kazuha's cheek a soft pinch, sakura tells her truthfully, making sure the taller girl looks at her in the eye when she says it.

"don't worry so much, i'm only yours."

the five of them together is chaos personified.

no one ever said a girls' night out would be barren of pure mayhem, not especially when you put a bunch of hyperactive teenagers who crave nothing more than to be free from the clutches of homework-crazy teachers and nagging parents in one vicinity.

and for once, there's nothing holding them back tonight.

kazuha's humble abode is lively despite the late hours, with the absence (and permission) of her parents, she successfully manages to host yet another sleepover session with the girls this month.

while it was seldom, almost every sleepovers they had with one another happened in kazuha's house. being the only one among the other four to be an only child, it was fairly easy because they wouldn't be imposing on other family members. that, and thanks to her parents' leniency.

they were away for a business trip for the weekend and as long as kazuha and the girls don't somehow light their house on fire, they completely entrusted the house to her.

"don't let these two sleep next to each other! you guys are always together!" eunchae protests out of the blue, hours into their sleepover.

they've had their fair share of fun earlier — playing various games that exhilarated them, one of their favourites being the crocodile biting toy along with jenga, and just minutes earlier, they finished a super mario movie.

"no we're not..." kazuha replies, grumbling under her breath as she weakly glares at eunchae.

sakura, who sat beside her with a flustered face could only laugh sheepishly. she fiddles with the blanket they had laid out in the living room, pillows scattered here and there signifying the remnants of the fun they were having moments ago.

"yeah! we didn't plan this sleepover just to third, fourth and fifth wheel the two of you." yunjin sticks her tongue out, sprawled across the blanketed floor with one leg atop eunchae's lap and the other on chaewon's.

chaewon suddenly bursts into laughter, doubling over everytime she looks at yunjin. when they played jenga earlier, there were several blocks that had punishments written on them. and yunjin, being one of the unfortunate (yet expected) victims, pulled out a block with a punishment that involved vandalism.

on her face.

needless to say, the other four had fun with every of (non permanent) marker drawn on the poor girl's face.

now yunjin has mario's mustache, a sickening goatee, more freckles and a poorly drawn monocle on the left side of her face.

with embarrassment painting her cheeks red, yunjin nudges her leg against chaewon's torso, who still continued laughing.

"you're saying it like we've been relentlessly making out when all we've done is literally sit next to each other." sakura comes to their defense, kazuha vigorously nodding as she looks at the three with an offended look.

around others, sakura and kazuha weren't blatant about their relationship, always considerate and would tone down their affectionate displays when there were eyes on them. nevertheless, if one were to look closely, only then would they be able to see how the two would care for each other with subtlety.

"and what do you want me to do? kazuha just likes following me around... that's like her habit at this point." sakura huffs, folding her arms as she made a point.

plus, it's cute that she follows me around... sakura muses, almost breaking into a smile at the thought.

kazuha subconsciously mirrors her actions, her own arms crossed as she straightened her back, nodding shamelessly before she realises.

"wait, that's totally not true." she deadpans and eunchae laughs at this, jokingly booing at kazuha.

"you follow her everywhere like you're her shadow or something. you're such a whipped loser, unnie!"

their laughter echoes throughout the room, with yunjin's being the most prominent that kazuha could feel the walls of her house vibrating. that coupled with chaewon and eunchae's obnoxiously piercing-to-the-ears seal clapping that could probably hack through trees, kazuha is honestly surprised her neighbours haven't knocked on her door by now.

"i've got no clue what you guys are talking about, i don't follow sakura around." kazuha rolls her eyes, chest puffed out as she still refuses to feed into the other girls' truth.

all that smugness crumbled then, when sakura suddenly rises to her feet to venture into the kitchen to fetch herself a glass of water. kazuha's ears perked up the moment sakura shifted from her place, immediately jumping up to her feet to scurry after her girlfriend.

"zuha unnie, you're a shameless pathological liar!"

"what does that even mean? are you calling me an offensive dinosaur breed?!"

"why do our sleepovers always end up being a circus?" sakura mumbles under her breath in amusement, back leaning against the counter as she took slow sips of her water, watching the rowdy banter unfold with keen eyes.

honestly, there's nothing else she would rather be apart of.

the next morning rolls in quickly. breakfast as five was extremely hearty, never short on the boisterous laughter they frequently shared, always at ease with one another's presence.

"last night was fun girls! gotta ciao now though, see ya monday!"

"bye lovebirds!"

sakura rolls her eyes when chaewon looked back and teasingly stuck her tongue out before catching up to eunchae and yunjin ahead who were already headed for the elevator.

the three couldn't stay any longer since they had their own plans in the afternoon. and as far as sakura knows, she doesn't have anything with her family for the rest of the day either.

"aren't you going back?" kazuha asks her when sakura saunters back inside.

with curious eyes, she looks on as sakura whirls around with a lopsided smile.

"do you want me to?"

her heart skips a beat upon the question. the way it came out of sakura's lips felt prodding, she's clearly teasing her and kazuha is deeply flustered knowing her girlfriend already knew what her answer would be.

kazuha shakes her head, too eagerly yet with that tense smile of hers and it makes sakura giggle seeing her malfunction.

she figured kazuha would be a little too lonely if she left now — her parents should return tomorrow — and the thought of a lonely kazuha didn't sit quite right with her even though she knew the taller girl was used to it.

and sakura thinks that if she could lessen that loneliness for at least a little bit, she would be glad.

"i'll help you clean up then." sakura offers, already picking up the blankets in the living room and folding them neatly.

still too flustered to speak, kazuha hurriedly helps her with the minute task, picking up the pillows before they both returned it to her room.

"i'm surprised you still have overwatch on your computer, chaewon uninstalling it ten minutes into the game was still really hilarious though."

sakura says in amusement, currently sitting at kazuha's study desk where her pc setup was. it wasn't really high-end or anything (obviously, kazuha isn't a gamer, she uses it to watch her dramas) but it was enough to run overwatch smoothly.

"personally, i think her temper is scarier than the toxic players in that game," kazuha laughs, ambling towards her desk to lean against it, arms folded.

"i know i at that game but you play it so... well, let's just say i wish i was as good as eunchae to support you." kazuha huffs in defeat, shoulders slumping.

sakura giggles, giving her reassuring pats on her arm.

"you being absolutely lost in every match is cute though but let's just stick at what we're good at, yeah? 'cause you are never gonna see me play in a volleyball match, like ever." sakura retorts, sighing as she recalls herself participating in gym classes.

"zuha, do you wanna go for a walk later?"

"oh, sounds good! we should stop by a cafè too."

"sure, we'll do whatever you wanna do."

the room falls silent then, with sakura mindlessly tapping on the keyboard while kazuha finds herself staring off into the distance in thought. sakura feels her hesitance, notices kazuha's eyes darting back and forth between the floor and her bed.

with a relaxed smile, she waits, internally counting how long it would take until kazuha speaks out her thoughts. whenever she was still, gaze distant, sakura knew she was in her train of thoughts.

"can we..." kazuha tentatively starts, though her confidence fluctuates the second after.

sakura hums in question, well that was faster than she had anticipated.

when sakura looks up to her girlfriend, kazuha's face is once again red. opens and closes, uncertain whether to continue her sentence. either way, sakura catches on her intentions, looking at kazuha's thumb jerking towards her bed.

"oh," sakura's eyes widens, feels her own face heating up as her mind begins to wander.

seeing the blush mirroring hers, kazuha immediately realises how her gestures probably gave sakura the wrong intent. she frantically makes a cross with her arms and vigorously shakes her head, feeling like her head could combust with all the blood rushing to her head.

"wait! NO! not in that way! i-i meant cuddles! nothing obscene! just perfectly normal cuddles that doesn't have any weird, ungodly, underlying intentions- ugh, what am i saying i'm putting myself in timeout..."

kazuha groans, ashamed as she suddenly turns around and leans her forehead against the wall, arms growing limp by her sides as she drowns in her own embarrassment.

she hears sakura's roaring laughter afterwards, increasing her embarrassment tenfold.

then she feels a gentle hand pulling the back of her shirt. she turns around slowly and awkwardly like a rusted machine, body stiff as she refuses to look at sakura anywhere but her feet.

"come join me," sakura says, shes uses a forefinger to lightly tip up kazuha's chin until they lock eyes.

when they do, sakura shoots her a charming smile, then she turns around and dives into kazuha's bed with a gleeful squeal.

sakura makes everything so easy. the awkwardness dissipates so fast, kazuha forgets her little silly blunder and instantly breaks into a toothy grin seeing her girlfriend rolling around in her bed.

so being the best copycat artist out there, kazuha follows her actions. the moment sakura pats the vacant spot beside her, kazuha jumps onto the mattress with a quirky yell.

her landing impact causes sakura to bounce off the bed just slightly, her surprised yelp making kazuha laugh a couple decibels louder.

one moment it feels like a children's playground and the next, it's comfortable silence.

kazuha thinks that home isn't just four walls and a ceiling. sometimes, home is two girls sharing a blanket of warm silence, exchanging sweet smiles and merely indulging in each other's comforting presence.

their hands automatically intertwine in the space between them, and kazuha watches with a surging warmth in her chest as sakura links their pinkies. her eyes trail after sakura's lithe fingers that mindlessly reach out to trace the veins that run down all the way to her elbow. her fingers drag continuously back and forth between her wrist and elbow as if tracing delicate lines.

there's something so tender about all of it, kazuha feels her heart swell as she lets her gaze wander from sakura's busy fingers to her face — she looks so content and beautiful as she's lying on her side, eyes half-lidded and she looks like she could fall into slumber within any given moment.

and kazuha would watch over her, with an equally content gaze and a loving smile.

"that tickles," kazuha mumbles, doesn't want to raise her voice any higher so as to not disrupt their peaceful moment.

"shh, i'm drawing." sakura replies with a teasing tone.

kazuha releases a short sigh, letting sakura do whatever she wanted for a little longer. she uses this small window of time to let her eyes roam across sakura's features, drinking them in as if she's looking at her for the first time.

the yearning bubbles from the pit of her stomach and when it surges, kazuha inhales sharply with a tremulous smile growing on her face the longer she gazes at her lover.

she slips an arm under sakura's neck while its twin wraps itself around lean waist, and she reels sakura in within a split second, their bodies colliding in a gentle crash.

kazuha has half a mind to squeeze her girlfriend in her arms (she's feeling the love surge), loving the way she could fully engulf sakura's small figure in her hold but refrains from it, not wanting to suffocate her poor girlfriend.

"you're gonna asphyxiate me one of these days." sakura murmurs against her, face buried in the crook of her neck, the warm breath grazing her skin feels ticklish.

kazuha has her eyes closed, relishing in their shared warmth as she languidly cards her fingers through sakura's jet black hair, occasionally rubbing the tips of her fingers against her scalp. she lets out a chuckle when she feels sakura's hands that had placed themselves around her torso, patting and rubbing her back as if she was petting a big, clingy puppy.

kazuha thinks that it would be great if time froze now, right at this moment.

"i just like you a lot," kazuha responds a little later.

"i know,"

"say it back."

"it back."

dissatisfied, kazuha pulls away and playfully glares at sakura, who's suppressing a sly grin. the taller girl pouts, sending a barrage of relentless pokes against sakura's stomach.

"ah- okay okay!" sakura laughs heartily, body curling in due to kazuha's merciless tickle attacks.

when kazuha finally pauses to speak, sakura takes this opportunity to grab the girl's face and dives in for a kiss without a second thought.

she smiles against warm lips, loves it when she's able to catch kazuha off-guard and pull stunts like these. her initial, rigid reactions were so endearing to the cherry blossom. then the moment kazuha relaxes, she's returned with an unsurmountable kind of kiss, one that feels like the kazuha wants to imprint herself onto her.

"i love you," sakura whispers against kazuha's lips when she pulls away slightly, loving the way her girlfriend's pupils were blown,"how's that?"

"you... you mean it?" kazuha stutters, eyes wide in disbelief when those words came out of sakura's mouth.

"do i look like the type to lie about these things?" sakura tilts her head, a corner of her lips curling up knowingly.

kazuha breaks into a smile so wide afterwards sakura is sure her cheeks were hurting. when kazuha suddenly hides her face in her chest, unable to contain the happiness, sakura simply laughs in amusement as she cradles her girlfriend's head.

"...can we skip that walk?"

when sakura looks down, she meets gleaming eyes full of plea. there's the hint of shyness yet also determination dancing in those orbs, kazuha's lips are pressed into a thin line, cheeks dusted pink.

"why? 'cause you wanna makeout with me? i can see it in your eyes, zuha." sakura smirks playfully, eyebrows raising knowingly.

kazuha immediately shakes her head, lips parted wanting to protest but seeing the way sakura's looking at her as if edging her on, she clamps shut and then looks away shyly.

"...can we?"

it's useless lying through her teeth, not when sakura can read her like an open book. moreover, sakura seems to be oddly stimulating her today.

"getting braver day by day, aren't we?" the cherry blossom prompts, the encouraging smile that graces her lips after was enough for kazuha to lean in to claim her lips.

the kisses they shared were chaste and sweet. sakura is filled to the brim with all the love kazuha constantly bestows upon her, and she hopes kazuha feels the same when she kisses her deeply again and again, arms coiled around kazuha's neck to pull her impossibly closer. the hands that held her waist so firmly and protectively fuels the fire within her chest, and her stomach feels like it's going to burst.

sakura knows that her ears are coloured a deep scarlet by now — they feel hot because all she's been hearing within the four walls of kazuha's room is the sounds of their lips against each other's, clothes rustling against crumpled bedsheets.

"that tickles," sakura says after what felt like an eternity, breathing ragged as she lays under kazuha with a lovestruck smile plastered on her face.

she has her eyes closed as she held kazuha's waist loosely, who's planting soft kisses all over her face, seemingly haven't had enough of the cherry blossom just yet.

"shh, i'm drawing."

two on her jaw, one on each eyelid, three on her lips, two on her nose and countless on her blushing cheeks.

sakura giggles, rolling her eyes when she realises kazuha used her own line against her.

"oh yeah- i can definitely feel all the love you're painting on my face." sakura turns her head when kazuha draws in for another heartfluttering kiss, though she couldn't help but smile when those familiar warm lips caressed gently against hers for the nth time.

"i love you too by the way..." kazuha sighs dreamily, so evidently in love as she lays on top of sakura who instantly wraps her in a loving embrace.

napping never felt so damn good right then.

—

bonus dialogue

"sakura,"

"yes?"

"if i were a worm-"

"no."